You know those necklaces the royals wear? You know where they come from? Legend has it that the Moon was bored with among the stars. She wanted a sense of adventure. Sure she was able to watch stars being born from great explosions of light, but once you saw that for millions of years you tended to get a little bored. So one day she decided she would go ask the sun for help with how to get down to the land, and how to live among the people because he spent the most time watching them because the people were usually asleep when she could watch them in the sky. She used to think maybe they found her boring compared to her friend’s bright light, and warmth. 

She only had a little bit of light that didn’t do much to dispel the darkness that blanketed the earth even when she tried her hardest. The sun was bright and colorful while she was only gray, and rough.

Later, that day when as they were switching places, the moon said to the sun “Do you think I could go down there just for a little while?” 

Now the sun was jealous of the moon because she never had to hear them complain about her. All day he sat high in the sky as they whined about how hot he made the world. Then when he would hide behind the clouds so his rays would not be as harsh the people would scream, “I miss the sun. Please come back.”

The sun stopped for a moment and stared at her. It would be better to protect her from the humans below. She was far more sensitive, and the sun knew she would be crushed when the humans turned against her.  “You want to go down there?” He asked chuckling so the moon had to move away to block the sun’s rays.

“It’s so boring up here, and I don’t get to observe the humans as you do.” She said as she tried to keep her voice from shaking.

“Know your place,” The sun said sternly as he moved away for the night hoping that would be enough to quell her fantasies about the humans.

The whole night as she stayed up in the dark sky overlooking the earth. She dreamed of what her life would be like if she could walk among the humans that slept while she watched over them. She imagined herself as a woman with skin as dark as the night sky from whence she came. Her hair would shine silver like the stars, and her eyes would glow white like the small amount of light she produced during her time in the sky.

She imagined sitting with her fellow humans around that strange orange light that came out of the ground and ate every bit of food offered to it, including a human if they stepped too close to it, it would nibble on one of their limbs out of anger. The humans would then tell her that the moon was their favorite because it was so beautiful. 

These thoughts made the moon so happy she didn’t even bother to finish her shift. She hurled herself toward the earth, her body transforming as she landed on the earth in a large crash.Moon looked down at herself pleasantly surprised to no longer feel her rocky exterior. Her body felt warm at first, then a moment later she shivered as a cold feeling spread through her body. She tried to move forward but then proceeded to fall flat on her face, causing her to eat dirt. Then the cold was replaced with hot searing pain as if the sun had struck her across the face. She curled up into herself as if to hide while the pain tore through her body, amazed by the darkness that blanketed the world. 

Then she heard something snap in the distance, and crawled away afraid of what might happen. 

“Hello? Is anyone hurt?” The moon sat frozen in place trying to calm the pressure that had built up in her chest. She looked around her. Everything was blanketed in darkness, but the moon’s eyes were adjusting as she saw a tall figure headed towards her. She started to move in the opposite direction of the man, but pain shot through her body again, and she curled up as she thought to herself, 

“Maybe the sun was right. It wasn’t her place among the humans, and now she would never get back to the sky.” 

“Are you okay, Miss?” The man asks extending a hand toward her. The moon curled up and a whimper escaped her lips as warm tears fell down her face.”Let’s get you cleaned up. Can you walk?” The man asked, concern shining in his dark eyes for the woman. She looked at the tall dark man standing over her. She tried to get up, but her new legs gave way underneath her which sent her back toward the ground, but before she could hit the earth again a pair of arms circled around her. The man smelled pleasant and clean. The moon felt safe in the man’s arms, he was warm, and the sharp pain made her tired. She found herself resting her head on the man’s arms before falling asleep. 

The moon woke up with a blinding light coming from a small square window above her head. She used her arms to shield her face, her lips puckered in disgust as if she had just eaten something sour. 

“Show off,” she whispered under her breath. The Ssun was always sitting up there just shining without any regard for the people below. He just wanted people to bask in his glory, to talk about him for the rest of their lives, and to pray to whatever deities the humans worshiped at the time, for it had changed several times over the millennia of her existence, in order to thank them for creating him. She sighed, realizing that she wouldn’t get any more sleep thanks to her former coworker. 

She pulled herself up using the soft square object that she had laid upon. She swung the lower half of her body so her feet hit the dirt floor, with her arms behind her on the square object she pushed herself up and took a tentative step forward. There was still some pain when she walked forward, and a dull ache in her skull.  She looked around the room which was pretty bare the only exception besides the square object on which she slept was a small silver container shaped like a raindrop that the Moon watched fall from the sky sometimes during her shift. Did humans have magic that I do not know about? How did they turn this raindrop silver?  She reached down to pick up the silver pitcher. The pitcher felt cold in her arms, and she was confused by the face reflected on it. Her skin matched the dark brown earth where she stood.

Her eyes matched the midnight blue sky that used to be her home. Her hair was black and had grown as if a cloud were growing from her scalp. Her face as round as she used to be in the sky. She looked down surprised that she lost most of her mass in the crash, and now she seemed to be fairly flat with a few exceptions to two small round pieces of flesh which were below her neck. There were also dents which moved when she moved her legs. She was watching the dents move when she heard a small noise at the door, “You’re awake that is wonderful. I brought you some bread and broth for breakfast. I thought it would be smart to be safe with your stomach at first. “ The young man who the moon recognized as the man who brought her to this place. Heat flooded her cheeks as he smiled at her. 

The moon was angry that her first conscious interaction with a human had started with her doing something foolish. “I will bring you some fresh clothes. I was worried. My name is Micah” He said as he offered her his hand. The Moon was surprised that the young man’s hand could fit two of hers. 

She squeezed his hand carefully. He exclaimed in surprise before he rushed from the room. She felt overcome with sleep and laid down on the square cot again. 

This time when the Moon woke from her slumber. She was bathed in orange light and heard lively music playing outside her window. She smiled as she charged out the door. The music stopped as the crowd took her in, and whispered among themselves for a few moments before the women of the village clothed in a sea of colors pulled her away.

They gave her a bright orange dress that looked like the fire blazing as she moved among the crowd before she tripped and fell into a pair of strong familiar arms as she looked into Micah’s silver eyes. She smiled embarrassed, and heat flooded to her cheeks again before she stood up and continued to watch the people dance around the fire until the sun rose into the sky. 

The next day when she woke up the sky was already dark and the people had already begun the dance around the fire. The moon smoothed out the dress the woman of the village had given her and went out to join them. This music stopped once again, and the people whispered as they pointed to the fuzzy cloud growing out of the moon’s scalp.

The women of the village came again in a flurry of colors and ushered her over to the side of the fire. The women pulled on her hair, twisted it, and secured her twists with the beads off of their dresses. The women braided her hair until the sun came up. She walked home with Micah the early dusk glistening off of her beads as they walked back to the small house together.

The next night she woke up to the glow of the fire and dancing outside her window so she smoothed out her dress, gave her braids a quick pat with her hands, and went to join the people. Once again the music stopped, only this time instead of whispering they yelled “Mwezi” and Micah brought forward a necklace that was made of violet shells and stone of her in her favorite form a crescent. She danced with him until the sun rose the next morning. However, when Micah went to go get the moon for the dance around the fire for the next night he only found her necklace laying on the cot where she slept. The necklace was a gift from the people of the village so the royals wear one around and have the crescent birthmark to show that they are the Moon’s chosen people.