Maggie understood why her mother sent her to find the High Priestess.
“I’m not my mother; I’m her daughter.”
This statement had a certain ambiguity to it, as she was, of course, her mother’s daughter. However, Urania immediately grasped the implications of her words. “You’re Selene’s daughter?”
“Yes. I didn’t know at first, but it was Mrs. Jenkins, the flower shop owner, who told me. I was still unsure if she was telling the truth. It wasn’t until a few days ago when I exhausted my strength to save the Grand Elder and fell into a deep sleep that I met her for the first time through the energy my mother left for me.”
Urania looked at her. “You met Selene.”
“Yes. She told me that she had become a fallen deity and revealed some paths foretold by the dreams I couldn’t understand. When I asked her how to make sense of those dreams, she told me to come to you, saying you would guide me.”
Urania smiled. “Indeed, she is our Moon Goddess, describing the fall of a deity so casually.”
“You mentioned that you’ve seen my mother.”
“Of course, I have. With a lifespan of over a thousand years, I’ve encountered many unimaginable things. Meeting the deity of the werewolves is just one of them.”
Urania didn’t explain the origin of her thousand-year lifespan.
The deity was cast down to the mortal realm, ragged and unkempt, begging from house to house within the tribe. Nobody paid her any attention; they all thought she was a deranged lone wolf and continually shooed her away. At that time, Urania was not yet a priestess and had no magical powers. She found the deity and gave her half a piece of bread and led her to the stream to wash her face.
The deity asked her, “Aren’t you afraid of me? They all say I’m a lone wolf.”
Urania laughed, “Where have you seen such foolish lone wolves who need to beg for food? Lone wolves are savage and ruthless; if you don’t give them what they want, they’ll attack you. You’re not like the other lone wolves I’ve seen. You’ve been begging for so long and haven’t even managed to get a bite of meat.”
The deity was somewhat stunned and didn’t know how to respond. She thought that this person seemed so different from the other villagers. She looked so young, yet she was remarkably mature and composed.
“You shared a piece of bread with me, but what about yourself? You look small and might go hungry. Don’t you need to eat?”
The deity was genuinely worried about her. After all, by werewolf standards, she was much too small and thin.
Urania burst into laughter. “You’ve been hungry for so long, and you’re worried about me? You really aren’t like a lone wolf.” She helped tidy up the deity, making her look more presentable. “You don’t seem like someone who can hunt. Come on, I’ll take you hunting. Although my skills can only catch small game like rabbits and can’t handle large prey like deer or sheep, it should be enough for the two of us to eat.”
So the deity learned to weave nets, set traps, and create bows and crossbows, among other survival skills, under Urania’s guidance.
Urania had no other family; she had become an orphan at a very young age. So the deity lived with her in that old thatched tent.
“If one day you discover that I’m not just a lone wolf but a person of great importance, will you hate me?”
As they lay on a freshly skinned badger pelt, it had been snowing heavily recently, and they couldn’t catch much game. However, they did find some frozen rabbits beneath the trees. Urania complained that the winter was like a punishment sent by the gods. She didn’t like winter because it often meant many vulnerable werewolves wouldn’t survive until spring.
The deity wanted to fulfill Urania’s wish not to have harsh winters while also maintaining their friendship. People feared gods, worshipped gods, and respected gods, but they didn’t become friends with gods.
Urania turned her face to the side, unable to see how this simple-minded fellow could be anyone of great importance. But he was her friend, and she didn’t want to shatter his fantasies. So she said, “Alright. If you turn out to be someone important, I hope you can make me a high-ranking member of a big family.”
“Do you want to be an alpha or a Luna?”
“No, no, no. I have no interest in either of those. Can you make me a priest? Be a high priest, weave some divine decrees for the tribe every day, rest most of the time, and still have enough to eat and stay warm. I heard that many high priests live quite well, alone, with various offerings at their doorstep. It sounds really envy-worthy.”
“To be a high priest, is that your wish?” The deity asked sincerely.
Urania had never thought about wishes. She wanted to have a stable life, not dependent on stealing offerings or food from granaries, not constantly moving from one place to another, and not having her tent collapse under heavy snow. But these were basic life necessities, not wishes.
“If I had to talk about wishes, I’d like to learn many things and then teach what I’ve learned to those in need. Just like how I taught you to weave baskets. Are high priests involved in that sort of thing? If they are, then becoming a high priest doesn’t sound too bad.”
The deity thought that she had an innate knack for being a missionary deity, even without any magical powers.
“If one day I truly become someone of importance, you won’t hate me, will you?”
“Will you make me a high priest if you become someone of importance?”
“Of course, I will.”
“Then I won’t hate you; you’ve fulfilled my wish.”
Unbeknownst to them, the deity’s promise to the young girl became a prophecy, destined to come true.
The deity completed her earthly observation and had to return to her divine seat. Before leaving, she gave Urania the gift she wanted to give her most: the deity’s magic, eternal life, and unaging beauty.
Urania truly became the high priestess of a tribe, and that tribe gradually grew and developed into the Blue Moon Pack it is today.
As she was about to leave, the deity held Urania and whispered softly in her ear, “Do you hate me now that you’ve gained eternal life?”
Urania laughed and cried at the same time, “You fulfilled my wish, how could I ever hate you?”
She didn’t know where the deity had gone, whether she continued to be the lunar goddess of the werewolves, but she did know that a new lunar goddess had arrived later. The new lunar goddess was accompanied by an elderly-looking woman who gestured to Urania kindly. The lunar goddess said, “I am the new lunar goddess. My name is Selene.”
Urania responded with the highest courtesy of the Blue Moon Pack, “I am Urania, the high priestess of the Blue Moon Pack. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Selene, like the deity she had known before, was gentle and clumsy. She was reluctant to pluck the flowers and trees of the mortal world. Her delicate, fair hands lifted rough stones alongside the werewolf masons. Urania often watched nearby and wondered if all deities had such blind gentleness, or if it was only the deities she had encountered.
Later, Selene’s companion died on the battlefield, and Urania saw the gentleness in Selene’s eyes fade as she was consumed by pain and anger.
That was the last time she saw Selene. Selene said, “The fate of the werewolves is now in your hands. If my children return to the werewolves in the future, please help them become the new lunar goddess. Let the moon’s radiance continue to bathe every inch of werewolf land.”