Pilgrimage [1]

"Ok Luna. So talk to me here. Your Nan told you to come find me. Described my appearance vaguely based off my tattoo, and told you exactly what to say to get me to change my mind. How did she get that level of detail by staring at the stars, that are lightyears away and we can't even perceive movement from them?" Liam asked quizzically.

"Huh? Can't perceive movement? We see them move all the time though?" Luna asked confused by Liam's statement.

Seeing that Luna wasn't lying, Liam frowned. "Follow me." He then stepped outside of the cabin and went to the top of the hill behind his humble abode.

From the top of the hill the night sky was incredibly clear. As Liam looked at the sky, he pointed and said "See there? That's the North star. The brightest star in the night sky. You can be pointed North from wherever you are in the Northern hemisphere. In the Southern hemisphere it isn't even visible."

Liam continued to point, "Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, Cancer, Orion,…" As Liam started pointing out the constellations, Luna just watched him identify the stars and frowned.

"Liam…they have different names than what I'm used to, but I do recognize those star patterns. However, what's the point? No one ever does Star Clairvoyance during the Full Moon. The Full Moon stars never change."

Liam turned and looked at Luna with a piercing gaze for a moment before asking, "So other than the Full Moon, the stars are completely different every night?"

"Yes, in fact, I did a scrying on my way here that showed me the Ipili were chasing me, and there was something that would devour both them…and me."

<Oh! I wonder how ambiguous their understanding of the word 'devour' is in this era?>

"Shut it, or I'll make you explain it to her."

<Ugh fine, that would take the fun out of it.>

Once again confused by the diatribe between Liam and his…arm / bug / huh? Luna continued.

"I know there will be another Breaking. I know you have the ability to prevent it. I don't know much more than that though. I just hoped to convince you to help us." Luna said with a determined voice.

"Let me ask you this. In this world, Are there vestiges of the Ancestors?"

"Yes of course! We aren't far from one of the largest vestiges, it sprawls for many miles and people even occasionally still dig up treasures from it that record the ancient times. It is called 'York'"

"York? Just York? Not New York?" Asked Liam, a little excited.

"It…Liam it's older than anything we've ever seen. How could it be considered New?" Luna looked stupefied as she heard Liam's words. Was the oldest relic of the ancients on the continent something that was 'new' to him?

"It's a long story, is there by chance a giant green statue of a woman with a pointy hat in the harbor of the area?" Liam asked with curiosity.

"Umm, no? Who would make a statue like that?" Luna asked once again.

"The French. But that doesn't matter. It looks like the Apocalypse movies all got it wrong, there won't be any vestiges of the Statue of Liberty after man bites the bullet…heh, maybe I should build a new one?...I bet I could also just put my own face on Rushmore…"

As Liam's monologue got more and more bizarre to her, Luna finally couldn't keep up. Rather than asking him to explain any one of the dozens of things he had mentioned, she relaxed and let him go on. While she was waiting she noticed a strange box full of light green water. Luna leaned over and sniffed it before cupping a handful to taste.

"Wait! No don't drink that!" Liam hurriedly shouted, but it was too late.

Luna felt a burning sensation in her throat. She had only had strong alcohol once during her father's coronation as Chieftain, but the sensation was reminiscent of that. She felt a strong gene energy flow through her stomach into her body without hesitation, and her instincts were screaming at her to have more of this miracle water.

Liam watched in horror as Luna stuffed her face in the top of his filter reservoir. The water was filled with the pollution of the water being attacked with biological warfare in the war…ten thousand years ago? As Liam stopped to think, how could the bacteria proliferate for that long with no media to consume?

Luna gorged herself on water, going so far as to even lick the cigarette butts that acted as filters. She leaned up and looked at Liam with a hint of anxiety on her face. She had acted on instinct and by the time her reasoning came back and told her she did something wrong, she realized the precious resource she had consumed might have been something Liam had gathered himself.

"I…I I am so sorry I acted without thinking! I couldn't help myself and I drank your precious Gene water, please Liam I didn't mean to do it." Luna started panicking.

"Precious? Gene water? Luna, I didn't want you to drink that because it will make people sick. It isn't any kind of treasure, that's the process I used to get normal water."

Luna was flabbergasted and was about to respond when she felt a pain. A sharp pain at the base of her tail. Luna whimpered and curled her tail around as she held her back side.

Luna let out a wail and collapsed onto the ground. As Liam watched, dumfounded, Luna's tail split neatly down the middle and began to grow two unique tails that were thick and luxuriously soft.

"Huff…huff…I just…!" Luna was stunned to see that she had in fact, grown a second tail. This was unheard of for the Huli. Their cores were contained within their tail and to have a second tail, did that mean she would have a second core?

As Luna and Liam stared at her tails together, her second tail that was also initially snow white like the first, became iridescent and glowed. The temperature in the room started to rise and a small flame sprouted from the end of her tail. Luna stared at it with complete awe.

Luna felt no heat from the fire on her tail, and the raised temperature in the room didn't even register to her. As she blinked, she felt a sharp pain in her eyes. She looked quickly at Liam who was transfixed by her gaze.

Luna's eyes, which had always been a watery sky blue, now had a tinge of red like a flame that spiraled around inside her iris's. It was completely bewitching. Liam gazed at her eyes, then broke his gaze off quickly. He felt that if he kept looking her in the eyes he would lose his self-respect and make a profession of love like some kind of high school kid.

Luna saw a flustered look on Liam's face, and glanced at her tails. The second tail was a bright orange like flame itself, except for the very tip which WAS flame itself.

"I've committed a grave sin. I've not only consumed your precious Gene water, but I've also somehow become something that is even further away from an Ancestor's genes."

<You are beautiful. Don't doubt yourself. That water was nothing but trash to Liam, so don't fret about it. The part you find precious is something he worked intensively for many years to get rid of as a pollutant. Enjoy yourself. Also, I guess I can call you a hottie now right?>

Liam regained his focus and squashed the bug.