By Another Name (Editing)

Stories

For mum and dad, who told me so many stories when I was young

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Me and Angel ran through the sand, we were nearly at the rock already only a few minutes into the allotted ten. Glancing up I saw the silver saucer of the moon, just rising over the rock, round and smooth. I knew up close it was actually really bumpy because when I was 11 my dad had borrowed (okay, stolen, but he did give it back, eventually) a telescope and shown me how it looked up close. But from here it looked like a perfect circle. Dad loved the night sky, he'd taught me the name of every major star in it, I could pick out all the constellations in it, and he'd taught me every story about them he knew. My favourite was a story about the constellation of Orion and the moon. He told me that there was once a goddess called Artemis who was as beautiful as she was wild, and she had sworn that no man should ever have her hand in marriage. She was a great huntress and could hunt any prey she desire and she spent much of her time in the forest, and one day she met a man hunting the same deer as her, his name was Orion and they spent much time together hunting and they fell in love, but Artemis' brother thought that Orion was unfit to be his sisters consort, for though skilled in hunting he was of low birth. He tricked Artemis into firing and arrow into Orion and she only realised that she had hit her love too late. She ran to help him, but the wound was fatal, so to save him she sent his spirit into the sky and it became the constellation of Orion, with his faithful dog Sirius at his side to help him hunt in the stars for eternity. And she herself never loved another and kept her word never to marry, and spent her time running through the forest with her dogs, and when she died her spirit rose up and settled upon the moon, there to rest and be with her love for ever more.

Funny how something as simple as a full moon can bring back memories like that so easily.

Then I laughed. Angel stopped and looked at me "What?"

"The moons full"

"So?"

"Well Static had a bet with me that by full moon I could make this run easily. Looks like he won." I explained as we ran into camp.

"I wondered if you'd remember that" called Static from by the fire "I told you so"

"Yeah, you did." I laughed "But I didn't believe you, so what do I owe you."

"A meal"

"You really are obsessed with nicking my food aren't you"

"It's a special torture of mine."

"Fine you can have it, if you let me have tomorrow off"

Laughing, he said "We need to move anyway, so you can have a break, besides you deserve it, you must be black a blue everywhere by now."

"Well you don't have to hit me so hard"

"But you'd never learn that way"

Over the last week I had gotten faster and stronger amazingly quickly, now I could hit Static and leave a mark, I was still losing all the time, but now I wasn't the only one with bruises, my aim had gotten better, and I was always hitting the target and often the bulls eye, I could drive the car faster than before without hitting things (too much) and my training sessions with Angel no longer left me feeling like I was about to die.

After dinner I settled round the fire with the others just relaxing, then I said to Cub "Want to hear a story?"

He looked at me expectantly.

"A long, long time ago lived a goddess called Artemis..." I said telling him the story of her and Orion, pointing out his constellation and Sirius for Cub.

"Do you know anymore?" he asked when I finished.

"Yes, you see those seven stars up there, well they were once seven nymph sisters called the Pleiades, they were friends of Artemis, and helped her often. But their father Atlas was a titian, and he attacked the gods, so as punishment Zeus, leader of the gods forced him to carry the weight of the sky upon his shoulders. So sad were the Pleiades when they heard the fate of their father that they committed suicide. Zeus, had meant them no harm, he had merely wanted to punish Atlas for attacking the gods, so he immortalised them as those seven star you see in the sky there where they could watch the world and talk to their father and each other." I told him.

He looked at me, and I expect he would have asked for another if Static hadn't ordered him to bed then. Sitting were Cub had been he said "Where did you hear those stories?"

"My father used to tell them to me when I was a child. Why?"

"I found a book full of them and I used to read them to my little brother, I still have the book you know. I kept meaning to read it to Cub, but I never did."

"What happened to your brother?" I asked gently touching his arm.

"Died." he said shortly, not inviting more questions.

"I'm sorry"

"So am I" he replied, then said in a voice the others could hear "I'm tired, think I'll turn in for the night."

"Me too" said Crow and Ice, so me and Angel were the only ones left.

Thinking hard I tried to remember all the stories my dad told me, the names of stars and constellations remained, but the tales had faded with time, and some of them had holes that needed filling.

"What's keeping you up?" asked Angel from across the fire.

I looked at her then said "Trying to remember some stories my dad used to tell me, you?"

"Memories."

"Care to share? It might help"

"I used to be the daughter of a chief officer in one of the towns round here. My dad was never around, he was always busy doing this or that, to be honest he didn't really care about me that much, I was a nuisance. My mum, she was amazing on her good days, but she was ill often, and couldn't get out of her bed. But on her good days she'd play hid and seek with me all the time, and tell me how special I was or just sit and read with me. But when I was fifteen she died, and dad saw that as an opportunity to get rid of me, he set me up with the mayors son Robert, he was two years older than me and I hated him. He always leered at me in this way that made me feel vulnerable and worthless. Anyway, I was due to marry him in two months and that was when Static kidnapped me to try and blackmail my father, (he wouldn't have actually hurt me) but the thing was I told him I wouldn't go back no matter what, so he let me stay, just like that, I owe him big time for that, Ice and Crow didn’t want to let me stay. We still blackmailed them though, got the fridge and van in that deal. On the exchange day Static and me had fun acting out that we hated each other hands tied behind my back, gag, and all that, so when he let me go you should have seen the looks on their faces when I jumped straight back in the car yelling "Sorry Robert, but the weddings off" most fun I'd had in a long time. Still my favourite day ever."

"So you were all set up to be a high society woman, but you threw that away for this?" I said waving at the desert.

"Yep, best decision of my life." she said happily "No point being an Angel like my mother, if heaven is floored, besides Fallen Angels have much more fun."

"So that's what your name means"

"Yep, and you were right, telling you has got it all off my chest, I'm going to sleep now"

"I think I might as well," I said, adding another bit of wood to the fire to keep it going and settling onto my bed

"Night Angel"

"Night Newby"