Fan Fiction ❯ The Moondiver Chronicles: Defiance ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter One

The scorching midday sun glinted off the lazy, winding river. Another rock skipped across the surface sending ripples in all directions before sinking to the sandy bottom.

The heat did not feel so overwhelming under the willow tree where Katalyn Moondiver sat quietly pondering the decision of the tribe elders. The little chima sitting on her shoulder suddenly bounded off in search of another flat skipping stone for Katalyn to throw.

Tucking a long strand of chestnut hair behind her ear, she sighed and watched the small creature, one of her closest friends, as she scrounged for another rock. Cheeka’s gray tail was the only part of her visible as she dove beneath the leaves, springing up at intervals to place a stone in the pouch on her belly. When she decided she had found the best rock she came bouncing back to Katalyn.

“Thank you, Cheeka,” Katalyn said softly, smiling as her little friend chirped a response and deposited the stone in her hand before leaping back to her shoulder. The girl let the rock fly, giggling at Cheeka’s giddy approval. However, even Cheeka’s antics could not brighten Katalyn’s solemn mood for long. She sighed again as her thoughts wandered back to her increasingly difficult situation.

The Windmover tribe had fostered her from infancy. However, because of the tribe’s habit of keeping outsiders at a distance, they decided to expel her from the community. While others her age studied for their coming-of-age ceremony, she contemplated starting a new life abroad. Of course she had never felt at home among the Windmovers. But being forced to leave everyone she had ever known troubled her more than she was willing to admit.

A sudden splash from the river interrupted her thoughts. From the sound of Cheeka’s excited chirping, Katalyn knew it was Luca before she ever looked up. Cheeka dove from her perch to find a rock for Luca but with all the skipping Katalyn and her friend had done over the years, more rocks rested in the river than on the bank.

“If you flick your wrist more, it’ll skip instead of sinking,” Katalyn said encouragingly, knowing very well her friend’s lack of talent for the hobby. Cheeka appeared again from the leaves. She placed a small stone in the boy’s hand before scrambling eagerly up his back to sit on his shoulder as if to get a better view of the action.

Luca launched the rock, watching disappointedly as it sank straight into the river without a single skip. Cheeka let out a teasing growl of disapproval and leaped from Luca’s arm to Katalyn’s shoulder, wrapping her fluffy tail around the girl’s neck for balance. Luca slumped to the mossy bank next to Katalyn, giving up on his rock skipping lesson for the day.

“You’ll get the hang of it one of these days,” Katalyn offered comfortingly.

“You’ve been saying that for years,” Luca replied with a smirk.

Katalyn grinned as she realized that he was right. She gazed off in the distanceas she recalled his many attempts at rock skipping. She hung her head and sighed once more. She had a lot of memories to leave behind.


“Luca! Be careful!” Katalyn shouted.

Luca stood on the high bank of the other side of the river. He held on to the old rope with a death grip. She could not believe she had actually talked him into swinging from the oak high above the water. Plenty of others had taken turns swinging out and letting go, plunging into the swimming hole. Luca had never dared before.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed himself out across the water.

“Yay Luca! Wait! Let go!” Katalyn called through cupped hands.

Luca, amazed that he had finally braved his fears, had forgotten to let go. He swung straight back to the tree to which the rope was tied. Katalyn grimaced as Luca slammed into the tree trunk with a resounding crack. Luca fell on the ground, laughing.


Cheeka nuzzled her neck and, in return, Katalyn rubbed the creature’s furry head as a sign of thanks.

There was an awkward silence between Katalyn and Luca as they watched the sunlight reflect off of the ever lazing river. She noticed Luca fiddling with a loose thread on the hem of his tunic. After a while, he asked the question that Katalyn had been dreading.

“So, what are you going to do now that the elders have decided that you need to be on your own?”

Katalyn closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree with much protest from Cheeka who abandoned her post. Rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, Katalyn took her time replying.

When Katalyn was young, Grena, Luca’s mother, had told her that her mother had died. Katalyn never questioned Grena’s words. However, on the night the tribe elders had decided to outcast her, they told Katalyn that her mother was still alive. They suggested she look for her in Obella, the Unicorn City. This was the direction in which Nakita Moondiver headed when she left the Windmover tribe all those years ago. The idea of heading to a far-off city with a magical history thrilled Katalyn. Yet the idea of facing her mother, of whom she knew next to nothing, made her uneasy. She did not, however, have a choice.

“Go searching for my mother in the West, I guess,” Katalyn finally responded. “Since apparently, she isn’t as dead as we have been lead to believe. When the elders made their decision, your mother was forced to hand over a few of my mother’s belongings. She left me her journal,” Katalyn paused. “ I’m not sure I can make myself read it. I’m not sure I want to know why she ran off to Obella without me.”

Katalyn gazed up at the branches of the willow. They swayed gently in the summer breeze, scattering the sun beams that fell on the children below. Luca followed her gaze, unsure of what to say to comfort his friend.

After a while, Luca spoke. “I still can’t believe she’s still alive. Your mother, I mean. I almost thought you were kidding the night you told me. This is just like some terrible dream.”

Cheeka, sensing Luca’s distress, crawled from Katalyn’s lap to his. Luca petted her idly as he continued to watch the swaying branches.

“I know what you mean,” Katalyn replied. “When I was young, I always dreamt that my mother was alive, that she would come riding in to take me home to my own people. And as soon as I had finally accepted her death, I find out she’s still alive. It’s hard to fathom at this point.”

Another silence threatened but Luca interrupted it. “And after you find your mother? What then?”

Luca watched the distant gaze of the girl who he considered to be his sister. He was afraid she would not answer but she proved him wrong, as she often did.

“I thought about hanging around Obella for a while, or maybe more traveling. But I’m not really sure. I guess it depends on how things go with my mother.”

Katalyn knew what was coming next.

Luca tried to cover up his hesitance a bit by playing with Cheeka’s tail, but finally said, “Kata, why don’t you let me come with you? A girl like you shouldn’t be traveling halfway across the world by herself.”

“What do you mean ‘a girl like me’?” Katalyn challenged with a half-grin playing on her lips.

“A girl your age, I mean. How would it look? It’s not that I think you need protecting or anything. I know that you can handle yourself. I’d just feel better if you had someone with you.”

“Someone like you?” Katalyn suggested.

Luca grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “I kinda thought that maybe--”

“Luca, don’t. This situation is difficult enough as it is. You can’t come with me. The ceremony is in two days, and I have to be gone by sundown tomorrow. If you come with me, you’ll miss the ceremony and never be a healer. I couldn’t let you do that…not for me, not for anyone.”

“But Kata, I don’t want to be a healer,” Luca said. He threw his arms out dramatically and finished “My secret dream has always been to be a wanderer.”

Katalyn nearly laughed. “Since when?”

“Well, since…since I thought of it. I just didn‘t tell you because it was secret.”

Katalyn shook her head, suppressing a smile. “Luca, you know how I get when I’m determined about something. I’m determined about this. I said no. You know you can‘t come.”

Luca ran his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair, “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you go off by yourself.”

“And you have to understand that I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you come with me. I don’t really expect you to understand right now but this is something that I can’t let you help me with. This isn’t like the time I needed help chopping wood or the time you helped me string my bow. This is life. This is different. This is the time when people decide what they are going to do with their futures. Unfortunately, my life has already been decided for me, and yours has been decided for you. You will be a healer and I will go off alone. That’s just the way life goes.”

Luca could not argue. He knew there was no point. He’d be better off if he pulled himself together and realized there was nothing he could do to keep his best friend with him. He turned his head away with hopes of concealing his angry tears.

But Katalyn knew him all too well. “Luca, just because I can’t take you doesn’t mean that I don’t want to. You are my best friend and I’ll miss you more than anything,” she explained, trying to keep her voice steady.

Luca turned suddenly to look at her, tears streaming down his cheeks. He threw his arms around her waist and rested his head in her lap. Katalyn ran her fingers through his soft hair as he sobbed his goodbye. He cried because he knew she never would.