Maria named me Cecilia. I have never called her mother, even though she gave birth to me. The River Luna is my home, the only one I have ever known: wide and deep, surrounded by dense forest. It rains every night, except when the moon is full.

We all live in the Luna in a colony. "We" means my family: my mother and my sisters and my aunts. Maria tells me there are other colonies of our people who live in other places. She and my aunts once lived in the sea, but the Walkers stopped coming in their ships, and they had to leave.

The Walkers do not come near Luna very often either, but they are not far away. And when I have my legs, I will be able to walk there.

My sisters and aunts are all much older than me. I am the baby of my generation, but I have many small nieces and cousins to play with.

Though I was born with legs, I do not remember them; I have spent seventeen years swimming with my family. The morning of my eighteenth birthday, though, I will wake up with legs again. Maria calls it a rite of passage and is excited for me. My sisters say they hope I will have a little girl of my own. My aunts coo and giggle with secret preparations that I am not allowed to know about. I am scared. I only have three more months.

© 2009 by Katharine A. Schellman