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It had never bothered Tilly when the other moon-birds had stared, but now they did so even more openly. The morning she left home, there was a parade in Tilly's honor. She and her family walked to the launch, and the people gawked as she walked by in her beautiful new dress. The queen had given it to her as a gift. It caught the light beautifully, and puffed against her beautiful tailfeathers, rather than restraining them as her own clothes had, for they had been growing too small.
At the moon-temple, the balloon was waiting. There was a ceremony in which her siblings tied the strings from the large, moon-shaped orb to the perch she would sit on during her journey. Before she took her perch, her mother gave her a ball of dim yarn, and two new knitting needles, so she would not be bored on her flight. There were many moon-kisses, speeches, and cheers, and suddenly she was floating above her moon for the last time. |
