Anneza stood there, indecisive, caught directly between the gravitational pull of the two bodies. For now, for as long as she was here, she had nothing to worry about. She could as easily shove off Earthwards and return safely as she could step out further into space and complete the journey. She wondered again about the vacuum; the key human survival instinct that air is necessary and suffocation is bad was still ingrained into her mind, but she had to wonder how this applied to her now. It was clear that, in at least some sense, she belonged in space, among the stars. So how could she be in danger in what seemed to be her native environment?
For the moment, at least, she pushed that question aside and tried to focus back on the music. She had been listening to the music of the stars, in the muted form that penetrated Earth's atmosphere, almost since the day she changed, and she had experienced its full splendor once before, when she'd first broke free of her home planet and hung suspended above it in low orbit. Now that she was out further still, she heard the fullness of the star-song once again - but what was it that had changed? Something about the Moon...she tried to focus her attention on that body specifically.
It took her a while, but as soon as she caught it, it was unmistakeable. There was a new voice to it. It harmonized with the original, but where the Moon's part in the song before was slow and tranquil, an ancient sort of sound that hung quietly in space and worked its way languidly through its part as the weeks passed into the month, there was now a counterpoint to it, a bright clear song full of life and energy. Even the timbre was young and cheery, though it was clearly the same basic voice. Yet curiously, as she listened, it seemed to her that the Moon's new voice was coming from Earth.
She turned this way and that, trying to note how her left and right antennae heard it, trying to localize it more precisely. Yes, it was on Earth, there was no question about it. But it was the Moon's voice, and even its music fit with the satellite's original part in the song. How was this happening? What had happened to the Moon to spark this change in it? Wasn't it supposed to be a "dead world?" She wouldn't have thought that it could change if that were the case...
She turned back towards Earth, gently shoving off the rock and pushing herself back towards the planet's gravitational pull. Part of her wanted to visit that smaller world, to see for herself if something was different, but not just yet. If she made that journey, she might be gone for days, and that was even assuming that she could survive out here for long. Her friends would worry, and the wolf-girl might get in trouble with the police, if they were still interested in her. Besides, if the new voice were coming from Earth at the moment, she might just as easily find her answers there.
They waited outside the door of the little house. Jenny was a little sad that they hadn't stopped by her and her mom's apartment first, but Artemis had remembered the way to Harriet's house, and she was eager to get back. Jenny supposed that made sense; she'd wanted to show Muriel that they'd found her, but she guessed that wasn't as important as the moon-girl getting back to see her mother. Besides, she could still tell her mom about it.
The door opened to reveal a woman. She looked older than Muriel, but not too old. She eyed them curiously. "Hello, kids," she said. "Can I help you? Is something the...matter..." She trailed off her gaze turned back to Artemis. She stood there staring at the girl for a moment, her eyes growing wider and her lip trembling. "Oh...oh my G-God," she whispered, "H-Harriet?"
The girl nodded. "I missed you, Mama," she said, hugging her mother tightly. The woman sank to the ground and burst into tears as she took her daughter in her arms.
The next few minutes were a little awkward for Jenny and Lilly, as neither of them were quite sure what they were supposed to be doing or even whether they should be present. But things calmed down a bit eventually, and the woman turned to them. "I can't even begin to thank you two enough for finding her," she said. "Wh-where was she?"
Lilly shrugged. "We found her in th' park, but she said she was on th' Moon."
The woman frowned slightly, though she didn't have anywhere near the energy to be particularily upset. "Harriet...?" she asked.
The girl nodded. "I was!" she said. "I went to visit my other mom there. 'm sorry I didn't come back sooner, but she never got to see me 'fore, an' I had to wait until it wasn't a new moon."
Now she was frowning. "Your 'other mom?'"
"Yep. I was Harriet, Mama, but now I'm Artemis, an' I'm the daughter of Selene, the Moon. See?" She held up a hand to the porch light, and her mother gasped as she saw the crater patterns appear on it. "I...I see," she sighed.
Artemis frowned. "Don't be sad!" she said. "Selene is nice, but I 'member that you're my Mama. I missed you when I was there..."
Her mother started to cry again, and held her tight.
"You know," Tetra said, yawning lazily, "if you were to encourage her to keep doing these things, she could get even stronger. It wouldn't teach her much in the way of magical skills, but for spiritual fortitude it's not a bad idea for a training program."
Muriel frowned. "Look," she said, "it's one thing to teach her that it's a good thing to help other people, but I'm not telling her 'you should be nice to people because in the long run it'll benefit you.'"
The tiny cat-girl shrugged. "Well, it will."
"But that's missing the point!" the policewoman said. "It's not the same if you're doing good out of the expectation of benefitting from it!"
Tetra shrugged. "Isn't it? People are still getting helped."
Muriel sighed. "Look, it's just...just not, okay? And I don't want you trying to talk Jenny into this. She's a wonderful little girl in her own right, and that's how it ought to be."
"Okay, okay, geez," the cat-girl said. "I wasn't saying we should do that, just that it would work."
Muriel sighed, scratching at the base of her left antenna; seemed like it was always that one that acted up when she got aggravated. "Sorry," she said. Having finished setting out the dishes, she was just about ready to start making the food when the phone rang.
"Hello?" she asked, as she picked it up. "Yeah, Jenny's-wait, what? They did? When? Where?" She listened for a moment longer. "I'll be right over!" she said. She hung up the phone and turned to Tetra, as visibly proud as she was surprised.
"You were right," she said. "Jenny helps more people than I even know."
