And actually, this was pretty clever.At least, it was if she understood the ramifications correctly.“So, you don’t decide what will be granted as a gift to The Mother?You don’t leave like a will and testament?”
Ryan shook his head.“Our families decide for us.Usually they know without us having to say which gifts are for The Mother, but it’s pretty much down to them.”
“So, if you treat your family like shit, they can bequeath something equally as shit to The Mother to get you back?”She laughed under her breath.“That’s actually really clever.Let’s face it, it’s the ones closest to us who see our true sides.In this, they are our Judgement Day.
“Only, how do you give the gift to The Mother?”
Trip squeezed her and hugged her close.He reached down and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.“I knew you were cool.”
She snorted.“Glad you realize it.”
Marc chuckled.“So, to answer your question and not just compliment you, the ceremony is tied to the full moon.That’s why we haven’t held a service yet.There hasn’t been a full moon since the bomb.And on the night of the full moon, our leaders arrange for a funeral pyre to burn on our behalf.”
“You do this for every guy and gal who dies in the Pride?”she asked incredulously.
“No.Well, technically yes.Ryan, as leader, does this for just those closest to us, and people who died in a service to the Pride as well as important, high-ranking members.Otherwise, we have community leaders who defer to us but who manage things on a local level.”
She scratched at her temple as the sheer logistics of this began to blow her mind.“But how do you hide the funeral pyre in downtown LA?”She couldn’t even begin to imagine how they wangled that one—how many state and local officials did they have to bribe to turn a blind eye?
“We don’t burn the bodies, El.We burn the gifts.That’s how we bequeath them to The Mother.”
For the first time, Shawn spoke up.She wasn’t surprised when it was more of a grumble than anything else.“Where the hell did you come up with this tradition anyway?”
Though there was something about the tradition she found quaint, she could understand why it perplexed him.Shawn was an atheist to his bones.Rare enough considering he was Cajun, with enough Catholic roots to make him a believer.So, all of this was never going to make sense to him.And it didn’t really make sense to her, she just liked the idea of it.
She wasn’t particularly atheist herself.Her background was Presbyterian, but in her opinion, the only God her family believed in were dollars and cents, no matter what bullshit her brothers tried to sell the American public as they bulldozed their way into the Senate.
She knew all the customs, observed most of the holidays, but it didn’t resonate with her.This, aslocoas it undoubtedly was, she kind of liked.
It was one of the least hypocritical traditions she’d ever heard of, literally taking the whole ‘treat unto others as you yourself wish to be treated’ to another level.
“I don’t know, Shawn.I mean, sure, it’s strange.But so is the sacrament, and countless other rites and rituals that are totally normal in everyday religion.”
He snorted.“You can’t honestly tell me that this makes sense to you?”
“No, not sense.I just like the idea of it.You treat somebody like shit, then they won’t help you out when you’re dead.”
Trip laughed.“That’s a very facile way of phrasing it.”
She cocked her brow at him.“See why it makes sense to me?Look at what my grandfather did to me and how my family treat me on the whole.I sure as shit wouldn’t be helping them if this was their tradition,” she said wryly.“Screw them.They can make their way across the River Styx by themselves.”
Ryan wagged his finger at her.“But how would that make you look?Would your family respect you if they knew you were capable of getting your revenge upon their deaths?”
She hummed under her breath at that.“What an interesting philosophical question.”
Shawn groaned.“It’s way too early for this kind of talk.Not only that, but it’s depressing as hell.”
She snickered.“I guess you’re right.On both scores.”
“Well,” Trip murmured, “we were only talking about it because there will be a ritual at the end of the week.And now you’re Luna, El, a part of your duty is to officiate.”
“Officiate?”she squeaked.
Ryan blew our breath, nodded, and mumbled, “We sure know how to show you a good time.”
She groaned.“But I don’t know anything about the tradition!”
“You’ll have to learn.And quickly.It’s only a few lines that you have to memorize.”Ryan sighed.“I completely forgot about it until Adam mentioned the full moon to me yesterday.Things have been kind of hectic, so it just slipped by me.”
