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What I love about this place is there is one gigantic room full of pottery wheels for their classes or community gatherings.

But there are individual rooms with two pottery wheels if you want to have more private time.

There are several kilns for people to fire their projects.

We should be able to get last week's projects today from the kiln room we left them in.

After settling on our stools and dropping fresh clay down onto the wheel, I push the pedal to begin spinning it. The low hum begins as it starts to spin.

My mom lets out a quiet hmm. “You’ve been quiet today, Moondrop.”

“Just have a lot on my mind.”

Her eyes are focused on the clay as she begins to create the cylinder. “About the festival or your place in the pack?”

“Both, really. Lou really sprung it on me. While I love it, I’m totally freaked I will mess it up. Then there’s the whole pending place in the pack business. How does someone decide what they are going to do for the rest of their life? I’m jelly of people who have it all figured out.”

She nods her head as she slows the wheel down, forming the walls of her bowl. “How’s the experimenting going?”

I take my foot off the pedal slowly, letting it come to a full stop before I wipe my hands on my damp towel.

“It’s not going. I’ve tried it all, Mom.

None of it feels right. While I love flowers and know a ton about them, being a healer just doesn’t interest me.

Sure, I love being outdoors but being a sentry or scout, yeah no thanks.

I have zero desire to fight someone, let alone run . ”

She chuckles at that. Still nodding her head as her bowl becomes wider.

“I just don’t see where my place in the pack is. I’m afraid my birthday is going to come and Silas is going to ask me where I’m going within the pack. The horror of saying that I don’t know is really weighing on me.”

Mom’s wheel slows to a stop as she looks up at me.

She reaches over and tucks a stray hair behind my ear.

“Not everyone’s path is so obvious, sweetheart.

Some are meant to heal, some to protect, while some…

” she cups my cheek. “Some are meant to capture the beauty of the world, the moments in time that will soon be forgotten, to preserve our pack's history. Now that is a true gift.”

I look down at the mug forming beneath my fingers. “But is it enough?”

Her finger hooks under my chin, lifting my eyes to hers. Her gaze is steady as she says, “More than enough. Your perspective brings the light to others. Never doubt that.”

I nod, the weight of the anxiety lifting slightly. “Thanks, Mom.”

She smiles before leaning in to plant a kiss on my forehead. “Anytime, Moondrop.”

We work in companionable silence as I work more on my next mug and Mom works on her bowl.

We chat a few times about school, boys, and what’s next for me.

I can feel the tension leaving my body the longer we sit here working on our pieces.

That’s why we love it. We both get lost in the craft and allow the stressors of life to fall from our bodies.

The mug begins to curve in a perfect pitch before I pinch it in the opposite direction creating the lip of the mug.

After forming the lip, I dip my fingers in the water as I smooth out any imperfections before bringing the wheel to a stop.

Using the flat spatula, I sweep it under the mug disconnecting it from the base.

With the modeling tool in hand, I start this tiling pattern that’s been nagging at me since this morning when Mom mentioned coming today.

It uses two different size tiles offsetting each other with one large square and one very small square.

Using the tool, I lightly carve out the larger square, leaving the smaller piece as slightly taller than the piece I’ve pulled.

It takes the better part of an hour to finish the tiling pattern but it turned out exactly how I hoped it would!

Using the crescent moon stamp Mom had crafted for me as my signature on my pottery, I stamp the bottom of the mug before walking it over to the stove to do the first rounds of bakes.

Next week we’ll have to come back for the glazing as the pottery needs several rounds of baking before it’s ready for color!

When I walk back into the room, Mom is just finishing her piece and getting it ready for transportation. I start cleaning up our space by discarding our leftover clay back into the clay bucket for someone to use for their own project.

Mom walks back in right as I finish. “Ready to pick up our last pieces?” She pulls her apron off and hangs it back on the hook. I follow suit.

“Yeah,” I say as I follow behind her.

The studio has a “Take One” spot by the front desk. It’s a place for us to set our projects that we don’t wish to take with us. The policy is you can take an item if you contribute an item to the pile. It’s so we don’t have someone claim all the pieces.

I always place my pieces in there without ever taking a piece. I don’t do pottery for my own collection, but as a way to unwind from life. So, I have no issue contributing each time.

We both walk into the kiln room where we left our last projects, finding them sitting on the shelf ready for us to claim them. My mug has a pretty purple hue covering the moon and stars I covered it in. I even added a glitter sheen as well to feel more like the night sky.

After collecting our pieces, we walk over to the “Take One” Spot to drop mine off. My mom gave up on trying to convince me to keep the projects, knowing it was a losing battle at this point.

After setting down my moon mug, I notice that last week’s piece is gone. Every time that I come over to place a new piece, my last one is never here.

“It’s gone again. Just like the last few times I’ve put mugs here.” I point to the shelf.

She only shrugs her shoulders. “Doesn’t surprise me, sweetheart. They are absolutely beautiful pieces. Anyone would be dumb not to snatch them up.”

Pfft. “You have to say that, you’re my mom.”

She walks up next to me, leaning in before saying, “I don’t have to lie to my child just because she’s my kid. I believe in being truthful and honest with you.”

With that she loops her arm through mine, as we nod to Granny Fern while heading back out the door. I look over my shoulder one more time, noting exactly where I left my mug this time, I set it in the back seeing if hiding it would change it.

We are walking arm in arm down the sidewalk towards home when Mom asks, “What else do you have on your agenda for today?”

Pulling my phone out, I check the time. We ended up being in The Muddy Paw for an hour and a half, now making it 5:30 P.M. “I need to run down to Flash Me Studio to talk with Lou about an idea I have for tomorrow as well as get her advice on how to place the photos. Outside of that, I’ve got to come home for some much needed rest.”

Mom leans her head toward mine in a loving way. “I’ll run by the Healing Den to grab you a different tincture. See if this one will help you more.”

“Thanks Mom.” She gives me a quick hug before we go separate directions. Me, heading down the main path to downtown and her, turning to the hospital.

After hustling down to Lou’s shop, the bell chimes as I swing open the door. Lou’s eyes snap up to me with a bewildered look on her face.

“Whoa there, what’s all the hurry? Somethin’ catchin’ fire ‘round here?”

I huff out a breath trying to slow my racing heart. “No, no fire. I didn’t want to wait too much longer and pottery time went a little longer today than I expected. I wanted to talk with you about an idea I have for the booth and I was hoping you would help me with developing it.”

“Oh, absolutely, honey! Lay it on me! I’m all ears and ready to pitch in.”

“Alright since the theme this year is Legend of the Land, I was thinking we could use my photos to tell a story. But, since I’ve never created a gallery, I was hoping you could help me set it up and select the photos.”

“Alright, I’m with ya. Let’s quit jawin’ and get this thing done.”

Two hours later, we have a concrete plan for tomorrow, the photos chosen, and I’m feeling far more confident about it.

“Thank you so much Lou for helping me! I’m feeling 100% better about tomorrow now that we have a plan.” I check the time on my phone, seeing more notifications from Howlr and Odes floating on my screen. I’m busy reading the text from Odes when Lou clears her throat.

“‘Fore you run off, somebody dropped off a little somethin’ for ya. Said I was supposed to give it to ya. And don’t you even ask, ‘cause your guess is as good as mine who it was. Just found a note waitin’ for me on the counter when I moseyed outta the dark room.”

She slides a pack of film for my polaroid and a bundle of twine. My mouth drops open when I grab the items. Finding a little note tape to each piece.

Flipping the note on the film, it says

S,

Use this film to take photos of your guests at your booth. Add to the legends of the land by capturing memories from the Summer Solstice.

-Your friend in the fog.

I quickly grab the twine and flip the note open for it.

S,

Bound by fate or a bit of twine. Tie together the memories you cherish with this twine.

-Until then

Glancing up to Lou, she simply shrugs her shoulders. With her being of literally no help at all, I slide my phone out of my back pocket to snap a photo of the items and their notes before sending them off to Odes.

She almost instantly texts back.

Odes: Did your wolf stalker break into the studio or is that the hottest support gift ever?

Moonly: Not. Helping.

Odes: Got to give it to whoever it is. This game is almost as exciting as the Moonbinding ceremony. Close but not quite as captivating.

Moonly: Don’t give him any ideas!

Odes: You think he’s hacking your phone?

Moonly: Eye roll emoji. Face palm emoji. I meant don’t put it in the universe. He’s already doing the most.

Pocketing my phone, I pull the items into my arms before waving. “See you tomorrow Lou!” I call over my shoulder as I head out.

As I’m walking down the sidewalk towards home, I can’t help but sweep my eyes from side to side.

Feeling as though he might jump out and claim me as I’m trying to make it home.

The street is glowing with the warm string lights strung from pole to pole.

Thankfully lighting more of the shadows than usual.

I can’t tell if it’s my nerves or if it’s real, but I feel eyes on me again. There is almost a humor to the feeling. As if watching me is bringing them joy and laughter.

“You know, you could just show yourself and save me from the anxiety,” I say in the direction I feel the eyes on me.

As if I can sense the intentions and feelings of the mystery person, I almost feel like they are shaking their head at me. Fucking weird.

Rushing the rest of the way home, I’m just coming up the walkway to my steps when I see another gift from my stalker. This time in the form of an intention stick.

Setting down the film and twine, I lift the stick up to examine it.

Bound in a red tie is sage for clarity, lavender for calming, and rose petals for love.

Anyone familiar with herbs and intentions knows that the red tie symbols protection and passion.

Looking around the stick and the porch, I don’t see a note this time.

Disappointed that he didn’t leave me another clue, I’ll decide what I’m doing with it.

Two can play this game. Tomorrow I’ll put the stick on my table in my booth. Maybe I’ll be able to figure out who it is or at least draw them out.

I’m ready to find you mystery wolf.