That night, the other three celebrated Ganymede joining the Lunites, as they said they would.  They did this in spite of the fact that Nicholas had continued to make it clear that Ganymede was not actually officially part of the Lunites yet.  Dal-Sun and Martim had both said, forget the regulations, she was one of them.  Ganymede wished she could return the feelings of camaraderie, but the truth was that Nicholas had made her question how qualified she was to be there.

She said nothing of the topic for a while, though.  She didn’t want to dampen the others’ spirits during their celebration, and more selfishly, she didn’t want to draw attention to her own incompetencies.  She did her best to smile and say she was having a good time, but in her mind, she was kicking herself for not being better prepared, worrying over how she would catch up to the others.

Once her group was ready to leave the city, though, Dal-Sun explained their next job, and Ganymede took the opportunity to ask what it was their group generally did, what the group’s role was as far as the Lunites were concerned.

“Okay, so… how familiar are you with crystals and their power in relation to the moon?” Dal-Sun asked.

Ganymede rubbed her arm.  “I’ve seen them come up a few times in the stories back home, but it was one of those things where it was hard to tell whether any of it was real.  The stories were too inconsistent with each other for me to believe that they were.”  She looked down at her feet.  “I’m sorry.  Like Nicholas said, I’m not very knowledgeable.”

“No, no, no.”  Dal-Sun shook her head emphatically.  “Don’t listen to that crap he was saying to you.  I mean, he’s right that there’s some stuff you don’t know, but most of it comes from really obscure writings that really only the Lunites are familiar with.  No one came in with knowledge of that stuff.”

“Even then, the veracity of the writings is still relatively unknown,” Arya said.  “In truth, the actions we take are nothing more than experiments, based on just one specific set of theories.  There are others who believe that a different set of theories are more likely to bear fruit.  Our pathway to the moon is still very much uncertain.”

“Right, but Ganymede, you basically recreated some of those experiments entirely on your own,” Dal-Sun continued.  “Nicholas just got his panties in a twist because you didn’t follow the exact path of education that he did, what he’s basing his own theories on.  He’s had his nose up in the air about that for a while, but I’ve never seen him use it as a reason to try to block someone from joining.  I don’t know why he was giving you such a hard time for it.”

“It’s probably because she’s a canine,” Arya said.

That comment hung in the air for a few moments.  Dal-Sun was now pinching her forehead.  Martim was nodding confidently.

“What does that mean?” Ganymede asked.

“He assumes you came from the same educational background that he did,” Arya said.  “Or rather, he judges you for not coming from the same educational background as him.  Whereas for us, he just assumes we couldn’t, and so he feels more inclined to give us a ‘second chance’.”

“God he’s so fucking stupid sometimes,” Dal-Sun said, shaking her head.  “Look, my point is, his opinion on this doesn’t matter.  You’ll become more familiar with all the theories with time, and the actual practical stuff we’re doing is actually very simple.  So to get back to the original topic: crystals.  You need a primer on those?”

“Um, yes, probably,” Ganymede said.

“Okay.  Well, what it comes down to is that we believe our best bet for figuring out how to get to the moon is to focus on the stuff on earth that reacts most strongly to the moon.  Which means… crystals.  There’s a few odd crystals out there that change when exposed to moonlight, they glow or change color or even change shape sometimes.  Some of these crystals are relatively common, but we’ve already studied those a lot and turned up very little.  So we’re more focused on the rarer crystals, especially the ones with more extreme effects.

“We have miners digging in various locations in hopes of uncovering more of the rarer crystals, that’s its own topic.  But we also do our best to find the locations of all unearthed crystals, which are usually in the paws of wealthy people.  We’d like to get those crystals into our own paws if we can, and that’s where special task forces like us come into the picture.

“First, we scour the globe, looking for any information on crystals that we can find.  Just, anything that might be relevant–new mines opened, new museum exhibits, things like that.  Once we actually find something, then we have to figure out the best way to get it for ourselves.  Most of our groups consist of three-person teams, with each person focused on a different kind of method.  If we know where a crystal is, and we know who owns it, our first method of approach is diplomacy.”

“That’s my job,” Arya said, raising her claw.  “I participate in haggling, mediation, trade agreements, anything where communication is necessary.  Our hope is always that we don’t need to fall back to other methods.”

“Realistically, though, we often do, and that’s where I come in,” Dal-Sun said.  “My role is ‘scout’, which ends up meaning a lot of things.  I gather information to figure out what all our other options might be when talking doesn’t work.  It’s also usually my job to actually do those miscellaneous tasks once I figure out what they are.  Of course, I can also do more general scouting and information gathering.  That’s how I found you!”  She suddenly leapt forward and tousled the fur on Ganymede’s head, causing Ganymede to retreat backwards into her chair.  “And then, if all else fails, we have Martim over here.”

“The muscle,” Martim said.  Ze grinned, slapped zis bicep a couple times, and gave Ganymede a thumbs-up.

“So you can see why I thought you’d be good for our group,” said Dal-Sun to Ganymede, “because you’ve already proven yourself capable of all three.”  Dal-Sun counted off the three methods on her paw.  “You gathered information on your own, on various different methods to get to the moon.  You talked your town into helping you with it.  And you built yourself some diamond abs by chopping trees, and showed that you were willing to use that brute strength when shit really hit the fan.”

“That’s not something to be proud of,” Ganymede said, blushing.  “And I don’t think I really talked anyone into anything, in fact I… I don’t think I ever really understood why anyone was helping me.  It’s like they did it on their own.”

“Once again, I say you don’t give yourself enough credit.  Towns don’t just help some random person on a whim like that.  But even if we agree to disagree, you only need one of the three skills to be good for us.  And are you disagreeing that you’re well-versed on moon studies?”

Ganymede’s blushing continued.  She didn’t like being the focus of attention, particularly when being given encouragement, which she instinctually assumed was fake or otherwise undeserved.  “It was something I was proud of for a while, until Nicholas told me it wasn’t enough.”

Dal-Sun slapped both her paws against both of her eyes and let out an especially loud groan.  “I swear I’m gonna throttle him someday.  But for right now, girl, we HAVE to teach you how self-esteem works.  And if you ask me, the fastest road to that begins with some over-the-counter medication.”  She stood up from the table and called out, “Oh, bartender!”

---

“Why are you the one who does diplomacy in the group?” Ganymede asked Arya a few evenings later, when the two happened to be alone in the tent together.

Arya raised a brow at her.  “What do you mean?”

“Well… I just feel like Dal-Sun has done most of the talking with me, since I joined.  Since before I joined.  And she talked the most with Nicholas, too.  Isn’t she always like that?”

Arya sighed.  “Dal-Sun speaks… a lot.  I, however, focus on speaking well.”

Ganymede considered this for a moment.  The idea of speaking at all was difficult to her, so she assumed that the more anyone could speak, the better they were at speaking.  “What’s the difference?”

“The difference is… understanding the meaning and impact that words can have, and reserving the right words for the right moments, where they can have the most impact.”

“Dal-Sun’s words always have meaning, to me.”

Arya sat in silence for a moment before responding.

“It is not that Dal-Sun’s words are without meaning,” she said, “but the way xe speaks is suited only to specific circumstances, and xe understands that, as well.  When I speak, I try to leave room for the other person to speak.  Dal-Sun speaks in a way that fills in all gaps left by the other person.  Some find this lively… others find it oppressive.  I have a suspicion that Dal-Sun finds it useful for both reasons.”

“Oppressive?”

“Yes.”  Arya focused her attention on Ganymede more closely.  “You seem to me to be a naturally quiet person, I thought you might feel the same way.”

Ganymede thought about how she usually felt when Dal-Sun spoke.  From what she remembered, Dal-Sun had been a guide when she felt lost.  She had known what words needed to be spoken when Ganymede had none for herself.  The only times Ganymede had disagreed with her were times when Dal-Sun had good things to say about Ganymede herself, and when Dal-Sun pushed back against that, it didn’t feel like oppression–it felt like encouragement.

“I like hearing Dal-Sun speak,” Ganymede said, feeling a bit of heat rising in her face.

“Ah,” Arya said, releasing her focus on Ganymede.  “I see.  You don’t resent xer approach, you admire it.”

“Do you… resent it?”

Arya took a deep breath and rested her soft chin upon her talons.  “No, I don’t.  Not exactly.  Of course, I can engage in the same conversational techniques if I find them necessary.  It is more an issue of… I feel that one’s default method of speaking says something about the character of that person, of what that person has found to be the most useful method in most circumstances.  And… I have tried to determine what leads Dal-Sun to be the exact kind of person that xe is, but xer method of speaking… shrouds that purpose.”

Ganymede thought back to her hometown.  “I think everyone hides parts of themselves,” she said.

“Yes, of course they do.  And we all have a right to.  But with Dal-Sun, it’s… well.  It’s just conjecture on my part.  I probably shouldn’t even be speaking about it.”

Ganymede’s mind continued to wander towards the past.  “Do you think we should be hiding parts of ourselves?”

“I think it depends.”

“So many of the people I knew from town were hiding things about themselves.  There was this girl who could play music beautifully, but she just… stopped at some point, and barely talked about it anymore.  I think she was hiding other parts of herself, too.  But I wanted to know all of it.  I bet all of it was beautiful.”

Again, Arya spent a moment in silence before responding.  “Everyone thinks different things are beautiful,” she said.  “And very few people genuinely want to show the ugly parts of themselves.  I think people have a right to present themselves the way they wish to.  To create their own self-image.”

“But how many people are convinced that parts of themselves are ugly, when those parts are actually beautiful, too?”

More silence.  Arya didn’t seem to have a response.

“I want to tell people that those parts are the most beautiful parts of them,” Ganymede spoke softly.

“I see,” Arya said, just as softly.

They sat in silence for another minute before Ganymede spoke up again.

“I want to learn to speak better,” she said.  “Would you be willing to teach me how?”

“Hm, me?  Well… I do not think of myself as a teacher, exactly, but you are welcome to join me when we’re on our little missions, and we can see what you’re capable of doing, together.”

“I’m not capable of doing much right now.  I know I don’t speak well.  But I know that connecting with people is an essential part of reaching the moon, so I feel like practicing talking is probably a good idea.”

“Connecting with people… as in, the more people you know, the more resources and skillsets you have access to?”

Ganymede looked at her.  “No, I mean… the connections themselves… they’re how we reach the moon.”

Arya gave her a look of confusion in response to this statement, one that reminded Ganymede of the same looks of confusion she would receive when she spoke with anyone in her hometown about the moon, and it filled Ganymede with such a level of instinctual dread that she decided to drop the topic.

---

“What is your greatest love in life?” Ganymede asked.

Their first job involved speaking with an independently wealthy badger who lived in a large mansion in the middle of an otherwise small town, a well-dressed gentleman by the name of Archibald.  His mansion was home to many artifacts he’d gathered from other people, including the crystal that was the main focus of the Lunites.

The other three Lunites were sitting with Ganymede, too, on the ornate couch facing Archibald, and they all turned their heads to look at Ganymede when she asked her question.  It was a bit of a topic change, but Arya had advised her to stay focused on gathering important information.

“Well now, I love a great many things in this life,” Archibald said, leaning back with his gloved paws folded in his lap.  “Of course the love of my life is my dear wife Louise, but aside from that, I have a love for all things beautiful in this world.  That is why I have collected so many treasures over the course of my travels, you see.  Just to be able to show a glimpse of the world’s beauty to others.  The jewelry of the Begotten Alps, the fine artisanship of the Seven Chasms…”

“You have a wife?” Ganymede asked.  “Can we meet her?”

“Oh, my, no, I only bring her out when the ambient temperature and humidity levels are ideal.  Now, if you would like to see my first wife, who was also named Louise, she has been taxidermied and put on display in the war trophy room.”

The meeting went downhill from there.  Later on, Dal-Sun would acquire the jewel by simply stealing it from him and replacing it with a rock she found outside.  Archibald would never notice the crystal was missing.

---

“What is your greatest love in life?” Ganymede asked.

Their second job involved speaking with another collector of treasures, an eagle by the name of Striker.  Unlike Archibald, Striker didn’t keep his treasures on display, but he advertised his treasures in a catalog he made available to other people, and a crystal had been advertised among them.  They were now speaking with him to gather more information.

“You know, Ganny–can I call you Ganny?” Striker asked, not waiting for a response.  “Ganny, that is a great question, and not enough people ask it.”  He put his arm around Ganymede’s shoulders, a task most people wouldn’t be able to accomplish, but Striker’s platform boots made it possible for him.  “Most people are afraid to think about what it is they want, what it is they really want, because they think it would be impossible to achieve.  For example, what is your biggest, most impossible dream, Ganny?”

“I want to go to the moon,” Ganymede said plainly.

“Ganny, that is–” Striker slapped his knee.  “That is an excellent, excellent example, you know, I applaud you Ganny, most people wouldn’t even think of dreaming big like that.  But you and I?  You and I are different, Ganny.  And let me tell you–you know, most people would say that’s completely impossible, Ganny.  Literally out of this world.  But you know what I think, Ganny?”

Ganymede stared at him.  The others did, too, but Striker had pulled Ganymede away from them at this point.

“I think ‘impossible’ is a made-up word,” Striker said.

“All words are made up,” Ganymede said.

“Yes!  Yes, exactly!  Most people are just talkers, but you and I, Ganny, we’re doers.  So people like you and I know that nothing is out of reach, not even the moon.  In fact, a lot of the people I work with like to say ‘we’re going to the moon!’ just as a shorthand for achieving our dreams.  Because that’s how big our dreams are, Ganny.  But you know, while I don’t see much value in just talking, there’s one word that I think is very important to understand in order to accomplish big things.  Do you know what that word is, Ganny?”

“What?”

Striker nodded and looked Ganymede in the eye with the most confident expression she had ever seen on a person.  “Investments,” he said.

“Could we get back on topic?” Arya said, stepping forward.  “We came here to ask about your crystal.”

“Ah, but it is on topic,” Striker said, turning to face Arya but still keeping his arm around Ganymede.  “You see, the crystal is lovely, right?  But it’s not the one thing you want most in life.  I believe in keeping my eye on the prize, and you do too, don’t you, Ganny?  But just because the crystal isn’t the thing you want, it can still help you get the one thing you want.”

“Right, we need the crystal so we can get to the moon,” Ganymede said.

“That’s exactly right, Ganny.  You know exactly where I’m coming from.  So you take ownership of the crystal, but it’s not for owning the crystal itself.  You hold onto that, then you look for someone else who wants to buy it from you–at a higher price.”

“No, we just want the crystal,” Dal-Sun said.

“You’re thinking too small, Dal-Sun.  Think about it.  You could buy just the one crystal, sure, you could do that.  But where does that get you?  To the moon?  No.  But if you sell that crystal at a profit, then you can buy more crystals.  If you sell those at a profit, then you can buy even more crystals.  Keep that going, and then what happens?”  Striker spread his arms out.  “You have all the money in the world, and you can get anything you want.”

“Okay, how about we just buy the one crystal from you and then we can decide what we want to do with it,” Dal-Sun said.

“Well, see, it’s not that simple.  If you buy the crystal from me, you can’t do just anything with it.  Mind you, that’s for your own protection, see?  These are delicate objects I sell.  That’s why each one comes with a protection guarantee–they will stay safe and secure in the Striker Vault, which is guarded 24/7, ensuring that your valuables stay safe until it’s time to sell them to the highest bidder.”

Later on, Dal-Sun would investigate and determine Striker had no vault, or any crystals, or any other treasures for that matter.  All he had was a list of people paying him money for nothing.  The Lunites submitted her findings to the local community center, then they moved on.

---

“What is your greatest love in life?” Ganymede asked.

Their third job had been to look into another museum, but the crystal there had already been stolen.  Dal-Sun was able to track down the thief, a small yellow otter by the name of Carl, staying in a nearby inn.  Strangely, the otter readily admitted to the theft when she was confronted about it–even before they tied her up–but she refused to reveal the crystal’s current location.

“Oh, you’re gonna try to bribe me now, huh?” Carl said, wearing the same playful smile she’d had for the entire conversation.  “Well it’s not gonna be so easy, sister.  I have very particular tastes, I’ll have you know.  And a rich aunt.  Two, actually.  Two rich aunts.”

“I assume you like crystals,” Dal-Sun said.

“Ehhh the crystal I took was more about the thrill of the hunt.  Actually, I put it somewhere and forgot where it was so I can hunt it again.”

“I’m not trying to bribe you, I just genuinely want to know,” Ganymede said.  “I want to know what you care about.”

Ganymede’s companions all turned their heads to look at her in confusion.  Carl, meanwhile, bit her lip and looked up at Ganymede with glimmering doe-eyes.

“Aww.  Are you falling for me now?” Carl asked.  “Well, I am cute and mysterious.  Oh, and I guess I’ve given myself kind of a rebel vibe, too, huh?  Oooohh, and you’ve tied me up!  Oh wow, yeah, this is a good setup right here.”  She wriggled around in her chair and gave Ganymede a seductive look.  “Yeah, come on, giant buff wolf lady, punish me.  I’ve been bad.  Grill me, drill me, and make me tell you about all my secret hiding spots.”

“I’m not falling for you, I just want to know!” Ganymede said, blushing.  “I just… it’s just something I’m curious about.  I want to know what people care about.”

“Why are you asking this question of this person, right now?” Martim asked pointedly, with a clear tone of irritation.

“Wow, rude,” Carl said.  “Wolf lady’s just trying to bring a little joy into someone else’s life, but just because I’m a criminal someone else has to get all uppity about it.  God forbid women do anything, I guess.”

“Can you please just tell us what we need to do to get you to tell us where you put the crystal?” Arya asked, glaring at the otter and clearly struggling to keep an even tone of voice.

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm one of you has to give me a lil kiss.”

The others stared at her.

“Just on the cheek!  I’m not some kind of pervert.” Carl winked.  “But it has to be the correct cheek, and I’m not gonna tell you which one it is ahead of time.  But there’s four of you, and I have four cheeks, so if you work together I’m sure you can figure it out.”

---

Once the group had located “the secret fifth cheek” and retrieved the crystal, they decided a visit to the bar was in order.  They took their seats there and made conversation about simple things, seemingly anything to avoid the topic of work.  After some time had passed, though, and everyone had a couple of drinks, Martim decided to bring up a new topic.

“Why do you keep asking people what their greatest love is?” ze asked, looking at Ganymede.

Ganymede thought for a second.  She wasn’t sure how well she could explain herself, now that some drinks were in her system, but she decided to try anyway.  “It’s to get to the moon,” she said.

Martim leaned zis head back, looking at her askance, with a critical eye.  “How is it supposed to help with that?”

Ganymede continued to try to gather her thoughts, but it felt like trying to come up with an explanation for why breathing was necessary to stay alive.  She felt herself getting frustrated, but she did her best to keep her voice calm.

“Making connections with people is necessary to reach the moon,” she said.  “I know it is.  It’s the one consistent thing I felt able to rely on in my studies.  Getting to the moon means… it means being able to reach the heart of people.  It means getting in touch with what they’re passionate about.”

The others said nothing, not even in agreement.  They just kept looking at her.  Ganymede felt her frustration rising.

“And I don’t understand how the Lunites are making that happen,” she continued.  “I’m doing my best, I understand that the crystals are important, too.  Well, sort of.  But it just feels to me like no time is being taken to focus on this other, much more important aspect.  There’s so many people in the Lunites, but we’re not talking with any of them, and we go out and we meet so many new people, but we don’t learn anything about them, we just get the crystals and move on to the next place.  Am I missing something?  Are we connecting with people in ways I don’t know about?”

“You want to make connections with taxidermy wife guy?” Martim asked.

“Well, no!  I mean, not exactly.  I just mean… the more distant someone feels, the more I want to understand them.  I don’t want to feel like I can’t understand, can’t close that distance.  It’s the same principle as the moon.  The moon is far away, I want to understand the moon.  I want to get closer.  I don’t want to feel like I can’t.”  She looked into her drink.  “I thought everyone else would feel the same way.”

Martim drank from zis mug.  “That’s not how we do things,” ze said.  “You should probably just sit back and watch us for a while.”

Ganymede winced.  She’d heard the phrase “that’s not how we do things” several times when growing up.  Now it was being said about the one thing she thought she actually understood.

“Ganymede, I don’t want to disrespect your beliefs or your efforts,” Arya said.  “I have my own beliefs that aren’t shared by everyone, too.  But Martim’s right.  Until you have a better understanding of how the group works, and of what we know about the moon, it’s better to just follow our lead rather than just… take off on your own and interrupt our efforts, do you understand?  We’re meant to be working together as a group.”

Ganymede looked at Dal-Sun.  For once, Dal-Sun wasn’t even saying anything.  Wasn’t supporting her like she usually did.  She was just smiling sadly.

“I understand,” Ganymede said, but she was fighting back tears.  She never knew how to explain anything to anyone, not even here, not even with the people who were supposed to understand her the most.  Who she had been starting to believe did understand her the most.  It was just more of the same, more people talking to her like she was stupid, like she was a burden, when she was always, always doing her best to understand and to help.

But this conversation was even worse than the ones back home, again, because this conversation had to do with how to reach the moon.  If there was anything else that she didn’t understand, at home, at school, in her family, in her social circles, it had been okay with her once she started thinking about the moon.  She did understand the moon, she did know what her fundamentals were.  But this new group, which also cared about the moon, was saying she didn’t.  It made her wonder if she really was clueless, even about this, just like she was clueless about everything else that mattered to people.  The thought made her upset, angry, and afraid, all at once.

She spent the rest of the night dwelling on these thoughts.  With the emotional effort required to do that and not let her emotions show on her face, she was unable to concentrate on any of the other topics that her companions talked about.  And so time passed at a painful, unknown pace, and eventually Ganymede found herself walking outside with the others, not quite remembering how she got there.

It was in this moment that Ganymede was bumped in the arm.  She looked to her side, seeing Dal-Sun walking right next to her.

“Hey,” Dal-Sun whispered.  “That stuff you said earlier, about wanting to get in touch with people’s passions?”

Ganymede knew her voice would break if she tried to speak, so instead she simply nodded.

“I think I know exactly what you’re talking about, and I feel the same way about it,” Dal-Sun said.  “I’ll look for a time where we can talk about it some more, but it might take a while.  I’d rather we be in a different town when we do.  Is that okay with you?”

Ganymede was speechless.  She didn’t know how to process this new offer she had just been given, not while the other thoughts of self-doubt were still spinning in her head.

But then Dal-Sun took her paw and squeezed it softly.  And smiled at her.

“Okay,” Ganymede said.

“Great,” Dal-Sun whispered, giving her paw a tighter squeeze before releasing it.  “But let’s not worry about that right now.  I can tell you’re worn out by everything.  For now, let’s head to our room and get some rest.”  Dal-Sun patted her on the back.  “You’re doing great, you know that?”

With that, Ganymede’s thoughts of self-doubt slowly turned to thoughts of confusion intermixed with hope.  After that, after they arrived back at the inn, the thoughts faded altogether as Ganymede looked at the moon outside the window, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.