The dressing room was warm and smelled too much of the jasmine pine that my mother had gifted me. It was meant to bring relaxation and calmness but at this point, nothing could.
Mara was behind me, working silver pins into my hair with the focused expression she always got when she was doing something she's set on . Cessa sat on the edge of the vanity table swinging her legs, talking about nothing and ironically everything. I could say her excitement was the most obvious in the room .
Petra stood a little apart from both of them, holding the mirror so I could see the back of the gown, and every now and then she would tilt it slightly to the left so the light can reflect on the purple stones arranged elegantly on the dress.
But I kept looking at myself.
Not out of vanity– my mother had made sure I grew up without that. I just couldn't quite believe it ws finally today.
The gown was bright, red…my least favourite colour but it was tradition so I wasn't alowed to change it. Still I and my friends tried to make it mine by adding some contrasting stone colours to it and the result was simply enchanting.
Everything was going perfect, just like I pictured it, but somehow, I couldn't just get the cloudy feeling in my head away.
"You keep making that face," Mara said, catching my eyes in the mirror.
"What face?" I smiled, pretending like I had no idea of what she was talking about.
"That face. Like you're waiting for something to go wrong."
I opened my mouth to argue and then closed it again because she wasn't entirely wrong. It was an old habit.
I had spent so many years preparing for this day and although I know exactly how it's suppose to go, my mind keep bringing forth the question " What if" " what if something goes wrong"
"Nothing is going to go wrong," Cessa said, in the definitive tone she used when she was sure about something. "Tonight is going to be perfect. You're going to walk out there and touch that stone and Aric is going to mark you and then you're going to be Luna and we're going to eat and dance until our feet hurt and it's all going to be perfect."
"That was an awfully long sentence," Petra pointed out
"I had a lot to say."
I laughed, and Mara's hands stilled in my hair for a moment as if she was contemplating if she should hit me for moving my head or join me. But it seemed like she chose the latter as she began laughing too and Petra joined in and even Cessna made a small sound that was close enough to a laugh that it counted.
This was us. This had always been us. The girls had always been with me since diapers days and I couldn't be more grateful that they are with me right now– the very most important stage of my life.
I was just like them, young and full of life , but I was going to be Luna. Tonight. It'll change a lot of things, I was well aware. But it wouldn't be so bad if I had these three with me. Plus my mate, Alec.
As if on summon, tge door creaked open and a all too familiar blonde head popped in. Our eyes met through the mirror and although I wanted to tell him off for coming to see me before the ceremony, which was forbidden. I couldn't, seeing how anxious he looked.
Behind me, Cessa let out a quiet giggle, and Petra's expression shifted into something almost amused. Mara's hands dropped gently from my hair, lingering just a second on my shoulders before she stepped back.
"Well," Petra said, setting the mirror aside with deliberate care, "I think we've done all we can here."
"Mm," Cessa agreed, already slipping off her seat. "Anything else would just be in the way."
Mara leaned closer as she passed, giving my shoulder a light but definitely threatening squeeze. "Try not to undo all my work. Dont make me haunt your ass down" she murmured.
They made their way to the door in an anguishingly slow pace and it was obvious how deliberate they were about it. Especially with the suggestive look each one of them gave me before shutting the door finally.
Leaving only I and Aric in the room.
"You're not supposed to be here," I said, but it came out softer than it should have, without any real intent to send him away.
"I know." He didn't even try to argue it. His mouth curved slightly,"I tried not to come."
That made me laugh. "That sounds like you made a very serious effort."
"I did," he said, and this time there was a hint of something lighter in his voice, like he knew exactly how unconvincing that sounded. He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could feel the warmth of him without him touching me yet. "It didn't work. I couldn't stop thinking about you and how you'd look stunning in the dress".
I raised an eyebrow playfully " And….are you disappointed?".
He blinked, before leaning in " No baby…I'm speechless". His gaze moved over my face, slower now, like he was taking the time he hadn't allowed himself before. "You look…" He hesitated, exhaling through a small, almost embarrassed smile. "I had something better planned than this."
That's disappointing," I said. "I was expecting a massive speech."
"I know. But what can I do baby, my brain has stopped working properly the moment I saw you." His eyes flicked up to mine again. "You can pretend I said something impressive if it helps."
"Yes you did" I said, but I was smiling now. This was exactly the man I was to spend the rest of life with and I won't have it another way.
Something in him relaxed at that. Not completely, but enough that the tension in his shoulders eased, enough that when he finally lifted his hands to my face and drew my face closer to his, it felt natural. Just like how it always felt. " Are you ready?".
"Mmmn. Always". His lips grazed mine again and all the doubts and fear that filled my head vanished
—————
The whole pack was assembled under the open sky by the time I walked out.
They stood in their circles, ranked outward from the centre, and the torches lit all their warm amd familiar faces .
I had grown up among these people. I knew most of their names, knew which children belonged to which families, knew who were the loudest and the quietest . These were my people. After tonight they would be mine in a different and more permanent way.
The sacred stone stood at the centre of everything.
It was old. Older than anyone living could account for—a single slab of black rock that had been in this clearing for as long as anyone could remember. It was said to have fallen from the sky, as a gift from the moon goddess herself.
The surface was looked smooth and when you approached it, it begins to pulse. A soft silver light from somewhere deep inside it will shine to meet you, it brightens the closer you got. That was how you knew that you had been accepted by the moon goddess . That was what I was taught.
It was already pulsing softly as I walked toward it. The crowd parted and I walked through the middle of it and I felt Aric just behind me.
Everything inside me was moving. I was so full of something I didn't even have a proper word for it. Joy, maybe. Or relief. The particular feeling of something you have been doubting, finally happening.
I walked the last few steps alone.
It was tradition. The Luna always approached the stone alone first, made contact alone, a private moment between herself and the goddess that would confirm her Accra . I had been looking forward to this part. This specific part.
I reached out with both hands.
My fingers touched the smooth surface of the stone but never in a million years will I be prepared for what happened next.
My whole body shooked as a deafening sound came from within the stone. The ground below it shook and I would've stepped back if I was not too terrified to move.
Crack
Right at the centre of the stone, a crack appeared, spreading slowing to the bottom. Black and thick omniomous smoke curled out from the crack gap, wrapping round my wrists.
Was this supposed to happen. The elders never said anything about this….
The Oracle screamed, frailing from her wheeled chair and falling to the floor.
The pack erupted.
The noise hit me all at once and I couldn't separate any of the voices, shouts, children crying and the wheezing sound of the smoke curled around my wrist. I couldn't even hear my own screams.
It was like I was in a trance.
But once it went quiet and the smoke retracted into the crack, everywhere went pin dropped silent.
I had been looked at my whole life. I had been prepared for the pack's attention, trained to bask in it without shrinking. I knew what it felt like to have hundreds of eyes on me.
But this was not it.
I looked back at them and dread settled in my chest. The way they were looking at me was different. The warmth was gone from it. What was there instead was something i recognised even though I had never had it aimed at me before.
Fear.
I found Aric's face. I had always been able to find his face without trying, in any crowd, from any distance. I found it now.
And I wished I hadn't.