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“I suppose I should be the gentleman here and offer you a room to yourself.” He didn’t sound particularly thrilled about it. Kasha beamed at him.
“You’re the best.”
“I know. You are all very lucky to have me.” Dossidian smirked back.
“Alright, your rooms are this way.” Rhyalla glanced back at me and Kasha. “If the two of you would like to borrow something to wear tonight, come to my rooms before the sun sets.”
Kasha glanced at me excitedly.
“Ooh! I never get to dress up.” She beamed.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t so thrilled. Rhyalla’s current outfit didn’t leave much to the imagination. If what she planned to dress us in was anything similar, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I would be. I didn’t love the idea of wearing something in public that put my scars on full display.
However, Kasha looked so excited, I kept my reservations to myself.
42
Rhyalla showed us a large tree that branched out from the center, enough that there had been space to build three separate structures. They were accessible to each other by rope bridges that had been tied together with vines.
“This is the only one with two beds, it’s a little tight,” Rhyalla apologized, showing Amon and I to our room. Kasha elbowed Dossidian.
“I guess you and Rycon are cuddling tonight.” She joked. He glared at her, before making his way across the bridge to drop his bag in his room.
“He can sleep on the floor,” Dossidian called through the open door.
Rhyalla wasn’t kidding when she said it was tight. The two beds were small and crammed against each wall. There was maybe four feet of space between the two. I was grateful suddenly we had been invited to participate in the night’s events. Using this room to do anything but sleep would not have been fun.
“Which one do you want?” Amon asked, and I glanced back out the door to see Kasha enter her treehouse. I could see she had a much larger bed all to herself. I felt a pang of jealousy. Sighing, I threw my bag on the bed on the right side of the room.
Soft notes of music began to drift through the trees, and I noticed the change in quality of the light around us. Kasha bounded over the bridge adjoining our tree houses and grabbed my arm.
“Let’s go to Rhyalla’s to get changed,” she said excitedly. “Are you guys going to dress up too?” She asked, looking at Amon, who was still standing in the small room, eyeing his tiny bed critically.
“No,” he said, with an amused look on his face. “But you two have fun. Can’t wait to see what she puts you in.” There was a suggestive tone in his voice that made my face flush. If I hadn’t been thrilled about the idea of dressing up before, now I definitely wasn’t.
“Ok, we’ll meet you guys at the pyre!” Kasha chirped.
Before I could make up an excuse, Kasha grabbed my arm and dragged me off.
I had been right to be worried. When Rhyalla greeted us at the door my heart sank. She was absolutely stunning, but again, there was great deal of skin.
A delicate gold chain hung over the gentle curve of her hips. It was the only thing that held up two sheets of white linen that covered the front and back of her body. More gold chains with feathers and thick wooden beads draped over the linen, swishing and dancing every time she moved.
She had swapped the animal hide bandeau for a white linen one that was embroidered with tiny beads that sparkled in the setting sunlight. She had also woven feathers throughout her long dark hair and painted her body with whorls of red paint. The paint traced up the long uninterrupted line of flesh from her ankle to her bandeau.
“You look stunning!” Kasha beamed, and Rhyalla smiled back at her, cheeks turning slightly pink.
“Thank you,” she said, moving aside to let us in. “I have a few options for you two laid out as well. Raven, for you I went with black. Kasha, I wish I had blue for you, but most of our dyes are made from ingredients we gather from the forest. Blue is particularly difficult to find. I thought this sunset color would look nice though.” She led us to her bedroom and gestured to two nearly identical outfits laid out on the bed.
“I’ll let you get changed, then help you with the paint.”
“Eeek! This is so fun!” Kasha trilled, nearly skipping to the sunset orange pieces that had been laid out on the bed for her. I tried to shove down my anxiety. I had never had girlfriends. If I was being honest, I had never had any friends at all. I didn’t want to put a damper on Kasha’s mood and refuse to participate, no matter how uncomfortable I felt. I gathered up the black pieces of linen and turned my back to Kasha while I changed.
“Turn around, let me see!” Kasha begged after I had finished. I turned to look at her, doing my best to school my expression into one of excitement.
“Holy shit, you are fucking gorgeous.” She gasped. “How do you feel?”
I looked down at my body, and my scars, which were very exposed.
