I took the offerings of food, riches, and drink and buried them in the forest, far beyond the Sacred Gathering and deep in the ground. It was hard, digging a hole in the frozen earth, but the illusion shovel I’d conjured was able to cut through the hard dirt without too much trouble.
“Did it go well?” Kiara asked as I returned to the woods.
“I believe so,” I told her. “I felt King Lycus. I think he liked me.”
“Of course he likes you,” Delmare said. “What about the rest of them?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t get confirmation either way,” I said.
“That’s probably a good thing,” Kiara said. “Lady Alva told me when she made the offering before her wedding day, the altar split in two. She had nothing but poor luck until her husband died.”
“Well, whowouldwant that rotten old crone in their family?” Odette asked. “Certainly not me.”
There was still another ceremony I had to go through before I was able to walk down the aisle, and my friends had to help me with it. We returned to the palace grounds. We shed our cloaks once we entered the beautiful garden that was always springtime, under the allure of a powerful illusion.
Ethan had taken me here years ago, the night we’d ridden the windfarers over the city. The wicker bench and the stone table had been moved to make room for an intricately carved wooden chair, incense holders, a cauldron filled with cold water, and a stone fire pit.
There was already a small fire blazing in the pit. I sat on the chair, while Kiara lit the lavender incense. Odette sprinkled dried rose petals into the water, and Delmare withdrew from her pocket a bottle of Siberian cedar oil.
In many pagan cultures, as well as the Arcanea’s, they had the concept of the triple goddess— the maiden, mother, and crone. The maiden represented youth, virginity, and the freedom of unmarried women. The mother represented fertility, married life, and patience with the struggles and joys of adulthood. The crone represented wisdom, transformation, and powerful magic. The crone was the strongest, as she held the height of a woman’s abilities at the end of her life, gained from all the knowledge she’d acquired over the years.
Tonight, I was stepping away from the maiden stage of my life, and becoming the mother by preparing to marry Ethan.
Kiara faced me. As she was studying to be a priestess, she was leading the ceremony. “Emmaline Sosna, are you ready to grieve for the life of the maiden you are leaving behind, and willing to receive the blessing of the mother you are about to become?”
“I am,” I said. “I let go of my maiden life. With this ritual, I transform into the mother, and become the wife that my family needs me to be.”
“Then let us begin.” With handkerchiefs, Kiara and Odette used the rose water to wipe my face of the black paint, before cleaning my hands and arms. Delmare took a few drops of the cedar oil and massaged it into my hair, muttering an incantation to her goddess, Vesna, in Malovian.
As they worked, I felt sadness wash over me. I was leaving my childhood behind. The semblance of life I’d had while a student at Arcanea University was something I hadn’t lived for a while now, but up until this point, I was still clinging to it. I missed it. I missed the freedom of being unbound, of being responsible only to myself and what I wanted.
And yet… even as the tears welled in my eyes at the thought of what I’d left behind, I didn’t long for it like I had in the past. I’d been a victim to fate, fighting with all my might against the will the gods had for me. Not so anymore. As of now, I finally felt ready to let that old life go, and step into my full potential as a wife and as queen. I was no longer a victim. I was a powerful ruler now, and I wasn’t afraid of the future anymore. Whatever happened, be it my life or death, I was prepared to face it.
As they finished applying the rose water and cedar oil, the girls made a half-circle around me. I lifted my arm to display the charm bracelet Odette had made me long ago, the key Professor Calliope gave me dangling from the end. Gifts were provided by the bride’s friends on the night before her wedding, as a symbol of what she’d learned on her journey to womanhood. We’d chosen charms to add to my bracelet, so I’d always remember the lessons I’d learned during my time here in Malovia.
Odette bounced forward first. She latched a charm of a Celtic friendship knot onto my bracelet. “The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a woman is that friendship is necessary for a woman to survive. The bond between women is just as strong, sometimes even stronger, than the bond between a sorceress and her mate. Love comes in many forms, and one is just as valuable as another. Remember that no matter where you find yourself, you will always have friends there to support you on your journey. All you have to do is be willing to reach out to them with an open heart.”
Odette’s message was so sweet and kind, just like her. I loved how sincere her words were. I knew my friends would always be there for me whenever I needed them.
She moved aside so Delmare could give her offering. Delmare gifted me the charm of a tree, its branches growing in complicated knots until it formed a circle. She said, “The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a woman is that my journey comes in cycles. Let this charm be a reminder that life moves in circles, from one season to the next, and one is never the same as the other. Good times will end, as well as bad, and things will always change. Remember that the cycles of life will continue to teach you as you move forward on your journey. Be willing to honor each season as it arrives, no matter what’s to come.”
Delmare put a hand on her growing belly, and I gave a solemn nod. Lifewasalways changing. Things were even changing between Ethan and I, and they always would. Our relationship wouldn’t stay the same forever, and neither would the relationships between me and my friends.
But they’d evolve and grow, and those cycles would always offer something new to learn, appreciate, and cherish.
Kiara was last. She took a pause, before she clipped on the charm of a seven-pointed star— the star of the fae and a symbol of the Seven Gods— onto my bracelet. She sighed before she spoke. “The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a woman is you need hope to survive. Without hope, power and riches are meaningless. Hope is the thing that keeps us going and that promises life is worth living. It always endures, even in the worst of times. If you don’t have hope, you cannot believe in anyone else, and you especially can’t believe in yourself. Remember that hope will always be your greatest ally, because it drives us onward to do the impossible, and teaches us that you shouldn’t give up on the world, even if the world has given up on you.”
Kiara’s message made me tear up. So many times on my quest as the Worldweaver, I’d given up hope. I thought there was no escaping whatever awful path I’d found myself on.
But however grim things had seemed, holding on to just a shred of hope that we weren’t all damned to darkness had gotten me through it. This war was coming to a head. Things would only get worse from this point out, but if I held on to hope, Ethan and I just might be able to keep Malovia together.
“You are blessed by the warmth and the love of our goddesses. Leave your maidenhood behind, and arise a mother,” Kiara stated.
I got to my feet just as Kiara, Delmare, and Odette used the rose water to put the fire out. The smoke filtered into the air and I raised my head to the sky, finally feeling ready for whatever was out there for me to face.
I felt… different. I was a changed person again. And I would continue to change as life cycled onward, so long as I had hope and friendship to guide the way.
“Yay!” Odette clapped her hands eagerly. “Now for the fun part!”
