The festivities had already begun. I could hear the beating drums outside our home and the soft yellow glow of the fire cast in through the windows. My face, arms, and back were all painted in green lines that traced and twisted along my body. My whole left side was completely exposed showing off the six wolf prints that trailed up from my hip to my shoulder. I braided pieces of my hair until I was finally satisfied.
I moved from the house outside. I walked down the street a little ways to the edge of the woods where everyone was. The bodies danced around the fire to the loud beats. Everyone was enjoying themselves. I found my father watching over patiently. I moved up next to him and stared out over at the dancing bodies.
"I have a surprise for you tonight," he whispered down to me.
My idea of surprises and my father's never seemed to match just right. I looked up at him. The casting glow of the fire only deepened his tan skin. His dark eyes and dark hair seemed to almost match in this light. He was older and I could see the flecks of gray starting throughout his hair, although no one would tell him that. He put his large hand on my shoulder.
All he had to do was raise his hand and the drums silenced. The crowd of people moved around my father in a circle before sitting down. I joined them leaving him alone in the middle. He took a deep breath and seemed to almost grow in the center of everyone as he took in the energy.
"I felt tonight would be an appropriate night to tell the story of our creation. Before we had become a powerful coven we were merely a town, a small village that lived in peace with nature. But soon the Wolf People over ran us. Their powers were stronger than we could imagine as they could transform by will into monsters that tore us apart. But we were given a weapon of our own. With their arrival came the arrival of the elements. Now our hunters hold these powers within. Hunters," he called.
Four of us rose and made our way to the center. There was Darius, painted red with flames along his wide arms and broad shoulders. His dark hair was cut short and he had piercing dark eyes that seemed to be flecked with specks of golden rage. His temper was like that of a fire, strong and fierce and he was a brute when he rampaged through the wilderness after the Wolf People.
Then there was Ty. He had white paint that puffed and swirled throughout his skinny body. He was small, slender, and with his red hair, green eyes, and pale skin he didn't seem very threatening, but the moment he stepped into the woods his frail, light body moved swiftly. So swiftly in fact it wasn't uncommon to lose him. He became a deadly killer with precise accuracy.
Then there was Divinia. She was beautiful with her golden hair cascading around her like the figure of a mermaid. Her big blue eyes lit up her face and blue paint that nearly matched turned into waves throughout her subtly curvy body.
Last was me. Green paint moved about in trees, leaves, ivy that swirled across my body. I stood next to my father with Divinia on my right. Darius stood next to my father. My father had trained Darius and was his mentor. He himself had once been a fire element, but that was during the generation before us. We were now beginning to train the generation beneath us, although they wouldn't be able to step up for years. They were just barely starting school.
"Tomorrow is the full moon," my father continued with his bellowing voice, "That means without will the Wolf People must change form. It is tomorrow that we send our hunters out." He turned and looked down at me with a smile, "And it is also tomorrow that my own daughter has reached her eighteenth year. With it comes an important promise in our coven. The promise of marriage."
My heart sank. There were many traditions I followed, but there were many I avoided. I was bound to the coven no matter what I had hoped. My blood seeped through their veins as did theirs in mine. I could not escape, nor leave had I wanted to, but at this moment I wanted more than anything to run. Our coven's tradition of the eighteenth year meant I would have been promised to someone. And I knew all too well who my father planned on promising me to.
"I will promise her tonight, this night of celebration to Darius," he turned his attention on Darius now, "She is my everything, and now she's yours." Darius nodded with respect and my father turned his attention back to the group, "Tonight we celebrate!"
The drums picked up again and everyone began to move, but it all seemed to spin around me swiftly. My feet wouldn't budge, my heart raced, and I couldn't seem to focus on anything. A black cloud swept over my eyes and I could feel myself slip back but I couldn't stop any of it.
"Solaris," a deep voice echoed, "Solaris."
My head pounded like the drums around me. The darkness seemed to fade and the bright light of the fire burned in my eyes. I looked up to see a square jaw, dark eyes, and a look I hadn't seen on that face before. It seemed to almost soften.
I pushed out of Darius's lap. I tried to get up on my own but his hands had found their way to my elbows and helped to push me up.
"Don't touch me. I'm fine." I stormed away from the fire not looking back.
"Solaris," a different voice called after me, "Stop."
I froze. The downfall of these powers was the control our coven had over us. My father stepped up behind me and I turned to face him. "You will accept Darius as your husband. That's final."
I nodded as I had no choice but to obey. "I need to go home. I have classes in the morning."
The walk back was dark and lonely and I had nothing to accept me when I arrived home except the thought that my life had finally one-eightied. I could still hear the distant drums, a reminder that none of this was a dream. I stepped into the bathroom slipping out of my sandals and pulling down my pants. I eased out of the little fabric that was our customary wardrobe for ceremonies and into the steamy shower.
The warm water ran green around my feet as I tried to relax and figure out my next move. For years I had been obsessed with one thing, getting out of here. Hunting the Wolf People was not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Finally as a senior I wanted to leave here. Get out and go to college, figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Not end up a healer and stuck here training new hunters for years until they could finally take my place.
I stepped out and wrapped the nearest towel around me. In my haste I hadn't grabbed anything to wear out. I knew my father would still be at the ceremony. I could hear the drums still beating. He would be the last to leave. My house was empty and I stepped out from the steaming bathroom to find myself wrong.
"Divinia," I cried putting my hand to my chest, "you scared me."
"Sorry. I thought you could use someone after that incident," she shrugged.
Divinia and I had never really been close. It wasn't customary for our coven to reveal feelings or grow close to one another. It's one of the reasons my mother left it so hastily. She felt lonely and had no one to turn to. I looked at Divinia unsure of what to do next. We were bred to be killers, our whole lives sacrificed to the hunt, but here she was sitting looking just as uncomfortable as I felt.
"Let's go up to my room. I need to change anyways," I suggested.
The second my back was to her I could feel the cold blade against my neck. Her small hands gripped the handle tightly as she pressed it to my unprotected skin.
"Darius is mine," her warm breath hissed into my ear, "you'll find a way to end this engagement. Fast."
What Divinia seemed to forget was that I was not one to take threats very well. I could feel my elbow hit the fleshy part of her stomach and I spun grabbing her wrist and twisting it feeling the bones break beneath the force I put on it. She collapsed to her knees and stared up at me.
"Divinia, if you ever threaten me again I'll do worse than break your wrist," I twisted it more and watched her writher in pain, "we're hunters. Our code is to protect our own not to argue over small matters that are beyond our control. I suggest you see the healer before tomorrow's hunt and get this fixed fast."
I let go and turned my back to her again and moved upstairs. My room, besides the woods that is, was the one place I felt truly at ease. The green and browns that painted my walls and furniture comforted me and slid out of my towel and into a pair of running shorts and a tee shirt. I moved back downstairs and saw that Divinia had left.
Outside the air was still crisp and cool. I made my way towards the beating drums, but moved off to the right away from them and into the woods through a different path. I let the earth soak into my feet and felt each hard twig, the rough dirt, and the texture of the fallen leaves. I began to move faster until I was running throughout the woods, moving through trees and bushes as if they didn't exist to me because in a way they didn't. They weren't some outside force to me. They were a part of me.
I could hear talking within the woods and slowed down. I didn't want them to notice me. The animals were silent and avoided a small patch. I knew something was lurking there. I found a thick tree and nestled in. I moved into it slowly letting its bark and trunk surround me until I was fully inside it. The strong structure protected me like a cocoon.
I couldn't see while inside the trunk, but I could hear them, muffled, but still audible.
"You're still young," a voice said. I could tell it was a male and he sounded close in age to me. "You don't understand how dangerous tomorrow night will be. We can't control our transformation like normal. Tomorrow when the full moon rises we will shift and stay that way until the moon has set and dawn has arrived."
"I know what happens," a younger boy's voice whined.
"I know you do, but what you don't realize is the Element's will be out hunting us, as we will hunt them. I don't want you near them. You hear me? If an attack happens, which would be rare, I want you to run away. Don't think you can beat them. There're only four of them, but their powers are strong. We beat them in numbers, but if you were to get one on one with an Element you wouldn't survive it."
I eased my way up the tree trunk and when I knew I was near the top pulled myself out onto a sturdy branch. I could see them just diagonal of me. There was the young boy, no older then my future element whom I was training. The other one was around my age. I sat on the ledge just watching as the older boy showed the younger one defensive moves in case he was to be attacked.
"You have to be careful of the earth element. She's one of the stronger ones. She can disappear in out of trees and into the ground and then reappear where she pleases as well as move the earth to help her. She's strong."
I smirked a little letting my ego boost as he complimented me unknowingly I was eyeing them as they spoke. The teaching going on below me reminded me of Matthew, my future element, and my own training sessions. I was working on teaching him to move the trees and plants around him. We were starting with small sprouts and working our way up, just as my mentor had taught me. I watched as they moved around each other. I knew instinctively I could kill both of them, and if anyone from the coven saw me they would be destroyed to hear I hadn't touched them.
I decided it was time to have a little fun. I moved a tree and watched as the smaller wolf hit into it. He stared at it a little confused and moved away from it. The two began their play fight again and I moved a branch a little and put a dip in the earth. The small wolf ended up hurting his paw. I couldn't help but snicker. This was far too easy for me.
"Shh," the older wolf looked around, "She's here."
I slid into the tree and down into the ground. I became the earth. I could feel the pressure of their feet on my soft soil and then I pushed myself up in front of them. The older one jumped into front of the smaller, weaker pup. I just stood watching the protecting stance he took. His eyes practically shone in the dark night. Their golden color glittered between topaz and dark brown. I stepped forward and I could hear his guttural growl.
"So you really think I'm the strongest?" he lunged but I ducked into the soil and back up. "Don't flatter me then try to belittle it, I've had a bad day," I said simply.
"Run Sam!" he shouted.
I turned to see the small pup run but I wrapped a vine around his ankle and pulled him down. I tightened it and kept him put. He wouldn't be able to move until I wanted him to.
"Please, he's only nine," the wolf begged, "Take me. Let him go."
"I thought you wolves didn't beg. Too proud," I moved towards him.
"Please," he pleaded.
His face seemed so soft and sad. He looked defeated. I pulled Sam up and hung him upside down. He screamed out and the older wolf reached out.
"Give me a reason why," I asked simply.
"He's my brother," he sputtered out, "I love him."
The shock made me drop his brother. He grunted but I could feel he was fine. He was willing to die for him out of love and because they were family. My father didn't even leave when my mother took off. No one here would die for one another.
"Is that what the alpha told you? That you have to die to protect the younger generations?" I asked crouching down so I was closer to him.
"What?" he looked confused, "No. No one told me. What do you even mean?"
"So you choose to give your life for him because you love him?"
"Yes, yes, please, just not Sam."
I stood back up. He looked at me oddly. There was so much fear in his eyes, but not for his own life, for his brothers. I was going to ask him what it was like but I could feel the warm heavy feet of Darius moving in the woods.
"Run," I said quickly.
This time he looked at me oddly.
"Darius is coming. The fire element. Run. If he sees you two here he'll kill you," I said pleadingly, "Go!"
They ran off quickly together moving swiftly throughout the forest. I could feel as Darius approached. The animals moved away and the air seemed to fill with a dry hot heat as he angrily pushed through the brush.
"Solaris," his deep voice suddenly said.
I was tucked into the trunk of a large tree. I could feel the warmth hit the trunk and heat up through the core, the soil was warm too. I pushed myself out and he was standing in front of me. Flames started to flicker off his body as ashes and smoke rose off him.
"What on earth?" he asked.
"I needed air after Divinia tried to kill me," I spat.
"She did what?" the flames in his body seemed to build up more. I pushed myself into the soil. "Cut that out. Come out here."
I made my way through the soil up the trunk of a tree and onto a branch where I sat. "You're angry." I called out to him.
He turned and looked up at me. He took in a deep breath and the flames ceased to exist. He moved towards the tree and started to climb it but didn't make it as high as I was. He was too big and the small thin branches wouldn't hold him the way they held me. I looked up at me.
"Yes I'm angry. I'm angry because you won't obey your father and because Divinia is breaking the codes of the Elements. We need to protect each other."
"I don't want to marry you," I said simply.
"Neither one of us has a choice. But if we did I'd be happy to choose you."
I had never seen Darius so vulnerable in his life. I made the branch flick and watched as he fell hard onto the ground. I could hear the thud and I knew it hurt. I jumped down next to him landing softly letting the soil take in the impact of my fall.
He stood up and grabbed me by the arm. "Come on." He tugged, "It's time to go home."
He walked me holding onto my arm the whole time to keep me from going anywhere although I knew I could move away from instantly if I wanted to. As we made our way near the edge of the forest he let go of my arm.
My father was there as we approached the house. His arms were crossed and as I moved past him he didn't say a word. Darius followed me into the house. I lit a green candle and took it out back. I could hear Darius's heavy footsteps follow me the whole time. I sat down cross legged on the ground and I heard my father ask Darius to wait inside. My eyes were closed and I blurred the lines between myself and the ground.
"Focus, Solaris," I could hear my dad say, "become one with the earth. You are the earth."
"Dad," my eyes shot open, "Would you die for me?"
He stared back at me. The look that crossed his face was something I never saw before. It was only for a moment. Such a quick flash that it was there then gone again. It was surprise and shock. He seemed to shake it away.
"What kind of question is that? You have more important things to focus on," he grumbled.
"That's not an answer," I said.
"I am the chief. I don't have to answer to you. And no, as the chief my life is more important. If needed we could easily bring up one of the younger generations. I hear you're training Matt very well."
"Of course," I sighed.
"The town is preparing for your wedding. There will be no classes tomorrow. I want you married before the hunt."
"Yes father," I obeyed against my will.
I fell into the earth quickly, but not fast enough, Father grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back up. His eyes were dark and angry.
"I need you to go in and apologize to Darius for embarrassing our tribe tonight. Then go to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day for the whole Coven."
I stood up and made my way inside. Darius stood staring at the tree painted on the wall. The whole family's lineage was traced along it. I was alone on my branch but soon they would add in Darius and if we ever had children they would be put up there too.
"I'm sorry."
Darius turned at the sound of my voice. He nodded and looked back at the tree. The three was my favorite part of the house. It was large and sprawled against the entire wall. I put my hand against the wall. There was an ivy plant on the other end. I pulled it along twisting it the same way the branches twisted until finally it looked as if the tree were alive. Something in Darius's face twitched. As fast as I had noticed it, it had died out like someone blowing out a candle.
"You should clean this up before your father sees it. I'll see you tomorrow."
And just like that he was gone.
I could make it grow and move but not disappear, so with that I left it and moved up to my room. For once there was no comfort in the browns and greens that normally soothed my aching mind. There was a small corner of my room filled with plants that hutched over and underneath there was a pillow and blanket. My favorite place to sleep.
I crawled in and played with the leaves and the branches amongst me. I moved them and slowly without noticing, the ivy had begun to entangle with my limbs. As it mummified me I slowly let my thoughts and body fall into the leaves and stems and melded with the plants. It was easy to do and my favorite way to lose myself. Suddenly it no longer mattered what tomorrow would bring because it was dark and I was too busy finding myself trying to turn the sunlight the plants had gathered all day into sugars.
"Solaris, Solaris, get out of there," I could hear my father's voice.
I pulled myself out of the plants. It was hard after spending the night there. I had to move slowly and peel myself away like a band aid pulled off of a small child after spending a week on it. Finally I moved out of my small cave, leaves still clung to me and grew out of me but they would soon absorb within me.
"Time for breakfast then you need to go over to the Mason's. Belinin has made a dress for you and she'll prepare you for the ceremony. You don't have much time so I suggest you hurry." And just like that he walked out of my room.
I stretched and got up. I moved downstairs and grabbed an apple and moved out the door. The light outside was blinding but warm and the grass and dirt squished between my toes and under my bare feet. I watched as children played enjoying a day off from classes and training and as the rest of the town set up lights and hung decorations. I moved towards the Mason's house. There was Belinin Mason sitting on the front steps with a cup of tea in her hand like nothing special was going on. She was beautiful once and in her old age you could almost see the figment of the beauty underneath. She waved me over and I stepped up towards her.
"Ah, Solaris, don't you look ravishing this morning. Come on, let's get you ready. We have a whole group to make you look marvelous today."
She stood up and I followed her into the old house. She wasn't joking about the group. There were ten other women there and as soon as I stepped inside they swarmed me. Each had their job. They pulled at my hair tightening it and braiding it and twisting it around, while others worked on my face doing make up before the painting, then they pulled me into the emerald dress Belinin had made and tightened the corseted back until I could barely breathe. They painted green and gold along my arms and chest and back and any place that had exposure. They made leaves and ivies and golden flowers bloom all over me.
After what seemed like forever finally Belinin pushed them away, "Now, let's take it in, ah," she smiled, "there, girl, look at yourself."
She pointed to a mirror and I looked in. I was almost as beautiful as Divinia. My dark hair was braided and twisted and rested along my shoulder, they had placed green and golden plants within my hair and twisted them in. My dark eyes were smoldered with golden make up and the paint that covered my body only helped accentuate the places where the fabric didn't cover me. My arms were bare and the emerald satin dress reached all the way to the floor. I barely even recognized myself.
"Now, we must make our way to the ceremony, ladies you mustmake sure that the coven cannot see her until we get there," Benlinin instructed.
The girls from the coven all surrounded me and we walked. I moved with them easily enough. I had not realized that they had been made up themselves. Not a single one of them was an Element but as tradition held they were each painted with green or red. Most of them were in red, I assumed it was for their love of Darius. Many of the girls within the coven wanted to be matched with him. They thought he was hero with all his wolf prints tattooed across his body, but I knew it was just proof he was a killer.
They moved along and we made our way towards the center of town. They covered me with their bodies an umbrella hung over my head as well. As we moved into center of town I could see the decorations being put up. Vines and candles covered the place. Very rarely were Elements paired. Normally the night was devoted to a single Element but the melding of our two colors and both elements was almost beautiful.
The girls surrounding me began gossiping about school and work and life here. Some of them were planning on leaving the village going to colleges outside of here. Places where they could become doctors or nurses and live in counties without war. But I knew the truth. Any of them would have elements and wolves. No matter where they went they would live a similar life. There was no real way to avoid this life.
They were merely just healers for those who were not elemental. That was all. Living in the city where the war stayed away from. But it was still there. Those cities were merely element cities. Places pushed far away from the wolves territories. That's all.
I sat there waiting as the ceremony nearly began. It was custom for me to sit here waiting. Hidden from the eyes of the entire community and most importantly Darius. He could not see me until it was completed. So there I was sitting and waiting for another two hours as the ceremony was not only finished being constructed but also completed.
After a minute or two I grew bored. I reached my hand onto the soft grass and grew it up a little bit more to make it fluffier. I grew flowers near me that I could look at. Purples, pinks, yellows, and oranges. I couldn't help myself. I grew vines letting them seep into me and out of me, twisting along my body like the painted ones did. I could feel them taking in the sunlight that peeked in and turning it from something solar to something sweet. That was always my favorite. Tasting the fresh sugars that came from the sun.
It was the giggles of the girls that pulled me out of my trance. They had turned in to give the last touches before the ceremony began. They parted a little a Belinin poked her head in.
"Solaris, this is ridiculous. Girls stop laughing, pull the vines off of her. Gently! Gently, now, you don't want to hurt them or her. No stop that leave them in her hair. I like that. It twists more naturally than what you tried to do."
After about fifteen minutes I was cleaned up again and the ceremony was to begin. I was still trapped hidden within the girls as I waited until the end. My father started the ceremony. He traced back our family tree as well as Darius's. I had to light a candle while he planted a seed. Then was the part I had always enjoyed as a spectator. He reached his hand in and pulled me out of the circle.
Watching it and being part of it was completely different. He pulled me out so swiftly I fell into his chest. I looked up at him and I could hear the snickers in crowd. It was so bright after being hidden I couldn't see much around me other than Darius. He was painted red and black flames flicked up his arms and chest. His face twitched again softly, briefly, and then it was gone.
Once the snickers passed and I stood straight up I looked out over the village. This was soon to be ours. Darius would be Chief for marrying me. My father would teach him our ways and customs and how to be a leader. They all looked at me differently suddenly. As if this was something they all wanted. They wanted to be here, be me, marry Darius, be the Chief's daughter, have this life. But I didn't want it. I wanted to run off like my mother did. Maybe find her, but I couldn't. I had duties and no way to disobey.
"Now Darius, with her hand you two will be bound," my father said as he tied around our hands with ribbon making us one. "You are now no longer two people, but instead a single person. A single Element. Protect her, remember your duties towards the village, and remember your duties as an Element. Those are your most important goals in life. Your duties take your top priorities. Never forget that. Now as one you are officially married."
The village cheered and clapped. Drums began pounding as we were now married. The celebration was beginning food was being prepared and dancing and festivities.
Darius looked down at me and untied the ribbon softly, "Tonight we move into the home together."
The home was the house that had begun being built a year ago. A year from my eighteenth birthday. Now it would be ours. Tonight I would no longer live in the home with my father. He would be alone and I would instead share a bed and house with Darius. I would miss my home but leaving my father was not something that I'd miss. Although now I would have to take care of Darius's home as I did my father's before him as well as continue to teach Matthew and study myself and practice my own fights.
"I know we do. We're married," I rubbed my wrist and joined the rest of the village.
I sat at the table for me and Darius and looked around. Divinia and Ty had their own table. This was not only a mixture of a party for us but our own celebration for the hunt. Divinia was in her usual blue, but the dress she wore tonight was so much more elegant. It held tight to her all the way to her knees then flared out. Her hair was wavy and soft around her face as she sat there. Ty was in all white sitting next to her. Both were unpainted. Out of respect they would stay unpainted until the hunt.
Darius finally made his way next to me. The village brought us food to eat as well as gifts for our marriage. I sat silently letting my feet fall into the earth as I wish the rest of me could. We were given a few hours after all the eating and drinking for time to prepare before nightfall. Darius and I walked together silently to our new home. I opened the door and stepped in.
The house was unpainted for now but furnished completely. Beige walls made me uncomfortable. My father had already had our stuff moved. I went upstairs to our new bedroom. The room was dark and I turned on the light. There were plants on one side, my side, the other had a fireplace as well as candles surrounding it.
I moved into the closet, my clothes were there, his also. I tried to pull myself out of the dress but I couldn't do it alone. Suddenly his large hands reached my hips and moved quickly loosening the corset until the whole dress dropped to the ground. I turned around and looked at him. He stared down at me. His eyes moved across my body as he searched me.
I turned around and rummaged through for my hunt outfit. The whole time his eyes never left me. Not as I pulled it out of the closet, or slid into the tight pants and tank top. As I finished I turned and looked back at him. He pulled off of his clothes as well and pulled on a pair of black shorts. Unlike me he also put on a pair of running shoes. We stared at one another in silence.
"I know you didn't want this," he said flatly. He almost sounded upset about that.
"No use trying to fight what we can't. It's happened Darius. We'll make a life here. Continuing our duties to our village."
He smirked. It was something I had never seen on him. Not since we were children. He moved closer to me and I felt his hand move to my hip and his other moved to my cheek.
"You're just like your father, Solaris. You know tonight we could die."
"We could die any night during the hunt. It's not our first time."
His face moved down to mine as his lips touched me. I pushed him off and away before moving past him swiftly out of the closet.
"I'm sorry," he called as I moved downstairs.
I found myself outside in the yard. I pulled trees up around the area and plants. Vines swarmed up the side of our house as I found myself trying to figure out in my own head what had happened. He had kissed me. Shown compassion that wasn't how we behaved.