Caught Between Two Mirrors
'Dear Selene,
How are you, precious? I hope your father is acting responsible for once. He has always been so childish. But you're not like him at all, you're very mature, Selene, especially for a sixteen year old girl. Tell your father not to lead that Caravan anywhere dangerous. Although I know he won't listen; that's the way he is. Not a care in the world. Someday, your father is going to come to a rude awakening.Anyway, Selene, I heard of a very good human magic school that is much more satisfactory than the "gypsy" one you currently attend. It's called Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore is headmaster, and that famous boy, Harry Potter goes there, you know. I'm going to try and set it up so you can be a student there. It's a boarding school, so you'd stay in the same place for once and meet polite, respectable children your age. It's in Britain, so on holidays we could spend quality time together.
Keep your father out of trouble.
Love,
Mamma'
Selene sighed as she put her mother's letter on her pillow. Why was she always asked to keep her father out of trouble? That's too much. Why was her mother constantly forcing her into these human schools? She'd have to learn English then, and she much preferred the Gypsy language the whole caravan spoke. And in a human school she'd stay in the same place, day after day.... She'd wilt, wilt like a flower. Selene looked in the mirror.
Her light blonde hair flowed down her back, and elegantly leaned against her face, showing off her sparkling amber eyes.
In her eyes, she saw her father.
Her hair and lips showed her mother.
She doesn't entirely resemble her father, or her mother. Even her looks do not favor either one of her parents. She loves them both. It's equal. Then, why does it seem...she has to choose between them?
"Selene?" Her father's voice met her ears. "What are you doing, honey?"
Selene quickly looked at her mother's letter, lying open on her pillow. It would deeply hurt her father if he read it. She snatched the note and stuffed it into her skirt pocket. Selene's father poked his head into her tent, his long black hair spilling neatly over his shoulders, and his amber eyes warm, as always.
"Are you going to come help with dinner?" He asked, smiling.
"Yes."
"Okay, hurry up and get your Siri on," He winked playfully.
She heard the dying autumn leaves crunch under her father's feet as he walked away. Selene, distracted for a moment, wondered why he had instructed her to wear the caravan clothes. Was it a special day and she had just forgotten? She looked down at her white, rather large, long sleeved peasant blouse, and flowing red skirt, the jangling beads around her neck, wrists, and waist. She smiled at this gypsy look, despite her mother. Gypsies used to be well respected, with their great talents for music, magic, and fortune telling. Their longevity exceeded that of humans, and some people considered them elves, though they were very similar, both having pointed ears, but at the same time, they were extremely different. But something changed. The humans' respect had vanished like snow on a hot morning. That's what she had been told.
A loud crack interrupted her thoughts. She looked out her tent window at the autumn forest. The golden leaves were falling, covering the ground with a natural carpet. The grass was growing brown. The flowers were wilting. The flowers were wilting. What a great omen. Maybe she should practice her tarot cards like Madam Maguchi said....
CrackSelene heard footsteps, not far off. An especially loud crack sent some birds that had been perching in the dying trees a flight. She popped her head out of her tent,
"Jaggers, is that you?"
"I think it is," a smooth voice answered. "Or else-," Crack "-I'm someone else-," Crack "-and I don't know it." Selene giggled and crawled all the way out of the tent.
"Where are you?" She asked, standing and brushing herself off.
"I am where me is."
"What are you doing?" She asked, walking into the trees and following Jaggers' voice.
"Getting-," Crack "-firewood."
As Selene rounded a corner, she spotted him. A young man with long brown hair kept in a loose ponytail had his foot on the trunk of a tree and his strong hands tightly grasping a large branch. He pulled, and crack, the branch broke off.
"You could help, you know," Jaggers said, touching the tip of Selene's nose lightheartedly with a rather dirty finger.
"I'm helping cook," She giggled. "And I'm not strong enough to carry all of that."
"Sure you are!" He said, picking up a large pile of wood. "Carry this, Sel."
Before Selene could protest, Jaggers dumped it in her arms. She swayed slightly under the weight.
"See, kemeo? You have many hidden strengths..." He chuckled, picking up a pile twice as large as hers. Selene giggled again. Jaggers was about eighteen years old, and as long as she could remember, he called her "kemeo" or "dear one" in English. As she tripped and scrambled down the path back to camp, Jaggers broke into a song, the story of Prince Amroth of Mirkwood and Cellile of the Eagle Caravan. It took place back in the old times of Middle-Earth, Cellile was the daughter of the man who was in charge of the Eagle Caravan, and Amroth was the second son of Thranduil the elven king of Mirkwood. They married and had a baby girl. Although, too soon, interrupting their happiness, Cellile dies of poisoning given by a vengeful goblin. Amroth nearly dies of heartbreak, but his young daughter Maple, keeps him alive. At thirteen Maple was kidnapped by goblins, and after a year of searching, she was presumed dead. A strange tree grew over her grave, and in respect, they named it "Maple". Later, Amroth is killed in battle when a strong group of orcs break into their camp. Three weeks later, Maple is spotted crossing the Misty Mountains, heading back to Mirkwood.
"I've always wanted to hear a song that told more of Maple's journeys," Selene said thoughtfully, when Jaggers' song had finished.
"Really? Well..." He said, stopping for a minute. "We could write one. Perform it for school."
"I cannot write music, Jaggers," She said, smiling.
"I'll help you. Our song will go down as a mistaken Elf song, it will be so beautiful!" Jaggers cried out dramatically. They both laughed.
"Jaggers!" called Fabian, waving a hand eagerly. "Hurry up!"
They dumped the wood into the fire pit.
"Oh, Selene!" Madam Camoli cried sounding greatly irritated, wiping one of her crazy blonde curls out of the way of her flashing blue eyes. "Get in your Siri! You're going to be late!"
"Sorry Madam Camoli!" Selene apologized, running back to her tent. In her tent, Selene carefully unfolded her Siri. She took a moment to admire the blouse, which was also peasant style, the beautiful weaving gold thread, and the Wolf Caravan symbol, a wolf's head with bright yellow eyes in the middle of a large full moon. The long sleeves of the blouse flowed over the wrists very elegantly. The long wavy skirt was the same color as the shirt, a brilliant shade of dark blue, with sparkling beads and beautiful interlacing strands. Selene pulled on the clothes, then her shoes, and the Comtri, the special jewelry. Her favorite part of her Siri was the earrings she got to wear. It had stars and different colored hearts; the beads were in three rows, almost going down to her shoulders. Selene admired herself for a minute in the mirror as she put her make-up on. She wore fancier beads around her waist, wrists, and neck. They jingled fittingly as she made her way back to the fireside.
"So, what is happening tonight?" Selene asked her father as she sat down in between him and Jaggers.
"You'll see, kemeo," Jaggers said, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a very tight squeeze.
"Jaggers knows and I don't?" She piped up, trying to break free from his grip.
"Well, he's almost of age," Selene's father said, patting Jaggers on the back. Then he leaned forward, as though trying to tell him something he didn't want Selene to hear and said in a loud whisper,
"Consider marrying Selene, will you?"
"Father!" She shoved him playfully and Jaggers laughed lightly, though his cheeks were quite red.
"What? Jaggers would be a very good husband for you!" He said, hitting his chest with his fist. "Almost of age, getting good grades...he's on my heels, going to be head of the Caravan someday! Just keep up the good work in school."
School. Selene felt as though she was shaken awake. "I'm going to try and set it up so you can be a student there." Hogwarts. She snorted disapprovingly. She didn't want to go to a silly human school. But she knew she would end up going. At that moment, Selene hated Hogwarts more than anything in the world.
"Kemeo?" Jaggers poked her shoulder gently. "Do you want me to do your kitchen duty for you? You don't look well."
"No, it's alright..." Selene leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "I need to talk to you after dinner."
Jaggers looked slightly puzzled, but shrugged. "Alright." Selene stood and busied herself by chopping vegetables and unintentionally agitating Madam Camoli.
"I heard that there is going to be a visitor tonight," Emma, an auburn haired woman whispered as she came over to put ingredients in the cooking pot.
"Really?" Selene asked, looking up.
"Of course," Emma replied. "Why else do you think we are in our Siri?"
"Is the Bear Caravan visiting again?" Juno asked, wrapping her dark hair into a bun.
"I don't know," Emma replied, stirring the soup. "Jaggers wouldn't tell me."
"Did he tell you, Sel?" Juno asked, accidentally putting much too much spice on the chicken. "He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"
"Jaggers is not my-oh!" She cried, sucking on her now bleeding finger that she had accidentally cut with the knife.
"Be careful, Selene, we don't want you to chop off your fingers!" Madam Camoli bustled around, gathering the dishes and utensils. "Juno! That's too much spice, too much- Richard!" She exclaimed in surprise as Richard Atheling walked out of the surrounding forest.
He stood tall and proper as always, with his Siri on, and his long dark hair was kept up loosely with a white ribbon (the style Jaggers imitated). Uncle Richard always seemed to carry his head high in some sort of deep righteous pride, the reason of it (if, indeed, there was one at all) a mystery to Selene.
"Uncle Richard!" She cried cheerfully, abandoning her chopping (leaving it to magically slice itself) and running up to him. Selene squeezed him in a tight hug.
"Selene!" He said proudly, kissing her gently on each cheek, then pushing her a little backwards so he could get a proper look at her. "You look beautiful. How have you been doing? Keeping up your grades?"
"Me? How are you! You are living with humans, and they-,"
"Selene, hush," Madam Camoli interrupted, giving Richard a quick hug.
"Being prejudiced is ignorant."
"I'm not prejudiced!" Selene replied indignantly. "Humans can be-,"
"Is it? Yes, William Atheling's boy! There you are!" Fabian said, stomping up to Richard and trapping him in a head-lock, therefore throwing his regal-air out the window. Fabian was a very tall burly, strong man with a bristly beard and long tangled hair. Richard was a tall man also, around 6' 2", and Fabian still had to look down on him. Selene was strongly reminded of "Little John" from the human tale, Robin Hood. She had been required to study it for one of her classes.
"Just in time for dinner!" He chuckled, finally releasing Richard after ruffling his extremely neat black hair.
Richard was Selene's father's brother, who often visited the Caravan but preferred to live in one place. He was rightfully the head of the Wolf Caravan, being the older sibling, but her dad told her he had decided when he came of age to live with the humans.
"Times have changed," Her father had explained. "Most of our people wish to settle down, live with the humans, and visit their Caravan when it comes by."
"Selene," Madam Camoli motioned for her to come. She was holding a plate of food and Selene knew what was coming. Holding in a groan on reluctance, she walked over.
"Take Madam Maguchi her dinner, will you?"
"But Madam Camoli, Uncle Richard has just arrived and I always do it!" She protested, although still taking the plate.
"Nonsense!" Camoli snapped, handing Selene a jug of steaming herbal tea.
"Now be a good girl and take that poor old woman her dinner!"
As soon as Selene turned her back, making her way toward Madam Maguchi's gypsy caravan, she rolled her eyes and let out a great sigh, her last remaining protest to, once again, taking "that poor old woman" her dinner. Why couldn't she come out of her old hole and eat with everyone else like a normal gypsy? After all, they did have a guest....
It was true; Selene always took Maguchi her dinner. Even though she hated it, she did it anyway. So...maybe it was her fault she did it all the time.
Madam Maguchi lived in a caravan, off to the side of everyone else. Selene's father, being the head of the Caravan, slept in a caravan, and there was room for Selene also, but she preferred the tents. When she had asked her dad why Madam Maguchi lived in one, being of no high gypsy level in the Caravan, he paused, than told her they gave it to her out of respect. (Although Jaggers still believes it was just because she was irritating).
By now Selene had approached the caravan Madam Maguchi never came out of, always locked in there with the curtains closed, hardly speaking to anyone. With the exception of the mornings. In the morning, Madam Maguchi would fling open her curtains, burst out of her caravan door and sing at the top of her lungs, dancing around the fire pit. Back when they were children, Jaggers would come in and he and Selene would sit in her tent, giggling as they watched her dance. Now, Jaggers joins her, singing along with Maguchi, laughing lightheartedly and starting a fire. Many things have changed. Other than the early, early mornings Madam Maguchi would burst from her caravan, she hid away from the day.
"Do you think she gets enough sunlight?" Jaggers asked Selene awhile ago, when they were sitting in her tent as the stars awoke in a violet-black sky.
"I don't know," She replied, hugging her knees to her chest. "Her morning parades can't give her enough sunlight to keep away..." She hesitated, not sure whether she should say what she was thinking. Jaggers on the other hand, seemed to have asked that question for the mere purpose of finishing Selene's sentence with,
"Rickets?" An amused glint was shining in his silver blue eyes. Selene felt herself pull a face, and Jaggers laughed, touching the tip of her nose.
"Madam Maguchi?" Selene called, knocking on her caravan door. All that met her ears was the sound of the doe, grazing nearby.
"I have your dinner, Madam Maguchi. Are you hungry?"
The purple curtain covering the window in the caravan door fluttered, and for a moment, Selene saw a pair of pale gray eyes, peeking at her from behind large glasses. She hoped that was the signal to come in, because she opened the door and went inside anyway. As usual, it was very dark in the caravan; the only source of the light was the soft pink glow of Madam Maguchi's, now cloudy, crystal ball, her most precious possession, which sat on the small round table. Out of the darkness, Selene could barely make out her many shelves, which held different shaped bottles, books in other languages, countless shawls, bandannas, and photo albums. She nearly dropped the plate of food when she felt a light touch on her shoulder. She involuntarily jerked around, to meet Madam Maguchi face-to-face. She always wore her Siri, and she was an old woman, being shorter than Selene, though it was hard to tell her age, with the beads strung through her long gray hair, and her large earrings. Her eyes gave her way, though. The shade of her eyes was a pale gray, the color making it look as though even the tone of her eyes were tired out, ready to end the day, or perhaps, ready for a new coat of paint.
"Oh!" Selene cried, in surprise and relief. "Madam Maguchi, I brought your dinner..." Madam Maguchi took the plate without a word. She knew it was coming; Maguchi's infamous awkward-silence-stare. She raised her eyebrows, and stared hard at Selene. Selene tried to smile, but when the utter awkwardness really set in, she found it impossible to make her lips move against it. After a long minute and a half, Madam Maguchi, seeming pleased, gave Selene a satisfied smile as her eyes softened.
"Sit, young woman, sit," She said cheerfully, waving her hand toward one of the two chairs at the small table. Selene let out a deep breath; the worst was almost over; now Maguchi would take her through her lecture of crystal balls. Apparently, she found it that anyone that came within ten-feet of her was asking for a lesson in Fortune Telling. Fortune Telling was one of the magnificent arts of gypsies, and therefore, the "Seers", or Samagers in their language, were greatly respected for their craft.
"Now," Madam Maguchi started, taking a beautiful dark wooden box from one of her shelves. "We must prepare..." She sat down across the table from Selene and opened the box. Inside, lay carefully folded, a lovely white handkerchief, with weaving symbols sewed into it.
"Gently take the Ambashine from the box-," with great care, Maguchi unfolded the handkerchief. "And softly rub it on your hands. Softly, do not use the Ambashine as a common wash towel, which you use to simply dry your hands... No, the Ambashine is used to predict the future, see the truths of the present, or reveal the secrets of the past..." As superstitious as it sounds, the Ambashine was believed to enhance Fortune Telling, to open your "inner-eye". Selene remembers her father's lesson; the creation of the Ambashine went far back into history. After using it, Maguchi slowly folded the handkerchief again and placed it in the box. She rolled up her sleeves, and held her hands over the crystal ball, closing her eyes; she took a deep breath,
"We do not have time to go into the future, so we will observe the present. But first, you must become 'in-tune'..." Madam Maguchi paused for a minute or two, and then opened her eyes again, staring deeply into the softly glowing crystal ball. Her light eyebrows came together in slight confusion as she whispered,
"Two mirrors...two mirrors in the darkness...." She stopped again, staring into the ball, her hands frozen above it. "A blank...colorless bird, sitting on a branch, between two nests.... Two flowers, both different colors...wait. There is one in the middle... which is no color. You are being pulled between something." Selene realized Madam Maguchi's eyes were on her now, looking saddened.
"What is pulling you apart, my dear?" She asked gently. Selene didn't know what to say. She could not find her tongue; it was so true, it was so true, she wanted to tell, and yet something held her back.
"You must speak, lighten this burden or it will continue to wear down your sweet little heart." Selene's gaze fell to the floor.
There was silence, and again Selene heard the sound of the doe grazing nearby.
"Speak to the one you trust." She looked up, and thankfully, Madam Maguchi's eyes were back on the crystal ball, her eyebrows coming together again, this time in concentration.
"A wagon..." Maguchi paused and leaned back in her chair. Selene watched her, and for a second, it seemed her pale eyes became as cloudy as the crystal ball.
"It is broken! The wagon is broken...." She said after a while, comprehension and success on her face as she leaned forward again, placing her hands back over the crystal ball. "Much luggage is piled...too much for it to carry. The wheels are broken.... Ah, this must be Jabara... Poor boy..."
"'Jabara'?" Selene found herself thinking aloud. Madam Maguchi seemed not to have noticed, her eyes still glued to the crystal ball.
"A mouse.... No! A rat. A rat in gypsy clothing!" Her eyes narrowed. "Someone is planning to betray the Caravan as we speak.... A rat stands for dishonesty, dear. Especially a wolf...a wolf is much more severe. Remember that.... Now it is a toad..." Maguchi gave a small gasp. "My...in an instant...it is a prince...."
Never before had Selene taken so much interest in Fortune Telling, let alone Madam Maguchi's lessons.... But she found she could not look away or rise from her seat. They both sat there for another moment of silence, though, for once, not awkward. A rat...a toad...and a prince...what does it mean? She hoped this wasn't going to appear on some Pop Quiz on Monday.... Selene was brought back to reality when she realized Maguchi had leaned in and was staring intently at her.
"You will soon encounter a man who is not what he seems...." She whispered, putting a finger to her lips, and waving a hand to the crystal ball, which was now glowing gold. Selene stared at it as the figure of a man became clearer. She could only make out his face and gentle gray eyes. Although, in a split second, they changed to angry, dangerous, yellow slits...like a wolf.
"His voice may be gentle, but his touch is poison," Madam Maguchi whispered, taking a hold of Selene's hand. "Beware the wolf in man's clothes."
"How-how will I know...?" She asked quietly, stuttering slightly. Maguchi sighed and leaned back in her chair. After a moment of silence she said,
"Well, my dove, I believe that is enough for now...."
"But-,"
"Selene!" Madam Camoli's voice could be heard. "We're giving your dinner to the wolves if you do not come now!"
Before she knew it, Madam Maguchi had pushed her to the door. Selene realized it would do no good to continue questioning her. Once she made a decision, it always stood strong.
"Thank you, Madam Maguchi," She said. As she opened the door, Maguchi said softly from behind her,
"Now is a time when you are caught between two mirrors. You find yourself at a fork in the road. You feel you must choose. Do not, for you must spread your wings and fly. Make a new road." Selene stood still, and her hand shook as it clutched the door knob.
"It is frightening, to make a new road. No one knows what lies at its end. Speak to the one you trust. Good day!"
Before Selene could even think, Maguchi's door slammed behind her and she found herself standing outside, staring absentmindedly at the autumn scene. Soft singing met her ears as the sound of footsteps drew closer.