Chapter 4

As soon as Father came home and had a chance to clean himself and dress himself in some proper attire, the whole family set off for the celebration. Every year, on the first day of the year, instead of celebrating the New Year like other cultures, ours celebrated the coming out of the young men and women.

The tradition was mostly for the women, and since the young men usually left before their fifteenth birthday (making the pickings very slim), the girls were usually the only ones left to celebrate. And celebrate they did. I had been there only once before, when Ilana and Bryanne had had their coming out, and it had been spectacular, although everyone had ignored me and focused on Ilana and Bryanne, understandably because it had been their coming out, not mine.

But not it was my chance, and I was filled with nervous excitement. So much so, that I completely forgot about the yellow-eyed creature from the night before. Ilana was excited for me, but Bryanne was sullen and silent, pouting that she hadn't gotten to wear Mother's things when she had had her coming out. I knew that she would have preferred to wear Mother's things, but looking back on it, I remembered how she had gloated when Mother had given her and Ilana money to buy themselves their attire, and I smiled to myself. I deserved this chance to celebrate me being me.

The moment we reached the village square, where the celebration was to take place, my two friends, Freya and Naveen, came up to me.

Naveen was dark-haired with chocolate brown skin and twinkling brown eyes. She was often very solemn, but her eyes were always holding a hidden secret, and she often wore a supercilious smile on her face, making you think that you were going to be the victim of some childish prank any moment. She was always looking to defend you if someone put you down, and was often intimidating, especially to the young men. But that didn't deter many of them from asking her out on a date, or from flirting with her. As her family was the only dark-skinned one in the village, she was considered to be an exotic beauty, and was much sought after by the young men. She wore an orange, pink and yellow colored gown, thrown across her shoulder in an exotic manner, setting off her skin and making her dress skin in the firelight. I didn't know how she had gotten a dress made of fabric that melted three colors together the way her dress had, but it looked beautiful on her. On her feet was a pair of dainty pointed shoes, seeming to be made of gold fabric. She had a tiny diamond piercing her nose, and dangling hoop earrings on her ears. Her fingers were covered with rings, at least two on each finger, and on her wrists were numerous bangles. Around her neck was a simple golden rope of a chain, and a second necklace with a strange symbol on it, presumably from her homeland. Around her shoulders was a shawl, made of the same material as her dress, so that it looked like it was part of her dress.

Freya, on the other hand, was lively and spirited. She had blond hair, of a similar hue to the twins' hair, except slightly more defined, and emerald green eyes like mine. Like her name suggested, she was almost goddess-like, in her beauty. Freya was always considered the most beautiful girl in the village, but such complements as she received, and such a high regard from the young men, did not make her vain. On the contrary, she was an ever-humble person, and always on the look-out for a good trait in others, while sometimes putting herself down to make others feel better. Her porcelain skin shone in the dimming light, and both girls' cheeks were red with excitement. She wore a pale blue dress that hung down to her ankles, and a pair of silver-colored sandals. Once again, I knew not where the fabric had come from, or how the cobbler had gotten it that hue, but it was beautiful. Circling her head was an elaborate head-covering, golden-colored and acting like a veil, so that strands of gold hung down her forehead, partially concealing her eyes and giving her an air of mystery and enchantment. She wore no rings, but had a simple bracelet around her writs, with a ring attached to it by a chain. I had seen a similar bracelet the last time the traders had come to our village, and knew it to be called a "slave bracelet". Perhaps this was because the ring was attached to the bracelet by a slender silver chain, and was therefore a "slave" to the bracelet. Freya also wore a slender silver necklace around her neck, with a green gem at the end. For some reason, though the gem didn't go with the rest of the ensemble, it seemed to fit, because it matched her eyes, and set them off to a tee. Freya also wore a pale blue shawl, covered in a silver fringe.

I hugged my friends fiercely, glad they were here with me. It was their coming-out, too, and I knew we were all glad to be going through it together. It would have been terrifying if one of us had to go it alone.

"Come on," Freya said, her voice loud because of all the excitement. She grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the fire. I wondered if she had drunk any ale yet. Often at parties, she had a tendency to sneak herself some, and it made her easily excitable and goofy.

I turned to look at Mother for permission as I was half-dragged towards the bonfire. Mother smiled and nodded, and I took off after my two friends.

"You're going to love this," Naveen said, her accent making her voice slightly husky, but in an attractive way. Some said she sounded as though she was always filled with emotion, but I thought it made her sound refined, and I made an effort to tell her so because she was often ridiculed behind her back about it.

"Love what?" I asked, allowing myself to be pulled along.

"Guess who wants to dance with you?" Freya asked in a singsong voice, her eyes filled with teasing. I pulled out of their grip.

"You didn't," I said, knowing exactly what she meant, and hoping against hope that they hadn't.

"Of course we didn't," Naveen said. "Freya did."

"Freya!" I turned to her, my eyes pleading. "Tell me you're joking."

"When have I ever joked about boys?" She demanded, and smiling, she grabbed my hand again. I wrestled it away from her.

"Please, Freya, you know that I don't want Duncan to know that I like him."

Duncan was Naveen's older brother, and he was extremely handsome. At least, I thought he was. Naveen thought my crush was disgusting and sought out every chance to deter me from my attraction to her brother, without success.

Freya, on the other hand, sought out every chance to bring the two of us together, and therefore was the blunt of many a random insult on the part of Naveen, who was firmly against the match.

I, on the other hand, wanted to admire from afar, but never, ever, come in contact with him without Naveen nearby, because she would be there to stop anything that might start.

I liked Duncan, but was terrified of him. He was at least a foot taller than me, with the same hair, complexion and eyes as his sister. He was also three years older than me, and already a man. He was probably looking for a wife already and probably had someone in mind, other than me.

Freya grabbed my hand again and dragged me towards the fire while Naveen pulled on my other arm to prevent her from dragging me towards the fire. By the time they were done I felt like a Raggedy Ann doll and wanted to collapse.

It was at that moment, at the exact worst time for him to show up, that Duncan showed up, causing both of my friends to drop my arms from surprise, which resulted in me falling to the ground like a cripple, and by doing so making myself look like an idiot. My cheeks burned with embarrassment and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Duncan!" Freya exclaimed, fawning over him automatically as she did with every eligible young man. He wasn't fazed by it because he knew her too well, and he knew that she wasn't really all that interested in him. I just hoped he didn't know I was interested in him, otherwise I really would die, and then that would cause my family a lot of grief.

Naveen grabbed my by my shoulder - knowing without it being spoken that my arms were like jelly- and helped me to stand. I smiled and nodded to whatever Duncan said that was directed to me, but if called upon to remember what he said, I wouldn't have been able to say anything. I was lost in staring into his beautiful brown-black eyes that seemed to be never-ending.

It took me a full ten minutes to come out of my stupor - and that was after he left.

"You are a complete dunce," Freya scolded me.

"I don't try to be one," I said meekly, knowing there was no use raising my voice because she would only raise hers louder.

"Well, you are one!" She declared in an even louder tone.

"Volume," Naveen warned, and nodded in the direction of her brother, who had turned at the sound of Freya's overly-loud voice.

I hid my face with my hand and pretended to be scratching my head. I was sure he was looking directly at me.

"Come on," Freya insisted, reaching for my hand again, "you can't hide from him forever."

"I can try," I replied, trying to wrestle myself from her iron grip. I knew not how that girl came to be so strong, but I was powerless against her. I turned to Naveen for help.

Naveen grabbed Freya's hand and one by one, pulled her fingers off of me.

"Let her be," she said, pushing Freya away. "This is something she has to decide for herself, Freya, and we can't make that decision for her."

Freya folded her arms and glared at Naveen crossly. They were always fighting about something, and seemed happiest when there was something to disagree upon. I wondered what it was that made arguing so appealing to the two of them.

Just as Freya was about to reply, and probably start a big fight with Naveen, the drums began to play, signaling that everyone, especially those who were turning fifteen, were supposed to approach the fire. I shivered, despite the warm night, and paused as I heard a wolf howl.

AN: There it is, chapter 4. Let me know what you think! No flames, please!