Chapter 146: Threads of light
I woke up with a soft smile and a light heart that morning. Soft dawn humming drifted through pack house halls as sunlight flooded like liquid gold across cold stone floors. Today, for the first time in history, my head was clear of duty's weight or the persistent hum of the talisman around my neck. There was just the promise of a new day, a day of promise and untroubled pleasure.
I dressed quickly in my training robe, cold fabric soothing against my skin, and braided my hair into a thick plait that fell down over my shoulder. The talisman thudded more slowly, its familiar insistent rhythm slowed by morning calm. Hope grew in my mind, a still conviction that today was to be for touch, laughter, and the warm joy of friendship.
Before long, Calista and I arrived at the training field. The sun shone its bright beams upon her determined face and the curve of the derisive smile as we began our lesson. Our blows blended into a beautiful ballet, each blow, each parry and dodge a demonstration of the passion we had for mastering our craft. The wind was cold, and the distant bird songs in the morning were a soft orchestra all around us. We were immersed in training vocabulary, a combination of magic, movement, and common language, for a few hours.
My spar was warm but bountiful. Calista guided me with her good-natured teasing challenges and gentle reprimands of where to place my feet. "Hold your balance, Althea," she rebuked, her words cutting but soft. "Your thinking is interfering; let the rhythm of the air guide you." And so, in our dancing together, that anxiety of my worries melted like the mist in morning.
Later in the morning, after training, I went to meet Calista and Rowena at the pack garden for breakfast.. Overhead loomed the old sycamore, its branches arcing down to throw cool shadows upon a long, weathered wooden table, covered with a mismatch of ill-matched cups, a jug of herbal tea, and a table of freshly baked bread and fruits of the season. The garden filled the air with the light fragrance of flowers in bloom and the soft chirp of early birds.
Rowena was already seated helping herself to a cup of tea and some fresh bread when I got there, her hard face easing into a mean grin. "Good morning," she said with a caustic tone to her words. "I expect both of you here every day. No more going astray and getting lost in your own little worlds.”
Her declaration roused a chorus of good-humored groans from Calista and myself. We sat down, and in a minute or two the garden was filled with the cheerful clatter of holiday reunion. As we drank tea and ate, I experienced the same bubbly elation which had so long been denied me. Clinking cups and low murmur of voice formed a soft background to our presence, when our fate cast its weight upon it.
Laughing even more intensely in between, I could not possibly help but look at Calista with the intent to tease her mercilessly . Cleaning my mouth with a napkin and with a twinkle in my eye, I casually asked, "Calista, did you eventually give Leah the necklace?”
Rowena gasped in delighted astonishment, moving forward almost as if to snatch each word from the air. "That’s true! Did you give it to her? Did she like it? What was her reaction like?” Rowena fired question after question.
Calista gave a dramatic frown before breaking out in a happy grin. "I think she liked it, she asked me to put it on her immediately."
Laughter spilled across the table, and later on I valued ever more these tiny, inconsequential moments, where each shared smile and each joke jest interwove the warp of our amity. Recollection of wild laughter, of secrets and stories shared over cups of coffee, chased away the burden which from time to time had seemed like crushing me.
After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and went about our separate activities. I went down to Leah's room, a serene room where I always felt nothing but serene and inspired. I opened the door, and immediately I noticed something that made me happy : Leah was wearing the very same necklace and bracelet set Calista had bought at a stall the day before. The delicate pieces caught the soft light from the window, and she had this almost-mythical aura about her.
"Leah," I teased, drifting into the room with a smile on my face, "you need to explain to me as to what is going on, because it appears that Calista's jewelry has fallen into your lap. Learning how to adjust yourself to the good things in life, aren't you?"
A rose flush danced across Leah's cheeks, and she cast a swift, blush-colored look downward. "It isn't that…." she began, but I detected a small sadness blended with the flush in her eyes.
"Hey," I said, sitting beside her. "What's wrong?" I spoke softly, a sincere worry creeping into my tone.
Leah paused, her eyes skittering back and forth with the seriousness of what wasn't being said. Then she took a deep breath and let her gaze drop to the bracelet on her wrist. “My mother, when she was alive, she'd talk and babble on about how my mate would be a strong and handsome man, so ideal, a legendary hero. And here I am now, in love with a woman. Sometimes I'll find myself thinking about how she would feel about it if she was alive.” She spoke with a voice heavy with both yearning and sadness, and I could see the vast inner struggle that stained her otherwise serene face.
I stretched out and held her hands in mine, trying to comfort her in the best way that I could . "Leah, your mother loved you for you. I know that, at a distance, she'd be proud of the strength and beauty you bring to the world. Love isn't bound by expectation, it grows in its own beautiful way. That you’re in love with a woman doesn’t make you any less of a person, I’m sure that your mother’s guiding spirit will be happy with you." My words were soft, a balm meant to mend the fissures of doubt in her heart.
Leah's weak, sorrowful smile faltered, and in a moment the sorrow in her eyes gave way to something almost unrecognizable as acceptance. We sat there in silence for a while, the stillness between us humming with the unspoken knowledge that our own life had been all entwined with joy and sorrow.