Page 77 of Tales of Earth and Leaves

A burst of noise followed the announcement, with cheering, tears of joy, whistles and claps, each of the faeries using their power to show their excitement and happiness, some even made sparks in the sky and others started fluttering their wings so fast a slow hum echoed in the air.

“Prince Ansgar will do the honours,” Father announced as he took a step back, joining Mother and Vikram, leaving me in front of the dais with the couple.

A goblet of the blessing liquor passed into my hands. I took a moment to analyse the content whirling in the silver cup, I had never seen it before and its list of ingredients was kept sacred and passed from healer to healer, only females were allowed to help and participate in the making of the elixir.

My inner scholar took a few seconds to analyse it, but my nostrils, although well trained, could only sense honey, moon rock water, waterlily and silverweed seeds, though the list of ingredients contained, probably, the sum of a hundred. Only one left to complete the potion, so I pulled out my dagger and made a cut in my palm, only about an inch wide. I clenched my fist and allowed the blood to drip into the brew, all the while willing my energy to accompany the drops and flow into the goblet.

Mother had asked for a drop, two to make sure, but I would not gamble my brother’s child’s so I made sure the glass was full when I passed it to Takara, more than half of the mix containing the essence of the last born of the family.

“Lady Takara, sister, I offer the mark of our generation, and with the blessing of our mighty goddess, I welcome your offspring into the kingdom,” I uttered the words both Takara and Mother had asked me to say back to them about a hundred times as we walked into the crowd. She thanked me and took the silver finished goblet from my hands, surprise flickering her eyes at the amount of blood I had dripped into it, then nodded in appreciation and eagerly drank the whole thing, taking big sips as she breathlessly finished the mix.

“Let the celebrations begin!” the King urged. He stepped forward and woke the crowd from the trance they had been enveloped in, witnessing the ritual.

The rest of the family joined us and congratulated both Takara and I for the brilliant execution of the rite and the powerful marking of my chosen symbol. We hugged and joined the festivities, held a toast for the newest member of the family and admired the dancing crowd from our selected seats at a table placed on the podium.

“Are we going to have some fun or what?” Vikram finally spoke. It was unusual for him to refrain from comments, especially snarky ones on special occasions, but tonight he had been reserved and kept to himself most of the time, more concerned with the crowd than the evening’s events.

“You go first,” I invited, reading fascination on his face.

“Seen someone you want already, brother?” Damaris joined the teasing while Takara remained very engaged in conversation with the Queen.

“I am more concerned with finding our little brother a special someone tonight,” Vikram teased.

“I don’t feel like dancing,” I pointed out and turned to Takara, trying to infiltrate myself into the conversation.

“You must dance at least once, son. It's tradition,” Father insisted and I sighed, knowing he was right.

“Come, I know someone you’ll definitely like,” Vikram snatched my arm and almost pulled me from my seat.

I wanted to pull away and reclaim the position, but Mother urged, “It's best to get it over with, son.”

“It’s one dance, Ansgar. Five minutes and you’re back. I promise not to eat all your peach goodies,” Takara prompted, taking another bite of the pastry for emphasis.

“Come, brother,” Vikram continued to drag me from the podium and into the crowd, as I muttered my disagreement. By the way he had been piercing through the mass of earthlings, he seemed to know exactly where he was going, though we had to stop many times to greet faeries, lords and ladies, friends and former tutors and were asked to dance by many females. Vikram politely rejected them and continued to drag me to the farther tables, those occupied by visitors and distant families.

“Why can’t I just take one and dance?” I asked Vikram who continued to drag me through the cheerful crowd.

“Trust me brother, when you see this one you will thank me.”

“Aha,” I muttered in disbelief but continued to follow him until we reached a table where a few females gathered together around a fruit sculpture, laughing and picking at the pieces.

I stared at them, then at Vikram, throwing him a surprised look that said,Why does it have to be this particular table?until he introduced himself and broke the crowd.

“Excuse me ladies,” he made his presence known and all of them turned their attention to us. My spirit trembled, my attention fixated on her, scanning her from head to toe to make sure what they were reflecting was indeed, real.

“Lady Anwen, meet Prince Ansgar,” Vikram announced as Anwen,my Anwen, stepped closer to us and bowed.

Whatever this was, whatever she and Vikram had done to infiltrate the party, I did not care as I took her in, my breath skipping. I looked from her to Vikram, who threw me a self-satisfied grin, then back to her, not believing my eyes. My brother cleared his throat, reminding me of the need for a private conversation.

“Dance with me,” I addressed Anwen and before she could even breathe an answer, I took her in my arms and started swirling her around, her blue dress forming waves of colour in our way, until we reached several couples that were already engaged in the song.

I pressed her body tightly to my own. One of my arms took hers and the other remained draped on her back, making sure to feel and reach for her, without raising suspicion from the crowd. Even though I saw and touched her, some part of me remained wary, urging me to hold her in place from fear she might evaporate into thin air.

“How?” I whispered into her ear, ignoring the music and the dance steps we were supposed to follow.

To my surprise, she fitted quite well into the multitude of faeries, considering this was her first visit. She looked almost regal, dressed and adorned in finery, chatting politely with the other fae and able to hold conversations without unveiling herself to them. The only part she struggled with was the dance, her feet stumbling more than floating and stepping onto my toes on more than a few occasions. I was not much help either, since I held more concern with her presence than the actual movement.

“Follow my lead, relax your feet,” I whispered, completely disregarding my first question as I spun her around and took charge of the dance, joining in the other couples and performing the intricate movements Mother had forced us to learn since we were younglings. At first, Anwen’s eyes widened, a shocked and slightly scared expression built up on her face, probably confused by my sudden decision to actually move. She stared at my feet, focused to copy my every step, until I released her hand and gently touched her chin, raising it to face me.

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