32. Kiaran
Kiaran
WINTER SOLSTICE…
W hen I was ten, I got to participate in my first Winter Solstice celebration.
Mother let me and Mia stay up all night, the music in our palace was boisterous and made the night feel like the high noon sun.
All members of the Coven were in full garb, the High Table wearing their headdresses while mingling with all the commoners.
Emmin, Leo and I were running around like fools on a major high from all the sugar we’d consumed.
We made a complete mess of the estate garden, picking all of the winter flowers that fit in our little hands and making bouquets for our mothers.
I couldn’t find my mom when we went to give them away so I gave them to Mia, she was thrilled.
Her smile was gapped from her week of losing baby teeth, it was the cutest thing.
The chubby cheeks that only got chubbier when she beamed making it well worth giving her the flowers over my mother.
As upset as mom was about us destroying her garden, she agreed that a bouquet was a great way to celebrate Solstice. So, when I woke up this morning, I left a sleeping Amelie in my bed dreaming of today, and went outside to begin picking two bouquets. One for Amelie, and one for my mother.
After I’d filled my arms to the brim, I found one last pale blue one and tucked it into the center, then went back to the cottage. As I approached, I heard a tone deaf Amelie singing to herself..
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear me,
Happy birthday to me.
It was quiet, almost like she didn’t want to be singing it at all and my heart hurt.
It was her birthday? I never thought to ask.
After your first hundred years, you kind of stopped celebrating it.
Amelie would be twenty-five though. Only twenty-five birthdays in her lifetime so far and she didn’t tell me about it.
As I walked through the threshold, flower petals spilling over, her back was to me but she let out a breath and smoke dissipated through the air in front of her.
“Morning,” I said, interrupting her moment. She turned to face me and behind her sat a small piece of cake with a candle in it.
“Oh!” she startled, trying to move in front of said cake. “I didn’t know you were back!”
“It’s your birthday?”
“No.” She laughed out, waving her hand around in the air at nothing.
“Why were you singing happy birthday to yourself then?”
“It’s uh…” She thought of her lie quickly, though it was a bad one. “My favorite song.” Amelie looked to the ceiling, giving our spirited home a look, clearly asking for help.
“Your birthday is on Winter Solstice?” I asked again, not giving her the chance to avoid it .
“Seems that way,” she admitted. The High Priestess didn’t miss a single fucking detail of the day.
“Why didn’t you say so? We’ve talked about today for… months?”
“My birthday isn’t of much importance as it stands now is it?”
She got me there. I supposed the reason for our conversation around the day didn’t offer much room for celebration.
But now that I knew, we’d be spending every minute celebrating her until tonight.
If anything, it would keep her from spending the day over the cauldron in some last ditch effort to get us both killed.
“Well that’s enough of that attitude. It’s your birthday, let’s enjoy the day.”
“Really, it’s not a big deal. I just want to have this piece of cake and be done with it,” she replied with a hung head.
“We have all day, Amelie. We can do whatever you want. I’m sure we can think of something much greater than just a slice of sugar.” I laughed off the comment but Amelie’s face continued to drag deeper into something more than just sad.
“The cake is more than enough,” she said quietly.
I wasn’t sure if it was even meant for me to hear or if it was to convince herself that it was enough.
A fleeting thought of her little brother crossed her mind, I plucked it the second it appeared.
A little boy’s voice, someday I’m going to make so many cakes for all the birthdays we didn’t get one for.
I took three long strides to close the distance between us, the flowers being the only thing keeping us apart. Reaching around her, I laid the second bouquet on the table and asked Orla to tie up Amelie’s.
Pressing the pad of my index finger under her chin, I lifted it to make her look at me.
A large arrangement of blue and purple flowers bunched in my other hand.
She must not have noticed them before but her sapphire eyes sparkled as she took them in now.
A smile slid across her face as she looked back to me.
“Are these for me?” she asked hopefully.
I nodded, giving her a kiss to her forehead as she bent forward to smell the freshly picked bouquet.
She took the flowers from my hand, setting them on the table behind her before wrapping her tiny frame around my body, a gesture I returned happily.
Since our night on the roof, there had been a distance between us that neither of us knew how to close.
The anticipation for tonight hanging over us had been a rainfall that we couldn’t find each other through.
Holding her in my arms now felt like maybe the rain was dissipating.
It knew that it could be our last bit of sunshine and the world was okay with giving us that.
“I have an idea.” The thought crossed my mind when I heard the little boys voice and without thinking it through, I took Amelie’s hand and led her to her room. She plopped down at the edge of her bed and I opened the chest that sat at the foot.
Rummaging through it, I noticed a new dress.
The pale blue color that I knew she loved, I was sure Orla knew that too.
Pulling it out, Amelie’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
The long sleeves were flowy, the inside lined with a soft fleece so it could be worn in the winter.
It was long enough to graze the ground, the skirt puffed slightly with tulle layering it.
The neckline plunged, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t excited to see that on her. It was perfect.
“Come here.” I stood, draping the new dress over my shoulder and started undressing my girl.
Her once frail arms, now toned with muscle, were raised above her head, I laced each side of the dress over them.
It wrapped around her body, a perfect fit.
I bunched her long locks into my hand and pulled it from inside the dress to let the waves settle across her back .
Wrapping my arms around her front, she tilted her head into the crook of my elbow. “Want to fly again?”
She turned to face me, stars streaked across her eyes in shades of gold. “Yes!”
Amelie pressed a kiss to my cheek and nearly skipped out of the cottage. I called after her, “I’ll be out in a minute!”
I adjusted the knife sheathed in my boot. Before I left this morning, I asked Orla for it. It was stabbing into my ankle but if tonight was going to go how I planned, it needed to stay there.
Grabbing one of Amelie’s loose journal pages, I sat down at her desk and wrote her the words I knew she would need come the morning sun tomorrow.
High in the air above the canopy of the Forest, the palace that ruled her former life came into view.
Amelie’s body tensed at the sight but today wasn’t going to be a bad day.
I positioned us at the edge of the trees before the hole in the Earth that took you right into the belly of the Holleberg ruler’s home.
My short conversation with Al last night playing on repeat in my mind as we regained our balance.
“No,” Amelie said as soon as she got her footing, taking steps back into the brush away from me. “I won’t spend my last day here.”
“You’re not, pretty girl. Come here.” I reached a hand out to her, letting her come on her own free will.
Orla allowing me freedom had given me purpose to use my magic again.
One of my favorite past times in Avonya was sending Mia away through portals I would create, she always came back.
Amelie’s explanation that magic was mostly manifestation gave me confidence that I knew exactly where she would go .
Casting a Witches gate that took the view of the palace away from her, her eyes softened as her tears began to fall. “Do you trust me?” I asked her, still giving her time to decide.
“Yes.”
“Then what is it? Why are you crying?” God, I hated when she cried.
“I’ve dreamed of this. Of you, this.” She waved her hand in front of her at the glowing gate in front of her. “I dreamed of it often before I met you. You always came back for me.” She took a few hesitant steps toward me, slowly extending her hand to meet mine.
“Well, then all I ask is for you to come back for me this time. Call for me when you’re ready.” She took my hand and stepped into my chest.
“You’re not coming with me?”
“No, this one is all for you.” I pressed a kiss to her lips which she returned with fervor.
“I want to spend today with you.”
“I’m trusting you. About having a tomorrow.” I lie, knowing she needs this. “Now go.” I gave her a light smack on her ass earning a giggle from her. The gold in her eyes sparkled at me as I admired my strong girl stepping through the portal to see her family again.