The Memoirs of Light

Chapter 2- The Pruchod

Chapter 2- The Pruchod

                She usually never bothered about how the other villagers thought of her. But now, with her Pruchod approaching...well, that changed things. She had always been something of an oddity, yet she was also a child, out of sight and out of mind. As an adult she would be expected to make a place for herself. She would need to give her opinions, blessings, and countless other things. Part of her wanted to sieze this opportunity to be accepted. On the other hand, she didn't want to hide who she was. She was different and they all knew it, so why try and hide the fact now? She hoped with all her heart that coming of age would give her a fresh start with her community. Maybe they would be able to put her differences behind them and finally give her a place among them.

                There were so many other issues swimming around her head that she couldn't name them all. All she really knew was that the whispers of her neighbors, hissing out at her from the shadows, made the yoke across her shoulders feel twice as heavy.

                "Look at her."

                "Who is she really?"

                "Where does she come from?"

                "Those eyes..."

                "That hair..."

                "It's not natural."

                "Not right at all..."

                "She doesn't belong here."

               

                The last one was what hurt Jaylin the most. She knew it shouldn't, but it did. And she knew why: because she believed it herself. She didn't belong. When she finally came to her own door, she couldn't help going straight to the mirror an inspecting her reflection, just as she had done for ten years. The girl behind that glass was so different from everyone else that Jaylin knew that she almost couldn't believe it was her own reflection. Pale blonde hair curled explosively from her head and down her back. How unlike the straight, smooth, dark brown hair of the rest of the community. The eyes that frowned back at her were pale blue, colorless beside the warm, enticing amber eyes of the other girls her age. The other villagers were not very dark-skinned due to the length of winter on the mountain. The usual grayness of the sky and weakness of the sun did not allow for much tanning. But Jaylin's skin was even paler in comparison. She had heard some old housewives compare her to a corpse.

                Maybe it would help if she knew where she came from, who her parents were, why she was so different! But she couldn't remember anything before Caldor had found her when she was eight. She had spent countless hours lying in her little shed, trying to ignore the weight of the dark and remember anything of her childhood, her home, her family. She had imagined what might lie beyond the barrier in her mind. Maybe she had been a princess, cast out by a vindictive step mother. Perhaps a merchant's daughter kidnapped and left to die while her father searched frantically for her. But maybe it was something awful. Maybe she would rather not remember it...

                She sighed at her reflection, the cause of all her worry. But there was nothing she could do to change it. Despite her unusual circumstances, Jaylin tried hard not to be like the silly girls who worried constantly over their appearances. She had far more important things to do, she reminded herself again and went back outside to chop wood for the fire.

 ~~~

The Pruchod came. Jaylin was not ready for it, but it came. Physically, she was prepared. For the past two days she had eaten nothing but grains and drank nothing but water in order to purify herself. She had burned rosemary every night and washed her face in ice water every morning. But mentally, she felt as if she was being thrown off a cliff with no warning.