The Daughters of Danu

Chapter 4

Aruna 

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The sun had just risen, its face still slightly hidden behind the pink clouds of dawn. It took its time to awaken from its own slumber, as it stretched its rays across Airre, enchanting the land in a soft yellow glow. It lit up the floor of the twins bedroom, highlighting the crooked floorboards and casting dim shadows across the walls.

The light moved across the room and rested on Aruna's face. Its brightness caused her eyes to flicker open slowly. As her vision adjusted to the morning, Aruna sighed and stretched her arms above her head. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and stepped into her slippers. Aruna wiggled her toes and quickly glanced over at her sister's bed. She smiled to herself. Aurora was still fast asleep. After her success yesterday at using her new sleep spell on their mother, Aruna had decided to try it again on Aurora to ensure she had a good night's rest. Her sister deserved a good night's rest for once. Aruna laughed quietly, no mad dreams of two moons had occurred last night.

Their mother had awoken from the spell after a couple of hours of sleeping deeply on the velvet sofa of the enchantments room. Her face had held an expression of extreme confusion at first and she did not understand how she had fallen asleep in the middle of their magic lessons. But after Aurora had broken the news that Aruna sent her into a slumber to test her abilities, their mother's expression quickly turned from confusion to anger.

It was the next day, just one day left until the twins eighteenth birthday and the Mother Earth Ritual, and Queen Raina was still not talking to Aruna after the incident. Aruna didn't mind however, she loved to be alone and craved the moments in which she could sit in solitude and not have to waste her energy on others. She had craved these moments a lot recently, due to the constant hustle and bustle of the castle as servants rushed from place to place, preparing for the twins' birthday celebrations. That was why she had decided to wake up early this morning in order to have one last moment alone before the celebrations began. She wiggled her toes one last time and then headed towards the bathing rooms to begin her morning of peace.

Tonight there was to be a ball in their honour. Their mother had invited all the noble families from across the kingdom to attend. Aruna hated dances. She generally considered herself to be an outgoing person but not when it came to making small talk with strangers. Tonight she would be forced to smile politely at everyone she made eye contact with, to answer stupid questions about different types of ball gowns and what her favourite type of flower was. Aruna did not know what her favourite flower was and she did not care to invent an answer to satisfy others. The only thing that Aruna thought was worse than the small talk was how she would be expected to dance with all the eligible men in attendance tonight. Aruna made a face as if she was going to be sick. She hated dancing. She made a mental note to stand on as many toes as she could tonight.

She reached the bathing room and sank into one of the pools, not caring if it was warm or not. She allowed herself to float without the judgement of Ida. Aruna continued floating, not thinking, gazing up at the paintings on the ceiling until her head hit against the side of the pool. She sat up and rubbed it lazily, staring out at the water. And as she felt her eyes fog over, she noticed small waves forming in the pool. They reached her, hitting softly against her chest and spraying her face with small water droplets. Aruna let the waves get bigger and faster until they washed right over her head and spilled out onto the bathing room's floor. Then with a blink, she nulled them, the water returning to its still complexion once more, with barely a ripple on its surface.

She exited the pool, wrapping herself in a large towel and headed towards the vanity room. There, she towel dried her short hair until it was only slightly damp and frizzy from the friction of the towel. She parted it down the middle and then grabbed two hair-ties and created two low hanging buns at either side of her face. She smiled at herself in the mirror, just how she liked her hair, out of her face and not annoying her.