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Midsummer rites

It is said in the old country that once upon a time the Lord of the Forest chased the Lady of the Moon and when he caught her together they forged her bow. At Athena Academy the final year students have a tradition they call the Hunt. On midsummer night they gather, the girls dressed in owl masks and grey dresses. Each has a quiver of arrows and a bow. The boys come bare chested with antler headdresses.

Alice stands between her friends Fiona and Jasmine. She is acutely aware of the warm summer air on her skin. The night is a relief after the heat of the day. They are gathered in the garden, on the slope above them is the edge of the forest. The night transforms it all casting long shadows and disguising and merging common shapes so that they become other things. Behind them the moon rises and a twitter of excitement runs through the gathered girls. Taking each other's hands they run across the grass and into the forest. Laughing and crashing and then slowing so that their feet fall silently.

Behind the girls the boys have stood patiently chatting quietly to each other. They are bare chested and wear antlers on their heads. Their shadows stretch out distorted before them. They could be trees with clustering branches. The transformation from civilised self to wild being seems to come with the night. Simon feels it as an electric thrill of excitement. They watch the girls run to the tree line and once they are within the forest the boys set out.

For some it is a race, they quickly find a partner and fly back to the school for others it is a chance to tryst. The difficulty is finding the particular one they seek. They are like children playing a vast game of hide and seek. Catching and releasing each other as it pleases. Fiona and Jasmine have made a nest in the braken for each other. There they hide there, forgetting the searchers.

Simon and Alice catch and release Owls and Stags until at last they find each other. Then Alice draws Simon into the dappled darkness under a tree and they kiss. They are aware that not too far away, others have found companions. Owl catching Stag, Owl finding Owl, Stag discovering Stag. For there are many ways of loving in the forest.

It is rumoured that in previous years the faery king and queen have come to walk in the wood at this time. To set aside their differences and tryst among the trees. The students hope to see it for it is considered a blessing but this year they have only the moon for company.

A few students catch no one and they stumble home alone to be greeted by friends. The students think that the teachers know nothing of this tradition not realising that many of them ran the Hunt in their youth. By dawn all are returned to the college and tucked safely in their own beds. Down in New Arden they light a bonfire in the town square and feast and sing into the night. There too the owls and the stags find each other although there they wear no masks.