Tell No One

Chapter 49

A party? What kind of party?" Kiera hurried to keep up with Analise, who was leading her through the maze of corridors to what she had called 'The Dressing Room'.
"Yes. I've been told to help you get ready."

"Analise, what's it for anyway?" Analise turned to throw Kiera a look over her shoulder, not breaking her stride.

"It's the Festival of Life."

Kiera paused, mulling it over in her head. "Festival of Life?"

Analise took a while to answer, clearly sifting through her thoughts for something.

"Yeah, something of a... annual thing. I guess the best way to put it, would be a kind of... celebration."
"A celebration?"
Analise stopped her stride, before resuming again at a slower pace. "It's something of an annual thing. Once every year, we celebrate the reason we are all here." Analise turned back, a sparkle in her eye as she directly addressed Kiera. "Death, the only constant we have, and the only guarantee in life. It is the end of all things good, but also a start for all things bad. You humans-" Analise let out a small chuckle- "You humans see death as an end, a bad thing." She came to stop at some double doors, and pushed through them, leading them into a room filled with floor length mirrors, and racks overflowing with clothes. She gestured to the chair in front of the mirrors and started styling Kiera's hair. "When the reality is, death is as natural as birth." Kiera watched her hands in the mirror as Analise worked on taming her hair, her hands moving swiftly across the twisted strands.

"But Ana, aren't you... scared about when you finally go?"

Analise laughed, her reflection smiling at Kiera's wide eyes. "I imagine that final fall will be like... like taking off heavy, dirty clothes you'd been wearing for a while and sinking into a nice hot bath. Or maybe it'll be like unlocking the shackles that had fastened you to the floor for so long."
"Do you look forward to it then?"

Analise gave another small smile at Kiera's questions. She was like a child, and against all the mirrors, she seemed so small, so frail against her surroundings. But, Analise looked at the ankh on her neck and took refuge in knowing that she would be looked after.

"No, Kiera, I don't suppose I do. Because whilst there's no pain, no more work, no more suffering... there is none of the good stuff either. Even in this half-existence, there is joy, happiness, there is pleasure, success, love- there are the things that make life worth living. Death is not bad to us- it is only hard for those around us. But that is inevitable."
Kiera was silent as Analise continued the complicated knots and twists needed for what would no doubt be a stunning hairstyle. The words Analise had said hung heavy in the air, their weight almost palpable in the stale air of the dressing room.

"So, tell me more about the festival?"
Analise smiled at Kiera in the mirror, before launching into detail about what it would entail.

*
Kiera hesitated at the arched doors of the throne room where the party took place. She'd attempted to look for Mera before starting, her nerves so frayed she yearned for something as familiar as those dark eyes to hold onto. But, as it stood, she had failed to find him and had failed to be found, so she now had to face a room full of people alone. The dress Analise had picked out for her was a deep midnight purple, so dark it verged on black. The layered petticoats rustled as she walked, but even she could not deny the materials' allure as it caught the light from the candles and revealed that hint of plum.

The back of the dress reached low, cut in a V low enough that the point rested at just the base of her spine. But what gave her the most pause, however, was the neckline. In the half up style Analise had given her hair and then paired with the sweetheart neckline, her brand was on full display. Normally she could hide it with her hair, but today they would be no hiding who she was. She could hear the soft lull of the string instruments seated beyond, the hum of conversation, the twinkle of glasses as they struck one another. The darkness of the foyer would offer her no refuge once she stepped through that door.