From The Ashes.

Chapter 44

The next day seemed strangely peaceful after the blizzard. Hana, Dot and I spent a good half of the morning cleaning the debris out of the rabbit cage as Cody kept them all from running off. He was surprisingly good with animals. However, the job didn't take too long and we were glad for it as the sun was extremely bright today and the reflective snow wasn't helping any. It was when we put the shovels away and secured the cage closed again that a man with bright red lipstick came bounding up to us. It took me a few seconds to recognise him looking masculine.

"Andrew!" Dot cried, throwing her arms around him. The man grinned, his hair tucked under a short, spiky blonde wig as he seemed to survey the four of us as Cody clung to my leg. "Is it finally time?" Both Hana and Dot suddenly grinned at me and I had a growing uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"Time for what?" I asked cautiously but I got no reply as Andrew grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards one of the houses surrounding Pack House.

"Time for me to make you absolutely fabulous!" He cried as Dot and Hana giggled. I looked at them for help but they just shook their heads at me, Dot picking up Cody when he began to fall behind. We entered on the side houses and it was like walking into a rainbow, the walls were stacked with brightly coloured fabrics, dress models and creepy looking mannequins but it was to the black and gold fabric laid out on a table in the centre that Andrew pulled me towards.

"Would someone like to fill me in!" I cried as Andrew pushed me onto a stool and started holding the fabric onto my skin.

"This is always the hardest part, I have to somehow design the clothing so that your spirit animal can be painted on without knowing what the animal is going to be." Andrew sighed, glaring at the fabric as though it was it's fault. "You'd think Viria would give me some kind of a hint." He muttered below his breath before turning away from me. Dot and Hana were standing beside me, giggling quietly.

"Sorry, Tera, tomorrows the Winter Solstice and Andrews been on us about getting your clothes designed." I was about to question what they meant when Hana perked up.

"We have traditional clothing we wear during celebrations. It's not really what it looks like but what it's made out of." Hana pointed to the fabric Andrew was handling, which was completely black save for gold embroidery along the edges depicting several different wolves. It looked really quite beautiful.

"I've made it my personal challenge to make sure everyone in this pack is as comfortable and as beautiful as they can be during these celebrations. It's important to me that everyone is as happy as possible, especially those going through the ceremony." He stopped and placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed me. "Of course, I had barely any warning that you'd be one of those people and then you were out cold until yesterday so I've had barely any time to watch you to see what kind of design would suit you the most but no matter, I'll just take this as a new challenge." Andrew turned away and began to cut at the fabric when I turned, wide eyed, at the girls.

"So, I'll be wearing a dress?" I muttered, still completely confused. Andrew instantly chuckled at the comment, shaking his head with an amused glint in his eyes.

"No, if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that you would be incredibly uncomfortable in a dress. Don't worry though, I'll make sure you look like a Queen!" He announced, his face so determined I couldn't help smiling in response. I'd never had clothes tailored made to me before so it was interesting as Andrew started to measure my body. It took him a while but I was glad when he finally let me step off the stool, Hana had been spending the time setting up a little table by the door and it was now that she finally raised her head.

"What colour would be best for her?" She called to Andrew who was scribbling something on a sketchbook.

"A dark shimmery purple." He answered absently as I slipped into a chair across from Hana. Now, I finally saw what she had been up to, the table was covered in everything she needed to do nails with. She pulled a dark coloured nailpolish out of a bag by her feet and shook it as she smiled at me.