Alpha's Divine Commandments

Chapter 8

Retracing my steps back through the maze, holding the front of my skirt as I extend my leg out, bending, and then hopping up onto my tippy toes. It remained quiet as I walked back through the final hedge gate. The path was clear of anybody else, surprisingly. Gradually pressing my back to a tree, looking up to the leaves. Deeply sighing, this day was truly a blessing. Cinea herself was a blessing. I couldn't imagine how'd I handle myself if I had accomplished even a quarter of what she had these past centuries.

The wrens from the fountain zipped past, my head rolling to follow their direction. It would have been almost an hour by now. Picking up my pace again, I hurried back to the meeting point.

*~*~*

"There you are, you dilly tart," Lilyan scolds, hands upon her hips. She stood by the same table, waiting for me. Something was different. She had a daisy flower chain threaded through a tight braid. Her hazel locks pulled from her face, pink stains plastered on the apple of her cheeks. Even her lips had color painted over them. I bring my thumb to mine, biting my thumbnail yet careful not to chip it. Holding my tongue, I said nothing about it as I took a seat on a chair beside her.

Yet as soon as I sat, she scooped up my locks and undid my hairdo, copying that of hers, adding fresh flowers. Tucking bell flowers into each slot of a detailed waterfall braid, my red hair waving down past my waist. "Trust me alright," She whispers into my right ear, looping two pieces into rings and folding them into the back knotting.

"What did I miss for this to be a requirement?" chuckling, I lean back into her hands at work. Brushing the final parts neatly down my back, Lilyan clasps my hands and pulls me from the seat. "Come see," she said smiling like a Cheshire, dragging me to an array of colorful tents. She parts one flap, pushing me in first. I stumble forwards, a heat flash hitting my cheeks, a burning sensation in my throat as smoke wraps around me.

Gob smacked inside the tent sat seven Eastern girls in the middle of dressing. Lilyan slips in behind me Clapping excitedly, "We are going to dance Eden," she squeals as if we were children. "Dance? Lilyan. We aren't allowed to take part in." I'm cut off as a strip of fabric was tied around my waist quickly. The orange satin embroidered with golden threads, the two end pieces falling by my side.

"Come on, if we dress the part they won't be able to say." Lilyan loops a similarly toned shawl over my shoulders. Sometimes I think Lil is more of a troublemaker than I am.

Nodding my head, The other girls give us all a smile, one coming over and tapping my cheeks with a tinted powder. "I'm Nena," the girl greets, pressing two fingers to the skin above my cheekbones. "Eden." I shyly reply to the kind words. "Don't be scared, it's enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Just watch us and copy once you feel up to it." Nena carries on to explain that her villages' elk were migrating early. Which is why the seven of them were here as the herd rested? Most of the eastern she-wolves were a lot stronger than other packs' she-wolves. Their rules allowed women to train as scouts, hunters, and even lead warriors into different territories.

The group passing through the Kingdom had 18 travelers. The seven in the tent with us were their village protectors, passed down like mother, like daughter. A few of them brought along their pups, a hands-on method of teaching of sorts. Nena was the youngest being 24 herself, unmated, and under mentorship with one elder traveling with them.

"Woah no, that's a big no," I backed off as one girl brought out a petite but very sharp stone. The one who held the stone had already slashed 4 gashes down the sides of my gown, my leg hair prickling as she came closer for another cutting. "You'll move better," was all she said, tearing the hemming of the gown clean off. I brush my fingertips down the side of the exposed flesh. The slits stopped at mid-thigh while the actual gown now sat just below my knees.