Phoenix

Robes

Night came as inevitably as it always would. Ash slunk into the common room, hoping she wouldn't have to explain how she got the red welt on her cheek. The room was quiet. Everyone was in their dormitories getting ready for the night's festivities. Everyone except Apple, who was waiting for her on one of the plush red couches.

"You got your robes!" she said, racing over when Ash appeared. Ash noticed she was dressed in her usual silver robes, but her hair had been carefully parted to one side and braided with a wreath of fresh daisies. Her cheeks sparkled with a fine powder, her eyes were lined with charcoal to match the raven shade of her hair and her lips had been glossed with some kind of sticky substance.

Ash tried to turn her head to hide her swollen cheek in the shadows.

"What happened to your face?" Apple said.

"Got stung by a bee."

Apple cast her a long, searching look. "That sucks. Well, luckily, I know how to hide it." She dragged Ash by the arm. "Let's go to your room. Your new robes are on your bed. Ollie got his too. He's been going on and on about it. Saying how boys are better than girls and all that. Now that you've got yours, I can tell him he's full of shit."

They entered Ash's room and Ash's stomach dropped as soon as she saw the carmine robes neat folded on her bed. She should've been excited to be taking the initiation. Instead, she felt sick. Apple, oblivious, began fussing with her hair, separating the notorious strands and letting them fall in layered waves that covered her swollen cheek. "I'll be right back."

Before Ash could protest, Apple disappeared out the door and returned with a wooden jewellery box filled with a strange assortment of clips, pins and lotions. She set to work, clipping Ash's mane into place, clucking approvingly as each knot was tamed.

"You're very pretty, you know. A touch of bronze here," she patted a fine chalky substance on Ash's cheeks, "a bit of shape there..." she plucked Ash's eyebrows and slicked them over with a waxy resin that smelt of tree sap, "and voila!" she finished off with a smudge of charcoal across Ash's eyelids and stood back. "Beautiful."

Afterwards, Ash's nails were cleaned and filed with a stone, the dry skin around her elbows softened with beeswax, her eyes spritzed with lemon to make them sparkle and her lips rubbed with chilli seeds to make them red and plump.

"Now all you need is your new robe," Apple said, standing and making her way to the door. "Come out and show me when you're done."

Alone at last, Ash ran her hand against the carmine bundle on her bed, watching it furrow under her touch. She picked it up, shook it off and watched how the silk fabric shimmered in the light. Slowly, she peeled off her silver robes like she was peeling off a second skin and replaced it with the new one. The fabric was finer, softer, and form fitting. So perfect that when she moved, she barely felt it slip against her skin. She stroked the fabric, let her fingers run the length of her torso and was surprised to find that she didn't meet jutting bone anymore. She'd filled out, broadened in places and softened in others so that she seemed to command space.

Picking up Oroton's mirror, she stared at herself in it, barely able to believe the woman she saw in it was her. Apple had somehow managed to manipulate her hair around her face, perfectly framing and disguising the bruise. Her amber eyes shone like agates against the smoky coal eyeliner and her lips looked like fresh spring rose buds.

There was only one thing missing. She picked up Miki's shell necklace from the side table and put it on. The pearlescent surface caught the carmine shimmer of her robe and the amber agate of her eyes so she looked as though she'd stepped out of a mystical forest like the dancers from Sinderella's Palace. She'd never been one to worry about her appearance, but for once, she couldn't stop staring.

There was a light rapping on her door. "Are you okay in there, Sprout?" Apple said, her voice muffled by the thick mahogany.

"Coming," she said, placing the mirror back on the side table. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the room, pushed open the door and stepped into the common room.

Her housemates sat on the plush red couches, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Jacob and Ollie had trimmed their fringes, and had made a special effort to wash the dirt stains from their faces. All fell silent when Ash appeared. Apple clasped her hands. "You look stunning," she said.

Jacob pushed his glasses up his nose. "V-very pretty, Sprout," he said.

Ollie made a high-pitched squeaking noise and his mouth dropped open so far, he could've caught flies.

Ash touched her hair self-consciously.

"Don't. You'll ruin it," Apple exclaimed, jumping up and batting Ash's hand aside. She opened her mouth to say something more but became distracted by someone or something over Ash's shoulder. "Doesn't she look beautiful?" she said.

Ash turned to see a man standing in the entrance to the tunnels, bare skinned from neck to waist, garbed only by a pair of loose-fitting satin trousers that fell comfortably to the floor. Her eyes found a line of marred skin stretching from his chin, down the right side of his torso, stopping midway to his abdomen. Only then did she realise it was Eli.

She gasped. It wasn't his bareness that astounded her. It was the skin on his unmarred side, which shimmered with an unnatural glow, as though it was made from molten lava. The glow was so faint, that the more she stared, the more she thought she might be imagining it.

Realising she was staring, she quickly looked away, making the mistake of catching his eye as she did. The heat of his gaze, brief as it was, was like a shock of lightning.

"The first star has come early," Eli said addressing all four of the companions. "Ash, Ollie, as soon as you're ready, the initiation will begin."He turned and retreated back down the tunnel towards Paradise Tavern. They followed. Only when they were halfway down did Ash realise he hadn't answered Apple's question.

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