Kaya

Part 4. The Ritual

As we got back to camp, Sága approached me, "Kaya, can I talk to you for a moment?" She asked, gesturing to her tent.

I looked at Valeska.

"Go ahead. Randolf and I will finish preparing the ritual and I'll fetch you when we're done."

"Thanks Valeska." I smiled at her before entering the tent with Sága.

As soon as I pushed the fabric aside to walk in, the smell of incense filled my nose. The tent  was full of decorations, giving it a crowded but also cozy feeling. It looked just like a typical witch hut from fantasy movies, except it was a tent.
Sága sat at a small table at the very back of the tent and I sat down opposite of her.

"Sága, was it?" I asked.

She nodded.

"So what is your place in the pack? Are you a werewolf?"

She smiled. "Yes, I am a werewolf, though the days of the hunt are far behind me. I'm like a mother to most of the pack and help them with their spirituality."

"Their spirituality?" I asked.

"Things like earlier, when Randolf asked if the signs are right for the ritual. The moonphase isn‘t a requirement but he likes to stick to our old traditions, you know. They also come to honor our patron god Selvan." She pointed at a corner with a small altar, a wood carved dragon figure, offerings and incense. She smiled. "Anyway. I wanted to ask you..."

My gaze wandered across the tent, her words slowly fading away as I analyzed the seemingly random things in her tent.
Normal things you‘d expect from a witch. Runestones, bottles with herbs, crystals, bones, various sigils. But the longer I looked, the stranger the things i saw became. That oil lamp in the shelf behind her, it didn't have a place to put oil in it. Was that a button on the top?
And was that over there a plastic bottle?
I gave Sága a confused look. There was a mechanical pen on her table, right in front of me! "Where did you get these things?"

"Oh this is all just mainly junk that I've collected on my travels back when I was younger."

"Not all this. This!" I said as I picked up the pen and waved it in front of her.

She gave me a confused look and took the pen. "Like I said. I've collected it on my travels. I don't remember how I acquired each of them. Is it familiar to you?"

I don't know how long we sat there in silence, just looking at each other, almost as if we had seen through each other's secret. Sága's gaze went past me and I turned around to see Valeska peeking into the tent and smiling brightly.

"We are done and the sun is just about to set. Come, we'll call everyone together." She waved for me to follow her.

"I will see you at the festivity then." Sága said as she gestured for me to go.

I hesitated, looking back at her before standing and leaving the tent. Valeska took my arm and gently pulled me through the camp. It took me a moment to move on from  that interaction with Sága. What was that all about?

The sun had just started to set as it cast a warm light over the camp. Along the way, Randolf  joined us. He had a torch in his hand and lit it at the fire in the middle as we arrived at the ritual site. Val stood on one of the stools and took the torch from Randolf, holding it high above to grab everyone's attention as she let out a howl. Everyone turned to her and people came from all around to gather and listen to what she had to say.

"Tonight we celebrate the arrival of winter and the end of this year's hunting season!" She yelled as she looked over her pack. "Together we shall laugh and feast through the night! So, who wants to have some fun?" The pack howled and cheered, the festivities officially begun.

Satisfied with herself, Valeska jumped off the stool and gave the torch back to her brother. She walked towards me with that bright smile of hers, throwing her arm around my shoulder and dragging me along with her, back to the lake. Most of the pack followed us, as this was a very intimate tradition the pack had kept for thousands of years, as Valeska explained to me.

The ice of the lake was covered in a warm light as the evening sun shined directly on it. Close to the spot we had cut a piece of the ice out earlier, back on land, was now a big banquet with various objects posing as chairs to have enough for everyone to sit there. Around the hole in the ice were also a few logs to sit on.

Most people immediately went for the food and sat down at the large banquet, as did Valeska and  Randolf, offering me a seat next to them. It only took a few minutes until food was thrown across the table and everyone broke out into heated conversations and once in a while you could hear someone howl. It was a new experience for me to say the least.
As I looked at all the food in front of me, my stomach growled loudly and I realized I hadn't eaten anything since I came through Sylen's portal.