In the city of Vir girls are property, bred and raised to be the perfect wives. To serve and obey and honor the men that rule their city.
Elaia has always been content with her place in society. She is a perfect daughter, and with any luck she'll b...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
------- E L A I A ------
Mother beams at my reflection in the mirror.
"You look absolutely lovely, Elaia," she says, brushing one of my blond ringlets off of my shoulder. "I'm certain he'll be quite pleased to see you."
"I hope so," I reply, gingerly fingering the diamond pendant that dangles at my throat. Mother let me borrow it and I'm afraid that I'll lose it at the celebration tonight.
We don't have very many celebrations, outside of our normal holidays. I'm not entirely sure what this party is for but from what Father said, I know that it has something to do with what happened to the town Valas lived in.
Father calls for Mother, and she tells me we'll be leaving in a few moments before she seems to float out of my room in a whirlwind of grace and elegance. I hope I can be as lovely as my mother one day. I stare at myself in the mirror for a long time, wondering if Kres will like this gown as much as I do.
The skirts are flowing and endless, dyed a pale shade of blue to match my eyes. When I'm standing still the dress is mostly blue, but when I move the right way, the gauzy fabric seems to come alive, glittering with white and purple and blue and silver. It's the most beautiful gown I've ever worn and I never want to take it off.
When the chauffer brings Father's pristine black car around to the front of the manner, we all pile inside. Father and Mother sit next to each other on one end, my brothers all sit on the other and I am left to myself on the backseat of the stretched vehicle.
I stare out the window, half watching our city zip past, half listening as my brothers converse about school. Actual school, where you learn to read and write. I don't know much about my brothers' schooling, but I do know it is nothing like the education I received.
I wonder what it would be like to be able to read the words I see on the jumbo screens as they pass by. Or to be able to write a letter to my best friend, Trinia. I wonder, but I'll never know. Girls aren't allowed to learn to read or write. We're not allowed to attend school.
The Annistors' estate is an overwhelming sight, glittering and enormous with sprawling gardens. It's not a place that I get to visit very often, but if I'm lucky, someday, I'll get to live here.
Inside, everything is decorated with swaths of burgundy and grey fabric draped across the walls. Banners of gold have been hung from the ceiling, all meeting in the center of the room, where an enormous chandelier dripping with gold and crystal tops the room like an elegant crown. Hundreds of round tables sit, evenly spaced apart, all dressed in linens of gold with place settings and abstract red sculptures in the center of every one. At the back of the room there is a raised platform carved out of Alabaster, with a long rectangular table sitting atop it.
