Tears of Blood ✔

XXVII - The Welcome Ceremony

The velvet moved, and suddenly, I was revealed to the now completely calm backstage. Everyone was watching us, keeping us completely still. I felt like an animal display, that was, until another representative walked out. 

She wasted no time, moving gracefully across the floor and standing on the large X on the furthest side. And so I followed.

One foot in front of the other, shoulders back, chin high and face unreadable as I made my way, standing on the second X. As I did so, I turned my head back to see the third representative moving forward and taking his place on my right.

I turned away, staring at the black curtain separating us from the stage. 

I couldn't be bothered sparing them a glance, sparing them my time and focus. The only thing on my mind was the stage beyond, what was waiting and what has to happen next.

Out of the blue, the man next to me began to speak. "Congratulations," He said warmly, his voice deep, running over his tongue like honey. "I'm assuming you're the wolf representative? And you, the fae?"

The girl clicked her tongue. "Of course, you don't exactly see me rolling around in the dirt and eating raw animals now do you?" 

My head whipped in her direction. Really? I opened my mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off.

"My name is Arnav Dhar I'm... very pleased to be here." He finished with a small bow. 

In respect, I lowered my head too. "Cassandra Verano. Wolf Representative."

One couldn't deny that Arnav was attractive. Shoulder length hair that was swept up in a crown of shells and seaweed, tying it back and out of his face completely. Chestnut eyes, soft nose and the same midnight skin that Cora had. My mind began to spin, maybe they were from the same choir? Perhaps the same area?

Engraved on his skin was whorls of blue-tinted ink, covering the entirety of both arms and moving onto his pecs and then continuing down the side of his ribcage. On his arms were solid bands of green, while all that covered the top of his thighs was a collection of blue and white material, reminding me of the waves. Of course, done on purpose. 

The fae scrunched her nose. "Odette Fedorov." I could hear an accent faint on her tongue, causing her words to come out sharper, quicker. I chose not to bring it up. 

I had never seen a more stunning dress. It covered her collarbones to the very tip of her thigh, the entire dress white and accented with sparkling sequins, thin lines of chainmail down her centre. All magnificent patterns of silver and gold that continued down her back and far out on the floor in the form of an extravagant cape. Her sleeves puffed up all the way to her elbow before the material came in, stuck to her skin as it moved all the way to her wrist. Massive diamonds fell from her ears, not a single platinum white hair out of place from her slicked-back ponytail. To finish the look, a thick white ribbon tied around her neck.

Of course, her eyes. They didn't change, more so stuck on the same kaleidoscope of colour. One was a mixture of blue and green, swirling into each other as they connected in her iris. The other eye was spilt, brown and grey.

I flexed my fingers, taking a breath.

Odette raised an eyebrow, "I didn't realise that this year we were swapping everyone around. If I had known, perhaps I wouldn't have tried to hard during trials."

While Arnavs face twisted with confusion, I was quick to bite back. "Power and ability is just that, regardless of who can manifest it. Does it really matter that the gender of your competitors isn't what you expected?"

Her nostrils flared, "Perhaps. At least my people had the respect to keep the tradition."

"And I'm sure next year everything will be back to normal." I spat. "Besides, that's not tradition, that's sexism."