Blessing Moon

Eleven: Thalla-Noir

Two weeks had passed since that Vidurday when Beanni arrived late from History School. Fìorday came and went. Her heart plunged to the depths for having to betray Prince Oslac. She couldn't bear even thinking about it, all she could picture was his disappointed face - his beautiful, hazel eyes plagued with hurt and confusion. She dragged her heels as she walked to and from the academy. At home, she barely spoke, she didn't feel like it. As each day passed the pain in her guilt-torn stomach began to dull to a numbness that somehow bothered her more.

"What's the matter with you?" Dillan asked, as he watched her leave her room, fully dressed in mourning clothes ready for the annual tradition of Thalla-Noir.

"What do you mean?"

"You look awful," he said, making Beanni glance down at her black lace dress. "No, that's not what I mean, you look fine. I mean you look so sad..."

"How else am I supposed to look on Thalla-Noir? It's a sombre occasion isn't it?" Beanni shrugged, knowing full well that that was not what Dillan was getting at.

"By the stars, Beanni. This has nothing to do with Thalla-Noir! You've been like this for weeks now! What's going on?"

Beanni shook her head, clasped her jaw shut and stared at nothing in particular - just anything that wasn't Dillan's face.

"Fine." He let out a sigh. "You don't have to tell me now, but I will find out. I refuse to live with that moping face for another two weeks!"

Beanni gave her brother a timid nod then walked past him towards the kitchen, where their parents waited for them both fully clothed in black. Lorren looked at her daughter and opened her mouth to comment but saw the sadness in her eyes and decided against it.

"Okay, are we all ready?" she said in a gentle, velvety tone.

Beanni felt movement behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see Dillan standing in the doorway.

"Right let's go, we have an hour before our family's mourning time."

All families in Natanstrelle were assigned a time to mourn those lost to the darkness of the Noir Era. This schedule was put in place so to avoid overcrowding and indeed conflict between certain families. The tradition of this day was to travel on foot to, what was once known as, the Dark One's cave, to remember those who Noir-Astra possessed during the dark days. The day he was defeated by the royal light magic, he tore himself from the souls he stole, leaving nothing but destruction and death. This cave was blocked off by the orders of Queen Astrid the First, and renamed "Na Dèan Oblivi" (Don't Forget) by her husband, King True.

The five members of Beanni's household walked in silence through the fields that lay between their village and the cave. Others that dwelled in Iarest gathered also, assembling in eerie quiet.

Individuals greeted other households through respectful nods and small waves, but they all made sure not to open their mouths: tradition dictated that to speak upon this journey would show disrespect to those who had their voices cruelly taken from them.

Arriving at Na Dèan Oblivi, standing with the choppy waters of the Western Sea at their backs, all the Draoicis-Lus families gathered facing the stone blocking the cave. Harsh winds howled around them, giving an eerie atmosphere to the already depressing themes of the day. They stood shivering, waiting for Lorrus, the head of the family trade, to step forward. With his light orb grown to fit his palm, he drew a large circular spiral, then added small lines surrounding it, to look like rays of light coming off it. Once he had finished decorating the cave with their family symbol he stepped back into the crowd. It was then his wife's turn to step forward.