Alex awoke in the morning to find many pairs of eyes staring at her. She rubbed her eyes and peered at the girls. "Did I do something? Do I need to apologize for something?"
Baca was closest to her and said, "You came in and cried yourself to sleep, Guardian. What could make you cry?"
Alex flushed red. "Oh, ah, it was nothing. I was just emotional."
The grave looks on the little girls' faces showed they didn't believe her. Alex sighed and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. She breathed deeply of the scent of spice and cinnamon tea.
"I was just remembering the past and it made me cry," she said in a sincere tone. "I'm not as brave and strong as y'all."
The girls rushed to hug her, chattering reassurances. Some started combing her hair with their claws and they all talked at once. Then two girls braided her hair with ribbons until Alex giggled both at the sensation and the thought of wearing ribbons in her hair. She relaxed under the girls' hands and decided she would learn from them, be as resilient as them.
Alex spent the day at the Mercy Tent, eating meals with the girls and talking with them. Alex chatted with the girls, and they tried to teach her how to weave, which Alex found difficult to learn. They laughed a lot, and Alex felt happy. She sat on a low stool, leaning over a pile of rich, dark yarn. She blew out her breath and ruffled the strands of yarn in her hand while the girls talked around her. Alex smiled and tried to join in.
Eventually the sky darkened as the sun sank in the sky. The horizon in the east was lit up with a deep orange and yellow glow as a vast bank of clouds rolled across the sky. Against this backdrop, Cale appeared and waved to Alex. He had a smile on his face and his posture was relaxed, so Alex willingly trotted over to him. He bent and whispered in her ear and now Alex was smiling.
"I'll be back at moon-rise," Alex called to Dola and Raba, who waved in response.
***
The moon was nearly at its apex when she came back. The moon's outline was clear and defined against the sky, a silver crescent of light, a thin sliver against wispy clouds.
Alex was dressed in a new embroidered tunic while Cale was wearing his ceremonial white robes, lending him an intimidating air. The priest and a small number of his congregation accompanied him. Rile and Gabe had been unable to convince Clan Head Gaza to attend the ceremony and were staying with him to review the ceremony. The priest and congregants waited at a respectful distance, but still able to hear and see.
The Mercy Tent girls gathered around the campfire, Baca among them, and spoke in murmurs. The fragrance of campfire and the sweetness of flowers and herbs filled the air, the scents of night.
"Well, well, well, look at the moon. See the lunar cycle, Baca?" Alex asked with deceptive mildness. "You know what that means."
"No, Guardian," Baca said in a confused tone, looking at them with mild concern.
"It's time for your new name," Cale said gravely.
"Oh, but—"
"No buts," Alex said, just as seriously. "Cale, have you thought of a name?"
"Yes. Gaala. It mean 'redeemed'. Please step forward, Gaala," Cale said formally.
The little girl did, with a gentle push and a wink from Alex. Cale shook out a white robe and held it toward on the newly-named Gaala.
"Do you accept this name, Gaala?" Cale asked in his usual kind tone and she nodded, wordless. "Then let no one call unclean what the Creator of All has called clean," he intoned.
He slipped the robe onto her and she hugged it to her. The robe was not a soft, worn thing, but a stiff new robe made of freshly woven, spun, and dyed white cotton. It was heavy in comparison to the lightweight muslin wraps the girls usually wore. The robe was decorated, embroidered, and beaded with tiny, intricate designs of outlines of suns, moons, and stars, all in silver or pearl.
A cheer went up from the Mercy Tent girls and the congregation. Gaala stood, stunned, until her brother ran up to her and roughly hugged her.
"You can keep your name," Alex told Hexei, who grinned brashly at her. "Remember, I want to be there, come the day." She patted him on the shoulder.
Dola and Raba brought out honey-soaked teacakes for the girls and set tea kettles over the campfire. The smell of fresh-baked bread mingled with the clove in their tea and the honey in their teacakes. The girls crowded around, dragging Gaala with them and made her take the first piece. They were like a pack of stray pups bounding excitedly around their mother.
Cale retreated to the priest and his congregants and began talking quietly with them.
Alex savored her cake; the hot spicy honey struggled against the cool butter of the tea cake. She was licking honey off her fingers when she noticed Raba sneaking away. Alex discreetly changed her position to watch her. Her eyebrows lifted when she saw Rake, who took Raba's hand and they walked off.
Alex walked through the camp trying to follow Raba and Rake at a discreet distance, but feeling conspicuous in her new tunic. Campfires and the moonlight lit her way and she was glad she wouldn't trip. The night air was cool and clear, like the dry air of a mountain desert, though the forest was wet with humidity. The branches and leaves of the forest were rustling with the wind, a chorus of whispering trees and the scurrying of birds.
Alex withdrew her sword and moved forward, her sword swinging gently to one side, the tip of the blade almost scraping the ground. She approached the couple talking quietly, sitting on the logs surrounding the sword practice ring. "I have a question for you, Rake."
His eyes widened at the sight of her sword. "Do I need to draw mine?"
"That depends on your answers. Raba is dear to me. What are your intentions?"
"I would unite with her, if she would have a bitter old fool like me."
"Those are the magic words." Alex sheathed her sword.
"Did you just propose to me?" Raba asked, eyes wide with shock.
"No, I was convincing the Guardian of my good intentions." Rake knelt on one knee. "Now I'm pleading with you to unite with me."
Alex left them alone. As she walked, she wondered how she could convince them to adopt Hexei and Baca. She stopped in her tracks when she realized that they were probably already thinking that. Alex hummed a happy tune as she started back to the Mercy Tent. The moonlight bathed her features in an ethereal glow and she held her head high without looking at the ground.
***
A/N Dedicated to readers
YOU ARE READING
Shared Mercy Book 5 of the Guardians Saga
Fantasy#1 love power highest ranking. Alex and the dragon brothers have fought evil on multiple worlds. But some evil cannot be fought with a sword or staff. Will Alex and the brothers overcome a new kind of evil?
