Aella (manxman) - ON HOLD

Part I~~ Ch1~Agape

Ceri (in the photo)

Faster... Faster!!!

I climbed down the large rocks of the cliff that surrounded our territory. My leg slipped in my hurry, but I was too excited to care. I landed on my ass on the next rock and soon slid to go further down.

Hurry! I need to hurry! After all these years, I was finally allowed to go to the annual gathering.

to the Agape

The month of love... All the women in the clan spend half the year recalling their adventures of the previous Agape, and the rest of the year they dream about the next one. I shared their happiness and their stories. Everything they tell me is interesting to me, even though they refuse to let me in on the intimate details. I always hoped that one day I would at least attend the gathering.

The gathering is the first day of Agape, where all the Aellas and Aellos meet, usually at the eastern beach on the island. The ritual begins when the Aellos start a big fire and signal their invitation to our clan with drums. The Aellas then descend from the mountain and head towards them. They all mingle and talk; it is a big celebration where sisters meet brothers and fathers meet their children, sometimes for the first time. And the most important event is when each one choose someone from the other clan as a companion for the Agape. Then every Aello leads his chosen one to his den, which is usually a cave or a cabin built above a large tree.

I looked at the smoke that reached for the sky. The gathering was still going; only after all the Aellas were taken that our Leader leaves to her Agape, and that's when the fire is extinguished.

I still had a chance to get there, but at this pace I won't make it in time! I hurried more, jumping and sliding from one rock to the other. Climbing down our mountain cliff is very dangerous, but I was too excited to care. In fact, I had begged my aunt Halina to allow me to be at the gathering each year. As a 17 year old man, I was now old enough to hunt and live down in the forest. But Halina never allowed me to. She said I was her last reminder of my late mother and that she couldn't live apart from me.

This year I insisted so much and finally got her to allow me to step out of our territory, for he first time!!! I promised to get back to the mountain and wait for them; like every year, I will spend a month alone until the Agape is finished and the Aellas come home.

For once, our young Leader didn't resist much. She actually told Halina to let me do as I pleased so I'd stop whining. No matter the reason, I got permission! My aunt Halina is actually an elder, which means that she used to be the Leader of the Aellas before; that happened before my birth. She's very loving and respected from the rest of the clan, so once she gave up to my begging, no one had it in them to protest, not even the strong Aella-hunters. Besides, they were too occupied preparing themselves and their children to the Agape to mind what happens to me.

I was actually supposed to leave with them, like everyone else. But then the Leader had to lose her stupid bead necklace. 

'Don't come until you find it', she said. She's a couple of years older than me. We grew together, but for some reason, we never spoke or played together. I spent hours looking for it and I finally got it. Oh my, I'm going to be late... I need to hurry!