The Vixen Trials

Celebrating

"Now Silsa can create life, she can select her mate and become a true disciple of the Fox. If you and I were dead, she could rule this House. All of this is worth celebrating."

Keilah

Keilah dragged herself to Silsa's celebration determined to stay long enough only to be polite and make arrangements with Lord Rustavan. Ushered into the dancing hall, her jaw dropped. Swathes of red and white material draped from the ceiling, creating small three-sided chambers around the edge of the room. Inside these curtained alcoves her mother's extended family and some strangers were eating and drinking from tables so heavily laden they could have fed her village.

Silsa sat on a throne-like chair in the center of the room. She wore a bejeweled dress with a huge long skirt and a tight-fitting, low-cut bodice. A group of well-dressed young men that Keilah had never seen before surrounded Silsa showering her with attention. She giggled as one young man took her hand. The young man beside him hastily grabbed her other one.

​"She's begun her bleeding at a good time," said a contented voice beside her. Baba was at her elbow. "Your upcoming meeting with the prince has meant those priestess-following fools have found enough courage to come and try their luck with her. I'm so glad she's getting the admiration she deserves."

​Out of the corner of her eye, Keilah saw Dakkoul. Distracted, she only murmured a vague response to the grandmother. How handsome he looked in his black tunic with the silver trim. A tall, young woman in a dark flowing dress came over to him, slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and led him away. Keilah watched him go. Who was she? And why did Lord Rustavan allow Dakkoul to go off with her?

​"How did you celebrate your bleed?" Baba asked. "Some village dance I suppose?"

​Warmth crept up her cheeks from the question but also from what she had just seen. Did Dakkoul tell her to stay away from him because he wasn't interested in her? Baba's foot tapped on the ground demanding an answer.

"Mother wanted to, but the women all said it was a shameful, secret thing. I had to stay in our cottage until the flow lessened."

​Baba laughed so much she snorted. "What ignorant villagers you lived with! Now Silsa can create life, she can select her mate and become a true disciple of the Fox. If you and I were dead, she could rule this House. All of this is worth celebrating."

​A jolt of anger rushed through Keilah. The Wayvolkan way made perfect sense. It was a wonderful thing to become a woman and she'd been made to feel like it was something dirty, something to be ashamed of. Why had her mother denied her this? She was tired of being made to feel less.

Alyssia brought her some wine and Keilah sipped it, resolving to forget for now the indignities of village life and the way Dakkoul's indifference made her feel. She would enjoy herself like Silsa did.

Soon the cluster of young men around her was larger than Silsa's. Still Keilah noticed Dakkoul return after half an hour. He met her eyes across the room and she made sure she laughed particularly hard at something inane said by the young man beside her who had a protruding front tooth and a fox claw comb in his oiled hair. When she next looked over, Dakkoul was dancing with a girl wearing the shortest skirt she'd ever seen. She appeared to be nibbling on his lip as they moved together. Bile rose in Keilah's mouth as she watched them leave the dance floor. Was this what he was like?

A coldness whooshed through her as she made herself talk and laugh brilliantly with the men around her who complimented her again and again on the beauty of her eyes. At least they appreciated her. She tired of their praises quicker than she thought possible and escaped them by accepting the offer of a dance from the young man with a fox claw comb. What was his name again? Kerriv? Terriv? Something riv, anyway.

Riv turned out to be good dancer, but she kept fumbling with the steps even though she'd been studying this very dance since she'd arrived. It told the story of the Wayvolk rising above their enemies. She stomped her feet over the imaginary slain but then forgot to do the victory cheer. She didn't feel like cheering. Her mother had died and had the most humiliating funeral. Dakkoul clearly wasn't interested in her. Baba saw her only as a way to restore the fortunes of the House. If only she had grown up in this Wayvolkan life so that she didn't feel so awkward in it now.

The dance finished. Keilah excused herself and walked out of the room, bumping into Lord Rustavan, Baba and Silsa as she did so. Dakkoul was behind him. She remembered her decision earlier to rent him but did she still want to? Only for her mother's sake. Her voice was so icy she almost did not recognize it. "I'd like to rent the Hattavah because I want...".

Dakkoul bit his thumb. Their secret childhood code that meant shut up. She hesitated. He bit again. Surely no one would mind her holding a Remembering. Why keep it secret?

"To do what?" Baba asked, leaning in towards her. "Nothing that hasn't been done to him before, I'd bet." She cackled.

Silsa behind her was glaring at her. "You wouldn't. Not after all I've said."

Keilah felt the force of all the eyes on her, even Dakkoul's. He pointed to the hilt of Lord Rustavan's sword.

Her confusion cleared. "I want him to help refine my sword fighting techniques for the Vixen Trials."

"There's no need for that my kit," Baba said.

Lord Rustavan lowered his brow. "Why not? She has to fight to partipate."

Baba shook her head. "I've a way out of it for her."

A way out of it. How? She didn't want to win by cheating.

Lord Rustavan raised his eyebrows. "We will talk of this in private."

He turned to Keilah. "You can rent him now if you like or later."

She wanted to get it over with. "Now," Keilah said, although she did not even want to look at him anymore.

And so Keilah and Dakkoul are finally about to get some alone time. Do you think it will bring them closer together?

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