Embers and Ashes

Chapter 33

(Inspiring music to listen to too have a sense of what the Autumn Court feels like.
Dzivia – Rujnuj
Personal Favourites:
- Dzikaje Palavannie
- Dom
- Voryva)

Melona

   The day Eris was born was quiet. The slumbering death of mulched leaves and cold damp earth. Pail glistening fog rolling over the barren hills of Embry as the stars blink out of existence while the world stirs awake.
   As the strong arms of my mate curl tighter around my body as he takes in his waking breaths. Grumbling as he stirs and nuzzles his cold nose into my bare shoulders. Taking in my scent and essence with every soft raise of his chest.
   “Good morning”, I greet in whispers. Blushing at the roaming of his hands as he grips my inner thigh. His thumb caressing the soft tender skin there.
   “Good morning beloved”, he murmurs and softly nips at my shoulder. Earning a breathy gasp and kick in the leg. Only a chuckles rumbles out of his chest as he kisses my cheek.
   “Eight hundred and thirty four”, I smile into the pillow and he automatically grumbles in distaste.
   It is my turn to laugh and shift to roll onto my back. Leaning up and place a tender kiss to his own cheek before catching his lips with mine.  
    “You’re very handsome for being over five hundred”, I smirk over his lips and skim over his cheeks.
   “Thank you Mel”, he smiles and pulls me a bit closer as he places his head on my chest. Listening to the rhythm of my heart as we lay in bed together. Slowly waking into our bodies.
   “How ironic it is for me to be born on the Day of the Dead”, he shakes his head and kisses the space between my breasts before sitting up in the bed.
   “I think it suits you”, I hum as I watch him stretch his muscular arms above his head. Completely enjoying the view.
   “I’m not sure how to take that”, he admits as he settles back into his bones. Watching me as I sit up so that we a knee to knee in bed.
   “Not all deaths are screaming and bloodthirsty Eris. Sometimes they are quiet and content. A life well lived, and I think today is a day for those deaths, and to peacefully remember that there is no suffering for those we love. They have passed on to whatever new life they have chosen past the vail. All is well for them. Death might be sad, but it is no crueler then the sea, or fire cleaning away the old for the new”, I explain.
   He smiles, “Please no more philosophical mumblings until I have had my breakfast Love”, he chuckles and kisses my cheek once more before slipping away and out of the bed. “We have a lot to do today.”
   Nodding we quickly have our morning meal as the sun peeked over empty hills and barren forests. The only day of the year when not a single leaf would fall. The only day where the High Lord could let nature take it’s cores, letting him rest in the constant use of power.
   “It’s so quiet”, I whisper as I stand at the window watching as the heavy mist lightens in yellows, and soft periwinkles. “I’m almost afraid to speak.”
   “It is a day for contemplation and silence. To remember those past. The mornings are quiet and the nights. . . savage”, he smirks softly as he comes up from behind me to hold my body against the velvet of his pants and jacket. I think this might be the first time I’ve seen him wearing all black. It really made him look like a pail god.
   “Are you in anticipation in being allowed off your leash there Beasty?”, I smile and press my hips a bit further into his lap.
   “If it means I get to have my fun with my wife, then of course”, he purrs and nips at my ear lob as his fingers graze over the glowing white of the sheet dress. Simple and tied with silver rope around the waist. My hair unbound and left to drape over my shoulders like chestnut rivers. Maroon on my lips to give my features a darker look.
   “I think we have different ideas of fun Eris”, I laugh softly but happily lean back into him all the same.
   “Perhapes”, he smirks and steels himself a kiss. “Are you ready for the morning prayers?”
   I nod.
  “You’re mother a high priestess has asked me to lead the mourning songs in half an hour. We should go”, I hum over his lips as his nails dig into my waist a bit more then needed.
   “Can’t have you doing such things without your vail”, Eris croons before pulling away and pulling open and ancient looking box with a sheet of sheer fabric that fir all the world looked like finely weaved cobwebs. Unraveling it to cast it over my small form as the pail material crowned me in a deathly hue. “The perfect Lady of the Dead. Mother above, you looking haunting.”
   “Deathly beautiful?”, I ask from under the webbing that shimmered in morning light.
   “As always”, he smiles.
~
   The streets of Hedone had become barren and silent. The roofs all slicked in delicate prickling frost. Mist reaching between the streets like ghost highways.
   Each house door firmly closed to those souls that might wander as each citizen gathered at the hill of the temple. The last time I was here I was getting married.
   This time I was here to honor the fallen and bring the traveling home. To replenish and make rest for the fields and settle the creeping things that lay sleeping.
   Making my way to stand to the left of the High Priestess, with the Lady of Autumn adorned in her own white robes and crowned in a silver halo headdress of oaken branches branching out with leaves. Where I had been woven a laurel of wormwood, calendulas, and chrysanthemums over the thin sheet as Seraphina wore like each and every other female in the court. The male counterparts dressed in black. 
   The tree of us joining hands to say the morning prayer of thanks for our courts bounty, and safe passages. Warmly greeting the past into the present.
   After her Ladyship takes me gently by the hand to lead me to the main temple space where space has been made for the dance. Bringing me to the center of that circle where Eris and Beron now stood waiting.
   Crowned in silver stag horned with budding onyx springing from the ancient bone Beron held two candles light by his fire. The black is handed to my right, and the white to Eris left. A perfect balance. Male and Female, light and dark.
   Silently Beron nods and takes Seraphina back to the crowds. Leaving Eris and I to take a step back to face each other. Keeping our candles balanced in hand as our two free hands join in the air between us.
   The music starts softly with flutes, and we take our first steps. (Voryva – Dzivia)
    Eris and I starting to weave and utter the words of the song in old Fae. The curtain fluttering hauntingly around my body as we go. An ancient dance of this Court that spoke of sleeping fields and the fall of life. A dance of gentle deaths.
   Then the crowd joined us. An entire city of males, females, and children chanting in the breath of Autumn.
   A single group moving and singing in perfect unison on top of that hill. Skillfully bending lines around the pillars of the temples. The spirally of a galaxy of twinkling stars as candles are lit. Embers flickering off my body as I go spinning and tumbling through time and space to join them.
   A single dance. Joining all and everything as Eris and I wove webbings through our energy exertion. We were the center of the storm. The center of the universe for those painfully sweet moment where song and cold air kissed my lung.
   The chanting motivating me to keep going to keep the world moving until the sun was fully over the hills and the tops of the trees. Only did it stop until the last note played.
   Then there was silence.
   Nothing but the breath of my lips drifting away in chilled smoke. Nothing but that wild look in Eris eyes that gleamed with primordial flame that lived in him. It curled and danced through our bond, pulling it taught and filling me with warmth despite the bite of the winds.  
   Neither of us seemed to realize that the crowds had dispersed after the ceremony until Seraphina had come to my side and placed her hand on my back. Jolting me back into the present and lifting the spell.
   “A bit intoxicating, isn’t it”, she smiles softly as she leads me over to her son.
   “It felt so Holy”, I smile softly as I stand before Eris who had also been brought back to the land of the living. Each of us handing back the candles to the High Priestess who would place them before the giant idol of the Mother at the back of the temple.
    “I’m glade that my dance lessons have been benefiting you”, Eris teases softly and he takes my hand in his. Brushing his lips over the back of my hand.
   “Haven’t fallen on my face yet”, I laugh softly as he leads me away. “To the graves?”
   Eris nods and leads me out of the temple with his mother beside us. Beron having left her to attended to his own responsibilities to his role as High Lord. Preferring to do them without her.
   So Eris and her had made their own tradition of going to remember their beloved fallen together.
   The royal grave yard was separated from the rest of Hedone’s common folk’s sites. Placed in a much more secluded area to the north of the city.
   The long grey stone path down the middle of the land guarded by an iron gate of ivy and thorn. The path light by rows of fat white candles that flickered in the cold air, but never snuffed out. The way the mists from the hills curled over the walls and bare trees really made it look like a place the dead would visit.
    Without a word Seraphina places a kiss to Eris’ cheek and wonders off into the fog.
   “Where is she going?”, I ask in a whisper. Slightly afraid I would disturb someone.
   “She’s going to her sisters. Their graves lay here. It took much to convince Father, but eventually he caved because the High Priestess called it a breech in spiritual freedom, and their bodies couldn’t be found. They where killed during the war trying to save her from Hybern”, he explains with a soft sigh when Tumid and Larken pass us to join their mother. “I’m not sure who misses them more. Mother or Tumid and Larken.”
   “They was close to your Aunts?”, I ask.
    “Marcela took on Larken and Adeena loved Tumid as if she had birth him herself. Aunt Marci was never married. She was too much for most people to handle. Spiteful and bitter, and being childless was a punishment of sorts. Since Mother had so many of us that she didn’t all together worry at the bonds they all made. Larken’s wild nature matched her’s. Aunt Ada was the gentlest of all three. Already married but had trouble conceiving faelings and Tumids quiet nature spoke to her”, he explains as we continue down the path.
   “It’s awful that they had to loose them”, I sigh sadly as I look at the three quietly paying their respects.
   “We all have people we’ve lost”, Eris nods in agreement. Pausing in a far off corner where a black stone stood.  No inscription lay there over the obsidian surface.
   “Who lays here?”, I ask curiously.
    “Anyone you want”, he answers tightly. Pulling four candles from his pocket. “I made this after my friends were killed by my father. They deserve to rest. They where good in ways I never could be. They deserve to be remembered.”
   “I think they should too”, I nod and kneel with him on the cold stone that bit through the thin fabric.
   “Could you say a prayer for them?”, he asks softly. “I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it, I can talk to them, but I’m still to angry about it all.”
   “I’d be honored”, I smiles and take his hand in mine. Both of us bowing own heads to the stone. “Cauldron save you. Mother hold you. Pass through the gates, and smell that immortal land of milk and honey. Fear no evil. Feel no pain. Go, and enter eternity.”
   It was a small prayer for those who pass on to the next world. That was all it took for Eris’ hands to start to shake and for tears to slip over his cheeks as he leans his forehead on my shoulder. I lift my hand to hold the back of his head. Brushing my fingers through his slicked red hair.
   We didn’t need to say anything for all the time we sat there in front of the grave. Even after Eris had his cry. Even as he pulled out another candle and offered it to me.
   “I know that your mother’s grave is back in the Dawn Court, you may speak to her here if you need to”, he offers and it was my turn for silver to fill the brims of my eyes.
   “Are you sure, but this is for your friends”, I ask as I take the candle from him. The waxy surface smoothening out on my finger tips.
   “Yes, this grave is for those who have none, and you believe so strongly in this sort of thing, you need this more then I do”, he lips twitching into a gentle smile as he helps me set up the candle, and lights it.
   Watching the flickering of those tiny flames dance in this darkening world brought a sort of comfort. It soothed and brought back those nights I lay sleepless as a child and my mother would come and hold me. Rock me in her arms beside window sills where she had light a candle for us. A bit of light in times where hope was hard to carry.
   “Thank you Eris”, I hum and we sit there together in silence for a long time.
~
   The rest of the day was quietly contemplative and filled with dancing and feasting as all good holidays are. Tables filled to the brim with cooked meats and root vegetables. Pastries and hot brews, sweets of all sorts and mead wines.
   The ballroom gilded with black candle lights in iron chandlers. Smoked with herb and spice. Warmed by blazing red fires and all wore vail or mask. If it weren’t for Eris’ red hair I might have very well lost him in the crowds. 
   Still I wore my vail from that morning, but instead of the white glistening robes I had exchanged it for a deep maroon dress. Form fitting over my waist, bust, and arms. Draping around my legs in sheer fabric. A bit more scandalous, and much more suggestive of gore.
   “Hello Lady of Embry”, came a familiar voice that no longer seemed to make me burn.
   “Hello Lady Rathen”, I smile politely at the other female dressed in her fine pail grey dress. A silver mask placed over her features so that her eyes shone out my black marble. “How are you feeling tonight?”
   “Much better then before”, she admits and hands me a bit of blood red wine that stained you lips. Tasting of cherries, cinnamon, and chocolate.
   “I am glade to hear it”, I take the drink. Of course sniffing it out of habit. Her own red lips curly at the slight flare of my nostrils. “Sorry, it’s become a precaution.”
   “You are royalty. I suppose it is a concern”, she shrugs.
   “I’ve been hearing of this big scandal of your “leaving” Moros”, I smirk softly and take a swig.
   “That was a bit of a low blow, but deserved I suppose after all I put you through”, she sighs and swirls her drink. “It couldn’t have been easy for you in the beginning. Being forced to marry Eris when you knew little of who he was. . . Where you scared?”
   “Mother above, I was terrified and devastated when father told me I was betrothed. I’ve had a past of betrayal by trusted males, and the stories I had heard about him where awful. All true, but I didn’t realize the context of how Eris had to survive every day in this sort of environment. The masks and vails do the Court justice. All smoke and mirrors”, I sigh softly looking out over the sea of unfamiliar and ghastly faces. All feral and beast like.
   “It really does”, she nods in agreement. “. . . I’m leaving the Autumn Court.”
   I blink and look at her. “Where will you go?”  
   “I . . . I don’t know, but I need to get away. Maybe I’ll just take a pack and start walking. . . I want to be self sufficient, like you”, she admits and kicks the tip of her shoe into the polished floor.
   “Like me?”, I ask with my browns knitting together.
   “That Illyrian at your wedding. Did you not raise him and others in the mountains of the Night Court?”, she asks. 
   “Caden? Yes, I did raise him and other”, I smile fondly at remembering taking in that small winged boy. Barely even weened and already had been thrown away like trash. It took so long to gain his trust. So long for him to trust me, trust that I would love and care for him, but it was all worth it.
   “What was it like?”, she asks softly.
   “It was cold. Bitterly cold and wet. Half the time you could barely feel your fingers. Every day was a struggle to stay alive. Trying to feed a ilk of Illyrian children is hard even for the wealthiest of families. They need twice as much with how fast they grow and how hard they are pushed in the fighting rings. There where nights I wanted to give up. To pack it all up and go back to the warm comforting pinks and blues of the Dawn Court, but I had little ones relying on me. I had a reason to stay, and I’ve gained so much from it”, I offer her a kind smile. “It was never an easy journey, it was worth it.”
   “I hope someday I can say the same”, she nods firmly as if she had made up her mind. “Thank you for saving my life Melona Vanserra, I promise I will make it count.”
   “You already have”, I smile a bit brighter as the music starts.
   “Good bye for now, Melona”, she goes to turn but pauses. “Just promise me one thing.”
   “Of course”, I nod.
   “Take care of Eris for me. He needs you, and please don’t give up on him”, she begs softly.
   “I promise.”
   With that she nods and slips into the crowd that had started to writhe and dance like chaotic flames eating up forests as the beating of the drum consumed the room. Only then did he pull me into himself from behind. His hands slowly gliding over the tight fabric of my top that gloved my skin. Finally lifting the vail from me only to toss it on the grown.
   “Vixen”, he purrs as his lips graze my ear.
   “Serpent”, I croon and left myself relax into him.
   “Dance with me”, he pleads.
   “Certainly”, I beam and let him lead me into the crowds where the music took me somewhere hot and full of life.
   We danced for so long all time slipped away until I realized the fullness of the night had almost gone and we were no longer in the crowded ballroom of Hedone. The quiet of Embry settling my soul back into place as coolness of silk blankets kissed my sweat soaked body. Eris fondly looking down at me as he holds himself above me.
   “We’re home?”, I ask a bit out of breath.
   “Indeed”, he purrs and I can see that hope in his eyes, but it wasn’t the right time yet, and I still have a surprise for him.
   Sitting up I startle him slightly as he chuckles softly as I reach over to my bedside table. Reaching into the drawer to pull out a small cake and box.
   “No one seemed to celebrate your day of birth today so I thought we could do our own little party. Just the two of us. I made you a cake”, I beam proudly.
   “You made me food?”, he asks in astonishment and failed to keep his excitement at bay.
   “I thought it about time that I did”, I hum and hand it and a small silver fork. “Don’t forget to make a wish with your first bite.”
   “What in Prythian could I wish for? I have more then I could have ever hoped for?”, he asks taking the plate but looks slightly lost. “What’s in the box?”
   “It’s nothing big. I couldn’t really think of anything to get you. You have everything”, I sigh and tug at my hair a bit.
   He opens it to find a small gold pendant of a snake eating it’s own tail.
   “I found a picture of it in an old book at the Temple back in my home Court. A symbol of eternity, I think. A symbol of death and life. I thought it suited you”, I blush and fidget with my fingers. “You don’t have to wear it.”
   “It perfect Mel, thank you”, he smiles and places a kiss on my forehead. “I will cherish it for the rest of eternity.”
   I laugh softly and relax.
   “Your welcome. Now common. I wanna see you eat the cake”, I gush and he shakes his head as he digs in. Pausing before starting to take bigger forkfuls.
   “Hey, save some of that for me”, I protest.
   “No, it’s my cake”, he grins.
   “Eris!”, is my whining answer.