The Wielder and the Source

Chapter 6

"Are you nervous for the bonding ceremony?" Lady Hiroh asked.

Kitaya snorted. "No."

"Yes," Aldeheid said at the same time.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Kitaya decided to take a magician." Ayzel smiled ruefully. "I'm excited though. Leandyr and I haven't been to a bonding ceremony since our own."

Leandyr chuckled. "Oh, that was quite the day, but I'm never letting Enver plan any of my celebrations again. I don't love him any less, but he had us running around like headless chickens." He put on a mocking voice before continuing. "Are these flowers alright? What about this drapery? What kind of drinks should I get?"

"He was only trying to make our day special."

"I told him a hundred times that literally anything he picked would've been fine."

"Well, Eriani and Kemah are handling ours." Kitaya said, then glanced over her shoulder. "What about you, Jayer? How did you and Jetei's bonding ceremony go?"

Jayer grumbled something under his breath.

"We had to have our bonding ceremony in secret," Jetei explained. "Jayer's altori didn't exactly... approve of me."

Aldeheid almost snorted. That was quite the understatement. If he got a gold coin for every time Baldavin had called Jetei worthless, he'd be able to buy Castle Wylerra.

Kitaya winced. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up considering..." She coughed. "Well, we should probably talk less and pay attention more. It'll be a few hours before we get to a safe spot to set up camp." With that, they continued their trek across the savanna in silence.

The sun was on the cusp of the horizon when they made it to their camp site – a small clearing in between two stands of trees that would, hopefully, buffer them from the elements. A river stood to the east, its gurgling water splashing over small rapids as it rushed to the south. They broke formation and got to setting up their tents and placing wards around the site to deter any predators.

After hammering the last stake into his tent, Aldeheid sat down with a small mirror and tried to cut his hair. Since his body had elected to take a nap before their trip, he'd had no time to do it before they'd left. He took a chunk of the black curls between his fingers and shaved it off with Kitaya's dagger.

The mirror fell from the perch on his leg, and he swore as it disappeared into the grass.

"Let me help you." Lady Hiroh took the dagger and began trimming his hair before he could decline. "Why are you so adamant about keeping it short?"

"Old habits die hard," Jayer said from across the camp.

Silence descended over the clearing, and Aldeheid bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from saying something nasty.

"Just ignore him. How short do you want it?"

"Short enough to lie flat. Can you neaten the edges too?"

Lady Hiroh worked quickly and quietly, shearing the nest of curls atop his head. The trimmings rained over his shoulders and fell into the grass.

"Hurry up with that, I want to spar." Leandyr unsheathed his sword and began cutting at the air, the blade glinting in setting sun.

Aldeheid took a breath and focused on the sound of his hair being clipped away. It reminded him of when he was a boy in Wylerra. The queen would clip his hair every other day, because Baldavin insisted on it.

"Cut his hair, it's disgusting," he'd say. It didn't help that Aldeheid's hair grew faster than weeds. Before long he'd learned to do it himself, and made it a habit to keep his unruly curls in order.