7 The Day Before

Shandra was getting nervous the closer the ceremony came. It was coming fast. The closer it got the more nervous she was, she could feel every nerve in her body buzzing with excitement.

The ceremony is tomorrow. "Do you want to see Darwin today?", she thought. She considered the thought of meeting him, but it was not their usual day. She sat up in her bed and looked out her window, pulling her fingers through her hair. Her hair had gotten so long in such a short time. And tomorrow most of it would be cut off to start her new life of a high priestess. This made her sad because it took so long to grow it to that length, her hair went down her back and reached the bed.

She swung her feet off the bed and to the floor. Her feet felt the coolness of the stone floor. She tried to calm her body, focusing only on the cool stone under her feet. She closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths. "Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out." Opening her eyes she felt her body start to calm down. 'Okay, now I can start my day.', she thought.

She walked across the room and looked in the mirror. Her reflection showed someone who was no longer a girl, but not quite a woman yet. While looking at herself, she raised a hand, turning it slowly to pull some water out of the basin in the corner and bring towards her bowl in front of the mirror. She was getting much better with controlling water. It no longer came it flying at her face, which it had tended to do 70% of the time previously. She raised the palm of her other hand up, igniting a small flame. She let the fire dance around in her palm for a time. She was mesmerized by it and thought about how much life was in the flame. She always said Fire Magic was one of her greatest powers but also her greatest weakness. She really liked how Fire was alive it needed air to burn, to live, to dance. She continued staring at the flame, enraptured by its glow. Quickly, she blinked and shook her head. She willed the flame to run around the bowl heating the water.

Every couple of minutes, she would dip her fingers in the water to check the temperature. It took a little over five minutes for the water to get to a point where it warm, but at the same time not too hot. She extinguished the flame, grabbed a cloth, and dipped it in to wash her face. It was so refreshing to her, to feel clean first thing in the morning. She dressed quickly, getting into her work dress, sliding on her boots and grabbing her message bag, her most prized possession. Heading to the door she was on a mission: Go Get Darwin.

She made her way to the kitchen taking two biscuits and heading out. The weather was warm today and the sun was shining. Birds were singing in the forest, as if their calls were inviting her to come and play. 'Not today. Today, I will go and surprise Darwin.' Taking a deep breath of fresh air, smelling in all the scents of her surroundings : juniper, oak, and pine from the forest, roses and daisies from the garden to the left of the kitchen. Those scents smelled like home to her, the one place she felt truly safe. With a smile and a sigh, she started off to her hidden garden. 'The apples should be budding and maybe her berries would be ripe enough to eat and share with Darwin.', she mused.

When she entered the garden her plants greeted her with their sweet floral scents. Walking over to the apple tree she saw that the buds were growing well. In her mind, this year's crop will be her best. Just then, a shimmer caught her attention. Turning her head quickly, she saw her Luna Flower. It finally had a bud. The beautiful green vericated leaves shimmered in the sunlight, they were so beautiful to her. She went over to the plant, there she knelt and smiled. 'It looks like you will bloom during the full moon. Your beautiful bloom will be a present for my ceremony.' She felt her joy over flow. Grinning ear to ear, she stood and turned to her berry bushes. 'They are so full! It looks like a there will be a mixed berry salad for Darwin and me.' Then, she went back to the apple tree and grabbed the basket hanging in a low branch, taking it with her to the berry bushes.

The bushes were full and the berries looked so juicy. She plucked a raspberry and popped it in her mouth. The raspberry was juicy, sweet, and with just a small amount of tartness. "Yummm", she thought.

After 30 minutes her basket was full of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. She covered her basket with a linen cloth and started towards Darwin's farm.

She got to the edge of the forest, but she remained in the shadows. She always felt anxiety about leaving the border of Avalon. She looked in to the fields to see if Darwin was there. She saw that he was on the side of the field closest to her. He appeared to be watering the crops. Seeing him made her feel better. She sat her bag and basket on the ground. Shandra took in a deep breath and slowly began raising her hands, palms up. She felt the water from the creek that was to her right. She began pulling the water towards her until she had a good amount in front of her. She opened her eyes and concentrated on Darwin. She laughed quietly as she pushed the blob of water, right towards Darwin's back. She counted down as she prepared to drop the water, "three... two... one...". The water fell, soaking Darwin and everything around him for almost five feet. Shandra knew that she had got him and began to burst out with laughter. 'HEY!', he yelled and that ended her fit of laughter. She looked again, he was sprinting towards her. 'Oh no...' she muttered under her breath. She turned and grabbed the first branch. The branch was thin but she used her magic to strengthen the branch. It wrapped around her forearm, lifting her like as if she were leaf. 'Hey that is cheating!' bellowed Darwin. This caused Shandra to break out into laughter again. She was half way up the tree by the time Darwin got to there. He was soaked from head to toe and now out of breath. Despite being soaked and out of breath, he was glad to see her. His smile was full of warmth, it made her feel at ease. 'Come down! I have a gift for you.', he cried. This statement made her think, "What did he get me?" In the blink of an eye, he spun on his heel and ran towards the house. 'Where are you going?! I'm down now!", she cried. She reached her arm out to let the tree lower her down to the ground, which it quickly did. Once on the ground, she walked swiftly to her bag and basket to pick them up and take them to Darwin. 'I am glad they did not get trampled.', she said to herself. She took a deep breath and started to walking across the field.

By the time she had reached the other side of the field, Darwin was already running back to her with what looked like a piece of purple cloth.

Shandra chuckled as she saw this. 'This is a sight!', she said and laughed loudly to herself. She strolled over to him and asked, 'Do you to go back to the tree line and sit?' Darwin answered quite winded 'There is a tree just over there' as he gestured to his left. 'Oh, did you bring food?' As he took the basket from her hand. She nodded with a smile.

Under the tree there was a nice steady breeze. Once there. they sat down with the basket in-between them. Shandra pulled the cloth off the berries. 'Those berries look amazing,' he said as he carefully grabbed a couple off the top. Shandra held her breath as she watched his toss them one at a time in his mouth. Relief washed over her face as she heard him say 'those are delicious. I bet they are from your garden.' He popped a couple more in his mouth. 'Am I right?.' He raised his right eye brow. She shone with pride and nodded. She took a couple as well. 'The berries are so juicy and sweet but, not too sweet.' she said to herself. They sat under the tree eating berries in silence, enjoying the sound of the breeze rustling through the leaves.

After they both had their fill of berries, Darwin turned and grabbed the purple cloth. 'I was hoping to get this to you before tomorrow. I made it and hope it will help you for your duties as a High priestess.', he said. He held the cloth in his open hands handing it to Shandra. She took the cloth and sat it on her lap. It felt heavy. What can it be? She started to unwrap the cloth she was shocked. It was silk! The purple was dark and had a bright blue shimmer to it. The cloth itself was so beautiful, but when she saw what was in the cloth made her smile. It was a silver stiletto dagger. She picked it up carefully and looked at the design. There was a black leather wrapped handle. The pommel was shaped like a gem with scroll work on each side. There was a beautiful S etched into the blade. The sheath was lying under the blade and had the same scroll work like the pommel. She was overwhelmed with the beauty of her gift. She set the gift aside and hugged Darwin. He was so happy she enjoyed her gift and hugged her back. While they savored this happy moment, they, there was a tinge of sadness at the same time. They both knew after tomorrow, the time that they would have to see each other would be very rare going forward. The sun would be setting in a few of hours and she knew that it would take her some time to return home. Quickly, Shandra grabbed her basket and her knife, thanked Darwin and made her return to the tree line.