Autumnal Ball Pt 1 - Orenda

It’s been centuries since I got this dressed up, yet here I am dressing for the same reason I did then.

Today is the autumnal equinox, one of the two times of the year when the sun is exactly above the equator making day and night equal in length. The other time this occurs is called the vernal equinox. To celebrate, supernaturals gather among their kind in hopes of finding their soulmate. However, for thousands of years during the autumnal equinox, the delegation has hosted the Autumnal Ball, allowing supernaturals from all corners of the globe to come together at the Kartheca to try to find their animai among other species. The last time I attended was in the 1500s and that was only for the novelty of it. This time is different.

While everyone will be attending hoping to find their animais, I’ve already found mine; he just doesn’t want anything to do with me. This would have been another year I avoided this event but for some unknown reason, me and my brother were personally requested by the delegation to make an appearance. We’re used to them reaching out regarding eyti matters and we receive the ball invitations every year out of courtesy, but we’ve never had a face-to-face request before. I wanted to say no, but Ayawamat insisted we attend. I don’t know why he’s eager all of a sudden. He thinks being restricted to one soulmate for the rest of your life is cruel and unusual torture. I try not to overanalyse the bizarre inner workings of my brother’s mind; it’ll only give me a headache.

I walk over to the dresser, pick up a pair of gold, hollow, leaf earrings with turquoise and rhinestone tassels, and hook them in my ears as I walk back to the mirror and examine myself. I’ve paired the earrings with a beautiful squash blossom necklace in gold vermeil with turquoise cabochons that meet at a Naja – or inverted moon. It’s an absolutely beautiful piece made by a Navajo artist named Leon F. Kirlie. Seeing as how Jartre created my brother and me in the image of the native people of this land and many of their stories were inspired by us, I feel very connected to the native people in a spiritual way and love to honour them whenever I can.

For tonight’s festivities, I’m wearing a gorgeous turquoise, cream and gold, strapless mermaid dress with a sweetheart neckline featuring an eye-catching tribal pattern on the fabric. The shoes are six-inch turquoise stilettoes with gold pointed tips and a delicate glittering gold metal woven around the leather. I’ve pulled my hair back into a high pony that splits into two braids that hang down over my shoulders. The final piece of the ensemble is my bracelet. I’ve had this bracelet for thousands of years and never take it off. It’s a large teardrop opal encased in silver metalwork that wraps around and up my wrist to resemble a feather. While I’m immune to the eyti, I don’t like to use my abilities on them unless I absolutely have to. This allows me to incapacitate them without killing them, which eases my conscience.

Overall, this is the most effort I have put into my appearance in a long time, but I think I’ve managed to pull it off. No make up though. I’ve personally never enjoyed it. It makes me feel like I’m wearing a mask, and my skin feels as though it’s suffocating.

As I continue to examine myself in the mirror, I hear a light tap at my door.

“Come in,” I call out, grasping the bust of my dress and tugging it up a fraction.

From the mirror I watch Ayawamat enter my room, his eyes widening as he spots me.

“Wow…Orenda…you look stunning,” he breathes out.

I smile at his reflection, “You look quite dashing yourself.”

Ever the standout, my brother is dressed in a matching suit jacket and pants with a green, pink, white and blue gradient over a green turtleneck that perfectly matches his rainbow leather pointed-toe dress shoes. Sometimes I think my brother should have been made into a peacock instead of a raitruum.

“Did you match your attire to your eyes?” I inquire.

“That I did,” he grins, “And I look good, don’t I?”

“Handsome from head to toe,” I admit as I turn to face him, “Are you ready to go?”

“Not just yet, I was hoping you could do my hair.”

I smile softly, “Would be my pleasure.”

I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed, patting the spot in front of me. Ayawamat walks over and happily sits beside me, turning his back to me and handing me his brush.

“How would you like it?”

“I think I’d like two simple braids, nothing as elaborate as what you’ve got going on.”

“Like you could even pull it off,” I scoff as I gently brush through his hair, then begin working on his braids. “Aya?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you so eager to go to this thing? You’re not hoping to meet your animai are you?” I tease.

“For that, you can wash your mouth out with soap,” he says appalled.

I chuckle, “Okay, if it’s not that, then what?”

“I’ve been thinking about that battle the other month.”

“Not to be confused with all those other battles,” I tease further.  

He throws me a dirty look. I bite my lips together to keep from laughing and let him continue.

“We’ve been alive a very long time and in all that time I’ve never seen supernaturals from all walks of life gather together and fight as one like that. The fact that we were kept out for the worst of it made me feel like we were…being excluded.”

“You wanted to fight?”

“I wanted to feel like we were needed; like it wasn’t just us looking in as always. We’re called on when needed, but even that is rare. So many people still don’t even know we exist,” he says in frustration. "We're older than the Delegation, yet they are respected, and we are myths."

I sigh, understanding how he feels. I can’t count how many times I’ve swooped in to save someone’s life only to hear the deflating words that they have no idea what a raitruum is. Being the only two of our kind has its many downfalls and that is one of them.

“I just thought maybe attending the Autumnal Ball would give us a chance to be seen by the supernatural community.”

“I understand where you’re coming from and am completely behind this. But just for the record, if you had wanted to find your animai, I’d have supported that too,” I say sweetly.

“Never going to happen. Besides, why are you so sure Zarseti would even give me one? You don’t see all her daughters paired up.”

“Because I believe if there was someone for me, there’s someone for you.” I place his braids over his shoulders and line them up on his chest. “All done.”

He gets up and examines my handiwork in the mirror, gracing me with a bright smile, “Perfect as always. Now we can go.” He holds out his hand to help me up which I eagerly take.

As we proceed down the stairs, I notice my brother eyeing my dress.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Just admiring how stunning the dress is. Where did you get it?”

“Tituba made it for me,” I say proudly.

He blinks in surprise, “You didn’t wish for it, did you?”

“Gods no!” I gasp, “I would never do something so cruel. Just because she has chosen to use her abilities as a visum to help others as penance for her past indiscretions, does not mean I would ever take advantage of her. When I say she made the dress, I mean she made it with her own two hands. She’s quite the designer.”

“How am I only just finding out about this? And how does a visum who lives in the mountains manage to manufacture a gown like that anyway?” he asks suspiciously.

I roll my eyes, “We turn into birds and fly, yet a visum in the mountains sewing dresses is the thing you find impossible to believe.”

“What can I say, I’m a unique character. Now, speaking of flying…”