Sunrise

When Aravia finally awoke, the sun was just beginning to set. The water was tugging playfully at her hair, and the searing heat had finally left her body. She felt as if she’d been torn apart and put back together. The young woman sat up slowly and cursed softly at the pulling sensation of all of her muscles. The water had chilled her to the bone, and she shivered violently as the temperature dropped around her. One extreme to another, she thought sarcastically.

Her actions from earlier in the day came rushing back, and she felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. What was she supposed to do now? Her mind reeled with the sinking feeling that she would have to go back and face her Master. She felt so absolutely horridly disgusting. How could she have thought she had the right to want such things? The lust she had felt earlier was buried beneath shame and guilt.

She felt as if she should die. As if she deserved it. No, she thought to herself, I deserve to be shamed. That was a fate much worse to her than death, and she had felt it so many times from her classmates and teachers that she had accepted it as part of her curse.

Aravia looked down as the last of the light’s rays were being cast upon the river. Through the rippling reflection, she could see her veiled figure and imagined the horrors beneath it. Not once had she looked in a mirror with her naked face. She only touched it when she washed it and only went without the veil as she quickly scrubbed and rinsed. Nights when her terrors would wake her, she would fumble for the veil and secure it firmly against her face, afraid the dreams were coming from underneath it and spilling out into the world around her. She was terrified at what the curse would do to any that saw her face- even herself.

She slipped and slid her way up the bank, resolute on her fate. She would return to the tower with Silas and bear the shame. Her legs didn’t want to move.

“Come on!” She urged them, angry at her body for being so resistant to her will. Her voice surprised her. It wasn’t like her to speak unless made to. “Fuck!” She cursed as her legs trembled, and she sank in defeat to the now chilled ground.Tears welled in her eyes, and she fought them back. Her vision blurred from the moisture pooling behind her lashes, and she became angry at how pathetic she felt.

An electric sensation jolted through her muscles as she stood once more. Fury became more evident to her, and she used it as a stick to corral her body into moving towards her chosen fate. When she had made it to the edge of the forest, where she could see the outline of the Mage’s Sanctuary, she saw an arc of lightning light up the sky and heard the loud clap of thunder rolling towards her.

Rain poured down, instead of the tears she refused to let fall, making every inch of her that had just dried soaking again. She found it hard to believe this was just a coincidence. The sky knew just how she felt. She smiled bitterly in irony and continued toward the Sanctuary.

“Get in.” Silas found her before she found him. He was standing next to a sputtering carriage. Its acrid fumes made bile rise up in the back of her throat. She hadn’t been inside one since the day she had come to The Mage’s Sanctuary. The feelings she had felt that day came flooding back and her stomach twisted in a knot. They were sending her away.

Aravia complied with Silas’ order and slid into the carriage through the door he held for her. She dared not look up at him, for fear she would see how disgusted he was with her. The door clunked shut firmly, and she felt the carriage shift with the weight of her luggage being loaded in the back.

Where are they sending me? Aravia’s mind was racing. They couldn’t just dump her on the street somewhere, could they? Am I going back? Fear froze her to the core. She couldn’t go back. Not back to the room. Anything but that.

Her fears were disbanded like smoke in the wind when she heard the carriage door opposite to hers click open. The rain was pouring loudly outside. She felt the weight of someone slide into the seat next to her, and the door closed unceremoniously. It was silent in the carriage except for her own shallow breathing.

“Are you ready Healer?” Aravia jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar person in the carriage. It was coming from the driver’s seat.

“Yes. We are ready.” Silas said from next to her. Aravia gave a slight gasp at this. Silas was coming with her? Had they both been expelled from The Sanctuary because of her? Just as she couldn’t take the thought of bringing her curse down upon Silas, he spoke.

“We are needed elsewhere.” Silas explained to her. He was trying to comfort the poor girl, as he could see from looking at her that she was confused and dejected. He knew she must be feeling ashamed and scared. He wanted nothing more than to tell her everything was ok, but he wasn’t sure everything was ok. All he could offer was this statement and his reassuring silence for the long trip to The Moonrise Packlands