Selena's First Flight

Selena's eyes gazed in awe of the glorious full moon in the midnight sky. The effulgent celestial body glowed so brilliantly that its rays bounced onto her copper skin and danced along the river next to her. The air was crisp against her cheeks that hid inside her cloak. Despite its brilliance, the moon never took the stage away from the billions of stars that danced behind her in the night sky, filling out every detail for Selena’s gaze. She breathed slowly, taking in the cool temperature set from the riverbend. Every controlled breath rose against the surrounding sonic environment around her. Crickets seemed silent against the moving water, but her ears heard it all, including the black cat that walked its way towards her sitting body.

“Hi Beatrice,” Selena whispered. Her eyes did not move from watching the glowing orb in the sky while the cat purred and rubbed her hair against her sitting waist. The only move she made to acknowledge Beatrice’s presence was a hand that pet her once the curious creature made her way to her peripheral vision. “Most girls have their mother fetch them before the ceremony, but I guess I’m your favorite.” The feline simply meows back before continuing the purrs from the petting Selena gave on her back. “I had a vision during my days here, does this happen often during the first few days of transition?” The cat pawed at her dark blue cloak, queuing her to finally look away from the moon and at the cat. “We should go before mom goes off and fetches me herself.”

Despite the miles of distance between her spot and the sisterhood, it took less than an hour to get her and Beatrice back to the small village she called home. She came in as fast as the wind to the entrance where tents were held outside of the surrounding homes of the small square. Each tent held all kinds of offerings, ranging from tinctures to dried herbs, food, and even paint to draw on the faces of others for games. The village held many festivals to celebrate the changes of the Earth, but none were as common as the Lunar Festival, held every month under the full moon. This festival used to be Selena’s favorite as a child, and would often get her face painted into several different kinds of nocturnal animals as she ran around with her peers pretending to be those same creatures. The older she became, the more she found herself lost in her studies, via her mother’s order, and those peers soon became loquacious classmates that would spread rumors of her studies as she passed by them in the village, unaware of the responsibilities she held from the elders who gave her such knowledge. These rumors never bothered her however, for she already understood she could not control what is passed down to oneself at birth.

One friend however, always stood by her side without hesitation, even during a night such as this. “Selena!” shouted Solana, popping out from behind her with a mouth full of cheesy corn. This would typically scare a person, but since it was a common habit of hers to spring out of nowhere, Selena learned to never hesitate.

“Hi Solana,” Selena calmly said back as she placed Beatrice down to the ground. The feline’s fur gave away its discontent to Solana’s surprise. The two ladies could not seem more different when standing next to each other. Selena’s hair was as dark as the night sky while Solana’s was a deep red. Selena’s brown eyes paid homage to her mother’s genes, but Solana’s eyes met hers with a rare green set. No one ever understood the likeliness of their friendship, but Solana gave little care in the world that inspired Selena’s independence.

“Girl, your mom has been looking for you!” said the girl with the flame-touched curls, her eyes looking concerned as usual. “Let me take you to her and you can tell me all about your week on the way. I’m so glad you made it at all, but your mother’s been worried sick, you know!”

“Aren’t we supposed to keep the experience to ourselves? Otherwise my-” Solana was already taking her by the hand to take her to the largest tent in the village.

“Ugh, FINE, but that means I have to chase down after you when it’s my turn to have my ceremony so we can talk then, ok? You know all I want is a cheat sheet ya goody two shoes.” Selena wasn’t exactly the words Solana accused her to be, but when it came to her studies, she respected its importance. Beatrice followed the two girls, attempting to keep up Solana’s brisk pace.

Her mother was right outside the entrance of the tent upon the three of them reaching the destination. Selena was the spitting image of her mother, where the only difference was the length of their hair. Selena’s hair simply reached to her shoulders in comparison to her mother's, whose hair swung down to her knees. When braided it would lift up to her waist, which was the hairstyle she was having now. “I knew you’d make a safe return. Look at you, not even a scratch on you!” stated the woman as she bent down to hug her adroit child.

“Really? Because Solana’s been giving me an earful of how worried you were.” Solana suddenly shies away behind Selena. The maiden simply smiles as playfully as Beatrice when she’s in the mood.

“She wasn’t wrong. I was worried you wouldn’t make it on time! Now come change into your ceremonial robes before our lady reaches her peak,” her mother says, gesturing to the moon above them.

It took some time between undressing and redressing before Selena took the courage to repeat herself. At this point, her mother had sent Solana to the main quarters. “I know we’re supposed to keep our experience to ourselves but seeming that you’re our supreme, is it possible to ask you something I’ve been concerned about since my journey?”

“Keeping it to oneself is only meant to make the experience for yourself, untainted by others’ opinion to maintain its purity, however it does not weaken one's' abilities. What is it that’s on your mind?”

“I had a vision during my journey…or rather a few. Does that happen to most girls during their leave?” Selena’s throat had croaked, worrying if she had failed her test.

“Not typically, no. Some do, but only the most powerful witches find themselves with experiences they cannot explain or pass down to others.” Beatrice jumps from the edge of the window and onto her mother’s shoulders. “After tonight, you will be of age to go on your second journey to find and understand your concentration. It will be your decision to come back home to us when the time is right. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your own Beatrice.”

Selena looked over to Beatrice who had found her home on her mother’s shoulders. Being the supreme, her mother was the only lady in the sisterhood that had come to experience her craft with a familiar. According to her mom’s stories when she was younger, Arcellia and Beatrice had met on the night of her own ceremony. Arcellia was born in the autumn days in contrast to her daughter’s spring birth, and Beatrice had come to her only as a kitten lost in the grass. Something came over Arcellia in need to protect it, but would find it in her future that it was Beatrice who had come to protect her. Her mother’s brown eyes swelled with feelings of pride and concern that Selena could notice with just one moment of direct eye contact. She wanted to make her mother proud, not waste the opportunities she had given her at a young age despite the alienation she received from some of her sisters. No matter how angry she found herself at her mother, she understood every decision she made because of the transparency she had given to her. She never found herself angry, simply focused and determined to make the most of her future that her mother spent so much time prepping her for. Now was the time to put her knowledge to use.

Inside the tent was pitch black, with only the center having a hole to reveal the moonlight from above. Solana was the second brightest figure in the tent, her cocoa skin always having a warm sunny glow since her days as a child when she and Selena would practice their spells underneath the morning sun. Elder witches came forth surrounding the center bath that Solana filled with anise, mugwort, poppies and camphor. Hums filled the air from the elder witches as the younglings watched in awe. Parents of the younglings often watched over their children to keep them from moving about too much. The moon began its entrance in the circle when Arcellia and Beatrice rose from behind Solana. “My sisters,” she began.

It would take another few moments before Selena would enter in her thin white gown. The white gown fell over to her ankles as her sisters would carry her to her bath. Using only their fingertips, Selena was put into the bath slowly, the water engulfing every bit of her cinnamon skin. Once she was fully under water, her sisters let go, the moon coming closer to its center. Her mother raised her voice along with her sisters as they chanted to the night sky, mist beginning to fill the air. The longer she was under water the more she needed to lift her head for breath, but Selena did not waver. She held her focus and followed her spell, taking in the cold sensations and moonlight that seeped through her eyelids. Within moments, it was as if she was breathing underwater, and that was when the moon hit its center. Once the full moon hit its peak, the celestial body became as red as the water below Selena who was now mid air above her bath. Solana watched in awe of the ceremony wanting to cheer for her best friend but refrained from doing so to let her keep her focus.

Her focus instead was broken by the barn owl who flew into the hole where the full moon sprayed its light. The owl flew into her levitating body, causing them both to fall into the bath. The water rose out of the bath like waves from an ocean but the water level when calmed remained the same. Her sisters lost balance from the waves of the bath, many falling to their feet. Selena rose from the bath coughing from the water to see the barn owl flapping its wings to free itself of the same liquid that had entered her lungs. She propped the bird on the edge of the bath and it shook its feathers until dry, leaving Selena covered in both water and feathers. Garrulous peers murmured behind, causing Selena to go red in the face. Had she failed? Was she not ready to move on to her next journey?

The arctic bath suddenly became a hot spring. She turned over to see that Solana had used a spell to heat the water so that her body could fight a possible cold, or worse, hypothermia. “I love you best friend,” she whispers to her, “I know,” being Solana’s response. Her mother walked down her steps, her shadow blocking the moon from Selena’s bath.

“My wise child, beyond your years,” she started. “Of course your familiar would be an owl,” she chuckled to herself. Selena had looked over to the owl to see that it had been staring at her since put it in its spot, its eyes as big as the full moon itself. She hadn’t realized it yet, but the moment they touched was the moment they imprinted each other. “Congratulations, you are ready to begin your journey.”