The Iridescent Feathers

"Grant us the beauty of your soul, the piece of you that's light and shining."

It always sounded impressive, echoing off the mountains. The coven lowered their hands to the heart center and quickly pushed their arms back up, releasing energy that came together to create a ball of light. It swirled outside the circle of witches and continued spiraling up high enough to blend into the brightness of the sky.

"That should deliver a feather," said Simara. "Thank you for the help, ladies."

"Anytime. We got you."

-

"Oh, your elbow is on my hair," said Rayna. "Let me get on top. I cum easier that way."

"I love it when you take control," he moaned as he turned over, revealing a hard dick ready for her to ride. Rocking up and down on her knees, he reached up to her nipples and started twisting and playing with them.

Rayna screamed as she came, with her head back, leaning her hands on his knees behind her. After she finished, he sat up and wrapped her in his arms, then quickly flipped her over to finish. "Rayna, you are so sexy," he yells as he comes before collapsing on her panting.

It was the perfect day for sex in the forest, and they took advantage of the opportunity on their hike. They hadn't been to this summit in a while, and it was a clear day. Rayna opened her eyes as Aden began kissing her neck. Peering over his shoulder, she notices a faint line of smoke in the sky. "Is that smoke?"

Aden turned his head to see what Rayna was looking at and stood up. "Yeah, look at that. I wonder where it came from," he said.

"You have the sexiest butt I have ever seen. Stand there and look into the sky as long as you want!" said Rayna, smiling and turning to her side and supporting her head to continue her ogling.

"Mm, you're sexier. That position makes it so easy to suck on your tits," he said as he lowered his hands and knees and crawled to her. He started sucking on her right nipple for a moment, kissed it, and stood back up.

"We should probably get dressed. Do you know where my other hiking boot is?" Aden turned to look behind him, scanned the forest floor, and then walked past her to look as Rayna got her shorts back on.

"Oh, I see it over there. Wow, you got it far. Nice kick! I'll be right back, gorgeous." Aden walked over the forest floor, cracking sticks and rustling a few leaves. Returning quickly, he handed her the other boot and showed her a large, iridescent feather. "Have you ever seen a feather like this?"

"Is that... a Phoenix feather? Hm, I wonder," she replied. "We can ask my dad if he has seen one like this. Let's check out the summit. This has one of the best views," she said, breathing in the sunlight, leaning her head back, arms out in a full wingspan, taking in the moment. "Hey, is that another trail of smoke?"

A Phoenix suddenly flew over their heads, leaving a thick trail of smoke about 30 feet over them. It continued soaring, following the ridge of mountain tops, circling the valley.

"Those are real?!" they exclaimed almost simultaneously. "I had no idea how large they are," added Rayna.

-

"Raise the left hand, and take it back into Warrior 2," directed High Priestess Amelia. The coven collectively got into position and took a deep breath before bringing their feet together and dropping to touch their toes. "Arms up, heart open, and down to heart center." Amelia went on. "Thank you, ladies. Don't forget to hydrate, and this might be a long day. We should be getting a feather today and have much to prepare. Simara, do you need anything else from us?"

"Nope, it should be here within the hour. It is just a waiting game at this point. It might be closer to two hours. She's been consistently behind schedule," responded Simara. Everyone slowly cleared from the stone mandala in small groups.

This land has been perfected over time through use and cultivation by the coven since the beginning of written history. It's almost a perfect circle, and the stone art for the ritual space has been maintained proudly.

A few minutes later, Maisy returned to pick up her water bottle and decided it was empty enough to finish in one gulp. She swallowed the last water with her head tilted back and noticed a phoenix feather floating gently down, landing just outside the stone mandala directly across from her. She brought her hands to the heart center and silently thanked the universe. She immediately delivered the feather to Simara.

"Wow, she's struggling. This calamus is nearly charred. She's smoldering. She's in a lot of pain," analyzed Simara. "Thanks, babe. I'm going to take this to Amelia. See you tonight."

-

"Dad, are you home?" Rayna shouts just inside the door.

A distant, "In my office," returned from the corner of the house.

They navigate to his office while continuing to examine the feather in detail. "We found this on our hike. Is there a chance this could be a Phoenix feather?" Rayna asks as they enter the office.

"Let's take a look," says Omar. He takes a moment to examine it. "Nice work! That's exactly what it is. I thought those were only legends. Could you grab me that thick book there on the shelf behind you, the one with the spine partially missing," he requested.

Rayna retrieved the book, and Omar opened the text using one of the bookmarks. It thuds open on his desk, and he runs his finger down the page, stops, and reads, "Commonly found in the Westwood region, some Pheonix feathers have an iridescent sheen," out loud. "Did you visit Westwood today?"

"Yup! We went to Circle Valley today. The summits are amazing!"

"Oh, how fun. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for showing this feather to me. Any adventures planned for tomorrow?" Omar asked with anticipation.

"Well, we saw the Phoenix flying, and it left a trail of smoke in the air, so we are considering going back tomorrow to see it again," Aden responded.

"No kidding. Is there enough room for a third wheel?" asked Omar, smiling. "I've studied a little about Circle Valley and always wanted to visit it. I need the exercise, too."

"Sure!" responded Rayna enthusiastically.

-

"Please gather for the report," announces Amelia. "Simara has been working on this all day."

"This will be its 33rd generation, carrying tremendous trauma. Once I got the char off, I could see the lines on the calamus, and they are so close together that I need a 10x to see them. They are finer than I've seen, and there are more than I have ever seen. There are usually about three, maybe four, lines per generation. This one has 7 for each generation. She will be here tonight, so we must prepare the room. Let's gather at 4 to prepare for arrival," reported Samira.

The coven began slowly gathering at the stone mandala, forming a circle around Simara in a deep meditation in the center. The feather was placed precisely in the mandala's center in a bud vase on the ground before her. Simara opens her eyes and relocates to join the circle.

"Fire to ashes, ashes to energy, energy to peace, peace to storm, and storm to life," Amelia shouts with her eyes closed and arms up. She has a way of projecting her voice, making her an amazing High Priestess.

The coven rises to their feet and reaches their hands out in front of them, palms facing up.

-

"So, which mountain did you two climb yesterday?" asks Omar as they pull into the trailhead.

"Emerald is one of our spots, so we take day trips sometimes," Rayna replies. "Jade has the highest summit, though, and we want the best view of the valley."

"That's great! So I will keep an eye out for more feathers," says Omar.

They reach the summit, and as they round the corner to the view overlooking the valley, they immediately spot the burning Phoenix. They race over to the edge to watch it rapidly circle the valley and suddenly spiral down to crash on the ground in a flaming mess of feathers, fire, and smoke.

-

The Phoenix is already on fire as it spirals through the air above them in a large circle. The spiral gets smaller, and the Phoenix crashes into the mandala's center, flinging ashes, fire, feathers, and energy everywhere. The coven raises their arms and faces their palms down, calmly allowing the Phoenix to burn to ashes.

"It is moving?"

Dondly was the impatient one. Maisy and Romina shot a look over to her.

"What?" mouthed Dondly as she redirected her attention to the phoenix.

Amelia slowly lowered her arms and closed her eyes once her hands were beside her. She took a deep breath and announced it would be just over three hours. The circle of witches joined in a collective exhale and lowered their arms to their sides. "Jacara, will that be enough time for you?"

"We're good," responded Jacara.

"When is the last time you have seen a phoenix in this bad shape?" asked Maisy.

"Since Lenora was High Priestess," responded Jacara.

"You read the calamus right, that's for sure. It shed a lot of energy, ladies. Let's cleanse and release it. It struggled quite a bit." Amelia brought her hands to the center of her heart and closed her eyes again. "Get into position when you are ready. It needs all of our support."

Every member around the mandala took a deep breath while raising their hands to the heart center, sending energy to their chest, and exhaled a power breath directed to the pile of ashes in the center. It was enough to clear the ashes in a large swirling funnel that rose to the sky and dissipated, revealing an iridescent green egg.

Phoenixes are real, and they are rare. A phoenix ready for its final regeneration will slowly regrow iridescent feathers as the others fall off. When it's time, it seeks out Circle Valley instinctually. When an iridescent phoenix arrives, the coven knows an egg with a human baby will remain in the ashes. A baby they raise and train to be a member of the coven.

"Wow, I didn't know it was going to be green. That's new," commented Amelia.

"We had one when Lenora was high priestess that was iridescent purple," responded Simara. "Pretty rare."

"What does it mean?"

"There's not a lot of background on it, but we think it has to do with the trauma and the level of skill. The purple egg went on to be high priestess," said Simara, smiling.

Amelia returned a look accompanied by stunned silence. "Oh," she responded. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled, "Okay. I did not know that."

With her hands in the heart center, Amelia graciously thanked everyone for all their hard work and said, "We've got three hours to get ready for this baby. Let the fun begin!"

Jicara walked to the mandala's center to inspect the egg as it rocked back and forth, ready for the next stage.

-

Rayna was looking through the binoculars and saw the circle of witches walk away from the mandala, leaving what looked like an egg in the center of it. "What happened to the phoenix?" she said out loud.

"It's gone?" asked Aden.

"According to legend, they burn to ashes and regenerate themselves as a part of their life cycle," Omar responded, "or at least that's what I thought. Is there a trail that leads to the valley?"

"Yes! Let's go check it out," Rayna announced.