Reefa undressed herself along with two other girls who were fitting into their own satin dresses. Eliza had already worn the dress and prepared herself with the jewellery and hair ornaments.
"Alright, girls! Let's warm up!" Eliza said as the others finished adjusting the chains of jewellery around their waists and ankles.
After 30 minutes of practicing the steps of dance, Miss Mirko came into the room and brought along with her a small wooden box that stored containers and jars of face powder, red eye shadow powder and a creamy red ochre used for the lips. Reefa stayed silent as Miss Mirko did each of the girl's makeup. Although she chatted lightly with the other girls, Miss Mirko didn't say a word Reefa. Miss Mirko smudged the red ochre onto Reefa's lips with her finger. Reefa couldn't bring herself to look at her because the feeling of frustration was still there in her chest. Reefa avoided her gaze by looking down at her lap until Miss Mirko was done with the finishing touches.
Miss Mirko escorted the girls out to the living room, where most of the guests that were once hanging out there had now moved to the vast and dusty front yard of the Kerr's property. The four dancers formed a single line and walked around the bonfire to their designated places for the choreography. Reefa took a deep breath as the drum stopped for a minute before it played again and cued for the start of the dance.
Reefa moved step-by-step to the beat of the drum. She could feel her own soul being whisked away with every motion she made. The particles of dirt flew around in the air as she moved her legs and made a twirl. Towards the end of the dance, Reefa prepared herself for the last step that would finish the choreography. As she danced around the fire and approached back to her designated spot, she counted down the seconds to the last step in order for her to do the movements with the other dancers in unison.
3, 2, 1...
Reefa sped her pace and twirled before digging her heels into the dirt and pushing herself off the ground. As she leaped to the sky looking at the stars that twinkled above her, Reefa's eyes suddenly changed in colour and a male's gravelly voice eerily echoed through her ears. Her eyes widened and her heartbeat grew faster. All she could hear was a distressed voice calling out her name. Her name was being called out to her from a particular voice that she knew very well who it belonged to. A voice that came from the midst of the crowd.
"Reefa!"
Reefa stumbled a bit but landed on her right foot. By the time she landed, the glowing pigments of orange in her irises faded and the voice disappeared. Because of her shock, she was a second late on moving her left leg and motioning her arms in unison to the group.
Dad?!
Reefa tried to hide astonishment until the last seconds of the performance was over. Reefa and the rest of the dancers huddled near towards the front of the dancing area and bowed towards the crowd in accord. The rest of the crowd stood up from their seats and applauded the girls. As the applause died down and Miss Mirko gave her speech, Reefa eyed the crowd and expected to see a familiar face that would warm her heart. She couldn't be bothered about what Miss Mirko had to say. As the dancers stood to the side of the yard and near to the crowd, Eliza was looking at Reefa's strange reaction. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils dilated as it searched through the crowd for something important. Eliza put a hand on Reefa's shoulder and Reefa immediately snapped out of her unsettled behaviour.
"Are you alright?" Eliza asked with concern and furrowed her eyebrows.
Reefa gulped and realised that she failed to hide her shock from the premonition that she had just heard.
"Ye-yeah, yeah," Reefa stammered and nodded nervously to Eliza, "I'm- I'm okay."
Reefa gave a chuckle and smiled at Eliza to reassure her she was still sane, "So-Sorry, If I made you worry."
Reefa lowered her chin to her neck and looked down at her bare feet. Was she going crazy? Was it even a premonition at all? It couldn't even be a premonition of the future.
After all, Reefa knew for certain that her father was no longer alive.
He's already dead, she thought.
She looked back at Miss Mirko as she joined the rest of the guests. Behind her, Mr Kerr and Mr Hughes each threw a pail of water to distinguish the bonfire. Alongside the adults that were merrily talking to one another, a group of kids ran round the yard playing tag and would occasionally bump into the adults. The young men formed several huddled groups to boast about who was better at archery or swordmanship, whilst the young women would talk about their secret, budding romances. Reefa admired the scene in front of her as the air filled with warmth and joy. Eliza grabbed Reefa's hand pulled her hand gently.
"Come on. They're going to leave after this, so we should say goodbye to them."
Reefa went with Eliza to join the group of guests.
A child gleefully laughed as she chased after another girl around the yard, "I going to get you!"
Losing her balance on her left foot, the child tripped over. She opened her eyes to see that she had bumped into someone taller than her. She blinked several times at the sight of bare feet before slowly moving her head up to look at the person and realizing she had bumped into Reefa. "Sorry, big sister."
Stolen novel; please report.
Reefa smiled softly at her. She gave her a pat on the head as the little girl giggled and gave a lovable grin.
A single word echoed in Reefa's mind, 'dead...'
By the time Wellor caught her attention amongst the chattering crowd, she approached him speedily with a racing heart. All she could think abut at that moment was the word along with the image of the little girl. She grabbed Wellor's hand and Wellor was taken aback. Her eyes conveyed a hint of fear and it worried him.
"I need to talk to you."
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Each of the Kerr's bid farewell to their guests. Rozo and Naomi gave goodbye hugs to their close friends, whilst their mother accompanied Luis to apologise for his rude action from earlier on. The Hughes' were also about the leave, but Wellor's father had realised that Wellor had disappeared from where everyone had gathered in the front yard.
"Uh... Um... Re- Re-Reefa?"
Wellor ears turned red as they held hands and hurried back to Rozo's house, where Auri was eating his unfinished meat stew in the living room. Auri couldn't be bothered to say goodbye to the guests. He just wanted to be left alone and to eat his meal in peace. He sat on the round mat in the living room with his legs crossed, holding his bowl of soup with his left hand and a spoon on his right. As he was about to eat, Reefa demanded, "Auri, let Wellor sleep with you tonight."
Auri choked on the broth and let out several coughs to clear his throat. "What?" He winced as he felt the spices of the stew inflame his sinus. "I think you need to re-phrase that again for me."
"Let Wellor sleepover at your place tonight."
"Why?" Auri became snappish.
"He and I need to talk about things tonight. I'm not letting this plan slip from my mind once morning comes."
Plan? Wellor thought.
"No, I meant, why at my house?" Auri asked.
"Because you're a boy, of course," she retorted.
Auri gave both Reefa and Wellor a straight a face. Inbetween them, Reefa and Wellor's hands were still clasped together.
"What's this plan you're talking about? Does it include holding hands and such?"
"No! It's"- she let go of Wellor's hand and blushed as she looked away to her side - "It's nothing like that."
Wellor also looked away from her with a long face. He felt like he was about to cry at how his long-time crush threw his hand away roughly. And this is what I get for holding off a confession for too long.
Auri sighed and said, "Alright, he can stay over at my house. My father isn't at home anyway."
Auri thought about whether he had any spare clothes for Wellor to change into.
"Okay! Wellor, you can tell your parents now," said Reefa as Auri crossed his arms and clenched his jaws.
Wellor quickly went out of to the front yard to inform them.
"So you're not going to tell me about this plan of yours?" Auri asked. As curious as he was, he wasn't the type to interrogate and force the truth out of a person, even of he could tell that they were lying or not.
Reefa held off his question for a second. She thought about telling her premonitions to Auri but what held her back was the secret that she never got to confirm with him. That secret was about Auri's power. The first time she heard about it was when she was 8 years old. She had eavesdropped on the conversation between Miss Mirko and Mr Peck about recruitment matters relating to the defenders. She knew about Auri's power but she never mentioned it to him. She had her own doubts about the secret because she never thought of Auri to be a person to hold fire powers. He never once showed it throughout the many years they spent their childhood together and for that, she only saw him as the introverted yet caring friend he was. Despite that, he was hard to predict at other times. She wouldn't know what his honest intentions were.
Reefa pursed her lips and averted her eyes from him. A sense of guilt would come along with her small distrust and suspicion she had on Auri.
"I'll reveal it to you and Rozo later."
He looked away from her and said, "Up to you."
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Reefa, Wellor and Auri walked through the dirt-paved streets towards the east of the village. Four steps in front of the three friends, the Castro’s family were walking side-by-side with Miss Mirko. Eliza offered to carry Miss Mirko’s bag that was filled pots and pans that had been used to help with the cooking. The Castro’s chatted with Miss Mirko about the talented dancing and the other recreations that had happened in the party. Oil lamps that were hung to the lamp hooks of the outside walls accompanied each mud house that they passed. The lamps would be lit by each household just before dawn, providing light within the darkness of the night. The honey-coloured glow of the fire lit softly throughout the walkway, attracting the moths as they fluttered frantically around the glass and metal that contained the flickering red light. Reefa’s orange dress and the glitter of her eye-shadow gleamed with every lamp that passed by. The dust of the dirt surrounded their feet as they made each step approaching their home. As soon as Reefa caught the sight of their home, she tugged at Wellor’s dress signalling him to walk away from the path to her neighbourhood. He followed her, quietly parting from rest. He could feel his boots starting the sink into the sand as walked further and further away from the hard pavement. Auri didn’t bother looking at their way and continued to walk towards his home.
Wellor wobbled as a gust of wind came from his left side. Before he knew it, he had reached the top of the sand dunes. He opened his eyes to a view of vast and never-ending lands of sand beneath star-filled, aurora skies. In front of it was a beautiful girl standing on the red dune, with her orange dress that flapped at the rims of the skirt and her black hair that waved alongside the cool breeze. Wellor could feel his heartbeat slow down. His breathing became slow and shallow as he gazed longingly at the scene in front of him.
He never knew that such a place existed near Detra. It was his first time coming to the sand dunes. And the scene that he saw at that moment would be engrained in his memory forever.
Reefa straightened the skirt of her dress as she sat down on the sand. Wellor came over and sat beside her. They felt the warmth of their bodies amongst the gentle wind as their shoulders touched each other. They stared at the blue and green streaks of natural light above them. The environment was so admirable that the quietness would have sufficed for the peaceful atmosphere surrounding them.
“I can hear the future,” she murmured. “All this time, I tried convincing myself that I was human, and that I wasn’t crazy. But I couldn’t ignore the times when I would predict what people were going to say and do. I knew for a fact that no human can do that. So, I concluded that I might a Haara after all.”
She looked to Wellor who was still gazing up at the stars. She expected he would be stunned by what she had told him, but there was no reaction.
“I’ve known for a long time that we were Haaras, Reefa,” said Wellor. “Powerless Haaras. Although, it never crossed my mind that a Haara could hear the future.”
“Do you mean that all of us in this village are Haaras?”
“Most of us are, except for some humans that still live here.”
“Then… what…”
“I don’t know what everyone’s wielding is. Heck, I don’t even know if we can wield anything. But a powerless Haara isn’t common among the 9 Monarchs. They would deem us as humans, which we're not.”
Reefa looked down at her fastened hands as her arms bundled her knees together. “How do you know all this?” she asked.