The Gods

The beat of the drums were perfectly in sync with Celia's heart, the loud thundering sound echoed around them as they were coming closer to the gates.

People's cheers were almost as defining as the drums and they lined the streets as the open carriage road past, raising their hands and chanting Rhale's name.

Celia held on to Rhale's hand hard, her knuckles turning white. Rhale was moving his thumb over her hand in a comforting gesture and Celia nervously copied the way he sat, straight back, head forward.

As they came closer to the big, double gate she could see that it was lined with gold and behind it was a building so huge that Amos' estate could fit in it ten times over.

Celia's other hand was in a fist and she dug her nails in as she saw the big open platform. If she thought that many people had lined the streets then this was beyond her comprehension of the word many.

A sea of people stood in front of the platform and on it two golden thrones stood, the backs of them rising high above the head of the people sitting on them.

At least she would not need to go up there, she thought and as the carriage came to a stop at the side of the platform, away from people's eyes, Celia finally relaxed a little.

Rhale said nothing as they walked off the carriage but he still held her hand firmly as he walked towards the stairs that led up to the platform.

When they reached the stairs Celia tried to let go of his hand but he still held on.

Panic was rising within her and she tried to pull her hand away, still he did not let go but Rhale did look down on her small hand in surprise.

Celia looked at him with wide eyes, her heart beating faster than the drums now.

She could not go up there.

"My son, your prince has come home!" A booming voice not very unlike Rhale's echoed all around them.

"And his soon to be joined one!"

Rhale brought Celia's hand up and kissed it gently before he put his hand behind her back and pushed her forward. She could see him clenched his jaws and she had no other choice but to walk with him and the crowd's cheers grew insanely loud as they made it up to the elevated floor.

Celia's legs were still unsteady from the short boat journey from the shore to the unfamiliar land, the weather here was warm, a stark contrast from the cold that had been on their journey here and they had taken off their thick winter coats.

Celia glanced down on her dress, the shifters had done a nice job of making it but it was still a winter dress that she had traveled in ever since they left the village.

The woman and man that stood before them now had elaborate, colorful clothes in fabric that seemed to float around them as they walked. They had no crowns on their heads as her own King probably would have had, instead their hair was braided back before it fell loosely down their shoulders. The man's hair was the same color as Rhale's, the only difference being that it was long.

The woman's hair was close in color to Celia's but Celia's was several shades lighter.

The woman stepped forward and took Celia's hand gently while Rhale and the man she presumed was his father, went to stand closer to the crowd.

The man held Rhale's arm up into the air "Feast and drink and celebrate!"

Celia did not hear the rest as the woman pulled her away from the crowd and through the gate. The room they entered was as big as one would expect but the woman did not stop, she pulled Celia through a door and when the door closed behind them Celia felt as though she could breathe for the first time since they got here.

This room was more normal in size and though the decor was no less splendid then everything else Celia had so far seen here it felt more intimate.

"I am sorry that you had to go through that unprepared. Next time I will make sure you are well prepared." The woman said kindly, holding Celia's arms gently.

"Thank you" The words fell automatically from her lips.

"I can see what he sees in you, you are quite the beauty. I am Idun, come and I will show you to your room."

Celia followed in a trance, unable to take in everything around her, everything was large and overly decorated.

The stairs they were walking up never seemed to end and Idun was talking the whole time.

"A bath has already been drawn for you and the joining ceremony will start to take place in a few hours. We are all very excited."

"I am sorry but how did you know about the joining? We came to" Celia did not get to finish her sentence before she was interrupted. Idun seemed so excited that she was unable to control her fast speech.

"Oh! Atrox knows everything about Rhale, do you not think that he would keep a close eye on his own son?" Idun looked at Celia and smiled brightly. "We have spies everywhere, we found out why you were coming when you were traveling here but you had another companion with you then."

"Khalil?"

"Yes!" her smile never lessened and Celia wondered how her cheeks were not hurting by now. Another set of stairs, they truly never did end. Celia's head was spinning and she kept looking back, hoping against all hope that Rhale would somehow appear.

"We thought for so long that Rhale would be alone forever but here you are! If you only know how much his father has wished for him to come and take his rightful place. For too long he has been away from home, some days we really wondered if we would ever even see him again."

Finally no more stairs, this floor had no outer walls at all, the entire floor was open to the sky outside. Pillars, slightly different from the ones in the realm of the Fates, held up the high ceiling and a railing was the only thing that kept anyone from accidently walking right off the floor and to their death.

They came to a stop in front of a double door, adorned with a painted depiction of a peacock in the middle with its feathers spread.

"This is your room, yours and Rhale's for as long as you want it. Before we enter I have to ask, do you understand how serious the joining is?" Idun looked concerned as she took both of Celia's arms again in her hands.

That question Celia at least knew how to awnser. "Yes I do."

"And you understand that your souls will merge into one and that it is forever."

"I know." There would never be anyone else for her, only Rhale.

"And do you know what the ceremony will be like?"

"No, that I don't know."

"O dear, o dear. Well we will just have to prepare you. We have lots to do, come!" Idun opened the double doors and the room Celia was hurried into was indescribable.

Everything around here seemed to have been built for giants and this room was no exception.

This room had walls unlike the open space right before it but the doors to a big round balcony stood open and the white, sheer curtains moved in front of it from the light breeze.

A huge tub was standing right next to the balcony and four women stood behind the tub, their whispering stopped as they made their way over to them.

"These are your ladies, Higril, Astrid, Emeryn and Yrla" They all lowered their heads to her and Celia repeated their names in her head but she was sure she would not remember any of them.

Idun clapped her hands "We have lots of work to do!"

One of the ladies, Astrid, Celia thought her name was came running up to her and started to take off her dress.

"I can do it" Celia said, mortified.

"But it is my honor to do it!" Celia could not for the life of her understand why but she soon found herself naked, Celia covered herself as best as she could with her hands.

"The bath is ready" one of the ladies said and Celia was pulled forward.

The huge tub was filled to the brim with steaming water and on top of the water oil was floating around together with rose petals.

Celia stepped in carefully and sunk down into the wonderful water, her muscles finally relaxing but her mind was still a jumbled mess.

She could not relax for long however as she soon was attacked by the females around her, there could be no other word to describe it.

Celia's legs were rubbed hard with some kind of stone, her armpits too and she bit her lip as she felt the hard stone going over her skin.

At the same time all of her nails were scrubbed with a brush and her hair was full of soap and oil. Not even her feet got left alone in the attack and when they were done she thought it a wonder if she had any skin left.

Celia was pulled out of the tub and pushed down on a chair in front of a vanity, someone was brushing her hair and someone else was doing something to her nails.

Idun came forward and started talking again.

"First is the compatibility test, blood will be drawn from the both of you and mixed together with an ancient potion. If the blood turns black, the match can not be made. If a fire erupts the joining has then already started."

Celia listened intently, happy to know what to expect and she said a silent prayer that the blood would not turn black.

"You will then be taken into another room where you will drink another potion, if nothing happens you are pure and the joining may continue. If you start bleeding from your eyes and other places... the joining ends." Idun said it all so factually and Celia really were beginning to want to see Rhale.

Was the joining to take place now? Celia had a hard time comprehending what was happening and all she could think of was Rhale.

"You are pure?" Idun looked a bit worried.

"I think so, yes."

"You think or you are?"

"I am"

"Good, then there is the feast and then we will accompany you to the bedroom before Rhale comes. We then leave and the seven days of joining starts."

Celia nodded her head, Rhale had already told that the joining took seven days...

They were relentless in their attack on her, she was poked and prodded, they rubbed something on her skin that smelled strangely sweet but wonderful and her hair was braided back only to come loose over her shoulders.

Her cheeks were pinched, they pulled out hair from her eyebrows and her lips were painted.

Last came the dress, a beautiful light blue dress that flowed behind her as she walked.

Celia was exhausted when they were finally done.

"You are perfect" Idun said to her "Anything you want or need? It is an hour left before the ceremony starts."

"Rhale?" Celia asked hopefully, she was unbelievably nervous and she wanted nothing more than to see him and forget about all of this craziness, to remember that this is about them, him and her only.

"No, not until the ceremony. Anything else, anything at all?" Celia's heart fell, she had not expected everything to happen so fast.

"Could I" Celia began but she did not want to be rude, if she could not see Rhale the next best thing would be to be alone.

"Yes"

"Could I perhaps be alone, just for a little while?"

"Of course. Ladies" Idun clapped her hands again and everyone went out.

Celia was alone.

She walked over to one of the walls where a floor length mirror hung and she looked at herself fully.

She did not know what to think about what she saw, the girl in the mirror, it was not her.

The girl who was looking back at her was beauty incarnated, her hair was braided back and adorned with golden pins, her eyebrows were perfectly shaped and her lips had just the right amount of red tint to them. Her body looked slender in the dress but still full in her womanly places.

What struck her most were her eyes.

They had changed, not the color but the deepness. She had seen it in so many older people but never in herself, she had always had childlike eyes, full of mirth and wonder.

Has she really changed that much?

She thought back to her days before her mother had been killed and she realized that she was not that girl anymore.

Whomever she saw in the mirror now felt like a stranger and she wondered who she would eventually become.

"Celia" It was Idun who had come in again. "It is time."

Has it really been an hour already?

In a trance she followed Idun down the long stairs and into the big hall where they had first entered.

As she walked into the room the first thing Celia noticed was all of the people, they seemed to be everywhere.

Everyone parted as they walked further into the room and she kept her eyes straight ahead, trying hard to ignore the crowd around her.

It all happened so fast, she had still not seen Rhale when Idun cut her hand with an adorned knife, she bit the inside of her cheek to force herself to not show any emotion when Idun cut.

Then she was all of a sudden pulled and her blood was put into a big golden bowl.

Still no Rhale.

Celia was pulled to the side and her eyes darted from one place to the other, she finally found him at the other side of the room. Celia willed him to look at her, so that she could feel the rightness of all this instead of this strange emotional void. Rhale did not look at her, his eyes were on the bowl in the middle of the room.

People cheered and Celia looked at the bowl, wild flames were burning in it.

Celia went through the motions as she was once again pulled into another room and a cup was given to her, she drank quickly, grimacing slightly at the bitter taste.

There was no blood. Thank the Fates.

Not even in the feast was Celia allowed to sit by Rhale, she could hardly see him on the other side of the room. The feast was too elaborate and she just wanted it all to end.

Why had she agreed to this? She did not know anymore.

When she was taken back to her bedroom she fought hard to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. Celia scoffed at herself, she should be happy, she and Rhale were finally doing it.

They had done the joining ceremony and it had gone well but she felt so utterly alone.

The ladies gathered around her and giggled but when Idun came they all scurried away and Idun took Celia's hands in hers.

"I want you to be prepared for the night."

Celia nodded mutely, still feeling utterly alone surrounded by strangers.

"It is not the same for every woman so I can only speak from my own experience and of the others that I have heard. The first time is very painful and you will bleed. Try to think about something else, it will get better with time." Celia scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, hurt? The little she and Rhale had done had been wonderful and exciting, nothing of it had hurt.

"Hurt?" Celia asked worriedly.

"Oh yes, something terrible! As I said it is different for everyone but the first time for me is still the worst thing I have ever done. But it does get better."

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"O, it's time for me to leave." Just as Idun walked out of the room Rhale walked in as terrifyingly looking as ever and the door shut loudly behind him.

Celia quietly asked herself what she had gotten herself into.