The Unfinished Song: Initiate
“…pale and my lips and fingertips are white. See?” Gwenika held out her hand. “I recognize the symptoms from your Healing stories. I think the fae have hexed me with Feeble Blood Lack. Can I sit down?”
Beside her, Gwena rolled her eyes.
“The fae have not hexed you,” said Brena. “No one has hexed you. You’re just not trying. Let’s start that again. Gwena, good job, but keep your toes pointed in the leap. Gwenika, your leap looked like a frog, not a doe. Copy your sister.”
“I’ve been bleeding in unspeakable places for no reason,” Gwenika said.
At that, Brena swiveled her head and focused the brunt of her attention on Gwenika. For the first time, she noticed her younger daughter’s slightly swelling chest and widening hips. Oh no. It’s too soon. Where have the years gone? Yesterday, you were still my baby. Today . . .
Half encouraged, half disconcerted, Gwenika said, “I think the bleeding is causing Feeble Blood Lack.”
“You might be right,” said Brena.
“I might?”
“You should sit down and just watch for a while.” “So that means that the fae are hexing me?”
“No.” Brena pulled her hand through her hair. “It means that you, like your sister, have already had your first moonblood. It means I am running out of time to teach you everything I can before the Initiation.”
She paced the clearing and gestured at the sycamore trees. “So little time left! These girls are still not ready!”
Or is it that I’m not ready for them to be ready? “We’re trying to learn as fast as we can, Mama,” said Gwena. “Aren’t we supposed to wait until Initiation to learn all the secret dances anyway?” Gwenika asked.
“Don’t let nonsense fall out of your mouth.” Brena scowled at what trouble Auntie Ula could cause if she had the idea that Brena was actually teaching the dances themselves. “I haven’t taught you any tama. I’ve taught you the basic steps, the hand gestures and the foot positions, the flips, the turns and the leaps. Believe me, without knowing those, you would never pass the Testing. And you also better believe that all Tavaedies teach their children these things. Why do you think that the honor of belonging to the secret society tends to stay in families?
“It isn’t forbidden for me to teach you what I do, as long as you’re still children. But once you are initiated, I will not be allowed to teach you any more. If you fail the Test, that’s it, that’s your last chance. Do you understand why it’s so important that you pay atten- tion to everything I tell you now?”
“Yes, Mama,” both girls said in unison.
“Good.” Brena drew a deep breath. She put her hands on her hips. “Let’s begin again. Gwena, start with your feet in position—”
“But Mama!” said Gwenika.
With a toe tapping in annoyance, “Yes, Gwenika?”
“Gramma says that the best cure for anemia is…
TO BE CONTINUED
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