ELRETH

Elreth stood with her mother in the bedchamber of the cave, staring at herself in the mirror. "I could wear the flowy blouse and that little skirt. It's not very fancy, but he would like it, I think, since it shows my legs."

Her mother snorted. "I'm sure he would. But I think… I know you need to fight in the Rite, but… honestly, I wish my memories of our Flames felt a little less stressful, and a lot more special. I brought something. I want to see if you want to wear it," she said, then put a finger up to Elreth. "Stay there. Don't move."

Elreth frowned as her mother turned out of the bedchamber and hurried back into the cave. She'd arrived just minutes earlier and Elreth had already been in the bedchamber. What had she brought?

A moment later, Elreth's eyes went wide when her mother walked in with a dress hung over her arm.

The most beautiful dress Elreth had ever seen, and one she'd touched only in awe as a child.

Her mother's offering dress. The one she'd worn the night of the festival, when she'd offered her throat to El's dad, and been adopted by the Leonine pride.

The dress was a soft, glossy fabric, almost sheer, and off-white. Her mother said it had been whiter when it was made, but the years had stolen some of its brightness. Elreth didn't care. Her skin always looked better in cream than white anyway.

The bodice was gathered on a lace that tied at the back of the neck and turned it into a halter. The stitching—made to look like stylized butterflies in shades of blue and gold—was thick on the bodice and waist, but scattered and spread from the hips, until there were a bare handful of the beautiful shapes on the bottom of the full skirt.

Both the fabric and the dress itself had been handmade by her mother's dear friend and Cohort twenty years earlier.

"Mom," she breathed. "I can't—"

"Oh, yes you can," she said firmly. "In fact, I want to insist unless it doesn't fit, or you think it will hinder you too much. Elreth, for me this dress reminds me of one of the most wonderful days of my life. And I've never worn it since because I never had another occasion where it felt right. It feels right for this. It's a human tradition when a woman gets married that she wears something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. This dress has all of those elements—and it would look so beautiful with your coloring. Not to mention… I'd love to see it live again."

Elreth covered her mouth with her hands. She'd seen this dress several times when she was younger and always dreamed of wearing it. Of feeing beautiful and… "Mom!" she wailed.

Elia turned to her, tears in her eyes. "Oh, sweetie, don't cry. Then I'll cry, and then we'll just be useless."

"I already am!" Elreth sobbed and threw herself at her mother. Because she was taller, she buried her face in her mother's neck. Elia pulled her close with the arm that wasn't holding the dress, and whispered in her ear.

"You are beautiful whether you wear this or not, El. But if you want to, it would mean a lot to me to see you join your life with Aaryn in it."

"I'd love to," she blubbered into her mother's neck. "I'm just… I feel so stupid, but I just want to cry whenever I look at it. Are you sure Dad won't mind?"

"Your father would love to see it live again, too, I'm sure," her mother said, stroking Elreth's hair. "Our Flames and Smoke weren't really the celebration they should have been because of the way it all came about. It will be nice for both of us to be taken back to that day with another memory that holds such joy for us."

Elreth pulled back, sniffing. "I thought you said walking the Flames with Dad was one of the best memories of your life."

"It is, because of what came of it," her mother said frankly. "But at the time I was terrified and confused, and your father didn't know how I was going to react to… well, everything. It was just a lot of uncertainty for us that turned out for the best. You, though… you and Aaryn are taking a love that's been ripening for years and making it a life-long vow. Your Flames are a celebration, El. And I can't wait. I want to see you enjoy it!"

Elreth stepped out of her mother's arms and pulled the skirt of the dress out, fanning it to look at the beautifully stitched design.

"Mom, I would love to wear this. But what if it gets damaged? What if someone tears it, or I fall over in the dirt—"

"Then it would wear the marks of being well-loved and remind us even more of this day, El. I can't think of a better way for it to go. It's been sitting in the back of my closet for twenty years. The time has come to give it life again."

Elreth's smile grew. She finally met her mother's eyes and clapped her hands. "Yes, please!"

Her mother beamed and immediately walked the dress over to the sleeping platform, laying it out on the furs and fluffing the skirt. "I can't wait to see you in it. It's going to be shorter on you than it was on me, but that's probably good, since you're likely going to fight a lot more than I did," her mother laughed.

Elreth began to undress as they spoken. Her mother spread the neckline of the dress out on the lace, then Elreth stepped into the skirt and her mother pulled it up, turning her to tie it at the nape of her neck.

They played a little with where to let it sit, how low to let the neckline hang, until Elreth felt like it hugged her curves beautifully, leaving her back bare, the hem of the skirt hanging well above her ankles.

"There's nothing we can do about the length," her mother said, finally tying the neck lace off in a bow and stepping back."

"I think it's perfect," Elreth giggled, and gave a combat front-kick, watching the beautiful fabric flutter around her legs. "They won't see me coming."