Rozo came back to his room 30 minutes later, holding a tray beneath 3 bowls of meat stew. The delicious aroma of spices and herbs of the soup filled the room as Rozo shut the door behind him using his foot. Rozo had finished serving the guests with the food. He was thinking of helping Reefa out, but he assumed she would be done with her task before Rozo got back to his room.

Rozo found that Wellor and Auri were now sitting even further away from each other than before. Rozo eyed at both of them from left to right, wondering what had happened between them while he and Reefa were serving the guests.

“I brought you guys stew,” Rozo handed the bowls to both Wellor and Auri.

“Where’s Reefa?” Auri asked Rozo.

“I don’t know. I thought Reefa was done by now.”

As the three of them took several spoons of the warm soup, the sound of a beating drum gradually grew louder from outside the window of Rozo's bedroom.

“Where the hell is that sound coming from?” Auri grumbled.

“I think it’s coming from the front yard,” said Wellor.

Rozo placed his bowl of soup on the floor and went over to the wooden windows to unlock them. Wellor and Auri huddled from behind him and peaked over Rozo’s shoulder. The guests of the party had gathered around as an audience at the middle of the front yard. A few of them carried their chairs from the living room to sit down and join with the rest of the guests that were standing. They left the area of the yard that was closer to the house empty. Only a single bonfire was lit in that area. A woman on the left of the empty area was banging two drums with large wooden beaters on each hand. The drums echoed a hollow, yet low pitched sound that would make any person’s ears tingle in amazement. An ancient sound of the drums with the setting of a bonfire amidst the starry sky and moonlight could only mean that a performance was to be played.

Four ladies walked elegantly from the front doors of the house to the empty area of the yard in a single line. All of them wore an orange dress with a broad skirt that was made of shining silk and chains of jewellery that were wrapped around the waist and ankles. Each of the ladies had done their makeup consisting of light, red eyeshadows and peach-coloured lips. They let down their flowing hair, complemented with two golden hair ornaments on the left and right sides of their heads. Hair ornaments that were moulded into a shape of a gloriosa lily. As they shuffled about five meters away from the bonfire, Rozo noticed that one of the ladies was Eliza Castro. He couldn’t forget a face so gorgeous and a smile so gentle. Wellor and Auri could only be fixated on another face that was so familiar to them, yet the change in dress and the addition of makeup would make the two boys suddenly realise how much power of beauty she could hold among the other young ladies of the village.

“Reefa,” Wellor murmured in a soft voice.

All the young men within the audience, along with Rozo, Wellor and Auri, blushed as they watched the four young ladies danced majestically around the bonfire. They moved their arms and hands in a specific and unison motion. The ladies twirled around the bonfire and the broad skirt of their dresses would lift to the air. Rozo, Wellor and Auri's eyes widened with surprise. They had secretly hoped that they could see the bare legs of the ladies, only to be revealed that they were actually wearing leggings beneath the dresses.

Tch! The three boys gave a dissatisfactory look.

After a while of observing the performance, Auri realised he had seen these elegant movements before. A dance that was memorable to him by heart. A dance that led to the remembrance of his mother.

This... This is The Cry of the Phoenix.

Reefa had just finished the serving the last bowl of meat stew to the guests, so she grabbed a bowl for herself and eat in the kitchen. Reefa sat one chairs that were aligned at the corner of a part of the kitchen that was separated from the main cooking area. She sat there facing a cluster of people talking to one another. Behind them, she could see that the three main cooks and Mr Till had finished cooking the last course of the meal and were about to organise themselves to join the rest of the party. While she was eating, she didn't notice that the chair beside hair had already been vacant with a girl of light brunette hair and strikingly dark blue eyes.

"Um... Excuse Me," the girl lightly poked at Reefa's shoulder.

Reefa staggered on her seat, nearly throwing her bowl of stew and the spoon that was in it off of her lap. It surprised Reefa that she hadn't felt the girl's presence only until the girl poked her. She thought she had seen her face before.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" The girl yelped.

"It's okay," - after a millisecond, Reefa finally remembered who she was - "Aren't you Eliza's sister?"

"Ye-yeah," the girl said in a sassy tone, "I also have a name, you know."

Yuna Castro, to be exact, was a younger sibling to Eliza. Unlike Eliza who was very much a social butterfly, Yuna was timid and shy. The first time Reefa was introduced to her was when the Castro family were still considered as new migrants that had moved to her neighbourhood. Reefa was curious about their family after finding out that they came from a hidden refuge camp in the Northern Highlands, a place that was far away and was separated from the rest of the world as well. At that time, she had heard from Miss Mirko that there were two girls in their family, and one of them was the same age as her. That was Yuna. Reefa barely talked to her, since most of the time Yuna would prefer to stay indoors than out. Yuna would also let her older sister to dominate her at social activities, which meant that Eliza would be the first to greet people before Yuna could ever introduce herself.

"I... I have a favour to ask you," Yuna murmured. "Can... can you take my place as a dancer for tonight's performance?"

"A performance?"

"Yeah, Miss Mirko and... some other girls have planned a dance for the party. We're doing 'The Cry of the Pheonix'. Eliza forced me to dance with her, but I...," Yuna looked nervous as she clasped her fists and continuously tapped her foot to the ground. She stared to the floor as if she was reliving a nightmare in her head. "I can't face that many people. I honestly cannot do it."

As much as Reefa wanted to rest after running around attending to people, she couldn't stand the thought of Yuna embarrassing herself again by running off midway into a performance. The last time Yuna did that was during another dinner party that was held by one of Robert Till's relatives. Her stage-fright was relentless that it made her unconsciously run all the miles back to her house. Although her parents and all the other guests were worried because they didn't where she was running off to. Yuna ended up being scolded by Eliza for making a ruckus in front of her sister's potential in-laws.

"Fine. I'll do it," Reefa sighed.

Yuna's eyes became teary. She carelessly hugged Reefa, and Reefa managed to hold the bowl of soup away from Yuna's chest.

"You're an angel, Reefa," Yuna's voice shook with relief. "I brought the dress along with me."

Yuna held a bag that contained a folded dress, along with some jewellery.

"I think we're about the same size," said Yuna, "It is quite big anyway, since it's a loose-fit dress."

Reefa putted away her bowl on the kitchen table and Yuna handed the bag to her. Reefa unfolded the dress, and it dangled in front of her as she held it up. An orange, satin dress that would only be worn for a specific dance.

The Cry of the Phoenix.

Miss Mirko used to hold dance classes, teaching every step and movement there was to The Cry of the Pheonix. Reefa used to watch her and a few other women of the village dance with the beat of a hollow drum. Each step would be accompanied with the movement of the arms that synchronised with every banging sound made by the drum. It was a powerful, mesmerizing and ancient choreography that had masculine elements in it, yet the ladies could still keep their elegance with every bare-footed step that kicked the sand and every jump that would almost make them fly. Reefa got the chance to attend the classes and learn the dance along with the other young girls in her neighbourhood such as Eliza and Yuna. It was quite hard to get the moves right at first, especially one the moves of the dance that occurred near to the end of the choreography. It was a consecutive jump that needed the left leg to make to make an arc from the front to the back after the right leg landed on the ground, all whilst making the intricate motions of the arms and hands.

Mrs Kerr had allowed the dancers to change in one room that was used a study. Reefa knocked on the door of the room and Eliza cracked the door open. Reefa couldn't help but be stunned by Eliza's beauty. Her golden hooped earrings charmed her dark blue eyes, her brunette hair, and her smooth, pale skin.

"Oh! Hi Reefa!" Eliza beamed.

"Hey," said Reefa, "I'm here to replace Yuna."

A jaded Eliza responded, "So I heard."