party

Everyone once and a while, usually in summer, when all you could do was stay in the shade, normally inside, the party urge got hold of a few people, which spread like a bush fire, and soon the food storages would be checked, musical people called upon and the rota for the front lines adjusted slightly, so any who did not wish to attend, would go fight.

There were very few requirements of any party organised, one being everyone help set it up, by carrying all tables and chairs outside, extra food or drink made if needed, and to come dress formal – though the younger kids could wear what they wanted, with no shoes.

The evening and night would be split into two parts, the first was for the younger children; ten to thirteen, where the evening would be more of games, contests, and best of all, done by a group of older students, enactments of the most famous battles upon a raised platform with lit torches held at the side. The second part of the party, beginning in the late evening was for anyone older, and was quite different; suits for the guys, and dresses for the girls, the band would start and there would be dancing. At the beginning it would be very proper, but then as the night wore on, it would be more wild and admittedly funnier.

The biggest problem for me though, was wearing a horrid dress.

Well, to be honest, the dresses worn were always elegant; either found in wardrobes, relics of the distance past, or made. Most of the hand made ones actually came from France, who had long rept the rewards of making them and trading them for other such things.

“We’ll see you down there Heather.” Cassie smiled softly at me, taking Rosa’s hand, who in turn grabbed Lara, and they swung out of the door way into the corridor, grinning with excitement.

Cassie’s dress was a golden yellow; the top a tight fitting strapless corset made from cotton material, then the bottom a mass of golden strips, silk and cotton, which fell to above her knees. Lara, who was rather good with styling hair, had pulled her dirty blonde hair into a bun, but left wisps hang down, along with a section at the front, which Cassie had painstakingly painted small daisies onto – she’d found some old paints – and had then proceeded to paint them around her ankle and up one of her legs.

Rosa’s dress was a deep turquoise blue, made of a shimmery material, which rippled with movement, sending silver waves over the blue. It had small thin straps, and the bottom was straight, but had a long slit up one side which had small white embodied butterflies which flew from around that, around her waist and up the back, which was pulled together with a long white ribbon. Her hair was pinned up, with two point ended sticks standing through it, made for her by Nathan who had traded something of hers for – though neither would show or tell me what.

Lara’s dress was a deep purple, strapless like Cassie’s, but made with many floaty layers which lifted and jumped with every step. Like Rosa’s, hers had a slit up the side. Her hair was down, with loose playful curls at the end, matching purple streaks running through it, curtsy of Dan.

I looked at mine lied out on the bed in front of me. It looked pretty, very pretty in fact. But…dresses were so…revealing? Movement constricting? Mum had tried to make me wear them as a small child, and no doubt succeeded when I was too small to pull them off, and after that I had stuck to shorts and t-shirts.

The last time I had worn one was at my dad’s funeral, long, black, and shapeless. I tore it off, ripping it along one of the hems as soon as I reached home and my room.

Hearing a small jiggering tune drift up from outside, through the bright window, I gritted my teeth and resolved myself to an uncomfortable evening and night.

**********

The music had picked up pace as I teleported into the hall; the huge oak doors were thrown wide open, the room being filled with the light of the setting sun, falling right in line with the doors. The heat was lowering slightly from the unbearable level, and now it was more humid, the air thick.

Holding up an arm to shield my eyes from the bright light, I stepped forwards, feeling the dry and sharp grass under my feet.

The party was being held on the right of the school, tables and chairs set in a huge circle, save one gap so people access the middle, which was left empty for dancing. On the far edge, behind everything else, was a raised platform housing a number of musical instruments with their players, who were playing with enthusiasm and joy.

Already most people were there, and any who weren’t were walking around me; all the girls in around knee length dresses and the boys dressed smartly in trousers, white shirts and breeches – it was far too hot for jackets. A fair number sported hats or caps, matching the colour of their trousers. More than half of the number was dancing merrily, paired, and turning round and round as they skipped along, bending to either side, hands clasped and laughing.

I tried to spot my friends, but the crowd was too thick. Feeling nervous, as if I were about to jump over the trenches at the front lines, I took a seat at an empty table and watched the dancers; my fellow in command Clay was doing a small tap dance on the corner of the performers platform to the loud applause of his audience. I saw Flissy, in a white and pink dress, dragging a boy to his feet and into the dancers, her laugh lost in the mass.

“May I have this dance with you?”

Turning and smiling at the familiar voice, I aw Nathan; his trousers were a dark deep green, as well as his breeches, matching my dress, his shirt collarless and the top button left undone. He held out hand out to me, his other behind his back, bowing slightly.

Blushing, but feeling the nerves starting to wash away, I took his hand – he held it high and twirled me,

“Well,” He said softly, “I think ‘wildcat’ is a little harsh for you tonight, I think it shall have to be replaced with a less fierce, and more beautiful animal.”

“Oh shut up,” I felt the blush become more prominent, “I feel ridiculous, all plushed up like this!”

He raised an eyebrow at me, his smile faltering slightly, but not failing, “To me, you look like a rose upon daisies, and,” He took his other hand out from behind his back where he had held it, “I suppose you don’t want this?”

He opened his hand, palm up, and I couldn’t help but gasp,

There lay, sparkling in the setting sun, a piled of silver line, like on a necklace, but under it all I could see that it curled into a circle at each end, small tear shaped green drops of some stone hanging from one thin silver chain below them.

“That’s…” I faltered, thinking of no words at the astonishment of Nathan giving me something like this.

“It’s not a necklace,” Nathan said, smiling at my shocked face, “I’m not even sure what it’s proper name is; you remember when Andrew surprisenly let me, Cassie, Rosa, Joe and Lara on the last trading trip to Germany? Well, while you were running stuff here and there, we went to their underground homes,” He started to untangle the mess of silver chains, “Much the same to ours, and we found a jewellers stall – A friend of mine told me about it ages ago - and we all traded something in for this,”

He had fully untangled it now, in the middle there was a dipping row of three silver chains, the top the longest and getting shorter as they went down. They all linked together at the ends, curling in a flat circle, with the single thin chain with the beads of green stones hanging.

“A birthday gift,” He smiled, motioning me to turn around, “If I can just get them to clip…” He muttered, and I realized there were small hidden clips under the flat circles of chain. I grinned, now knowing why Lara had plaited the sides of my hair up. In the ends of the plait, Nathan now clipped the strange piece of jewellery, where it hung down the rest of my hair.

“Rosa was keeping it hidden,” He said as I turned back to face him, bring a hand up to try and feel the new addition, “She gave it to me while I gave her those wooden sticks, so it didn’t look like I was giving her something for nothing.”

“It’s…beautiful.” I breathed, “Thank you!”

He took my hand, “Now, are you ready to dance?”

Laughing, I pulled him to the throng.
*********
We whirl and skipped and danced, laughter was filling everyone, old arguments forgotten, manors in full display and the jolly whistling tune, deep drum beat and other instruments never letting up.

Raiding Morning

The rain falling in a fine mist; gently obscuring the outlines of the woods. The fire hissed, as it were warding the water off, as it fell into it and smoke filtered up, fading into the air.

From where I was sitting, on the last shift of night watch duty, I could see the layout of the camp clearly, along with the trees behind it and the back of a fellow on night watch. The mass of sleeping people were in a circle around the dying fire, pack tightly together for warm, a sea of dark blankets, mops of hair and the odd limb which had escaped their covers.

I liked this early morning shift the best – if I was ever woken up in time for it. It was when everyone was truly asleep that friendship could be seen; in a huddle Joe and Rosa were sleeping one behind the other, Rosa using Joe’s shoulder as a pillow and her in turn her head. Under the covers his arms were holding her close and I could easily guess their hands would be clasped.

Next to Rosa lay Cassie; she had actually wrapped her long dirty blonde hair around her neck to keep the chill out. Her elbow cushioned her head and the other curled under her. Her body seemed to be half leaning against Rosa, but there was no sign that either had minded.

Dawn lay on her side, facing the other three, curved, one leg up to her chest, the other lay straight. Her arms were curled to her chest. She looked like she was protecting herself, even in sleep, not quite part of the group, but close.

Lara and Ellie’s shapes were on the other side of the mass of people, their backs to me, but I would bet they too were sleeping side by side for warm.

A movement caught my notice and my eyes darted to it, but I had nothing to worry about; my boyfriend was just coming from the woods, his dark green jumper dark with the rain, the same for his trousers which also had clumps of seeds he had walked through. Making his way around the sleeping group, he finally reached the base of the tree I was perching in. Glancing up he called louder than I thought he needed to,

“Lend me a hand?”

“Nathan!” I called.

White and yellow lights flashed into existence around him, spinning into a whirlwind of colours. In a second the same lights burst into life at my side, and then vanished, revealing Nathan.

“So, how’d your scouting go?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He mumbled moodily, “Just got rained on.”

I gave him a sad smile and linked my fingers with his, “No bots though – that’s good”

He made a disgruntled sound of agreement, and stared into the trees dripping opposite, glowering.
“What’s up?” I asked after a few minutes silence which seemed louder than any thunderstorm.

He didn’t answer at first, and I thought he was going to ignore me, going to ask again, slightly annoyed, but he spoke,

“It’s this bloody rain!” He fumed, “It never seems to stop! It soaks through everything eventually – I have no dry clothes left and I am covered in THOUSANDS of seeds!”

I stared at him in shock, not moving an inch, at a wonder to what had brought on this unusual outburst – he was normally calmed and controlled!

“I mean!” He carried on, now getting into a full stride, turning to me, “We’ve come all this way to that damn hospital – and there’s NOTHING there! We came all this way – IN THE RAIN! And there’s nothing here! AND NOW ANDREW WANTS US TO GO TO ANOTHER ONE!”

“Be quite!” I scowled him, holding up a finger, “You’ll wake up everyone!”

“I DON’T CARE!” He yelled back

“WELL I DO!” I grabbed his arm, and swirled down to the ground.

He stumbled for a second, then glared at me, but I held up a finger again, “NO!” taking his arm I pulled him through the sleeping forms and over to the fire. Shoving him in the chests, he fell over.

Stocking the fire back into life – well as much as was possible with damp and mouldy wood I watched him out the corner of my eye; he looked utterly dishevel, sitting there in damp clothes, his hair flat on his head which was hanging down glumly.

Teleporting a few blankets to us and laying one out, I sat down, and pulled him over to me so he leant against my front, the rain still falling gently.

“You have to stay on night watch duty.” He said almost reproachfully, trying to pull away.

“Stay!” I ordered, giving him a glare, “Clay would have seen us go, he can cover me.”

He sighed and leant back again, the fire beginning to cast a glow on his skin.

We sat, him sitting against me, our hands in his lap, entwined, the rain fell and the fire spluttered into life, spreading a warmth to us. Everyone slept around us, but we stayed awake, just watching all around us together, contented to let the brooding fade away, as it always eventually did.