Chapter 106 - Goodbye To The Stars

The Kupala Night was short—the shortest in the year—and tightly packed with things to do or take part in. Some were more regulated, some less. The ceremonies started—after the nine important witches lit the main bonfire—with announcing marriages.

With the fact that magic was a hereditary thing, it didn't surprise me one bit that witches were as keen on purity of blood as medieval nobles. Not every marriage was arranged, but many. That, of course, didn't touch small covens like mine, but only now I held a bigger picture of our differences.

Watching the proceedings let me see that bigger covens—that included the Wakerobin Coven my aunt was from—were more like clans, formed by a single family or a couple of them. Over and over I would hear something like, "And Olga Prosnismalinovkina from Wakerobin Coven enters an engagement with Victor Filinov from Owl Coven and joins his family. Let their union be blessed". It didn't escape me that most of these people had the same surname as their coven name.

Not at all like Orion Coven, or Twilight Coven, or Goliath Coven. I began to understand why Aunt Lisa called us 'mutts'… Though I still disapproved.

There were about thirty engagements and already made marriages announced. After each announcement, the fiances would hold their hands and jump over one of the smaller bonfires lit all over the place for light and for ritualistic purposes. Some would jump over the biggest bonfire—with magic, of course.

I watched how they put aspects together with great interest, as it was the most interesting part of the happenings. Some followed my lead, while others preferred to gossip about witch politics. Who would enter an alliance with whom, where would that aspiring witch or another end up, and so on.

That was interesting too. Orion Coven mostly bragged about me to everyone else, which was helped by the gossip started by Aunt Lisa. Now, apparently, everyone knew about a talented new late bloomer who would soon enter Wakerobin Coven, even if not everyone—certainly not Orion Coven—knew who that was.

It was the best time to announce my plans to them. I didn't have an opportunity earlier, but I owed them enough to not spring this news on everyone out of the blue. But the marriages part was over, and people began to spread around for singing, dancing and sometimes walking through the forest in search for herbs with magical properties and/or spirits who came out on that night. I missed my opportunity and Orion Coven dispersed everywhere.

I searched through crowds until I spotted Alexandra singing with a group of women between fifteen and fifty. I pulled her out by the elbow until we stood in relative privacy and quiet between some tents. It was also much chiller there and much more filled with insects, but I bore the inconveniences stoically. At least I had a light jacket with long sleeves to throw on top of my blouse to protect my arms from both night breeze and night mosquitoes.

"Did you want something, Diana?" Alexandra asking, looking me over. "Why won't you join us? This is a time to celebrate and enjoy ourselves, not to sit on a bench."

"I just wanted to tell you something, Alexandra," I said, feeling a hard lump pulling in my throat.

So what if this woman was a little too proud of me for my liking, or knew so little? I couldn't deny how much she helped me, and that if I overlooked their flaws, the rest of Orion Coven were a pleasant company. The problem was, I had goals. A purpose. I needed a better guidance than Alexandra could give me.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

I took her hand in mine and looked into her concerned eyes. In the dim light of the bonfires, I couldn't even see their colour. "I wanted to say that I'm very grateful for everything you did to me when I first came to you and your coven, but… I can't stay here. I will take part in the Wreath-Giving this morning."

Alexandra's eyes widened, gleamed with the lightness of her whites. She clutched my palms tight with her both hands. "Diana! You… ah, I should've known. After what you did with this apple, I should've known that you have a bigger talent than a small coven like ours can properly nurture. I will wish you well, then, and hope that you won't forget us in the future."

"I won't," I promised, nodding fervently. "You can still invite me to your gatherings, Alexandra. Next time, I would ask for another horoscope for me. Your last one actually went true!"

She gasped, raising a hand to her chin in disbelief. A hopeful smile spread her lips. "Did it?"

I cringed, remembering how that went out. The horoscope promised me a good business deal, and I ended up meeting Christina. The only good business deal involved was the one she used to lure me and JJ to her. "Well, not exactly. It was more like… an absolute opposite of true. But that still counts!"

Alexandra smiled at me, a warm, wise smile of a schoolteacher. "Thank you, Diana. I will be happy to make you a better one. Maybe it would work better if I checked again for the moon phase. If I mixed a growing one with the receding one, I could've easily inverted the entire thing."

I chuckled. "Or maybe there was wrong weather on Mars."

"That isn't a factor for making a horoscope, Diana. No, I can remember that Mars was perfectly fine. Now that with Venus, I could've been wrong. Female influences in life are often unpredictable." Alexandra shook her head. Then she moved away, pulling me after her. "Now, lets go sing! Until sunrise, you are still from Orion Coven, and we should celebrate together!"

Witches' karaoke, without the karaoke. I followed Alexandra, but protests already fell from my lips. "No, wait! You will regret this, Alexandra, I promise! I can't hold a note if my life depended on it!"