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She nudges my bedroom door open with her hip, before hooking her dress bag over the top of the door, leaving it wide open. The bags all tumble down on top of my comforter as she turns around, eyes gleaming with excitement, and her hands clenched together in front of her chest.Goddess, hear my plea.

She walks over, running her fingers through my hair, my eyes following her as she moves around me. Chills run down my spine as she walks around shifting my hair from side to side. I love when someone plays with my hair, even though it’s rarely happened outside of when Odes has gotten a wild hair up her ass to do some new style on me.

“I’m thinking we should do a fishtail braid with fresh flowers. Since the mask is going to cover the crown and sides of your head, we will focus most of the details in the back.” She walks back to the bed and pulls small, blush pink roses and baby’s breath out of one of her bags. Her eyes glance behind her as she says, “If you could just, you know, sit down in your desk chair, I’ll get started.”

Following her instructions, I pull out my desk chair and plop down into it. This is completely her wheelhouse and not mine.As long as my hair is brushed, my pits don’t smell, and my clothes are clean, I’m heading out the door. Not knocking the ones that spend time doing all the extra things, but this girl is content with not doing it.

The rustling of items moving around is the only sound in the room until she walks over and sets the items in front of me. Thankfully, it’s pretty simple stuff. Shouldn’t take her long to fix my hair.

After thirty minutes of weaving, spritzing, coughing, laughing, and gossiping, she finally finishes my hair. Holding a mirror up behind me so I can see my reflection in my full length mirror, I have to admit, my hair is gorgeous. The flowers are tucked along the braid creating an almost river-like effect flowing down my hair.

“Odes, it’s beautiful. You outdid yourself tonight. What are you doing with yours?” I say as I turn around to look at her.

“I’m doing a half fishtail braid with a flower bushel at the back of my head. I love my naturally curly hair, you know that, and I hate to take away from it for updo’s.”

“Totally. Alright well while you work on that, I’m going to do some clean girl makeup and tinted lip oil.”

We spend the next hour working on make-up and finishing looks before we are ready for our gowns. Each helping each other into them. My dress’s sheer sleeves, with beading to look like constellations, hang loosely from my arms, while my light blue bodice ombres down into a light pink skirt. There are stars, moons, and rhinestones to give it a slight sparkle. When we saw this one in the shop window, we both agreed it was the perfect dress for me.

Odes looks stunning in her sage green dress. The bone corset bodice hugs her perfectly with dainty flowers and light green leaves along it. With off the shoulder cuffed sleeves, her arms are covered in a sheer fabric that poofs at her wrist. As she twirls inthe mirror, her skirt twirls showing off all the flowers and leaves. The color, fit, and design are all soher.

Checking the time on my phone, we have thirty minutes to walk down to the Ancient Ash Tree for the evening ritual. Meaning, we got to go because it will take every bit of that to get there. The Ancient Ash Tree isn’t on any packs’ land but instead in a protected space considered mutual ground, like downtown is. Nestled between our wolf pack lands and the mountain lion pack lands, it’s a pretty long walk from my parents’ house.

“We gotta go,” I say as I swipe one last layer of the tinted lip oil on.

We won’t be taking phones, purses, or anything we have to keep up with for the night. It’s always recommended by the elders to leave personal items at home as the magic of Bestiare will cause even the strongest-willed individuals to lose track of time.

Her lips pop together as she finishes her final check. Snatching our masks, she comes over, looping her arm through mine, as we walk through the house together. We are both buzzing with excitement, it’s almost a tangible energy you can feel zipping through the air.

The streets are filled with beautiful gowns, braided hair, and masks of all different colors, shades, and adornments. Our masks only have two requirements, one is they have to have a wolf face, representing our species. The other is, the mask must cover all identifying features. Essentially covering a large portion of your face and the side of your head, eliminating being selected by a dancer because theyknowwho you are.

When we reach the bottom steps, Odes hands over my mask while sliding hers over her face. Her wolf mask is a deep gold with dark brown. The pearlescent teeth twinkle in the evening light. Long strings hang down on each side with golden eagle feathers and amber crystals adorning them.

For my mask we went with white and silver like the stars. My strings are covered with dream catchers and dove feathers, tying together the outfit in a full dreamscape.

The ground is cool beneath my feet, the dirt almost feeling damp with how cold it feels. It’s one of the things that I love about Bestiare. We’re supposed to be barefoot to ground ourselves with the earth. Absorbing its blessings as we dance in celebration of its gifts.

With our arms hooked together, we take off to the Ancient Ash Tree with the flow of the crowd. Everyone’s murmuring excitedly, keeping us company as we walk. Both of us are silent as the energy of the group wraps around us, building our excitement along with it.

When we come around the bend, the large pathway leading up to the tree is lined with glowing lanterns, sunflowers and roses busheled together between each lantern. The Ancient Ash Tree has long strings of lights hanging down from its towering branches with glass jars holding lit candles at the end of each strand. The base of the tree is surrounded by sunflowers, roses, citrus fruits, and golden crystals.

The ritual bonfire is piled high with wood off to the right side, far enough from the tree that it won’t risk catching it on fire, but close enough that you won’t have far to walk. The elders of our communities are all gathered together chatting as all of us funnel into the open space in front of the tree. As the area fills, the elders begin to move to their rightful places in front of us before whistling for everyone to quiet down.

The elders, Lorekeepers, Heartkeepers, and even the archivists have gathered around the leaders from the main packs of Jasper. You have ours in the middle, the mountain lions on the right side, and the black bears to the left. Silas is clearly the youngest leader in his late twenties, where the Prime of the Mountain Lions is in his fifties, at least. Meanwhile the Chief ofthe Cedarheart Clan looks like he is close to his sixties with his rugged features and dark gray beard. His massive arms cross over his chest as he stands proudly next to his beautiful Matron, as she leans against his arm, looking at him with adoration.

They all look between each other before both the Chief and Prime dip their heads to Silas. He bows his head in acknowledgment of their honor before stepping forward with Nova by his side and clearing his throat. Everyone quiets down as Silas holds his hand up to those still feverishly whispering amongst themselves.

“Thank you everyone for joining us in the evening ritual finalizing our celebration of Summer Solstice. I won’t keep you for long as I know we are all looking forward to the story the elders will share with us this year. I will say it brings me tremendous joy to see so many new faces this year with the addition of many new children to each of our packs. This year has already been prosperous for each of us.” He clears his throat as he looks at Nova, who smiles at him as she gently rubs his arm. Their pups should be around here somewhere. He looks back to the crowd. “I hope that each of you participated in one or more of the afternoon activities. May the Goddesses bless you this season and each season to come.” He steps to the side guiding Nova with him.

Behind him walks a woman whose age you would never be able to guess. Her skin shows years of life, love, and knowledge. Her eyes are milky-white but they still flick around the crowd as if they don’t hinder her vision at all. Her hair is almost sheer from how white it is, as it falls long and thick over her shoulder towards her waist. It has an almost glitter look to it with the way the light is bouncing off of it. Her wooden cane is beautifully carved and clearly from the Black Bears with the intricate carvings. The crowd is so quiet in anticipation you could heara pin drop. Even her footsteps are silent. The only sound is the whisper of her white gown as it flows across the dirt.

She comes to a stop directly in front of Silas, which is crazy if she is blind. She turns her head towards him and Nova before a broad smile breaks across her face. “Thank you, Young Wolf.” She passes him her cane.

Without another word, she turns back to the crowd as she raises her hands. “Children of our Goddesses, young and old, wise and fair, it’s time to share one of our legends. One that resonates with each of you, at least it should.”

She takes a slow step forward. Weaving her hands through the air, drawing all of our attention as smoke builds between them, “Long ago, before names were spoken and territories were drawn, there was only the land and the beasts who walked it.” Two wolves, bright blue apparitions glow between her hands. Running next to each other before being joined by bears, mountain lions, and tiny creatures.

“Each solstice, when the moon bathed the valley in silver and the air shimmered with old magic, the shapeshifters gathered in silence to honor the ties that bound them to the earth—and to each other.” The smoke shifted and grew as it moved above her head. Showing an Ancient Ash Tree just like ours with animals gathering below it.