2

700 years later

Mira enjoyed her time alone in the forest. It was her quiet time. Her time to decompress. Especially with the festival tomorrow night.  Tonight unfortunately was the ball, and she was not looking forward to it.

Walking through the forest, she smelled something spicy. Amber, smoke and maybe lavender?  It called to her and she could not quite find where it was coming from.She searched for an hour thinking that it was maybe a flowering plant that she had not yet discovered in her walks. While searching for the source of the scent she came across something deep in the forest that she had never seen before. It was stone ruins of what had obviously been a very massive structure. All the remained were a partial wall and an arched doorway.  

Looking on it in wonder, Mira reached out her hand hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to know it's history.....

When her hand made contact with the stone ruins she felt everything. The love the generations of inhabitants of the castle had felt, because it could only have been a castle. She felt the weight of rule, the anger of injustice and tyranny, the hate.....Mira snatched her hand away at the intensity of the emotion. The rage  was horrifying in it's depth. It felt unreasonable and unjustified. Like there was not any reason behind it, it just was. The absolute malice was almost smothering. 

Trembling from the effects of her encounter with the intense emotions, MIra stepped away from the ruins. Remembering something else, she gasped and put her hand over her mouth and gazed at the ruins in a new light. A strange, soul-deep sorrow overtook her and she began to mourn. For what, she couldn't really say. But she felt the sorrow in the depths of her soul. Then she realized. Soulmates had died here. Together. It was the sorrow that she had felt. The beast of the castle had lost his love in a final battle and his grief had caused his death. What that beast had been was unknown to her and she was intrigued with the idea that a race of something not quite human had lived and loved here for many millennium. 

In a way, she was sorry that she had never met one. Perhaps one day....No. She was being fanciful. The former inhabitants were obviously extinct. That's why no one knew about them.

Mira sighed and turned to go back home and get ready for the party tonight. Gods knows she hated attending them. But as the daughter of one of the wealthiest merchants in the region it was expected of her to participate in the social circle of the area and to pick a suitable husband for herself. She was very thankful that her mother and father had not pushed her into a loveless marriage, but allowed her to chose for herself.

At 20, she was considered an old maid. She was also considered to be quite the catch because of her family's wealth. However, she could not bring herself to accept any of the men in her region as a marital partner. Young and old alike, for some reason, they repulsed her. She was fine as long as they were merely friends. But beyond that, her skin would crawl. When she had spoken to her mother about this, she had gotten a misty eyed look and utter some strange words under her breath. It had sounded like, "Thank the Gods. It won't be long now." Then her mother had pulled her into a fierce hug and told her not to worry about it, that when the right man came along, she would know beyond any doubt that he was for her. 

Walking out of the forest, she was met by her friend John, walking his horse after a hard run. As they walked side by side in companionable silence, she could feel John's eyes of her and could feel his desire to say something he felt was very important.

"Yes John? You want to say something?" Mira asked.

John drew a breath to steady himself. Only with Mira did he allow himself to be natural. Knowing he was struggling, she stopped and turned to him, laying a hand on his bicep, she looked him in the eye. "Take you time John. No one else is here to hear you and they cannot make fun of you if they cannot hear you." Mira was angered somewhat. John was the youngest son of her father's closest friend and was born with a mild stutter. Because of this he was the target of bullies. Sometimes even his own family would laugh at him. Never realizing that their reaction to his affliction was painful for him.

"A sp-sp-special man is c-c-c-coming to the party tonight. I overheard my f-f-f-father telling my m-m-mother his lineage was older than the village or town itself. His f-f-family lived here over 500 years ago or more. The ruins of his f-f-family estate are in the forest. It was destroyed in w-w-war." John stopped talking as Mira's eyes grew round with excitement.

"Someone new is going to be there? Perfect! We must get to my house so that I can start getting ready. You know how mother is about these things. It will take her and Mary the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon just to help me get ready." Mira was unaccountably excited. She couldn't say why the idea of this stranger excited her, it just did.

John waved bye to her as they reached the gate of her home, promising to see her tonight.

"Mira! Where have you been? Never mind. Get in here and have some lunch so you can start getting ready for the tonight's ball. Mary already has your dress steamed out and your mask sewn. All we need is you." Her mother scolded gently.

As Mira was bathing, she began to tell her mom about the ruins she came across that morning in the forest. "It was so old, Momma." Looking to make sure that they were alone, even though Mary knew about her gift. Mary was often uncomfortable with her discussing her gift, so she made sure not to do it around her. "I touched the ruins, Momma. There was so much love in the stones that it was outweighed any other emotion." Realizing the idea that came to her when she touched the ruined stones, she looked at her mother in incredulity. "Momma, I don't think that they were completely human. I'm not sure what they were, though." MIra frowned in concentration as she remembered. 

Turning in the tub to look at her mother over her shoulder she asked the question that had been plaguing her all day. "Do you know anything about them?"

Mira watched emotions chase themselves across her mother's face. Realization, fear, love, doubt and finally, acceptance. 

"Yes, I do. Before I married your father, our family was the lore keepers of the village. We are the only ones who know the whole story of the ruins. The inhabitants came here over 2000 years ago when we were still living in caves and huts. They educated us. They taught us to use tools and to build homes. We became creatures of higher learning because of the Clutch. The founders were beasts in the form of men. They settled near us because of the mountains and the rivers and the large lake close to the outer edge of the forest. It is said that when times are rough they will always come to our aid. The festival that we are having tomorrow night originated from them. It was the males way of choosing a mate for life. The village elders would put bring the eligible young women before the beasts blindfolded." Mira's mother's eyes were alight with the story and history of the village.

"Why would they be blindfolded, Momma?" She asked.

"Because only the sense of smell could determine a true mate. The eyes that are often blinded by false beauty could make a disastrous match. No. Only the scent of each other would reveal a true mate." Her mother paused and Mira watched a tear roll down her mother's cheek from the corner of her eye. "it is said that the last pair were so much in love that they were inseparable. However, it was the greed of man that was the downfall of their kingdom. Ending it with them dying together as the castle collapsed around them."

"What happened, Momma?" 

"One of the village elders had a son who was favored above all. He was favored to the point of being spoiled. It poisoned his mind and his heart. When the girl he favored for his bride was chosen by the beast as his bride, Ragar could not accept that. Sheiria and Erwan were true soulmates, and Ragar set out to turn the people against them and destroy them in any way he could. He brought war to the land in his insane jealousy. Causing their son Tine to disappear  from the castle and was never seen or heard from again. Even to this day no one knows his fate."

Mira wanted to cry. It was sad that the two lovers lives were ended so abruptly. Then she realized what her mother had said about smell and her mouth fell open. "Mom! I smelled something incredible in the forest today. It was what lead me to the ruins." She stood quickly and grabbed the towel to begin to dry her body as Mary came in to begin to fix her hair while her mom went to get ready. But not before she saw her watching her with a speculative look on her face.