❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

It was September the 8th, and today would come the day where Regulus would be welcomed to the Grantham household once and for all. You could call it a household, but it was her and Truett, her adoptive father. The four of them made a feast, as was the Gyptian saying.

About four days ago Regulus had settled. The change had been coming for some time, which they could both feel. Then finally Regulus took form as a ferret and the two felt their souls align. This was the moment all children lean in anticipation for, and it made her feel warm inside.

When Avalon told Truett, he lifted her into hug and burst out of their narrow boat, shouting along the canalside to the settlement that his 'girl has settled', with Arya the parson's terrier running beside him, barking into the air with a high tale.

The Settling Ceremony was to be arranged as soon as possible, according to Gyptian custom. Farder Mulder decreed that they must wait until after the autumn trading day in September, so it would take place that Thursday. Families gathered their lights, and lit the docks for the celebration. Ale was rolled in barrels and crowds gathered. Faces beaming, wrapped in old family clothes, the evening erupted into singing and dancing by the water. When Avalon emerged with Regulus on her shoulder, the crowds quietened, and began their old song for the settling. It was eerie but beautiful, each onlookers bright eyes looking on with pride and excitement at the beautiful young woman who made her way to the front. Slowly, the crowds parted, and through them Avalon walked with the iron pot out to collect coins. The grubby faces of children and old lost uncles dropped a coin into her pot, and when she reached the steps she watched in wonder as the pot was heated to a celestial hot glow, pouring the coppery sheen into a mould. As the metal cooled, Truett jumped to the steps and began his speech.

"Today we give thanks to our blood, to our knowledge and wish health to all Gyptians! I am proud to call Avalon my daughter, for she is all our daughters when she shares our blood. Her dæmon has settled, in her seventeenth year, as a ferret."

Cheers erupted from the crowd of shining faces, whooping up at those on the stage grinning ahead.

"Regulus, companion, protector and soul of my girl, we welcome you in your settled form to this family. To all our families. You are a true Gyptian now!"

Avalon looked into the crowd as her friends made faces, one even flipping the middle finger to make her break. She was about to stick out her tongue right back when the old hand of Farder Mulder clapped her shoulder. In his other arm he had a pair of metal prongs clasping a ring that had been moulded in the fire, and Avalon reached out to take the ring, shinning a coppery gold. It was warm to the touch, brimming with lifeblood. Old Farder Mulder spoke to her, barely raising his voice.

"This ring confirms the settling of your dæmon and your transition for child to woman. Wear it and your bond shall be strong, and may the souls of your Ancestors carry you across the waters. With this ring we ask that you may uphold the Gyptian ways and fight for the freedoms of all with love and family in your hearts."

Avalon looked out to the crowd, taking in their faces. She glanced down to Arya, who nodded her white head in encouragement.

"We do!" Avalon shouted, and the gathering reeled in applause, fiddle and pipe music sounding from the tunnels. In a flurry of sound and music, Avalon jumped from the steps to join the celebrations.

•

"I never seen Truett look closer to tears." Began Errick Jacobsen, trying and failing to light his poorly rolled cigarette.

"Bullshit." Replied Ita bluntly, staring intensely into the flames. "Dust in your eyes more like."

The gathering of friends laughed as Errick tried to fire back a rebuttal unsuccessfully. Maybe he had shed a tear. The Settling Ceremony carried a lot of weight for Gyptians. Many of whom had lost parents, or had ruptured families due to the harsh lives they were often forced to leave. The Settling Ceremony is one of familial embrace, but also commits triumph over an undeniable trauma that runs through Gyptian history.

So here they were later that night, with friends by the fire. Blood brothers and sisters alike. Raf Nguyen had his arm around Avalon's shoulder, cigarette draped in the other. "We nearly made Avie crack though, Farder Mulder would have been mad through if you'd knocked that ring off the poker."

Regulus hopped up to her lap, facing Raf and Maeya. "Yeah, you wish. You may've distracted us for a second, but you ain't winning that fight." He taunted.

Maeya wound up Raf's sleeve, extending her body out to talk to Regulus. "We're disappointed. We thought the least you could to was cause a scene." She said in her slyly, before being interrupted from a cawing by Ira's jackdaw dæmon Phédant who'd seen a figure come down to the docks in a dark cloak.

"Hey, landloper!" Raf called boldly, chucking a pebble at the unrecognisable figure. The crowd of friends went silent, in nervous anticipation of the consequences of Raf's recklessness. The figure turned up from to look at them, and at that moment his demon slunk from the shadows. A dark eyed arctic wolf, which sent a small shockwave of fear through Avalon. She was certainly not a fearful person, but something about it made her blood chill. The unwanted stranger does that to you.

"What do you want?" Asked the icy voice of Ita, piercing through the lamplit night.

The figure came into view, his chestnut hair glinting silver, his wolf lingering by his side but one step back in the comfort of the dark. He had the white line of a scar across his face. There was something about him she did not like. Avalon was brave, there was no doubt about that. But a landloper sneaking around Gyptian grounds at night after a ceremony was hardly a good sign. It normally meant trouble was coming. Avalon wasn't about to throw fists at a guy with a wolf dæmon. She looked up over at Wouter de Ruyt who had his eyes down nervously, clearly thinking the same.

"I don't to want to intrude. I'm not here for trouble." The man said in disconcerting calm, in an accent Avalon could not quite detect.

Then tell your dæmon to come out where we can see her, thought Avalon.

"I'm just here to deliver the barrels, for the party. I work at the Pickerel Inn. I'm Peeters, Rudy Peeters." He smiled vaguely.

"Peeters, that's my cousins name." Said Avalon, trying to get a better look at the guy. "You Fens-Dutch?"

"My mother. But I'm not from here." He answered, his grey eyes catching the light.

Ita scoffed, ever the provocateur. Raf and them were always competing on that front. "No shit, Sherlock. You joining us then, Rudy Peeters?" they said with a knife edge in their voice.

Rudy shrugged, with a quiet smile. "No, I don't stay where I'm not welcome. You tell Mister Mulder the last barrels are delivered. Have a good night." He said with a simple calmness to his voice, seemingly unfazed by the ambivalence in the air towards his presence. So perhaps he wasn't dangerous. He seemed simple enough, were it not for his white shadow.

As he walked off, Raf sniggered, and the others erupted into hushed giggles. "What a weird guy." He dropped his voice to imitate Rudy's accent. "Mister Mulder." He said mockingly.

"Did you see his dæmon though?" Said Wouter, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. "That wolf. She didn't say a thing, she just stared from the dark. My mum always said you never trust those types."

"Yeah, it was probably thinking you're fresh meat." Teased Raf, sending the others into a howl of laughter as Wouter's cheeks went red. Avalon grinned rolling her eyes. "You always gotta tease him like that?" She asked him, as the others started to chat about something else

Raf shrugged, "Nah, Wout's fine. Let's see the ring then." He asked, and she lifted her hand to examine it. It was a coppery-bronze shade, in the shape of a ferret's head.

He held his up to hers, a dark silver kingsnake, and then pressed his hand against hers to measure their fingers. She felt something run through her body, a kick of shock or some other excitement she couldn't quite articulate. Only that her breath quickened as she felt his fingers on hers.

"We're bound, now." He said, his dark eyes piercing hers. "All of us, even Knowles." He said with a scoff, referring Ita. "We got each other's back, that's all any Gyptian needs to know."

"You're literally shameless, Raf." Scoffed Ita, their dæmon flapping his dark wings on their shoulder. Avalon looked up, unsure of what to make of that comment, and then felt her neck warm as she realised what they meant. After all, Raf and Ita were cut from the same cloth.

Raf rolled his eyes, as if to say 'you are a bore, Knowles', and stood up, holding his hand out for Avalon before announcing to the group, "tonight's Avie's night, so let's make it one to remember. I say we go longboat hopping, and see who gets caught first. Now who's coming?"

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OF DÆMONS AND DUST, 2022
his dark materials applyfic