Auspicious Moon #02

He was named Adlah'ir, after the blinding sun on a hot mid-summer's day. He was one of the chieftain's surviving children, second-in-line for the title then eventual successor, once his eldest brother succumbed to injuries following a duel of honour.

Although I have known him only from afar, he on the other hand, knew everything there was to know about me. Adlah'ir was unlike Kas'apu. The second son possesed none of the virtue nor honour that the first son was well-loved for. His magnanimous good looks made up for what he lacked: a generous heart.

When talks of marriage sprung, for he was of marriageable age, my name was the first sound he uttered. "For surely", he had said, "a child born under an auspicious moon is a sign of good fortune to whoever may posses her heart", or so the village folk believed. And the second son, arrogant as he was –-whole-blindly believed he was owed as much. I couldn't tell them how his lustful eyes roamed my body whenever we'd walk past each other in the village, how I'd spot him spying on me as I swam down the river, nor of the names he'd call me to his friends as though I was already his. I didn't fully comprehend the disgust of inhabiting a body until Adlah'ir.

All protests died on deaf ears. Friends and family eagerly assented to the chieftain's request. For two days and three nights, the binding rituals were performed. Until the evening of our union finally came.