On the knife-edge of night, Bear answered the summons to Lady Arianda's chambers. He found her standing at a window looking out at the rising moons. He saw her only in silhouette for she wore a hooded long robe of shimmering silver. The moonlight gave her a lustrous mystical aura.

Bear dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "Your bidding, M'Lady?"

Arianda turned to look at him. His raven hair caught the moonlight too as it fell around his shoulders. He had set it loose from his customary braid and was dressed only in leggings, as was her expectation of him. "You may rise. Remove your clothing and put on this robe." Her arm extended, draped in the shimmer of a robe like her own.

Curious but obedient, Bear stood then bent to slip off his leggings. He was very aware of his mistress' eyes upon him, even though her face was hidden. He folded his leggings and laid them aside then took the robe from Arianda's outstretched arm. Before he could drape it over his shoulders, she stepped around him. "Follow." She said curtly. "You've a part to play."

As Lady Arianda left her chambers, Bear scrambled behind her while wrapping the robe and tying it then pulling the hood up over his head. The two of them walked at her intent pace, two silver shades flowing through the shadows in Amethyst Tower then through the Great Hall to Tarot Tower.

She circled the inner wall of the Tower and seemed to be looking for something. Bear still didn't see anything unusual about the wall when they came to a stop. To Arianda however, there was a distinct shift in the pattern of the stone. She turned slightly to face the wall and pressed her open hand upon it. Soon the illusion dissipated and Bear too could now see an archway in the stone. This made him a bit nervous but he followed her through the opening and into a dark passage.

For a moment, only a vague shimmer of Arianda's robe led him then he stopped abruptly for suddenly there seemed to be infinite robed figures. Pairs of silver figures were all around him, some walking toward them, some away, all at the same pace. When Arianda turned to look at Bear, half of all the other figures turned too. Her reflections that faced him all stared from the shadows of silver hoods, the others seemed to have turned their back to him. While he and his mistress were both motionless, it was difficult for Bear to tell which image was truly Lady Arianda.

Her voice whispered across the glass surfaces and seemed to come at him from several directions. "If the mirrors disturb you, watch only the floor and my feet." He looked down to see the tail of her robe swirl upon the stone blackness and hurried to follow, trying not to pay any mind to the moving images invading his peripheral vision.

At last Arianda paused again and Bear was grateful to be back in a more open space, even though it too was mirrored. The room was roughly circular, having twelve sections of wall, each a wide panel of mirrored glass, including the doorway through which they had just passed without effort. Now, Bear could not distinguish that panel from the others. It also occurred to him, as he looked around at the mirrors, that they did not reflect each other. Somehow there were twelve images, of himself and his mistress in their silver robes and no more, not twelve within twelve within twelve, unlike the maze of reflections they had navigated to get here. In those winding corridors, there had seemed infinite iterations.

"M'Lady…" Bear felt his voice was too loud in the Reflection Chamber, echoing back to him from the glass. His voice was also a bit hoarse from his nervousness. He could feel a need for reverence here as in a grand cathedral. He also felt the energy of the place prickling at the nape of his neck.

Arianda turned in the center of the room, standing in the midst of large black velvet pillows covering the floor. Her shadowed face regarded Bear. She smiled though he could not see it. "Bear, look up." She watched him as his hood turned upward, then further up until his hood fell to his shoulders. She saw and heard him swallow with difficulty. Again he said "M'Lady…" with hushed awe.

He could see the mirrors extend only so far upward then the light of them faded into profound blackness. Bear squinted trying to judge the distance but had nothing to use for measure as he looked up to see high above them only a small circle of half-light. The circle was the sky, a sprinkle of stars from this cloudless night and… the edges of the rising moons. Already they were casting a silver violet glow down through the Tarot Tower's core. This light was transferred or magnified and fell softly upon Lady Arianda and Bear within the chamber.

When Bear lowered his head again, he saw the shadow and silver hood pushed away from Arianda's face. She caught his gray eyes with a brightness in her own that both thrilled and frightened him.

"Tonight there shall be a double full moon, which in itself is cause to celebrate." Arianda drew her gaze from Bear and stepped back away from the room's center just as Bear began to hear a sound that sent further chills up his spine. A grinding sound of stone on stone circled the room even as a section of floor between them began to rise up. The black velvet pillows fell away from a column as it slowly pushed its way up through them. Bear watched the stone rise and could see Arianda too, on the other side of it. She seemed to be drawing the stone up with only a gesture of her hands.

The cylindrical stone came to rest when it was about waist high. Arianda stepped in close to the pedestal and ran her hands over the rough carvings. A pentagram was cut deeply into the stone surface. At the center, an iron ring was attached through a flattened loop of the same metal. Lady Arianda slipped her fingers through the ring and lifted the reluctant center portion from its resting place. She set it aside and reached into the cavity left there. She withdrew a chalice, already filled with dark red wine and a short ornate dagger, both of fine silver. These she set upon the surface of the pedestal as she straightened again and looked up at Bear. Eventually his eyes lifted from these items too.

Arianda stepped to the side of the pedestal and curled her finger at Bear to bid him approach. He obeyed, completely unsure of what would follow. When Arianda's hands reached to untie his robe, he felt a shiver of another sort and let his concern begin to slip away with his robe's sash. Arianda parted his robe by running her hands slowly from his waist up to his chest then over his shoulders, pushing the silver fabric from him and letting it fall to the floor. Her hands left him and she let her arms rest at her sides as she looked up and gently commanded. "Now me."

Bear could not look away from her eyes as his hands went to Arianda's waist. She locked him there. He felt her softness beneath the glittering fabric as his fingers untied her robe. He tried to listen to her words but as his hands were permitted the touch of her skin and her robe fluttered to the pillows beneath their feet, he found his concentration lacking.

"This is also a night of ritual, made even more sacred and powerful by the conflux of the moons." Arianda searched Bear's face for understanding and caught his hands as they withdrew from her shoulders. She curled her fingers within his large hands and continued. "For this ritual, I need a partner. I have chosen you. Though you may not understand the full meaning of Beltane or this rite, I will explain as I can."

Still not knowing what his part in this rite might entail, Bear nodded. He would trust her. It was his place to serve his mistress. "Yes, M'Lady."

Arianda released his hands and reached for the chalice and the dagger. There was a moment of rather sharp curiosity for Bear but then Arianda turned the dagger and extended it to him, handle first. Bear held the dagger in his open palm and looked at its design.

"Hold it in your right hand. I shall hold the chalice in my left." She waited for his gaze to lift to her face again. "The dagger and its wielder represent the spark of light and life. The chalice, that from which all life springs. Whereupon the dagger is dipped into the chalice, we bring together light and dark, matter and spirit, that which is above and that which lies below, what is without and what is within. We bring together two as one in the union that is the balance of all things."

Bear arched a brow as he contemplated this. It made sense to him and he had heard of similar rituals, similar concepts. Furthermore he felt the rightness of such things, although he had never before participated in a symbolic rite for such.

Arianda watched him and smiled as she saw his focus return to her. "Yes. I believe you understand well enough." Her left hand extended the chalice to him and Bear ceremoniously dipped the dagger into it then raised it again without knowing how to proceed further. Arianda lifted the chalice to her lips and drank deeply from it then pressed it into Bear's left hand and nodded for him to do the same. She then took both the chalice and the dagger from him and set them down again on the raised stone platform.

Bear blinked as the warmth of the wine worked down through him. It was not at all what he expected but much richer and sweeter than any dark wine he'd had before. The warmth was exhilarating and took his focus for a moment. He tilted his head and looked at Lady Arianda watching him.

"Seems very little to it, no?" Arianda ran her fingers along Bear's jaw line then opened her hand along his neck, tracing downward toward his chest.

Bear felt the wine and his body's response warm him more as she touched him. "But such is the nature of ritual as I understand it, a mere representation of something greater."

"Yes, something greater. The wine is no elixir to change your will, merely to enhance your sensitivity. I assume you also feel the effects of this." She leaned forward and kissed his chest then licked across his nipple. His subsequent moan, though quiet, answered her question. "There is another version of the ritual of joining. I am sure you can extend the meaning of dagger and chalice for yourself." As she gently sucked at his hardened nipple, her hand slid firmly down across Bear's stomach til her fingers found him and softly teased his budding arousal.

"Yes, M'Lady." Bear hissed out across her hair. He flexed his fists at his sides. He so wanted to touch her, to pull her to him, to feel more of her against him. He felt lost for a moment as Arianda released him and stepped back. Her expression was somber as she looked into his face.

"I do not command this. I ask. You must participate freely or not at all."

"Ask of me what you will, M'Lady."

"No, Bear. You are not servant in this rite. I am not mistress. We are male and female, light and darkness, matter and spirit, two parts of a whole that forms the balance. There is no subservience here, nor dominance."

As Arianda spoke, the room grew noticeably lighter. The air seemed filled with glittering particles of light, magnified between the mirrors. Arianda and Bear stood naked beside the stone with the silver clouds of fabric at their feet, in the otherwise black velvet covered floor. The mirrored walls around them showed them from all angles, to themselves and each other.

"The moons arise, cresting the portal that brings their light and power to us. Choose to stay and participate freely, of your own will, with your own heart and mind… or I shall lead us from here." She searched Bear's face, watching his wonder at the now visible energy within the Reflection Chamber. Her own body and spirit was excited as the energy seemed to course through her. She was sure Bear was feeling it too.

Bear took a deep breath, expanding his muscular chest. He seemed to breathe the energy of the light and its power. Beneath this exhilaration was the thrill of her wish to have him with her for this rite.

Soft gray eyes looked into sparkling sapphires. Bear's mouth drew into his half grin as he looked at Arianda's face, radiant with the light and what he had felt for her for some time. He stepped the pace to her and slipped his fingers along the softness of her upturned face. In a husky whisper he gave his answer. "Surely, Arianda, you knew my choice before you brought me here."

Arianda smiled. Her hand came up to press his palm against her cheek then she turned her face to kiss his fingers. "I had my suspicions, yes." She looked back at him and grinned, "But will is will and another cannot know with certainty."

Bear's hands slipped down to her waist then he wrapped his arms around her to pull her against him. She could feel his assurance pressing her stomach. She wrapped her arms around him as well, taking in the scent of him with her face pressed to his bare shoulder. Her fingers caressed along the muscles of his back. She gasped lightly against his skin when his mouth found her neck and tasted her there.

Against the hot moisture he made upon her neck, his whisper was a cool breeze. "I may do as I wish? I may… partake of you as I---" She did not let him finish. Her arms pulled at him. Her hard nipples pressed into his chest, her rapid heartbeat against his own. Her response was a feverish hiss, "Yessss…"

Bear drew his hands up beneath her cheeks and lifted her, wrapping her around him. He descended with her, dropping to his knees upon the plush carpet of pillows. As he curled over to lay her down gently, Arianda felt his stiffness teasing between her thighs. His hands slid from beneath her so he could prop himself on one elbow. His free hand brushed softly at her shining copper hair pooled against the midnight black velvet.

Arianda placed her hands upon his chest to feel the flex of his muscles and his thumping heart. She watched him looking at her with seeming wonder and whispered, "You act as though you look at me and touch me for the first time." Her brow was furrowed, not understanding this, for they had certainly been entangled thus on many occasions. She smiled then and reminded him. "You have been here before, Bear."

His eyes roamed over her face, took in every nuance of her. His gaze drifted downward across her neck to her breasts and his fingers followed. He shook his head, causing long strands of his raven silk to fall across his shoulders and brush Arianda's skin. She felt a spark of lightning shoot through her as his hand cupped one breast and thumb played across her hard nipple. Lower within her body was a deep hunger and preparedness for him.

Bear's eyes lifted to catch hers again. He swallowed before his husky response. "Never before. Not like this."

Her lips parted in a silent gasp as she felt his tip press and slip just inside her. She would have closed her eyes but could not. Bear had her locked in his gray depths. He looked into her, through her, even as his member progressed deeper within her at a maddeningly slow pace. She found her breath again and whispered, "Perhaps not."

And so they joined beneath the glittering violet and silver light pouring into the Reflection Chamber. Bear would not release Arianda and allow her to close her eyes. He wanted to see her respond to his slow rhythm. He wanted her to see him, not her slave, not her property, but him. He demanded that she know it was his heart and mind and will that commanded her body for at least this space of time. Some part of him hoped that he was reaching more as he slid slowly into her gripping depths and withdrew again only to return with a firm thrust to complete their connection.

Arianda's hands grasped at his shoulders. She wanted to look away, to close her eyes. Bear was seeing her, not her body but her soul, or so she felt. This was more joining than the ritual, more than she had intended. Something of him was latching to her and she was allowing it, even though her will protested, but silently, only screaming within her mind. Her labored breathing and hoarse moaning said nothing to rebuke him.

While they looked into each other's eyes and held tightly, Bear's swelling within her built urgency til both their bodies shook with the tension. Still, Bear's release surprised them both. As his hoarse groan echoed against the glass walls, Arianda's thinner cry joined it. Her body responded with spasms that spurred him on, suckling for every last pulse and drop from him. Bear would not release Arianda even now. She could not look away from him, though her expression was mournful against the ferocity of his orgasmic countenance.

When his body jerked its last against her own writhing, he looked away at last and lay across her, breathing heavily against her neck. While his weight pressed over her, Arianda finally closed her eyes and a tear slipped down the side of her face. Her body was overjoyed, sated, filled with his withdrawing heat and the remnants of his release. Her mind was still trying to protest, but she knew it was futile.

As these thoughts roiled in her head, she heard a deep panting voice against her neck. "Do not fret, Arianda. I know that on the morrow we shall once again be servant and mistress." She shivered beneath him as he tasted her neck again with his hot mouth. "And I shall do only as you wish, M'Lady."

Reflection Chamber

Night of Ritual
All Hallows