Upon reaching the lake edge with Stig in tow, Rowan begins slowly making through the crowd toward the front assuming David will follow. She was lucky that the ceremony hadn't started yet and that most people were accommodating to make room for her to move through. Whether it was them just being polite or strictly because she was escorting Stig, she wasn't quite sure. But she suspected it was the latter.
Because of the elevated position of the founding families' representatives, Rowan could see Stig's mother waving toward them easily enough. She escorted Stig to the very front of the crowd and let him make the journey the rest of the way toward his mom. It wasn't a very tough trek for the toddler, so she was sure it was the right move. It wasn't Rowan's place to take that stage. Not yet anyway.
Rowan gave a friendly smile to the heads of the Hoar family, before retreating into the crowd. She wasn't fond of being upfront at these things.
Rowan had been standing back and taking in the beautiful sight of the ceremony. There was comfort for her in its predictability and its years of repetition never dulled her reaction to it all. That was until something went wrong, very wrong. This was Rowan's 17th ceremony. So when she noticed something so severely out of place, it shot up her spine in a cold chill.
What the hell is happening to the raft?Then the entire town froze. Rowan felt a heaviness in her chest as she realised that there was something supernatural at work here. She was becoming increasingly strained of breath as her feet began to move on their own, inching her away from this phenomenon.
As the giant pillar of water rose out of the lake, Rowan found her footing and turned on a heel to get out of there. But she immediately collided with townsfolk frozen in time and fell back onto the ground. She was growing more panicked as time went on. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the developing situation with the lake water. All that she had in mind was to get back to her feet and get out.
Then a tune began from the lake. It didn't sound ominous or haunting by any means, but Rowan was past the point where it would begin to calm her. Even stranger, the lyrics to the song apparated in her mind's eye as if she knew the lyrics when she had never heard them in her life.
As she finally gathered her footing again, something grabbed her from behind. One of the lake's tendrils had caught her, took her into the air, and toward the column of water. As Rowan is brought into the column, she faints.
A dream of colours beyond comprehension preempted Rowan's awakening in this new world. The air smelt different, she felt different, and her eyes could see she was nowhere near New Hope anymore. The events of the lake shore felt like a bad nightmare and the environment she was just in only served to confirm that it wasn't a construct of her mind. It all culminated in a sharp headache.
But upon sitting up and reaching for her head, she noticed she now had black gloves on. All her clothes had changed. Rowan now wore apparel that resembled the nobility of eras gone by. In addition to typical clothing, she wore leather gloves and boots, an encompassing cloak, and a finely made witch hat sat upon her head. The fabric used felt durable but looked fine and of very high quality. While the colour mostly consisted of midnight black, highlights of dark greens and silvers were present throughout the design.
What was more concerning to her was that Rowan felt some resistance when raising her hand. It was not as if the clothes she had on were ill-fitting, so she was left pondering what it could be. This strain persisted when just trying to move the fingers in her right hand. To the next logical step, she began taking off her right glove. With just a peak, she immediately rushed to cover her hand again. Such an action took about two seconds with her only revealing the inner part of her wrist. Thus no one had the opportunity to look but may have seen her reaction, which she tried to keep under wraps.
From what she could tell, Rowan's hands, arms, and up to between the shoulder blades were wrapped in thin vines. It didn't encompass her skin, it didn't create bumps in her clothes, nor did it restrict her movements very much. But it brought an uncomfortable strain to the movements. It was best to keep this quiet for now. Looking around, everyone else appeared different as well and no one was sure of themselves. It was best this not add to the worry.
"This wasn't how I expected this day to go." Rowan got herself up and onto her feet. Although it was hard to tell at a distance, she looks an inch or two taller.
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