"It has been decided, Lady Seroja Kirana," Master Widuri manoeuvred the lace curtains aside to meet a lonely, pale figure gazing out the window.
Dewdrops from yesterday's monsoon rain dampened the wooden walls of the imperial palace of Serinara.
Lady Seroja Kirana's silk dress was adorned with a songket shawl, pinned with flowery-motifed brooches.
Kirana's eyebrows tied into a knot, turning her attention towards her combat master, "What is it that the Great Lotus has whispered to you?"
"Fate. You shall travel beyond these mountains for some time," Widuri responded gracefully. Kirana exhaled, turning to look at the surrounding three mountains that sanctuarized the Serinara elf clan since the reign of the Suryavi Empire.
"And does the Queen Mother know of this?" The lady asked, crossing her arms now.
"No. I shall not tell her," Widuri shook her head gravely, though in her heart she was regretful.
"A wise choice. And when must I fulfill this prophecy?"
Widuri paused, carefully picking her words, "By the next twelve moons."
"That is when the games end, yes?" Kirana nodded her head, "but you haven't come solely for this prophecy."
Widuri smiled bittersweetly, "Your queen mother, the Maharani of Serinara, has ordered me to increase your training periods. This will be alongside your sister. No negotiations. Tomorrow before dawn, you will fight with your fists and by nightfall, hunting training."
And before Widuri excused herself, she stood at the centre of the door and looked back, "Don't forget to close the windows." She then left promptly without acknowledging Kirana's response and only let her footsteps gradually fade away in the distance.
Kirana's amber eyes gazed at the empty space. She wondered silently what the world looked like beyond the mountains and beyond the elf realm.
In her earlier years of living, when she was a fresh fifty-year-old elf, her mother had been kind and told her stories of the human males beyond their realms. Myths in sweet songs that would lull her to sleep. But the Maharani had not been kind to her as of lately. In two moons time, it would be her 160th birthday. And that is when the games begin.
Kirana laid on her silk bed, and fell into a deep slumber thinking of her future adventures and of all the beings she would meet.
Three urgent beats knocked at her wooden door. Her eyebrows furrowed, is it Widuri? She opened her eyes and attended to the door sluggishly.
Senja Kasturi, her elder sister, crossed her arms: not approving the disoriented sight of her younger sister.
"How will you expect to be a Srikandi in this state? Don't think the matriarch will give grace because we are princesses," Kasturi pushed Kirana to the bathroom. "Silat training is in twenty minutes at the arena valley."
Kirana sighed deeply, washing her face from yesterday's collected rain. She hurriedly changed into her combat uniform consisting of a black tunic and a songket sampin across her waist.
Torches surrounded the arena and Kasturi stood in the middle, waiting for her opponent. Master Widuri sat outside of the ring, perched atop a branch of an old tree.
She entered the ring calmly, fists clenched tightly.
Kasturi was already 180, and that meant she already had two hundred twelve moons of experience in becoming a srikandi. But the most terrifying thing about Kasturi were her fists. The way they danced with the fire of the torches made the pain seem graceful and deserved.
Kasturi's feet coordination was swift and superior too. Her fists jabbed Kirana's forearm. Then while unguarded, Kasturi sweeped Kirana off the floor. She picked her up again. Then she hit the jaw. Then the abdomen. Then the shins. She twisted and swirled as if in a dance performance.
And it continued until the moon faded from the sky and the sun's golden hues rose. Kasturi kept attacking. Still aiming for the neck and the legs until she smelled blood dripping from Kirana. Widuri also seemed to notice it too.
"Enough training for this morning, princesses," Widuri jumped from the branch and unto the ground.
Kirana coughed, blood spraying the rocks and the grass. Kasturi sighed regretfully, as if in disgust and pity, yet altogether some twisted familial sympathy.
"It's a shame my sister turns human by day," Kasturi shook her head, picked up the herbal leaves and walked alongside Kirana towards the waterfall's stream.
Kirana kneeled down at the bank of the stream, fetching as much water as she could to clear the blood stains. She sniffed herself, "I smell human. Fleshy and bloody. And sweaty." Even she understood. Humans smelled disgusting.
Kasturi sighed, grinding the herbal leaves into a paste with a stone. She left some other leaves to wrap around Kirana's wounds.
"Do you hate me, Kas?" Kirana asked, her back facing Kasturi, afraid. Kasturi only shook her head before minding her words.
"I don't hate you, Kira. I simply think it's a never-ending weakness. You are an elf, and yet incomplete. Why? Neither of us know exactly why. But I don't associate you with your cowardly father," Kasturi responded, rubbing the herbal paste on Kirana's back. "He's definitely long dead by now!" She snickered, quickly trying to uplift the mood.
"But I am weaker than most elves," Kirana brought her knees to her chest. Kasturi fell silent, unable to soothe Kirana's pain.
"Just means more training. You're still an elf," Kasturi managed, but she too had her doubts.
The morning sun had risen completely at the peak of the mountain. The two girls hiked leisurely up to the palace.
"Peace to our princesses," the butler greeted them as they walked past the main entrance. They both nodded and walked back into their quarters.
The Serinara elves were strong and stealthy. The elfmen would work hard in the underground mines in the mountain caves, or they would be hunting dinner. The elfwomen were strong leaders of the matriarchy, they would handle the society and they would guard the sacredness of the Great Lotus that protected the peace and hiding the elves' realm.
But Kirana the incomplete elf had trouble staying awake during the early mornings. When she arrived at her quarters, her pet tiger Ratna stood by the vanity.
Ratna caressed Kirana's legs. In the morning, she could not understand Ratna fully due to turning human. Kirana stroked Ratna's head and fell to her bed. She slept once more for another few hours.
When she woke up again, it was already in the afternoon and her meal sat idly, waiting to be eaten. The governess had prepared another medicine to mask the irritating smell of human flesh and potentially turn her into a pure elf. Kirana was unsure of the latter but it did successfully mask the smell.
The town below in the valley was bustling. Young elves were playing and giggling with one another. Kirana observed enviously from her window.
She wondered too what it would be like to be a pure elf. If she had been one from the start, she would not have needed to be cooped up in her room most of the day. And she did not adore the night so much either.
So she got up and picked her bow and arrow. For the royal clan, there was a hidden cave solely for training the bow. She spent hours attempting to perfect her aim. She was useless at it and nowhere near good as any young elf beyond the palace walls. After almost a few hundred tries she grew frustrated and headed back into her room, complaining the entire time.
By night when the crescent moon shone brightly again, Kasturi and Widuri knocked at her door right on time without fail.
"This time, we aren't going to use a wooden doll," Widuri stated, hands clasped together behind her back.
"What?" Kirana raised an eyebrow at Kasturi. "Apparently the men saw humans at the end of the waterfall stream." Kasturi shrugged.
"Humans? Actual humans? Not another clan of elves?" Kirana could not really fathom that humans could reach this close to their home.
"Elves have amazing senses, remember? And don't worry. The elves have put a stronger barrier this time," Kasturi assured her younger sister as they reached the outer rim of the mountain's forests.
"Princesses," Widuri turned to them, "we go by branch now. Ready your bows." The two ladies nodded and climbed the dipterocarp trees. Widuri perched herself at a further branch, but still within the girls' sight.
Kasturi stayed close to Kirana; three branches away. She readied her bow and arrow, aiming precisely at some of the men roaming the forest.
"Aim when one of them are isolated. Or a whole sampan if they are secluded enough," Kasturi advised, stretching the arrow against the bow.
Tup! The smell of flesh and blood sprayed across the floor and a spell casting invisibility over the man's dead body arose.
"Where did Kasim go?" A few men shouted from the rowing sampan.
"Don't aim yet," Kasturi whispered, reaching Kirana's but she was too late.
Tup!
Kasturi clicked her tongue, glaring at her sister.
"What was that sound?" The human men quivered.
"You are going to scare them away, mangkuk!" Kasturi face-palmed.
"Sorry!" Kirana panicked.
Widuri shook her head, "Don't be too harsh now."
Kasturi only sighed. Another human man came searching for Kasim the dead guy.
"Okay, Kira. When he is out of those sampan humans' sight, shoot, alright?" Kasturi ordered, motioning with her bow. Kirana nodded determinedly.
Tup!
She sent another arrow flying down to no avail. It landed on one of the trees roots. Kasturi groaned, tired of watching a series of failure.
Kirana frowned, disappointed. She sighed deeply.
"We are going to move closer now," Widuri announced after Kirana's fourth failed attempt. By now, the sampan was in a dark, secluded area and only two rowing men were inside.
"All of our men have disappeared, prince," a young man stated, trying to keep calm but his eyes were clearly worried.
"The training pahlawan that I picked is afraid? Are you questioning my judgement?" The prince asked as he stopped rowing the boat any further.
"No, sir," the young man replied. They stayed still for a moment.
"Now's your golden chance, Kira," Kasturi urged.
An arrow was stretched across its bow, ready to shoot. With sharp, amber eyes, Kirana directed the arrow to the sampan. The glitter of the moon was as if waving towards them across the dark blanket of the stream. She had to aim precisely this time. She had to. Her heartbeat thumped harder.
Kasturi, scowled. "What are you doing? Shoot!" She whispered from across the two trees, motioning with her arms.
Kirana's hands began trembling as sweat moistened her grip on the arrow.
Tup!
The man in the sampan turned around to search for the sound. Kasturi palmed her forehead irritably, possibly leaving a red mark.
"Mangkuk!" Kasturi hissed, "this is the fifth try!"
The man seemed to hear the whispers. He steadied the sampan at the stream and picked up the unnaturally wide arrow made out of teak wood. Goosebumps crawled on his skin as he fearfully searched for its owner.
Then he locked eyes with big yellow beads on the branches of the tree. Kirana's eyes.
Kasturi clicked her tongue and threw a small fruit directly towards his forehead.
She grabbed Kirana's hands and sprinted, jumping from branch to branch. Widuri followed behind them swiftly.
When they finally reached the inner valley of Serinara's mountain, Kasturi pushed aside Kirana.
"You mangkuk! He saw us!" Kasturi pushed her sister into their quarters.
"I'm sorry!" Kirana apologised, throwing the teak-wood bow across her bed.
"You should be grateful those humans are cowards. And also, your aim sucks," Kasturi stated, disappointment dripping from her voice.
Kirana glared, now sitting on her bed. "I know. I'll practice some more with Widuri."
Kasturi glanced back before leaving the room, "Do it properly. Don't forget, your 160th birthday is in two moons. That means-"
"Two moons to prove myself. I know," Kirana rolled her amber eyes and quickly shoved Kasturi outside her room before she got more irritated.
Kirana exhaled, brows knitting as she picked up her bow again.
The elves were a people of enchanting beauty: pale-skinned, bewitching amber eyes, long pointed ears but most of all, incredibly strong and stealthy.
They have lived alongside the Great Empire of Suryavi since the ancient times. Yet now, they live quietly besides the clear waterfalls and mountains of Mahkota. They hunt humans or bewitch them into slaves. To be a srikandi (maiden/princess warrior), an elf must make their first hunt.
And they must swear to protect the lotus blade that protects the elves.
Kirana is a princess elf, her mother is the matriarch of the Serinara Clan. But being a princess elf is not a luxury within the elf community. To be born into a family of warrior and leaders mean holding responsibility as the pillars of a nation.
Kirana, disheartened at the sheer burden, stared at the faraway mountain across Serinara's waterfall.
A hand swiped the window closed. Kirana turned and found her mother, sternly staring at her daughter.
"Queen Mother, Maharani," Kirana greeted as her trembling hands swiftly hid the bow behind her back.
"I told you, Seroja Kirana. You are to not fantasise beyond that mountain," Her mother, Lead Matriarch Maharani Seriwangi Sutra, warned her.
"Mother, I am part-human," Kirana pleaded, "I long to understand why my father left me."
Seriwangi turned her head sharply, "You are an elf, Seroja Kirana. And you are not weak neither cowardly like those humans. You have my blood, my sakti (powers) and my name. You do not find your father unless to kill" Setiawangi's hands clasped her daughter's shoulders. Then she exhaled, turning away for a minute.
Kirana's head dropped downwards, "You are ashamed of me."
"Do not speak ill of me," Seriwangi hissed.
"Then why?"
"Enough," Seriwangi raised her voice, "I did not come to your quarters to speak of your blood. I heard of your practice with Kas and Widuri."
Kirana's head lifted, eyes trembling.
"You are to practice with your master two hours before dawn. You are a princess, Kira. Make me proud. Only because you are my daughter am I able to give you this much," Seriwangi explained before reluctantly leaving for her matriarchal duties once more.
Kirana sighed a breath of relief: she was expecting some sort of ridiculous punishment.
Unlike her older sister, Kasturi, who was able to make her first hunt on the first game, Kirana was having trouble in practice multiple times.
It was already long past midnight when she slid the windows back open. Only to let the breeze flow inside, the excuse she made to stay out of trouble. But still, she was pained. Her own mother did not want to speak of her inferior father. And her own mother did not favour her.
She held the wooden door, about to shut it again until Ratna pounced inside.
"Your highness, why so distraught?" The tiger asked, rubbing its head against her skin.
Kirana's throat suddenly went prickly, "I hate being trapped in this small place, Ratna." Kirana hugged the tiger and weeped in its fur.
"Let's go beyond this mountain."