The sound of a drum rolled over the hills of the town like thunder. It flew from one edge of the cliffs to the other. There, another group of farmers waited. With the signal of their conductor, the main musician hit their drum. The noise made by the three-metre-tall musical instrument reverberated inside everyone’s chest. It didn’t take long and the other drums joined it. Seven in total were needed for the ritual. A few beats of them here and there wouldn’t bother anyone, but as the music picked up the pace, everyone present came to understand why they were given earplugs.

The vibrations of the beat shook the massive cloud on which stood the humble manor of house Armini. It wasn’t an earthquake, but rather a soothing sway of a giant cradle.

Airo stepped forth into the middle of the grand hall. His parents watched from the side, proudly observing their heir. The boy took the initial stance. The ceremonial robes fluttered in the wind. The material was so light he could feel every current in the wind. The white markings on the fabric moved with each of the steps of his dance. Where his feet hit the ground, a tiny cloud of mist rose into the air from his footprint. Despite him moving all around the room, he made little to no sound. Not a single stomp interrupted the drums, and despite the fatigue, his breathing following a rhythm that made it barely audible.

The three friends observed from the other side of the room. The Cloudfolk rituals were closed off to the public. The villagers had the duty of playing the music, maintaining the instruments, and then subsequently processing the clouds once the ritual that would call them was over. In this regard, being Airo’s friend carried a unique benefit. They got to be there, close to the action.

The cloud sea slowly began rising, as if invisible hooks pulled it up. Puffy clouds of various tints tore off from the white mass and rose up into the sky above the town. The residents rejoiced, though they kept their voice quiet for now. It was polite to simply stand there and wait out the Cloudfolk tradition in its entirety without disrupting it.

Jin tapped his foot against the wooden floor. The sound of the drums was one of the only things he enjoyed about his hometown. There was little time or opportunity for music, rather than some celebratory singing, so he made sure to enjoy such a festive occasion.

His body began swaying from side to side. He raised his arms and slowly began moving to the beat. He closed his eyes. The waves of pressure that were hitting his chest felt so alluring to him, begging him to join them in a dance.

His eyes nearly shot out of his head when Kaili jabbed his side with her elbow.

“Be respectful, for crying out loud,” she whispered to him.

“Right, right, sorry. Dear Ley-lines, you have such bony arms.” He rubbed his side and straightened his back again, but not before reaching into his pocket and shoving a stray Whispa root into his mouth.

Kaili’s instincts made her fingers twitched. The boy looked at her with a smug smile. “Don’t even think about it. Be respectful, for crying out loud, and don’t disrupt the ritual.”

She gritted her teeth. His attitude was often difficult to tolerate. Especially when tradition prevented her from taking any action.

One final beat of the drums flew through the village, signalling the end of the ritual. Airo leaned forward with his arms stretched out, bidding the clouds to fly forth towards the village. As soon as it was over, the noise coming from the cheering crowd reached even all the way up to the mansion. They all moved to the windows and watched as the farmers began hooking the clouds, pulling them closer and climbing on them. Parts were cut off, squeezed of any tainted liquid, and then placed into the harvesting barrels.

“Shouldn’t that also be your job?” Lady Armini couldn’t help but comment.

“Mom, leave him be. Jin’s studying to be a wizard. You know that can help the village a million times more,” Airo tried to protect his friend’s honour.

The trio waited in the main hall for their friend to get changed out of the ceremonial robes. As soon as the young Cloudfolk returned, he slumped down onto the bench like a lack of flour. A loud groan left his mouth.

“Tired?” Cia asked.

“Yeah. Perfect movements, perfect steps, perfect shifting of your own weight. All that for twenty minutes straight. I’m spent. And dad coming to my room to give me notes about what I did wrong doesn’t make me feel much better, to be honest.”

“Well, aren’t the notes necessary though?” Kaili asked.

“Yeah, they are. All of this is. I don’t mind doing it, but I don’t want to pretend like I’m full of energy right now. Not in front of you at least.”

“Well, we value your sacrifice for the village,” Jin said and bowed slightly before the boy. His comment, while carrying a hint of sarcasm, was mostly sincere. The village’s only income came from the materials they extracted from the clouds. If it wasn’t for house Armini, his family would most likely be struggling somewhere else.

“Would you like us to do the delivery duty for you today, so you can rest?” Kaili asked.

“And let you three have all the fun? Absolutely not. I’m going. Just give me a moment to catch my breath please.

“Well, while we wait, can I ask a small favour of you guys?” Jin said.

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“Sure, just don’t ask me to dance,” Airo replied.

“Haha, no, it’s nothing like that. I just need you to distract Manuel for a short while today.”

The three friends looked at him with confusion painted over their faces.

“Distract him? Why?” said Cia.

“There is something I need to do in the tower and I need him to not be aware of it.”

“That’s a bad idea. Manuel will always figure it out. He has that future vision thing.”

“Maybe. But I still need to do it.”

“Just please tell me it isn’t something stupid,” Kaili frowned at him.

“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be something dangerous. And if I do mess it up, somehow, I think Manuel will still be able to fix it without an issue.”

By the time the kids decided to leave the comfort of the manor and head over to Manuel’s tower, the work down in the town was already in full motion. It was a period of great harvest and all those who could put their hands together to help. Wonderful smells were coming out of the restaurant and bakery, as their owners were preparing to serve meals to the countless farmers who’d soon be heading home hungry from their work. Weavers and tailors were busy fixing any clothing that got damaged during the harvest. The younger members of the community were washing the dirty farming equipment. The teenagers with sufficient strength then helped carry the barrels full of clouds into the warehouse. The entire town was like a buzzing hive. One that Jin and the others desperately wanted to avoid.

“Feels like we should be helping,” Kaili said.

“I already helped, leave me be,” Airo muttered in response. He was currently enjoying floating on his air magic while being pulled around by Kaili’s vines like a giant balloon.

“And I would like to do literally anything else than this,” Jin replied. “So keep your heads low and we’ll make it through just fine without encountering anyone.

Like this, their simple trip to the tower, which would always take only a couple of minutes at worst, now took almost three times as long, as most of the time was spent avoiding the attention of the working townsfolk, who, as the kids figured, wouldn’t be too happy seeing someone slacking off. Therefore, by the time they reached the hill on which the tower stood, a significant weight of worries dropped off their hearts.

“Thank the Ley-lines, we’re away from that place. Hate these events,” Jin growled.

“It’s kinda nice that the whole village gets together to work,” Airo commented.

“Shut it. You dance for a few minutes and it’s over. I’d be forced to get soaked in stinky cloud water and haul metal canisters all day long. You have no idea what it’s like.”

“And you have no idea what it takes to prepare for the ritual.”

Jin shrugged. He had to admit that there was little about the Cloudfolk traditions that he actually understood.

“Guys, can you hear that?” Cia interrupted them, causing the party to stop in their tracks. For a moment, they waited and listened. Other than the shouting and commotion coming from the town, there was indeed something else. A beautiful voice singing an alluring melody.

“Is it coming from the tower?” Kaili whispered.

“A slightly ominous tune that was never heard here before and that could mean something bad? You can bet it’s Manuel’s doing,” Jin replied and urged them to move forward as curiosity gnawed on his mind.

As they entered the tower, the song was pretty much all they could hear. It wasn’t loud, yet it managed to completely drown out the noise coming from the village below. The kids exchanged expressions full of confusion. What was the song? Parts of it seemed solemn and depressing, but it often quickly changed, becoming a more tranquil and cheerful instead.

The quartet rushed up the stairs. It seemed to be coming from the library. The singer was either a woman or Manuel had a much more feminine voice than he was willing to admit.

When the answer to where the sound was coming from finally appeared before them, it only brought forth more questions than answers. All the tables and chairs were removed from the reading area of the library, creating a large empty space, which was now occupied by an enormous and elaborate ring of symbols drawn on the floor by what they hoped to be red paint. The letters were each surrounded by one to five lit candles, which burned with bright pink flames. In the middle of all this nonsense was then Samlas, kneeling with hands in her lap. Her head hung low as she sang the melody.

Jin was the first to react. He had no idea what was happening, but for some reason, he was urged to move closer. He took a single step and bumped into one of the candles, causing it to fall over. As soon as that happened, all the other pink flames have returned to their normal warm orange colour.

Samlas stopped and turned to Jin with eyes that spoke of murder, but not of the crow kind.

“No!” she yelled at him. “You idiot!” Her wings fluttered and she took off into the air. “This was attempt number fifteen! And it was going so well! You were supposed to be gone today, so why the hell are you here, ruining my ritual?”

Cia blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “I… umm… Should we like stop you, or…?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Should you stop a goddamn wedding ceremony?”

Each second that passed seemed to only confuse the kids further.

“You’re… Wait, who are you marrying?” Kaili gasped.

“Please don’t say it’s Manuel,” Jin added and rubbed the root of his nose.

“Idiots! I’m not getting married. And neither is Manuel! My sister is.”

“And I’m sponsoring the ceremony!” Manuel exclaimed as he appeared before them in a flash of light, waving his arms around. His usual green attire was now replaced by what seemed to be the exact same outfit, but in the shades of purple.

“I’ve offered them to get married here. I’ll decorate the tower nicely and prepare everything.” He turned to Samlas. “Which could also include the Jon Mari flower, if you’d only let me help, instead of wasting our precious time.”

“And I told you it has to be created this way, so shut it and take you little tour group elsewhere!”

The children’s confusion reached its peak.

“Excuse me, but what are you doing here, exactly? And what’s with the singing?” Jin asked as he carefully tried to place the knocked-over candle back to its place.

“Let me explain it in simpleton terms,” Samlas growled. “You know how humans give each other metal rings when they get married?”

“Yeah?”

“We don’t do that, but instead, the newly-weds are seated on to a large flower, which then closes its leaves over them and they are carried over to their room for privacy. That flower, is Jon Mari.”

“It looks like this,” Manuel said and snapped his fingers. A large, pink, five-leaf flower appeared on his palm. Its size was enormous. To the youngsters, it looked almost like a plant-shaped plate for serving food.

“Yeah, but it has to be created by a fey ritual. Not the cheap magic of a wannabe god.”

“It’s literally the same thing.”

“It’s not!”

“My magic literally replicates the same exact method as your ritual. The entire custom was made for people who can’t use magic on their own. I can. So why not skip this?”

Samlas turned to the children. “You four are as diverse as they come. Can someone educate this brick-for-brain about the cultural importance of certain customs.”

“I can,” Kaili said and tugged on Manuel’s cloak. “Come downstairs and just leave her to it.”

“But–”

“Come, Manuel!” she barked at the man and practically dragged him away.