At the fair, the faun parents obtained their meal of choice, a large family meal of salted ham, baked potato chunks, and seaweed chips. They ordered from, and got a table in, a permanent standing restaurant. The restaurant was almost a tavern, except that it was more family friendly. It was themed after the old taverns of Sauh and Geith, the ancestral lands of the Eigeroy clan, the northern countries inhabited by fauns (goat-hu) and sheep-hu. Solveis and Arlendr greatly enjoyed the more salty and palatable versions of their family’s old-world foods. The seaweed chips were particularly good, though Solveis reasoned that any food could be quite good if made crunchy and covered in salt.
Livia’s family got food from a pop-up food stand. They ordered a family sized malga-bread. Malga-bread was the food brought into existence by smashing together the culinary traditions of all the cultures. All cultures seemed to have some bread-centric, quick, customizable meal. Malga-bread was the modern epitome of the concept, a large flatbread topped with some kind of vegetable paste or sauce and with any other toppings one was willing to pay for. All this was baked on demand, and cut into hexagonal or otherwise shaped pieces. Malga-bread had skyrocketed into popularity some time ago, becoming present in duplicate stands at all kinds of events. It was a dish quick to make, cost effective, easy to produce in large quantities, and tailored to the purchaser. Livia’s family’s malga-bread had a spiced oil instead of vegetable paste or sauce, and it was topped with multiple types of diced meat, corn, and a variety of chunked vegetables, and on top of all this was just a little bit of powdery cheese. It was a weird meal by Solveis’s standards, but then malga-bread could be made into about anything.
Everyone ate in a mindful rush, since there was still much more to be seen and limited hours in the day. It seemed impossible though, to really be quick, with three kids and two toddlers. The meal was noisy and many elbows were bumped, but food was shared and tasted. To add to the picnic novelty of the experience, the parentals let the kids order special sugary drinks of their choosing. Solveis chose something fizzy and enjoyed it immensely.
After lunch, Arlendr was determined to wait no longer to talk to the weapon maker dudes. He became so determined that the father ended up having to hold onto the back of Arlendr’s waistband to keep him walking in pace with the rest of the group. Livia adopted Arlendr’s excitement and skipped beside his halted sprint, toward the booths.
At one of the first booths, they encountered candles and bath products. The mother looked at a line of products designed specifically for goat-hu (or fauns, as Solveis preferred to refer to them) and then got chatting with the crafts lady. This was boring. The next couple of booths were equally boring. The kids got antsy and probably annoyed the adults with their childish behavior.
The following booth was interesting to at least one of the kids, finally. It was a blacksmith. Arlendr charged up to the counter and looked closely at the weapons and tools hanging on the wall. He took out from one of his pockets a very short spear made from a carved stick and a sharpened rock.
The mother gasped in surprise. “You know you can’t bring that here! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Arlendr looked past her, to one of the craftspeople in the booth. “Look at what I made. I have more stuff in my pockets,” Arlendr told the man.
The mother looked freshly aghast. “I’m so sorry –” she began to apologize for her son.
The shop man smiled at her and at Arlendr. “I wouldn’t hold that out for all to see. It might get taken away,” he advised the boy. He glanced toward a group of security people. “How’d you get that in here anyway? Can I see?”
Arlendr handed it over to the man. “That’s why I wore the pants with all the pockets!” he boasted to the shop man.
The mother glanced at his pockets, which looked to have many small items stashed away in them.
The blacksmith flipped the little weapon in his hands and played with it. “It’s sturdy. Not bad. Keep it up and you’ll be a pro in a few sols. – Not that your mom would be excited about that,” he glanced smiling at the mother. She relaxed a little. He addressed Arlendr again, “Are you looking for something, young craftsman?”
“Tell me about how I did. How do I do it better next time? And – how do you make a blade. I only know how to make things out of wood, and stones, and rope, and rubber bands.”
Arlendr and the man had a conversation about tool crafting. The other craftspeople of the booth joined in the conversation with the interesting little, yellow-haired, man-boy. Solveis listened intently to it all. It wasn’t her particular interest, but understanding anything very well was valuable to her.
A couple of booths later, the Eigeroy family met up with Livia’s family, who had wandered off. Livia offered Solveis a gummy candy that Papi had gotten for her. It was good; tasted like overly sugary fruit.
Finally, finally, Solveis saw the booth that she was most interested in, a seamstress selling themed clothes. Right next to it was a hair styling place, and next to that was face painting. Solveis approached the dress shop and walked around it, looking at all the designs sold. Some were costumes, some were based on actual historical styles, some were just pretty. Solveis saw that the woman in the shop noticed her and glanced interestedly toward her from time to time. Solveis wanted to talk to the lady like Arlendr had talked to the blacksmith, but she couldn’t. Arlendr was circling the inside of the booth quickly as Solveis was circling more slowly, absorbing each section. From his distance away, Arlendr kept asking Solveis questions about the outfits: “Is this supposed to be old ram-hu?”, “How comes the joining part is all loose, about to break off?”, “Where does this color come from? Seems fake.” He asked questions that were rude, and he did so too loudly. Solveis felt compelled to answer him though, since she loved sharing her expertise. Embarrassment caused her to reply to his inquiries in an almost imperceptibly low voice. In no time at all, Arlendr had grown bored. On a whim, he walked up to the shop lady who was standing by a desk.
“Is my tunic right?” he demanded of the woman. “She did it, so it’s her fault if it’s wrong.”
Solveis fled screaming, deep into herself – her yellow bird fell unconscious into her depths – but physically she went over to her brother and elbowed him in the ribs. She stared determinedly at her hooves and became a statue. Under her breath, she moved her statuesque mouth to scold Arlendr in their secret language, “You made it be wrong, because you wore the wrong pants”.
Arlendr heard her scolding, but ignored it. He continued to interact with the seamstress woman, mortifying his sister all the way. During the whole interaction with her brother, Solveis’s posture became more and more rigid and uncomfortable.
“Looks like you are rough on your sister’s handiwork,” the crafts lady scolded Arlendr, a little annoyed by his precocity. “It’s pretty good though. It has the look of the thing. – I see that she put the real effort into her own outfit though,” the lady said, examining Solveis’s outfit in more detail. “It’s the wrong fabric and the wrong thread, but the shape is basically right,” she continued. “Though I suppose the right fabrics may be hard for you to get your hands on.”
Arlendr grew tired of listening to someone else’s conversation; he retreated. He looked at trinkets nearby, half listening in.
The lady asked Solveis, “What inspired you to make it?”
“It’s what my people used to wear,” Solveis answered awkwardly and haltingly, still staring at her hooves. She fell silent again.
“Here. I have something like it here,” the lady walked Solveis behind the counter where a few ornate pieces were hanging. “It’s for a performance later. It’s just a costume, but the design is pretty true to the original style.
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Solveis felt favored beyond all her expectations, to be brought behind the sacred counter, which separated the owner and expert from the mere shoppers. The honor pleased her deeply and saturated her with awed fear. Solveis saw the outfit aforementioned and really looked at it. She looked at the shape, the seams and stitching, the rough and naturally colored fabric, and the beautiful, though simple, beading. She wanted to touch it and look in detail, but felt that she could never. The shop lady’s attention was caught by another visitor of the shop. The shop lady began to walk away. Solveis followed her out from behind the counter. Before the lady had quite walked away, she charged Solveis, “Go next door, she’ll love to see your hair.” When Solveis didn’t respond in any way, the lady touched Solveis’s shoulder, and then walked to the edge of her booth. She half shouted at the woman at the booth next door, “Look at this artwork. You’ll love this little lady’s Sauh braids.”
“Come here little one!” the lady at the neighboring booth called to Solveis. “Why! I do love your braids. What’s your name? I’m Miss Su.” the lady greeted Solveis and put her hand out in the faun greeting (which was to slide the back of your two hands together as you bring your arm back to your body).
Solveis completed the ritual. She had only ever practiced the ritual with her faun family. Having a stranger, an aepsis at that, request it of her so expectantly, in such an unfamiliar environment, made Solveis feel a little awkward, like having your socks on backwards.
“Solveis, tell her your name,” Solveis’s mother – who had materialized out of nowhere – directed her daughter.
“Sole-vase,” Solveis announced timidly to Su, trying to pronounce it clearly, so the woman could understand.
“I do like your braids Solveis,” Su complimented. “Can I see?” Su asked, putting her hands forward in a desire to manhandle Solveis’s head.
Solveis grunted an affirmative.
The woman stood up and walked around Solveis, Solveis’s head being below Su’s chest height. Su examined the hair in detail, dragging her fingers down the paths of the different braids. “I count seven different variations. That’s impressive. You really are going with the tradition,” Su complemented Solveis.
“It had more flowers in it, but they came out,” Solveis defended her work.
“It still has some. It’s stayed pretty tight too,” the woman stated, sounding genuinely impressed.
The original style of the hair had been designed by people who lived and worked outside, all day, every day. Consequently, it was meant to be tight and to stay mostly the same from morning to night. Also, the more styles of braids mastered by the wearer, the more impressive, so it was fashionable to include as many different types of braids as possible. One should also master the stylistic skill of blending the different braids together to make a congruent, attractive look. As a final touch, the finished braids were tied together with twine and various decorations. For a more frivolous touch, part of the back or bottom of the hair might be left loosely down, in order to show off the length, health, and beauty of one’s locks.
Miss Su directed herself to the mother, “It’s really quite good.”
The mother looked pleased. “I can’t take much credit really. I taught her a three strand, but she learned most of the rest on her own.” Then the mother spoke affectionately to Solveis, “Is that what you are always talking with grandma about?”
Su directed her attention back at Solveis. “Do you do other styles too? Or specially Geith/Sauh ones?”
Solveis thought about it. Truthfully, she had researched and tried to know everything about faun hair styles, specifically, especially the old ones. Her research had managed to teach her the fundamentals of all kinds of braiding and hair styling too though. From what she had learned with Geith and Sauh braiding techniques, Solveis could recognize the patterns and formations of other hair styles. She could probably reproduce many styles with relative precision, with just a little practice.
She had done the half-up princess style on Livia earlier that day. She’d done more mainstream styles on herself too, for school events. Unsure of which part of this answer to give, Solveis answered, “Well… I do all kinds of styles. I guess I like braids and knots.” Then, remembering her mother’s mention of the grandmother, she added, “I learned a lot of old faun stuff from the grandmother.”
“Did you see my book of styles? This isn’t everything I can recreate, but it’s all the popular stuff that people want me to do for them.” Su pointed to a book of images of hair styles.
Solveis had noticed it early on, and had been eagerly interested at looking in it, but hadn’t known how to accomplish her desire. Solveis stared back at Su without responding.
Arlendr, who had been roaming around, walked behind Solveis and brushed into her with his shoulder.
“Excuse me!” Su scolded him, in a kind, motherly tone for his rudeness. Arlendr looked back at Su, pinched his brow in confusion, then walked off again.
Another crafts person of the hair braiding stand, a young man with a warrior costume and partially shaved, partially knot-braided hair, noticed the boy. His attention had been drawn by the boy with the thick, long, yellow-ginger hair and the cream colored horns. The young man addressed the two kids, “Is that your brother? You look like brother and sister.” The man walked over to join Su and Solveis.
Arlendr, interested by the man, stopped walking and looked sternly at him.
“My sister,” Arlendr repeated the phrase roboticly.
The craftsman spoke to Solveis, “You know he’s got good hair for your faun hairdos.”
“The mother always tries to cut it,” Arlendr accused at the mother, who was no longer standing near enough to hear.
“I suppose shorter would be respectable, but your locks could make for a great glistening copper mane. It could be glorious,” the man noted. “Look in the last few pages of the styling book. It’s men’s styles. – You’ve got the hair for it.” Then the man leaned over the book and ruffled Arlendr’s loose locks. Arlendr grimaced at him.
Arlendr started looking through the pages of boy’s styles. Solveis looked over his shoulder. Only a few of the styles could be called traditional faun styles, but they were all still very interesting to examine. Arlendr flipped hurriedly to the ones he was interested in.
“You can make this one on me?” Arlendr demanded of his sister. “Actually, you have to teach me. I have to do it, so you can’t take too long.”
Passing over the insult, Solveis responded, “I could probably do it. It’s probably not really traditional though. I’d rather find the original.”
Arlendr and Solveis had this conversation in their impossible to understand, mumble of a language, while flipping through the book and examining pages.
When Arlendr lost interest, he walked off to explore some other place. Solveis was shortly after joined by a bouncing, giggling Livia. Livia had had her face painted like the eptill from the same play as her costume. She was clearly very excited about it and was looking for affirmation.
It was the wrong character, and it didn’t match the dress or hair, but Solveis knew from experience that those sort of things didn’t matter for Livia, so she supplied her friend with a complement. “Cool face paint!”
Livia was satisfied. She started to tell Solveis about the booths she had just seen, “I got a picture with a mermaid guy, and Joao tried my candy and made the funniest face, and…” Livia trailed off as she saw the book of hairstyles over Solveis’s shoulder. She grew interested in Solveis’s interest and looked at the book. “Wow! They are so amazing! It’s like yours, but so many of them. – You did that one before.”
Livia and Solveis chatted while flipping pages. Solveis made Livia slow down, because she needed to look at the details and memorize them. Livia fidgeted in boredom between pages.
When Solveis finally finished with the book, she rejoined her father, who had apparently been waiting a while for her, Livia, and Arlendr. He had stayed behind with the kids, while the rest of the group went on exploring.
On their way away from the costume booth area, Su came up to the father and gave him a card with information on it. “You know the kids could volunteer at the festival. Set up and stuff. Maybe next sol? It’s a fun time, and they’d get a chance to really look at everything and talk to people.”
“That’s so great! Thanks so much!” the father responded warmly, and then led the three children off in the direction of his group.
When the father and the three kids rejoined the rest of the group, they were all becoming burnt out with the booths. Everyone was tired and sore footed. They decided to go to the old timey village on the fair grounds. It would be the last thing they did before leaving the festival.
The old timey village was a permanent area of the fair grounds that was open throughout the whole solar year. It was made up of old buildings, transplanted from their original locations, all over the mainland of the country of Amalga. It was meant to capture the culture of the early days of Amalga, when it had first been resettled, after the time of the land treaty.
The buildings of the village all had walk-throughs with information posted all over. The staff dressed in costume and spoke in old dialects – with varying degrees of accuracy. Performances showed throughout the day. The people in the buildings gave tours and spoke about the history of the place. There was a store with trinkets, food, toys, and clothes from every people that lived in the area.
The parents bought fresh honey from a vendor. At the purchase, the kids sensed that this would be the last opportunity to ask the parentals to spend money at the festival. All three kids suddenly became desirous of buying things at the shops. Livia’s parentals bought a few little things. Solveis’s parents decided that their two oldest kids could each have one thing. They suggested a snack, since all the trinkets were junk anyway. So, Solveis got candied nuts from a stand outside, and Arlendr got a pack of multicolored crystal candies. The father and mother each got a fair-food snack for the road too.
The three older kids rode back to the Eigeroy family’s house in the car with the male parentals. They all shared snacks in the back seat, became tired and grouchy, and ended up half hyper, half exhausted at the house, still having a boat trip back to the island.
Everyone decided to eat a light dinner and to crash at the house. Livia’s family could go back to the island early the next morning.