Even here in another world it seems like festivals don't change that much.
After almost a week of waiting that Alice could hardly withstand the festival of warmth starts today. Like a kid on Christmas day the girl who likes to sleep past noon was a bundle of energy almost at the crack of dawn.
After getting her to settle down I made her wait several hours because the festival only kicked off about an hour before noon. Alice, having not known that, promptly went back to sleep for another few hours.
So as usual it fell to me to do the usual morning chores. Getting our daily water from the plaza well took longer than usual because it seemed almost the entire city was lined up there with me. I guess it makes sense that getting water in advance was important because it wouldn't be so easy to get when the plaza is a mess of activity.
After getting our fresh water I usually practiced my magic but today I had other plans. Over the past few days I’ve been working on something to give to Alice, but it wouldn’t work well to show her here in the alley. So I spent a bit using earth magic to fashion a ladder up the side of the alleyway to access one of the roofs above. Once on the slanted tile overlooking the street I began to prep for my surprise.
******
The festival kicked off in the central plaza with the government official of the city giving a big introduction speech on the big platform that I had seen being constructed earlier in the week. I wasn't actually sure what his title was as I had never bothered to look into it, and we couldn't really hear him from the other side of the plaza where we were.
The plaza in question was PACKED. It seemed like not only the residents of the city but maybe some of the surrounding villages had come to participate in the excitement. Because of this Alice and I were barely able to even get into the plaza. To even see the speech giver over the crowd of people we were standing on a box. The man was plump and looked every bit like a spoiled noble you would find in a standard fantasy setting.
Eventually he reached the end of his speech and we could actually hear the final words over the bated breaths of every person in the square.
“LET THE FESTIVAL OF WARMTH…. BEGIN!”
A great cheer went up from the crowd and a band took to the strange and began playing music. The music traveled over the entire plaza to my astonishment.
The crowd partially dispersed into the streets surrounding the plaza where various forms of entertainment were set up. I used the opportunity to bring Alice and move closer to the stage.
As we moved across the plaza the sound level of the music stayed virtually the same and I grew more and more curious about just how that was possible. Coming up directly in front of the stage I looked over the members of the band and realized there was one who wasn't actually doing anything. He wore an extravagant cloak and hat and just sat on a stool off to the side. Since he wasn't doing anything he noticed me staring at him from below and tipped his hat at me.
I realized he must be a magician who was regulating and dispersing the sound waves of the music being played over the plaza. It stuck me again just how incredibly versatile the magic of this world is.
Wait. Why didn’t they do that with the fat man's speech also?
Alice and I begin touring the various sights around the plaza. There are magicians weaving fire or sculpting ice, jugglers and clowns (that one weirded me out). Littered around the central square there are all types of performers, some looking like they come from a troupe and others like regular citizens who just decided to show off their unique talents.
We come around to the front of the cathedral and find Zak, still seated at his little table under the alcove.
We approach and I call out to him, “You help set all this up and you don’t intend to participate?”
“I’m not really a partying kind of guy, you guys should go on and enjoy yourselves. There’s a unique animal trainer on east street and a talented showperson a little south of him, if you two are interested.”
I’m ready to take that advice and turn to leave but Alice isn't content with that answer. She walks up and asks, “Isn’t it lonely over here all by yourself?”
“It’s alright, I’m used to it.”
“But… that's just so sad. Come on mister Zak, you can come and play with us if you like. It’s no fun to be alone at a festival.”
She pulls out her puppy dog eyes and I can tell it’s devastatingly effective against the lonely priest.
“I… well alright I suppose I can accompany you for a while. I can’t just leave children to wander around on their own after all.”
Despite the fact you let us do it every other day of the week.
Either way, our party of two became a group of three and we continued touring the sights.
We moved on past the central plaza and into the market areas surrounding it. Many of the stalls that had been selling normal fruits and vegetables had temporarily been replaced by carnival game-esque stations that had various activities.
Other stalls had been converted into street food stands by their normal owners. A stall that had served as a front for a butcher was selling kebabs. There were caramelized fruit stands and the bakeries were selling pretzels.
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I think Zak was more moved by Alice’s invitation than he let on, because he gave us a rather large spending allowance for food and games. Alice dragged us from food stand to game station and back around in a continuous cycle. I had to marvel at her boundless charisma as she managed to swindle some more money out of Zak after she blew through the first allowance he gave her.
We spent the remainder of the day like that, with Alice leading us from one curiosity to the next. We saw everything, from farm animals to creatures exotic and wild. I saw magicians who weaved magic in ways that were new and profound to me. Zak took us through the church's little exhibit at one point where a storyteller regaled us the most recent stories of how Bymos had saved this or that mountain climber or adventurer.
The only time I directed our group anywhere was when I saw some familiar looking rough and tough teens and had to steer us away so we wouldn’t encounter them. Zak and Alice gave me weird looks when I had inadvertently guided us into the tent of a sleazy looking fortune teller.
Hornhaven, being a port town, had some beaches somewhat close to the city. Neither me nor Alice were really interested but despite his normally reclusive nature Zak wanted to go and see the closest beach. So we found ourselves dragged along to the beach with the promise of a good time. Once there it was as lively as the rest of the festival, by which I mean absolutely crowded.
Lo and behold, once there none of us actually wanted to get in the water or even play in the sand. To apologize for dragging us all the way out there he treated us to something similar to shaved ice. While Alice and I enjoyed our frozen treat I couldn’t help but notice Zak muttering into his own snack. “I don’t get it. I thought all kids liked playing in the water. Was I lied to by the others? Is this some kind of prank?” I felt bad, clearly Zak had tried to seek advice on how to entertain children and had drawn the conclusion that kids enjoyed playing in water. The problem was just that Alice and I were exceptions. I’m not sure why Alice isn’t fond of the beach, but I’ve just never been a fan of saltwater.
As we left the beach and started to head back to the city proper I glanced back and saw along the edge of the water a beautiful woman with flowing golden hair gazing out towards the horizon. A sharp pain sliced through my chest and I felt the world spin out of control.
A hand on my shoulder snapped me back to reality, “What’s wrong Stein? Are you okay?” It was Alice, looking increasingly concerned as my head whipped around and she saw the terrified look on my face. I whipped my head back around to the spot where I had seen the woman, only to see she wasn’t there anymore. I surveyed the beach to look for her, but couldn’t find any sign of somebody similar.
I tried to steady my breathing before turning back to Alice. Trying to compose myself I say, “Sorry, just thought I saw something that scared me a bit. I’m alright now, Alice.”
“Mmm. Alright then Stein, but let me know if you don’t feel well. You’re kind of pale right now.”
“Don’t worry I will. Come on, father Zak is waiting for us.” I push Alice gently forward and try to ignore the pain in my chest that refuses to subside.
In the end the sun started to set around the time Alice finally seemed to run out of energy and we went back to the cathedral to part ways with a Zak that looked utterly exhausted.
And so Alice and I made our way back through the streets toward the hidden alley we had begun to call home.
***
“Is that him?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah I’m sure. Why you think I brought you out here if I ain’t sure?”
“Alright alright, settle down. We’ll see where he goes for now.”
“You don’t want us to just nab ‘im right now?”
The clap of a light smack upside the head could barely be heard over the still bustling crowd. “Fool, don’t you know there's a festival going on? No, we’ll wait till everything settles down. For now just watch. Watch and wait.”
***
Back in our alley Alice seemed about ready to go to sleep at any moment. She had put the illusory wall back up after it had dissipated due to Alice going too far away from the spell, and was now preparing for sleep.
“Hey Alice, come over here I want to show you something.”
“Huh? Okay sure but I’m tired so don’t take too long.”
“Up here Alice.” I make a small fire with magic to illuminate the ladder I had made earlier in the day.
“Stein, when did you make this?”
“Earlier. Come on, up you go.” I ushered her up the ladder before me.
Coming up onto the roof Alice seemed very nervous to be on the slightly slanted tile.
“We’re not going anywhere, are we?”
“No, I have one last piece of festival I want to show you.”
I cross my palms over each other and interlock my thumbs, spreading my fingers out to resemble an eight legged spider. This had been the hand sign I had found I needed to properly activate a piece of magic I had decided to work on as soon as I found out there was an upcoming festival. All that was left was the activation word.
“Firework.”
An earthen tube grew out of the tile at my feet where I sat. After a moment of Alice looking at me quizzically a tiny blue ball of fire shot out of the tube towards the night sky. When it got far enough away that it could only be seen as a speck it exploded into a brilliant blue array of crackling sparks and other small fireballs.
“WOOAAAAHHHH! That was amazing Stein!”
“Hah hah, we’re just getting started. I threw up fireworks of all different colors and styles. Some made cracks and sizzles as they scattered into the sky, others just flashed and made a big boom. But all of them excited Alice.
“Oh oh, Stein! Shoot a red one off into the red stars!”
At first her statement confused me, then I looked off where she was pointing and realized that a portion of the starry sky was indeed dyed a vivid crimson. I guess I hadn't noticed it before because they weren't visible from down in the alley.
“Hey Alice, do you know if there's a reason the stars over there are red?”
“I dunno. I heard one time they used to be the same as all the others, but around 40 years ago they started becoming red.”
“Huh. Well all right, here. A red one just for you.” And I sent it off.
My little red flower blossomed among the crimson stars.
“Wow Stein, it’s beautiful. Thank you so much for showing me something so pretty.”
“Of course. Next time I’ll make them even better. ”
We spent the next few minutes just stargazing before calling it a night.