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It was one of those nice, refreshing days; the kitchen window was left ajar to allow a soothing breeze to dance its way to me in the dining room. I waved my hand lazily through the cool currents, passing the time as I waited with the rest of the family for my little sister to prepare breakfast.

It was a little embarrassing to have my little sister take charge of all the cooking rather than me, but she had always been better at those sorts of things; besides, she wasn't so little anymore. In fact, my little sister already had three wild munchkins of her own now, and they could wreak far more havoc than I or lil'sis ever could. I certainly didn't envy the responsibilities of motherhood, but even I had to admit they were pretty awesome kids. The eldest boy was nearly an adult and was quickly filling out into the spitting mirror of our father; the middle daughter was fourteen and had begun her descent into 'that' stage; and the youngest had not even reached ten yet, complete with the most pinchable cheeks ever. As much as I wanted to, my responsibility as a cool aunt forbade me from indulging in my pinching urges.

As I idly scanned the dining room, I couldn't help but shoot the middle child a petulant glare. She had recently gotten her first growth spurt and was now taller than me. I know that I never managed to get my own growth spurt, but being shorter than a fourteen-year-old was just unfair!

The whole family sat around the warped homemade dining table, along with Lil'sis's husband, who was play fighting forks and knives (read tridents and spears) with the youngest child. I liked the husband; he was a jovial, plump man, but most importantly, he was very nice to lil'sis.

Finally, Lil'sis called out, "Breakfast is ready!" signalling everyone to clear the table before the piping plates of succulent fast arrived. I could immediately hear in her voice that something was wrong. She lacked her usual chipper spirit. Typically, she was always a beaming ray of positivity, but once a year, on this day, she would turn into a bit of a downer. That kind of irked me the wrong way since today was such an important day; however, my duty as an older sister demanded that I be understanding and patient with her plight.

The family swiftly cleared the table to welcome the aromatic plates of delicious food. I was not given a plate; lil'sis understood that I wasn't hungry today, and thus, my little allocated patch of table remained empty. I may not have been hungry, but that smell made me more than a little jealous.

The children and their father all chorused together. "Thank you, mom."

and they gayly chowed into their eggs and ham while lil'sis found her own spot at the head of the table. Somewhere in the far distance, a cloud parted, and the bright day star shone a brilliant ray of golden warmth to highlight the family's beautiful smiles and glint off their sparkling eyes, and I couldn't help the rise of my own smile.

For a while, no one spoke; they merely allowed the chipper clang of cutlery to answer of their pleasure. Silence would never run long in this family, and today it was lil'sis's turn to break it. "We're going to visit Aunt Ignis today, so I want everyone to finish their chores as early as possible, alright?"

The only daughter let out an annoyed grunt but quickly straightened to attention when she caught her father's disapproving glare. I was always fascinated by how that man could control nearly anyone with just a simple stare; maybe he, too, had superpowers.

The youngest child gave the exact opposite reaction to his sister, almost vibrating out of his seat in excitement at this announcement. "Will Basal be there!?"

Lil'sis grew a bittersweet smile but seemed too lost in her thoughts to respond. Instead, her husband answered for her. "Of course he will be. Basal will always be with Aunty Ignis."

I could empathize with the young child; I really loved Basal; he was the greatest pet anyone could ask for. Sadly, Basal injured his eye while trying to save me from an accident when I was younger. I was too young to know how to take care of a pet with that kind of injury at the time, so I had no choice but to give Basal away. I would always miss having Basal as my special loyal friend, but with hindsight, I can understand that it was the best for everyone involved.

My meandering mind was returned to the table when lil'sis finally joined the conversation and responded to the youngest child. "And we have plenty of treats that you can share with Basal, but first, we have a lot of chores, don't we?"

Unlike lil'sis, I was very excited for today. I always loved it when the whole family would get together. In that regard, the faster the chores got done, the faster, and hopefully longer, they could all visit. "I'll go herd the sheep!"

I quickly rose from my seat, accidentally nudging the eldest child's elbow in my haste. The sudden shove startled him and he sputtered, "What the heck?"

Everyone turned to him in surprise. The middle child spoke first with a devious smirk spreading across her face. "Are you talking to yourself again, Keen?"

"No, I wasn't, you bat! Maybe if you weren't too busy stuffing your face like a pig, you would've noticed what happened."

I quickly interjected between the two before their usual sibling bickering ran out of animal-based insults to fling at each other and escalated to more scathing attacks. "Sorry, that was my bad; I got a little excited and scared, Keen. I just… really like the sheep."

Before anyone could respond, I quickly left the room to commence my chores. I could hear the children continue their barrage of insults from back in the kitchen, but I was not going to be the one to reprimand them; that wasn't the job of the cool aunt; sheep herding was!

I always rushed to get dibs on herding the sheep; it had always been my favourite task. I used to have to race the others to the field; but no one could outmaneuver me, so after a while, they eventually gave up and relinquished the role of de facto sheep herder to me.

I had overseen the sheep ever since I was a kid, back when Basal used to do all the hard work for me before he hurt his eye. I had always been shy and never interacted much with other people; that was probably why I enjoyed the sheep so much. I could always find companionship among them. The sheep seemed to truly see me for who I really was, and this simple friendship I had with them helped make sheep herding one of the best parts of the day.

Since we spent so much time together, the sheep were very receptive to my commands, which was a much-required ego boost since I often struggled to convey my thoughts to others. I herded the sheep to the best patches of grass for them to munch on while I enjoyed the great view of the town from this small hill.

Hey, I could see my home from here; it was just on the hill opposite this one. I never spent much time there, since it was so much livelier at lil'sis's place.

Eventually, the sheep had finished grazing the land, and I promptly led them into the safety of their little gated abode. With the gate locked, and a hop in my trot, I made my way back to the house.

As I was about to enter, I noticed the eldest child, Keen, crouched on the floor, peering under the warped boards of the shed that rested next to the house.

"What are you looking for, Keen?"

"Where are the clippers?"

I could not help but giggle at my poor nephew; Keen must have been quite stumped over where the clippers could be if he had been driven to searching under the shed. Thankfully for him, Keen had me here for help. I could find hay in a needlestack in under a minute if I was trying really hard.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I'll help you look." My confidence was proven well founded almost immediately as I found the clippers stowed away, far in the back of the shed, pushed in on the highest shelf. Somehow, even though I was one of the shortest members of the family, I seemed to be the only one to notice when things were lost up high.

I easily managed to reach over and grab the clippers, but rather than immediately handing them over, I thought of a devious little prank. I very gingerly placed the clippers on a short bench that was resting against a side wall. I then gave a light tap on Keen's shoulders, causing him to turn around as I spoke. "Everything alright, Keen? They were just resting right there on the bench."

"No, they could NOT have been there all along?"

I beamed at my nephew, who grabbed the clippers in complete bafflement. "Maybe you were the bat all along, Keen?" I managed to make myself giggle with my own joke, but Keen seemed wholly unamused.

"Maybe I do need to get my eyes checked?"

"Don't worry about it, Keen, I can check for you." I made a big show of getting close and looking into his dark brown eyes. "Yep, they're still there."

My nephew and nieces were one of the main reasons why I spent so much time at lil'sis's; I had always adored children. Lil'sis would probably say it was because I was quite childish myself. I was always of the opinion that it wasn't me who was too childish but lil'sis who was always trying to grow up too fast for her own good. Although, just because I'm a goof does not mean I don't take my job as big sister seriously.

When lil'sis first started dating her current husband, I was constantly subtly harassing and interrogating the man to make sure he was right for her. He even joked at one point that he felt like he was haunted, well half-joked, I did take my big sister role VERY seriously.

The family continued their daily chores throughout the afternoon, practically racing against the day star as it made its orbit. The specialty of today did not change the fact that they had important responsibilities to uphold. One of the things that had always saddened me was that lil'sis was only ever barely making ends meet with constant effort and dedication. Luckily, effort and dedication came in limitless supply when lil'sis was involved.

After a few more hours, the family finally finished their grinding workload and gathered around the lustrous garden around the back of the house. This garden was unique; it wasn't like any of the fields of crops or orchards; in fact, nothing in this garden was edible. Or at least, there was nothing in the garden that someone would actually want to eat. No, behind the house, sequestered in its own little patch of paradise, was the most beautiful flowerbed that anyone ever saw.

The flowerbed bloomed with a grand assortment of stunning flowers of countless vibrant colours and every conceivable shape. The wonderous pageant of flowers was perfectly framed as if they were consciously aware of their unparalleled beauty, posing for the admiring masses. I was proud of the flowerbed; it was my little pet project at this house. Through my constant care, it began to attract the attention of our neighbours, which filled me with such a brilliant sense of accomplishment.

Lil'sis broke the silent admiration with her first command. "Alright, kids, we need to pick a bouquet to bring to Aunt Ignis. So, everyone choose one flower that you want to show her, and Keen will clip them for us."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I adored flowers very much, and most of the tending I did throughout the year was in preparation for creating the most incredible bouquet today. I quickly blurted out my selected flower before anyone else could beat me to the punch. "Get some dove orchids. Those are my favourite!"

Keen turned to his mother in search of approval, and when she gave him a solemn nod, he snipped a pair of dove orchids and handed them to his father. The plump man held the two flowers in one hand and an elegant ribbon in the other.

The youngest was the next to call out their flower. "I want to pick the voodoo lily, they have a cool name."

After that was the middle. "We should give her some angel orchids, for like, symbolism… or something."

Keen then spent a little time thinking over which flower he would choose, eventually settling on a simple blue hyacinth. After handing all the flowers over, the father tied them with the ribbon, and the group was ready to go.

It wasn't a long journey, a simple hop, skip and a short trek up the small neighbouring hill and they would be there. In fact, the place was close enough that they could see the hill where the sheep grazed from here.

The walk was mostly silent; lil'sis's husband tended to the middle and youngest child while Lil'sis and Keen walked with a sombre hesitation. I tried striking up a conversation with lil'sis, but to no success, she seemed far too gone in her own head. Lil'sis was always so mopey when going on this trip.

Soon, they arrived at their destination. The youngest child immediately broke off ahead of the group squealing in delight, "Basal!"

Hearing its name called, the creature peeled its head away from the strange piles of dirt marring the green hill and toward the familiar newcomers. Basal was a large foxlike creature, aside from four legs, it had two more smaller appendages tucked under the centre of its body. The creature had a long, thin snout, making its head appear almost like a cone. Three pairs of small eyes were stacked vertically along the snout leading to a large closed seventh eye marked by a deep scar that tore under the right eyes. The creature had thin orange fur and a long, bushy tail that was more than thrice the length of its body, wagging happily at seeing the visitors.

Basal stood up and bolted over to the youngest child practically tackling him to the ground and licking his face clean. I was a little worried that Basal may have been playing too rough with the youngest, but the boy was laughing giddily, so it was probably fine.

Basal stopped its affectionate assault when lil'sis approached it. "Hello Basal, how is Ignis?"

Basal gave a courageous bark. I would never claim to be an expert in the language of bark, but I could understand enough from the sentiment in Basal's voice that he was announcing a sense of security and comfort.

"That's wonderful to hear." Lil'sis gave another one of those bittersweet smiles and handed Basal a treat with one hand while patting it on the head with the other.

The youngest child rapidly bounded back onto his feet, and after wiping off the thick film of slobber on his face, he exclaimed, "I want to feed Basal too! Can I? Can I?" Lil'sis handed the youngest child a bag filled with treats and then turned to Basal with burdened eyes.

Sometimes, I felt like Basal was a better people person than I was because Basal somehow managed to glean enough information from just that exchange of glances to understand what was asked of him. Basal clamped down on the youngest's sleeve and guided him and the middle child away to play out of the way.

The husband handed over the bouquet of flowers to lil'sis, and with it in hand, she apprehensively made her way to a small stone plaque that jutted from the ground. The plaque had a simple inscription engraved onto its surface. It read:

'here lies Ignis Fatuus

3947-3960'

Beside the stone plaque, a small vase held wilted flowers, their colours faded and edges curling into frail death. When lil'sis saw them, her lips tightened into a frown, and with an exasperated sigh, she turned toward Basal. But her frustration quickly melted away as her gaze caught the sight of the children, laughing giddily as they played a terribly one-sided bout of tag against the creature. With a gentle shake of her head, lil'sis removed the withered flowers an carefully replaced them with the fresh bouquet.

The husband stepped closer to lil'sis, his hand resting gently on her shoulder. Keen didn't seem to fully grasp the nuances of the encounter, but he, too, placed a comforting hand on her other shoulder, his small attempt at support. The gesture allowed a weak smile to pierce through her melancholy, and she pulled her eldest son into an embrace. She pressed a soft kiss on his forehead, holding him a bit longer than usual.

I decided to leave the three of them to their mourning and moved right on top of the grave. The water in the vase was a little dirty but I was able to quickly clean it with a simple wave of my hand. I reread the text on the gravestone.

'3947-3960'

It had been forty years since then. It didn't really feel like that long ago to me, though. It's interesting how time flies. Lil'sis finally spoke up. "I love you Ignis."

Almost as a response to her claim, a bell chimed. Basal immediately ended their playtime with the children and sprinted to position himself between lil'sis and the grave, growling at the empty air. However, the air did not stay empty for long.

In between Basal and the grave where I stood, there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with two limbs. One arm was outstretched towards Basal, and the other was outstretched towards the empty space above the grave. Each arm held onto a glowing parchment. I looked over the parchment in front of me: It read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Ghost