11: Festival

It was the night of the festival.

Countless citizens of the union were out and about in the crowded market streets, most of those on the street wearing petalfold dresses.

Eliza was wearing a beautiful pink petalfold dress with white flower imprints all over, and Lily, walking by her side, was wearing a sky blue dress with the same white flower imprints as Eliza's.

Eliza admittedly felt a little odd wearing a dress for the first time, but seeing over 90% of the people on the street wearing the same outfit as her brought her much less fear and shame about her design.

The market street was filled with dozens of stalls with several unique carnival games.

“Mom!” Lily shouted, excited. “I wanna do that one!” 

Eliza smiled, seeing Lily having become a lot more vocal than before in the past few months. Previously, she was a bit shy, but now that she's gotten familiar with The Shelf, she had opened up quite a bit.

“Once we meet up with Olivia, okay? That way you can play it with Mary, too! It’s more fun to play with people who can help you, right?” said Eliza.

Just to be sure, Eliza looked at the stall, curious about what it was.

It was a strange version of the ring toss game, but instead of throwing a ring on bottles back to back, you instead had to throw bottles on large circular spheres made of glass. Inside each sphere was a strange glowing orb of a random color.

The sign on the stall said ‘Essence catching’, so Eliza knew it was probably magical in nature, but it was still odd to see magical things out and about like this.

As they continued down the street, going near the guild to meet up with Olivia, who was forcing her grandfather to attend, they saw several more magical carnival games.

There was a game throwing small runes with fish icons carved into them to hit floating runes with the icons of trees carved into them. Eliza recognized the symbol of the union being the fish, and the symbol of the kingdom with the tree.

‘So the citizens of the union aren’t fans of the kingdom…’ Eliza thought. 

Not that she disagreed. 

After a moment, Eliza caught up with Olivia, Lucas, Sorin, Mary, and even Theodore.

Everyone seemed quite confident and comfortable in their petalfold dresses, with the least comfortable being Mary.

Each person in the group, except Theodore, was wearing a golden petalfold dress with no flower pattern on the fabric.

Theodore, however, was wearing a white petalfold with fish patterns on it.

Eliza had known that the white fish was the pattern of the union… But Eliza still did not know why Theodore wore the union pattern and not a flower pattern, even on a festival day.

“Hey, Eliza!” Olivia shouted. “We’re all ready and yer' only just now gettin’ here?”

Eliza gave a slight giggle in response.

“It’s a really interesting festival. If you don’t mind me asking, what are the plans? I’d like to let Lily try a few games she was asking about earlier. If we can’t, I’ll make time.”

“Oh, of course we got time! That’s like a tradition we all have ‘round here! B’sides, we don’t have much to do. We’re gonna go to the plaza, watch the flower show, then go an’ eat! An’ there’s still a good while ‘fore the flower show!”

They all grouped up, making some idle chatter while they walked.

“Good to see you again, Eliza.” Sorin said calmly.

Eliza nodded. “It’s nice to see the two of you again, Sorin, Teddy! It’s been a month now, hasn’t it?”

At her words, Theodore’s face went red.

“You… Can you call me anything besides Teddy?” He pleaded. "Just once?"

“Uncle Teddy’s shy!” Mary said, smiling gleefully.

Eliza laughed, smiling afterwards. These people were the closest thing she had to family, whether on Earth or on Atlan, and she felt that even if she were to get settled down, she would still be close with them.

“Let’s go play carnival games!” Theodore said hurriedly, moving on. 

Eliza and Olivia shared a nod, and they followed Theodore to the first game, the ring tossing game. But when they did, Lily spoke up.

“Why are you shy, uncle Teddy?” Lily asked.

The person running the stall, a fat middle aged old man in a black suit, seemed confused, but he began his speech regardless.

“Welcome!” He shouted. “Come one or all to the hardest game around! All you may play at the cost of one silver flint a try! Throw a capture ring around one of our spirits to win a prize!”

“Spirits...? Are they really…?” Eliza asked.

Lucas shook his head.

“No. They’re mana essence. I don’t know what spirits are, but these are not them.” Lucas explained.

Eliza looked forward curiously, not even knowing what mana essence was. The stall was called essence catching… Why shout to a kid that they’re ‘spirits’, then? Money?

“Even you can make em, kid.” Sorin said, smiling at Eliza’s confusion. “They’re just the elements of nature given form by a swordsman or a mage. You do it all the time with your icy sword. Just… a little more physical than these are.”

At that, Eliza felt like she understood. Though she didn’t know how these remained in the glass without dissipating.

“I wanna play! Mom, can I try?” Lily asked.

Eliza smiled. She walked up to the counter and handed the man a silver flint.

“Good choice madam! Here, just for the little one, I’ll give you an extra ring!”

The man pulled out two small thin rings that appeared as if they would perfectly fit around the glass containers.

Lily reached out her hands excitedly to the rings, and once she got her hand on them….

Clink!

The first ring slammed against the glass sideways, bouncing off directly onto the floor.

“Oh! So close!” The stall master said. “You still have another try, little missy!”

Lily frowned.

“I’ll win this time!” She said, tossing it horizontally… and bouncing right off, yet again.

“Graaah! I wanna try again!” Lily roared, making Eliza smile and chuckle.

“Maybe in a few minutes, okay? You learn better after you take a break to calm down. When you feel all better after being annoyed, that’s when you do your best!”

After Lily’s second failure, Mary gave it a try too, unfortunately failing as well. Olivia showed clear displeasure at seeing the stall master smile when Mary failed, so she stepped up next.

“Oh, give the thing here!” Olivia shouted, putting another flint on the table. She grabbed the ring, spinning it in a flat plane horizontal to the ground, throwing it gently towards the nearest jar.

And the ring, despite landing on the jar plainly and flatly… launched directly up, failing to settle on the jar.

“Ooh! So close!” The stall master said, laughing.

Olivia looked at Lucas with pleading eyes.

“It won’t work. The essences inside make the glass different than normal glass.” Lucas said plainly.

Olivia sighed. She then looked pleadingly at Sorin next.

“Haha!” Sorin chuckled nervously. “Buf if I, a sword expert, were to try this, wouldn’t it be quite unfair? I think… ah, yes, it would be more fair of Theodore were to go, right?” he said.

But instead of going to Theodore, Olivia just sighed.

Then she turned to Eliza.

“Eliza, I hate to ask this of ya’, but… I don’t want to see anyone who made money off my little girl smilin’ so much.” 

Eliza nodded. She had to admit that she felt the same… And it also looked quite fun, too.

She put down a silver flint on the table and the stall master gave her a ring, grinning widely as he did.

Eliza held the ring and looked at the bottled lights calmly.

After a moment, Sorin could see a grey light shine in Eliza’s eyes that no one else could spot.

Eliza, from her perspective, was seeing the movement of her toss before it even occurred.

Sorin was right, in a way. It was unfair for a sword expert to take part in this game. For most of them, at least.

Eliza, after seeing hundreds of tosses all fail in her vision, saw one toss that finally succeeded. It was on a glass containing an icy blue energy.

And she threw.

And it landed on the jar and safely was secured on the middle section of the glass with no celebration.

The stall owner seemed a bit stunned.

“I-Uh, well, I… have your prize, ma’am!” He said, pulling out a stuffed rabbit plush. It wasn’t what Eliza expected, but she didn’t mind.

Eliza took the plush, but she felt something as she threw the ring. No matter which way she threw it, she would have only ever succeeded on the one with that icy blue energy. No other jars could have let her win.

“May I… go again?” She asked.

The stall master paused.

“No, um, I… only one reward per customer!” He said, worried. He made countless coins every festival, there was no way he was willing to take a loss on this one customer.

Eliza thought about it.

“No, I… just want to try again. No prize necessary.” she said.

Olivia, Lily, and Mary, all looked confused at why Eliza was trying to do this, but Theodore, Lucas, and Sorin seemed to understand.

Lucas, who Eliza had learned had an eidetic memory and would never forget anything he learned, naturally knew how important broadening your horizons was for swordsmen.

Eliza walked calmly towards the desk again, passed the rabbit plush to Lily who made a ‘Eeee!’ sound, and observed. Lily seemed happy enough, now that she had the plush prize. Her frustration earlier seemed to not be about how she lost the game... but rather didn't win the rabbit plush.

She threw the ring at a bottle containing a red energy inside and stared at it as the bottle reverberated. Each moment it shook, she felt like she was understanding slightly more about the element inside.

But once the ring bounced off… it launched right at her hand, and she caught it.

She threw it again, at a different color of element this time. And once again, she caught it. Each in a different way, bouncing in strange manners, yet always landing back in her hand.

This happened over and over, with Eliza sometimes repeating the same color twice, or even three times. After quite some time, Eliza had calmed down a bit. Even Lily had seemed to be staring quite a bit.

“I’m sorry, how many times did I throw it just now? I’ll pay however many it was.” she offered.

The stall master stammered.

“I-Uh, I… You… can… please leave.” The stall master said, experiencing quite a bit of fear. He felt as if he was watching a freak of nature threaten him, why would he charge them money?

Eliza was confused.

Why was he acting so strange all of a sudden?

Looking back, even Sorin looked stunned, though everyone else in the group, including Theodore, acted as if they had expected this behavior from Eliza.

Lily, after some time, grinned cheekily.

“Mom is better than uncle Teddy. That's why your mom went to my mom!” She whispered to Mary.

Mary didn't respond, but she was clearly thinking about it.

They continued on, playing more games for a while. Eliza in particular enjoyed the rune throwing game, where she made it her goal to destroy three runes of the kingdom with one union rune.

And ended up managing to destroy five instead of three.

The stall worker was quite upset with her, mostly due to the stone shard that shot out from a destroyed rune and damaged their uniform’s sleeve.

But time continued passing on, and eventually, they had all of the enjoyment they wanted from playing the carnival games.

The group made their way to the plaza where the flowers would be let loose.

Eliza could smell the salty breeze in the air, and from here, she could see the port where trade ships parted for other countries. Moreover, the union’s defining magic tower was prominently displayed nearby, all decorated in flowers hanging from the top. The area had a charm to it, a special something that she felt like she’d miss one day in the future.

“Are you ready?” Mary was saying to Lily. “It’s any time now!”

Olivia laughed, listening to her daughter.

In actuality, it was a few minutes away, but seeing Eliza’s daughter look up at the sky as if she’d miss it if she blinked was cute enough that she didn’t want her to stop.

The group settled down after a few minutes, with Sorin seeming relaxed the most out of all of them. Something was showing in his eyes. Something he didn't quite want to show.

Lucas was the only one to notice something almost wistful in Sorin’s eyes. Gently, he patted Sorin’s shoulder and nodded. Lucas felt like he understood just a bit, even if Sorin wasn't letting his feelings be seen.

Eliza couldn’t piece together why they were interacting like that, but she didn’t feel like it was her place to know. Perhaps it was family history that she didn’t know about, she thought.

And then, after some time, the festivities began.

Flowers of various colors and shapes began falling from the sky, centralized from the large magic tower.

The flowers blotted out the sky for a moment.

Each in a different color. 

White, pink, blue, yellow, and more. It was as if for a moment…

Nothing else existed but what was here and now.

The view of the flowers brought everyone away from the future and brought them to the present.

For a moment, Eliza could do nothing but stare in awe at the sight.

Everyone in the plaza, where there once was chaos, remained silent at the sight.

Lily was the first person in their group to break the silence.

“Wooooooow!” She exclaimed. “Pretty!”

At that, more and more people began speaking up.

“... It really is.” Eliza said, looking up.

She could see various flowers all flying through, the multicolored scene almost being too much for the eyes. But the slow, relaxed pace that they moved through the air made it almost calming.

The group continued staring at the flowers, watching them drift over towards the ocean, where leagues of flowers were already laying, like a blanket covering the sea.

Once the flowers had passed, the group didn’t quite speak up very much, except for the two children.

“That was pretty… why don’t they do it again?” Lily asked.

“Cause’ they have to grow more flowers! They used em already!” Mary said, happy to share her knowledge, having asked the same thing to her mother last year.

The two continued chatting, when Eliza noticed someone quite close to her in the plaza, remaining completely still.

It was Rin, who seemed to be looking up at one of the nearby houses, paying quite the attention to it. Eliza looked, but all she could see was a woman and a small child with blonde hair around Mary’s age. 

She wondered for a moment if it was Rin’s family, but she ignored that idea.

“I see someone I know, I’m gonna see if I can bring her here for food. You mind?” she asked the group. When there were no objections, she thanked them and ran over.

Eliza ran up to Rin, smiling.

“It’s good to see you! Do you want to come get food with me, Rin? I can introduce you to everyone I know!”

Rin nodded, but still kept her eyes at the house.

Eliza looked over at the large house, not noticing the blonde hair from before. Whoever Rin was looking at, they were gone.

“Let’s go get food, I’ll introduce you to my friends, Rin!” she said.

Rin nodded again.

“Alright, Eliza. It’ll be a pleasure to meet your friends.” She said, acting a bit odd.

Eliza didn’t know this, but Rin felt like she was placating a child.

But a mere five minutes later, out of the group of seven, only three of them were looking at the food cart selling fried batter coated in powdered sugar like it was the holy grail.

Rin, Eliza, and Lily all were staring desperately at a funnel cake stall, each waiting for theirs to be ready.

It was overall, a great day at the new years festival.