[SWE] The Feast of Bells - 318PC

Alys

this night is alive with the smell of insane —

Perhaps attending the Feast of Bells was a poorly conceived plan - on a number of levels. For one, grief still sat heavily on her shoulders, leaving her unable to fully appreciate the revelry that was the festival. For another, she’d been specifically named in the latest broadcast from the Family, and attending a large public event certainly wasn’t the way to hide from any retaliation for her role in clearing the tundra.

But it would have been worse to stay home, alone, drowning in her sorrow. At least this way, Alys could spend time with people she cared about.

She arrived hand in hand with Talyson, a shadow at his side. Despite the festivities, she’d dressed in all black, the outward display of mourning a hard reminder for those who knew her that she was no longer whole. The feast was well underway, and Alys saw a great many familiar faces - Melita, who had brought Sascha’s body back to King’s End; Deimos, who was one of her oldest friends; Sah, who had proven to be a stalwart figure in both she and Tal’s lives; and Sunjata, their esteemed leader, who had so recently revealed such vulnerability to his region. Alys nodded to each of them in passing, not quite feeling up to socializing.

With a platter of cookies in her free hand (and, perhaps, one or two missing already), Alys gestured towards the long tables laden with food. ”I didn’t realize there would be so much of it,” she admitted to Tal in a whisper. ”I wish I’d brought something fancier now.”

—-

Alys brings along chocolate chip cookies!

— it's reaching for me and it's calling my name