[SWE] The Festival of Lights

Samuel Tell me little dear if you've only lived here, have you ever really lived at all? Sam had not wanted to come to the festival at first: he had been trying to avoid the Torchline beach since his last encounters with Remi (one of which had been almost fatal) and he had no one in particular to mourn. Yet he'd found in the days coming up to it he'd been thinking about the event more and more...eventually he'd decided it would just be easier to make an appearance and know that he had, rather than think about it for the rest of the year. He didn't have a lantern and found it quite peaceful to just walk along and look at the ones that had been hung up without the pressure of having to have one of his own judged later. Each was personal and beautiful and it touched him just how the people of Caido remembered their dead with such respect and reverence. Walking with his hands in his pockets and looking up at the lanterns, he was quite content to stay quietly to himself.

Quanil jumped when they heard shouting, but they shied away from going to investigate. This was a time of year that emotions often ran high, and it was none of their business. But it had knocked them from their reverie.

They had intended to leave after hanging and lighting their lantern, but they saw someone they wanted to talk to. Well, they thought so anyway. After being given the quest from Ludo, they'd asked around, and gotten a name and description of "Mort's Daughter." The beautiful woman walking serenely through the festival matched the description.

They waited, of course. Let her hang her lantern, say some words. They waited until they were reasonably sure they weren't interrupting, and approached cautiously. This was a New Experience, and not one they could just sit back and observe first. They had to do it, and had no idea how to go about it.

"Excuse me, miss? Um, I don't mean to pry, but are you Delphia , Mort's daughter? If so, I'd like to arrange a time to talk with you a bit, if we can. It's just... Ludo asked me to talk with you."

Jigano was as surprised as the rest of them when Remi's voice cut through the quiet conversations and murmured prayers, subdued games and silent contemplations. He twisted to see what was happening, but by the time he stood to get a better view all that could be seen was disappearing tailfeathers and an angry young governor snarling into the night.

Well, there were quite a lot of things that he could do to make the situation worse, but perhaps the best thing was to stay silent for once.

Isuma was trundling along with a small lantern of her own; she knew that she had lost friends along the way, that some of those she had known had never returned and others had met a bitter end, but memory and mourning were not things the little gryphon normally dwelt on. Still, she had admired his lanterns and he had made one for her this year, guided by her preference for colors and shapes as he shared memories of friends who wouldn't play with her again. Bobi and Coffee, the fierce kitten who had helped teach her to hunt and the dragonling she had tussled and napped with in the sun of brighter days. Her lantern was a small and fragile thing of slender wires and paper, and she fluttered down with it in her beak, hooking it over the topmost branch of the 'tree' he had created to hold their memory-filled little collection. As with his own, he lit her lantern with a tiny spark of magical flame, careful to corral it so it didn't singe the paper that encompassed it.

Her lanterns hung, her tears shed, Amalia quietly rejoins the crowd. There are as many unfamiliar faces as familiar this year, another reminder that she is not home - that the world has expanded far beyond any expectations she could have had.

But there are familiar faces, and one in particular catches her eye. Slipping through the milling figures, Amalia finds her way to Ronin. She greets him with a smile- which fades and changes as she spots the child he holds, remembering Remi telling her about the daughter of Safrin and the Fallen Star.

Schooling herself, Amalia nods an awkward greeting to her friend. "Hi, Ronin... and you must be Seren." Her alto voice is soft and melodious, somewhat reverent. This is Safrin's daughter, after all. At least Jyoti has the presence of mind to behave with her normal buoyant enthusiasm, swimming down from where she has been frolicking among the lanterns to coo a greeting to the child.

Turning back to the Fallen Star, the Shield licks her lip. "I have something for you, and Remi- where is he, by the way?"

Amalia & Jyoti

WE MIGHT BE HOLLOW, BUT WE'RE BRAVE

image credits

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Ronin's projection frittered away to allow his husband to stalk off towards the sea, leaving the real deal with the aftermath. Still, startled though people might be, the festival seemed to be proceeding as it should, and he sighed and adjusted Seren in his arms, pressing a gentle kiss against her curls. "Loren did something to upset him quite a lot," he explained as best he could. "He just needs a bit of time to cool off after seeing him. He'll be back soon, I'm sure." Amalia appeared as a perfect distraction in that moment, Ronin conjuring a smile for her. It was fiendishly awkward, that she already recognised his daughter (and treated her with such a strange amount of respect), Ronin glancing to Seren and back at the Shield again. "You would be quite right. Seren, this is my friend Amalia - ah! And this is Jyoti," he said of the starwhale as she drifted down. "Remi has stepped away for a bit. He saw Loren," he told Amalia. "Do you want to wait for him to come back...?" What she had for them was beyond him.

Seren

I am magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment
Destined to seek, destined to know

"Ooh... Okay." Loren had told her that he had done things to hurt her father and Remi, but the girl couldn't have imagined it would cause a reaction like this. It clashed violently with the kindness she had been met with from the Healer, and for the first time she got a glimpse of exactly how problematic it might be for her to befriend Loren. The reassurances - and the kiss - did settle the fright in her, but she would have brooded over the problem if it weren't for a timely distraction.

The woman that came up to them was really beautiful, and her voice was soft. She knew Seren's name too, which made her an instant favorite. "Hello Amalia!" Seren greeted with a wave, brightening back into her usual cheerful self. The reverent tone rolled off her like water off a goose, not even registering; she was far too busy admiring the whale - an actual whale - as it came to greet her. The stars that trailed after the animal drew a soft 'oooh' from the child, and she reached for them eagerly, utterly unafraid.

I am a princess on the way to my throne
Destined to reign, destined to roam

I truly loved you

Unlike many of the others, Oliver had arrived pretty late to the party. Normally one of the first to arrive, Oliver came in wearing his best. His hair was neatly brushed and his ears had dangling earrings. It was a festival, after all, might as well look like he cared enough when attending. Besides, it was probably the last time he'd really get to fancy himself up until DeepFrost ended.

In his hands he had the lantern he had created. It was a simple design, one that Melita had helped him create. There was a picture of a snake on it, one that seemed to be grinning. Along the top and bottom were designs hand-painted in silver and gold paint, a touch that had been made thanks to the suggestion of Amalia. While many people had chosen to represent Adam, Oliver hoped that his lantern was suitable and would be accepted by at least those attending the festival.

Walking off, Oliver felt himself drifting off to the side, searching for someone to speak with, someone to talk to. An anchor.

but now im walking away

OLIVER

base by skylark

He had watched the last lantern festival from a distance, seeing the lights floating out over the ocean with wistful memories of the Ghost Queen's offerings he was more familiar with. When he had overheard murmurs of another festival, an official one, he had made up his mind to attend, though he'd had to trade a coney for a candle.

His lantern was embarrassingly simple compared to most of the others he saw being hung and placed on curved stakes, trees, or other devices. He stayed near the very edge of the celebration, far from others and half in the moonlit shadows of the jungle as he set the candle on the ground and pushed sand around it to hold it steady. He lit it with flint and tinder and a dry twig he had prepared for the purpose, and then he set his lantern over the top of it to let the light glimmer out from careful cuts through the green.

A broad jungle leaf had been cut and trimmed and rolled into a cylinder, sealed with sap to hold its shape. A smaller leaf had been curled into a funnel and attached to the top of the first one in the same manner, and he had used his knife to carve slits and poke holes along the veins for the light to shine through in patterns that mimicked the autumn constellations over the Grove of his home.

A lantern for his family, the dryads who had raised him, been aunts and uncles, siblings and cousins to a young halfbreed with no people of his own blood willing to raise him. He had lost members of his adoptive family over the years, to plague and age and violence, and it was for them that he sat beside his rustic little light and stared out over the sea, too fiercely homesick to partake in any of the more cheerful celebrations nearby.

stay inside the salt circle

Still attuned to the spirits around her, Delphia was alerted to something or someone approaching. So at the sound of Quanil's voice, she turned with a serene calm. Though her lips did not smile upon him, steely eyes that reflected the sea nearly glowed with a haunted adoration.

"Indeed, I am Delphia, daughter of Mort." she confirmed, corners of her eyes crinkling as though she might smile. "And who might you be?" she asked. But it seemed there was a purpose to this meeting. "Ludo sent you? Of course, I am happy to discuss whatever you wish. You need only ask the spirits of the Greatwood to find me and I will come."

DELPHIA

Coding base by Odd/Sky!

They bowed a little, relieved to have found the right person. "My name is Quanil. And you live in the Greatwood? That must be nice; I haven't been there often, but it seems very pretty.

"I don't want to take up too much of your time here at the Festival, Miss Delphia, so I, uh... I guess I'll find you in the Greatwood then?" They tried not to fidget too much. I've been meeting a lot of daughters of gods lately. "Is there a particular part of the Greatwood you prefer? I sort of have a lot to ask you, so you should be somewhere comfortable, at least."

SUNJATA

isn't it funny?
how the cold numbs everything but grief?

Nate’s quiet reassurance is really all Sunjata needs. And he offers the Ascended a small smile, slipping away from the bustle of the solemn crowd that gathers to pick a space to hang both lanterns. He starts with Peter’s, first, unable to really say anything out loud about it… But he thinks them anyway, hoping perhaps somewhere Ludo can hear it. He’s cut off, however, as Remi’s voice cuts through the crowd – and he sighs to that as he watches the interaction, spotting the Launceleyn as he leaves.

“Gods.” He rumbles with a slight frown, cradling Maea’s lantern in his hands now as he rolls his eyes a small amount – having not had the chance to warn Loren about what would be occurring. He makes it a point to visit Halo now, just to ensure the rest of the festivals and all of that aren’t ruined. At least Loren had the common sense to leave, and for that Sunjata’s quietly grateful. So he turns back to Nate with a slightly apologetic look, awkward as can be, as he goes to hang Maea’s lantern next.

This time, he ends up leaning a bit closer to Nate, a small hum of a sad laugh leaving his throat. “You know, I think she’d probably expected to hang my lantern before anyone had to hang hers.” But he shrugs to that, once the lantern is hung. And he reaches for Nate once he’s done hanging his, aiming to snake his hand into the other man’s. “I do miss her.” But it wasn’t quite as hard as losing Lusea, he finds. Not with Maea having known so many people, influenced so much. They knew her, had heard of her, wasn’t a figment like she had mentioned Lusea being because she’d never met the woman.

But ah, how things had changed. And now he has Nate, the pillar for this time of year for him, when birthdays and trials and a festival to remember the dead all come to the forefront of his mind.

if we could light up the room with pain,
we'd be such a glorious fire

NATE

It might not be anything, but there is something comforting about the quiet as he follows Sunjata to an emptier space, a quiet place to hang their lanterns. Though the quiet was shattered after only a moment, Remi's voice ringing out and drawing Nate's curious gaze. He isn't quite sure what had transpired, but he makes a note to ask the attuned, in a more suitable setting. The apologetic look is met with a shrug and a shake of Nate's head though, his chin tipping towards the branch again to show he wasn't fussed.

Nate leans in to the closeness a little, his lips quirking like he's trying for a smile, but not quite getting there. Normally, there would be some kind of quip on his tongue, but he can't quite muster up the energy for it at the moment. He just reaches out to hang his lanterns, less consideration given to them, to the action, than what the attuned had shown. The hand that weasels into his is squeezed, Nate finally finding his voice again. "It's still... a little hard to believe." It probably would be for a long time, but death had always hit him like this. In the little moments.

"All you can do is keep moving though, right?" It's his turn for a mostly humourless laugh, his hand tightening around Sunjata's again.

It's a bitch convincing people to like you

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

everything i knew is turning into ruins in your shadow

There were conversations happening, of that Remi wasn't ignorant. He just didn't care. The looks from those who'd been ShOcKeD by his outburst towards Loren, who'd disapproved, all went ignored. Seren's questions, Amalia's potential gift: ignored. Sweeping across the beach, hands covered in dried blood and face cleansed with tears, it was directly to Ronin that the Alchemist went heedless of the world around.

Reaching out for his husband's shoulder (the one on which Seren was not craddled), Remi would try and turn the man towards him, immediately moving forward to press his lips desperately against the hunter's. His heart had been a wild and runaway thing for what felt like hours (had it been seconds though? a lifetime perhaps?), and now that frenetic energy was channelled towards one thing, and one thing only.

"Gods I love you." He whispered, his lips salty and cracked.

THE ALCHEMIST

i thought that i'd be ready
but falling isn't steady once you let go

I've been smoked out of heaven

I won't go down easy

As I stroll leisurely (if not quite in a straight line then as best I can) down the beach I finally spot someone I know a little better than peripherally (where the fuck is Jack?), everyone else a fringe acquaintance and engaged with others. How fucking nice for them. Maybe it’s just me, but this holiday always dredges up some bitter feelings. Maybe it's just plain loneliness that I refuse to acknowledge, or maybe it's a fear that no one will light a lantern for me when I'm gone, but it's probably some sort of coping mechanism, if I want to be all self-aware.  

Walking towards Saiden, I take a nice long look at his lantern. “That’s nice,” might come as a surprise to the cook, but I do mean it. I take a swig of alcohol and offer the bottle to him. “Who’s it for?” Clearly someone close, as he’d taken care with it.

may not be brave, but I'm stubborn as hell

RAZA