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Even after his talk with Jigano, after the pre-festival gathering, after staring at the rough lantern he’d made and thinking about the past… he wasn’t really ready. This might not have been his festival, his world, his god, but it carried enough of the same meaning to make his walk through the portal from the Grounds a solemn one. The ache in his chest wasn’t just for the loss of his sister, as old an sorrow as that was. He might have released a lantern for his family the last time he’d visited the coast, but this night would be reflection for what he’d lost inside himself, as well.
Never had he felt so alone as when he arrived at the torch-lined beach. Being amongst strangers wasn’t such an odd thing, not with his lifestyle, but he’d always shared something with those strangers. A culture, shared stories, shared troubles. Here, on Caido, these people might as well have been creatures from the stars. Even when they were just as alien to this world as he was.
With an aching heart, hollow with a loneliness he was only half-heartedly trying to talk himself out of, he carried his lantern to the Festival. It was a simple box of sky blue paper and delicate wood, the small candle balanced inside as Jigano had instructed. On the paper was painted the outlines of jewel-colored feathers. Red, purple, yellow, and a darker blue. He’d looked through the paper with a light behind it, just to get an idea of what it would look like when the taper was lit, and the outlines had become shadows, nearly black as the paper turned to smoke. Even more fitting, for a raven fledgling who’d spent so much time collecting the feathers of other birds.
He’d brought a decent-sized branch along, stripped of all but the strongest couple of arms. Finding a relatively uncrowded patch of the beach, he jammed the branch into the ground and twisted until it was deep enough to stand on its own. Then, with much more care, he hooked the lantern on the longest arm via the string he’d tied across the top. Lighting it was another challenge and he nearly burnt himself and the thin paper trying, but the effect when he managed it was just as he expected. Hints of bright colors turned nearly black with the gold and green of flame seen through blue paper. Like raven feathers beneath summer leaves. An unexpected effect that made him smile ruefully. With a sigh. He dropped down to sit beside his lantern, one hand on the branch, the other draped over a raised knee.
“For you, Morgana… You would have loved this….”
Never had he felt so alone as when he arrived at the torch-lined beach. Being amongst strangers wasn’t such an odd thing, not with his lifestyle, but he’d always shared something with those strangers. A culture, shared stories, shared troubles. Here, on Caido, these people might as well have been creatures from the stars. Even when they were just as alien to this world as he was.
With an aching heart, hollow with a loneliness he was only half-heartedly trying to talk himself out of, he carried his lantern to the Festival. It was a simple box of sky blue paper and delicate wood, the small candle balanced inside as Jigano had instructed. On the paper was painted the outlines of jewel-colored feathers. Red, purple, yellow, and a darker blue. He’d looked through the paper with a light behind it, just to get an idea of what it would look like when the taper was lit, and the outlines had become shadows, nearly black as the paper turned to smoke. Even more fitting, for a raven fledgling who’d spent so much time collecting the feathers of other birds.
He’d brought a decent-sized branch along, stripped of all but the strongest couple of arms. Finding a relatively uncrowded patch of the beach, he jammed the branch into the ground and twisted until it was deep enough to stand on its own. Then, with much more care, he hooked the lantern on the longest arm via the string he’d tied across the top. Lighting it was another challenge and he nearly burnt himself and the thin paper trying, but the effect when he managed it was just as he expected. Hints of bright colors turned nearly black with the gold and green of flame seen through blue paper. Like raven feathers beneath summer leaves. An unexpected effect that made him smile ruefully. With a sigh. He dropped down to sit beside his lantern, one hand on the branch, the other draped over a raised knee.
“For you, Morgana… You would have loved this….”
