The day of the festival had come. Anarion slumped out of his bed and made his way downstairs for breakfast. Everyone but Amma was at the table, everyone was disguising something in a hushed tone. Ithilious whispered “He’s here.” which prompted everyone to stop talking. Sitting down next to Bwoire, Anarion said “There is nothing suspicious about that. If you’ve got something to say then say it.”

Falcon asked “We are all going to go to the festival tonight. I trust you are going to join us?” Anarion sighed. “Yeah, I pretty much have to go anyway.” Johanna brought him breakfast, he began chowing down. Amma came down the stairs “Are you coming to the festival tonight?” asked Falcon. Amma yawned and nodded. “Let’s all meet here at nightfall,” said Falcon. After breakfast, Anarion left everyone behind to go train. Amma proceeded shortly after her meal.

People had been pouring into the village since yesterday. Vendors, attendants, and others. This whole festival thing was starting to annoy Anarion. He made progress in his training today, able to make a thicker coat of metal on his arm. As the sun was starting to set Bwoire poked his head around Anarion’s ice wall. “Try making some water before you go.” Anarion sighed. “Fine.”

Bwoire then went over to Amma and told her to try making metal. Behind Anarion’s ice wall Falcon yawned. “I’m going to get some dinner.” Ithilious said, “I think I’ll get some too.” Bwoire silently followed them. Both Anarion and Amma were so involved in their training that they did not notice everyone left them there. When the sun had nearly set Anarion broke his ice wall and said to Amma “We should head back, they’ll be waiting for us.”

Amma nodded her head. “Yeah, sure.” Anarion stepped into the tavern with Amma behind him. It was empty. Arnold stepped out. “I figured you two would be at the festival, the rest have left already.” Anarion looked like he was about to snap Arnold’s neck. “What the hell, the sun hasn’t even fully set yet.” Amma silently said “Those bastards.”

“This is some sort of setup, they were acting fishy this morning.” he thought to himself. Anarion turned to face Amma “Let’s go, I can’t ditch this thing since I already promised people in town I would be there.” Amma nodded “They must have gotten tired of waiting.” Anarion found it somewhat amusing that Amma was not acknowledging that this was a setup but a coincidence.

As soon as they stepped out the door Arnold yelled “Have fun you two.” Anarion fought with every fiber of his being to return to the inn to beat the crap out of Arnold. He was probably in on this setup from the very start. Amma was walking beside Anarion. “What do you want to do first?” he asked politely. Inside he was trying his best not to go on a murderous rampage.

“How about we visit each stand as we get to it,” said Amma. Inside she was thinking “I’m going to murder every one of those assholes.” The atmosphere was awkward, Anarion did not know how to feel or act around Amma. They came up to the first stall, it was a dart-throwing contest. It was none other than Herman running the stand. “Well if it isn’t the hero and his lovely lady.” Anarion gave Herman a stare that reflected his inner desire to kill him.

Amma on the other side was trying to hide her joy from that statement. Herman laughed nervously. “You get three darts per copper. If you win you can select one of these prizes.” On the shelf was an assortment of various small teddy bears. Anarion slammed down one copper on the table. “I’ll throw some darts.” He picked up the three darts that Herman put down. The target was rather big.

Anarion threw all three in rapid-fire, all three hitting the mark. “That is the exact reason why I shouldn’t piss you off,” said Herman nervously. “Which bear do you want? You have the choice between White, Brown, and Black. Anarion pointed at the white bear. Herman grabbed it and handed it to Anarion. He then handed it to Amma.

“Your such a gentleman,” said Herman. “Don’t push your luck Doc.” said Anarion. Amma clutched the teddy bear with her left hand. They both continued walking. There were a variety of food stalls. One stall selling and cooking up sour crout. Another selling strudels with various fruits. “Let’s get strudels,” said Amma.

They both walked up to the booth. A middle-aged blonde-haired woman was running it. “What can I get for the young couple?” she asked. Anarion was dying inside. Never before did he want to murder innocent people, but today was the day. “Two strawberry strudels please,” said Amma as she handed the woman copper. She removed two white foil wraps from the counter and wrapped a strudel in each. “Enjoy,” she said handing one off to each.

“The first thing I’m going to do when I return is kill them all.” thought Anarion to himself. He took a bite of the strudel, it was fairly tasty. “This is good,” said Amma taking small bites out of her strudel. They passed by a game stand. It was one of those strength test games. They both walked towards it without saying anything.

“Well well if it isn’t the hero and his lady, come to test your strength?” The rage within Anarion was building. He did not recognize this man, but he was rather famous here for obvious reasons. He was a tall man with gray hair and a long beard. Anarion and Amma both finished their strudels at the same time. “Yeah, I’ll play,” they said in unison. “That’s adorable. You two make a fantastic couple.” Anarion looked at the man and said “Just give me the damn hammer.”

“Alright, that will be 1 copper.” He handed a coin over. “Don’t destroy it.” said Amma. Her face was beet red at this point. Anarion tapped the target lightly, regardless the bell rang. “I knew you Swordsmen were strong, but my god that borders on insanity.” said the man. Anarion handed the hammer to Amma and flipped a copper to the man running the booth.

He stepped out of the way. Amma hit the target a little harder, but none the less the bell rang. “Little lady, I would not want to mess with you.” Amma handed the hammer back, she was still holding the white bear in her left hand. He handed them each a little handcrafted wooden hammer. Amma and Anarion continued going through the festival. Anarion was desperately looking for the others, he wanted this hell to end. They were nowhere to be seen.

After a few hours, they both decided to call it quits since they had to get up early in the morning. When they returned to the tavern no one was there. “I’m heading up to the roof, you can join me if you want. There is a fireworks show starting in a few minutes, I’ll watch that then go to bed,” said Anarion. Amma nodded, “I’ll watch it, I’ve never seen fireworks before.”

Anarion and Amma both went to their respective rooms and climbed on to the roof from the windows. Anarion dropped all the stuff he won before climbing up, Amma did the same. Anarion sat down above his room. Amma peered through the window shortly after and climbed up. There was an awkward silence for roughly a minute.

“I’m sorry about today, all those people assumed we were a couple but I didn’t say anything because I thought it would be rude and embarrassing for the people assuming.” Amma was screaming inside, she never thought she’d be sitting next to Anarion on the roof. “It’s okay, it’s only natural to assume that. You were right though, it would be embarrassing for the people involved. I had a good time though.”

Anarion looked at Amma and smiled. “Yeah, it was fun.” Her face began turning red again. His focus turned to the sky. Amma was trying to keep calm. She was happy that he wasn’t wearing a mask around her, he was being himself. Though he had never been outwardly hostile towards her, only the men.

Suddenly a noise was heard followed by a boom and a crackle. Anarion watched on in wonder as different colors filled the sky. Amma was watching the fireworks with intensity. She then looked at Anarion, he was focused on the fireworks. All she could think about was him. “Anarion,” she said.

Anarion turned his head away from the fireworks to Amma. “Yeah?” he asked. She gulped slightly and said. “I’m in love with you.” Anarion’s eyes opened wide in that moment. He half suspected it but he had been unsure of how she felt about him. “I’ve been in love with you for nine years. I wanted you to know.” Anarion’s was in shock. He did not know what to say.

As the fireworks continued in the background he looked to the ground. “Amma, I don’t know how I feel about you. I feel like you are someone I can trust. I feel like we could be good friends. But Romantically, I really don’t know.” Amma was about to speak when Anarion cut her off “Give me some time to think about it.”

Amma said “I can wait. You don’t have to love me back. Simply saying it has been a weight off my mind. I couldn’t go on with the idea of you getting involved with someone else without you knowing how I feel. We can be friends, in fact, that might help in getting to know each other better.”

Anarion nodded in agreement. He looked Amma in the eyes and said “Thank you.” he continued “Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for everything you’ve done. Above all else, thank you for loving someone like me. I’m not exactly the easiest person to get along with, but it means more to me than you know, that someone in this world cares about me that much. I promise not to take your feelings for granted.”

The firework display ended. “I was planning on going to bed, but I don’t know about you. I need a drink.” Amma nodded “That sounds nice.” They both climbed through the window and walked down the stairs. To their surprise, everyone returned. However, this brought with it a misunderstanding since they were both walking down the stairs together. “Anarion, I’m okay with this. Were you a gentle and thorough lover?” asked Ithilious. Amma bolted past Anarion and punched Ithilious in the face. “It’s not like that, we watched the fireworks that’s all!” she said.

Anarion and Amma sat down to have a drink, while the rest teased them about the setup they had been planning since Anarion left the doctor's house. In the morning the town of Holsten was buzzing. Early in the morning four swordsmen units, twenty-five hundred royal guards, fifty workmen, ten doctors, five carpenters, and one swordsman smith marched into town.

Everyone came out to greet the new arrivals. At the head of one of the swordsmen, units was none other than Calmantos. “Son, it is good to see you!’ they both hugged each other briefly. “I won’t give you the boring details but after two months of discussion both Terath and The Swordsman Order are going to war with Rotal.”