Yuriko followed her nose to a stall grilling cubes of meat. The chef drizzled tiny pink salt crystals on the meat making the aroma even more enticing and mouthwatering. There was a substantial line in front and she and her friends weren’t the only teenagers in the crowd: it was a tradition for the students younger than thirteen to run some of the festival stalls.

She fell in line, noting that the price indicated on the sign was four copper marks per stick. A bit pricey but from the scent, she was sure it was worth it. Heron stood close behind her, close enough that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. It kind of tickled actually, as it stirred the strands of her golden hair. Not that she could blame him for sticking close. The crowd had started to press in on them.

Her nose twitched when she caught a whiff of his cologne and she tried but failed to hold back a sneeze. “Achiii!”

She heard him mutter his apologies which she quickly waved away.

They soon came up next to the stall. Next to the chef was a kid about Rami’s age, quite seriously turning the sticks on the grill. Another child, a bit younger, accepted the coins and dispensed the meat skewers.

“How many?” she squeaked.

“Six,” Yuriko said.

The kid looked up at her and goggled and it wasn’t until the other assistant nudged her that the cashier blushed and did the sums.

“Um, that’s twenty-two…oh, no, twenty-four copper marks, please.”

Yuriko reached into a pocket on the side of her dress, pulled out her coin purse and presented three silver pennies. The girl gave her back six copper marks in return. A moment later, six skewers inside a paper bag were handed over.

“Thank you for buying!”

“No, thank you,” Yuriko smiled. She grabbed Heron’s arm and pulled him out of the line, handing over half the sticks to him.

He stared at the skewers for a moment before muttering, “But I wanted to pay for us…”

“Oh, well, pay for the next one?”

He shrugged and took a bite of the meat. His face lit up and he quickly wolfed down the rest of the cubes. Yuriko took one into her mouth. The cube practically melted on her tongue, releasing a savoury burst that made her want for more. In almost no time, all three of her skewers had been devoured and she found herself eying the last one on Heron’s hand.

Seeing her look, he grinned and offered it back.

“No, you have it,” she said while biting her lip and turning away. The line at the meat grill was now longer and she recognized repeat customers. With a sigh, they moved on to the next stalls. There was one selling lavan berry coolers and she poked at Heron to buy her one. There was barely a line there so he came back a minute later and handed her a wooden tumbler. The concoction wasn’t spectacular but it did cleanse her palate. She placed the tumbler on the stall’s receptacle and they moved on.

At the far corner were the games of chance. She saw Mikel and Krstal trying their hand at one.

“Come on, Miki, you can do it!” Krystal yelled enthusiastically while Mikel threw copper pennies at several bottles half a dozen paces away.

“Hey, Krys! What’s this?”

“Oh, Yuri! Maybe you can try this too? Miki’s washed nearly a hundred pennies down the river for this.”

“I’m not that good, you know! This is rotting hard!”

“Maybe I can try,” Heron sneered, flexing his arm muscles while Yuriko and Krystal exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes. Boys.

A short fence separated the players from the targets, which were a bunch of bottles on a wooden platform with mouths that were about an inch across. Some bottles had narrower mouths and those were highlighted with red paint on the necks. Several crocheted and stuffed animals hung above the stall, the prize pool.

Mikel gritted his teeth and tossed a penny at the bottles. It spun in the air, bounced off the glass bottle and landed on the wooden flooring. The coins slid down to a side and were funnelled into a corner where they dropped into a box.

“Missed again,” he grunted.

“Would you like another go?” the boy inside the booth chirped at Mikel. “You almost got it there.”

“Yeah, sure.” He handed over a copper mark and got ten pennies in return.

“Three throws for a game,” the kid reminded him and Mikel then proceeded to miss all of his shots.

Heron took a turn, managing to get a penny into one of the wider bottles but that wasn’t a win since he needed to get at least two pennies inside bottles to qualify.

“The colour combination of all three bottles determines the prize,” Krystal said.

There was a sign right next to a stuffed lion that indicated no Animus technique usage was allowed.

“I don’t think you’ll win anything here,” Yuriko said.

Krystal shrugged and whispered, “I know, but Miki looked so enthusiastic trying. Come on, give it a try.”

Yuriko walked up to the fence and fetched a copper mark. She didn’t have any of the smaller denominations so she had the kid exchange it for her. A copper penny in hand, she tossed it underhand. The coin bounced on a glass mouth, spun around the rim and fell inside.

“Nice throw! Keep it up!” The kid cheered while Mikel and Heron whistled.

She tossed another coin but this one didn’t go into a cap.

“Aw…” Sighing to herself, she tossed the last penny which bounced off another bottle and fell to the platform.

“Nice attempt. Try again?” the kid asked enthusiastically.

Yuriko chuckled, shook her head, and stepped back next to Krystal.

“Giving up so soon?”

The two boys were throwing up a storm of pennies and the clinking of the metal against the glass created an amusing melody.

“Almost got it, you rotter!” Mikel yelled.

“You missed it by a league!” Heron snorted.

“You haven’t even managed to down one shot the last five games!”

“Oh yeah, well you haven’t in the last ten games!”

“How much money have they lost?” Yuriko asked Krystal.

“A silver penny?”

“Probably more,” Yuriko snorted. “Let’s grab some skewers.”

When they came back bearing a dozen sticks each, the two were still at it. Somewhere down the line, one of them must have won something since there was a crocheted rabbit toy hanging off Mikel’s belt. Heron had a little doll on his.

Still, they continued the game and from what the two girls could overhear, Mikel and Heron had a wager going on who could get the biggest prize.

The two bickering boys had drawn a crowd already, while the kid in charge booth had a wide grin on his face.

“What a bunch of fools,” a young man with chocolate skin and silver hair, standing a couple of paces away from Yuriko remarked to his friend.

The other teenager, a pale-skinned, blue-haired boy chuckled. “Ah, the exuberance of youth.”

“You’re not that long in tooth either, Rorke.” He chuckled while he looked around, eyes widening when he saw Yuriko. She felt he looked slightly familiar too. He tipped his head at her, “Good afternoon, Miss Davar. Fancy seeing you here.”

Wracking her mind for the boy’s name, Yuriko nodded back and politely said, “Good afternoon.”

With an arch of his eyebrow, the silver-haired boy chuckled and said, “It’s Kale. We met at the Watchtower food hall a few weeks back.”

“Oh,” Yuriko said while feeling her cheeks redden. “I apologize for forgetting your name.”

“No matter, I would hardly fault you for that, as we’ve only met that one time. I, however, would never forget a lovely lady’s name or face. I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your lovely companion,” Kale said with a bow to Krystal.

“This is Krystal Zorin, a close friend of mine.”

“Charmed.”

“Nice to meet you,” Krystal gave a small curtsy.

“This is Rorke Dinia, my shield brother.”

“Good day!”

After exchanging more pleasantries, Kale asked, “So, may I presume you two are heading to the capital to apply for the Academies? My brother and I will also head back to Rumiga City as our internship has been completed.”

Yuriko stiffened at the mention of the Academies. She remembered now that Kale was from Agaza Academy and presumably, so was Rorke. Krystal filled in the silence.

“Yes, the four of us will head to Rumiga City after the Festival.”

“Four?”

Krystal pointedly looked at the two feuding boys.

“Ah.”

“Well, I’m not sure about Heron, honestly,” Krystal amended.

“That’s interesting. Well, it's about a four-day journey to the city if you’re going overland. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Legion will take passengers when they head back or even if they head back.”

“I think they’re having the rest of their contingent come here before they continue to the Tidelands,” Rorke said.

“How do you know that?” Yuriko asked.

“I have an elder sib in the Legion.” Rorke shrugged. “Met her a while back and we caught up. Nothing official though.”

“I see. Well, my brother and I will head to Rumiga City in a few days.”

“NIce, maybe we’d be on the same tram if we happened to pick the same day,” Kale grinned.

“Ahem,” Heron coughed behind the two teens, his face a cold mask. “Who are you?”

Rorke gave Heron a condescending side-eye while Kale took the hostility in stride. Yuriko blinked in confusion, looked back at the stall and saw that Mikel had also made his way over. He placed himself next to Krystal.

“Good afternoon,” Kale said graciously. “I am Kale Kinnock and this is my shield brother, Rorke Dinia. Miss Davar and I met in the Watchtower and coincidentally, we were rather engrossed with watching your attempts at the game.”

“Oh.”

“How did it go? I’m ashamed to say my brother and I were distracted towards the latter half of the duel.”

“A tie.”

“I see. Well, I must say that this town has some quaint Festival activities. Good practice for the younger kids, too.”

“Why, how does the capital celebrate the Harvest?” Yuriko asked curiously.

”With house parties, card and board games, and free-flowing spirits, mostly,” Kale said smoothly.

“Musical and theatrical performances, dances,” Rorke provided helpfully. “Not much for the younger children though. Oh, and lots of food. Even for the peasants in the Lower Ring.”

“Sounds fascinating,” Yuriko said absently. She noted that Heron’s fist was clenched at his side, and he was tapping his thigh with his fist. His face was still expressionless though. ‘I wonder what’s wrong?’

“Oh, look,” MIkel said, pointing at the sun. “It’s about time we headed back to the square.”

Yuriko reflexively looked and nodded, “You’re right.”

“Let’s go,” Heron agreed.

“Oh, do you mind if we walked with you?” Kale asked.

“Not at all,” Yuriko said.

“Yes,” Heron said at the same time.

Kale and Rorke exchanged glances then shrugged.

“I see.” Kale smiled, “Well, see you later, or maybe at Rumiga City if we miss each other later.” He gave them a small bow that the two girls reciprocated with a curtsy.

When the two older teens left, Yuriko arched an eyebrow at Heron.

“That was a bit rude.”

He hung his head, shamefaced. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I guess. You don’t like them?”

Krystal snickered beside her while Mikel gave her an incredulous stare. Heron’s mouth twitched and he seemed to relax.

“Not so much. Anyway, we really need to go if we’re walking.”

Yuriko and Krystal dropped the sticks into a waste receptacle and the four of them went on their way. Halfway to Faron’s Square, Yuriko smacked her fist on her palm, “Oh, I should have asked them what the entrance examinations for Agaza were like.”

“Oh, why?” Heron gave her a puzzled look. “Isn’t the recommendation letter so you won’t need to take the exam so seriously?”

“Yuri has a bit of an issue with her educational path,” Krystal said wryly. “Her mum determined that she should enter the Anima manipulation courses and wrote directives to the Academy governors.”

“What? Wow, that’s not right...” Heron trailed off, looking lost in thought. He didn’t comment further though.

The sun had just touched the western mists when they finally arrived at the square. There were no children younger than Yuriko in the square and most of the people were gathered near the Assembly Hall. A white-robed attendant from the Temple waved at them to come forward and led them to a side entrance. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the other kids who were part of the training camp, plus a couple who weren’t, were in the area they were led to.

The Assembly Hall was filled with chairs and the front podium had a raised pedestal. Some members of the town council were at the front, wearing a blue sash glittering with green stones.

“Yuri!” The Foster twins rushed up next to her and grabbed her hands. Heron made a muffled sound behind her. “Where were you? We got here ages ago.”

“We’re here now,” Heron said, irritably, “just in time for the invocation. Let’s grab a seat.” He grabbed Yuriko’s shoulders and tried to move her to the chairs. Tried to, anyway. The warmth of his hands on her bare shoulders was a bit, well, uncomfortable, unaccustomed as she was to skin contact with anyone other than her family. She brushed his hands off and grabbed Krystal’s arm, dragging her to the seats instead.

The four boys followed behind the two girls. She could barely make out their fierce whispers.

“Fun afternoon, wasn’t it?” Krystal smirked.

“I suppose. I loved the food.”

No sooner had they sat down than Alderman Rivos, the nominal head of the council, stepped up to the pedestal, tapped on the wood with a small wooden mallet, and cleared his throat loudly. The hall fell silent as everyone settled down and waited.