Days of Dawn

Chapter 2: The Bringabout

The rising sun was low when frantic commotion sounded outside Orion's room. A few days had passed since that skirmish, but he still slept off the last of it with soft snores.

That is, until his door flew open to Ezra scrambling in. "What the gods are you doing?"
Orion nearly flailed out of bed from her barging in, but sat up just when she threw a fresh set of clothes at him. "Today's the Bringabout! We were supposed to leave an hour ago!"

He leaned back and slurred, "I thought the Bringabout was on Wednesday."

"It is Wednesday! I swear, sometimes you're dumber than a sack of rocks!" she ran out and slammed the door.

Orion blinked, then slowly stood with a stretch. A few steps to wake him up, then he got about his clothes. Unlike the fine leather getup he'd use during practice sessions, his ceremonial armor had steel plates and a flowing violet cape that took a bit longer to don. He let out a wide yawn while tightening the cuirass against his fresh shirt, fastened his Helvaran sword in place, smoothed his hair into a quick ponytail, then hurried out to the rest of the family.

...............

It was warmer than usual. Not a cloud marked the sky, but a slight breeze kept things brisk. Weather this perfect was immediately convenient for the veritable convoy of luxurious wagons and fine steeds trekking across the Adrian plains. Today was the Bringabout, and that meant a pilgrimage for the ten noble families of Helvara.

Nobody in Adria was very fond of history since most of it involved some kind of war or genocide. People happily abandoned the past for the bliss of ignorance, but some things were simply too important to forget. The Bringabout was one such event.

Orion knew the gist well enough. Something like three thousand years ago, the world sank into an era called the Ethereal Night. Dynasties rose and fell, unspeakable horrors ensued, and everybody had a really terrible time. Most of the Ethereal Night was ruled by one dark lord or other, and the only way to break the Night was to defeat the ruling dark lord. An elf named Theolos did just that, ending the Ethereal Night and bringing about the Days of Dawn. Today was celebrated in remembrance of that victory.

Helvaran tradition dictated that the city's nobility attend a holiday sermon at the largest temple in Adria. That temple was dedicated to the mother goddess Arcana, and by extension her descendant gods and champions. It was all quite cheerful, if not a bit dull.

"Orion!"

He snapped into the moment to see Ezra glaring at him. "Yeah?"

Valien had a far more amused face that chuckled, "We were asking if you think the gros goblins know about the Bringabout."

"Eh?" Orion collected his marbles, then returned the smile. "I doubt they'd care. They're usually on the wrong side of old legends."

Ezra looked ahead with a curious tilt, "Maybe they'd see it in a bad light. Gods know how backwards they are on other things."

"How'd you two start about the gros?" queried Orion.

Valien propped his smile higher, "I see your attention span is stellar as ever. We were talking about what other races celebrate the Bringabout. If maybe orc and goblin nations do. Most elf nations take to it, but I don't think anybody has a temple like ours."

"Maybe there's lots, just out in the middle of nowhere like ours is," Orion grinned back.

For some reason Valien took that with a more serious tone. "It's out here for a reason, so we can celebrate away from the talk and squabbles of society. The Mighty Warrior Theolos was the champion handpicked by the gods. If it weren't for him, we'd still be under the Ethereal Night and Malik Viss would rule over us as a god. Theolos deserves real gratitude, and this is a good way to give it."