Cloudcalling on the Savannah ~ Leona x Reader

Book 1- Chapter 1: The Cloudcalling Festival

***

Prince Leona seemed to be almost lost in thought, mumbling about how pointless it was to come here.

Vil simply rolled his eyes, speaking up. "Well if that's how you feel, whatever did you invite us along for? You might at least shut your mouth and not spoil the signs for the rest of us."

Kalim cut in, a frequent thing for him to do. "And what sights they are! So big! So beautiful!" He was always so bubbly that it was both very endearing and quite annoying at the same time. But he was sweet and tried his best to help, so I personally didn't mind all that much. "I'm so glad I get to visit the place where you were born, Leona."

A scoff escaped Leona. "Listen- thought it was obvious, but we're not here on some vacation. No, we're here to-"

Lilia cut him off, stopping him from once again going on about his plan. "Oh, calm down, we all know. Just point us at whomever we're meant to best and we'll take them down lickety-split!"

Leona seemed to hesitate for a moment as he heard Lilia, but just let out a sigh. "Glad you're in the right headspace, because you're only gonna get one chance at this." He put his hands on his hips as he said the next part.

"One chance to earn the title of 'Sunset Warrior'."

***

I followed Jack as he led the others to the Savanaclaw Dorm's lounge. I haven't been since Azul temporarily kicked me, Yuu, and Grim out of Ramshackle and I had to stay with Leona. Because I wasn't technically told to come along but wasn't told to go away either, I stayed behind everyone.

When we got there it seemed like Leona didn't notice me. He was wearing his dorm uniform, the front of the shirt cut into a deep v that went right below his chest- even deeper than it did the rest of the students. The beaded choker was resting around his neck, and the golden necklace hung not too far below his collarbone. His signature twin braids fell over his shoulders while the rest of his hair hung loose down his back. The lion tattoo on his arm was on display.

"I see Lilia, I see Vil." Leona gave Jack a nod as the wolf beastman moved to stand close to Leona's side. "Nice work, Jack."

"Got ya covered," Jack replied.

Vil watched the two carefully, his pale blond and purple hair falling perfectly around his face and over the crown he wore as Housewarden of his dorm. "Why have you called us here?"

"Got somethin' I wanna talk to you about," Leona answered vaguely.

"If that's the case, it should be you coming to us," Lilia frowned, his hands on his hips, accentuating the thickness of his vivid green and black dorm uniform jacket.

"Quite right!" Vil agreed. "Why, if Jack hadn't come to get me I would have kept on ignoring your summons."

"You tell 'im!" Grim exclaimed, jumping forward before I could grab him.

"H- hello," I said awkwardly, waving uncomfortably as I held onto Grim with one arm. "Sorry."

The harsh glare on Leona's face made me even more nervous. Even if Leona had been nicer to me after what happened during the Spelldrive tournament and the whole deal with Azul- pun not intended -I don't think he expected me to come.

"...Hold up," he said, his eyes sharp as he stared at me and Grim. Yeah he definitely wasn't happy about us coming uninvited. This was the face of a lion who had his plans interrupted. "What're Grim and (Y/N) doing here?"

"Them?" Jack put a hand on the back of his neck, trying to pretend like he hadn't basically said we could come along in more complicated words. "They happened to be there when I was talkin' with Vil and Lilia and just glommed on."

Grim just laughed and I didn't have a chance to stop him. "I figured this lil' meetin' o' yours would be catered."

"Fat chance," Jack said, standing up a little straighter.

Leona almost scoffed. "Well, it's not. So get goin'."

I shook my head, exasperated as I tried to make sure Grim didn't make things worse. I always felt nervous around Leona, and being in his dorm wasn't exactly helping. "That not- that's not why we came. Not why I came, at least."

Vil saved me from having to continue defending myself. "Oh, forget them. Out with your business, Leona, or we'll be the ones leaving."

Savanaclaw's housewarden seemed annoyed, but decided not to fight him on it. "Fine, fine, if you're so eager. And really, you should be. Because I'm going back to my homeland, and I want you dear school chums to come with me."

My brows furrowed. Why did so many students just randomly travel in the middle of the school year? What is he talking about? Leona hated going home. He hated even talking about his home. So what reason would he have for going back all of a sudden?

Jack, thankfully, seemed equally confused. His eyes were wide. Apparently Leona didn't tell him the plan before sending Jack off to go get Vil and Lilia. "Hm? Your homeland? Meaning... Sunset Savanna?"

Leona seemed to let out an annoyed sigh, though whether that was at Jack's question or the idea of going back I couldn't tell. "The one and only. This weekend is the Cloudcalling Festival in the royal capital, Sunrise City."

"The what now?" Grim questioned.

Leona put a hand on his forehead. "Put simply, it's a rainmaking festival. Held every year near the start of the rainy season. It's also referred to as the "gift from heaven"."

Lilia's eyes lit with recognition. "Oooh, I've heard about that. Never had the pleasure, though. It always sounded like a lot of fun."

Jack looked over at Leona, still confused about his plan. "So you're going to take part, Leona?"

Vil continued for him. "And you're inviting us along as well? Surely not out of the goodness of your heart. What's your aim?"

The smirk on Leona's face made me skeptical about what was up next. Don't get me wrong, I was down for schemes, especially after the way I finely picked apart every detail of Azul's deal and helped Leona come up with a plan to destroy the contacts. It just was worrying when I wasn't sure what exactly it was about.

"It's nice bein' surrounded by schemers. Makes things quicker. The reason I want you all with me is... Bead Brawl."

"Um..." My expression was one of confusion. "What exactly is that?" I asked. I wasn't technically a part of this, but I was also very nosy.

"Never heard of it either," Jack said as he shook his head. "What gives?"

"It's a competitive game during the Cloudcalling Festival," Leona explained. "Everyone adorns their heads with beads, and you try to wrestle 'em off each other. No weapons, no magic. A pure test of physical strength."

Jack chuckled, a sly smile on his face. "Sounds fun."

"It's a team sport," Leona continued. "Three to a team, and sixteen teams in the tournament. It's truly the main event at the Cloudcalling Festival. The royal family and foreign guests will all be spectating."

"So there must be a prize, right? Like a year's supply of tuna?!" Grim questioned, getting excited. I really needed to talk to him about priorities. Not that I'm much better, if I'm being honest.

A sound of amusement left Leona as he watched Grim. "You'd think there'd be some lavish reward, wouldn't you? But no, no prize. No prize money, either."

Grim's face fell so quickly it was funny. "Sounds like a crummy tournament to me," he grumbled, slinking back to sit on my shoulder.

"But every year-" Leona continued "-there's a boatload of challengers. Why? Because the winners go down in history... as Sunset Warriors."

***

A/N: Hey! This short chapter is the beginning of my slow transition back into writing. Let me know how I can improve. For everyone waiting for me to update some of my other stories, I'm hoping to get back into those soon. 

But for now, I'm gonna be working on this in the same short chapters that the event is in, plus some added content.

Let me know if you guys like this, because if enough people want I might actually commit to writing a fic for the main plot of TWST