Foamstone

The Feast of the Unwed

Written by Cocoa11121

The ship flew away. Yue stared after it, tears forcefully being held back. Not even a quarter of the village stood with her; they were all in the square, rejoicing that the sky people were gone. Yue watched the ship until it almost went out of sight.

"Chungi." She whispered as it left. Goodbye. Goodbye to the sky people. Goodbye to the boy who had saved her life. And, quite possibly, her sanity.

"Yue!" Zanashron yelled. That was the sound Yue had woken up to. That, and the sound of rushing water. "Hurry!" He pulled her to her feet, and began running. Yue stumbled along beside him. She looked behind her to see water rushing towards them

"Ma," she said, the sky people's word for water. Zanashron nodded, pulling her along.

They ran for a little longer before water flooded all of Yue's senses. It went up her nose, in her mouth, and muted her hearing. She swam up, gasping for air.

"Zana!" She yelled. She saw his glow further down in the water. She took a deep breath and dove after him, swimming towards his comforting glow.

A few hours later, Yue and Zanashron had faced each other for the last time. They hadn't said much; just stood there, not wanting to say their final goodbyes. Zanashron had hugged Yue, and she had buried her face in his shoulder, her face wet with tears. Neither of them had wanted to leave the other, but it had to happen. Zanashron had to return to his home, and Yue had... a life to return to.

"Yue!" She heard her mother yell from their house. She rubbed her eyes free of tears before turning to return to her home.

When she entered the door, gently closing it, her mother began to talk. "Do not forget about the feast of the unwed," she said, chopping whatever vegetable had wound up under her knife for her dinner.

"I remember," Yue responded. "It's at sunset." Her mother nods approvingly, brushing aside the chopped vegetable.

"You must wear your finer clothes," The woman said. Yue groaned inwardly. Her 'finer clothes' were itchy around the rib cage and greatly limited her arm movement. And, chances were that she would have to put her hair up as well.

Yue nodded, though, and goes to her chest of clothing. Her one fancier dresses was located at the very bottom of the mostly empty chest, and she pulled it out, not being able to stop a small smile from forming. The dress was pretty in Yue's eyes, and it made her feel like royalty, even if it was itchy and restricting.

She closed the chest and laid the dress over it, ready to change when it was time. Half of her wished to put it on now, the other half wished for it to never be on her ever again.

"Do not forget the hairpins, Yue," her mother said, handing them to her. Yue gave her mother a fake smile and put them next to the dress. Her mother exhaled and sits next to Yue. "I know you do not want to go to the festival tonight, Yue." She said. Yue avoided her mother's gaze and stared at the bodice of her dress. "But it will be good for you. You barely know any of the people your age in this village."

"Mother," Yue started. "I know them just fine."

"But do you truly know them?"

Yue sighed. No, she didn't truly know them.

Her mother smiled. "Have a good time tonight, Yue," she said, lightly embracing her daughter.

And so it was that that night, Yue took a seat at the festival between two boys who appeared to be her age. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the blush that slowly crept up both boys' necks. She pretended not to notice their blushes, though, as she introduced herself.

"I am Yue," she said, smiling at both boys.

"Longwei," The boy to her left bowed. He smiled at Yue, but she didn't blush.

"Bolin," the second boy said. He's quiet, this Yue noticed.

Throughout the festival, the boys spoke differently to Yue. Longwei had a habit of taking every chance he got to say something impressive about himself. Yue soon began to doubt him, unsure if what he was saying was actually true. Bolin, on the other hand, was quiet and observant. He pointed out things Yue would never have noticed, like how they came and replaced the flowers every half hour, or the girls that looked longingly at one of the boys, who Yue didn't find particularly attractive.

At one point, he pointed out a young serving girl that was carrying two platters. 

"She had six, earlier," he said. Yue smiled, first at the boy, then at the serving girl.

"Please," the show-off said. His sleeves were now rolled up a few inches. "I could easily carry ten of those platters."

"I'm sure you could," Yue responded, still looking at the girl. "Why don't you join the serving committee?" That statement left Longwei floundering for words.

Yue smiled and stood up. 

"I am going to go help," she said as she began to walk over to the kitchens. Surprisingly, the quiet boy was the first to join her, and the show-off only came after the quiet boy.

"What now?" A man, large around the gut, asked them as they entered the room. Many servers bustled around the trio, replacing food and flowers in the main room.

"We would..." Bolin cleared his throat. "We would like to help, Sir." He said.

The man gestured around at the kitchen. "Be my guest, kids. We're low on staff."

A petite woman came and handed Yue an apron and sponge. "Dishes," she commanded. She sized up Longwei and gave him a large wooden spoon. "Stir." Finally, she looked at Bolin's slightly smaller frame. "Serving." 

The three of them exchanged glances before they laughed and set to work, Longwei secretly unnerved by both Yue and the petite woman.

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And so ends Foamstone, the first collaboration of the Wattpad Amino Scifi Committee. We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to our future works.