Beauty and the Fanalis!

Beauty and the Fanalis Ch.9

Chapter 9  Vulka village festival 

  The days turned to weeks and for the three brand new friends; it was a fun 2 and half weeks. A festival was being set up tonight for the annual celebration of the pepper harvest. Dauwn had been working to assit set up the festival for the past days. When she wasn't working she'd be with Lo'lo and Aladdin. Dauwn's siblings were delighted since this was the longest Dauwn had ever stayed in the village in some time. However for every good day there were those rotten days and today was pretty bad. Dauwn was at a noodle shop in her town, angrily slurping the noodles, cursing Lo'lo in her head. People in the restaurant took note of her look, she was drenched head to toe and her hair was damp.

With her shoulder's slump and brows frowed in an angry expression.

About a half an hour earlier Dauwn and Lo'lo had an argument. It started when Lo'lo being in a rather crappy mood. Dauwn, who didn't know about his mood, just so happened to splash water with him in light fun. Lo'lo yelled at her then Dauwn got defensive. So when they were hanging out with Aladdin both Dauwn and Lo'lo were on edge with each other. When Aladdin asked what was wrong the two blamed each other. That's when they got into an argument which got pretty loud. Aladdin tried his best to stop them but it was in vein for the little kid. Lo'lo won the argument when he picked Dauwn up by her waist, lifted her up above his head, walked over to a barrel filled with alcohol and shoved her in head first. Lo'lo walked away after that while Dauwn was left completely embarrassed.

Aladdin walked in the small noodle store. Finding a seat next to Dauwn and sat on the chair next to her. "Hi, miss Dauwn. Are you ok??" he asked quietly
"yea, I'm fine. It's not like I was just dumped into a barrel of alcohol.." Dauwn muttered angrily "In front of people I might add.."
Aladdin grabbed a glass of water he had asked for and sipped on the cool drink. "you did call him a brain dead gorilla.."
"I did that because he started it!" Dauwn huffed
"You shouldn't blame Lo'lo, he's been ansty ever since he got that reply for Muu Alexius." Aladdin said
Dauwn looked to Aladdin with surprised eyes, "Really?"
"you didn't notice?" Aladdin looked back at her.
Dauwn's eyes fell to the ground, "well..well no. I didn't." Dauwn admitted. She thought about the day Lo'lo got the reply to his letter that he wrote for his friends in Reim. He had the biggest smile as he opened that letter however when Lo'lo read the letter his smile faded. Lo'lo shut himself in his room for the whole day. Not allowing anyone in, not even Aladdin. That night the boy had to sleep in the mass hall. Lo'lo didn't smile or joke as much as he did after that day and it got worse each day. Dauwn didn't even notice the fowl mood when she tried to get some laughter from him.
"you can try finding Lo'lo to apologise." Aladdin suggested
Dauwn shook her head 'no' then she faced Aladdin, "I don't think Lo'lo would want to talk for awhile." Just as she said that a shadow loomed over them. Dauwn whipped her head around.
It was Lo'lo. "hey, " he started. Dauwn and Aladdin turned their bodies as he then continued, "Dauwn, I didn't mean to be a jerk. sorry."
Dauwn paused before she replying, "I'm sorry too. I didn't know how you were feeling this entire time."
"It's alright, in fact, that fight we really helped." Lo'lo said to her "I needed to let out steam."
"Glad, I got to be your punching dummy." Dauwn joked to which Lo'lo gave a chuckle
"Don't sell yourself short. I appreciate a woman who can hold her own like that." Lo'lo commented which made Dauwn chuckle in return.
The two forgot Aladdin was still there watching them. These past few days has been stressful on them, Lo'lo with the letter and Dauwn busy with town festival business...wait, That's it! Aladdin got an idea.
"Say, why don't we head down to the festival together." Suggested Aladdin. "It would be a nice way to end these weeks we had since me and Lo'lo will be going at shortly after."
Lo'lo and Dauwn looked to each other then to Aladdin with smiles on their faces. "yea that does sound like a good idea."


Now that the two adults were in a better mood the three went back to the Dauwn's to fix themselves up for the festival. "Alright, I need to change my clothes." Dauwn said, "you guys wait outside the room." The two guys also went into their room, Aladdin was fixing up his things, leaving his staff on his make shift bed. while Lo'lo was looking through his clothes. He only had the one cloth from Reim but he was loaned some clothes from his hosts and decided to wear them.
Young Aladdin then sat on his bed waiting for Aladdin to finish when a thought popped in his head.
"Say Lo'lo you've been here longer, have you ever seen Dauwn's bedroom?" he asked
Lo'lo shook his head, "no. Typical girl with it. Dauwn won't let anyone in her room. To be honest, I have no idea why girls don't let guys in their rooms. The women in the corps won't even my Lil sis won't let me in sometimes." Lo'lo mumbled as he finished putting his shirt on. He was wearing a rather nice looking shirt and vest. Pants were normal, dark blue in colour. only thing he wore for shoes were his sandles.
Aladdin widened his eyes in surprised, "You have a little sister?"
"Yea, about 9 years old. I wanted to go back to Reim so I can show my sis I'm alright but Dauwn wouldn't let me go. Muu told her I'm okay in that reply he sent to me. " Lo'lo rattled on.
Aladdin made a small smirk, "Dauwn wouldn't let you go??" he asked
Lo'lo raised an eyebrow at him, "yea, what about it??"
"I don't know...maybe she likes you." Aladdin teased
Lo'lo frowed his eyes at the kid. "yea, I'm her first friend. of course she'd like me." but Aladdin pressed on
"No, I meant she, likes you, likes you."
"Oh? and what makes you so sure??" Lo'lo asked
Aladdin dropped his tease, speaking with a serious manner "well, I noticed her rukh turns pink around you."
Lo'lo didn't say anything but just went said "I don't speak rukh talk Aladdin."
"pink rukh only appears when a person is feeling love or happiness." The boy explained. Lo'lo just had an blank expression as if he was processing it. He scratched the back of his head, cheeks flushing a bit. "you really think she's into me?"
"Trust me, I've seen the way she's been looking at you lately." Aladdin smiled. Lo'lo paused thinking on that, was she looking at him and just didn't see it? He shook his head. "let's get back to the heart head, she should be done by now."
Aladdin shrugged his shoulders as in 'alright' manner. The kid walked out with Lo'lo behind him. The entire time Lo'lo was thinking on what Aladdin said, Did Dauwn Like him? What did he think Dauwn now that they knew each other? Not paying attention he bumped into Aladdin.
"wow, Miss Dauwn, that's a nice coat." Aladdin commented, Looking up Lo'lo saw what Dauwn was holding. Holding in her hands was the red and black tiger coat from his first day in town.


With a smile on her face Dauwn handed over the parcel to Lo'lo, "Remember that bet we made?", she asked him. A bet? Then he remembered "Oh right! You lost the bet and you had to buy me that coat." He opened the coat up. "Nice!" He threw his new jacket on "So what kept this??"
"The owner had a hard time giving this away so I had to pull a few favours for him." Dauwn explained
Lo'lo looked at Dauwn with a surprised look. "Really, in all that amount of time? Thanks." Lo'lo gave a smile, a happy soft smile. Putting on the coat on, still fit good.
"It wasn't easy with but I got it!" Dauwn declared Happily, blush on her face.
"hey, come on you guys let's go!" Aladdin called to them from the doors to the outside.
Smiling, They joined Aladdin going to the town. Vulka town squire was becoming bright and noisy with the activity, lights, and music filling the air. Lo'lo, Dauwn and Aladdin made walked through the game lane and the shops. They had stopped at one game stall where Dauwn and Aladdin tried to trow balls at a target, however they couldn't hit a thing.

Dauwn sighed "you should see my sister with this game."
Seeing an opportunity to show off, Lo'lo grabbed the last ball. "Let me give it a go." Lo'lo said, Dauwn and Aladdin stepped aside. The guy in charge of the game didn't recognise what Lo'lo was at first but then recalled seeing an Fanalis before. The game host's eyes widened but before he could say anything Lo'lo tossed the ball so hard that when it hit it's mark, the target broke into pieces.

"Oops, uh sorry." Lo'lo apologised but the guy shook his head
"No,no it's ok." He grabbed a bear and handed it to Lo'lo. "Here." the game host just wanted the three to leave.
Lo'lo looked to his friends "here, one of you take it." he said.
Aladdin shrugged, "I'll be leaving in three days so I can't carry a big bear with me." he said, Dauwn laughed and took the bear out of Lo'lo hands.

After a growl reached the air Aladdin suggested they stop somewhere to eat, The two adults agreed right away. Sitting down they started chatting while Aladdin was munching on food.
"Say Dauwn you still want to head back with me to reim?" Lo'lo asked "I know your family doesn't want you to."
Dauwn swallowed a grape, "Definitly. I been all over the world at this point but because of my siblings..mostly Nano, I never been to Reim." Dauwn admitted. Aladdin looked at Dauwn, still chewing the bite he took. "Is it because of the land dispute?" Dauwn nodded.

"So where's your favourite place so far?" Lo'lo asked
Dauwn thought, "I'd have to say it was Sindria."
"you been to Sindria??" Aladdin asked in wonder that she had been the Sindra also.
"I did, It was so peaceful there. King Sinbad sure did a good job raising the country to be a paradise." Dauwn commented.
A thought went into Lo'lo's head, "Did you happen to meet Sinbad??"
Dauwn looked over to Lo'lo, "I did, once I told him who I was though he began to flirt, asking me for drink. He most likely wanted me to suggestion an alliance to Nano. "
Aladdin could see the annoyance on Lo'lo's face at that information. "But the trading and alliance business ain't my job, That's what my older siblings are for. I have no say in who our trading partners are." Dauwn explain. "I was kinda annoyed in all honesty." Lo'lo's face brightened up at that.

Outside music can be heard, coming all through the streets. "Oh, the music is starting. Let's wrap this up, get drinks and snacks then head out at the town sqaure." Dauwn said.
"Sure, I'd like fresh musical air anyways." Lo'lo replied
Aladdin muffled an agreement through his food filled cheeks.

The lane was indeed lively with dancers, musicians and entertainers alike. When they came to the square they were cheers once Lo'lo, Dauwn and Aladdin came into view. All three holding snack food.
"huh, what's going on??" Aladdin asked while Lo'lo Shrugged. Dauwn turned around to face the guys, "you are the special guest here, Lo'lo." Dauwn explained
Lo'lo was surprised, "Really? why?"
"You scared off the vikings off, stopping the raid. Without Nano the village would have turned into ruins again however because of you, our village got out with only minimal damage." she explained
Aladdin smiled, "you knew this was happening didn't you?" he asked with glee
Dauwn laughed, "Sorta, the heads of the village asked if I could bring you here so they can thank you personally, in their own way."
Lo'lo couldn't help but grin with pride, this is a real surprise and he appreciated it to the extreme.
People came up to Lo'lo and guided him to a seat, the best seat in the mass crowd. Aladdin and Dauwn took a seat next to him on opposite sides. Before the main concert could start the people took a moment of silence for the ones who passed on the day of viking raid. When the moment of silence was over did the bands come up and play.
Half way through the acts, Aladdin saw people were bugging Dauwn about something, She seemed hesitant. For a moment he was silently worried about her but the worry flushed away when Dauwn stood up and got on stage. At first Lo'lo was too busy drinking and laughing with some people who came up to speak to him so Aladdin had to nudged Lo'lo to get him to look on stage.

The people cheered loudy for Dauwn, it seems she had done this many times. Dauwn shifted in her spot knowing her friends were watching her this time. She had a bashful look on her face till she just began singing.
Dauwn began singing, "I know that you're hiding things Using gentle words to shelter me, Your words were like a dream But dreams could never fool me Not that easily" the words were soft, played with soft music

I acted so distant then Didn't say goodbye before you left
But I was listening
You'll fight your battles far from me
Far too easily"

Aladdin watched with a soft smile, lo'lo watch with jaw hung open in slight shock. he didn't know she could sing.

Save your tears 'cause I'll come back"
I could hear that you whispered
As you walked through that door
But still I swore to hide the pain
When I turn back the pages
Shouting might've been the answer
What if I'd cried my eyes out
And begged you not to depart?

But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart Though a thousand words Have never been spoken,
They'll fly to you Crossing over the time And distance holding you Suspended on silver wings
And a thousand words
One thousand confessions
Will cradle you
Making all of the pain you feel seem far away

Dauwn made little twirls in her song in a swaying dance. the music picked up to a more up beat tone.

When I turn back the pages
Anger might've been the answer
What if I'd hung my head
And said that I couldn't wait?
But now I'm strong enough to know it's not too late'
Cause a thousand words
Call out through the ages
They'll fly to you
Even though I can't see
I know they're reaching you
Suspended on silver wings
Oh, a thousand words
One thousand embraces
Will cradle you

as the song progessed back up singers worked into Dauwn's singing as a echoing chores. During the song and dance, Lo'lo felt something in him beating. Couldn't put a finger on it. It was loud, he couldn't look away from Dauwn. It was like his eyes were captivated by her movements.

Oh, a thousand words
(A thousand words)
Have never been spoken
(Oh yeah)
They'll fly to you
They'll carry you home
(Carry you home)
And back into my arms
Suspended on silver wings
(On silver wings)
And a thousand words
(Oh)
Call out through the ages
(Call through the ages)
They'll cradle you
(Oh yeah)
Turning all of the lonely years to only days
(Only days)
They'll hold you forever
Oh, a thousand words

Dauwn finished her song and bowed at the end. The crowd cheered. "Great as usual Dauwn!", "you should sing more often again Dauwn!" people shouted over the uproar of cheers.
She looked into the crowd then to her friends, she silently waved to them shyly. Aladdin called out "that was Great miss Dauwn!" he called out
Lo'lo was still staring blankly with his mouth still opened making Dauwn feel embarrassed until she saw the corner of his mouth grow into a smile as he slowly started clapping then his clapping got loud and his small smile turned into an amazed and awestruck brighten grin.
"That was amazing Dauwn!" he called and gave a cheering whistle. This made Dauwn become from embarrassed to bashful again.

Aladdin leaned into Lo'lo, "Her rukh is turning pink again."
Lo'lo looked down at Aladdin, "it is!?" he seemed more excited, his smile was more genuine happiness. Aladdin's mouth raised at the corner in a confirming smile. as he had his sights to Lo'lo he notice a building with a familiar sign. Aladdin got a huge heap of joy when he saw what the building was, he just needed an excuse to leave Dauwn and lo'lo. "Say, why don't you and Dauwn have some time alone together...I heard the grove is a nice spot this time of day." he suggested.

"Aladdin, I think I'll take you up on that. Ok. I'll ask her." Lo'lo announced
"Ask me what?" Dauwn pondered as she got to the guys.
Lo'lo got up, "Dauwn it's been awhile since me and you hung out alone. why don't we leave to your private spot."
Dauwn's face turned bright red. "uh sure. I'd like that." Dauwn turned to Aladdin. "Since your going back to my house, Aladdin, can you take this guy and leave him in my room." Dauwn gave Aladdin the large bear Lo'lo won earlier.

Aladdin tried to speak out but Dauwn and Lo'lo left in a giddy way that resembled teenagers. "what have I done.." Aladdin said to himself. oh well, it's no problem he can just use his carpet to travel to Dauwn's home then back to catch the brothel. yep, that's the plan. Quickly, he unravelled his turban and hoped on. Aladdin flew to the lord house.
Once inside Aladdin placed the bear down on her bed, He then turned to leave the room but ,curious, he turned around to look at her room. Dauwn won't be back for awhile. It wouldn't hurt to take a peek. Giggling to himself, Aladdin trotted in the room to explore he used his new wand ,which he had to run to his room first to retrieve it, to light up the room to take a look.

A typical bedroom, The bed was big and soft looking. The dressers and tables had little decorations on them but that's to be expected. Nothing really to see expect for...Aladdin took noticed of Dauwn's bamboo staff. If he could recall Lo'lo told him about Dauwn's skill with her staff. Aladdin stepped closer to it to have a better look at it, He hadn't seen bamboo before. When he got closer Aladdin noticed something on the staff. With the slight craving pattern being yellow like the staff, you could have over looked it. Aladdin looked in shock as picked up the staff to get a better look at it, when he saw the craving up close. Aladdin knew exactly it was!

it was a metal vessel! Dauwn has a Djiin of her own!! but why would she keep that a secret??