Figurehead

eight

The fields I pass are empty, thankfully. The Aranakiu people are bustling around through the streets, and while there are not anywhere near as many of them as there are in Anshakim or even in Densakfin (the smallest province of the Escatin empire), the chatter and laughter mingles together in the air as if it is a marketplace here.

As I continue further through the streets with people brushing past or with children shrieking and tearing past, chasing other children or chasing stray livestock, I see Aranakiu's actual marketplace. Despite the light rain beginning to douse everything and everyone, the people are unaffected, the children climbing and adding to a growing pile of weeds in the centre of the wide space, cleared for this very occasion. Some of the children are splayed across the heap in an attempt to keep parts of it dry for later, laughing loudly and with full hearts. Parents and other Aranakiu look on with grins and smiles as they stand and watch or pass by, carrying bundles of weeds or grains.

It's... Beautiful.

I catch sight of Nirs throwing a large bundle of weeds into the air and into the waiting arms of a child, who crows with victory and runs off to add to the growing pile, proud of his achievement. She turns and I see her eyes widen in surprise when she sees me. "Janf!" she calls, and runs up to me and throws her arms around me in a hug, her dark braids damp. "You're alright!" She pauses, looking over me as she steps back. "Right?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I'm good." Her energy is infectious. "What changed here?"

She shrugs. "Eler told me they hadn't held harvest bonfire celebrations for four Dre. The first was the night we came." I push away the image of the soldier sitting by the fire, having been at war for the same amount of time, and manage a smile.

"That's great."

A man tugged reluctantly along the street by a clamour of noise and hands and grins glances at us with surprise before returning his attention to the children dragging him towards the bonfire.

"It is, isn't it?" I grin at her enthusiasm. "And we're almost finished, actually. It's only been two days and we're already almost done!"

"That's pretty incredible, considering how big Aranakiu is," I exclaim, eyes flicking over our surroundings. Especially since the population has dwindled so much. But I don't voice this, not wanting to change the hope lingering in the atmosphere.

She nods. "Yeah." The brightness of her green eyes makes me smile.

"You're back already?"

"Managed to shake off the tiny crowd, then," I say, nodding at the children in the distance, who shriek and yell as they are pulled away from the pile of weeds. Someone is about to light it, and their excitement is almost palpable.

He laughs a little. "Yeah."

"Yud hasn't been sleeping," Nirs rolls her eyes. "That's how much he's been doing."

I try not to laugh. "Yeah, like you have been."

She puts on an expression of innocence, and both Yud and I burst into laughter at how unnatural it looks. "Yeah, alright," she laughs.

"What got the whole province together?" I ask after a while, turning to watch the flames rise, the weeds burning to produce a distinct sweet smell.

I see Yud glance at Nirs, who is staring at the children with a grin as they gather in a mass to roast some sweets in the fire. "In a way, she did," he says quietly, turning back to me. I raise an eyebrow. "Sometimes all you need is one person. Sometimes it's like... It's like everyone's on the verge of doing something, but it takes someone else to prompt them into action. It's like a chain reaction. Or a wildfire. It just needs a spark."