Black & White

Chapter Nineteen: The Summer Festival

『Two Weeks Later』

The sound of fireworks exploding filled the air with the beautiful flashes of bright colors. One after another, the lights of blue, green, red, and purple would light up the sky with a crackling sound.
Underneath the night sky, large crowds of people gossiped freely, while small children ran about, play fighting with one another, or playing tag. Around them were small concession stands with men and women calling out to the crowds, either selling their merchandise or announcing their activities. Some citizens tried out the fish catching game, ate the delicious food the chiefs had made, or sat further away from the crowded streets of the Summer Festival to watch the fireworks.

Unlike many other celebration's Iria had celebrated the birthdays of a Prince or Princess, Queen or King, a season celebration was created to celebrate both times of war and peace. However, there were only four seasons: Haru (Spring), Natsu (Summer), Outono (Autumn), and Iarnă (Winter). All of them having many new and different activities or such for the people to enjoy. But the Summer Festival was considered one of the most liveliest of the four seasonal events. In the month of July, a festival was formed in order to celebrate the time of peace and prosperity between the five kingdoms of Iria.

But the four Seasonal Festival's were also times for religious beliefs. The Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring were the birthdays of the gods and goddesses of Iria. The day July 30th was day of the Summer Festival and also the day where the two sibling gods, Mona and Yamï fought over the world. Though in some legends, the God of Darkness was sent down to the Underworld for his heinous crimes against the world. But all of this, was nothing more than a mere legend.

"...Uowaaa...!"

A gasp of awe filled Hikari's ears, she turned her head towards the source of the noise, only to find both Sari and Sai standing side by side, watching the fireworks. The strawberry blonde stared up into the sky as the explosion sound pierced through the sky, revealing the beautiful light effects. Hikari looked back at them both, a smile appeared on her face, asking her best friend in a loud voice.

"Is this your first time seeing the Summer Festival?"

Without missing a beat, Sari looked back at her with a goofy smile, and replied with the same level of loudness in her voice.

"Yeah. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to see the flashes of the colorful lights the fireworks displayed, the new and familiar smells from the delicious foods, and most importantly, the view of the night-­sky."

Touched, Hikari's smile deepened. She also wanted to see the festival since she was a little girl, but her parents told her she had other responsibilities. Now however, she was witnessing one of the most beautiful things before her very eyes. But to think there were others who weren't allowed to see the Summer Festival, it was something to be quite shocked about. Since noble children usually had the privileges to travel to different cities or countries, seeing different landmarks that made the world.

Hikari didn't envy the noble classes for getting such luxuries, even if they had the money to do whatever they wished, she didn't care. Letting out a soft sigh, she looked down the hill to see the citizens walking around or talking to one another.
She scanned the streets once again, glancing at a few commoners who walked along, a man with short red hair, a woman with brown hair, and a small girl with dark­red hair. The girl's hands were being held by the two adults, making Hikari think that was the girl's parents. While she watched, she strained her ears to hear what the little girl was saying to her parents. Then she heard the little girl speak, "Mama, what are those pretty light's?"

Just as the girl said this, the sound like crackling thunder filled the air once again, igniting the sky in a light blue color. The crackling disrupted her concentration, perhaps disrupting her train of thought too. Hikari muttered something under her breath and turned back to see Sai and Sari sitting next to each other, the girls head was on his shoulder while he smiled as he gazed up into the night­sky.