Holiday Tales

Harvest Festival

Autumn had come to Katolis and with it came the harvest. The harvest was a big deal in the five human kingdoms; especially Durn and Katolis which almost suffered the loss of 100, 000 people when Durn was suffering from a five year famine and King Harrow had offered half of Katolis' food to help them. In fact, each year there was a celebration in the two kingdoms known as the Harvest Festival. It was partly to celebrate a bountiful harvest and partly to remember and honor the three queens who gave their lives to save their people.

Rayla had been to harvest festivals before. Her village back in Xadia had one every autumn to celebrate the harvest and she had always loved going. When she was a child, she had love the games, food, and unicorn rides that were always present. When she had become a teenager, things had changed. She still loved the games and food but had traded the unicorn rides for the boys. However, the elven boys paid little to no attention to her.

It wasn't until the harvest festival before Thunder had been killed and Zym's egg supposedly destroyed that she understood why. All the other elven girls were wearing dresses and jewelry and had their hair done up in elaborate styles. (Festivals were, after all, the place that young elves went to seek out potential mates.) Rayla, however, was wearing her assassin clothes and, while she did have a small braid tucked over her right ear, her hair was down.

There was no other way to say it; Rayla is a tomboy. It wasn't all that surprising. She had been raised by Runaan and he had raised her the only way he knew how: as a boy. But things were different now. Rayla had Ezren and Callum and they didn't care if she was a girly girl or a tomboy; they just liked spending time with her, Callum in particular.

***

The market square was crowded with people, both humans and elves. Pumpkins and bales of hay were stacked in decorative fashions. Apples, apple pies, candy apples, caramel apples, and apple cider were being sold at practically nearly every booth and the smell of roasting corn was everywhere. Rayla sampled a little bit of everything but didn't want to eat too much since there would be a big feast back at the palace. Callum and Ezran had suggested going to festival and Rayla had agreed wanting to see if it was anything like the ones she had attended back home.

"Having fun?" Callum asked.

Rayla looked at her boyfriend and nodded. Smiling, she hugged the stuffed dragon Callum had won for her at one of the game booths. Because it looked so much like Zym, Rayla had decided to name it after the young dragon king. Ezran ran up to them carrying a plate with fried piece of dough covered with powdered sugar.

"You guys have got to try this!" he said. "It's from Neolandia and really good."

"You really shouldn't eat too much, Ez," Callum said as he and Rayla tried the new treat Ezran had discovered. "We're going to have a big feast back at the palace."

"That's not until dinner time."

With that, Ezran ran off. With the Crownguard everywhere, it was safe for Ezran to be off on his own and he rarely got a chance to be just a regular kid so Callum let him be. Turning to Rayla, he took her hand.

"Do you want to go for a hay ride?" he asked leading her towards a hay filled wagon harnessed to two draft horses.

***

Rayla put the final touches on her outfit for the feast. Normally she didn't bother to dress for dinner and just wore her assassin clothes since it was normally just her, Callum, Ezran, and King Harrow (and occasionally General Amaya and Commander Gren when they were in Katolis). It turned out that Runaan and Harrow had been friends before the whole mess with the assassination attempt and the quest to return Zym to his mother and Rayla had been the only one on the team who didn't know that the assassination attempt was fake to appease the Queen of the Dragons and draw out Veran's true intentions for the throne. The original plan had been for Harrow to take Ezran into hiding and for Callum to temporarily assume the throne until they were able to figure out what Veran was planning. Rayla hadn't been the only one in the dark; Ezran and Callum hadn't known anything about it either. But things had worked themselves out once Callum and Rayla (a human and an elf) had worked together to keep Zym safe and return him to his mother.

However, this time was different. This feast was going to be attended by the High Council, representatives form the other four human kingdoms (and Queen Aanya who attended the Harvest Festival in Katolis every year since she was six), and representatives from Xadia. Not only that but Callum had proposed on the hay ride and he and Rayla planed to announce their engagement at the feast.

Rayla had selected a beautiful gown of autumn colors and gold and ruby jewelry and for the second time in her life (the first time for the banquet that had followed the peace negotiations) had done her hair up in an elegant style. She wanted to look perfect not only for the fest but also for the announcement of her engagement to Callum. Finally ready, she made her way to the banquet hall meeting Callum on the way.

"You look really beautiful," Callum said.

Rayla blushed a little. Even when she was in her assassin clothes all dirty and sweaty from practice, Callum still told her she was beautiful. He was just so in love with her that he couldn't see her any other way. Callum also looked nice for the feast and engagement announcement, wearing his best dress clothes and his hair neatly combed. Offering her his arm, he lead his fiancée into the banquet hall. No one gave them a second look. It was common for Callum and Rayla to be together. Soran had once joked that they had gotten married in some weird elven ceremony during their quest to return Zym to his mother causing both of them to blush and leading some to whisper that it might be true.

Dinner was amazing. Six big, fat turkeys had been cooked to perfection and stuffed with corn bread dressing and there was enough mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, salad, squash, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, and moonberry sauce for everyone and still have leftovers. Once everyone had taken a seat and said grace to the harvest god, Callum took Rayla's hand and the couple stood.

"Before we eat, Rayla and I have something we want to say," he said.