Autumn's Fire

Autumn's Fire: Chapter 12

The harvest festival's feast day started with Mum rushing into my room and shaking me awake. I squinted through sleep-fogged eyes at her as she gently pinched my cheek and told me that I needed to get dressed. I managed to let out a groan, which she took as agreement, so she smiled and waved as she left the room. For a moment I considered going right back to sleep, but I quickly decided against it as I wouldn't be able to eat the feast if I didn't help cook it. So, I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled my way through getting dressed. After I got myself reasonably together, I wandered into the kitchen where Mum and Dad were talking in hushed whispers.

"Okay. Well, I'm alive. So, let's go," I grumbled, gesturing to the front door weakly.

Mum pressed her lips into a thin line, the face she always made when she was trying not to laugh, and Dad simply burst into unbridled laughing fits. I furrowed my eyebrows and squinted at them, confused, when Mum, now barely containing a smile, pointed down. I looked down at myself and quickly realized why they were laughing; my dress was inside out and backwards, I had no socks or boots, and one sleeve of my dress was scrunched up to my bicep. Not yet awake enough to come up with a retort, I groaned and stomped back into my room to fix my attire. Halfway to my room, I stopped in the hall and forced myself to look out the window, filling my face with sunshine. It stung my eyes and made my head ache, but it did a decent job of waking me up.

Once I had gotten properly dressed, Mum, Dad, and I left together to walk over to the Rinehilts. As usual, Mum and Dad were talking about store business, so I quickly zoned out. This meant that I wasn't distracted while walking and saw Thali and her family walking down the road the second they came into view. I was instantly filled with a dread and a need to turn around, to go home. But a few moments after I noticed them, so did my parents, and my Dad called out to them.

"Shael! Alluin! Ava'Merith!" He yelled, waving an arm over his head. Shael was Os'Nys's name and Alluin was Os'Tan's name; while the Elvish phrase was what we greeted each other with on harvest festival feast day since it meant 'happy feast'.

The three of them stopped and waited for us to catch up, and once we did my parents and Thali's parents exchanged hugs.

"Good to see you all again! I hope you are all looking forward to the feast just as much as we are!" Os'Tan exclaimed in his typical monotone voice despite the excitement on his face. "Oh, Paeral, I meant to talk to you. We grew a higher quality strain of the hard red spring wheat this year, and I was hoping you might know of some buyers for the excess?" Os'Tan brought the subject back around to business, and I zoned out at practically the exact second he used Dad's name.

As we all walked together, I stole glances at Thali who remained silent, refusing to look at me. I hadn't talked to her since the incident with Jenal, and though I knew I should still be angry or want an apology, I didn't anymore. I had never been able to stay angry at Thali for very long, but it wasn't a bad thing; it meant that I got to keep my friend and put all of the bad behind me. So, even though logic would've dictated otherwise, I stepped closer to Thali as we walked and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey. You're my best friend, and I love you like a sister. So, let's forget about what happened, and just enjoy today. Okay?" I spoke quietly, careful not to let our parents hear.

Thali looked up at me, her eyes watery and filled with regret, and hugged me back tightly and awkwardly as we struggled to keep walking while doing so. Then, giggling, we separated from the hug. I noticed Mum look back at us over her shoulder and smile at our antics, and I felt a little pang of embarrassment.

The rest of the walk, Thali caught me up with everything that had been going on with her. She was still dating Jeril, but they had a new rule that Jenal was no longer allowed to be around them. I smiled, happy that she had made the change, but at the same time I was a little suspicious that perhaps they made the change due to Jenal obviously still trying to go after Thali. Things were even going quite well with Jeril, and he had helped her with the harvest the week before and with the packaging of the grain this week. Usually, Thali's parents hired four workers to help, but thanks to Jeril volunteering, they only had to hire three. From what Thali described, it made a good impression on both her and her parents, so Jeril would probably be sticking around for a while.