As the sun could no longer be seen from this part of the world.
As the magic candles lit themselves and illuminated the faces of everyone that had travelled far and wide.
The Fintan village festival was about to begin.
With food freshly hunted and cooked.
Alcoholic drinks imported from the city of Va and other regions around the world from people came with a gift. The sound of chattering was bright. Children were running around holding the hands of each other, dragging each other around to see all the festival had to offer. Most people, the adults included, wanted to try every game in hopes of winning prizes that were simple wooden toys created by Fishy and Silmor. Even most adults hadn't seen the games that Fishy brought to them. These ideas weren't from this world and Fishy had a clear image of every memory he spent at a festival. He reflected over them whilst listening to the adults laugh and taunt each other whilst the kids were infatuated by the smell of meats they've never tried before.
"What you spacing out for?" Clara bumped into Fishy, handing him a glass that was filled to the top with Cai's famous brew.
"Nothing… Just glad we pulled it off."
"Wasn't that hard," Clara said as she proceeded to down her entire stein in front of Fishy who wasn't sure if he should be impressed or not, either way, he was looking at Clara differently than before.
"You got drunk last time so now it's my turn," Clara said as she took Fishy's off him and finished it for him. Accidentally burping in his face, creating a slight gap of tension only to be let off with them both laughing.
"You're on!" Fishy said as they both ran to find Cai.
The triplets roamed the festival like any other kid, eager to try anything and everything. Except, unlike most kids that were left on their own, Tin and the elder quietly watched from behind, making sure they didn't cause any trouble.
"What a great atmosphere." The elder said as he slowly drank through his beer. "I might get a little drunk if I'm not careful."
Tin smiled at the elder's attempts at humour whilst she looked at her kids whose smiles were blazing unlike before.
"He's amazing, isn't he?" Tin said as she took in the air around her. "He's saved us all."
"Although he won't admit it. You are correct." The elder said trying to sneak in another beer whilst Tin wasn't looking. "Without a man like him, we'd be nothing."
"And to think we know so little…" Tin added.
"He's a man of mystery. But, aren't we all. Kekeke…" The elder let out a strange laugh that he's never experienced before, causing Tin to let out a delightful laugh back and force the beer out of his hands only to drink it herself.
"You've had too much…"
"Aw…" The elder said rather disappointingly.
"COME ON!" At the edges of the village, Silmor stood on a dark oak table with his leg high and mighty as his audience cheered him on to finish his 7th stein in a minute.
"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A DWARF!" He screamed only for everyone else on the table to follow suit and almost end up sick on the table.
"He needs to slow down…" Ziu said watching from afar. "I don't want to have to kick him out."
"You'd kick out a resident?" Cai asked as she gently played with Clara's passed out hair whilst she smiled, quietly singing to her drunken self.
"Even she's had too much," Ziu added.
"But she's cute when she's drunk. Reminds me of a baby giant panda."
"A GIANT PANDA?!" Fishy jumped in on the conversation. Pulling himself off the floor and trying to climb up, pulling on Clara's clothes as she almost got dragged down to support her leader up.
"You have those here?" Fishy asked.
"We do," Cai said. "Giant things that roam the land about 10 feet tall."
Fishy listened carefully, wanting to hear more about an animal he loved in his previous life. He was just unsure as to what about them was true and what about them was a joke. After hearing the claim that they were 10 feet tall he passed it off as a joke but after seeing how Ziu didn't react, it was clear to Fishy that it wasn't a joke.
"I see… are they dangerous?"
"Not really," Ziu said, picking Clara off the floor and leaning her against Fishy who could no longer feel his arms. "They just act like babies all the time. Rolling about, chewing on things. Just being stupidly cute."
Fishy was starting to see the similarities between the two worlds but wasn't sure how Clara looked like a baby one.
"Perhaps they are white and pink in this world? Black and pink?" He thought to himself.
The festival continued with no sign of stopping. A village that could house 100 people, currently had 300 people inside it. Not all of these people were awake as some had drunk too much before the night even began. But even so, through Fishy's very drunk eyes, even he could tell that everyone was enjoying themselves. And with that, his invisible checkmark was successfully crossed off.
# # #
"Yuck!" Fishy said trying to swallow whatever horrible thing he was giving to swallow at 5 in the morning. "What is this?"
"Giant albatross eggs." the elder said as he gently woke Clara up from her nap on Fishy's legs. The two of them were still on the bench. They never woke up again to be able to move from that spot.
"Albatross? They are big enough. How giant are they?" Fishy said not wanting to know anything else about genetic mutation monsters that went extinct in his world many many years ago.
"YAWN! Good morning!" Clara stretched every clicking bone in her body as she was greeted with the same bowl of raw eggs that Fishy was. "I'll pass on this." She said as it was shoved down her throat.
"Want to rest in a bed?" The elder asked the two of them as it was still 5am.
"Uh-huh…" They both nodded and agreed as Ziu picked them up and appropriately placed them in their rooms.
"Thank you, Ziu…" They both murmured.
"Did you have fun?" Fishy asked Ziu even though his face was against his newly made pillow that was no longer straw.
"I did," Ziu said, smiling, not that Fishy could see it. "You've shown us all the sights we've never seen before. A wonderful time had by all."
"I'm glad..." Fishy quickly returned to the dream world whilst Ziu and the elder left him to sleep.
"I wonder what he'd think if he found out you had gotten drunk once he passed out?" the elder teased Ziu who was resolved to not show that he was dealing with a painful headache.
"You're joking, right?" Ziu responded not wanting to ruin his lord's impression of him.
"Kekeke… of course I am… I'm even still a little bit drunk myself."