"Hem hem."
Alderman Ferell Rivos cleared his throat while looking out at the entire Assembly Hall. Yuriko straightened up in her seat, assuming the proper posture drilled into her by half a decade of primary schooling, her Mum, and Matron Rosie.
"Welcome, citizens of Faron's Crossing and visitors alike, to our Twenty-first Harvest Festival. Let us welcome our children who have crossed the threshold into adulthood and responsibility…"
Rivos' voice droned on but the crowd's attention never faded. Yuriko felt alert. She hung onto every word, hanging off the edge of her seat. Out of her peripheral vision, she could see every Novice doing the same. She couldn't see the crowd behind her but from the lack of voices, the ambient noise being mostly of the breeze and the temperature regulating runescript sparking from Animus consumption, every last one of them was listening intently.
"...this year has been full of challenges, not least of which has been the Wyldling Wave of the past week. But was it enough to lay us low? Of course not. We are hardy folk. We chose to live here, to make our mark in the frontier. How many of us have left the cities of the Empire, choked off from making any significant contributions? Given not the chance to advance? Here, we embrace change, we embrace danger, and we embrace opportunity…"
Yuriko felt herself frown. But she wasn't unhappy. She was perfectly fine listening.
"...Now a new generation, one of the first to be born on this land have come of age. Again we grow stronger. We grow to hold this land, this wonderful, bountiful land…"
A feeling of pressure came from behind her eyes, making it throb painfully. She wanted to shake her head, but…she must listen.
"...for our debutants, a word of warning. The power of your Animus is now great enough that in untrained, careless, or malicious hands, great harm can be dealt. Know that you have a responsibility to use that power for the greater good. The Eternal Empire of the Righteous Order is the source of the Atavism Ritual. It is by this great hand that we, the survivors of the Shattering, survive and flourish. We owe it our fealty, and we are often called to defend it from its enemies…"
It wasn't really something that Yuriko hadn't heard before. In one form or another, the deeds of the Empire, and the distant Verdant Empress, had been fed to their young minds. The pressure behind her eyes grew stronger. She closed her eyes briefly, raised her palms and pressed it against her eyes.
With a small mental pop, she shook off the compulsion. Bewildered, she glanced surreptitiously around her, finding the other kids enraptured. The adults behind her weren't so enraptured. A middle-aged man a few seats away yawned in his fist while she could see another dozing off.
Alderman Rivos didn't seem to mind them. His gaze wandered around his audience and his eyes widened when he looked at Yuriko's direction. She expected him to grow angry or annoyed. That she had somehow broken the spell of his voice. Instead, he gave her an approving nod and a smile.
The rest of the speech was boring. She leaned back and simply waited for him to finish. If she squinted, she could just see the subtle tremor of the Alderman's Animus. It resonated in the air and made his voice sound compelling. Even now she could feel that it affected her but foreknowledge allowed her to shake it off with little trouble. Unfortunately, none of her friends were able to do the same.
"...Now, I'm sure those of you who've gone through the Blessing of Mayuri are keen to get on with it. The Harvest Moon Beer from the previous blessing has aged wonderfully in their oak barrels and though there is less wheat to bless this year, don't worry; we'll have more than enough for the next Harvest Moon. Now go and enjoy the evening!"
With those last words, Krystal, Heron, Mikel, the twins, and their other yearmates were jolted out of their listening trance. They blinked their eyes and smiled widely. The chairs scuffed the floors as they were pushed back and the audience filed out of the Assembly hall. Night had fallen completely by the time Yuriko walked out.
On the normal Lunar Cycle, tonight would have been the second day of the Dark Moon. The skies would have been filled with the varied lights and hues of the Chaos Stream, though they would be faded and muted. The moon would be a circle of pure darkness, easily visible against the night sky.
The Harvest Moon, on the other hand, was characterized by the moon backlit by seven halos. The colour of those halos varied year by year but most often, it would be shades of grey, silver, and red.
This year, the halos were shades of blue and purple, casting a somewhat sombre air. The halos pulsed and quivered, expanded and contracted every few seconds.
With a start, she realized that she had been staring at the skies for the past few minutes. The colours this year were just too beautiful that she couldn't help but be mesmerized. Heron nudged her side when she finally looked down.
When they went to the square earlier, it was still relatively open. Now, several tables had been placed along the shop fronts, laden with food. At the temple, several barrels were stacked three high. A couple had some spigots and a man was filling a wooden tankard with the pale frothy content.
Several poles, five paces high, had been erected throughout the square. Five baskets of threshed wheat surrounded the base of each pole. Long ribbons hung from the top of the pole, each narrow strip several paces long.
"The Dance of the Sun and Moon," Heron said, his voice breaking mid-sentence but his face couldn't grow any redder since he'd been flushing from the start. He held out a hand to her.
"Wait, what?" Orrin exclaimed from the side.
Braden coughed. "Will you dance with us too?
Yuriko shook her head. "Heron already asked me."
Heron's flush receded and he grinned widely while she took his hand. It was slightly clammy but quite warm.
The voice of a violin and a cello, other string instruments that she didn't recognize, started from a platform beside Faron's statue. It was a haunting melody at the start that grew steadily merrier towards the middle. Couples took a ribbon from the pole and twirled around the pole, wrapping the ribbon around it as they did so.
There wasn't really a set movement for the dance and most of the couples were significantly older than Yuriko and Heron. Krystal and Mikel followed behind them with Mikel looking quite fidgety.
They caught a ribbon, red and yellow, as it fluttered past. Heron shuffled a few steps while Yuriko daintily stepped in time with the rhythm. One hand was held up high, clasping the ribbon in between. They circled each other as they followed the path, Heron's midnight black eyes reflecting the moon's halos as they stared at hers.
The intensity of his stare made Yuriko a bit uncomfortable, so she looked away but she could still feel his gaze on her cheek. The breeze blew the hair across her eyes. Before she could sweep the strands away, Heron brushed it gently off and tucked them behind her ear.
When they finished a circle, Yuriko stepped back, ignoring his disappointed gaze, and handed the ribbon off to another couple.
Heron followed her wordlessly to the long table. She rebuffed his attempt at serving her some of the food, grabbing a plate for herself and filling it with little sandwiches and cheese.
"Are you alright?" He asked tentatively. "You seem a bit shaken."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm…I'm suddenly not feeling too good." Her mind was numb and she felt as if she was floating.
"Let me get you a seat," Heron said hurriedly. He looked around and pointed towards one of the avenues connected to the square. The wide road had been converted into a dining area of sorts, with round tables and stools. The two of them made their way there and she sat down.
Heron anxiously looked around, finding the silence between them unbearable.
"Could you…look for…" Yuriko sighed. "Nevermind."
"What, what?"
"Yuri, what's wrong?" Orrin and Braden walked up to them, hands filled with a platter and a mug. The twins glared at Heron. "What happened?"
"Nothing, at least, I don't know?" Heron stuttered.
"It's nothing. I'm fine." Yuriko said, but a wave of dizziness came upon her and she swayed on her stool.
Heron's and Orrin's hands on her back steadied her somewhat.
"Should we bring you home?" Braden examined her face. "You're…glowing."
"Huh?"
"No, he's right." Heron said. "There's a faint glow coming from underneath your skin." He glanced up at the sky and back at her.
Yuriko stared at her arm. In the darkness, it did seem as if her skin was a bit more radiant, but she was by no means shedding light. It wasn't as if she was using her Animu...s?
Why was her Animus circulating? She closed her eyes and saw it moving around, vaguely like the Strengthen Physique pattern. It wasn't that pattern, she knew. Otherwise, she would have already felt the pain as her Animus drove itself into her bones and muscles.
The pattern circulated from her core to her Anima before transitioning to her body. It lingered in her head, creating complex fractals around her initial Facet and Heritage pattern before making its way to her heart and then the rest of her body. There was only one strand too, bearing less than a twentieth of her total reserves. When the strand came near her skin was when it seemed as if she were glowing. She grew dizzy when the strand circulated in her head.
She sighed in relief when she found out the cause but why did this happen in the first place? Everything taught to her in school and in the training camp was that Animus was a force of Will. It needed Intent to function otherwise it was just there. Would a hand stretch out and grab something without the mind directing it? Even if it seemed to do so on its own sometimes, behind the scenes, it would always be because her head commanded her body.
So why?
She reached out with her mind to the strand, intending to bring it back under conscious control. The moment her mental hand grabbed it, it was rebuffed. It felt as if she had tried to stop a speeding landcraft by standing in front of it and stopping it with her hands. The rebound gave her a headache. She didn't stop though. If stopping it head-on didn't work, then maybe from an angle.
She looped her mental hand, imagining another to aid her. She caught it as it passed her heart, diverting it into a loop to shed its momentum. She spun the strand around and around, long loops and spirals, until it slowed and obediently calmed to her touch.
When it slowed, she discovered that at the head of the strand had been twisted into a crude rune word. She couldn't make out the entire thing before it unravelled but she thought it had the concept 'free' in it.
When she opened her eyes she jumped in shock. The twins and Heron were now accompanied by Krystal, Mikel, Kato, and a busty girl with red hair, green eyes, and freckles across her creamy white skin.
"What's this?" Kato asked, "Are you feeling ill?" He pressed his hand on her forehead, then pinched her chin to lift her face up. He stared at her eyes while she blinked in confusion. "You don't have a fever, you aren't drunk, and you seem fine. What's wrong?"
Yuriko pulled her face away from her big brother, swatting his hand as she did so. "I'm fine. Just a momentary dizziness."
"Huh." He looked at Heron. "Did you do anything?"
Heron shook his head furiously. "No, no! We were just dancing around the Blessing Pole…"
The twins were staring daggers at Heron too.
Krystal came up next to Yuriko and hugged her. She whispered into her ear, "Feeling a bit skittish?"
"Huh, why? My Animus acted up, I don't know why."
The playful look in Krystal's eyes disappeared like mist with the noon sun, "Oh! What happened?"
Her voice was loud enough that it attracted the attention of the boys. Kato's companion, Caera Eurielle Sawthner, had been looking at him with some impatience for a while now. She glanced at Yuriko but sniffed dismissively.
"I'll tell you later," Yuriko hissed. "Let's not make a ruckus now."
Krystal gave her a searching look that Yuriko met steadily. After a while, Krystal nodded.
"Kato, I'm fine. Just had a dizzy spell."
Her elder brother looked at her with narrowed eyes. He glanced at Krystal, at Mikel, and finally at Caera. "Alright, but after the Cup, we're going home."
"But…!" Yuriko and Caera protested in unison. The red-haired girl dragged Kato off and they spoke furiously for a few moments before Yuriko interrupted.
"You don't have to see me home, Kato. I'll go home after the Cup."
He nodded reluctantly and they headed off.
The cup was the traditional toast where they drank the Harvest Festival Beer, a drink that had been brewed from the previous year's blessed wheat. Under-thirteens were given a cup of lavan juice instead but the reason wasn't solely for the fact that the Beer was an alcoholic beverage. The main reason was that the Festival Beer was infused with something that spurred the growth of one's Animus Capacity. It was almost poison to those who hadn't Awakened but to Yuriko and the others who were freshly out of their Atavism Ritual? It was a powerful tonic.
For those already beyond Apprentice level, it was an exceeding delicious drink, or so she'd been told.
Attendants with small cups started making their way through the crowds. It didn't take long for one to arrive at their table and passed out the drink to each of them. Heron was still discomfited with what happened and he looked at her tentatively. She gave him an apologetic smile which seemed to mollify him.
They raised their cups and as one, drank down the entire thing.
Yuriko blanched. It was so bitter! "Ugh!"
All of them around her had the same expression, while the older people around them chuckled, while some outright laughed.
"That was the worst! How is this tasty?" Krystal complained.
"Like drinking horse piss," Braden growled.
"How do you know what horse piss tastes like?" Yuriko asked innocently.
"I, well," he spluttered, "I just heard the expression, alright?"
"I'm sure you did," she snickered. She felt her body heat up with the beer warming her belly like a furnace. Her Animus started stirring again. "Well, that's that. I had a lovely evening, Heron. Thank you."
"Let me escort you home," he offered.
"We'll go with you," Braden and Orrin said together.
"Might as well," Krystal grumbled. Mikel nodded along.
"No, no, stay. Enjoy the rest of the evening," Yuriko insisted. But Krystal refused, practically frog-marched her home. She waved goodnight to them by the door and they went on their way. From the looks of it, even Rami wasn't even back yet.
She washed her face and did her evening ablutions before settling down to bed. The moment her head touched the pillow, her consciousness darkened and the next thing she knew, she was standing in front of the Golden Silhouette in her dreamscape.
"Finally." The Golden Silhouette said.