The fighting festival, Lenaia

The fighting festival, Lenaia, is an annual festival held by the biggest elf tribe. The festival is held so the bravest and strongest of fighters can showcase their power to others. It's also a great way to gain popularity and sponsors from other tribes. When the date of the festival is near, the people of the tribe spread flowers along the main street, welcoming the brave warriors to their village with bright smiles and sweet music.

It was that time of the year again, everyone was busy preparing for the festival, the sweet fragrance of the finest wine could already be smelled if one concentrated enough. The villagers had gathered the prettiest of flowers into little baskets, keeping them away from the children because one of them had already ruined a basket full of flowers the previous day. Soon, the fighters would arrive to the village and start preparing for Lenaia.

The village chief was also busy with the tasks the preparation of the festival brought. It took him a lot of work, but it was always worth it in the end, because everyone seemed to enjoy the festival to the fullest. There was nothing dangerous about Lenaia, it was just a competition to see if there were any brave warriors among the tribes worthy enough to join their forces. And usually there were a couple of warriors that caught the chief's eye and sparked curiosity inside him. Those who were accepted, were praised and worshiped by everyone.

Although everyone was excited about the festival, there was one individual, who hated the idea of a fighting competition. Mingi, the chief's youngest son, was the only one who hated the idea of his people fighting against other tribes' warriors. He hated violence from the bottom of his kind heart, but despite his desperate pleads to his father to stop the long-lasting tradition, he couldn't do anything about it.

Mingi's requests were turned down and ignored by the chief, but he expected it. His father was always busy this time of the year and he had no chance to have a discussion about the whole festival. The only one who was able to keep him sane was his older brother who also disliked the idea of fighting in the arena. In a way, they were similar, but Mingi's brother was braver and his figure was more muscular and bigger than his.

Mingi himself was pretty frail compared to his older brother, but what he had was height. He was the tallest out of all his siblings and he was proud of his height to say the least. But his height gave him some insecurities as well. For example, people usually spotted him in a crowd much faster than his other family members. And he didn't like to be the center of attention at all. He was the quiet sibling and he liked it that way.

As the son of the chief, Mingi's attire was also planned to look graceful. The golden necklace that hang around his neck was made by their clan's most skilled jewelrists, complimenting his elegant collarbones and making him look like royalty. His shirt was made from the finest silk, button-less, but he nor anyone else payed no mind to that. The black pants he wore fit him perfectly, showing his attractive figure even more. A detailed silver belt was also buckled to his pants. For finishing touches he wore all kinds of accessories from golden rings on his delicate fingers to piercings on his pointy ears.

Mingi never understood why he had to wear such clothes, but his father always made sure he looked like a proper noble man in other villagers' eyes. Although he liked his attire very much and wouldn't trade his clothes to anything, he always wondered what it would feel like to wear a normal button-up with black slacks. But of course his father would never allow him to wear something as common as that.

Mingi was situated in his own chambers, fixing his hair with a wooden comb in front of a huge mirror that hang on his wall. The way the comb brushed through his blonde locks made him immensely relaxed, almost falling asleep on his little tree stump chair. He had been getting ready for hours to welcome the fighters to the village. Anxiously, he put the comb back to its original place on his nightstand and walked out of the room to go greet his father.

The chief's hut was the biggest one out of all the other little huts in the village, and it was located on the tallest hill. Everyone could see the house from far away. The inside of the hut was elegant and it was fit for a chief. Every window was decorated with care, scarlet-red curtains hanging in front of them to give them a bit of colour. The chief had his own chambers as well, bigger than anyone else's. Mingi's other siblings did not live in the house anymore, having moved away a couple of years ago.

Mingi also wished to move away from his father's claws, getting tired of his commands and the way he controlled him. A nice house by a small lake would be a dream come true for him, and that's what he wished for. But he'd have to wait a few years for that to happen, only when he turns 22 can he move out of the hut. Or at least that's what was written in the rules. He was the chief's son, the possible heir. Mingi strongly disliked the idea of himself leading the village, he wasn't ready for the position, but his father thought he was the perfect fit to be the next village chief.

He got out of his room, walking down the narrow hallways towards his father's chambers. It was still dark outside, and the morning sun had yet to appear. Even though it was already spring, the air was too chilly for Mingi's liking. He took silent steps through the house, passing by the kitchen that was filled with servants ready to serve him and his father their breakfast. The smell of freshly cooked silk mushrooms hit his nostrils as soon as he walked past the bustling space. Halting in his steps, he turned around on his heels and sneaked into the kitchen to steal one of the delicious looking mushrooms that were placed neatly in a bowl on the table.

Humming to himself, Mingi rushed out of the kitchen and made his way to his father's chambers. The huge skull of a deer hanging on the door gave it away that it was his father who resided inside. Stepping through the door, he coughed a little to see if the chief was yet awake, but after waiting for a minute, no one commented about his little cough. He walked to the window and opened the scarlet curtains to let some light in the room. Turning around, he saw his father's bed, sadly empty like he had anticipated. With a soft sigh leaving his lips, Mingi took one last glance at all the different skulls that were hanging above his father's bed, and exited the room with a disappointed frown on his lips.

Before he had time to close the door, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, and being the scaredy cat he is, he flinched and backed off immediately after feeling the touch on his shoulder. A low laugh came from behind him, and Mingi recognized it as his father's laugh, immediately letting his shoulders slump down in relief. Turning around, he was met with his father's tall figure, green, intimidating eyes staring holes right trough his skull. "Father, you scared me." The younger muttered under his breath, avoiding his father's fierce eyes.

The man let out another laugh erupt from within him, hand proudly patting Mingi's shoulder. "I came back to get my staff from my quarters, Son. I am sorry for disturbing your morning peace." The older man said, eyeing the outfit Mingi was wearing. His eyes fixated on the golden piercing on Mingi's earlobe, narrowing when he noticed another piercing above it. "I see you have pierced your ears once again without my permission, Son. I thought we talked about this, no?" He said, the features on his face turning neutral once again. Mingi froze up, remembering the piercing on his ear he didn't tell his father about. "If I see even one more piercing anywhere on your body, I will personally go to your friend's little shop and tell him to stop piercing you."

Mingi lowered his head in shame, regretting the piercing he took immediately. His father's burning stare was intense and it made him uncomfortable. It was as if the chief was examining every single move he made to see if Mingi was worthy for his position. The blonde nodded his head, slowly reaching out for his earlobe with shaky hands and taking out the golden piercing, putting it in his pocket. "I — I won't take any more piercings, Father. I can take all the other's out as well-"

His father huffed, interrupting Mingi's train of thought. "I don't care. Just don't take more piercings, you got it?" He grumbled, moving Mingi out of the way so he could get to his door. "Breakfast will be served in an hour, make sure you're ready and in proper clothes before that." His father said before disappearing to his room and leaving Mingi standing in front of the door.

The lingering tension from his and his father's conversation could still be felt, and it made Mingi shiver uncomfortably. He backed off from the door, and with one last glance at the deer skull, he walked off. Did his father dislike his attire or were his accessories too much? It was weird, because usually it was his father who gave him all kinds of jewelry to put on, but now the tables had turned. Not noticing it, Mingi subconsciously reached for the golden piercing in his pocket and took it out, putting it back in its place.

He wanted to get out of the house and meet with his brother, but like his father had said, breakfast was to be served in an hour, and the walk to his brother's house was longer than that. So, he decided to visit his dear friend at the jewelry shop. Maybe he could buy new earrings for the festival. As Mingi walked out of the house, he was greeted by several servants, giving each and every servant an awkward smile back.

The surroundings of his house was vast, surrounded by a wall blue flowers. There was a small flower bed next to the front door which Mingi took care of every day. In the middle of the flower bed was a flower, a special flower. An Iris, a purple flower with big pedals that grow downwards, is the representative flower of their clan. The flower is also embedded into every villagers' markings.

Mingi's own marking was quite big and it was located on his forearm. The golden markings spiraled around his arm and almost reached his fingers. The flower itself was on his forearm, on a somewhat visible spot. He was rather glad the colour of his markings wasn't vibrant, like blue. He was content with the charming golden colour the markings had. Compared to Mingi, his father had black markings that reached all the way from his chest to his face. It made the chief look intimidating and menacing, even the other tribes' leaders feared his father.

After checking on the flower bed, Mingi started his journey towards his friend's shop with a smile plastered on his lips. The village was as busy as always, people bustling on the streets and merchants trading with some of the shop owners. Some of the shops had built stands along the main street, all kinds of food placed in small baskets for people to buy. The blonde boy eyed the stands, giving the vendors smiles as he passed by. One particular stand caught his eye as he was about to walk by it. The baskets were filled with glass jars full of pink a substance which Mingi recognized as crystal water.

Crystal water was something not everyone got to taste, a delicacy that only wealthy villagers had access to. And that specific fact had Mingi quirk up an eyebrow at the seller. It was an older woman, maybe in her fifties. She looked well-off enough to possess such a luxury item, but it still made the blonde wonder how she had gotten her hands on something so precious.

The woman noticed Mingi's looks at the crystal water jars, a smirk forming on her lips at the thought of the man buying one of her jars. "Well hello there." The woman chirped, eyes as small as crescents as she smiled widely. "Are you here to buy something, handsome?" She raised a curious eyebrow, reaching for a jar and giving it to Mingi.

The blonde shook his head anxiously, pushing the jar back to the woman's hands. "Please, call me Mingi. And no, I am not buying anything today." He gave the woman a small smile and put his hand in his pocket. "I was just walking by when I saw all these jars of crystal water. It's pretty impressive how you've gotten yourself such a big batch of it." He rambled, examining one of the jars rather than looking the woman in the eye. "But there's something wrong, miss." He pointed out, finally glancing at the woman. "This isn't crystal water. It's just plain water."

The seller widened her eyes and put the jar back in the basket, glaring at Mingi with an annoyed expression. "You're the chief's son, ain't you." She scoffed, rolling her eyes at the blonde boy. "No wonder you knew it wasn't crystal water. You nobles are too good at magic these days." She sighed, taking the basket in her hands. "And, I wasn't really planning on selling them. I was looking for someone who would be able to see the difference between real crystal water and just plain water. You've proven yourself worthy for one free jar of real crystal water, handsome." She smirked, laying the basket full of pink water on the ground and picking up another basket from under the stand. "This right here, is real crystal water. You can have one jar for free, go ahead."

Mingi gave the woman an unsure look, glancing at the jar in front of him. "Are you sure? Crystal water is very expensive around here, miss. It's not something you can just freely give to someone." He said, his hand balling into a fist in his pocket. "You can sell it instead of giving it to me, I don't need it." He added, giving the old woman a shy smile and turning around on his heels, ready to leave.

"Are you sure you don't want to give it to your father?" The woman shouted from behind him, a chuckle following it. "It also keeps your markings shiny and pretty!" She laughed one last time before giving up upon seeing that Mingi wasn't interested at all. "Fine, I'll sell it then. Have a good day, prince Mingi."

Before Mingi was able to protest at the nickname she gave him, the woman was gone from sight. "Please don't call me by that nickname..." He mumbled under his breath to himself, walking away from the stand. Mingi disliked it when people referred to him as the prince of the Iris clan. It reminded him of his duties and his responsibilities as the prince, as well as the fact that he was to lead the whole clan someday. With one last glance at the crystal water stand, he made his way to his friend's shop to clear his clouded mind off things he would like to forget for a while.