Moonlit Festival (I)

Even looking at the city from a distance, multicoloured lights adorned the different districts with the full moon above in a clear sparkly sky shining down her blessings. It wasn't long before they reached an isolated inn with stables where they could leave their horses for the night.

Nima came out of the inn after having discussed a few things with the owner and confirmed with Khayri before they headed to the small dark alley that led out to a bigger and brighter street.

The girls held hands and talked while walking ahead of the two young men.

Glittery ornaments and decorative lamps of all sizes representative of the moon and stars lined the busy streets. Some hung on the stalls, some on the buildings and some as charms on the festival goers themselves.

 It was as if the starry night sky had descended to earth to adorn the mere mortals. Even then, people couldn't help but notice the dazzling party as they walked down the street.

Kamaria closed her eyes and inhaled the aroma of the different foods as they were being freshly prepared.

It was a dream, a very delicious one.

There was so much more variety than usual market days. In the air was also the scent of the different makeup products, essential oils, and perfume from the cosmetic stalls.

Stores that normally closed at sundown were also open as the stalls were not enough to satisfy the crowds.

Kamaria spotted Urien and Brice up ahead and started slowing down.

"Anything wrong my Lady?" asked Lili.

"Nothing at all."

It wasn't until Lili looked away from Kamaria that she saw the reason she had slowed down.

Urien couldn't believe that it was Kamaria as they approached them, but he could hardly mistake his sweetheart for anyone else.

It was not hard to notice that she was wearing the hair comb he had given her, and this made him smile. His best friend, Khayri was not far behind.

"Good evening, my Lady."

Kamaria looked down and smiled a little as she slowly nodded at the greeting.

"Still haven't received my payment for this meeting," loudly said Khayri breaking the sweet moment.

"You sure know how to take the joy out of a situation," commented the young lord but the prince just shrugged.

Urien couldn't help but occasionally turn to glance at the shining Kamaria as he was walking ahead with Khayri. From a distance, they could see one of the biggest inns in the city.

The silver banners sparkled in the moonlight becoming waterfalls streaming down the walls of the inn. It was a breath-taking sight even from a distance.

"I tried to get Edan to change his mind, but he insisted," said Urien.

"Your resolve leaves much to be desired. You're already leaving my sister at the altar," said Khayri nonchalantly which made his sister pay attention to the conversation.

"Don't listen to him Mari, it's just some friends wanted to have a drink, so we'll go to meet them for about an hour. Is that fine with you?"

Lili could feel the air around her lady change as she subtly gripped her dress, but Urien seemed not to notice so Kamaria nodded.

"Don't worry Lord Urien, we'll have a look around in the meantime. I often run errands in the city, so I'll show her around," suddenly said Raisa as they came to a stop still a distance from the inn.

"We'll meet by the entrance of that inn ahead."

Kamaria nodded at Urien's suggestion. He didn't know her to be as much of a talker as Khayri so he didn't consider her passiveness unusual. Khayri winked at her and with an apologetic smile silently mouthed "have fun" before they left.

Lili and Raisa were still debating about where to go as Kamaria watched the young men step into the inn. She kept repeating to herself in her head.

'A good partner does not complain. I wouldn't want to annoy him.' 

When Lili nudged her, she finally focused on the conversation. The two girls could guess why she was so quiet, so they quickly made up their minds to make her forget about the ridiculous situation of her date.

They were here for fun after all, with or without dates.

"My Lady must be hungry. She hardly ate at the banquet. There's a place right up the street that served those fried stuffed dumplings remember," said Raisa.

"Oh yes, I remember that place. I always wanted to try the soup there as well," answered Kamaria.

"Onwards to starters!"

Raisa excitedly grabbed Kamaria's hand and just about dragged her along while Lili followed them.

Kamaria was trying not to trip in Raisa's excitement when her shoulder bumped into someone who was approaching them.

They didn't bump into each other very hard, but it made Kamaria look up and turn her head to quickly apologise to the person.

What she wasn't expecting was that the young man had turned to look at her as well.

 Sorin who had been speaking with Lark beside him just heard a quick apology after someone haphazardly bumped into him, but something made him turn only to see a striking young woman in costume staring back at him.

She brilliantly smiled at him after the apology as the girl in front of her pulled on her hand, leading her away.

By now he had slowed down and taken a few steps while looking back before she turned to look ahead of her.

"Who was that? I thought a human being that could turn Captain Sorin Ulfric's head didn't exist," said Lark as they continued walking in their original direction.

"She's probably not human, it must be a fairy that's flown down from the heavens sent by the moon goddess herself," answered Altair and the small group laughed.

Sorin just shook his head as they continued teasing him.

****

"My Lady! Did you see the goldfish?" asked Raisa pointing to the tub of small fish swimming around. There were dozens of them, and people were playing a game to get them.

"Too bad we can't take them. It would be strange if I suddenly had this type of fish in my room," said Kamaria with a smile.

Raisa laughed as she thought of the chaos it could possibly cause. Even the smallest things cause the biggest upset in the palace.

Also considering that these were cheap little pets and not the expensive rare fish that filled the ponds in the palace, everyone would be baffled at their origins.

It was almost an hour since they last split from the Urien and Khayri with no sign of them. The girls had stuck to areas closer to the inn, but Kamaria was getting tired, the central market district was much livelier.

"Let's go and watch the travelling troupe," she suggested.

"My Lady, that's in a different district, are you sure?" asked Lili gesturing to inn.

"We've seen enough of this place, let's hire a carriage and get to the market, let's go."

Kamaria pulled them simultaneously as she headed towards a stationary carriage. There was no point in denying herself having fun when she had already denied herself a birthday celebration.

When they arrived, the festivities were well under way. As soon as they reached the market district, they alighted from the carriage right into a crowd watching fire dancers.

It was undoubtedly much more exciting on this side of the city.