Comin' together to Celebrate (IC)

[The Chuck]

Cuan - Lair Square

Jeremiah smiled before speaking again,

"Ma'am, if you don't mind me inquiring, what is your name? My name is Jeremiah and I am a blacksmith from The Chuck. It's a pleasure to meet you."

While he spoke, Jeremiah bowed his head slightly to be polite. As he talked, he couldn't help but notice the empty scabbard on the lady's sword belt. As he shuffled that information away, his mind thought about sword types and blacksmithing techniques. Specifically, he thought about the legendary Gabha Blacksmiths Limited. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, their headquarters were supposedly on Farpoint Island.

[Port Ember]

Cuan, Láir Square.
Jan Breytenbach

Jan was possitively annoyed. The death of the beautifull horse did not bother him per sé - just the senselessnes of it all did. He knew the Selkians were still holding on firmly to their old believes, but did not expect this. He had a serious issue with religious fantacism - as his perfect daughter was blown into a thousand pieces in the name of religion all those years back.

Jan came to these strange land to hopefully fully surprise the new love of his live, but his mind was now a bit poisoned with this sick show. He took a deep swig of rum from his pocket flask, knowing the bar's are closed until the evening.

As he looked around at the thousands of people surrounding him, he atleast felt a bit relaxed - knowing that he dressed correctly for the occasion. He was wearing a dark blue jean and grey T-Shirt with hiking boots. He fit in well - the perfect 'Grey Man'. He did not want to be recognised as the Port Emberian Minister of Defence after all. He had the look of a clean and fit middle aged man just looking to relax a bit.

Jan cussed internally for not booking accomodation ahead, as he decided to 'wing' it for a change. It was not normal for him to travel to the other side of the world to visit a lass who stole his heart in only one night, neither was not planning ahead fully for a month atleast. But here he was - living the life of a dammed hippy! He laughed softly at himself, quite in a mocking manner. "Women ey!" Said loudly to no one. He shook his head and took another sip of rum, trying to remember the name of the hotel which would accomodate his new love .

[Lillorainen]

Soiprigh gave an affirmative yipp - he not only had an idea as to where his Mommy was, he knew, where she was.
And he knew, where she would be, too!
But first things first: He turned, swishing his tail as if to tell Chris to follow him, then gave him a moment... and moved forward. Not with his usual speed, he had a human behind him, who would have to follow him through a tight crowd, but he was relatively fast.
And it did not take long, until he spotted a young woman, black, long hair and blue eyes, deep as the Ocean itself, a wide, happy grin on her face, wearing the Geansai in the natural colours of the fur - Mommy stood at the side of the Square, with a few friends, and was smiling and conversing as she heard his yipp.
Her attention was drawn by that yipp and not by the young man following the giver of that yipp, mainly because she had to catch said giver in her arms as he jumped up and landed spot on, making her laugh as she hugged him, especially as he snuggled into her chest, making himself comfortable.
The Mommy of the Fox, a Vixen herself, bowed her head to kiss him onto the head, her friends laughing at her expression. She still had a lot of the tan from Shella and Dumhach, her hair bound back with a blue ribbon, her smile and laugh beautiful, like silver bells.

While Hilda, Sophus, and Mia were slowly, but surely agreeing to see, if they could put up their tents at the Marcach's camp, and then see, what else was going on in here, Chris followed Soiprigh through the tight crowd on his side of the square - luckily, the Little Black Fox seemed to be aware of that, just like Cladhaire had back then in Dumhach, so he slowed down.
It did not take long; Cel, who was still wearing her black hair long and bound together with a blue ribbon, was standing at the side of the square, talking with a few friends. Soiprigh jumped into his Mommy's arms and snuggled against her chest, receiving a kiss by her.
Cel did not pay a lot of attention to who Soiprigh was followed by - she would notice soon enough, though, namely, when Chris approached her, himself not paying much attention to her friends, carefully kissed her on the cheek and greeted, with a grin, "Dia dhuit, searrach!" in Selkie-language.

[Kuronami]

Cuan still maintained both the three bastions, which secured the northern approaches, as well as the old city wall - their defensive effectiveness in case of armed confrontation was doubtful these days, but for Cuan, that mattered little. They were points of pride... and, in case of the city wall, quite useful during large festivities such as this.
The high gates of Lodan Lir's Pearl were ideally suited to establish checkpoints - one could not go past them from the camping spots. Luckily, the officers of the City Guard manning them were nice and quick with their checks, then let them in.
And Cuan, in all of its glory, was before them: Houses of timber and stone, centuries old, the flower boxes already filled, peddlers, hawkers and stalls, as well as regular shops showing off their wares and skills, inns and taverns with food and drink prepared or being prepared and everywhere, hundreds and thousands of people, horses, other animals.
And one of the latter was a grey canine, not a Grey Wolf, as one saw at the scheme: The canine in question had a mane of dark grey hair sprouting from the back of the head, his body was mostly of a similar colour, but the stomach and paws, as well as the underside of the tail and a stripe on his side.
He dragged a young woman, who held the leash, silver hair going a bit past the shoulder, grey-blue eyes and sportly built with a very feminine touch, which was only emphasized by the leather jacket and black, knee-high boots she wore in addition to the black garrison cap with the red stripe. She smiled apologetically, as the canine approached, began to sniff the girls.
"I'm very sorry about this!", she told the parents of the two girls (although she, quite honestly, doubted, that the black-haired one belonged to the family, but that was another story). "Lorgaire is my boyfriend's and he sometimes doesn't know how to behave and... well, I am very sorry!"
She bowed her head deep.

Joey felt the brush of a cold wet nose against her arm and turned around to see a cute dog was at her heels sniffing her. "Oh hi there!" She greeted the canine companion. "Aww a doggy!"

"Oh I wouldn't worry," Charlie brushed away "Seems like the furry dog was just curious, we're quite used to animals ourselves."

Billie asked "Boy or girl? Super cute whatever it is!"

"What's his name?" Joey just defaulted to male but it didn't matter.

---

If one started, like Mei and Tsukasa, from the Gléas Inn (where they caught literally the last room), one had a number of spots, which one could visit for sight seeing:
Of course, one could go down the Main Streets, watch the peddler, hawkers, stalls and shops, including four blacksmith shops, at work. All four of them were merrily hammering away against red-hot iron and steel and other materials, forming their works and products.
One could also walk along the city walls, even climb them and the towers, for a better view of the city.
One could go down hidden paths to the actual Main Temple of the Cult of Lodan Lir, which was not advertised in many tourist guides, as usually, the Grand Temple (in front of which many of the ceremonies were held today, where the opening had been) was the main attraction.
They could also go to the Ceol Square and the music stage there, as soon, it would start. The three lads of Mórbhileog were already prepping themselves.
And those were only spots, which would easily come to mind - Cuan had much to offer for the curious mind!

Walking hand in hand the two set off down the street. "This is such a lovely place." Mei said.

"Yeah, it has such a quaint locked-in-time feel to it. It's a lot like Caloris isn't it?" Tsukasa remarked.

"Yeah the older parts of the city and even some of the villages and towns near Sonomi too."

"Anything in particular you want to see, Mei?" Tsukasa prodded, she didn't want to rush but at the same time a couple of wandering girls sometimes made easy targets for near-do-wells.

"Oh let's see..." She pulled out a guide she had scooped up at the airport about things to do and see. "Ooh...Looks like there's some music at the square. Sounds fun?"

"Yeah, let's go." Taking another look at their map they found the best route and set off, arriving a few minutes later, seemingly just in time before the show was to start but it was crowded. "I guess we should have figured it would be crowded. You want to go somewhere else?"

"Nah, this is fine!" Tsukasa smiled, squeezing Mei's hand. "oh guess the sun is really coming out today huh, well I came prepared." She opened up her parasol, actually it was given to her by Mei, one rainy evening after a night of studying. "Oh perfect."

[Minroz]

Yi Tieguang and Sun Lianhua

Dressed in their casual clothes, it was the couple’s first time in the Free Lands, a small and not-known country in the eyes of the Minrozians. Tieguang and Lianhua, both military professionals, officers in the Eight-Banners, have taken their leave on vacation break with just the two of them together. So far, when Teiguang and Lianhua stepped in Selkie’s soil, they have a good impression of Free Lands as a peaceful country with odd tribal customs, not unlike the autonomous tribal areas in the Middle Kingdom. On the bright side, the Selkie people they’ve interact with are friendly and the country has much cleaner air.

Until they’ve arrived at the Spring Festival in Cuan, Minrozians have gotten to be witnesses of the sacrifices of the horse by the local priestesses. They’ll be lying if the two say they’re not squeamish by the sight. It reminded them of ritual sacrifices of the Xorans, only at larger scale. Then again, the Minrozians thought, their ancient forefathers did practised sentient sacrifices – be it human, animal and demihumans alike for the sake of appeasing the Gods and people in ancient days believed sacrifices brought them closer towards the Gods. It is until the practises of sacrifices were banned by later imperial dynasties thousand years later. As the Minrozians continue to think to themselves, who are they to judge? The two didn’t wish to raise the fuss about it, considering the practice is part of a local culture of the country they’ve visited. On other hand, the Minrozian Empire has cultures which do animal sacrifices to honour the Gods as long as they don’t commit sentient sacrifices as sanctioned by imperial law.

Nevertheless, they’ll respect the local traditions in spite of the awkwardness they felt when observing the ritual itself. At least, the Selkie priestesses treated the horse with respect and the locals didn’t seem to be bothered by it as the Minrozians observed.

[“I wonder how our horselord friends will react when they see this spectacle.”] Tieguang mused, conversing in Mandarin with his wife.

[“I don’t think they’ll be happy with them using horses to sacrifice.”] Lianhua, responded in kind. [“The Monggus slaughter the livestock instead. Other than that, it’s burning incenses and some splash of wine on the steppe plains. For them, it is a waste of a good horse.”]

[“Hehe~, undoubtedly, my love.”] The colonel smiled. [“Although, we don’t made many sacrifices to the Gods nowadays. Not since five thousand years ago. As much as I respect the Gods, I don’t think sacrifices are needed. Didn’t Ajaran-Murnism come from Sindia?”]

[“You are not wrong, dear.”] Lianhua concurred, wrapping her arm around his in affectionate manner. [“You already know half of my family line came from Sindia, bringing their traditions and Sindu Gods to the Middle Kingdom. Our idea of sacrifices is personal surrender through acts of prayers and devotion. How we did normally is the offerings of butter, grains, spices and wood into a fire while we chanting our sacred mantras.”]

[“That sounds more reasonable and civilized in contrasts to my ancestors in Shang Dynasty period.”] Tieguang remarked. [“Although we’re not here to talk about merits of faiths, whether Minrozians or foreign, let alone sacrifices of all topics. Do you want to have some fun exploring~?”]

Lianhua giggled. [“I would love to.”] Despite her seniority in rank over her husband, she treated her husband as her equal and would not trade it for anything else.

It is indeed their first day in Free Lands. They’re here to enjoy a vacation. The two continue to walk down the streets, hand-in-hand, unafraid of displaying their feelings as a loving couple.

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Láir Square
"Just like last time, isn't it, Luca? Only..." Xoa'yi began, her finger at an innocent tilt on her chin, entirely oblivious to her condescending tone.
"No halberd, yeah," he replied, letting his chin rest casually on her head, "Feels kind of weird not having something to hold, though."
Luca Jihn, alongside Quon Fei & Sherry Hu, were here as a favor from her brother-in-law Azsh'aloth, who, as a high-ranking Demon official, had the unfortunate day job of receiving sacrificed children to his master The Demon Sovereign. This time, though, it was some kids from the rather hated God of the Mind, Mac, who decided to turn Parfuhmerie into a purgatory for several — as he eloquently described it to Azsh'aloth — "[DATA DELTED] OCs because our creator is a piece of [DATA DELETED] who can't let go of anything, omega lol. So anyways have this dude who died, this lass who died, this other dude who died, this other lass who didn't die but got thrown into this hot mess anyway, this thick with three Cs woman with a smash hammer, this dude locked in the closet, & Petit Prince expy. So have fun you [DATA DELETED]."
"Ah, we’ll just go and find something else for you to hold soon enough, Luca," she said, turning her head back to the sacrifice, “I'm sure there's some toy stick out there for the young Selkie… Oh, it's the same whole ceremony, too!"
"What's that going to be like?” Quon asked.

"Well, first we have a familiar little ditty from the Selkies," Xoa'yi said, not even turning back to face him, "& then some herbs. Followed by..." Her graceful finger slide across her throat. "... a knife to the throat."
At that, something snapped in Quon.
His eyes widened as his hands rushed to his throat, as though the threat of something to his neck was all too familiar. "N-not again," he whispered under his breath, his eyes growing frantic as he whirled around in his refusal to gaze upon the sacrifice, Gods, even hearing about a horse's throat being slit is enough to remind me. Why did it have to be us of all people?
"Q-Quon!" Sherry hissed out as she spun around as well, "U-um... Aunt Xoa'yi, Quon & I have to—"
"Oh, dear," her condescending tone vanished under the pressure, "L-Luca, would you be fine by yourself? I think—"
"I-it's nothing, Aunt Xoa'yi!" Sherry reassured her, waving her hand for emphasis as she tried to comfort her friend, "Quon & I c-can take care of ourselves."
"Actually, Azsha'loth would believe otherwise. I just can't leave you two alone in good faith like this!" Xoa'yi bent down for Luca to get off of her & reached into her bag of dust at her side, only to consume the dust she extracted after remembering it would not be useful. "C-come on, then, Quon, what do you... sh-shall I take you back to our room?" Having no children of her own, & with her oblivious personality, Xoa'yi was unsure of what she was supposed to say.

He glanced at Sherry, unable to speak. "Y-you really don't have to worry about us! We're Ezharans," she said as she began trying to navigate through the crowd, "He really won't be mad." Before Xoa'yi could stop them, the two dashed out of the cheering crowd. "Ah, dear me, looks like we missed the rest of it," she muttered as she took Luca's hand, "Hmm... Luca, dear, do you know what's gotten into them?"
"No, he's never told me anything. He's usually with Sherry, but I think we should ask him ourselves instead of going through her," he said, straining his neck to look up at her, "Um, anyway... Do you think they have those Tines, like last time?"
"Oh, I'm sure they do, we just have to go find them," Xoa'yi said as the two of them tried to locate a map, & from there, some sort of location that might have Tines, "Though I just can't help but worry for Sherry & Quon!"
"I think they'll be fine!" Luca said as he skipped towards their destination, just keeping pace with his guardian's rapid walk.

& indeed they were, or at least as fine as they could be, considering Quon had nearly relived his death. "Everything's all right, Quon, everything's all right," Sherry reassured him as they walked through the crowd, one hand stroking his panicked face & the other holding his hand as the two stepped aside into a bit more private of an area, "Just..." She breathed in, & began to sing just for him, her soft voice spreading her contagious serenity to him & him only. It was the sort of voice that resembled the wind running through blossoming cherry trees in the spring. A serene renewal after a harsh winter. A welcoming sight for anyone, if only she was a bit louder to spread her romantic sedative so.

Short steps, deep breath
Everything is alright
Chin up
A pause.
Step into the spotlight
He said, "I'm sad, "
Somehow without any words
I just stood there
Searching for an answer
When this world is no more
The moon is all we'll see
I'll ask you to fly away with me
Quon grunted as a tear went down his face, but he wiped it away as he smiled for Sherry.
Until the stars all fall down
They empty from the sky
But I don't mind
"If you're with me," they both sang, Quon's boyish voice — one reminiscent of a luxuriant chocolate intended for usage with other foods rather than by itself — the perfect complement to hers, "then everything's alright."
"So," Sherry began with a smile of her own, "How about we go eat somewhere?"
"Sounds good," her boyfriend replied as the two of them left to search for a restaurant, where Quon would ask for a seat for the two of them.

Láir Square
"My birds have been acting up a lot, Mr. Nguyen," Nera said as they fluttered about her, seemingly panicked by something, "Do you think they...?"
"Animals are always attuned to the oddest things, I have learned," he stroked the head of one of them, followed by it roosting on his shoulder, "Fate led me here, & I can not help but wonder how Fate is manipulating these birds too. Look, how they flutter in the air, restless to begin... something." Soon after, the crowd's cheers caused the birds to dive into Nera's arms, hugging her body as tightly as they could. "W-woah, you three!" she said as she laughed at them, their panicked squawks filling the air with their animalistic timbre, "Calm down, it's just the crowd."
After a short while of Nera whispering to them, all but one calmed down. "There, there, it'll be all right..." she said, only to be interrupted by the still-agitated bird flying up, squawking, & diving towards the restaurant that Quon & Sherry had just moments before entered, "A-ah! Don't run away!" she shouted as she ran after her canary.

"Nera!" Leo chased after her, his own dove paving the way for her master, like a lantern in front of him. By the time the two caught up to Nera, she was looking through the window of the restaurant, seemingly confused by something. "Oh! Mr. Nguyen, you got here fast... sorry for running off, but I didn't want to lose him," she turned to him & stroked the runaway canary's head, which was now roosting in front of her alongside the other two birds, "Hmm, but you see those two kids in there too, right? Don't they look familiar?" Leo stood there, silent & unsure of what he should say. "Ah, I can't tell. I think this place looks pretty nice, maybe we could go eat here. I haven't gotten breakfast yet!"
"Y-yes, we shall," Leo's dove brushed his face, worried for her master. Then, him & Nera entered, their birds in tow.
So this is where Fate is leading me, he thought, Should I hope that this is not an illusion, or indeed hope it to be reality? Whether or not anyone there would know it (Ezhara was a rather obscure nation in the face of mighty empires, & was only really known for its performers), Leo did, & for a moment he considered taking a picture to show the other Ezharan children back home. But, that would not change what had happened so long ago.

Sherry & Quon were dead, one the victim of the medusa & the other the victim of his Red Thread of Fate turning to an achromatic string around his neck.

[The Selkie]

Rudolf Eisenmann
Unkown Location

---

Rudolf looked around at the bright colors of the street. He turned his head as children played with toys at the side of the street with their parents showing tourists their many hands made items. The walls of the building were decorated with sprawling murals with beautiful combinations of color. Flowers were hung from lamposts and the sound of music and dancing could be heard over the noise of the crowd.

Upon hearing the question from... from... ah. Kiah. Interesting name. If one translated it using German-Ukrainian it meant flower blooms. He looked at her for a moment. She didn't have the sharp jawline of a Ukrainian nor the stride of a German, as silly as that sounds but all Germans walked as if they were in the army like they were marching. I guess a hundred and a half years of war does that to your people. But, Nah, impossible.

"Name's Rudolf Einsenmann. I'm from the Kaiserriech though you may know it better as Germany. From your boots and stride, I can tell you ain't-a normal civilian. So I guess the question for me would be, who exactly are you?"

Kiah gave a small smile.
"Today, on this day of festivities, I am just Kiah.", she said, her smile blooming further, "Organizer of the petting zoo, the woman bringing the food, fox breeder with a passion..." She reached down and picked up a red-furred vulpine with a large train of tails, a total of six, and locks on the head, between triangular, vulpine ears. Huge, almond shaped, brown eyes seemed to look deep into the soul of everyone, who looked into them and at the moment, the eyes looked at Kiah, who smiled. "...and quite a good one, I would guess, especially since it is more of a passion then a job."
Cradling the vulpine in her arms, she smiled at Rudolf, her other hand softly stroking the vulpine's belly.
"And on this day, this day of festivities and rebirth, is there anything more important then that?", she asked Rudolf.

Marie took a glance at the girl. Some sort of clergy-and likely of a sea, if the association of blue with deep water still held true in the Free Lands. Next to her was her fox. Marie didn't give it too much thought-seeing a group of drunken seniors attempting to hijack a Main Battle Tank typically made other things mundane in comparison.
She rubbed her eyes a little. "Aye...didn't get much sleep on the flight in. Flying in a metal can's bad enough, but flying in the death trap that is a 737 Max...not my idea of fun. Why are you asking, anyway, and who are you?"

"Yes, I heard about the 737... according to the newspaper, they will ground every 737 in airports around the Free Lands, so don't worry.", the young woman said, then blushed. "Oh, my, where are my manners!"
She bowed her head lightly.
"I am Kiah. As one can quickly gather, I belong to the Cult of Lodan Lir...", she said with a bit of self-irony, before she gathered herself. "And I ask, because... allow me to be honest here, you look like you've been through the blender. Need a good, strong tea with a lot of caffeine?"

For eateries in Cuan, there were many options. Famed for its Riverfood, the Pearl of Lodan Lir could bring a good mixture of shore-food and sea-food onto the tables and usually, for days such as this, that was to be done.
Sadly, the Gléas Inn, although decent in all regards, was already full, no spot available for tourists anymore.
That would not be able to stop anyone, though, as there were many other places to eat, usually signified by delicious smells and tables, out, as well as swarms of waiters and waitresses running around.
One recommendation near the Gléas Inn was the Lann Tavern, belonging to a man named Finnegan Lann of the Tribe of Wicklow. He was a decent man, who liked his food high-quality and still for decent prices, which was reflected in his restaurant.
Another one, a bit down the main street towards the Lair Square, was the Laoch Inn, one of the regular haunts of the local SDF-Army Garrison, good food and drink, but good prices as well - it might not be the best place to go with a little girl, though, as the place was packed full.
A more secretive tip was one, which one needed to know Cuan for... or to be very lucky. It was the Cluanaire Inn, the Vixen's Inn, hidden in the side-street of a side-street. The building it was in was a square building with an inner courtyard, the entrance to said being out of the way for most tourists. Only a few people were in this rather secretive little inn, which had used the opportunity to put out tables into the inner courtyard, around a dozen of them, with three or four waiters flittering around.
However, the smells coming from the food they carried were delicious.
Whereever Haru and Hina would decide to go, though, a feast would await them!

The most convenient spot looked full and both were pretty hungry eager for a first meal so they set off quickly finding a good place. "This place has so much class!" Hina remarked giddy at everything. It was quaint and old fashioned, it was no wonder Selkies and AHSCAians got along as well as they did. "I like it too" Her mother responded. "Rather rustic like home."

"Mmmm I smell something cooking." Hina got whif of a delectable scent taking them down a series of side-streets which were long and windy and a little maze like to the two women but at long last they found a good place that seemed open and able to eat at. "Well, seems we found a good spot so let's eat here." Haru nodded.

"Sure!" Hina agreed. Both took the liberty to take a seat at a free table.

Meanwhile, only a few people even took notice of Shizuka and most of those did not recognize her, neither due to her political work nor due to her work as a novelist.
But two people recognized her for the latter.
Both looked like their nineteen Springs and a whole lot like twins: Black hair, one long in an open cascade over her back, the other long and in a high ponytail, both golden eyes and both with small noses in their mature faces - but while one had a cheeky and perky maturity dancing in her eyes, the other was a serious and stoic young woman. Both, also, had a pair of dog ears on their heads, the stoic one having them folded down, while the cheeky one had them high and alert.
"Uhm, excuse me, Miss...", the serious one began, a bit uncomfortable, but pushing through with a blush while around them, the entire hubbub of a festival going on, "...I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you, by any chance, Shizuka Gozen? The novelist from AHSCA?"
She smiled, slightly hopefully, that she was right and that she wasn't making a fool out of herself.

Shizuka turned when two people approached her and the most surprising aspect was they recognized her as a novelist. "Why...Yes I am!" She replied really again at a loss for words. She really didn't think much of her work made it out of AHSCA and if it did it probably was only niche appeal. So much of her work really revolved around the intricacies of island life and culture. Really she expected to be recognized as a Government Officer before a novelist but she couldn't complain. "I'm so surprised, not many would be able to recognize me off the bat just like that! How nice it is to meet you both!" she bowed slightly as a proper greeting.

When the regulars of the Cluanaire Inn, who took the opportunity to eat outside, saw the mother and her child enter their courtyard, they looked up for a moment, then turned back to their stuff.
It was a more or less peaceful scene.
A waitress waved to them, she would be there in a moment.
Someone, however, looked at them a moment longer, especially at the cracked glasses, before he turned back to his breakfast.
A minute or two later, a waitress arrived, dressed in Geansai with an apron in front of her, smiling as she looked at both of them and offered a menu. They looked brand-new, but that was only, because the English version of these menus was rarely used.
In any case, she smiled.
"Welcome to the Cluanaire Inn, lassies.", she greeted a bit informally, she was maybe seventeen and the spring in her step revealed, that she was happy as a clam, and something on her upper body moving along every skip revealed, that she was quite well-equipped, "Today's special, a traditional breakfast: porridge, eggs roasted from both sides, battered fish, frying pan fat all over the place and bread to wipe it all up."
Alternatively, as the menu revealed, they had a plate of cheeses, ham, butter and breadrolls, which one could take as a less greasy option, plus a variety of salads, even pies. And they also had a wide selection of teas to drink, from teas to wake up to teas to settle down, plus Selkie-Lemonade (including a warning to foreigners, that they were the tactical nuclear warhead amongst teeth-destroyers).
Taking out a notepad, she young woman took an order from the neighbouring table's occupant for a moment, then turned back.

The young, serious woman had to fight to 'keep it cool', as they said, to not erupt into an excited squeak, but she managed a bow with an ear-splitting grin.
"It's a great honour!", she said and the ears on her head rose up in excitement, which caused her sister to hide a giggle behind her hand. "I am Branwen. Branwen Blaidd, of Tralee Descent and... well, I love your books. I would love to visit AHSCA one day and see all the things you described. Especially the Festival of Holy Light!" There was real excitement in her voice. "And, well... I am a bit of a writer myself..."

Miranda lowered her arm theatrically and nodded, "Oh that's wonderful! Some freshly baked morsels to feed the malnourished soul as we celebrate the spring coming into blo-"

Kathleen elbowed Miranda. "O-Oh, sorry, lunch would be lovely."

Kathleen chuckled, "Miranda here can have quite a way with words, she has such a huge imagination. You should see our dorm, manuscripts and paper everywhere!"

"I-I swear, it doesn't get that out of hand." Miranda said. Blushing furiously as she remembered that along with her basic necessities and her Irish step dancing shoes, in addition to phrasebooks and DK travel books, she had also brought her diary and several notebooks, hoping to get inspired by the festival to write something, anything, short stories, full blown sagas, it didn't matter.

Kathleen playfully punched her, "If it really wasn't 'that bad', then you wouldn't have won the Victoria Invitational Writing competition."

Miranda turned to Kathleen to say something, but could only open her mouth and paused, before she closed it and looked in a random direction, hiding her deeper blush. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop pickin' on ya, but I'm serious, don't sell yourself short." Kathleen said, she then affectionately pat Miranda on her head.

Miranda turned back towards Fiona with a small, flustered smile, "We can go when you're ready. Pretty sure we'd get lost if we went on our own, we'd lose your company, too. That would be a lot more worse then getting lost." Miranda said with a closed smile afterwards.



Kat couldn't describe how pleasurable it was to feel Liv's soft lips again against hers, both of them finally reunited after so long. They remained in the renewed, passionate lip lock for a few minutes before each of them stopped for air, both of them were breathing heavily, and both had crimson cheeks from more than just exertion.

Kat took a good look at Liv for a few minutes, sure, they had sent pictures to each other, but it had been so long since they were able to see and feel each other. All she wanted to do was take it in. She didn't feel the same when she returned back to Mediama from their trip. Sure, she was able to move on and do what she needed to do for college, but she had always felt some sort of presence missing. Even if they were able to keep in touch, nothing felt better then to actually be with her.

Backing out from her musings, Kat leaned back in again and wrapped her arms around Liv in a nuzzling hug, before she leaned her head back out to give distance. "You still haven't answered my question Liv. What are you doing here? I know you mentioned you were doing some sort of religious work, but I'm pretty sure this is far from home for you."

Fiona smiled.
"Your friend is right.", she told Miranda, then turned, her skirt swishing. "You should not sell yourself short, it's unhealthy. That being said, if you'd like, I would love to read your entry into that contest. I like to read, but with all the stuff going on right now..."
She sighed.
"Rarely time. The Cubs demand all attention.", she said, and led them to one of the side-streets branching off of the Square. "And Fidchell, of course." She smiled a bit sheepish at that. "In any case... breakfast is afoot!"

Liv was still on cloud nine, then remembered the question.
Blushing, she replied: "Well, I am part of the delegation of the Cult of Ladra to the Bainis.", she said and a bit of pride entered her eyes, "The High Priestess insisted on me going as part of the delegation."
She shrugged.
"It's indeed a bit of a distance from both Leuda and Silverport, but what are distances in this Age of Aviation?", she asked teasingly, referring to the most likely way Kat herself came from distant Mediama. Reaching up to softly stroke her cheek, she whispered: "A bit much in case of letters going back and forth..."

"Yeah. We'd be awfy happy to let you lassies all come along," Alpin nodded quickly, "Hop on in," he then bobbed his head back as if he were hitting on them.

After waiting for the girls to join in, the four students walk towards the shops that were mentioned earlier.

"So, lassies, care to introduce yourselves," asked Gordon as he let Marie be at his side.

The bubbly blonde grinned.
"Alright!", and then the three young woman, who looked so un-Selkie as someone could imagine, joined the Folaisians. She walked on Gordon's other side, her sisters on her other side.
When he asked for their names, she grinned and took in air...
...only to be preempted by the tower of a woman: "That cute blonde is Enya." The one, who had bumped into Gordon, giggled at being described as a 'cute blonde'. "The strict one here is Ida." The platinum blonde waved. "And I am Kiah." She let a beat pass. "We're actually not from here, but from Fortham."
She let a beat pass, looking over the rather diverse group.
"And who are you all, if you allow me to ask?", she asked as they crossed the square.

Waving to Ren, Macha quickly turned to Kiri.
"Don't worry. Tourists sometimes get a bit squirmish at the sight.", she said and gave a comforting smile, "When I first attended such a Spring Festival, I actually had to throw up!" She smiled at the memory. "Caused a few problems back in the day, but... it's not for nothing, that is for sure."
She motioned to the stage, where a large, linen cloth had been erected. By the bowl, a line of adolescents, kids of fourteen Springs, lined up, the first one putting his hand into the bowl with the horse blood, just enough so that his palm was red, and then placed it onto the cloth, leaving a handprint.
"They are turning into adults this year.", Macha explained, "And they make themselves known to the Gods. Tonight, when the horse is burned, the cloth will be burned as well - express-delivery."
She smiled at the three of them.
"I know, it must seem strange to you, but it all has its meaning and all is for a purpose.", she said, then extended her arms, "Now, come here, all three of you! Gimme a hug!"

They happily accepted the hug, though Kiri ended up sort of excluded as Macha's arms went right through her.

"I know it has meaning... I wouldn't have been so scared if I knew it was going to happen. I guess I should have read more about the rituals involved with the festival," she said.

Z's mind had already moved on to another topic. "So! What do you suggest we do first? A city this big's bound to have some things to do," she said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. Of course, Cuan wasn't that big by most people's standards, but it must have seemed truly massive to someone who grew up on an Arctic island east of nowhere.

Ren was probably the most interested in the religious aspects Macha was discussing; though quiet, she was more intellectual for such a small child than most realized. "What does it mean when they make themselves known to the gods? I'm curious."

Macha smiled slightly at Ren's inquiry and at Z's excitement.
"I told an old friend of mine about you and she would love to meet all three - and she invited you all for breakfast.", she said with a smile, also a bit sad, that her arms went right through Kiri. She wanted to give that girl a hug so desperately... she looked like she needed it. "So, come! Good food is afoot!"
She then turned to Ren.
"And to you, Young Priestess...", she said, "I'll explain everything you want to know at breakfast, okay? Curiosity is best sated while the stomach is being sated, as the old proverb says!"
She grinned and gave Ren a small scratch behind her ear, an affectionate gesture.

Cuan - Lair Square

Jeremiah smiled before speaking again,

"Ma'am, if you don't mind me inquiring, what is your name? My name is Jeremiah and I am a blacksmith from The Chuck. It's a pleasure to meet you."

While he spoke, Jeremiah bowed his head slightly to be polite. As he talked, he couldn't help but notice the empty scabbard on the lady's sword belt. As he shuffled that information away, his mind thought about sword types and blacksmithing techniques. Specifically, he thought about the legendary Gabha Blacksmiths Limited. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, their headquarters were supposedly on Farpoint Island.

The young woman smiled, bowed her head.
"The pleasure is mine, Jeremiah.", she said and looked at him with a smile, "I am Mona. I actually come from Traverse on Farpoint Island and... well, my duties led me here." She smiled slightly. "But I don't mind, I like Cuan. It's a pretty city. Far less loud then Traverse."
She let a beat pass.
"Say, you said you were a blacksmith?", she asked Jeremiah, "What sort of things do you make?"

Láir Square
"Just like last time, isn't it, Luca? Only..." Xoa'yi began, her finger at an innocent tilt on her chin, entirely oblivious to her condescending tone.
"No halberd, yeah," he replied, letting his chin rest casually on her head, "Feels kind of weird not having something to hold, though."
Luca Jihn, alongside Quon Fei & Sherry Hu, were here as a favor from her brother-in-law Azsh'aloth, who, as a high-ranking Demon official, had the unfortunate day job of receiving sacrificed children to his master The Demon Sovereign. This time, though, it was some kids from the rather hated God of the Mind, Mac, who decided to turn Parfuhmerie into a purgatory for several — as he eloquently described it to Azsh'aloth — "[DATA DELTED] OCs because our creator is a piece of [DATA DELETED] who can't let go of anything, omega lol. So anyways have this dude who died, this lass who died, this other dude who died, this other lass who didn't die but got thrown into this hot mess anyway, this thick with three Cs woman with a smash hammer, this dude locked in the closet, & Petit Prince expy. So have fun you [DATA DELETED]."
"Ah, we’ll just go and find something else for you to hold soon enough, Luca," she said, turning her head back to the sacrifice, “I'm sure there's some toy stick out there for the young Selkie… Oh, it's the same whole ceremony, too!"
"What's that going to be like?” Quon asked.

"Well, first we have a familiar little ditty from the Selkies," Xoa'yi said, not even turning back to face him, "& then some herbs. Followed by..." Her graceful finger slide across her throat. "... a knife to the throat."
At that, something snapped in Quon.
His eyes widened as his hands rushed to his throat, as though the threat of something to his neck was all too familiar. "N-not again," he whispered under his breath, his eyes growing frantic as he whirled around in his refusal to gaze upon the sacrifice, Gods, even hearing about a horse's throat being slit is enough to remind me. Why did it have to be us of all people?
"Q-Quon!" Sherry hissed out as she spun around as well, "U-um... Aunt Xoa'yi, Quon & I have to—"
"Oh, dear," her condescending tone vanished under the pressure, "L-Luca, would you be fine by yourself? I think—"
"I-it's nothing, Aunt Xoa'yi!" Sherry reassured her, waving her hand for emphasis as she tried to comfort her friend, "Quon & I c-can take care of ourselves."
"Actually, Azsha'loth would believe otherwise. I just can't leave you two alone in good faith like this!" Xoa'yi bent down for Luca to get off of her & reached into her bag of dust at her side, only to consume the dust she extracted after remembering it would not be useful. "C-come on, then, Quon, what do you... sh-shall I take you back to our room?" Having no children of her own, & with her oblivious personality, Xoa'yi was unsure of what she was supposed to say.

He glanced at Sherry, unable to speak. "Y-you really don't have to worry about us! We're Ezharans," she said as she began trying to navigate through the crowd, "He really won't be mad." Before Xoa'yi could stop them, the two dashed out of the cheering crowd. "Ah, dear me, looks like we missed the rest of it," she muttered as she took Luca's hand, "Hmm... Luca, dear, do you know what's gotten into them?"
"No, he's never told me anything. He's usually with Sherry, but I think we should ask him ourselves instead of going through her," he said, straining his neck to look up at her, "Um, anyway... Do you think they have those Tines, like last time?"
"Oh, I'm sure they do, we just have to go find them," Xoa'yi said as the two of them tried to locate a map, & from there, some sort of location that might have Tines, "Though I just can't help but worry for Sherry & Quon!"
"I think they'll be fine!" Luca said as he skipped towards their destination, just keeping pace with his guardian's rapid walk.

& indeed they were, or at least as fine as they could be, considering Quon had nearly relived his death. "Everything's all right, Quon, everything's all right," Sherry reassured him as they walked through the crowd, one hand stroking his panicked face & the other holding his hand as the two stepped aside into a bit more private of an area, "Just..." She breathed in, & began to sing just for him, her soft voice spreading her contagious serenity to him & him only. It was the sort of voice that resembled the wind running through blossoming cherry trees in the spring. A serene renewal after a harsh winter. A welcoming sight for anyone, if only she was a bit louder to spread her romantic sedative so.

Short steps, deep breath
Everything is alright
Chin up
A pause.
Step into the spotlight
He said, "I'm sad, "
Somehow without any words
I just stood there
Searching for an answer
When this world is no more
The moon is all we'll see
I'll ask you to fly away with me
Quon grunted as a tear went down his face, but he wiped it away as he smiled for Sherry.
Until the stars all fall down
They empty from the sky
But I don't mind
"If you're with me," they both sang, Quon's boyish voice — one reminiscent of a luxuriant chocolate intended for — the perfect complement to hers, "then everything's alright."
"So," Sherry began with a smile of her own, "How about we go eat somewhere?"
"Sounds good," her boyfriend replied as the two of them left to search for a restaurant, where Quon would ask for a seat for the two of them.

(Image)

Láir Square
"My birds have been acting up a lot, Mr. Nguyen," Nera said as they fluttered about her, seemingly panicked by something, "Do you think they...?"
"Animals are always attuned to the oddest things, I have learned," he stroked the head of one of them, followed by it roosting on his shoulder, "Fate led me here, & I can not help but wonder how Fate is manipulating these birds too. Look, how they flutter in the air, restless to begin... something." Soon after, the crowd's cheers caused the birds to dive into Nera's arms, hugging her body as tightly as they could. "W-woah, you three!" she said as she laughed at them, their panicked squawks filling the air with their animalistic timbre, "Calm down, it's just the crowd."
After a short while of Nera whispering to them, all but one calmed down. "There, there, it'll be all right..." she said, only to be interrupted by the still-agitated bird flying up, squawking, & diving towards the restaurant that Quon & Sherry had just moments before entered, "A-ah! Don't run away!" she shouted as she ran after her canary.

"Nera!" Leo chased after her, his own dove paving the way for her master, like a lantern in front of him. By the time the two caught up to Nera, she was looking through the window of the restaurant, seemingly confused by something. "Oh! Mr. Nguyen, you got here fast... sorry for running off, but I didn't want to lose him," she turned to him & stroked the runaway canary's head, which was now roosting in front of her alongside the other two birds, "Hmm, but you see those two kids in there too, right? Don't they look familiar?" Leo stood there, silent & unsure of what he should say. "Ah, I can't tell. I think this place looks pretty nice, maybe we could go eat here. I haven't gotten breakfast yet!"
"Y-yes, we shall," Leo's dove brushed his face, worried for her master. Then, him & Nera entered, their birds in tow.
So this is where Fate is leading me, he thought, Should I hope that this is not an illusion, or indeed hope it to be reality? Whether or not anyone there would know it (Ezhara was a rather obscure nation in the face of mighty empires, & was only really known for its performers), Leo did, & for a moment he considered taking a picture to show the other Ezharan children back home. But, that would not change what had happened so long ago.

Sherry & Quon were dead, one the victim of the medusa & the other the victim of his Red Thread of Fate turning to an achromatic string around his neck.

The group from Ezhara did not draw much attention, much less then one could have expected, but while there indeed were hiking sticks on sale (and everything up to full blown pikes, if one was interested), the two children, one quite obviously distressed, did gather a bit of attention as they ran into one side-street corner.
The woman, who reacted appropriately, was a blonde with blue eyes and a motherly expression, her hair done in a braid. She had a proud walk, but stopped, when she heard the song and waited until it was finished and then, as she wanted to announce her presence, was surprised by the two of them walking out.
"Whoah!", she made, clutching her heart - really surprised, not acting. She was a bad actor anyways. "Sorry, searraigh, you surprised me!", she added, taking a deep breath, "Still, more importantly, are you two alright? I heard sobbing and... well..."

The three birds had all reason to act up, for the three canaries were not the only birds in the sky. Quite on the contrary, circling in the sky were half a dozen trained Red-White Eagles, the High Kings of the Skies, their distinctive colours the worst fear for every wanna-be drone pilot.
But while they were large birds, they preferred more terrestial prey and less avian.
Whichever eatery they would pick, a nice breakfast laid ahead of them, unbothered by avians in the sky.
As for Tines, there were some with the Petting Zoo.

Cuan, Láir Square.
Jan Breytenbach

Jan was possitively annoyed. The death of the beautifull horse did not bother him per sé - just the senselessnes of it all did. He knew the Selkians were still holding on firmly to their old believes, but did not expect this. He had a serious issue with religious fantacism - as his perfect daughter was blown into a thousand pieces in the name of religion all those years back.

Jan came to these strange land to hopefully fully surprise the new love of his live, but his mind was now a bit poisoned with this sick show. He took a deep swig of rum from his pocket flask, knowing the bar's are closed until the evening.

As he looked around at the thousands of people surrounding him, he atleast felt a bit relaxed - knowing that he dressed correctly for the occasion. He was wearing a dark blue jean and grey T-Shirt with hiking boots. He fit in well - the perfect 'Grey Man'. He did not want to be recognised as the Port Emberian Minister of Defence after all. He had the look of a clean and fit middle aged man just looking to relax a bit.

Jan cussed internally for not booking accomodation ahead, as he decided to 'wing' it for a change. It was not normal for him to travel to the other side of the world to visit a lass who stole his heart in only one night, neither was not planning ahead fully for a month atleast. But here he was - living the life of a dammed hippy! He laughed softly at himself, quite in a mocking manner. "Women ey!" Said loudly to no one. He shook his head and took another sip of rum, trying to remember the name of the hotel which would accomodate his new love .

No one reacted to the exclamation of "Woman ey!" by Jan, but it stood to reason, that he was not helped with that.
He might remember, though, that, during the night they spent on a foreign warship, porking each other's brains out, she mentioned not only the Festival, but also that her Company had booked the Ropaire Inn.
One of the inns with the highest reputation and highest prices, but quality to match.
Asking locals would reveal, that it was closeby and easily found. The structure had its own courtyard, which was filled with tables and people all wanting or eating food. And there was a large, albeit unlit fireplace, which would soon be used to start grilling.
If there was any place one could begin to search, it was there.
If he remembered, of course.

Yi Tieguang and Sun Lianhua

Dressed in their casual clothes, it was the couple’s first time in the Free Lands, a small and not-known country in the eyes of the Minrozians. Tieguang and Lianhua, both military professionals, officers in the Eight-Banners, have taken their leave on vacation break with just the two of them together. So far, when Teiguang and Lianhua stepped in Selkie’s soil, they have a good impression of Free Lands as a peaceful country with odd tribal customs, not unlike the autonomous tribal areas in the Middle Kingdom. On the bright side, the Selkie people they’ve interact with are friendly and the country has much cleaner air.

Until they’ve arrived at the Spring Festival in Cuan, Minrozians have gotten to be witnesses of the sacrifices of the horse by the local priestesses. They’ll be lying if the two say they’re not squeamish by the sight. It reminded them of ritual sacrifices of the Xorans, only at larger scale. Then again, the Minrozians thought, their ancient forefathers did practised sentient sacrifices – be it human, animal and demihumans alike for the sake of appeasing the Gods and people in ancient days believed sacrifices brought them closer towards the Gods. It is until the practises of sacrifices were banned by later imperial dynasties thousand years later. As the Minrozians continue to think to themselves, who are they to judge? The two didn’t wish to raise the fuss about it, considering the practice is part of a local culture of the country they’ve visited. On other hand, the Minrozian Empire has cultures which do animal sacrifices to honour the Gods as long as they don’t commit sentient sacrifices as sanctioned by imperial law.

Nevertheless, they’ll respect the local traditions in spite of the awkwardness they felt when observing the ritual itself. At least, the Selkie priestesses treated the horse with respect and the locals didn’t seem to be bothered by it as the Minrozians observed.

[“I wonder how our horselord friends will react when they see this spectacle.”] Tieguang mused, conversing in Mandarin with his wife.

[“I don’t think they’ll be happy with them using horses to sacrifice.”] Lianhua, responded in kind. [“The Monggus slaughter the livestock instead. Other than that, it’s burning incenses and some splash of wine on the steppe plains. For them, it is a waste of a good horse.”]

[“Hehe~, undoubtedly, my love.”] The colonel smiled. [“Although, we don’t made many sacrifices to the Gods nowadays. Not since five thousand years ago. As much as I respect the Gods, I don’t think sacrifices are needed. Didn’t Ajaran-Murnism come from Sindia?”]

[“You are not wrong, dear.”] Lianhua concurred, wrapping her arm around his in affectionate manner. [“You already know half of my family line came from Sindia, bringing their traditions and Sindu Gods to the Middle Kingdom. Our idea of sacrifices is personal surrender through acts of prayers and devotion. How we did normally is the offerings of butter, grains, spices and wood into a fire while we chanting our sacred mantras.”]

[“That sounds more reasonable and civilized in contrasts to my ancestors in Shang Dynasty period.”] Tieguang remarked. [“Although we’re not here to talk about merits of faiths, whether Minrozians or foreign, let alone sacrifices of all topics. Do you want to have some fun exploring~?”]

Lianhua giggled. [“I would love to.”] Despite her seniority in rank over her husband, she treated her husband as her equal and would not trade it for anything else.

It is indeed their first day in Free Lands. They’re here to enjoy a vacation. The two continue to walk down the streets, hand-in-hand, unafraid of displaying their feelings as a loving couple.

There were enough loving couples around to make the two Minrozians and their loving coupleness look like the most normal thing in the world.
And today, not many people cared about rank and file.
In the streets of Cuan, where pedestrians and horsemen alike traversed, they were celebrating and that was the main concern for everyone. And, of course, there were also stores, stalls and peddlers selling stuff - hand-crafted toys, clothes, tools, even the bows and arrows, for which's application from horseback the Selkie were famous for, had more then one vendor.
One of them even had a small shooting gallery set up, where people could test the product before they decided for and against, kids and adults alike taking the moment to show their skills, even if there was no price to be won.
One of them was a man, who the two Minrozians might recognize, mainly because the Minrozians and the Selkie were both part of Operation Spartacus and the man was an integral part of its planning.
A man with short, brown hair, which turned grey and brown eyes, which were amused as every, relatively normal sized, but not recognizeable as a Lieutenant General of the SDF-Army, and certainly not called that in Cuan, who had a rather interesting relationship to Finn Nióchan of the Tribe of Cork.
There was a young man, maybe twelve or thirteen, by his side, testing a bow as well, and a Grey Wolf, a scraggly beast of a canine, who watched with deep care, sitting on his tail so that no one would step on it by accident.
All in all, it was a rustic scene - a peaceful one.

Cuan still maintained both the three bastions, which secured the northern approaches, as well as the old city wall - their defensive effectiveness in case of armed confrontation was doubtful these days, but for Cuan, that mattered little. They were points of pride... and, in case of the city wall, quite useful during large festivities such as this.
The high gates of Lodan Lir's Pearl were ideally suited to establish checkpoints - one could not go past them from the camping spots. Luckily, the officers of the City Guard manning them were nice and quick with their checks, then let them in.
And Cuan, in all of its glory, was before them: Houses of timber and stone, centuries old, the flower boxes already filled, peddlers, hawkers and stalls, as well as regular shops showing off their wares and skills, inns and taverns with food and drink prepared or being prepared and everywhere, hundreds and thousands of people, horses, other animals.
And one of the latter was a grey canine, not a Grey Wolf, as one saw at the scheme: The canine in question had a mane of dark grey hair sprouting from the back of the head, his body was mostly of a similar colour, but the stomach and paws, as well as the underside of the tail and a stripe on his side.
He dragged a young woman, who held the leash, silver hair going a bit past the shoulder, grey-blue eyes and sportly built with a very feminine touch, which was only emphasized by the leather jacket and black, knee-high boots she wore in addition to the black garrison cap with the red stripe. She smiled apologetically, as the canine approached, began to sniff the girls.
"I'm very sorry about this!", she told the parents of the two girls (although she, quite honestly, doubted, that the black-haired one belonged to the family, but that was another story). "Lorgaire is my boyfriend's and he sometimes doesn't know how to behave and... well, I am very sorry!"
She bowed her head deep.

Joey felt the brush of a cold wet nose against her arm and turned around to see a cute dog was at her heels sniffing her. "Oh hi there!" She greeted the canine companion. "Aww a doggy!"

"Oh I wouldn't worry," Charlie brushed away "Seems like the furry dog was just curious, we're quite used to animals ourselves."

Billie asked "Boy or girl? Super cute whatever it is!"

"What's his name?" Joey just defaulted to male but it didn't matter.

---

If one started, like Mei and Tsukasa, from the Gléas Inn (where they caught literally the last room), one had a number of spots, which one could visit for sight seeing:
Of course, one could go down the Main Streets, watch the peddler, hawkers, stalls and shops, including four blacksmith shops, at work. All four of them were merrily hammering away against red-hot iron and steel and other materials, forming their works and products.
One could also walk along the city walls, even climb them and the towers, for a better view of the city.
One could go down hidden paths to the actual Main Temple of the Cult of Lodan Lir, which was not advertised in many tourist guides, as usually, the Grand Temple (in front of which many of the ceremonies were held today, where the opening had been) was the main attraction.
They could also go to the Ceol Square and the music stage there, as soon, it would start. The three lads of Mórbhileog were already prepping themselves.
And those were only spots, which would easily come to mind - Cuan had much to offer for the curious mind!

Walking hand in hand the two set off down the street. "This is such a lovely place." Mei said.

"Yeah, it has such a quaint locked-in-time feel to it. It's a lot like Caloris isn't it?" Tsukasa remarked.

"Yeah the older parts of the city and even some of the villages and towns near Sonomi too."

"Anything in particular you want to see, Mei?" Tsukasa prodded, she didn't want to rush but at the same time a couple of wandering girls sometimes made easy targets for near-do-wells.

"Oh let's see..." She pulled out a guide she had scooped up at the airport about things to do and see. "Ooh...Looks like there's some music at the square. Sounds fun?"

"Yeah, let's go." Taking another look at their map they found the best route and set off, arriving a few minutes later, seemingly just in time before the show was to start but it was crowded. "I guess we should have figured it would be crowded. You want to go somewhere else?"

"Nah, this is fine!" Tsukasa smiled, squeezing Mei's hand. "oh guess the sun is really coming out today huh, well I came prepared." She opened up her parasol, actually it was given to her by Mei, one rainy evening after a night of studying. "Oh perfect."

The young woman smiled, especially as her canine almost preened under the praise.
"Oh, his name is Lorgaire, that means seeker in English, and he is a male Salalkubz Forest Wolf. So he's a boy with a taste for cute girls!", she explained and grinned, "If you want, you can pet him. I'm sure, neither he nor Donny would have anything against it."
She smiled as Lorgaire offered his head for petting.
"By the way, I am Pina.", she said, "And who are you all?"

The parasol did raise a bit of attention on the Ceol Square, where there would be a number of concerts starting in around one and a half hours - however, there was not no music: Several of the musicians were already on stage, jamming a bit, much to the crowd's delight, some even using the chance for a dance already.
More then one couple was male-only or female-only.
Close by the two Kuronami-born women was a young woman, in her mid-to late twenties, blonde, long hair and blue-green, aqua eyes. She wore a black Geansai, with a number of people giving her a bit of a berth, but not so the girl by her side, maybe six or seven, same hair, maybe a shade darker, and same eyes, dressed in a child's version of the Cathéide, the Horseman's Armour, the Half-Cuirass of Selkie Warriors, a short sword on her hip.
She grinned in a way, that made even the black her Mother wore seem like a colourful rainbow.

While Hilda, Sophus, and Mia were slowly, but surely agreeing to see, if they could put up their tents at the Marcach's camp, and then see, what else was going on in here, Chris followed Soiprigh through the tight crowd on his side of the square - luckily, the Little Black Fox seemed to be aware of that, just like Cladhaire had back then in Dumhach, so he slowed down.
It did not take long; Cel, who was still wearing her black hair long and bound together with a blue ribbon, was standing at the side of the square, talking with a few friends. Soiprigh jumped into his Mommy's arms and snuggled against her chest, receiving a kiss by her.
Cel did not pay a lot of attention to who Soiprigh was followed by - she would notice soon enough, though, namely, when Chris approached her, himself not paying much attention to her friends, carefully kissed her on the cheek and greeted, with a grin, "Dia dhuit, searrach!" in Selkie-language.

Cel. On the Láir Square.
When Soiprigh came back, I had grinned, but I was confused for a moment, when he jumped out of my arms again, only for a shadow to fall over me - and a pair of lips to touch my cheek.
A very familiar pair of lips.
Chris.
How my heart yearned to hear his voice, feel his touch, be close to him... Gods! If there was one thing greater on this day then this, it was this... and his greeting, "Dia dhuit, searrach!"
My heart skipped a beat.
Then, I whispered back: "Haigh, mo grá..."
Hi, my love - less formal, but all the more heartfelt, as were my lips seeking his and... let's just say, that there was tongue involved. My friends, who I had been conversing, looked the other way to give us some privacy.
I did not know it, but Hilda would be very welcome in the Marcach's Camp.

[New Visayan Islands]

Domingo Hasegawa
Láir Square

There were plenty of things for Domingo to be amazed at--he even designed a few such things himself--and the display of affection he just saw got his attention as easily as the architectural landscape of the Free Lands.

"Ah, to be young again," he muttered to no one in particular before heading to the nearest restaurant for brunch. He had a light snack while in transit compliments of the crew of the Diamantine Heart, but his stomach was screaming and would brook no objections.

Engr. Ramon A. Dominguez, Jr.
Victoria Shipyards, Traverse

"So what's this I hear about the Spring Festival?" the marine engineer attached to the Diamantine Heart asked the branch manager.

"It's a yearly thing this country has--seriously, we have copies of the Boss's account in Cuan here for a reason," the manager replied, showing a well-used copy of Industrialist at Crossed Rivers to demonstrate. "How's the Heart, anyway?"

"So far so good, thanks for asking. Hell, I'm wondering if we can watch it live during downtime." Ramon couldn't make it in person--he was attached to the Diamantine Heart for a reason, after all.

[Mervay]

Láir Square, Cuan, Free Lands of The Selkie
The Free Lands of The Selkie, this place got great experiences for the people which visited it and is once again here. Clear example is Lisolette Camine Alizée Devienne or Lisolette and Lise for the fellas, this 18 years old girl in her last year of high school, daughter of one of Mervay's last Aristocrat family or noble ones, taking out the Royal Family and the more young but still rich family, the Dileva's.

Lise has been here once in the past by many things, well her only time around here was during Shella to do some things going from visit some old friends, forget the Purgatio and Main Nation Ministry failures in where she just wanted to give an good punch to De La Fayette in the first travel and in the second destroy those dammed cameras of her room.
But she was glad that at least things ended that bad have their good side too, she knew new people and friends, some she might never see again and others which are those you will always try to met wharever the chance appears, her only examples that she knows might be around this city are Celina Treoraí and of course if Cel is here then her boyfriend is here too, Christopher Riescheid, but better leave that couple being on their own and don't interrupt their time unless they meet again by coincidence in this city wharever the case.

Either way leaving the past away, main priority was for her to leave her baggage or at least most of it taking out something she always took with her out, her violin and the briefcase it contained the musical instrument.

"And all of this because my last exam of the year before I end my school year" she sighed about it as she remembered, glad that at least was history with Ms. Vianna and no other subject for the last exam of the school year. Because of the times and comfort she was forced to make an travel which was Asteria-Silverport-Cuan in where when they landed in the scale destiny she and another tourist which was flying to Cuan too needed to take an regional flight to the city from it.

"We should be glad that in the return flight we will be either able to go with the old route or take the train than suffer the pain of another scale and without do nothing or enjoy the wiew" An woman told her, Lise looked at her and nodded about it.

"Your right Trinity. At least we will able to enjoy our travel of return and more since we don't have an exam or something like that in home" she answered as they kept walking through the square.

Trinity Avril Litton, student at the Mervay Royal University or MRU, two years older than Lise and kinda like an close friend of Devienne, they never talked too much up until the travel and they knew each other through their common friend, Tess.
She was blonde, blue-eyered and used glasses; she ussed an dress style pretty different to which her partner used meanwhile the aristocratic girl used black dress which she has used many times, Trinity used something more stylish, a blue dress, those you can use everyday mostly.

"Either way, we should find an Inn to stay since I'm sure if we don't find one now, they will all will be taken out if we don't hurry" Lise answered as she nodded, they wouldn't go through the city with most of their baggage.

So now they needed to find an Inn and Lise knew one which might not be 5 stars but it was decent and famous for it's band. The Stoc Inn.

[AHSCA]

When the regulars of the Cluanaire Inn, who took the opportunity to eat outside, saw the mother and her child enter their courtyard, they looked up for a moment, then turned back to their stuff.
It was a more or less peaceful scene.
A waitress waved to them, she would be there in a moment.
Someone, however, looked at them a moment longer, especially at the cracked glasses, before he turned back to his breakfast.
A minute or two later, a waitress arrived, dressed in Geansai with an apron in front of her, smiling as she looked at both of them and offered a menu. They looked brand-new, but that was only, because the English version of these menus was rarely used.
In any case, she smiled.
"Welcome to the Cluanaire Inn, lassies.", she greeted a bit informally, she was maybe seventeen and the spring in her step revealed, that she was happy as a clam, and something on her upper body moving along every skip revealed, that she was quite well-equipped, "Today's special, a traditional breakfast: porridge, eggs roasted from both sides, battered fish, frying pan fat all over the place and bread to wipe it all up."
Alternatively, as the menu revealed, they had a plate of cheeses, ham, butter and breadrolls, which one could take as a less greasy option, plus a variety of salads, even pies. And they also had a wide selection of teas to drink, from teas to wake up to teas to settle down, plus Selkie-Lemonade (including a warning to foreigners, that they were the tactical nuclear warhead amongst teeth-destroyers).
Taking out a notepad, she young woman took an order from the neighbouring table's occupant for a moment, then turned back.

Delightful as the special sounded it also sounded a bit heavy compared to what they were used to. "Well it all sounds lovely and delicious but I think we might need something a bit easier to start with." Haru thought a moment "Well perhaps we can start off with some tea for the both of us, black tea"

Hina studied the menu a moment. "Well, I for one would like the battered fish."

"Well for me, porridge with fish sounds delightful. Thank you very much."

The young, serious woman had to fight to 'keep it cool', as they said, to not erupt into an excited squeak, but she managed a bow with an ear-splitting grin.
"It's a great honour!", she said and the ears on her head rose up in excitement, which caused her sister to hide a giggle behind her hand. "I am Branwen. Branwen Blaidd, of Tralee Descent and... well, I love your books. I would love to visit AHSCA one day and see all the things you described. Especially the Festival of Holy Light!" There was real excitement in her voice. "And, well... I am a bit of a writer myself..."

Shizuka was red in the face at this point, being recognized and fangirled over was just something she wasn't used to but it felt great to know people really enjoyed her work and that her work had inspired others like this young lady to come visit the islands. "I'm so glad! Glad you love my work and that you want to come visit AHSCA sometime. I had really wanted to visit The Selkie for a while, finally have a vacation. I also work in government but that's more of a side gig." Well she did take her position seriously but again she just didn't want to make a fuss that she was a member of the Offices. "And it's high time I get to writing a new novel. Thought a lovely place like this could give me some new inspiration and I must say it already is."

Her eyes seeing the Gensai frequently worn already was something she hoped she could write about with a lovely young lady to describe in it. "Oh, a writer too?! That's great! What do you write, are you formally published yet or still up-and-coming? How long have you been writing for?"

[Lillorainen]

Cel. On the Láir Square.
When Soiprigh came back, I had grinned, but I was confused for a moment, when he jumped out of my arms again, only for a shadow to fall over me - and a pair of lips to touch my cheek.
A very familiar pair of lips.
Chris.
How my heart yearned to hear his voice, feel his touch, be close to him... Gods! If there was one thing greater on this day then this, it was this... and his greeting, "Dia dhuit, searrach!"
My heart skipped a beat.
Then, I whispered back: "Haigh, mo grá..."
Hi, my love - less formal, but all the more heartfelt, as were my lips seeking his and... let's just say, that there was tongue involved. My friends, who I had been conversing, looked the other way to give us some privacy.
I did not know it, but Hilda would be very welcome in the Marcach's Camp.

Chris - on the Láir Square.
In the moment Chris approached and kissed his girlfriend, he could have sworn, that he could hear her heart skipping a beat - and following her less formal reply, which he, of course, understood, they pressed their lips against each other, possibly with some tongue involved and well-yeah-that's-it; Soiprigh had jumped off Cel's chest again, and Cel's friends had turned around to leave the both of them a bit of privacy.
The eternity they hadn't seen each other now felt even longer, making this moment feel yet the better.
After the long, deep, loving kiss, Chris looked into Cel's eyes, as blue and deep as the ocean, grinned, and said, "Pleasure to see you again! Hope it hasn't gotten too boring in the time being, eh?"

Hilda, Sophus, and Mia - on the way to the Marcach's Camp.
As Hilda and her friends had definitely agreed on going to the Marcach's Camp, where they were quite a few lads and lassies who looked forward to see her again, they grabbed all their luggage and left the Láir Square for one of the roads connecting it with other parts of the city.
They were not in a hurry, though, but took their time - firstly, Hilda was sure, that the lads and lassies in question hadn't missed the Sacrifice, either, therefore would certainly be around here rather than in their camp, and secondly, Lodan Lir's Pearl offered some nice pieces of architecture to look at, reminding of some examples back home, which they looked similar to, but not exactly alike - at least depending on where one was.
"Have I promised too much?" - Hilda asked Sophus, with a grin, as she noticed how he was distinctly amazed.
"Not really!" - he replied. "Reminds me of the Cider Belt a tiny bit. At least, after the fifth or sixth glass of apple wine and the third plum shot, I'd have a hard time to tell the difference."
Mia snorted. "This is why you study your ... whatever stuff there, and leave highly sophisticated tasks like counting timber to the pros."
"Pros like you, I take?"
"Too."
Hilda grinned, but did not comment on it - they knew how amusing the little teasings between the two of them could be, all of which were, of course, just fun.

[Kuronami]

The young woman smiled, especially as her canine almost preened under the praise.
"Oh, his name is Lorgaire, that means seeker in English, and he is a male Salalkubz Forest Wolf. So he's a boy with a taste for cute girls!", she explained and grinned, "If you want, you can pet him. I'm sure, neither he nor Donny would have anything against it."
She smiled as Lorgaire offered his head for petting.
"By the way, I am Pina.", she said, "And who are you all?"

"Seeker." Both Billie and Joey repeated loving the classy naming.

"Pleasure Pina." Charlie greeted. "I'm Charlie, my husband, Jamie. Our daughter, Billie, her friend, Joey. Well Joey is practically a second daughter to us already!" she joked.

"We're all from Kuronami." Joey added.

"Me, mama and papa were here for y'alls harvest festival and we wanted to come back again!" Billie added.

The parasol did raise a bit of attention on the Ceol Square, where there would be a number of concerts starting in around one and a half hours - however, there was not no music: Several of the musicians were already on stage, jamming a bit, much to the crowd's delight, some even using the chance for a dance already.
More then one couple was male-only or female-only.
Close by the two Kuronami-born women was a young woman, in her mid-to late twenties, blonde, long hair and blue-green, aqua eyes. She wore a black Geansai, with a number of people giving her a bit of a berth, but not so the girl by her side, maybe six or seven, same hair, maybe a shade darker, and same eyes, dressed in a child's version of the Cathéide, the Horseman's Armour, the Half-Cuirass of Selkie Warriors, a short sword on her hip.
She grinned in a way, that made even the black her Mother wore seem like a colourful rainbow.

"Hey, Mei-chan, maybe they'd let you play sometime huh?" Tsukasa joked but she also knew Mei would be wonderful and probably could move a crowd to tears.

"Oh, I don't know. It might be fun but I'm sure the local acts have been working hard for months to get ready for today so last thing they need is me."

The crowds shifting a bit made it a bit of a challange for the two girls to stay close together but they managed to hold on just enough but getting shuffled around close to the woman and child. "Oh, morning." They greeted them. "Lovely day for a concert isn't it?" Mei added.

[Kjalaara]

Njål watched his hands. It was nice when plans actually worked. He had spent the last couple of years behind bars and his plan was to instantly travel to the free lands after his release. It had worked. He got a visa and everything. He got a job on a cargo ship and made it just in time. And eh even had saved some money from the job on board the ship. Not much but it would get him through the first day. He had never been to the free lands before but it exceeded even his widest expectations. There were so many Kjalåran tourists here this year, it was unbelievable. Not all in Cuan but quite a lot of them. He was surprised that tattoos were a lot less common than at home. He expected the Selkie to look pretty much like his own people only a bit friendlier to outsiders.

The rules of the pilgrimage were very strict and did not change much over the centuries. No money, just one bag of stuff. No lying, no cheating, no stealing and never turning down a duel. He had to leave Limerick with a good reputation surviving only on his skills as singer and poet. Or through whatever other jobs he was offered. He was happy the weather was already warm enough to spend the night outdoors. It was nice here. He liked it, but now it was time to take a look around.

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

"Yes, I heard about the 737... according to the newspaper, they will ground every 737 in airports around the Free Lands, so don't worry.", the young woman said, then blushed. "Oh, my, where are my manners!"
She bowed her head lightly.
"I am Kiah. As one can quickly gather, I belong to the Cult of Lodan Lir...", she said with a bit of self-irony, before she gathered herself. "And I ask, because... allow me to be honest here, you look like you've been through the blender. Need a good, strong tea with a lot of caffeine?"

Marie nodded. "Pure caffeine, exactly half a teaspoon, would be preferable, but tea will do very well. Thank you, Kiah...oh, and my name's Marie Ernst Gluck." She gave the best smile she could under the circumstances. "Three guesses as to where I come from."

[The Selkie]

Domingo Hasegawa
Láir Square

There were plenty of things for Domingo to be amazed at--he even designed a few such things himself--and the display of affection he just saw got his attention as easily as the architectural landscape of the Free Lands.

"Ah, to be young again," he muttered to no one in particular before heading to the nearest restaurant for brunch. He had a light snack while in transit compliments of the crew of the Diamantine Heart, but his stomach was screaming and would brook no objections.

Engr. Ramon A. Dominguez, Jr.
Victoria Shipyards, Traverse

"So what's this I hear about the Spring Festival?" the marine engineer attached to the Diamantine Heart asked the branch manager.

"It's a yearly thing this country has--seriously, we have copies of the Boss's account in Cuan here for a reason," the manager replied, showing a well-used copy of Industrialist at Crossed Rivers to demonstrate. "How's the Heart, anyway?"

"So far so good, thanks for asking. Hell, I'm wondering if we can watch it live during downtime." Ramon couldn't make it in person--he was attached to the Diamantine Heart for a reason, after all.

Every village had its own Spring Festival, some of them small, some big, others over-proportioned, but everyone had one nearby - and in one of the major cities of the Free Lands, Traverse, it was certainly a large one.
Not as large as Cuan and the music acts were more... locally rooted then the current chart-leaders of the Free Lands, but that did not stop people from having a blast.
Meanwhile, maybe unaware, maybe aware of all of that, Domingo would have an easy time finding a place to eat, but more difficulties with finding a free table - almost impossible, even with the friendliness of the Selkie, who invited total strangers onto their tables.
I was easier to get oneself a few breadrolls with sausages or ham or cheese or all of the above and to consume them standing or on a bench or a low wall, the latter of which was done by quite a few young people.

Láir Square, Cuan, Free Lands of The Selkie
The Free Lands of The Selkie, this place got great experiences for the people which visited it and is once again here. Clear example is Lisolette Camine Alizée Devienne or Lisolette and Lise for the fellas, this 18 years old girl in her last year of high school, daughter of one of Mervay's last Aristocrat family or noble ones, taking out the Royal Family and the more young but still rich family, the Dileva's.

Lise has been here once in the past by many things, well her only time around here was during Shella to do some things going from visit some old friends, forget the Purgatio and Main Nation Ministry failures in where she just wanted to give an good punch to De La Fayette in the first travel and in the second destroy those dammed cameras of her room.
But she was glad that at least things ended that bad have their good side too, she knew new people and friends, some she might never see again and others which are those you will always try to met wharever the chance appears, her only examples that she knows might be around this city are Celina Treoraí and of course if Cel is here then her boyfriend is here too, Christopher Riescheid, but better leave that couple being on their own and don't interrupt their time unless they meet again by coincidence in this city wharever the case.

Either way leaving the past away, main priority was for her to leave her baggage or at least most of it taking out something she always took with her out, her violin and the briefcase it contained the musical instrument.

"And all of this because my last exam of the year before I end my school year" she sighed about it as she remembered, glad that at least was history with Ms. Vianna and no other subject for the last exam of the school year. Because of the times and comfort she was forced to make an travel which was Asteria-Silverport-Cuan in where when they landed in the scale destiny she and another tourist which was flying to Cuan too needed to take an regional flight to the city from it.

"We should be glad that in the return flight we will be either able to go with the old route or take the train than suffer the pain of another scale and without do nothing or enjoy the wiew" An woman told her, Lise looked at her and nodded about it.

"Your right Trinity. At least we will able to enjoy our travel of return and more since we don't have an exam or something like that in home" she answered as they kept walking through the square.

Trinity Avril Litton, student at the Mervay Royal University or MRU, two years older than Lise and kinda like an close friend of Devienne, they never talked too much up until the travel and they knew each other through their common friend, Tess.
She was blonde, blue-eyered and used glasses; she ussed an dress style pretty different to which her partner used meanwhile the aristocratic girl used black dress which she has used many times, Trinity used something more stylish, a blue dress, those you can use everyday mostly.

"Either way, we should find an Inn to stay since I'm sure if we don't find one now, they will all will be taken out if we don't hurry" Lise answered as she nodded, they wouldn't go through the city with most of their baggage.

So now they needed to find an Inn and Lise knew one which might not be 5 stars but it was decent and famous for it's band. The Stoc Inn.

The Stoc Inn was a bit off from the beaten paths, but could still easily be reached.
It indeed was almost exclusively famous for its band and the only reason, why people came was, indeed, that band. Rarely, people stayed overnight, or at least Selkie did - foreigners did.
And online forums were full of reports about the hard and uncomfortable beds.
Still, the Stoc was a good and decent house.
And finding a room there was, on that day, luck on the side of Lise and her friend - someone had aborted his reservation and the room was free. A single-room, with one bed, albeit it was a bit wider.
The receptionist explained to them, that other then that one, they did not have any other rooms and that it was unlikely, that they would find a room anywhere else in the city - unless they had a tent with them, which they could erect on the camping fields outside of town, that was.

Marie nodded. "Pure caffeine, exactly half a teaspoon, would be preferable, but tea will do very well. Thank you, Kiah...oh, and my name's Marie Ernst Gluck." She gave the best smile she could under the circumstances. "Three guesses as to where I come from."

Kiah raised an eyebrow.
"You neither look like a Lillo nor like someone from Teressien to me.", she said and then motioned Marie to follow her, "So I, quite honestly, have no idea. Shoot!"
Kiah knew a very good place for wake-up tea, an old herbalist, who still owed her one and who's son liked her. Very much. Luckily for her, Finnegan was man enough to see, when he had no chance.
In any case, she led Marie through Cuan's streets like only one born here could.

When the regulars of the Cluanaire Inn, who took the opportunity to eat outside, saw the mother and her child enter their courtyard, they looked up for a moment, then turned back to their stuff.
It was a more or less peaceful scene.
A waitress waved to them, she would be there in a moment.
Someone, however, looked at them a moment longer, especially at the cracked glasses, before he turned back to his breakfast.
A minute or two later, a waitress arrived, dressed in Geansai with an apron in front of her, smiling as she looked at both of them and offered a menu. They looked brand-new, but that was only, because the English version of these menus was rarely used.
In any case, she smiled.
"Welcome to the Cluanaire Inn, lassies.", she greeted a bit informally, she was maybe seventeen and the spring in her step revealed, that she was happy as a clam, and something on her upper body moving along every skip revealed, that she was quite well-equipped, "Today's special, a traditional breakfast: porridge, eggs roasted from both sides, battered fish, frying pan fat all over the place and bread to wipe it all up."
Alternatively, as the menu revealed, they had a plate of cheeses, ham, butter and breadrolls, which one could take as a less greasy option, plus a variety of salads, even pies. And they also had a wide selection of teas to drink, from teas to wake up to teas to settle down, plus Selkie-Lemonade (including a warning to foreigners, that they were the tactical nuclear warhead amongst teeth-destroyers).
Taking out a notepad, she young woman took an order from the neighbouring table's occupant for a moment, then turned back.

Delightful as the special sounded it also sounded a bit heavy compared to what they were used to. "Well it all sounds lovely and delicious but I think we might need something a bit easier to start with." Haru thought a moment "Well perhaps we can start off with some tea for the both of us, black tea"

Hina studied the menu a moment. "Well, I for one would like the battered fish."

"Well for me, porridge with fish sounds delightful. Thank you very much."

The young, serious woman had to fight to 'keep it cool', as they said, to not erupt into an excited squeak, but she managed a bow with an ear-splitting grin.
"It's a great honour!", she said and the ears on her head rose up in excitement, which caused her sister to hide a giggle behind her hand. "I am Branwen. Branwen Blaidd, of Tralee Descent and... well, I love your books. I would love to visit AHSCA one day and see all the things you described. Especially the Festival of Holy Light!" There was real excitement in her voice. "And, well... I am a bit of a writer myself..."

Shizuka was red in the face at this point, being recognized and fangirled over was just something she wasn't used to but it felt great to know people really enjoyed her work and that her work had inspired others like this young lady to come visit the islands. "I'm so glad! Glad you love my work and that you want to come visit AHSCA sometime. I had really wanted to visit The Selkie for a while, finally have a vacation. I also work in government but that's more of a side gig." Well she did take her position seriously but again she just didn't want to make a fuss that she was a member of the Offices. "And it's high time I get to writing a new novel. Thought a lovely place like this could give me some new inspiration and I must say it already is."

Her eyes seeing the Gensai frequently worn already was something she hoped she could write about with a lovely young lady to describe in it. "Oh, a writer too?! That's great! What do you write, are you formally published yet or still up-and-coming? How long have you been writing for?"

The waitress noted everything down and nodded.
"Alright, tea will be there in a minute - the food might take a few more!", she announced and smiled, "Be right back!"
Indeed, a minute afterwards, the waitress returned with two cups of steaming hot black tea in large mugs, plus a carafe for refilling, two spoons, and a small carafe for milk - Selkie usually did not drink tea with sugar.
She smiled. "As said, food will take a few minutes - until then, enjoy!", she said and was off again.
A minute or so, the two of them were alone, until the man, who had watched their arrival, rose from his seat and stepped up to them, motioning to one of the chairs. He was a redhead, his hair long and bound back into a long, slim braid, his red-brown eyes sparkled. He looked rather sportly, well-trained, and around eighteen.
"Ma'am, Miss, would you allow me to join you?", he asked politely, then bowed his head politely, "My, where are my manners? I am Leonard, Leonard Rualacha of the Tribe of Wicklow."

Branwen soaked every word up like a dry sponge drew up water and giggled at the fact, that her hometown, her little Cuan, had inspired the Great Shizuka Gozen!
Gods, this was a wonderful day!
She turned a bit sheepish at the question, though.
"For a few years, now, I've been writing, mostly science fiction.", she retold, excitedly, "So far, I have one published - Gwarcheidwad: Hunter and Prey. Big Sis was my proofreader and she loved it!"
"Indeed, it's a nice book.", the older one said with a smile. "Maybe you can swap signed copies?"
Branwen's eyes lit up. "That is a great idea!", she said and turned back to Shizuka, "What do you think, Miss Gozen?"

Njål watched his hands. It was nice when plans actually worked. He had spent the last couple of years behind bars and his plan was to instantly travel to the free lands after his release. It had worked. He got a visa and everything. He got a job on a cargo ship and made it just in time. And eh even had saved some money from the job on board the ship. Not much but it would get him through the first day. He had never been to the free lands before but it exceeded even his widest expectations. There were so many Kjalåran tourists here this year, it was unbelievable. Not all in Cuan but quite a lot of them. He was surprised that tattoos were a lot less common than at home. He expected the Selkie to look pretty much like his own people only a bit friendlier to outsiders.

The rules of the pilgrimage were very strict and did not change much over the centuries. No money, just one bag of stuff. No lying, no cheating, no stealing and never turning down a duel. He had to leave Limerick with a good reputation surviving only on his skills as singer and poet. Or through whatever other jobs he was offered. He was happy the weather was already warm enough to spend the night outdoors. It was nice here. He liked it, but now it was time to take a look around.

What Njal might have heard of was, that Selkie and Kjalaarans had a lot of history together. Once foes, once friends, once something inbetween - nowadays, they were friends again.
1718 had changed a few things for the Selkie.
In any case, for up and coming musicians searching for work there was enough to do in a city celebrating the Spring Festival, for a musician on pilgremage, even doubly so.
The Petting Zoo always needed additional hands to help with the necessary tasks and although the Brigadier had send out people left and right and even herself to recruit, there was still a shortage as a number of signs said.
Like every year.
And who knew? Maybe he could find an opportunity to play, there, too?

The young woman smiled, especially as her canine almost preened under the praise.
"Oh, his name is Lorgaire, that means seeker in English, and he is a male Salalkubz Forest Wolf. So he's a boy with a taste for cute girls!", she explained and grinned, "If you want, you can pet him. I'm sure, neither he nor Donny would have anything against it."
She smiled as Lorgaire offered his head for petting.
"By the way, I am Pina.", she said, "And who are you all?"

"Seeker." Both Billie and Joey repeated loving the classy naming.

"Pleasure Pina." Charlie greeted. "I'm Charlie, my husband, Jamie. Our daughter, Billie, her friend, Joey. Well Joey is practically a second daughter to us already!" she joked.

"We're all from Kuronami." Joey added.

"Me, mama and papa were here for y'alls harvest festival and we wanted to come back again!" Billie added.

The parasol did raise a bit of attention on the Ceol Square, where there would be a number of concerts starting in around one and a half hours - however, there was not no music: Several of the musicians were already on stage, jamming a bit, much to the crowd's delight, some even using the chance for a dance already.
More then one couple was male-only or female-only.
Close by the two Kuronami-born women was a young woman, in her mid-to late twenties, blonde, long hair and blue-green, aqua eyes. She wore a black Geansai, with a number of people giving her a bit of a berth, but not so the girl by her side, maybe six or seven, same hair, maybe a shade darker, and same eyes, dressed in a child's version of the Cathéide, the Horseman's Armour, the Half-Cuirass of Selkie Warriors, a short sword on her hip.
She grinned in a way, that made even the black her Mother wore seem like a colourful rainbow.

"Hey, Mei-chan, maybe they'd let you play sometime huh?" Tsukasa joked but she also knew Mei would be wonderful and probably could move a crowd to tears.

"Oh, I don't know. It might be fun but I'm sure the local acts have been working hard for months to get ready for today so last thing they need is me."

The crowds shifting a bit made it a bit of a challange for the two girls to stay close together but they managed to hold on just enough but getting shuffled around close to the woman and child. "Oh, morning." They greeted them. "Lovely day for a concert isn't it?" Mei added.

Pina smiled at the excitement of Billie, going down onto a knee to speak with her and be on the same eyelevel then her and Joey.
"Oh, Kuronami - a lovely place!", she said and made sure, that Lorgaire behaved himself a bit more. "I would love to travel there someday. With Donny and Lorgaire." She smiled, scratching the canine under his chin, which he liked. "So... you were here last year for the Harvest Festival? Have you made any good friends?"

The mother smiled and bowed her head lightly.
Her daughter wore an excited grin: "Good morning to you, too, Miss! It indeed is!", she said with a grin, "The musicians are cool, too! Right now, Alaina and Eoin are jamming together and they look so cute!"
Indeed, on stage, a young man stood by a young woman, both with guitars. The woman was silver-blonde, wearing a leather dress, while he was dark brown haired and wore glasses. Their melody was an experimental one.
"Mam is waiting on Mom, so that they can dance their Spring Dance and they will look even cuter!", the girl added and her mother blushed.

Chris - on the Láir Square.
In the moment Chris approached and kissed his girlfriend, he could have sworn, that he could hear her heart skipping a beat - and following her less formal reply, which he, of course, understood, they pressed their lips against each other, possibly with some tongue involved and well-yeah-that's-it; Soiprigh had jumped off Cel's chest again, and Cel's friends had turned around to leave the both of them a bit of privacy.
The eternity they hadn't seen each other now felt even longer, making this moment feel yet the better.
After the long, deep, loving kiss, Chris looked into Cel's eyes, as blue and deep as the ocean, grinned, and said, "Pleasure to see you again! Hope it hasn't gotten too boring in the time being, eh?"

Hilda, Sophus, and Mia - on the way to the Marcach's Camp.
As Hilda and her friends had definitely agreed on going to the Marcach's Camp, where they were quite a few lads and lassies who looked forward to see her again, they grabbed all their luggage and left the Láir Square for one of the roads connecting it with other parts of the city.
They were not in a hurry, though, but took their time - firstly, Hilda was sure, that the lads and lassies in question hadn't missed the Sacrifice, either, therefore would certainly be around here rather than in their camp, and secondly, Lodan Lir's Pearl offered some nice pieces of architecture to look at, reminding of some examples back home, which they looked similar to, but not exactly alike - at least depending on where one was.
"Have I promised too much?" - Hilda asked Sophus, with a grin, as she noticed how he was distinctly amazed.
"Not really!" - he replied. "Reminds me of the Cider Belt a tiny bit. At least, after the fifth or sixth glass of apple wine and the third plum shot, I'd have a hard time to tell the difference."
Mia snorted. "This is why you study your ... whatever stuff there, and leave highly sophisticated tasks like counting timber to the pros."
"Pros like you, I take?"
"Too."
Hilda grinned, but did not comment on it - they knew how amusing the little teasings between the two of them could be, all of which were, of course, just fun.

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
The small group of Lillos, as they made their way through and with the crowds, would rarely have to stop to let anyone or anything past and if they had to, it was usually not too much of a hindrance and traffic could continue quickly.
Still, at one point, they were stopped by someone, who Hilda should know: A redhead, blue eyes, a horse by the reins, quiver and bow case on his hip - every Selkie knew him, yet no one bothered him, for Leonard Lách of the Tribe of Galway had just spotted someone, who he had filed as a friend.
"Hilda!", he called, recognizing the blonde with ease, but still with a bit of a crowd between them, through which he moved towards them, "Wait up, one moment!"
His grin was not diminished, though, as he finally arrived in front of her and her friends, his horse behind him.

Chris and Cel, standing on a square...
I smiled at my boyfriend.
"Pleasure?", I repeated, then looked deep into his eyes, "This is more then mere pleasure..." I let a beat pass, my arms still wrapped around his neck. "It wasn't too boring, though, the Cubs kept me up and running, especially in winter..."
I rolled my eyes when Soiprigh tittered.
"You know them all... and my job for Bicini kept me up and running, too.", I added, "But nothing of that could keep me from thinking of you, Chris."

[Minroz]

There were enough loving couples around to make the two Minrozians and their loving coupleness look like the most normal thing in the world.
And today, not many people cared about rank and file.
In the streets of Cuan, where pedestrians and horsemen alike traversed, they were celebrating and that was the main concern for everyone. And, of course, there were also stores, stalls and peddlers selling stuff - hand-crafted toys, clothes, tools, even the bows and arrows, for which's application from horseback the Selkie were famous for, had more then one vendor.
One of them even had a small shooting gallery set up, where people could test the product before they decided for and against, kids and adults alike taking the moment to show their skills, even if there was no price to be won.
One of them was a man, who the two Minrozians might recognize, mainly because the Minrozians and the Selkie were both part of Operation Spartacus and the man was an integral part of its planning.
A man with short, brown hair, which turned grey and brown eyes, which were amused as every, relatively normal sized, but not recognizeable as a Lieutenant General of the SDF-Army, and certainly not called that in Cuan, who had a rather interesting relationship to Finn Nióchan of the Tribe of Cork.
There was a young man, maybe twelve or thirteen, by his side, testing a bow as well, and a Grey Wolf, a scraggly beast of a canine, who watched with deep care, sitting on his tail so that no one would step on it by accident.
All in all, it was a rustic scene - a peaceful one.

After having a brief look around and window-shopping stores, stalls and peddlers, the couple have decided to stop by one stall. Although, the Minrozians do planned to try having a snack once they’ve finished giving a go at shooting bow and arrow. Back in the Middle Kingdom, archery is part of school curriculum, whether on foot or mounted. It was a popular sport for nobles, enthusiasts and steppe nomads.

[“Oh, shall we check out this stall, dear?”] She points out.

[“Oh sure, why not? Let’s be adventurous.”] Tieguang smiled in response. [“Gods, it’s been a while we’ve done archery since school.”]

The couple headed over to the stall. Little did they know, this stall is run by the certain SDF Lieutenant General, it’s highly likely that the two didn’t recognised him immediately, owing to the fact the Selkie general is dressing differently. The fact is General Sun Lianhua and Colonel Yi Tieguang are from the Plain Red Banners, a different division from the Bordered Yellow Banners who participated in Operation Spartacus. Interestingly, the commander of the Minrozians forces in Operation Spartacus is Yi Jiguang, Tieguang’s father and Lianhua’s father-in-law. Nevertheless, the couple have heard about Selkies participation from their friends and relatives in the Bordered Yellow Banners. Overall, the Minrozians have positive opinion of the Selkies.

“Hello, good day, sir. Can we try the shooting gallery with the bow, just my wife and I?” Tieguang asked. “How much it costs?”

[“Oh, the wolf is so cute~.”] Lianhua gushed on the furry canine. She felt tempted to pet it. It wasn’t strange to the Minrozians about wolfs. The couple do know people back in Minroz who kept wolves at home. Not as pets per say but rather as part of the family. Apparently, Lianhua’s family kept tigers in their home estates and treated them as if they’re own.

[Deutschess Kaiserreich]

"I suppose not." Rudolf took in what he was seeing all around him. How had he not taken a break yet? He had never seen so many colors. All the barren Russian wastes ever gave him was a depressing grey. He stared at the animal in the woman's arms. He wanted to pet it but as a loud snarl from the creature as his hand came close he decided it wasn't the best idea.

[Port Ember]

Cuan, Láir Square.
Jan Breytenbach

Jan was possitively annoyed. The death of the beautifull horse did not bother him per sé - just the senselessnes of it all did. He knew the Selkians were still holding on firmly to their old believes, but did not expect this. He had a serious issue with religious fantacism - as his perfect daughter was blown into a thousand pieces in the name of religion all those years back.

Jan came to these strange land to hopefully fully surprise the new love of his live, but his mind was now a bit poisoned with this sick show. He took a deep swig of rum from his pocket flask, knowing the bar's are closed until the evening.

As he looked around at the thousands of people surrounding him, he atleast felt a bit relaxed - knowing that he dressed correctly for the occasion. He was wearing a dark blue jean and grey T-Shirt with hiking boots. He fit in well - the perfect 'Grey Man'. He did not want to be recognised as the Port Emberian Minister of Defence after all. He had the look of a clean and fit middle aged man just looking to relax a bit.

Jan cussed internally for not booking accomodation ahead, as he decided to 'wing' it for a change. It was not normal for him to travel to the other side of the world to visit a lass who stole his heart in only one night, neither was not planning ahead fully for a month atleast. But here he was - living the life of a dammed hippy! He laughed softly at himself, quite in a mocking manner. "Women ey!" Said loudly to no one. He shook his head and took another sip of rum, trying to remember the name of the hotel which would accomodate his new love .

No one reacted to the exclamation of "Woman ey!" by Jan, but it stood to reason, that he was not helped with that.
He might remember, though, that, during the night they spent on a foreign warship, porking each other's brains out, she mentioned not only the Festival, but also that her Company had booked the Ropaire Inn.
One of the inns with the highest reputation and highest prices, but quality to match.
Asking locals would reveal, that it was closeby and easily found. The structure had its own courtyard, which was filled with tables and people all wanting or eating food. And there was a large, albeit unlit fireplace, which would soon be used to start grilling.
If there was any place one could begin to search, it was there.
If he remembered, of course.

---

Jan felt as if he was struck by lightning when his brain decided to suddenly function properly again. He has indeed planned to make this entire trip as unplanned as possible, to get the full experience of his attempted 'Hippy Vacation', however his internal planner side was not dead yet.

He flipped out his cellphone from his pocket and indeed, he wrote the Inn name on a saved electroninc memo. He needed to go to the Ropaire Inn. He smiled softly (which only started happening since that fatefull night in the bowels of an aircraft carrier) as he opened his maps application. He typed in the name of the Inn and realised that it was nearby. He orientated himself and started walking towards the required direction.

As Jan was walking, he looked around at the many interesting people, all here for a common goal, yet still living their individual lives. He enjoyed the finer details of glimpsed conversations and facial expressions. He barely came into public like this due to being the Minister of Defence in Port Ember. Therefore he realised that he missed the simple things in life.

When he finally realised the Ropaire Inn, he entered the interesting looking building and approached the reception desk.

"Good day friend! This is a marvelous and interesting Inn you have here. I can see from the activity that you must be booked to the brimm. I was wondering however, if you still have a empty available room? I do not have a reservation offcourse unfortunately." Said smiling, hoping for the best.

[Mediama]

Fiona smiled.
"Your friend is right.", she told Miranda, then turned, her skirt swishing. "You should not sell yourself short, it's unhealthy. That being said, if you'd like, I would love to read your entry into that contest. I like to read, but with all the stuff going on right now..."
She sighed.
"Rarely time. The Cubs demand all attention.", she said, and led them to one of the side-streets branching off of the Square. "And Fidchell, of course." She smiled a bit sheepish at that. "In any case... breakfast is afoot!"

Miranda looked back down at her feet, fiddling with an unseen wrinkle on her skirt. Her blush was admittedly a bright scarlet against her pale cheeks, and thankfully, her fiery red hair covered it. "Thanks, I'll see if I can find it in one of my notebooks or on the school cloud."

After looking back up, her awkward smile matched with Fiona's sheepish smile as she said, "Anyway, yeah, let's go. The day is young, and is bound to age quickly." her sense of dramatization an poetics slightly returned.

"Aye, lead the way, lass!" Kathleen exclaimed, moving slightly ahead of the group to in a way, co-lead the entire group, entirely unafraid of the fact that she may be walking into a sea of people celebrating the festivities.

Miranda chuckled and said in Gaelic, "Oh that girl is going to be the death of me!". Switching back to English, she turned to Fiona and said, "We should probably catch up to her before she gets herself lost in the excitement. Did she even go the right way?"

---

Liv was still on cloud nine, then remembered the question.
Blushing, she replied: "Well, I am part of the delegation of the Cult of Ladra to the Bainis.", she said and a bit of pride entered her eyes, "The High Priestess insisted on me going as part of the delegation."
She shrugged.
"It's indeed a bit of a distance from both Leuda and Silverport, but what are distances in this Age of Aviation?", she asked teasingly, referring to the most likely way Kat herself came from distant Mediama. Reaching up to softly stroke her cheek, she whispered: "A bit much in case of letters going back and forth..."

Kat briefly hid in the crook of Liv's neck as she mentioned air travel, blushing heatedly at the comeback. As she moved back to where she was, her blush darkened as Liv reached and stroked her cheek. "Quite the distance, indeed. Across the Atlantic and then some." Kat reached and gave Liv a peck on the cheek. "That’s wonderful! I'm here with a few of some of the guys from Professor Petrikov's group during the Fall Festival. We managed to pool some money and decided to come back here on our own after our school had to shut down temporarily for repairs."

The college sophomore couldn't help but smile as she leaned in and gave a quick peck on Liv's nose. "We're currently staying at the Stoc Inn. Kind of a miracle considering we pooled the money a week ago and found some reservations just as quickly. But then..." Kat's died down as she took a quick look at Liv and smiled, and quickly contemplated the odds of something like this happening.

She'd probably needed to buy a lottery ticket later.

Still, despite realizing the astronomical odds, she couldn't help but lean back, cuddle into Liv and say, "It's been so long. I didn't expect you to be here, and Community College just wasn't the same without you."

[The Chuck]

Cuan - Láir Square

Smiling, Jeremiah tipped his hat to Mona before speaking.

"Nice to meet you Mona. As for your question, I can pretty much make anything from metal. I was practically born with a body mechanic's hammer in my hands. One of my main items I create are railway spike knives though. The high carbon of the steel used in the railway spikes allows for fine knives to be crafted from them. I also obviously make horse shoes and shoe horses when they're brought to me. The third item that is quite popular is chain-mail armor of sorts. It's quite popular back home due to certain job occupations. Though if you don't mind me asking, you wouldn't happen to know where local artisans and craftsmen/women would be, would you?"

[Lillorainen]

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
The small group of Lillos, as they made their way through and with the crowds, would rarely have to stop to let anyone or anything past and if they had to, it was usually not too much of a hindrance and traffic could continue quickly.
Still, at one point, they were stopped by someone, who Hilda should know: A redhead, blue eyes, a horse by the reins, quiver and bow case on his hip - every Selkie knew him, yet no one bothered him, for Leonard Lách of the Tribe of Galway had just spotted someone, who he had filed as a friend.
"Hilda!", he called, recognizing the blonde with ease, but still with a bit of a crowd between them, through which he moved towards them, "Wait up, one moment!"
His grin was not diminished, though, as he finally arrived in front of her and her friends, his horse behind him.

Chris and Cel, standing on a square...
I smiled at my boyfriend.
"Pleasure?", I repeated, then looked deep into his eyes, "This is more then mere pleasure..." I let a beat pass, my arms still wrapped around his neck. "It wasn't too boring, though, the Cubs kept me up and running, especially in winter..."
I rolled my eyes when Soiprigh tittered.
"You know them all... and my job for Bicini kept me up and running, too.", I added, "But nothing of that could keep me from thinking of you, Chris."

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
All of a sudden, in the middle of the crowd, a redhead with blue eyes, whom Hilda indeed recognized at once, showed up, holding the reins of a horse, carrying a quiver and bow case on his hip. He was known to all Selkie, and he also wasn't entirely unknown in the Federation, quite on the contrary. He appeared like on cue.
He grinned, and Hilda grinned back. "Leonard!" - she called back. "Nice to see you again!"
She held on - so did Sophus and Mia, who both knew who he was, too, thus had to grin.
For a moment, she thought about just hugging the Marcach, but although most people around him rather ignored him despite knowing him, she decided to keep it low-profile for now and just bowed her head.
"If I may introduce, these are friends of mine - Sophus Andresen and Mia Boserup" - she continued - Sophus and Mia bowed their heads as they were introduced, for they knew the Selkie weren't much of handshake-people. "My brother cannot come along this time - he has to study for his final exam."

Láir Square.
Chris looked back into Cel's eyes, as she repeated the term he had chosen as a blatant understatement - of course, this was round about a septillion times more than just a 'pleasure' ...!
With his arms wrapped around her neck in the same manner, he listened and nodded along - it was anything but surprising, that she had a whole lot to do with the Cubs well known to him - just as much as her model job.
"With me, it's pretty much business as usual, studying and stuff. And seeing where the journey ends. But the semester's over, and we got holidays now, so I decided to just come around and see what your home city is like." He looked around, to the Temple and the other buildings around the square. "Cannot complain so far!" He grinned - another blatant understatement.

[The Selkie]

There were enough loving couples around to make the two Minrozians and their loving coupleness look like the most normal thing in the world.
And today, not many people cared about rank and file.
In the streets of Cuan, where pedestrians and horsemen alike traversed, they were celebrating and that was the main concern for everyone. And, of course, there were also stores, stalls and peddlers selling stuff - hand-crafted toys, clothes, tools, even the bows and arrows, for which's application from horseback the Selkie were famous for, had more then one vendor.
One of them even had a small shooting gallery set up, where people could test the product before they decided for and against, kids and adults alike taking the moment to show their skills, even if there was no price to be won.
One of them was a man, who the two Minrozians might recognize, mainly because the Minrozians and the Selkie were both part of Operation Spartacus and the man was an integral part of its planning.
A man with short, brown hair, which turned grey and brown eyes, which were amused as every, relatively normal sized, but not recognizeable as a Lieutenant General of the SDF-Army, and certainly not called that in Cuan, who had a rather interesting relationship to Finn Nióchan of the Tribe of Cork.
There was a young man, maybe twelve or thirteen, by his side, testing a bow as well, and a Grey Wolf, a scraggly beast of a canine, who watched with deep care, sitting on his tail so that no one would step on it by accident.
All in all, it was a rustic scene - a peaceful one.

After having a brief look around and window-shopping stores, stalls and peddlers, the couple have decided to stop by one stall. Although, the Minrozians do planned to try having a snack once they’ve finished giving a go at shooting bow and arrow. Back in the Middle Kingdom, archery is part of school curriculum, whether on foot or mounted. It was a popular sport for nobles, enthusiasts and steppe nomads.

[“Oh, shall we check out this stall, dear?”] She points out.

[“Oh sure, why not? Let’s be adventurous.”] Tieguang smiled in response. [“Gods, it’s been a while we’ve done archery since school.”]

The couple headed over to the stall. Little did they know, this stall is run by the certain SDF Lieutenant General, it’s highly likely that the two didn’t recognised him immediately, owing to the fact the Selkie general is dressing differently. The fact is General Sun Lianhua and Colonel Yi Tieguang are from the Plain Red Banners, a different division from the Bordered Yellow Banners who participated in Operation Spartacus. Interestingly, the commander of the Minrozians forces in Operation Spartacus is Yi Jiguang, Tieguang’s father and Lianhua’s father-in-law. Nevertheless, the couple have heard about Selkies participation from their friends and relatives in the Bordered Yellow Banners. Overall, the Minrozians have positive opinion of the Selkies.

“Hello, good day, sir. Can we try the shooting gallery with the bow, just my wife and I?” Tieguang asked. “How much it costs?”

[“Oh, the wolf is so cute~.”] Lianhua gushed on the furry canine. She felt tempted to pet it. It wasn’t strange to the Minrozians about wolfs. The couple do know people back in Minroz who kept wolves at home. Not as pets per say but rather as part of the family. Apparently, Lianhua’s family kept tigers in their home estates and treated them as if they’re own.

Niochan turned around with a smile - it was not his stall per se, but he was on very friendly terms with the owner.
He wanted to reply to Tieguang, no knowing, who he was, when he heard his wife - he did not understand her words, but her meaning was very clear. And his old lad Bricliath was certainly enjoying this kind of attention.
He turned back to Tieguang.
"You know what, for you two, it's on me!", he said and turned to one of the men staffing the gallery, "Ayden!" The young man looked up, Niochan spoke to him in Selkie, to which he nodded and came over. Niochan turned back. "Ayden here will get you set up for a few rounds. Have fun!"
Ayden, a young man with broad shoulders and a wide grin, bowed his head. "Good morning, Sir, Ma'am, and welcome!", he greeted with the typical accent, dropped vowels and rolling Rs.
"Oh, and Ma'am...", Niochan added, smiling at Lianhua, "If you want to pet him, extend your hand for him to smell and give him a moment."

"I suppose not." Rudolf took in what he was seeing all around him. How had he not taken a break yet? He had never seen so many colors. All the barren Russian wastes ever gave him was a depressing grey. He stared at the animal in the woman's arms. He wanted to pet it but as a loud snarl from the creature as his hand came close he decided it wasn't the best idea.

Kiah's warning died on her lips as he retreated his hand.
"Extend your hand to have her smell it.", she recommended, "It's as if you were to introduce yourself to her. And please avoid the locks, they have highly sensible nerve ends."
Her thumb running along the side of the vulpine ensured, that it calmed down and when that was the case, she nodded to Rudolf - if he wanted, a second attempt was now afoot.

Jan felt as if he was struck by lightning when his brain decided to suddenly function properly again. He has indeed planned to make this entire trip as unplanned as possible, to get the full experience of his attempted 'Hippy Vacation', however his internal planner side was not dead yet.

He flipped out his cellphone from his pocket and indeed, he wrote the Inn name on a saved electroninc memo. He needed to go to the Ropaire Inn. He smiled softly (which only started happening since that fatefull night in the bowels of an aircraft carrier) as he opened his maps application. He typed in the name of the Inn and realised that it was nearby. He orientated himself and started walking towards the required direction.

As Jan was walking, he looked around at the many interesting people, all here for a common goal, yet still living their individual lives. He enjoyed the finer details of glimpsed conversations and facial expressions. He barely came into public like this due to being the Minister of Defence in Port Ember. Therefore he realised that he missed the simple things in life.

When he finally realised the Ropaire Inn, he entered the interesting looking building and approached the reception desk.

"Good day friend! This is a marvelous and interesting Inn you have here. I can see from the activity that you must be booked to the brimm. I was wondering however, if you still have a empty available room? I do not have a reservation offcourse unfortunately." Said smiling, hoping for the best.

"Indeed we are, Sir.", the young man at the reception desk said with honest regret. "Completely full, to capacity. The only option for you would be to know someone here and..."
"Jan?", a voice, which should be very familiar to him asked - a voice, soft as velvet, yet also strong as the steel of the vessels she built, belonging to a young woman with black hair and blue eyes, a beautiful woman, who had spoken with a mixture of surprise, shock and joy. "Jan Breytenbach?"
Unlike many other Selkie, she wore not Geansai, at least not as the topmost layer, but a cloak, black with silver markings, intricate patterns which hid her body.
"Is it really you?", she asked for confirmation.

Fiona smiled.
"Your friend is right.", she told Miranda, then turned, her skirt swishing. "You should not sell yourself short, it's unhealthy. That being said, if you'd like, I would love to read your entry into that contest. I like to read, but with all the stuff going on right now..."
She sighed.
"Rarely time. The Cubs demand all attention.", she said, and led them to one of the side-streets branching off of the Square. "And Fidchell, of course." She smiled a bit sheepish at that. "In any case... breakfast is afoot!"

Miranda looked back down at her feet, fiddling with an unseen wrinkle on her skirt. Her blush was admittedly a bright scarlet against her pale cheeks, and thankfully, her fiery red hair covered it. "Thanks, I'll see if I can find it in one of my notebooks or on the school cloud."

After looking back up, her awkward smile matched with Fiona's sheepish smile as she said, "Anyway, yeah, let's go. The day is young, and is bound to age quickly." her sense of dramatization an poetics slightly returned.

"Aye, lead the way, lass!" Kathleen exclaimed, moving slightly ahead of the group to in a way, co-lead the entire group, entirely unafraid of the fact that she may be walking into a sea of people celebrating the festivities.

Miranda chuckled and said in Gaelic, "Oh that girl is going to be the death of me!". Switching back to English, she turned to Fiona and said, "We should probably catch up to her before she gets herself lost in the excitement. Did she even go the right way?"

---

Liv was still on cloud nine, then remembered the question.
Blushing, she replied: "Well, I am part of the delegation of the Cult of Ladra to the Bainis.", she said and a bit of pride entered her eyes, "The High Priestess insisted on me going as part of the delegation."
She shrugged.
"It's indeed a bit of a distance from both Leuda and Silverport, but what are distances in this Age of Aviation?", she asked teasingly, referring to the most likely way Kat herself came from distant Mediama. Reaching up to softly stroke her cheek, she whispered: "A bit much in case of letters going back and forth..."

Kat briefly hid in the crook of Liv's neck as she mentioned air travel, blushing heatedly at the comeback. As she moved back to where she was, her blush darkened as Liv reached and stroked her cheek. "Quite the distance, indeed. Across the Atlantic and then some." Kat reached and gave Liv a peck on the cheek. "I'm here with a few of some of the guys from Professor Petrikov's group during the Fall Festival. We managed to pool some money and decided to come back here on our own after our school had to shut down temporarily for repairs."

The college sophomore couldn't help but smile as she leaned in and gave a quick peck on Liv's nose. "We're currently staying at the Stoc Inn. Kind of a miracle considering we pooled the money a week ago and found some reservations just as quickly. But then..." Kat's died down as she took a quick look at Liv and smiled, and quickly contemplated the odds of something like this happening.

She'd probably needed to buy a lottery ticket later.

Still, despite realizing the astronomical odds, she couldn't help but lean back, cuddle into Liv and say, "It's been so long. I didn't expect you to be here, and Community College just wasn't the same without you."

Fiona smiled.
"Oh, roughly... for the first stretch!", she said and took Miranda's hand, feeling its warmth and softness - it surprised her for a moment. "So t-that we don't separated.", she reasoned and pulled Miranda along.
Their way to the bakery she had in mind would lead them a bit into the direction Kathleen had chosen, but then turned to the right sharply. They had the best breadrolls and a bloody good goat cheese! The ham wasn't bad either.
Fiona was quite sure, that they would love it!

Liv accepted her cuddling, smiled even more, almost from ear to ear.
"And neither was school for me.", she said and snuggled into Kat. They were certainly not the only pair of lovers present today, and not the only ones celebrating that publically. No one took much notice of two girls doing so either. "My heart almost broke time and time again, when I found no letter of yours in the mail and..."
She choked slightly.
"...come. How about we catch up a bit?", she asked and smiled, "And I know, where we can get breakfast outside of this whole hubbub!"

Cuan - Láir Square

Smiling, Jeremiah tipped his hat to Mona before speaking.

"Nice to meet you Mona. As for your question, I can pretty much make anything from metal. I was practically born with a body mechanic's hammer in my hands. One of my main items I create are railway spike knives though. The high carbon of the steel used in the railway spikes allows for fine knives to be crafted from them. I also obviously make horse shoes and shoe horses when they're brought to me. The third item that is quite popular is chain-mail armor of sorts. It's quite popular back home due to certain job occupations. Though if you don't mind me asking, you wouldn't happen to know where local artisans and craftsmen/women would be, would you?"

Mona blushed lightly at the request. "Well...", she made.
"She doesn't.", a woman said, smiling as she strode forward. She was quite pale, with platinum blonde, almost silvery hair and piercing blue eyes, which seemed to carry every mood swing along with them. At her side, a dark-skinned boy, maybe eleven or twelve stood, white hair and red rubies for eyes, holding the woman's hand. "I do, however."
"Mistress Banphrionsa, hi!", Mona made and grinned, then waved at the boy. "Hi, Ilia!"
The boy gave a shy wave back, while the woman bowed her head. "Good morning, Envoy.", she said, humour dancing in her eyes as she saw Mona's cute pout. Holding back a giggle, she turned to Jeremiah. "And to you, of course, a good morning, too, Sir." She took a glance at his hands. "Searching for colleagues to compare notes with, I take it?"

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
All of a sudden, in the middle of the crowd, a redhead with blue eyes, whom Hilda indeed recognized at once, showed up, holding the reins of a horse, carrying a quiver and bow case on his hip. He was known to all Selkie, and he also wasn't entirely unknown in the Federation, quite on the contrary. He appeared like on cue.
He grinned, and Hilda grinned back. "Leonard!" - she called back. "Nice to see you again!"
She held on - so did Sophus and Mia, who both knew who he was, too, thus had to grin.
For a moment, she thought about just hugging the Marcach, but although most people around him rather ignored him despite knowing him, she decided to keep it low-profile for now and just bowed her head.
"If I may introduce, these are friends of mine - Sophus Andresen and Mia Boserup" - she continued - Sophus and Mia bowed their heads as they were introduced, for they knew the Selkie weren't much of handshake-people. "My brother cannot come along this time - he has to study for his final exam."

Láir Square.
Chris looked back into Cel's eyes, as she repeated the term he had chosen as a blatant understatement - of course, this was round about a septillion times more than just a 'pleasure' ...!
With his arms wrapped around her neck in the same manner, he listened and nodded along - it was anything but surprising, that she had a whole lot to do with the Cubs well known to him - just as much as her model job.
"With me, it's pretty much business as usual, studying and stuff. And seeing where the journey ends. But the semester's over, and we got holidays now, so I decided to just come around and see what your home city is like." He looked around, to the Temple and the other buildings around the square. "Cannot complain so far!" He grinned - another blatant understatement.

En route to the Marcach Camp.
Leonard grinned, returned the bows.
"The pleasure is mine, Mister Andresen, Miss Boserup.", he said and took the latter's hand, breathing a kiss onto the back, grinning in that lopsided way, that made Selkie-Girls swoon. Then he turned back to Hilda. "Then we will pray for him, too, Hilda, for he isn't the only one with finals coming up... although his finals will be a bit more immediate, by the sounds of it."
He grinned, spotting the bags.
"Say, do you have a place to crash?", he asked, "We still have a few spots free in the camp outside town and you would be very welcome Hilda - and friends of yours are friends of ours!"

Láir Square.
I snorted in amusement.
Nothing against Chris, but I would bet, that he did not know Cuan like he did - as much as I did not know his hometown like he did. It was only natural.
Still...
I smiled. "Say, Chris... how about I show you some of Cuan's lesser tourist-traversed areas?", I asked, went onto the tips of my toes and pecked his lips. "Places I traverse regularly..." I grinned. "...and where I sing and tend to a mob of cubs... Mister Folaíochta would love to see you again, too."

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

Kiah raised an eyebrow.
"You neither look like a Lillo nor like someone from Teressien to me.", she said and then motioned Marie to follow her, "So I, quite honestly, have no idea. Shoot!"
Kiah knew a very good place for wake-up tea, an old herbalist, who still owed her one and who's son liked her. Very much. Luckily for her, Finnegan was man enough to see, when he had no chance.
In any case, she led Marie through Cuan's streets like only one born here could.

Marie chuckled slightly. "Prussia-Poland, or-the nation that can apparently can give a bunch of monks a brigade's worth of T-55s and T-60s, but can't give sane amounts of homework to college students."
She followed her through the twisting streets, keeping up as best as she could. Her eyes smarted in the bright light, and she blinked constantly, sometimes squeezing them shut for seconds at a time-which, of course, lead her to almost lose Kiah a few times.

[Port Ember]

Ropaire Inn
Jan Breytenbach

Jan's heart stopped for a moment when he heard that familiar voice - the voice of an angel. The voice which played part in the act of having him fall hopelessly in love with a women he only knew for one evening. One glorious evening.

When he spun around to look upon the source of the sweet voice, his eyes confirmed which his ears have told him. Gwen was looking even more beautifull in person than he actually remembered her. Its only been a few months.. but too long it was!

Without saying a word he slowly walked towards Gwen, and with an amazingly cocky smile he answered "Greetings Mi' Lady. Ye know.. I have nothing on me..." hoping he could not only surprise her with actually traveling to the other side of the planet specifically for her, but also that he studied some trivial facts on her culture.

[Foxfound]

They happily accepted the hug, though Kiri ended up sort of excluded as Macha's arms went right through her.

"I know it has meaning... I wouldn't have been so scared if I knew it was going to happen. I guess I should have read more about the rituals involved with the festival," she said.

Z's mind had already moved on to another topic. "So! What do you suggest we do first? A city this big's bound to have some things to do," she said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. Of course, Cuan wasn't that big by most people's standards, but it must have seemed truly massive to someone who grew up on an Arctic island east of nowhere.

Ren was probably the most interested in the religious aspects Macha was discussing; though quiet, she was more intellectual for such a small child than most realized. "What does it mean when they make themselves known to the gods? I'm curious."

Macha smiled slightly at Ren's inquiry and at Z's excitement.
"I told an old friend of mine about you and she would love to meet all three - and she invited you all for breakfast.", she said with a smile, also a bit sad, that her arms went right through Kiri. She wanted to give that girl a hug so desperately... she looked like she needed it. "So, come! Good food is afoot!"
She then turned to Ren.
"And to you, Young Priestess...", she said, "I'll explain everything you want to know at breakfast, okay? Curiosity is best sated while the stomach is being sated, as the old proverb says!"
She grinned and gave Ren a small scratch behind her ear, an affectionate gesture.

Huggable or not, Kiri definitely seemed happier now. She had appreciated the gesture.

"Onward!" declared Z dramatically, anticipating a good meal, or at least one better than what they served on a steamer that looked like it was made out of scrap metal and lead paint.

"I haven't heard that proverb before, but I think I can agree with it." Ren giggled. She liked being called a 'priestess' even if that might not be what she would become, as she looked up to her mother a lot.

Macha wouldn't know it, but she was usually so shy she barely said this many words in a day. Kiri had definitely noticed this, and was pleased by her sister's willingness to socialize.