Galina Drosett.
City Hall Square of Liletraeth, Rhanbaglas-Region, Syryffio. 1657 EC.
The City Hall Square of Liletraeth, the capitol of the Rhanbaglas-Region, was a bustling metropolis of seventeen million people of many different people and many, many more visitors yearly. It was no miracle, if you asked me, Liletraeth was not only a beautiful city, but also in a beautiful region on a beautiful planet.
It was sunny, the beaches were white, the water was warm, the people were usually friendly and the laws were lax - relatively, at least. For experienced spacers, Liletraeth was paradise, for everyone else, it was pretty close.
I had been born on an asteroid mining base, about five light hours away from the star of the system. My Father had taken me and my Mother to Liletraeth when I was eight, an eye-opening experience for a pale girl like me, who, for the first time in her life, had felt the light of a star on her skin.
How things changed..., I thought and leaned back.
The City Hall Square was about fifty hectar in size, not a square despite its name, but round - and the city hall was rounded as well, taking up nearly a qarter of the outer edges of the huge square. The four major traffic routes of the city led to this square, pointing directly at the center of the circle, where a huge stone circle stood - one of the two native species, the massive and four-legged Bwytanach had built it, adjusted it to the course of the star, Gollachar, and celebrated specific dates on which the star aligned to certain astronomical beginnings or ends. Scientists called the religion Trayethian Monotheism and today, they would celebrate Spring's Beginning, the beginning of the first annual rainy season.
Many people had come to celebrate along with it.
I overlooked the square from the main balcony of the Liletraeth Grand Hotel, which took up an eighth of the circle, stood opposite to the city hall and was one of the most exclusive spots to watch the opening of the Spring Festival Celebrations. While the people on the square stood tightly packed, I stood in comfort, wearing a wide, white sun dress with a black flower and a white sun dress, which complimented my skin, and thighhigh, black armoured boots with high heels as they were in this season, my bodyguard Cathach, a Be-25 Gynoid, at my side. She made no qalms about being an android, wearing nothing but her armored cloak, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. Her golden eyes watched and scanned for dangers, currently finding none.
It was only befitting for a leading member of the Gwyrydlas-Syndicate, something between an independent stellar nation in its own right - and a crime syndicate. Of course, nothing could be traced to me despite the best efforts of the Confederated Police. My good acquaintance Anouk and his cute little police ship Gwarcheidwad were in orbit, his crew on shore leave, most likely.
We had clashed wits multiple times in the past and I would not...
"It's beginning.", Cathach observed and tore me out of my thoughts.
With a smile, I watched the stone circle: Lord Tetele, the highest priest of the Bwytanach in the area and an influential member of his species ascended the to the circle, flanked by a number of youngsters. Huge screens by the city hall and camera drones small enough to fit into my palm made it easy for viewers to watch even from a distance. I could see at least two human children and a young Dynnacath, a member of the other species native to the planet. In the middle was an altar and the massive four-legged creature made a curtsy in front of it, his company following suit.
He then put a disk onto the altar, a sky disk with markings pertaining when the sun would rise where and what that would mean for the calendar. A slight adjustment and he bowed his head, then stepped back.
Then, the children put a brazier onto the altar, filling it with their offers. It faced the east, where the sky disk told them. The Dynnacath was the last, mainly because he held a torch.
And as the sun peeked over the horizon in the distance, cutting a straight line of light along the major traffic road onto the City Hall Square, the altar and the offerings - he put the torch into the brazier, lighting it all on fire for the Sun Deity worshipped by the followers of the Trayethian Monotheism.
Cheers rose and with that, the Spring Festival of 1657 EC began. I nodded to Cathach - there was much to look at and see today! I had to smile... it felt just like all those years ago, when I had been a girl.
Well, let's see, what today would have in store!