⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
Nation of Nardox - Festival Week Day 2
Kit woke to music.
Different rhythms rolled through the terraces outside, bouncing between stone buildings and climbing the hillsides toward the estates.
For a moment he stayed where he was, staring up at the ceiling.
The Festival of Suns.
Day Two.
Somewhere beyond his window a crowd was already cheering.
A vendor shouted a breakfast special.
Kit smiled before he even realized he was doing it. The breakfast special was his cue.
The sounds carried through the open stone halls of the Asher Estate.
Doors opening.
Footsteps.
Relatives already awake and moving.
Festival mornings always started early.
Nobody wanted to waste daylight when both suns were out.
He pushed himself upright and crossed the room.
Warm light spilled through the shutters.
The city stretched below him.
Sol had changed overnight.
Or maybe it only felt that way.
Crimson festival banners hung between rooftops.
Market canopies filled avenues that had been empty three days ago.
Musicians were already setting up platforms near the lower terraces.
Lines had formed outside bakeries.
Street performers claimed corners before someone else could take them.
The smell of sweetbread drifted all the way up the hillside.
Beyond everything stood the Halo Clock.
Its molten ring burned bright against the morning sky.
People moved around it like water around a stone.
Before Kit could even choose a direction, Kariah and Mina were already running towards him.
“Kit! You’re up finally” Mina shouted as she got closer.
Kariah wasted no time following up. “You already missed the whole fair!”
“The whole fair, Kariah?” Kit responded more annoyed than confused.
”The whole thing but don’t worry we’re gonna do another lap. The guys are waiting by the clock.”
Mina shared as she grabbed Kits arm and tugged him in the direction of The Halo Clock.
As they moved downhill, Kit spotted every corner of Nardox packed into the same street.
Dorion farmers in sun-bleached robes.
Forge workers from the outer terraces.
Artists from the City of Suns carrying rolled canvases beneath their arms.
Entire families wearing matching festival colors.
Kit adjusted the Explorer’s Cloak as they walked.
The black fabric fell over an equally black tunic beneath it.
Mina teased him. “Could you have tried any harder to match?”
Kariah shot in immediately already laughing as she tried to get the words out. “Oh, he picked those out last night before bed.”
Kit just shook his head. There was no point in denying it, they’d only tease him more. He learned this years ago.
“Yo!”
Ren’s voice carried across the terrace before Kit spotted him.
The group had claimed a section of stone railing near the base of the Halo Clock.
Taro sat on the railing itself, balancing a skewer between two fingers.
Zakiah leaned against one of the support pillars.
Little Kilo stood on the stone bench beside them, trying to make himself look taller than everyone else.
Failing spectacularly.
“Explorer’s here,” Ren announced.
Heads turned immediately.
Several nearby festival-goers turned too.
Kit felt it happen.
Recognition.
The cloak wasn’t helping.
A pair of younger academy students whispered to each other.
One pointed.
The other immediately looked away when Kit noticed.
“See?” Ren said. “You’re famous now.”
“I’m not famous.”
A little girl walking past stopped. Almost emotionless.
“You’re Kit Asher.”
The group exploded.
Ren doubled over laughing.
Taro nearly dropped his food.
Kariah pointed aggressively.
Mina looked entirely too satisfied.
The girl never smiled as she held out a festival flyer.
“Can you sign it?”
Kit stared.
The girl stared back.
Neither moved.
“Famous,” Ren repeated.
The girl eventually wandered off with an autograph that looked suspiciously like Kit had forgotten how to write his own name.
Taro finally lost the fight against laughter.
“Bro signed that thing like he was under duress.”
“Well? I was.”
“It was a child.”
“It was a spooky child.”
Even Zakiah laughed at that.
Above them, the Halo Clock released a deep pulse of amber light.
The molten ring brightened.
The sound rolled across the terraces.
Every conversation paused for half a breath.
Then the city continued.
Vendors shouted.
Musicians tuned instruments.
Children ran between festival stalls.
A troupe of performers crossed the avenue carrying painted sun masks twice the size of their heads.
Kilo pointed immediately.
“I wanna see that.”
“That’s because you’re six.”
“I’m eight.”
“That’s basically six.”
“It literally isn’t.”
“Close enough.”
Kilo looked to Kit for support.
Kit betrayed him instantly.
“He’s got a point.”
“THANK YOU.”
“You’re basically seven.”
The entire group burst out laughing.
And for the first time since returning from the Wilds, Kit laughed with them without thinking about it.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣