[EVENT] Bonfire Night

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 21st
Location: Various.
Situation: It’s cold. Time to cuddle up and make bonfires for the warmth.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

As night falls the city’s lights take something of a unique turn. Instead of being lit by millions of paper lanterns, Keeliai is tonight lit by the flames and warmth of dozens if not hundreds of fires. Some of them are small, not much more than warming hearths in a barrel on a street, but others encompass squares and boulevards.

The fire lighting procession winds through the city’s streets, beginning at the first bonfire in Fire Sector. By the time full night has arrived, that procession is a snake illuminated by dozens of torches, parting from the main parade to light smaller fires in smaller streets. It ends, finally, in Central, in the Courtyard of Public Opinion, whose bonfire is second only to the initiating one in Fire Sector.

In some areas an exchange of goods arises, mostly in terms of woollens and other warm clothes and blankets. Though food is considered a public resource on this occasion, bartering small knickknacks, songs, stories and even other woollen items is not uncommon an exchange.

Meals are shared among kedan and Foreigners, commoners and emissaries--primarily stews, soups and other foods easily baked in the coals of the fires. Everyone brings food, and what isn’t contributed to the pot is nevertheless shared around after preparation. Although some bonfires are markedly wealthier than others, food and shelter is spread around to make sure everyone is safe and warm. No one goes cold and alone on this night.

---

LINKS
Fire Sector (main bonfire) | Water Sector | Metal Sector | Earth Sector | Wood Sector | Central Keeliai

OOC Notes
The five Bresilykian emissary NPC can be found moving from Sector to Sector and partaking in the various traditions of each, and so can be engaged anywhere, while the Keeliai NPCs generally are staying in their respective areas as detailed below. Please put the name of the NPC you're requesting in the subject line of your tag if you want to interact with them. Thank you!

Comments

[cherrywood]

"My name is Milyn," the kedanese woman says warmly. "I suppose my official title doesn't hold as much water now as it did once, but it's Cherrywood Healer. You know, some people say 'hold water' and some people say 'hold weight', I wonder why? It's really almost opposites of each other, isn't it? Hold water, I can't help think of a bucket with a hole in it, so when you apply that to a person, I'm not sure the true meaning comes across? Other than whole, but of course I'm whole. Yet the other one, hold weight, well, how can something hang onto weight? Doesn't it either have weight or not have weight?"

[aquanimity]

Aqua finds herself a bit taken aback by the sudden tangent. "I admit I've never given it much thought before," she begins, "but I suppose it means that something is important or carries great impact. So... it carries a weight, but not a physical weight?"

She glances at the fountains around her. "And a bucket is not very useful if it doesn't hold water." Aqua is fairly bemused by the conversation; such an odd way to start speaking with a stranger!

[cherrywood]

"'Hold impact' doesn't have the same, well, impact!" Milyn laughed a little at her own (terrible) pun. "But you're right, though I do hope I still manage to have more usefulness than an empty bucket. You might hear differently if you ask around, you know, people always like to gossip. I wonder if I could make something for that? Some sort of vaccination against gossip. You know, I think I'm going to start work on that tomorrow, it was looking to be a slow day."

[aquanimity]

Aqua laughed along with Milyn. "If you can manage something like that, you must be a very gifted healer." She found herself rather enjoying the woman's sudden turns of thought, even though it was a little difficult to keep up with. But she did want to know more about the celebrations at hand, as well.

"How often does Keeliai have festivals like this? Are they common here?"

[cherrywood]

"Well, I wasn't at the top of my class for nothing!" she said perkily, although it hardly came across as bragging when it sounded that chipper. "Shame about what happened to the Guild in the year we were all absent, though. Terrible run of luck, really."

Milyn sips at her warm drink and then nods in response to Aqua's question. "Oh, we do like our celebrations! You see, for quite a long time, well, centuries anyway, we really didn't have that much to call our own. Sometimes, I think we would do things like hold festivals and not really understand why we were doing it. With the old enemy gone though, I think we're back to normal. At least, more normal than what we were. But who doesn't like a good festival now and then anyway?"

[aquanimity]

"What happened to it?" She knew Raine had taken over the Guild after the Foreigners' return, but not the circumstances under which she had taken control.

Aqua's expression turned somber for a moment. "Malicant had a severe impact on life here for years, didn't he?" she asked softly. "But I am glad he's gone, even if I never experienced his influence. There's not much meaning to having a celebration if you're not sure why you're holding it."

However, the infectious atmosphere of the night couldn't keep her mood down even a little. She looked around at the sights again, taking in everything anew. "What is being celebrated tonight?"

[cherrywood]

"A good many of its members don't seem to be around any longer," Milyn said, shaking her head. "Met with accidents or just can't be found. It's really worrisome, truth be told. After all, if someone's targeting healers in this city, I'm afraid I'd be a highly visible target. If I hadn't been in the Hotel with everyone for the last year... well, I suppose it does no good to think of what-ifs, hm? That's why I didn't approach Raine right away about the Guild's ownership, I wanted to make sure things were safe for her and any others."

When Aqua says Malicant's name, Milyn twitches a little, but it's not too bad. Like many, she's still getting used to being able to call that entity by name after it was forbidden for so long.

"I don't know about that," she answered, when Aqua said there wasn't much meaning to aimless celebrations. "I like to believe that it was a testament that our spirit was only suppressed, not broken. But perhaps I'm just being fanciful! That's certainly been said of me often enough, among other things. For tonight, I suppose it's more of a happy defiance being celebrated. That cold and dark can be driven back."