Festival Highs and Lows

 

Won't you imagine it with me? Though the burning summer sun has set, its passing touches us still: the air ripples as heat mirages radiate up from the earth. The sun's heat is rising to join its absent parent in the sky. The celebrants are rising too; Haddu, festival-goers, and visitors emerge from the canyon-walls, sweep aside the heavy canvas doors of their tents, and, most of all, stream out from the tunnels and caverns of lower B'Haddu.

 

Glory stands off to the edge of one tunnel exit. Most people would be sky-watching right now: the rubies of the western horizon are sliding into the deep sapphires of the sky overhead, the Haddu's guiding stars are winking into visibility on the opposite eastern horizon. But Glory is people-watching: the night of the Midnight Ensemble performance always brought the most tourists and visitors. And this year, he wasn't merely a visitor! Glory had applied to be a volunteer helping others enjoy and access Nevriset B’Xhadari, to help others in the same way he'd been helped in the past.

 

And if that meant he couldn't spend quite as much time as he might like stuffing himself on Lucky Treats, or adorning himself with mock-Skyfire bodypaint and dancing all night, or listen to his favorite storyteller retell the story of the Seven Sisters for the seventh time? Well, it meant he was helping others have fun, learn something new, and stay safe. That was a joy all its own.

 

So Glory closed his eyes and inhaled the scents of early evening: cool breezes rushing out of the caverns with the scents of spices and sweetly caramelized roasted mushrooms, the distant waft of night-blooming flowers from B'haddu's oases gardens, and the first notes of woodsmoke and phosphorus from the festival bonfires. Then he merged with the crowd, letting the flow of people catch him up in its current. He was making his way towards a rally point he and a few other volunteers had agreed on, and keeping an eye out for anyone who might need help in the process.

 

~

 

As it turned out, there was someplace very much in need of help. At the tip-off from a fellow staffer, an elderly Haddu that everyone called as (Honored) B'Xavie (If they didn't call her Grandma), Glory set of at a jog for the Western Stage.

 

~

 

"Hiya, little cousin," Glory reminded himself to keep his voice soft and steady. "What brings you all the way down here, under the stage?" His neck was hurting hunching over like this; Glory carefully stretched out on his stomach and props his head up on his elbows, putting himself just below eye level of the smaller xero. It was a tight squeeze, with his hips and sides pressed in by two metal struts. But he wasn't quite fat enough to get stuck: a relief.

 

"I-i-it's-- I---" The younger brown xero's chest shook as his supressed tears abruptly turned into hiccups. Glory silently offered a bottle of water, and waited patiently. "Sorry. I really freaked out. I was trying to find a Lucky Treat stall."

 

"...Under the stage?" Obviously not under the stage, but Glory hoped to draw the other xero with talking.

 

Aodhan looked away, and down at the pebbles under his paws. "...I got lost," he admitted. "And then, when I couldn't find the Treats and I couldn't find Haley, and--" He took a long sip of water. "There's just so many people here!"

 

"And not very many people underneath the stage. And you were with Haley." Glory nodded sagely. He retrieved a not-too-squished, but still warm, Lucky Treat from his bag and offered it to the other xero.

 

"My name's Glory. What's yours?"

 

"Aodhan."

 

"Aodhan, would you like to come with me? It's going to get very loud under here after they finish the sound check, and I know a quiet place we can go. And we can call Haley and let them know where to find you. Are they family? A friend?"

 

"Mmhm," Aodhan nodded rather than answer in words: his mouth was full of the sweetly-spiced fungus paste that stuffed the iconic festival treats. He brushed a crumb away from his mouth, swallowed, and added. "Basically. We're running a pastry booth!"

 

Glory's stomach growled. "Ohhooo. Then Haley is someone I very much want to meet!" He rubbed his pouch and belly in exaggerated hunger. "I have a BIG sweet tooth. But, ah. Here. This is the place." He spread his arms wide in an expansive gesture.

 

Aodhan looked around. They had hiked up to a line of weathered stone pillars, right in the middle of the Skyfire Festival grounds, but due to the sloped ground, few people were camped out here. Glory patted the side of one monolith, delighted to see Aodhan immediately perk up. The younger Xero practically glowed with excitement.

 

"It's really okay? We can-we can climb up there?"

 

"Absolutely! Xero pads don't damage the stone like climbing tools would. I asked ahead--and got permission to bring a guest or two, also. C'mon up." Glory placed his climbing pads against the stone face, then flexed his fingertips. When he felt the setae of his hands 'hook' into the stone, he raised a footpad to the stone as well, and pushed himself up. But after only climbing a meter or two upwards, he stopped. Aodhan was still on the ground, and looking not-so-excited.

 

"What's wrong, kiddo?"

 

"Um," Aodhan couldn't meet his eyes again. "There aren't any grips? And it's just--that's really high up. And it's dark." The younger Xero had a very good point there: Glory had the best route up the pillar already memorized; he'd been up several times before.

 

Glory unhooked one hand from the vertical stone so he could look down at Aodhan for this conversation. "I promise you," he started, "Your pads are grippy enough for this. Xero setae are really something incredible--I watched this white-and-pink Hollow scoot down the side of a building, head first, just last week. Try it?" He urged gently.

"

Aodhan cinched his backpack more securely, and then tried to mimic how Glory attached himself to the stone surface. He almost chuckled, part in disbelief, part in delight, when he felt how Glory was right? With barely any effort, the pads on his palms, toes, fingers and feet, all hooked into the tiny pits and bumps in the stone that had seemed so smooth to touch earlier. "Ohh-oh! Okay, maybe-" but then he cut himself off. "It's still...really dark up here." l

 

"What if I mark my route? I have a glow-paint pen." Stone dust left over from cutting & polishing raw skyfire into refined gems was suspended in a biodegradeable, sticky, solvent. "I'll mark my route, and you can follow my steps. Would you feel safe if we did it that way?"

 

~

 

As climbed, Aodhan was glad he brought his jacket--it only took a little bit of elevation for the night breezes and canyon drafts to become startingly chilly. But Glory was as good as his word: not only did he mark the trail up as they climbed, but he picked the gentlest route up for a neophyte climber, setae or no setae. There was a nervous moment when the geometry of the stone hoodoo protruded much further out than the stone below it, and they had to reach around a few meters of negative grade, but, ahhh--

 

Atop the hoodoo, the stars looked closer than ever. Glory wrapped an arm around the younger xero, hoping that his tundra-ready fur could keep them both warm for a while. Below them, shone the night's second blanket of stars: the bright yellow pips of bonfires, the deeper oranges of banked embers, and all throughout the canyon's basin, the winking and glittering glow of Skyfire gems.

 

Glory beamed down at Aodhan. "Why don't we call Haley again and give her your location? I'd love to invite you both up here for the best seats in the canyon for the Midnight Ensemble." 

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