Chapter Text
They say that if a village is isolated then some people there will always be a bit odd. Ok, a LOT odd.
Here is the village of Bathai. No one has really paid any attention to it for the last century or so (or however long it has existed - no one’s really sure how long it has been there).
Today is the start of a week-long preparation for the biggest festival this village has; no, it’s not Christmas, this is the Erosima festival. The whole village goes all out, bonfires, dancing all night, buffets and stalls. Let’s introduce our characters…
Here we have Elbi, she is our main focus. The only person who has come to the village since its founding and decided to stay. It’s kind of unknown where she came from; Elbi arrived in Bathai about 4 years ago with her Masterful Musical Magic act wowing the crowds (of about 10, there aren’t many here). The only living thing she brought with her was this...sort of...cat. I say sort of cat because from a distance, and up close, it looks a lot like a blob from how big it is. Fondly introduced as Blobby this black cat (ooze?) followed her to Bathai and has made as many friends as Elbi has. She fell in love with the woman she met in the cafe on her first day in Bathai, who we will go to next.
Meet Daenys, and no, her parents weren’t Game of Thrones fans, its just an unfortunate name. Daenys has been a part of the village since the gods know when, some say she was even a founder. Now don’t get me wrong, Daenys doesn’t look old, she looks like a young twenty-something year old and acts like a child sometimes. Okay, ALL the time. Now what does a woman like this do? Well, she’s the mayor. It is a big job that normally anyone who isn’t a stuffy serious adult would cave under the pressure, and yet somehow Daenys manages to wrangle everyone, even including Ali and Felver.
Now Ali and Felver are complicated. They are the heads of the two religions in the village, the Greek and Roman temples respectively. They are together but not, they are married yet don’t act like it. They are the two most complicated people in the entire village. One day they just started dating. It was odd because they seemed to have spent most of the time arguing, but after a few months of these date-arguing nights there was the sudden appearance of a pair of matching rings. Not a word was said after, and everyone just accepted they had somehow decided they were married and no one wanted to contest them. Now although there are the two different religions there are very few disagreements between the groups, mainly just these two. In fact, some people alternate between the temples they go to each week.
Now the final couple to introduce may not seem important, as humble chicken farmers, but they are most likely the most revered in the village as their chickens are the centre piece of the village. They have always been here and always will be. And who are the ‘Guardians of the chickens? Well Zalazar and Kimerth of course. They are probably the most normal couple in the entire village, which isn’t really saying much. I think the easiest way to imagine them is to think of them as the nice old couple down the road who have a few too many animals, except they’re not that old, but they are that happy. Zalazar is the one who is always out and about running and helping people whereas Kimerth prefers to stay at home, ‘under the watchful eye of Cluck’, Zalazar often jokes.
Cluck is their chicken, not one of the chickens part of the farm but one who is always with Kimerth no matter where he goes; normally following behind or resting on his head or shoulders - it depends on the day. They have a regular visitor to their chicken coup of Blobby, who just sort of sits there, so everyone allows him to stay. Elbi knows he will return to her sooner or later.
Now that everyone has been introduced, I think It’s time to talk more about the festival. In February the whole village celebrates Erosima - as previously mentioned this is a huge celebration. Everyone chips in to help. Despite the village having two temples to the Greek and Roman pantheons, this is from neither of them; the town is celebrating the successful start of the chickens’ egg laying year. There is the sister celebration, Thanamaiea, which is the end of the egg laying year; a much more mournful time. During Erosima the chickens are all taken to the village hall and doted on by the village folk, all congratulating them on continuing to lay eggs for the people. There is a superstition in the village that if the chickens stop laying then hard times will be coming soon.
That is the whole village. On to the actual story now…