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The dancing at the Longest Night celebrations came to a harsh stop when a loud clanging noise was heard. The chandelier in the middle of the hall had fallen to the ground, all because a certain Grannvalian had “accidentally” thrown a cup at it.
“Oh, you cocked it up now, Arthur!”
Said Arthur had done so because his friend Hawke had dared him to. Fee had correctly anticipated that following through on the dare could have disastrous consequences, yet Arthur (and Hawke) had ignored her until it was too late.
Thankfully there were only a few minor injuries. The injured were healed by the King who was a trained high priest and a quite skilled one at that. The bigger problem was that the chandelier was broken, and with it was the main light source for the festivities.
“I wonder how we’re going to fix it,” Arthur said.
“What are you looking at me for? You’re the one who broke it!” Hawke responded.
“On your suggestion.”
“I didn’t think you’d actually be dumb enough to do it.”
“Stop!” Fee shouted. “Both of you need to fix it because both of you caused this.”
They grumbled as they tried to come up with a plan. Hawke couldn’t think of anything, not even after asking his younger sister for advice. Thus they were forced to rely on Arthur’s idea: create a giant tower with candles at the top.
“Are you sure this is the safest thing to do? It’s okay if we have to restart again tomorrow,” Coirpre commented as he watched Arthur and Hawke maneuver a ladder in place by the faint light of a small candle.
Hawke looked at him as though he grew a second head.
“I would rather that no one get hurt…”
“No need, King Coirpre! I’m almost finished…”
As Arthur said that, the ladder began to shake. The only thing which prevented him from falling over was Coirpre’s quick reflexes; the king had cast a blast of wind magic to stabilize the ladder. Fee tutted upon seeing this scene; she then quietly thanked Coirpre as Arthur had forgotten his manners.
“And…there!”
Arthur smiled after descending the ladder until Fee elbowed him.
“You kind of forgot something,” she said.
Hermina and Hawke both started laughing when they realized that Arthur had forgotten to light the candles.
“Or I…wanted to play a trick!” Arthur then conjured a ball of fire magic; he levitated it to the top of the tower where he used it to light the candles. After that, the room was (mostly) lit up once again.
“Wow…Thank you, Arthur,” Coirpre said.
“Ahem. This wouldn’t have needed to happen if you didn’t throw the cup,” Fee pointed out.
“Ignore the grump,” Arthur cheekily retorted.
After that, the celebrations resumed with full force. There was dancing, a brief break for gift exchanges, and more dancing…including a dance between Fee and Arthur. Fee “accidentally” stepped on Arthur’s foot, but that’s a story for another time. Regardless, the story about how Arthur used fire magic to light up candles on top of a tower persisted for years as part of the mystique of the Duke of Tófa, though the part about breaking a chandelier was omitted from most retellings.
Thankfully, Arthur had the good sense to never throw a cup at a chandelier again, at least because Fee never let him do it again.