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Throughout the streets of the LouFu, filled with the hustle and bustle of citizens, wafted a sweet smell of dumplings. Everyone was making them. And why wouldn’t they? It was the time for the Golden Fortune Festival to begin. Every new year the Xianzhou alliance held a festival for each of the ships unique to each of them. To name the other ship’s Festivals;
YaoQing - The Lunar Reunion Festival
FangHu - The Dragon’s Prosperity Festival
YuQue - The Fortune Bamboo Festival
ZhuMing - The Lunar Spirits’ Festival
A pink haired Foxian bumped into another pedestrian.
“My apologies, pardon me.” Said the Foxian.
“No need to apologize, we shouldn’t be wasting precious celebration time on small mistakes.” And with that the man patted him on the back and sauntered off.
After walking a bit the Foxian found a bench to sit on. He had planned to go out to take in all the good food smells from the festival prep, however he hadn’t accounted for the extra foot traffic. His senses were already stretched thin to make up for his lack of eyesight. At this point he was basically a lost puppy. The pink haired Foxian started to doze off.
“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you! Moze’s been worried sick!” A voice shook him back to consciousness.
Ah, it was his dearest friend. The one he had forgotten to tell he was going out. The one who would probably end up lecturing him about his mistake once she get the chance.
The Foxian decided to pretend to still be asleep.
“JiaoQiu, you’re still blind, you can’t just leave whenever you feel like it.” The voice came continued on.
Yep. He was right. Lecture central.
JiaoQiu gave up on trying to seem asleep. Instead he raised his head and faced the direction of his friend’s voice.
“FeiXiao, You say Moze was worried, but I don’t hear him with you.” JiaoQiu deflected.
FeXiao huffed. “That’s because we split up to look for you. Though now that I’ve found you, I’m sure he’ll be rushing over this way any minute.”
JiaoQiu merely twitched his ear at this. FeXiao walked over and dramatically flopped onto the bench next to him. She looked around, seemingly to judge the general traffic of the streets.
“With so much traffic, I wonder how well the LouFu’s security is holding up. Maybe I should offer to hel-“
“Now now, if I recall correctly, you should be resting as well. Don’t try to jump back into the fray now.” JiaoQiu cut her off.
FeXiao gave him a fake pouty face.
“If you’re making a displeased expression I can’t tell.” JiaoQiu teased.
Whatever, she knew he had other ways of reading her expressions. He was just being Cheeky.
Suddenly, they both felt a hand karate chop them both on their heads. FeiXiao turned around to see a majorly disgruntled Moze behind them. JiaoQiu on the other hand stayed focused sharply in front of them. He was not about to let Moze sense his guilt.
“Well, haha, I suppose that’s that then,” he couldn’t help but blurt out.
Out of the three, each of them thought themselves to be the “responsible” one of the group. In reality, none of them were. However they each took on the role when the other two made trouble. To be fair, Moze had taken on the role statistically more since the Wardance catastrophe.
“Care to explain this little ‘hangout?” Moze said monotonously.
“Come one Moze, you’re acting like I was with him the whole time! I just found him a second ago! I was gonna tell you but you arrived before I could.” FeiXiao shrugged.
JiaoQiu felt Moze’s gaze shift to his directing.
“Hey now, it gets stuffy just staying indoors.” Was the only excuse he could come up with.
Well, that’s not true, really, he could go on and on about his traumas from the Wardance and how he was trying his best to return to a sense of normalcy while he still had some semblance of control over his situation. But they all already knew that. Some things are known even left unspoken.
Moze sighed. “As long as you’re both okay.” He said as he swatted FeiXiao’s hand away from trying to pat his head.
The three sat in silence for a bit before JiaoQiu broke the silence. “Actually, I was excited to try some of the food stalls. I hear a new one opened up this year with a spicy stir fry that uses some unique techniques in the cooking process.”
“If that’s something you were looking forward to, let’s go!” FeXiao hopped up and took JiaoQiu’s hand.
JiaoQiu hesitated for a moment.
“We’ll lead you there,” Moze assured him.
“Yeah! You’re our friend! Don’t feel bad for relying on us!” FeXiao exclaimed.
And though he could see it, JiaoQiu could tell they were both smiling. He pictured their smiles in his mind. FeiXiao’s as bright as the sun, and Moze’s cool as the moon. For a moment he wondered if they were wearing the same smiles he remembered right now. Or if they had changed, ever so slightly. He shook the thought away. No, they were no different than before. They were still the same people he had met, and fell in love with. They were his friends. That would never change.
…
The sound of fireworks rang through the air. The cool night breeze wafted all the food, once more to JiaoQiu’s nose. He was standing with FeiXiao and Moze at the rail of the LuoFu ship.
They had eaten their fill of good food, and FeiXiao even had the chance to give some kids red envelopes, to which they responded in cheer and chanted her name for a while. They played party games, most of which FeiXiao won, and watched a few stage performances. Well… maybe JiaoQiu hadn’t “watched” any of them. But Moze quietly narrated the visual contents to him so it was still enjoyable.
Now the festival was winding down and the final fireworks show was nearing its climax.
FeXiao sighed.
“You know I’ve always loved fireworks. They bring so much joy. That’s what I want to do for the Foxians.” She looked wistfully at the colors in the sky.
“You say that like you don’t already.” Moze said sarcastically.
“No, but you know what I mean. I want to continue, despite my shortcomings, to reach the top, and clear the skies for the Foxians!” She smiled. “And I’m bringing you both with me!” She added with a laugh.
Moze looked up at the fireworks and smiled. Of course she would say that. He too had his own goals. And if they agreed on one thing, it was that they’d both do anything to reach them.
“They really are beautiful.” Moze breathed out. Then as if feeling as he’d done someone wrong he quickly said “JiaoQiu, I’m… sorry I-“
JiaoQiu only waived his hand and faced upwards.
“No, you’re right, they are beautiful.”
The YaoQing trio had faced many challenges, and they were going to face many more. But for now, they would enjoy their peace. A testament to their tenacity. They may have a long road ahead before they reach their destination. But it’s the journey that counts right? The Festival marked the start of the new year. They could only hope they would get to experience it together, over and over, in the years to come.
- End