The Firelands

7 - The Winter Pass Festival

7th day of the Second Month, Love's Moon

11:10pm

The Forest Village

Despite the fright of an attack in their own homes, once Kalen and Zerron had been allowed to join the festival, it hadn't taken them long to almost completely forget about the shadow. They hadn't been able to find Mara-Marie to tell her the shadow had come back, nor any of the council members for that matter. They found Zerron's mother though. She hadn't told them where Mara-Marie was, but said she would tell her herself. They had both noticed the paleness in her face when they had explained what happened. She had brushed them off when they asked what was wrong however, just like Mara-Marie. Instead, she told them to go have fun and not to worry about anything. The boys hadn't even bothered to press the matter, they knew nothing would come from it, so they followed her orders and joined the dancing and music.

And it hadn't taken them long to get completely immersed in the fun of the festival. The very best of the village musicians played high speed gigs and reels, challenging each other and the dancers to be as fast as possible.

The dancers spun in pairs and groups, people around the edges clapping along.

Kalen laughed as he and his partner, Daleesy, whirled around the dance floor, arm in arm, easily meeting the challenge of the musicians – she just had to stand on his feet, he held her tight, and they could move faster than any of the other couples.

They spun around to the back of the line, everyone else clapping and cheering, before Kalen spun her away. She linked arms with Zerron's partner, Kalen linked arms with Zerron, and everyone in the dance spun, then it was Zerron's turn to spin his partner around the floor.

As Zerron danced away, Kalen was interrupted mid-clap by a tap on the shoulder. Looking back, he quickly stepped out of the dance, gesturing to Donny to take his place.

"Mama, are you alright, I was looking for you earlier," he said, turning to Mara-Marie.

"Yes, I'm alright, love," she said, "I just needed to discuss something with the council."

"Did Zerron's mum tell you about the shadow?"

"Yes, she did."

"What do you think it means? I've never read about anything like that. I bet it blew in from the North, but why would—"

"Kalen," Mara-Marie said, "Kalen, let's not talk about this now."

"Why not? That thing attacked Zerron, what if it comes back?"

"Kalen," Mara-Marie said firmly.

"What?" he asked, looking at her.

Mara-Marie moved to one of the fires and took a seat. Kalen followed, dropping down beside her, waiting.

"The Winter Song will be starting after this," she said after a moment of silence.

"I know, I look forward to it," Kalen said. That was true – he was annoyed that his mother was clearly avoiding some topic – but he was looking forward to The Winter Song. Every year, one song was always played. It told of instruments and each instrument would join in as it was mentioned and everyone could sing along to the choruses. The main roles were the lead singers however and each year two new singers were chosen. It was a huge honour to be asked and, although they said it could be anyone over eighteen, the average age of the singers were always around mid-twenties. It was one of Kalen's goals for when he reached the right age however, he was going to be the male singer one year.