Even though Courtney had burnt her mouth on the food; it was still so delicious that she had completely devoured the skewers along with the soup. Skewers were normally greasy however this one hadn't caused her a upset stomach which meant that even if Courtney were to consume more of the skewers. It wouldn't cause stomach problems in the next few hours.
Eventually, Courtney had the opportunity to meet with Eos' parents who were very welcoming and kind. Both the mother and Courtney talked about fashion and makeup where she had recommended Vanity Mask which had excellent reviews but its audience. Eos was leaning against a wall until her father returned with a cup of soup which was delicious and warming, "Enjoying the festival?" He chimed in between his sips as there was a slight breeze cumulating throughout the day.
Eos nodded as she slowly sipped at the hot soup, "How's Lisa and Helios doing at the mansion?" Occasionally blowing on the surface to cool down the soup. The question gave the father a mused expression over his daughter thoughtfulness sending her own personal maid and a medical caretaker to her mother.
He took the last gulp which unfortunately scalded the roof of his mouth and his tongue, "Both of them have being tremendously helpful to your mother and I." Eos quickly gave him a cup containing a fruit punch that a staple in this region well the Forest of Illusion. Only a select few in the village could venture into the Forest of Illusion to gather the fruits within the forest. Plants that grow in the forest have known to differ from those growing outside of it because of the magic folk, "Have some fun with your friends, Epione." He silently whispered whilst smiling before he returning to his wife taking her away so that Eos could enjoy herself with her friends.
The two continued though the venue eating all sort of the food served at all the vendor before they had to settle down at the centre of the plaza where they would rest on top of one of the crates placed for people to rest on. Lilith, Cybele, and Arachne came in tow with more sweets and drinks which they all enjoyed. Soon a commotion erupted behind the stage where hushed argument caught Eos' attention, "What's going on?" Pushing away the curtain that hid the backstage from the audience. The two people who were arguing flinched at the sudden input of the young lady.
The manager for the music sighed heavily as he rocked his head backwards, "The violinist and the flutist that we hired had been involved in an accident," This was certainly a drawback for the musical segment of the festival where a band of musicians would play music for the town dance, "We haven't got anyone who can play the instruments for the band." The stress was evident as the man continued to furrow his brow obvious distressed by the situation.
Courtney lightly coughed trying to catch their attention, however, no one heard her. So, Courtney purposely coughed even louder which did catch their attention, "I can play the flute." She shyly confessed as she crossed her arms, "I just need to know what I'm supposed to play." The man immediately cried tears of joy as he immediately went rummaging through the backstage prop looking for a flute case.
Eos sighed seeing that Courtney had volunteered to offer up her skills, "I can play the violin though it has been a while." The manager cried even more tears as he went through the back to find a spare violin. Both Courtney and Eos began tuning their instruments while discussing the music that was going to played with the band who were uneasy about the synergy. Courtney devised a plan using a tempo using the lead vocalist that could easily be use to keep up with each other though they did have to do some practice rounds to get the feel for each other.
Eos though was rusty with the violin it had been quite a while since she played the violin back in her schooling years. After playing few chords to get use to the violin in her arms, thankfully the song wasn't too technically difficult. It was an upbeat song which would raise the mood for the folk-dance segment of the festival and the rest of the instruments would drown out of any of the mistake she would make since she was only playing a support role. Courtney, on the other hand, was the lead instrumental but she was talented with playing the flute. Eos wasn't worried about her.
Soon the musical was to start with Courtney starting the high harmony then the vocalist singing the melody which was then accompanied by the symphony of the other instruments. Eos was only doing the accompaniment as she supported the melody. Lilith pulled both Cybele and Arachne to the centre of the town plaza, twirling and dancing with their hand entwined with each other. It didn't take that much time before more people began joining the dance and the plaza was filled to the brim with folk dancing. The entire village dancing and twirling with their lovers, friends, neighbours and complete strangers in the town plaza. The elderly smiling and clapping on the sidelines providing a tempo. Children happily dancing in a clumsy manner.
The wind began to pick up the fallen leaves dancing around the people who on the town plaza before speckles of light, prancing throughout the town plaza. Eos could see that the speckled lights were spirits that dwelled in the nearby forest at the rear of the village. The efforts that Courtney contributed to the musical allowed her to easily allow for a replacement to slot into her position allowing for the Eos and herself to enjoy the rest of the festival. It was getting dark, so the streetlight illuminated the festival casting a magical ambience combined with the spirit's own glow giving the people a more sensational event to celebrate.
As the festival is going full swing with the music and the restaurant opening their stores for catering to the people wanting to eat outside. The girl entered a tavern where there were many locals and tourist enjoying the festive mood, drinking themselves silly. Lilith, Cybele, and Lilith went to find a table where they could seat while drinking, "So, what do you recommend for us to drink?" Arachne and Eos walked to the tavern's bar where the bartender was shaking up some drinks for some other people, they had to wait their turn.
Eos pondered on a collective drink order before she smiled at Arachne who smirked knowing that she had chosen some good drinks for the table. Awaiting their turn, they were instantly hit up by some travellers who were harassing them to let them buy their drinks. Eos sighed before signalling a waitress who bought in some knight which instantly sobered the travellers and moving along. While Arachne was teasing the knights by thanking them the bartender turned to Eos, "You're the ladyship who helped my village!" The man had a voice like a foghorn as he gave a deep bow to Eos who gave a gracious smile.
Eos had remembered a group of people who had threatened her for food but to see them so lively and bright was good, "I'm Eos so no need for formalities." Refusing the need for politeness since she was here for a drink with her friends, "I want a Honey Whistle, Brandy Tempest, Spring Phantom, Pear Cooler and a Pink Infusion for tonight." Her orders were quite delectable sounding, and the man went to make her drinks. The bartender was quite fast with the drinks so both Eos and Arachne took the drink with them to take to the table.
As they reach the table with the others. The girl each was assigned one. The Honey Whistle was for Eos, The Brandy Tempest for Lilith, Spring Phantom for Arachne, The Pear Cooler for Courtney, and The Pink Infusion for Cybele. The ambience of the tavern was lively and loud with the multitude of people in the room drunklike dancing and singing. The band was also playing a playful tune to keep the atmosphere alive for the festival.
Fairies float in the air, taking any offerings of food left on any windowsill. Milk, honey, flowers, or porridge are the common gift for the fairy folk. The group were surprised to see the magical creatures in this village, "How is this possible?" Courtney was gobsmacked by the sight of so much magic in this village, "I thought all the spirits had left to human realm centuries ago after the magic war." She tried to have a closer look at the spirit to allow have them disperse away from her hand like dandelion seeds being blown away.
Eos extended her hand out lifting a finger for a fairy to perch on who kicked their feet in the air, "The majority of them did but the realms have been closed since then leaving some stranded here in the human realm." Smiling at the small fairy whose giggles were the sound of bells and speaking in a language that has been long forgotten, "Magic is fading and it will disappear but for now it's still present in some parts of the kingdom." Eos gestured to the fairy to join its own kind before giving it a push to fly in the sky before turning to her friends.
Lilith and Cybele were bead eyed at the beautiful sight, "These people get to live with the spirits and fairies every day." They were amazed by the thought of living amongst magical creatures. As they tried to interact with the magical creature only them to agilely dodge their hands causing Lilith to mope.
Eos shook her head disapproving the idea completely, "It's not advisable for normal people outside of any settlement with history with magic folk to coexist." Gesturing to her friends to follow her through the festival where they eventually went to a place where they were less people wandering around, "Since it safe for neither party involve since you know fairies exist in plane of space which are mana rich and without iron." The foot patch the group walked eventually lead to the house that Eos' parents live in.
They navigated around the house to the back where Eos fished out a key from a hidden compartment in the wall. Eventually stopping after the door was open before they entered the small mansion, "So, does that mean you are a spirit in a sense?" Arachne questioned knowing full well of the fairy tale story that was tied to the Monciuax family for generations that it had become a fable of happy endings. The groups paused to look for Eos' reaction.
Eos pinched her chin in contemplation before shrugging, "I don't know, maybe?" Debating over the idea that Eos was a spirit was something that Eos herself hadn't deeply thought about. They entered the mansion. Though it wasn't huge mansion they lived in back in the capital, but it was
Cybele tilted her head ruminating about the thought, "Well it could explain how you don't even look human." Then she immediately panicked thinking that she had offended Eos, but Eos chuckled seeing the girl's reaction, "Like-like of course you-you are human but-but sometimes I can imagine you being like an ethereal being." Stuttering between her words back and forth between her sentence before they become calmer as she continued to talk about her impression of Eos.
Eos was touched to have such an impression from Cybele, "Really? I never thought of myself as such." This caused an uproar amongst the girls who immediately decided to compliment Eos at any chance seeing as her own self-image wasn't that of someone important. Her parents and Lisa who had happened to return from the festival as also thought they hadn't pampered Eos enough and they all quickly began showering Eos with every flower word or phrases in the book to boost herself image.
However, the continued assault of compliments only caused Eos to run away and hide from them. Holing herself up in the hidden room that was built specially for Eos when she was younger. The nostalgia of the room filled Eos' being as she seated herself in the worn-out armchair that was placed in the corner of the room overlooking the overgrown foliage of the forest behind the mansion. Blessing of the fairies disguised the window as a wall but allowing clear view of the outside.
A huge bed was nestled in the corner of the room near a bookshelf which was filled with child books and books filled with knowledge. For the early part of her life, Eos remained in this room. Her existence being shielded away from the Monciaux main family; however, her existence had been exposed by a spy that was planted in the mansion years ago. Eos' parents had fought tooth and nail to keep Eos away from the Monciaux seeing as it was cause her to be in the servitude to the main family. Despite their best efforts they couldn't prevent her immediate placement of being a vassal to the heir of the Monciaux family.
The aged book left a musty smell in the room, but the room remained the same. Untouched by time. Eos seated herself on the bed opening one of the old story books. The door that was the entrance to the room creaked revealing Eos' father, "I knew you would be here." Stretching his back from having to crouch to access this room, "I'm getting old." Some pops and crack from her father's back definitely suggested his advancing age.
Seating himself next Eos, "You and mother are still quite young." Chuckling to herself as her parents were in their thirties were still quite young looking and could even pass a couple in their mid-twenties.
Her father gave his hand out for Eos to hand the book, "Your mother use to read you books when you were younger," He went to look at the cover of the book before letting out a chuckle, "Ah! You used to tell us to read you this book almost every night." It was a folklore book filled with myths of magical creatures that use to live in the human realm before the magic war. Descriptions and illustrations of magic folk were vivid since these books had been written prior to the magic war and were safeguard by the vassal family for generations. Though magic has been receding over time it still prevalent in areas where places hasn't had much human interference.
The Forest of Illusions is currently one of the few last places that humans can't access since only magic folk live in it. Hence the name of the forest there are illusion set up to confuse humans so that they are led out of the forest or killed trying to venture further into the forest. The people in the village know to avoid the forest if possible but during the Yule period there will be period of the season where there are some offerings given to the magic folk.
Eos looked at the aged yellow pages that had gathered dust.