Festival

For the first time in a long while, there was nothing urgent.

No messengers bearing threats, no rival chiefs making offers laced with poison, and no divine whispers tugging at Jared's every waking moment. Sikone, newly lit by enchanted lanterns and paved with polished stone, breathed with a rare kind of calm. The kind of peace that wasn't waiting to be broken—just quietly celebrated.

It was Lucy's idea.

"Your people need a festival," she said flatly as she sorted through the village's weekly ledgers. "They've worked hard. They need to laugh. Eat. Waste money on lanterns and forget why they ever worry."

Jared had raised a brow. "And I need this because…?"

"Because you're too tense. You make walls crack just by walking past them."

That had earned her a slow blink and a muttered, "...Unlikely."

But the idea had caught on.

And now, Sikone was preparing its first real festival since Jared had taken leadership.