Chapter 16: Fertility Rites

2892 P.C., the first of Summer, Hylicia’s Vale.

Each of the four festivals of the year has its own role; the spring festival celebrates the equinox, the prime point to start the planting season and celebrate the end of winter. The winter festival celebrates the gradually increasing lengths of the days of the year, and is a chance for families to spend time together. And the autumn festival celebrated the largest harvest of the year, the ideal time for a large feast with plentiful food, warmth, and alcohol abounding.

To Alunya and Antares, though, the summer festival stood somewhat separate from the rest; According to Reia, the summer festival was for grown-ups, and not children. Oh, it still had its place in agriculture; It was the fertility rite, where the town celebrated the bounty of the earth given to them, so they believed, by their gods.

But first and foremost, the fertility festival celebrated the bearing of new children into the world, and the couplings that made that possible. As such, Antares and Alunya had never been, too young to think about matchmaking.

But Antares was old enough now; Just a couple weeks until his 13th birthday, the age at which boys and girls would normally start fraternizing in the hopes of finding a match in the upcoming years. And of course, there is no force in this world that can keep Alunya from his brother’s side on a festival day.

Alunya and Antares are sitting in the living room, Antares brushing out Alunya’s hair. The two of them had gotten up early; Unlike the other festivals, the summer festival is celebrated at about midday, which makes sense when you consider that, on the longest day of the year, there isn’t time for both sleep and festivities on the same night.

There is plenty to do to get ready; They had gotten breakfast, washed their clothes, bathed, and dried off. Now Antares was just brushing out Alunya’s hair so that it was at least comely. Reia had tried to cut it again, of course, but Alunya had hidden from her for something like thirty minutes before she eventually relented. Every festival warranted at least a token effort to clean up and look good, of course, but Reia had repeatedly stressed that this one, in particular, was very important; Making a good first impression on potential future brides was vital.

“Alright, I think it’s good now!” Antares exclaims, looking over to Reia for confirmation.

She sighs, putting her hand to her forehead. “I suppose it’s the best I can do, since he won’t sit still long enough to cut it. Thanks for your help, Antares.”

Alunya was just smugly sitting in place, swinging his legs back and forth while looking at his reflection in the pot of water. Now my hair looks really cute, Ari did a great job. Alunya gloats to himself, hopping up to his feet.