Immaculate
Copyright© 2025 by Daelyx Len Auphydas
Chapter 2: The Festival
“Quiet, we have to dry off before mom comes back inside!” Antares hisses to Alunya while they scoot up to the back of the hut. “You climb in first, I’ll follow!” Antares whisper-shouts, and Alunya nods affirmation, looking quite determined.
Alunya scrambles in through the window, and Antares follows suit, hauling himself up over the ledge and rolling down the other side to land on his feet, staggering slightly at the impact before standing upright again...
Only to be met with Reia staring him down, her arms crossed sternly. “Honestly, I can’t let you two out of my sight for one moment, can I?” Antares cringes away from the sound of disappointment in her voice. “Whose idea was this? And ugh, you’re soaking wet! Did you fall in the river?” Reia continues, putting on her lecturing voice.
“Mine!” Alunya and Antares both announce in unison. Antares glances over at Alunya in surprise, who is standing stock-upright with a dead serious expression.
Reia sighs and places her head in her hands. “Ugh, well, no matter whose idea it was, you should know better, Antares. I told you I was counting on you to be responsible. Honestly, if something happened to you, I’d...” She huffs. “Well, whatever. You two are sopping wet and getting water all over the floor. Go dry off by the fire. Once you’re dry, you’ll need to change into new clothes.” Reia instructs, in a tone which brooks no argument.
Alunya follows Antares as he sits down by the fire. Antares’ moping about the scolding he’d just heard is interrupted by the feeling of Alunya’s hand being placed on top of his and squeezing it reassuringly. Antares looks up at Alunya with mild surprise. “Thankyou for going out with me, Ant. It’s all worth it to get to play with you.” Alunya murmurs quietly to his brother, quietly enough so that Reia can’t hear.
Reia struts across the room, thinking. “Honestly. Well if I can’t take my eyes off of you, and you’re going to be stuck by the fire while you dry off, you might as well make yourselves useful. I have to pack up the rest of the cuts of meat and throw out the offal, so you’re going to have to handle the cooking. Do you think you can manage that?”
Alunya salutes dutifully and nods. “Aye-aye!” Antares gives a sigh of relief—It sounds like they are still going to get to go to the festival. Besides, cooking might technically be a chore, but it’s fun all the same!
Kneeling down by the fireplace, Antares arranges the kindling and slabs of firewood before lighting it up, while Alunya places the ribs onto the grate. Droplets of blood from the fresh meat drip into the flames, sizzling away into smoke that smells either nauseating or appetizing, depending on who you ask. But the two have a little surprise for whomever ate the meal, as Antares opens his satchel to spread the herbs the two had gathered while out and about earlier that day.
The two boys carefully watch the fire, while Reia watches them in turn, interspersed with having to go briefly outside to properly store cuts of the guanaco which had been slaughtered. While waiting to dry off, Antares picks out the family’s brush. “Alright, lemme see what I can do!” He announces, kneeling down behind Alunya.
The younger boy sits stock upright and hums idly, gazing into the flames while Antares begins combing out his hair, diligently working through the knots while Reia silently watches from the other side of the room. Alunya is being perfectly well behaved, letting Antares comb out his hair and make him presentable for the festival. “How does he get him to sit still...?” Reia idly wonders aloud to herself, shaking her head in amazement.
By the time the meat has browned on the outside, Reia just can’t manage to stay upset at them any longer; all washed up from their time in the river, all dried out from being in front of the fire, and they had done such a good job with the ribs. Reia takes a deep sniff of the fragrant scent of the meat. It smells just about perfectly, despite being done by two boys with little experience or oversight.
“Alright, you two. Good job.” Reia admits, perhaps just slightly begrudgingly, as she appraises her two sons. They mostly look appropriately tidy for the festival that night, the only exception being their clothes, still dirty with grass and mud. Silently, Reia wonders just what the boys had gotten up to that left their clothes so messy but their skin comparatively pristine. “Alunya, come here, I have something for you.”
Alunya turns to look at her as Antares puts down the brush. “Yes, mama?” Alunya asks, a little anxiously, hoping he isn’t in for more scolding.
Reia sets a basket down on the table. Both Alunya and Antares peer in with curiosity as Reia removes a set of slightly-fancier-than-usual tunics and trousers, fashioned from soft wool with a pattern embroidered around the trim. “I made it for you just for the festival. Go on, try it on!”
Alunya gapes at the clothes. “Really? Can I?” He hesitates as he touches the fabric. Normally, nice things like this are just for looking, not touching. Reia beams and nods at him encouragingly, so Alunya changes into the new clothes, though on his first try, his head gets stuck in the neck of the tunic, and it’s put on backwards, so Reia has to help him sort that out before he is finally wearing it correctly.
“Oh my, you look so cute!” Reia squeals as Alunya rubs his arms, as if in awe of the softness of his own clothes. Alunya looks down and around himself, trying to get a good look at himself, swishing the bottom hem of the tunic around as he moves. The clothes are a tad oversized, probably as a gambit to last the fast growing boy longer.
“Um, Mom? What about me?” Antares asks, tugging on Reia’s tunic and doing his best to mimic Alunya’s wide, pleading eyes.
“Oh, Antares, your clothes are a mess too, huh? Don’t you worry, I have just the thing for you.” His mother disappears into the other room for a minute, and Antares can hear her digging through the clothes, before returning with a well made, but fairly worn out tunic, about the right size for him. “This belonged to your father when he was your age!” Reia tries to sound excited, but there is an inevitable hint of bitterness or wistfulness in her voice.
Antares takes the tunic, frowning. “Um ... Thanks...” He holds the outfit at some length, unsurely, before sighing and reluctantly putting it on.
“You look cute too, Ant!” Alunya beams up at his older brother, hugging Antares’s arm ecstatically. Antares jerks away, blushing.
Alunya frowns, cocking his head to the side and furrowing his brow in concern “Hm? What’s wrong, Ant?”
“N-nothing, don’t worry about it. So, are we ready to go?” Antares brushes Alunya off, eager to change the topic.
Reia nods at him. “Just let me put these on a platter, and we can head out.”
[... ]
Reia’s family live on the outskirts of the village, where there are only a handful of scattered buildings without any clear organization, but as they descend towards the center the village becomes more organized, consisting of concentric rings of terraces around the large central plaza. Rock-hewn houses and cyclopean walls stood over the terraces between small stretches of farms. The empty houses are dark, their fireplaces all put out while the center of the village is filled with torchlight.
As usual whenever Reia goes out, she attracts a variety of askance glances. Alunya is blissfully unaware, as he chatters on endlessly about something or another while Reia simply nods and mumbles placating responses, but Antares notices and stares back as they pass more and more people the closer they get to the center.
The festival has only just begun, a few dutiful souls rushing around the array of large tables which had been set up in the plaza for the feast later tonight, while far more gather in small cliques to share the latest gossip, catch up over a pint of beer, or try and sneak in a bite or two of food before the feast. More slowly stream in from each side; Alunya gawks at the number of people, the most he’s ever seen in one place. Singing, dancing, chattering, or just sitting back around the tables and enjoying the ambience.
But what immediately catches Alunya’s attention is the variety of games on display. Slipping away from his mother, he bobs and weaves through the crowd until he reaches a handful of men standing near the river that cuts through the plaza, throwing disks around pegs they had set up.
“Lemme play, lemme play!” Alunya announces his presence, jumping up and down to make sure they see him.
A muscular black-haired man who Alunya recognizes as Gatrick, the village coppersmith, turns to the child, narrowing his eyes with a scornful look on his face. “Aren’t you Reia’s bastard? Where’s your mother, kid?”
Alunya shrugs. “I’ll go find her later, but I wanna play first!” He beams up at the man.
The coppersmith groans, flipping over the disk in his hands. “Forget it. Get lost, brat.”
Alunya puffs out a cheek, pouting. “Aw, c’mon! Lemme go just once.”
“Oh, of all the ... Shame you don’t have a father to discipline you. Get out of here before I do it myself.” Gatrick growls out.
Alunya crosses his arms, looking rightly miffed. “But, it’s a festival game, why can’t I-”
“-Alunya, there you are!” Reia’s voice comes from behind, sounding exasperated, with Antares following behind. “Honestly, I take my eyes off of you for a moment, and you’ve already run off.”
Alunya whirls around, smiling up at her. “I just saw this game and it looked fun! Oh-” He is suddenly cut off when Reia whisks him off his feet, and he giggles, hugging her around her shoulders as she looks at Gatrick, who grimaces at her and turns away.
“Keep your bastard to yourself next time.” He growls out. Reia clenches her jaw, digging her fingers into Alunya’s back as she tenses up, warranting a protest from the young boy.
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