The Spring Equinox

Prompt: Help a Civilian

As you're passing through the village, you come across a severely under-decorated shop. It sticks out like a sore-thumb amongst all the other colours in the village and the elderly-looking serval behind the market stand seems to notice this shamefully as well. Seeing you stare, their eyes land on you hopefully.
"Ah! You seem to be much more full of youth than I. I wanted to decorate my little stall with wildflowers like everyone else's but my old bones makes it difficult. Perhaps you could help me? I would pay you for your service of course."

Prompt: Enrich Your Culture

After seeing many other Amaryllians choosing to crush flower petals to form dyes, you decide to try to do the same. It seems strange at first and doesn't seem to be giving much success but after adding handfuls more petals to your pestle and mortar, carefully crushing them for what seems like hours, you finally manage to make a dye. Plus, you managed to make your favourite colour; not bad for a first try! You take the dye and begin to paint with it.

As Vivus and Sapientia explore Roeback, they’re surprised to see the number of Kluftroses of various ages and specialties all gathered in a single place. While Stormholm was heavily crowded and seemed to be nearly bursting at the seams, Roeback feels much more open with lots of places to explore. Vivus is excited to get a chance to search for herbs in the meadows, and Sapientia is curious to see what the Amaryllians are doing with the flowers they seem to be grinding up.

As they get further into the village of Draxning, Vivus notices a small handcrafted goods shop just off the side of the main road. At first, it looks like the owner isn’t participating in the festivities, but the elderly shopkeeper who peaks his head out at the sight of someone stopped out front tells them otherwise. The shopkeeper has always decorated their store with fresh wildflowers for the Spring Equinox, but they have gotten too old to go out and pick flowers anymore. Without the flowers, their store has nothing to attract customers during the festivities, and Vivus and Sapientia are the first souls to express any interest in the shop since the villagers started decorating for the celebration. As Vivus wanted to explore the meadows anyways, he and Sapientia offer to help the shopkeeper decorate by going out and gathering a variety of wildflowers that would make the store stand out even if seen from a distance. With a parting wave of wing and tail, the pair head off with a borrowed basket to start their search for flowers.

It quickly becomes clear that the meadows visible on the way into town are nothing compared to the full span of grassy areas around the village. Fields of grass and wildflowers seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, and there are numerous colors and shapes of wildflowers. It proves to be easy to find all sorts of bright colors, but Vivus and Sapientia are careful in their choices. They want to make the shop stand out, not look like someone threw up a rainbow on it. In the end, they select a variety of blue, purple, pink, and white flowers along with a small pile of colorful leaves to bring back. The colors should stand out against the more vibrant yellows and oranges many of the villagers have chosen to decorate their homes and businesses. They head back towards the shop with their bounty safely tucked away in the shopkeeper’s basket which is in turn securely held by Vivus’ tail.

At the shop, Vivus and Sapientia happily help the shopkeeper decorate, Vivus gently placing small bundles of flowers into vases to set on the shop’s tables and windowsills while Sapientia takes some flowers to decorate above the door and along the roof ledge. By the time the pair are finished, the whole area smells like fresh wildflowers, and the craft shop sits a blue gem amidst a field of yellow and orange banners. Returning the shopkeeper’s basket, the pair take the flowers they have left to go see what the Amaryllians with the ground flowers are doing.

It takes a while to find a Solranic-sized space amongst the crafters, but once they have found a spot to settle down, Vivus and Sapientia watch in amazement as the Amaryllians around them work flowers into a fine paste which they then use to draw on the buildings and sometimes even themselves. After a bit of practice and some help from a few of the nearby people, Vivus and Sapientia manage to make a few dyes of their own. With the pale blues and purples, they carefully draw marks upon each other like those they’ve seen some of the villagers drawing as part of the celebrations. Vivus chooses runes that he is told represent freedom to paint upon Sapientia’s wings with the purple dye while she paints runes of health and happiness along his flanks with the pale blue. Marked with their favorite colors, the pair continue to take part in the festivities, sampling tasty treats from the street merchants, meeting new people, and exploring Roeback to learn more about the area and those who inhabit it.