Where We Are Now
The camp was bustling with activity. People were rushing around and preparing for the solstice. The festivities wouldn’t be until later that night but they wanted to make sure everything was ready far before that. The solstice had become an important celebration for the whole of Rewritten Fates since it had originally been established right around it. The three founders always seemed to have their paws the fullest when it came to the solstice, though the other members made sure to take off as much pressure as they could.
River tapped a nervous paw on the table in front of her. Across from her sat Wolf and Tundrith who both seemed as stressed and nervous as she was. None of them wanted to be inside looking over paperwork at the moment. They’d much rather be out with the others helping set things up, but they’d been threatened by several of the others to take it easy. Korudo had even threatened to use one of his various contraptions on them. They’d finally decided to listen after that.
Wolf sighed annoyed. “We should be out there helping.” He looked up from the page he’d scanned more time then he could count.
Tundrith watched the liquid of the potion she was moving around slosh as she answered. “While I agree with you Wolf, I for one don’t want to face our friends' wrath if we try to sneak out again. I’m fairly certain they’ve posted Illusion as a guard to make sure we don’t try anything.”
Wolf huffed but didn’t say anything else. River looked up from her paper and sighed heavily. Her wisp snuggled into her in an attempt at comfort. “Look I’m just as frustrated as the two of you are, but there’s nothing we can do about it. They want to do it, let them.” Her tail swished slowly behind her as she ruffled her wings. “Let’s just use this moment to think about how far things have come since it was just us yeah?” She suggested uncertainly.
Both rumbled out their begrudging agreement and the three went back to looking over plans and even some unfulfilled job requests. Time seemed to drag on as they tried to tune out the sounds of preparation from the outside. Eventually Illusion poked her head in, along with Yoru. “Alright you three can come out now but…” Yoru glanced down at Illusion.
Illusion bounded forward, smiling mischievously at them. She held out three blindfolds to them. “You have to put these on!” The three looked at each other before all collectively sighing and putting on the blindfolds. They were then carefully led out by Yoru and Illusion.
They were led a ways before being told to sit and leave the blindfolds on until they were told to take them off. River listened to the two retreating pairs of footsteps. She could almost feel the buzz of excitement coming from her wisp and was tempted to take off the blindfold just to see what had gotten them so excited. In the end she didn’t because clearly her friends had worked hard at this and she didn’t want to ruin things.
River felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and startled slightly. She hadn’t heard anyone come over. “You can take the blindfold off now. Sorry if it was uncomfortable, but it was necessary.” Came Korudo’s calm voice. River slipped it off and her eyes widened as she took in the site. The whole camp had been transformed. It was fully decorated in bright colors, most of which being in various shades of red, orange, and yellow. Flowers had been planted around that she knew for a fact hadn’t been there earlier. Some that she spotted weren’t even native to the area. All of her friends had on some sort of bright colors for the festival. A couple even sported flowers in their fur.
A quick glance at Tundrith and Wolf revealed a similar reaction to hers. Astral had joined Wolf and was nuzzling at him affectionately. River turned to look at Korudo, there was a small smile on his muzzle. “Thank you.” River said softly.
His smile widened minorly. “Don’t thank me yet. There’s still plenty to do.” He paused as he tilted his head. “I believe my brother helped set up some things along with Taisho and Yoru. You’ll know what when you see it.”
River shuddered slightly but then laughed. “Well let’s see what you all did then.”
The three were quickly swarmed by the others and given accessories to wear as well. They found themselves pulled around from activity to activity, but none of them minded. Honestly it was amazing to see how far Rewritten Fates had come. Simply starting as a dream from three korpis who happened to find each other. Now? Now they had a family that cared for them and they knew they could count on. Whether it was during a job or just to take over a chore you forgot about.
Eventually they were pulled down to the lake and made to sit. Most of their friends joined them though a couple ran off to do who knows what. Watching the sun set over the water was a wonderful sight. River laid down contentedly waiting for whatever was going to happen next. She spied Raijin lighting a few torches around the banks, but not so many that the area was completely lit up. Before long Korudo reemerged and sat down beside her. As her attention was wavering his voice called out. “Watch, it’s about to start.”
She faced forward as fireworks began to light up over the lake. They were beautiful. She sat up so she could get a better look. She’d hazard a guess that this is what Korudo’s brother had a hand in making. As the show started to wrap up she could only think about how far they’d come and where they might go next. Next solstice would undoubtedly be just as great.