The Star Festival
It was the day of the Star Festival. The sun was in the sky, but it was still early enough that the summer heat hadn’t fully set in. A stir that only festivals could bring was already running through the city and crowds of people were heading for the south and east gates, despite the fact it was so early that the gates hadn’t opened yet.
“Bye, Mom!”
“Don’t get too excited out there, dear. As always, Lutz, please take good care of Myne for me.”
I left home with Lutz, who had come to get me. Tuuli came with us at first, but left to enjoy the festival with her own friends. She was running toward the gate with Ralph and Fey.
“Bye, Myne. Let’s have fun today!”
“Uh huh. Bye, Tuuli.”
After waving Tuuli, Ralph, and Fey goodbye, Lutz and I turned around and walked in opposition to the flow of people, heading toward the temple. We were wearing our normal clothing so that we could safely get wet. People popping out of side alleys were walking to the gate with excitement sparkling in their eyes. Not a single person was wearing their best clothing.
Fighting against the waves of people, we passed the central plaza and headed further north. It was about there that the crowds thinned. One could guess that those living in the north had left long ago to reach the gates as they opened.
“You’re staying at the orphanage, Myne.”
“Wha? Why?!” I, having intended to go with everyone to the forest and pick up taues, looked up at Lutz with wide eyes. He grimaced uncomfortably before continuing.
“If it were just you and me going to the festival, I was gonna get two or three taues before heading back. But we’re all gonna throw them at each other in the orphanage instead of at newlyweds, yeah? That means we’ll need more. We won’t make it back to the temple by fourth bell with you with us.”
Lutz’s argument was rock solid and forced me to hang my head sadly. As always, I hated my body for making me dead weight to everyone. Lutz patted my head to comfort me while lowering his voice a bit.
“Not to mention, someone might drop by the orphanage to check up on things. You’ll want to be there if that happens, right? As director?”
“Ngh... You’re not wrong.” It was very likely that the High Priest or High Bishop would send an attendant to check on the orphanage and give warnings. If the High Bishop were to learn that the orphanage was empty, he would probably have strong words — or worse — for both me and the High Priest.
“You’re not the only one staying behind to work, yeah? You stick with them while we get the taues. I can’t help if you don’t.”
“...Okay. I’ll stay behind.”
The second bell rang across the city just as we reached the temple. It was time for the gates to open. Fran and I watched as Lutz left the orphanage through the back entrance with a finger over his lips to signal that they should be quiet. The guard at the gate could barely hold back his laughter, and the same went for me. Once they got past the gate they ran off from the temple, chattering excitedly. I went to my chambers, feeling envious, and changed into my blue robes so that I could go to the orphanage.
“Did you not want to go to the forest, Delia?”
“Going to the forest won’t help me be a good mistress. I want to learn the alphabet as soon as possible.”
Gil and Delia were competing to learn the alphabet first, but Gil was learning faster. Probably because he was bringing his karuta to the orphanage and playing with everyone.
“Understandable. You are losing to Gil, after all.”
“Geez! Just by a little bit! I’ll beat him in no time!”
Delia had stayed behind by choice, and so I left her to watch over the chefs while Fran and I went to the orphanage. After climbing down the stairs, I saw that the door to the kitchen was thrown open and I could see Hugo and Ella cooking furiously, attempting to finish everything before fourth bell so they could join the others in the taue throwing.
“The High Priest has requested that I spend this morning instructing you on the rituals and ceremonies of the temple. You will not be able to participate in the taue throwing until you have memorized them all.”
“Guuuh...”
The High Priest apparently had no mercy when it came to education and had immediately developed a curriculum for me. I had to learn a surprising amount today.
As I slumped in despair at everything written on the board, Fran informed me that the High Priest had estimated from my math skills and degree of literacy that my academic level was high enough to justify this rapid pace. But the High Priest misunderstood. My math skills were carried over from my past life, and I had worked hard on becoming literate exclusively because it was necessary to read books. He shouldn’t expect those talents to carry over to memorizing a bunch of temple ceremony stuff. I wasn’t that good of a student.
I turned down the hall on my way to the orphanage and there, by chance, I came face to face with a blue priest for the first time. He must have been heading to prepare for the ceremony.
“Well well, if it isn’t that little upstart commoner, wearing her blue robes without an ounce of shame. Today’s ceremony is no place for kids, you know.”
“Rather than participating in the ceremony, the High Priest has given me the duty of watching over the children in the orphanage.”
“Oh, I see. Taking care of orphans is a good fit for a commoner like you. Maybe you do know your place after all.”
“I thank you ever so much for your praise.”
The blue priest gave a bored “hmph” and left. I resumed walking to the orphanage. Fran furrowed his brows with concern and spoke to me, sounding worried.
“Er, Sister Myne. That was...”
“Don’t worry about it, Fran. Words will never hurt me. They go in one ear and out the other, no harm done.”
I entered the orphanage and saw that there were a few gray shrine maidens still there. As one would expect from shrine maidens who had been left in the temple as potential flower bearers, they were pretty with shapely faces.
“Oh my, Sister Myne. What might bring you here?”
They turned gracefully my way and tilted their heads. Each move they made was thoroughly refined, and they all looked much more like rich young ladies than I did.
“I decided to stay here, since someone needs to be here to deal with anyone who might drop by. Do you girls have work today?”
“No, we simply do not have much interest in the forest, so we were discussing whether we would like to make soup instead.”
I found a familiar face among the gray shrine maidens. She was a young girl around fifteen with her blonde hair, close to a bright orange, bound up tightly behind her head. Well, given that she had her hair up, she was technically an adult. But her face was so young looking that “girl” was the only word that came to mind.
“Wilma, thank you for drawing the art for the karuta. They were wonderful.”
Wilma’s eyes, which were light brown and always had a tinge of mirth to them, crinkled happily. If she looked bright before, she was outright radiant now. “Truly, I should be thanking you for affording me the opportunity to draw once again. It had been so long since I held a pen that my heart jumped with joy. The children seemed very interested in the karuta, as you call them, but I do not suppose they were for the orphanage.”
“They were a gift for my attendant. But if you would draw another set, I can order more boards for the children.” I could order the boards and write the letters myself, but my art style was so different from this place’s that everyone around me did their darndest to stop me from drawing. Wilma’s help was essential for making karuta.
“Oh my, certainly! I would be ever so grateful if you did.” Wilma beamed a smile. She was overflowing with passion for art and love for the children. It had been Wilma who rushed to clean the children in the basement before anyone else. When I promised to make a set of karuta just for the orphanage children, the girl beside Wilma lowered her eyes sadly.
“If only I could draw like Wilma, I too could be useful...”
“But my, Rosina, do your talents not lie in music?”
Rosina, the girl with the mature, pretty face who had just sighed regretfully, seemed to be skilled in playing instruments. Talk about elegant. I wanted to hear Rosina’s music, but apparently her former master had taken her instruments with her, leaving Rosina without anything to play. I wanted to buy one for her, but instruments were expensive even back in Japan, so it wasn’t hard to imagine that a good instrument would be astronomical in price here.
“Fran. Are instruments expensive?”
“It would be better to ask Master Benno that, but regardless, it is required for blue shrine maidens to be trained in music.”
“If you wish to learn, Sister Myne, I believe that we could be of assistance. If you would have us, we will gratefully be your attendants.”
Rosina had served the same blue apprentice shrine maiden that Wilma had. The apprentice was quite taken with all forms of art and kept her attendants thoroughly separated between those who did work and those who appreciated culture with her. Rosina and the others spent each day polishing their singing, music, dance, poetry, art, and so on.
...Ngh. I spent about three years practicing piano, but I never touched another instrument outside of music class. But there were probably no recorders or melodicas here, and I doubted they would let me pass off castanets as my instrument of choice.
Not only did I have to study paperwork and matters related to the temple, I also had to go through classical training in music and the arts. I was starting to think I had been a little too hasty with becoming an apprentice blue shrine maiden. Just a little.
“In any case, Sister Myne. We will be off making the soup if you need us.” Wilma and the others went to make the soup, leaving Fran and me alone in the orphanage dining hall.
“So, Fran. What would you think if I said I wanted to take Wilma as an attendant? Would the High Priest give his permission?”
“Might I ask why?”
“Wilma is good at art, isn’t she? The karuta are one thing, but there are a lot of other ideas I have that will need art to make a reality. I want to secure her for myself before any other blue priest takes her. Plus, I think a cultured adult gray shrine maiden will be important for me.”
“I believe that the High Priest will in all likelihood grant his permission. But as Wilma takes care of the young children more than anyone else, I am uncertain what will happen to them if she is taken away from the orphanage.”
“I see. I’ll ask Wilma what she thinks later and figure something out then.”
Third bell rang as Fran lectured me on the temple’s ceremonies. It got pretty noisy outside not long after. The couples had come to the temple for the Starbind Ceremony. I wanted to go see, but naturally, I couldn’t.
I worked on finishing my quota with my heart fluttering, and before I knew it fourth bell had rung. That signified the end of the Starbind Ceremony and the bustle slowly grew distant. Once it was completely silent, the children quietly returned from the back entrance. I could see them stealthily climbing the stairs while holding their mouths and stepping gently.
“Welcome back, everyone. Did you gather lots of taues?”
“Sister Myne, shhhh!” After being reminded not to speak, I hurriedly closed my mouth. Only after Lutz came inside, shut the back entrance to the basement, and lifted his hand did everyone start talking.
“We got lots and lots!”
“We put all our baskets by the basement. Lunch is first, right?”
“Indeed it is. You should all wash your hands and wait for the divine gifts to be delivered. I will briefly return to my room.”
Since Lutz was here, I went back to my chambers — not through the hall, but through the basement. I climbed down the stairs, where I saw baskets filled with the taues everyone had gathered.
“Lutz, can I borrow four of the taues you gathered? My chefs couldn’t go to the forest, and I want to give them some.”
“Yeah, sure.” I returned to my chambers through the back entrance with Fran carrying the taue fruit, whereupon I saw Hugo and Ella waiting outside the kitchen impatiently, having already finished preparing lunch. Through Fran, I gave the two of them two taues each.
“I thank you both ever so much for working on the day of the festival. It isn’t much, but please accept these fruits.”
“Wha?! Really?! Thank you!”
I felt Hugo dash away the moment I turned my back. Just how much had he been looking forward to the Star Festival? And who did he intend to throw those taues at? I heard Ella yell out “Hugo, please!” out of consideration for me, but I had newfound social awareness and knew to climb the stairs without turning around.
I ate lunch, which was delivered by Delia, on the second floor with Lutz. Today’s dish was faux capellini. I had them chop plain pasta as thin as possible, then for the tomato sauce and mozzarella, I selected pome sauce and a kind of cheese with a mild flavor. To emulate basil sauce, I prepared plant oil with salt and either herbs or rigars (faux garlic), hoping that one of the two would give me what I wanted.
We also had a salad with seasonal vegetables and steamed chicken. In truth I was really in the mood for cold somen noodles, but as always my hands were tied by the apparent lack of Japanese-like ingredients here.
“You sure worked hard today, Lutz. Eat as much as you want. Everyone looks so happy and excited thanks to you. I’m really grateful.”
“Yeah, we went in hard. Some kids went so far in the forest looking for more I thought we weren’t gonna make it back in time.”
“That sounds so fun. I wish I got to see the festival. I was stuck here studying with Fran the whole morning.” Hearing the orphans talk excitedly about how they had seen people hiding with taue fruit on their way back to the temple made me endlessly jealous.
“Hey, Myne. Want to go check out the festival just for a second? The newlyweds are probably all gone by now, so we won’t be throwing fruit or anything. Just seeing what the city looks like right now. The kids gotta eat after we’re done with lunch, so there’s some time, yeah?”
Divine gifts were given to attendants after the blue priests had finished, and there were some gray priests no doubt still preparing carriages, so we still had some time before everyone was ready to throw fruit.
“Yeah! Let’s go!”
I took off my blue robes to return to my normal outfit, then dashed out of the temple gate with Lutz. The soaked city streets glistened beneath the summer sun. The ground near the temple wasn’t wet at all, but the further south we went, the more soaked our feet got. Just how many taue fruit had people thrown to get the streets wet enough that not even the summer sun could evaporate the water?
That train of thought was followed by the sight of kids running down the street and laughing, soaked from head to toe with water dripping from their heads. They were heading toward some loud hustle and bustle further south.
“Let’s follow them, Lutz!”
“Don’t get too close, alright?”
Following Lutz’s advice, I stealthily watched them from the shadows and saw that there was a huge, chaotic battle underway in a somewhat narrow alleyway. There were no foes or allies; there were merely stalwart heroes, throwing taues while shouting meaningless battle cries. Their shouts were loud, amplified and echoing off the walls of the alley.
Everyone was soaked to the bones. Naturally, young women wearing light summer clothing had their outfits clinging tightly to their bodies, turning transparent in the worst cases. Many of the men were running around shirtless, as if their shirts clinging to them had gotten to be more annoying than they were worth.
...Oof, this is like the kind of celebration people throw when their favorite football or baseball team wins a championship.
“Gah?!” Lutz suddenly yelled as water exploded on his head. The drops of cold water splattered on me too, and when I turned around I saw a bunch of kids behind Lutz, taues held at the ready.
“Hey, we found some kids that aren’t wet at all!”
The kids yelled out and immediately the huge crowd stopped their chaotic war to look our way. Their eyes shone like those of a hunter who had just found their prey, which sent a shudder down my spine. A weak cry leaked from my mouth and I felt myself shrink.
“Run, Myne! Avoid as many as you can!”
“But I can’t avoid any!” He should know better than to expect me to do anything requiring agility. All I could do was lift my arms and try to block any direct blows to my face. Lutz took my hand and ran, smacking down a taue thrown our way. The taue, which really was swollen like a water balloon, exploded after hitting the ground. It was a nice save that made me sigh in relief, but Lutz blocking it just made our hunters more eager for victory.
“They dodged it! Cheeky little brats!”
“Get’m, everyone!”
And so taue after taue came crashing down on us. They even felt like water balloons, so they didn’t hurt even when thrown at full force, but the cold water running down my spine and the sensation of the fruit bursting against my back sent goosebumps rising up all over my body.
“Gyaaah! So cold! They’re so cold!”
“Myne, just move your legs!”
Lutz only managed to block the first thrown taue. There was no way to avoid them once adults joined the fray. We were surrounded in no time, powerless against their greater numbers. There was no hope of escape and no way of dodging them all. We were doomed the moment we drew the attention of the high-spirited festival goers, and we were soaked in seconds.
“Ahaha! Not a bad job for a twerp, you almost saved her!”
“Can’t wait to see what a hero he grows up to be, huh?”
Cackling, the adults praised Lutz for his efforts in protecting me before rushing off like a storm in search of their next victims.
“...Lutz, I’m definitely going to get sick now.” I grasped at my dripping wet skirt and shook my head, making water fly off of me while Lutz nodded.
“Effa might get super mad and say you can’t go to next year’s festival.”
“...Well, I know what it’s like now. I know it all too well. I don’t think I really want to go to a festival that’s guaranteed to get me sick,” I said while wringing my hair to squeeze out the water.
Lutz and I did our best to dry ourselves off as we returned to the temple. The north of the city seemed more invested in the upcoming feast than the taue throwing, and preparations were already beginning at various plazas with wells. Boards were set on boxes to form makeshift tables while others brought food from somewhere.
“Man, I wish I were hungry enough for some of that.”
“Uh huh, we just ate, didn’t we?”
The people throwing taues and running all over the city would no doubt realize how empty their stomachs were once they started seeing food.
“Geez! What in the world?! Look at you! Wait outside until the bath is ready, you’re making the room filthy!” Delia yelled at me before Mom got the opportunity to. Lutz murmured that she was scarier than Effa and I agreed with a slight nod.
As we waited outside the door for the bath to be finished, Fran appeared wearing his used forest clothes in preparation for the upcoming water battle. Upon seeing us soaking wet, he began rubbing his temples.
“Sister Myne, the orphans have already finished preparing. You might as well go as you are. Delia, prepare the bath to be ready for when she returns.”
Delia was sitting out the taue throwing because it wasn’t “dignified.” Gil had already gone to the orphanage a while ago.
“The gray priests who had been preparing the carriages for the blue priests have sent word that all the blue priests and their attendants have left for the Noble’s Quarter. The gate is now shut.”
We headed to the orphanage through the back entrance and saw that everyone had changed from their robes to their secondhand clothes. The taues set in the basement had been taken outside. At Lutz’s suggestion we split into two teams, with Fran balancing them by age and gender and so on. We selected a location broad enough to run around in and everyone promised not to leave it.
“Clean up after yourselves. Don’t get loud enough for those outside of the temple to notice and get curious. And finally, have fun without hurting yourself or others. Understood?”
“Understood!”
“Alright, we’re gonna hand out the taues.” Lutz glanced at the group of baskets. As the person of the highest status there, I had to move first. The taues I had seen in the forest before were about the size of a single knuckle, but the ones in the basket were as large as my fist. They were indeed swollen with water and felt just like water balloons. I hadn’t gotten a good look at them before due to closing my eyes, so this was my first time really looking at taues.
“Wow, they really are big!”
The second I grabbed a large taue on top of the pile, I felt mana being drained from me just like I had during the offering with the divine instrument. The taue began twisting and bulging in my hand, changing shape.
“Gyaaah?!”
“What’s wrong, Myne?!”
“It’s sucking out my mana!” I could see what looked like hard seeds popping into existence and growing within the halfway transparent taue. “This is so gross! What’s happening?!”
“Like I would know!”
As I floundered with the taue still in hand, its previously light-red color darkened due to the seeds beginning to overwhelm the water. The squishy skin hardened and became opaque. It was at that point that I finally realized what I was looking at. This red fruit was no doubt the trombe seed I had encountered in the past.
“Lutz, this is a trombe! Go get knives!” I yelled, still holding the taue, and Lutz stopped peering at it to immediately go rushing to the basement which we now used as a storage area. He returned with baskets filled with knives and billhooks, then started giving instructions to the orphans.
“Anyone used to gathering in the forest by now, ready your knife. Valuable paper-making material is about to show up. Gather every bit of it that you can!”
The orphans all yelled “Right!” in unison, and by the time everyone had their knives, the taue was rock hard and getting increasingly hot. At this point, I could expect a trombe to pop out if I threw it to the ground like I did before.
“Sister Myne, we’re ready!” Gil stood by my side, wielding his billhook like a crime-fighting hero from a kid’s TV show. Lutz, with a knife in one hand, pointed at some nearby unpaved grass.
“Myne, throw it where there’s dirt!”
With Lutz and Gil’s voices in my ears, I took aim at the grass and threw the taue as hard as I could.
“I choose you, growy tree thing!”
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