The sun was setting and most people were getting to the food by this point. And new food being cooked and brought out. Akai had a plate and loaded it with thin strips of fried graylock meat, and oil fried sweet bread. He sat down with his friends, Lamorie having a large bowl of stew, Kidd had a smaller bowl of stew and regular bread.

  Lacy had loaded her plate with just the sweet fried bread.

  Before they could start talking, they heard some singing break out along some music.

  Looking, they saw their parents and a number of the other village men all holding tankards of ale and looking a little flushed. They began singing a marching song. The song was about going to war and fighting to return home to a sweetheart.

  By the time they repeated the first few verses, more people joined in and soon nearly half the people in the square were singing along. The song must be popular, though Akai admits he hadn’t heard it enough to know to sing along. By the time it was done, Rei shouted. “Akai! Come up here”. Akai had a bad feeling about what his father wanted due to the face he was making. “Lamorie, you come too. Bring Kidd with you” Drake called out.

  Soon, the three approached and found their parents pushing them to the stage. “Go, go, give us a demonstration of your powers.” Rei said with a goofy smile on his face.

  “What?” Akai asked, looking back and only just now realizing his father may be a bit drunk.

  “Show everyone what you can do, come on, it’ll be fun.” Rei insisted.

  The three were pushed onto the stage and now literally everyone’s eyes were on them. Akai took a step back, not liking being the center of attention. But Kidd wasn’t so shy, Kidd began to make electricity spark around him before doing a few mock punches and kicks at an incredible speed.

  In the reduced light of the evening, his electric arcs made blue streaks through the air.

  Then he did what he had been practicing, throwing out a kick and stretching multiple feet out was an arc of crackling lightning. It jumped to one of the hanging lanterns and did light the decorative piece on fire.

  Akai saw that and definitely didn’t want it to spread. He had a sneaking feeling from the way Kidd was smirking at him that he did this on purpose to make Akai do something.

  Akai reached his hands out and wisps of flame ignited in the air around him, covering him with a warm orange glow. The flame on the lantern was extinguished as it lept from the hanging lantern to his hand, before joining the wisps of orange flame around him. Akai then focused and the candle inside the now damaged lantern re-ignited. Letting its light shed back on the ground below.

  Akai looked at Kidd with wide eyes and said “You can shoot out your lightning that far now?” and kidd stood and looked proud.

  With a sigh, Lamorie walked over to Akai and asked “How do I show off what I can do?”

  Akai blinked and thought for a moment before saying “Throw me up in the air as high as you can.” he said. Then with a devious smile, Lamorie crouched and wrapped her arms around Akai’s legs. He quickly spouted “w-wait, just one sec-” before Akai felt himself launch into the air. The wind rushing by him as he closed his eyes. By the time he felt himself reach the peak of his ascent, he looked down and saw he was well over 50ft in the air. As Akai fell, fear crept into his heart. In a mild panic, fire began enveloping him, looking like an off pyrotechnic from the distance. Lamorie stood under him to catch him as he tried to brace himself. But the stage they stood on was not the most sturdy, and in a flash of orange light, Lamorie found herself holding Akai as her feet punched straight through the wood beneath them. She was up to her chest in the stage and Akai held above her.

  Everyone began clapping and cheering after that stunt as Akai was trying to catch his breath. He shakily said “L-let me get ready next time…” as Lamorie set him down. Then began trying to climb back up. Kidd quickly zipped over and did help, mostly giving her something to pull with since he didn’t really need to help in the pulling department.

  Once the cheering died down a little, Kidd’s mother sat down behind her harp again. She only played it early during the celebrations but quit after about 20 minutes. Akai didn’t miss that she had some cloth wrapped around her wrists now in a compression wrap.

  Liam helped lift it up and asked “Mind making some room on the stage? And fetching something to patch that hole with?” He asked Kidd, who turned to look back. “Sure thing, dad.”

  Akai and Lamorie stepped off the state as Kidd brought back a few boards from behind the stage, a few other villagers came up and they worked to replace it as if they expected a little damage.

  Liam placed Christie’s harp on the stage and an older villager came up, not quite as old as their elder but old enough to be Akai’s grandfather. A younger man was carrying a chair and the older guy’s instrument. It was a strange kind of violin.

  Christie took a deep breath as the guy sat down and spoke up.

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  “I wanted to end the night’s celebrations with a song I wrote myself.. I don’t get to play much any more as some of you know. But I feel it’s time I finally tell everyone.”

  Liam stood behind Christie as she sat, a hand resting on her shoulder comfortingly. She said “I do have an ailment, something the healers couldn’t fix. And part of why I moved away from the city to be here.. Slowly, I am losing my ability to use my hands. The same thing happened to my mother and her mother before her. It only afflicts women in my family, so thankfully my son will be okay. But this very well may be the last year I can play a performance on my harp.”

  The older gentleman spoke with a gruff but kind voice. “For the dullards among us, pipe down and enjoy the music. Mrs. Fuller is a great musician, and this song is a nice one to dance to if you’ve a partner. Be grateful she’s doing this cause it hurts for her to strain em so much.”

  After the surprising news, the mood of the festival did calm down a little, but people did seem eager to listen to the song. The older gentleman held his instrument and began the song with a long bass note.

  Akai and the others saw the villagers begin to break into pairs. The beautiful sounds of the two piece music filled the air, Christie’s harp playing being melodic and very technical in play instead of casual plucking like before. The older gentleman’s playing was smooth and steady. Kidd looked a bit shocked when they looked at him. He was unaware of this condition his mother had and suddenly being told now, he didn’t know how to feel. His mother normally had such a fiery spirit, but right now the redheaded woman seemed melancholic as she played the song she had written.

  Kidd soon felt a gentle hand on his arm and saw Lacy there. She had a gentle smile as she gently grabbed onto his wrists and silently began guiding Kidd in a dance. Lacy wasn’t very good, and was trying to mimic some of the people around her, but Kidd picked up on this and decided to follow along. He didn’t ask why she was wanting to dance with him but it was a bit comical for others looking to see. Lacy was a bit over a foot taller than Kidd was right now.

  Lamorie and Akai looked at each other as they watched Lacy drag Kidd to dance to the music.

  Of course, Liam saw this, Christie was focused on playing her music but would catch glimpses when she looked up.

  After watching for a moment, Lamorie did look down a bit as a faint redness did creep across her face. Thankfully the candle light helped hide it. She did ask “Do you want to try and dance too?” as she stared down at her shoes. Akai turned to look and couldn’t discern the strange look Lamorie had on her face. He sat in awkward silent for a moment before saying “Sure, I don’t mind.”

  Soon, the two did get up. Looking at how some of the other people who were dancing were doing it, Akai grabbed Lamorie’s hands gently and began to move. Strangely, akai felt the warmth in his chest building. Though, this time, the emotion being surfaced with it wasn’t anger or determination. He didn’t know what it was, but a faint golden glow flickered behind his eyes. Lamorie missed it, acting uncharacteristically shy right now. Akai didn’t know why, though. But as they moved, gently holding hands, something strange happened.

  When he fought Kell and then explosively attacked the graylock, Akai remembered his body moving on instinct. Muscle memory for movements he hadn’t done before. And now the same thing was happening as they danced. Akai stepped forwards and brought Lamorie close. The dance changed from an awkward dance between kids to something that looked practiced and refined. It was not a well choreographed dance, but it did step with the rhythm of the song.

  A smile crept onto Akai’s face as he followed the instincts he felt and let his body move the way it wanted to. Lamorie easily followed his lead, though she was stumbling every now and then as he moved unexpectedly. Her face grew red as she did not expect Akai to take the lead like this. When the song did end, they slowly came to a stop and Akai let go of her hands. Lamorie brought them to her chest and looked up at him, seeing the flicker of gold behind his blue eyes. She turned away and said “Thank you, b-but I better head home before it gets too dark..”

  Akai reflexively said “I could help” But Lamorie cut him off and shook her head, saying “no, no, I’m fine.. Thanks” with a flustered look before she began walking off.

  A few of the nearby adults chuckled as they heard and saw what happened. Akai looked clueless though. “Odd..” he muttered as the heat he felt in his chest slowly disappeared, the faint light behind his eyes dimmed.

  He turned and looked for Kidd and Lacy, finding her slinking away as Liam had started talking with Kidd, Christie stepping down from the stage and flexing her fingers with a faint grimace on her face.

  Next thing Akai knew, his father put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair a little. He turned and saw both of his parents standing there with smug looks on their faces. Rei teasingly said “She still isn’t your girlfriend, Akai?”

  Akai had a genuine look of confusion for a moment before he shook his head. Afterwards Rei had an amused look and Jennifer had a pitying look on her face. She sighed and said to Rei “He’s denser than you were”.

  With that, the night did come to a close. Akai and Lacy headed home with his parents, Lamorie went back home with her parents, and Kidd stuck around to spend time with his parents and helped disassemble the stage.

  The following day, Liam gathered a group and headed out, taking a trek around the mountain that is mostly north of the village. They followed the normal trail and did not have to deviate to the mountain pass that was made ages ago as a secondary route. They made it to the city, made the report, and came back after buying a few things they knew the village or their families either needed or wanted.

  It was a week later, 3 days of travel each way and a day to rest in the city, when Liam and his group came back.

  Akai’s home village had no interesting events happen over the next year, the winter passed without much issue, the winter was particularly mild. Their village was rather south of most of the country so it did not snow much during the winter. A week with a snow storm was the only notable moment, but the rest of the winter had passed without much issue.

  Akai’s hair reached his shoulders by this point.

  He was sitting beneath the oak tree in the field, this year having various rows of vegetables growing instead of more grain. By now, he could manage keeping a good 10th of his fire swirling around him golden at all times. He didn’t feel pain until he pushed it a little further. He couldn’t maintain it in sparring yet, progress had been slow with him training by himself. Kidd and Lamorie were helpful, but this is just something he had to do on his own.

  He was interrupted by foot steps approaching through the field, he opened his eyes and saw Lacy was standing there. She held her hands together in front of her and asked “Could you do me a huge favor, Akai?”