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They had arrived just in time for a festival, it seemed. Perhaps one of them should have realized–spring had been fast approaching and most places, at least, the ones on the surface, held a celebration of some kind when the weather began to warm. But they’d arrived right on the Solstice, the exact edge of the change, and the entire town was bright and bustling and full of life.
Ahdree clung to Joy, just a bit, so they wouldn’t get separated, as she made a path for them through the crowds. While they parted for her, as large groups of people usually did, most of the people they passed gave them bright smiles, and the town held a much greater mix of beings than one might have expected.
“What’s going on?” Ahdree asked, looking around with wide eyes as bright orange daisies sprouted in his hair, the excitement already spilling out of him.
Joy shook her head, but she was smiling. “I don’t know,” she said, just loud enough to be heard over the crowd. “But I suspect we can find out.”
They found what seemed to be the general store, and approached the counter when it wasn’t too busy. “Excuse me,” Joy said quietly--she didn’t usually have to do much to attract attention wherever she was, and so it was instinct to downplay everything as much as possible. The shopkeeper did notice her still but didn’t seem quite as surprised as many when they encountered a tiefling.
“What can I do for you?” the pleasant-faced woman asked with a smile. She might have been a halfling, or possibly half-halfling, as she had the general look of one but more height. “You’re here for the festival, aren’t you?”
“Well, I suppose we are,” Joy said, carefully. “Only, not on purpose. What is the festival that’s happening today?”
The (half-)halfling woman’s eyes practically sparkled. “Oh, you’re in for a treat. Today is the Festival of Colors! It’s our little town’s one claim to fame. A good one though, I will say that, a very good one. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it once they’ve tried it.”
“I’ve never heard of the Festival of Colors,” Joy said, a touch embarrassed. “What is it for?”
“It’s to celebrate the weather turning–bringing spring back, and all the colors She brings with her. Also to celebrate everyone still being around. Just life and joy and all the things that new life in the world brings,” the shopkeeper said, though she looked just a tad mischievous.
“What happens during the festival?” Ahdree asked eagerly.
“The main event starts soon, just around when the sun is highest. You’ll want to go out into the square for that, or as close as you can get. You’ll hear a horn that will start things off.”
Joy blinked. “But what will we see? What’s the event?”
The woman grinned wider, and tapped the side of her nose with her finger. “Ah, that would be giving away too good a surprise. I shan’t say. But you’ll like it. Everyone does.”
Joy wanted to ask more questions, but there were other customers now–actual customers–and the shopkeeper, as kind and pleasant as she was, clearly had a job to do. Just a tad helplessly, Joy took Ahdree’s hand and the two of them headed out again, deciding to head to the square as suggested and wait for the beginning of whatever the event was. The square–large as it was, and larger than would have been expected for a town this size–was fairly full even now, and they didn’t have long to wait at all.
Perhaps ten minutes had gone by before it seemed like everyone was gathering outside, trying to be in the square. But with the number of people there were in the town that day, that meant the square, the main streets, and many of the smaller streets as well were packed, people jostling pleasantly against each other. It could have felt claustrophobic, but the energy was full of excitement and the faces around them were all beaming, smiling and laughing. The crowd was made of all sorts too–the young, the old, even the very young on family members’ shoulders. And it wasn’t just age–while the town itself wasn’t that large and likely wasn’t that diverse most of the time, the festival itself was well-known enough to have attracted travellers from a ways away, as there were many humans, but also elves of several types, dwarves, a goliath, and even another tiefling or two (though no one Joy recognized). Even being one of the more surprising types, no one was giving them any odd looks, and, Joy realized, hadn’t the entire time they’d been there.
There was a murmur and a hush that went through the crowds and it was followed a moment later by the sound of a horn, pure and bright. The sound swept over them all and it was like the town was full of one being that held its breath. Then everyone began to move at once.
When the first projectile hit Joy, she let out a yelp of surprise–but it burst easily, and showered her with bright yellow powder. Another hit Ahdree a second later, showering him instead in purple. They stared at each other with wide, surprised eyes, before they both burst into delighted laughter. All around them, sachets of colored chalk were flying through the air, people shouting and laughing with delight. Someone near them pressed similar sachets into their hands, gone before Joy could see who it had been, but it was obvious enough what they were meant to do.
They dove into the fray, everyone around them moving, the people and the air a riot of colors, the buildings and the ground joining quickly. It wasn’t easy to keep track of each other in the crowds, but there wasn’t any danger here and they never lost each other for long. Ahdree had sprouted so many flowers now he looked to be wearing a crown, and for a few minutes he earned himself a gaggle of little children who first danced around him and then showered him in more colored dust in a symphony of giggles.
It was hard to say how long the shower of colors went on–it was a delight, the sun bouncing joyfully off the growing cloud of chalk, a rainbow fog–it might have been minute or hours, as Joy was feeling the exertion in her limbs by the time the horn sounded again and people gradually stopped, though the mood of celebration still hung. As the air cleared, there was joyful laughter as everyone took in the beautiful mess they’d made of each other and themselves, everyone covered from head to toe in the colorful dust. Friends began to find each other again, and there were hugs and intentional smears of color across each other’s faces, small playful scuffles between younger children. The ground itself was art now, covered as absolutely as the people, and though it would probably be shuffled together into brown as it all was kicked around and mixed with dirt, and though it would eventually certainly become an annoyance, right now, it was magical.
Ahdree found Joy, her horns (now flecked with blue and pink) sticking above most of the crowd, and the two also embraced with laughter. “Everyone’s the same now,” Joy said, delightedly, her purple skin not at all noticeable now. “Or no one is. But everyone’s happy.”
“We should come here every year,” Ahdree said excitedly.
“That’s what everyone says,” a friendly passerby interjected, clapping Ahdree on the shoulder. “And you’d be very welcome.”
The crowds were dispersing now, but in groups, some (the ones with small children mostly, it seemed) were heading toward their homes, but most were heading to the few pubs and restaurants the town boasted. Around the edges of the square, enterprising vendors quickly set up simple tents or pulled in carts that they’d left in smaller alleyways earlier, and those people who remained in the square began heading toward the edges, to see what they might find to eat or buy.
No one bothered trying to get clean, at best trying to wipe their hands before taking their purchases, and then laughing when that only made them more colorful and taking their food anyways, so Joy and Ahdree followed suit, everyone walking rainbows.