One

The brighter the light...

Athena woke the same way she'd found herself waking up for the past few weeks, on and off. Slowly, heavily, like she was pulling herself out of a thick mire. The last few moments of a dream hung on her mind, at once familiar and seemingly vital, even as it slipped through her mind as dreams often do. She pulled herself up to a seated position, exhaling as she ran a hand through her short brown hair and tried to blink away the last bit of sleep. Outside her window, the sun had just started to make the transition from dawn to morning. Oh, right, she thought to herself, today's the day.

She put aside her dreams and set to the task of getting out of her pajamas. She thought for a moment about whether or not today was a day that demanded some kind of formal dress. Then, realizing her definition of "formal" was already pretty casual, she just decided to settle for jeans and her old hand me down T-shirt her dad got when he saw the Chocobo Knights in concert. She was just in the middle of tying up her sneakers when she heard a buzzing on her night-stand, followed by a bouncy, jangly song. Athena awkwardly made her way to the stand as she slipped on her other shoe, reaching for the phone and pressing the "answer" button. "'Lo?" she muttered into the receiver.

"Good morning, Athena!" the voice on the other end said, over the light but insistent sounds of wind and the constant thud of footsteps against pavement. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, it's fine," she replied, bending back to adjust her shoe on her foot. "I've been up myself for a bit, now."

"Good," the voice said, and was about to say something else, when a grunt and the sound of shoes scuffing on concrete interrupted her. Another rush of wind, the sound of people talking getting louder and softer as the speaker blew past them. "Hey, I'm on my way over, right now. Is that all right, or should I give you some time?"

"No, no, I think we're good." Athena began putting her wallet and house keys into her pocket. "How long until you get here? Like, a few minutes, or..." A sudden, loud clatter and thunk behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin. She whipped around to see the source.

A young lady was clinging to her window, feet on the sill, one hand holding herself up on the top edge while the other kept her cell phone pressed to her face. Artemis recognized the long red hair, the pastel shirt maybe two or three sizes too big for her, the garishly bright sweater tied around her waist by the sleeves, the track shorts and tennis shoes, and of course her face, bright and smiling. The girl hung up her phone and gave Athena a sardonic grin. "Hey, open up," she shouted, "my arm's getting tired."

Athena sighed and shook her head, hanging up the phone and stuffing it into her pocket. "I've got a door, you know." She walked over and put her hand on the window, but didn't lift just yet. "I dunno, Artemis. Maybe you should just hang out for a bit."

Artemis laughed, with a hint of unease. "No, seriously." She spared a glance down at the street, a story or so down. "I don't wanna fall; please open the window."

"Oh, fine." Athena pushed the window up and took a step aside. "Just be careful around the night-light!" She lurched forward to catch the little electric, star-shaped night light she'd put on the window-sill, that Artemis's awkward climbing knocked over. Athena sighed heavily as she tried to step aside to give her friend room. "Honestly, Art, this thing's only been here since we were kids; you think you'd know how to avoid it at this point."

"Sorry." Artemis tucked her phone into her pocket and took a look around the room. Athena wasn't disorganized so much as she had a lot of stuff; Artemis's eyes were drawn to the collection of stuffed Tonberries her friend had gotten at a yard sale for reasons neither of them could really be sure of. "So," Artemis offered, after seeing that the little night-light was back in its rightful spot again, "you ready for today?

"I guess?" Athena closed the window and turned to lean against the wall. "It's not like there's a whole lot to get ready for, right? It's just a silly party."

"Oh, don't say that, Athena!" Artemis swept forward and put an arm around Athena's shoulder, turning her towards the window and pointing towards a group of kids walking down the street, chatting and laughing. "It's not just a silly party. It's Longday! The longest day of the year!"

Athena chuckled sarcastically. "That just means we're going to be outside longer."

"Exactly!" Artemis spun them both around, with enough force to cause Athena's arm to upset the night-light on the window again. "More time to spend with friends, and play games, and do all sorts of other cool stuff. It's probably my favorite holiday, ever."

Athena spared Artemis a glance as she set about righting her light again from within her friend's grip. "That's the same thing you say about Light Day, and Wish Giving."

Artemis seemed just a bit thrown off by that statement, but she recovered quickly enough. "Well, this time I mean it," she declared with the sort of sincerity Athena knew from experience was genuine, if not exactly guaranteed to be contradicted sometime down the line. Artemis released her friend and started making her way to the door. "Now, come on. You and me, we've got a party to get to."

Athena could only shake her head and smirk. All the times this particular situation played out, it never seemed to get old, and it always seemed to work. Artemis was always talking Athena into seeing the fun in things; between the two of them, they had more stories of misadventure and trouble than Athena would ever have had the patience to stomach alone. When it was Artemis suggesting it, though... "Right behind you," she said, grabbing up her little red book from the dresser as she followed Artemis to the stairs and out the front door.

"So..." Artemis began, and then paused. Athena could only guess she was trying to find a good segue and, having failed to do so, decided to just go ahead and say what she was going to say without one. "...I've been having... like, really weird dreams lately."

"Oh, you too?" Athena opened her book, flipping past handwritten pages until she found the last one she'd written anything in. "I've been having those, too. Just last night, even."

"Really?"

"Yeah... oh..." Athena reached for her pocket with a rueful grimace. She'd forgotten something to write with, again. She huffed and snapped the book shut. "So, what have you been dreaming, then?"

"Oh. Well..." Artemis slowed down for a second, scratching at her chin absently with one finger and looking up at nothing. "Umm... You know, I don't remember anymore. That's strange; it was so vivid when I woke up today."

Athena nodded. "That tends to happen, with dreams. You can't really remember them unless you really try."

Artemis seemed momentarily crestfallen, to a degree that the situation didn't wholly warrant. "Man," she muttered, "and it was such a good dream, too. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway. I remember it being kind of scary and confusing at first... oh!" She looked to Athena. "You said you were having dreams, too, right? So what were yours?"

"I don't remember, either."

"Oh."

They took the next dozen and a half steps in silence, as they both came to the realization that their conversation was going nowhere. Athena finally broke the silence with a crooked grin. "Good talk," she said, casually.

Artemis chuckled, then pointed to the hill where the old lighthouse was situated. "Hey, look. You can see they're already setting stuff up." She picked up her pace to a brisk, long stride. "Come on, let's see what's in all the stalls before they become crowded with people."

"Hey," Athena replied, as she followed behind, "don't you start running, on me. You know I can't keep up with you when you get all excited."