thanks for the reviews hannah, kinicia, and Mew-Star-Mew. I love you guys! ^^

hannah: that would be great! ^^ I hope I didn't make any silly ones so far hahaha

Mew-Star-Mew: yeah, I know it's actually Shrimp Chilli but since they don't even have squid (unlike RF) I would be inclined to assume that he is also fond of spicy squid if there is any. Besides, what is more epic than blasting out the filling of your grilled squid in front of your date (although coincidental) during your sort-of first date? :p Reine surely makes an impression on Neil :p

kinicia: really? You love NeilxReine pairing that much? GREAT! I could hug you now *virtual hug* Well yeah, of course I think Neil and Reine make an amazing pair, but sometimes I'd like to think Rod and Reine wouldn't be so bad actually (both seems to be fun-loving and cheerful, world will be a much brighter place with this kind of couple :p). But frankly speaking, even I will always think of Neil when thinking of Reine these days hahahaha... being an author? that's a dream job for me! Why did you ask? :3

This chapter will give you guys the context of Flower Festival in Elviaros, since it will be slightly different than the ones we see in the games so far. To draw a parallel, it is like the Elviaros' version of Valentine's Day. Not identical, but quite similar. Curious about the detail? Just read on~

The Flower Festival held in Elviaros had a rather different sentiment that the other town's similar festival. In Elviaros, Flower Festival was a very popular courting method for the young men.

That was partly because the tradition of gift-giving that had rooted deeply in this small town of around one hundred in population. In Elviaros, a handmade gift would mean a fondness for the recipient—the more complicated the handmade gift was, the deeper the fondness would be. The rational for this conjecture would be that the complicatedness of the gift would reflect the amount of thought and efforts the giver put into this gift, hence his or her feelings towards the recipient.

For example, Neil Leicestria who had spent his winter working industriously to his bones to get Rachel grew uniquely small red roses, then arranged them so mindfully into something else, surely held an ardent fondness towards whoever he intended to give that arrangement to.

Another example, Allen Leicestria: spending hours in dark mines then the dimmed workshop just to create a blue rose pendant. His pendant was so exquisite and rich in detail; because he had used an array of carefully selected tiny sapphires being slotted into an intricately moulded silver base template, one could see the texture of the blue rose quite clearly—how each petal fell on top of the other, forming a fully bloomed rose when being put together—and it seemed to be so real. To an untrained eye, the pendant looked really like a glittering real blue baby rose. It was a testament to his skill as a craftsman, yes, but this time this pendant symbolised the importance of whomever he thought about while conceiving this pendant to reality.

The Flower Festival itself would be held in two days: the first day all the young, unattached male might approach any of their female counterpart and gave her a flower—or flower-themed handcraft—to express his feelings. A wildflower—which could be plucked in the forest—or a simple bouquet would mean friendship—the degree of which could be implied from whether the flower was easily obtained as well as its quantity. Then a more intricate, handmade flower-themed accessories would mean something more akin to what had been discussed above.

Usually, all young women in Elviaros would accept the simpler offerings, from a single flower to a casual bouquet since they all conveyed friendships. It was also common for a young woman to give some flowers to their female friends although that wasn't the highlight of the festival.

For accessories, however, even if they might accept it at first, they would need the time to think about how to answer these delicate sentiments. Of course they had the choice to immediately wear the accessory upon receiving the accessory—and their action would convey that the giver's feelings were reciprocated. But actually, they had another day to wait until the Flower Ball, which was basically a ball party held in the Town Hall on the second and last night of the Flower Festival.

In this Flower Ball, the young women were required to carry a bouquet with them as they entered the hall (it could come from one of the gifted bouquets, but they could also choose to arrange their own bouquet), and, if they had received any accessory, they had the choice to adorn themselves with one of them; the one that was given by the person they were most fond of. They had the choice not to wear any accessory, or the ones they had previously owned, but if they did choose to wear an accessory they received during the period of the Flower Festival, they could only wear one.

There was no rule of how many accessories a woman might adorn herself with for the Flower Ball, but as per tradition, each woman would only wear maximum one flower-themed accessory during the Flower Ball, and it would have to come from one of the gifts they had received up until late afternoon of the second day.

See? The young men of Elviaros saw this festival as the perfect opportunity to court because they would receive the answer of their feelings right during the Flower Ball. Yes, it took a lot of courage (and a fair skill in craftsmanship) for a young man to step up and present the woman of their affection an accessory that was born out of his toil, but it would be worth the end since once she chose to wear their creation, it was equal to a public declaration of her feelings towards him.

That was why Rod was ecstatic to hear that Neil was creating something for the Flower Festival. So ecstatic that later that night, after Gwen and Reine had retired to their room, Rod practically burst into his elder's brother room alongside Allen and hugged him much like a pet finding its owner. "The hell you're doing?!" Neil scowled.

Allen smiled, "I heard you've found the queen of your heart," he said. "What did you make?"

Neil threw his glance sideways, "Even if I do, I won't tell you!"

"Oh c'mon Neil~" Rod cooed. "We're brothers, right?"

"This has nothing to do with that!"

Rod took out a necklace with a marguerite pendant from his pocket. It was simple, yet the shining glass stone he had chosen in making this gave the marguerite a stunningly translucent appearance. "I'm going to give this to the girl I like!" he declared proudly. "I spent hours at Saibara's making this after work!"

Huh? He has a girl he likes? Neil asked inwardly. Rod was on friendly terms with most of the young women in Elviaros, and the thought that he thought one of them being special to him had never occurred to Neil.

Neil was indeed unaware that the one who had asked Reine out during the Starry Night Festival had actually been his own younger brother since they didn't really talk about it afterwards. So, the chance of Neil realising that Reine was the one that had caught Rod's eye was almost nil.

Allen then showed his cousins his own creation, "I'll give this to Gwen."

Neil raised his eyebrow, "Does she understand the ways of Flower Festival?"

"I don't think Reine does, actually." Rod admits.

Allen pondered for a few moments. "Right, but it'd be awkward if we're the ones telling them this."

"That is very… complicated." Gwen finally said after a long pause.

Yuri, knowing this would be coming up, had asked Gwen and Reine for some tea at her place with the intention to explain the unspoken rules of Flower Festival—as well as the meaning of handmade gifts in general one day before the festival. However, Reine had a training session with Elli, so in the end it was only Gwen who came for an afternoon tea with the young seamstress.

"Well, yes," Yuri admitted. She then took out two carefully wrapped packages and gave it to Gwen, "Take these with you."

"What are these?"

Yuri smiled, "Elli, Mary, Karen, Candace, Luna, Rachel and I had been thinking of how to welcome you and your sister. Since this festival is coming up, and we know you don't have a proper ball gown, we thought to give the two of you these ball gowns for the Flower Ball."

"Oh my! You are too kind!"

"It's no problem." Yuri replied, again with a smile on her face. "The Festival starts tomorrow. Better be prepared, Gwen."

Gwen waved her hand dismissively at the suggestion, "I only came last Fall and do not know many people. I doubt I will get any."

Yuri thought of Gill Xaverio, and then Allen Leicestria, and then the other young males of this town who had seemed to take notice of Gwen. It was easy to tell that Gwen had quite a sizeable number of admirers despite having stayed only since one-and-a-half seasons ago in the town. The young seamstress smiled meaningfully.

"You never know, Gwen…" she said in a low voice. "You never know…"

Yuri gives a soft warning to Gwen.

Seems like our dragons are rather oblivious of their attractiveness, aren't they?

And how will this Flower Festival go the next day?

Stay tuned to find out! ^^

Thanks for reading!