Dusk was setting on the festival. Pale pinks and lilacs swirled across the Glipwood sky, settling over the forest and on the formidable cliffs. The horizon was far-off and unreachable, across the Dark Sea of Darkness, where the sea dragons were swimming beneath in their ethereal underwater world, awaiting the moment for their galling songs to be poured forth as a sigh of hope for the people that flocked to Aerwiar each year.
In the midst of the excitement, three wide eyed children were cheering on the talented handyball players, throwing up their small arms when a point was scored, yelling, "Hooray!" despite which team scored.
"Mama, can I be a handyball player when I grow up all tall like Janner?" the middle child, Tink, asked his mother. His dark hair slipped messily down his forehead as he smiled his crooked grin. Only last week had he lost his two front teeth in the same day.
Janner rolled his eyes and said, "Tink, you're only a year younger than me, and I'm not that tall. You're eight!"
Nia Igiby set one arm on each of her son's shoulders. "That would be marvelous, my son, but I think that you may have bigger things in store for your life." Little Leeli, the youngest, waved her arms and twirled one of her blond curls while sitting cozily Nia's lap.
Tink pouted. "Aww, I wanna be a handyball player."
"You'd be a good one, Tinky," Leeli giggled. "Ooh, yay! Another score!" She scurried from Nia's laugh to stand up with her older brothers on the blanket spread across the soft summer grass.
"What team are you rooting for?" a young girl about Janner's age asked shyly. The girl was settled with her mother and father close by. Her parents wore the usual Torrboro garb, bright skirts and elaborate prints for the mother, and the father wore a small black hat that slid down his face and a coat with distinguished shirttails. The girl, the children saw, wore a simple dress that nearly matched the periwinkle color of the sky; her hair was wild, dark, and curly. Her eyes were bright.
"They don't know the difference between the teams," Janner said apologetically, which made the girl laugh. "I'm Janner. What's your name?"
"I'm Sara!" the girl clutched a small figure in her hand. A horse? "I don't really know the difference either, 'cause I'm not from here."
"I'm Tink, and that's our silly little sister, Leeli," Tink told Sara sheepishly, stuffing a bit of sugarberry pie into his already jam-stained mouth.
Leeli shrieked, "I'm not silly!" and proceeded to chase her older brothers around, laughing and stumbling with her twisted foot that dragged behind her. Somehow Sara got brought into the fray, and the four children chased each other around the outskirts of the field, barefoot and laughing with delight.
"Janner! Tink! Leeli!" Nia called as the game broke up. "Time to go to the cliffs."
Reluctantly, Janner helped round up his siblings, and they began the trek to the steep cliffside where the dragons would soon appear and sing their mystifying song. It gave the three young Igiby's chills to think about it.
Janner, Tink, Leeli, and Sara ran slightly ahead, avoiding the growling Fangs of Dang and trying not to get stepped on by the horde of people. "Stay in my sight," Nia said as she followed along with Sara's kind parents.
The cliffs were a sight. The people that gathered to hear the dragons seemed to grow every year as the inhabitants of Aerwiar dwindled down to only a flame of hope. Dragon Day seemed to be a renewing of the mind and spirit; Nia had told Janner and Tink that the other day while Leeli was napping and they were working on their T. H. A. G. S.
"Mama, can we go closer to the edge—" Janner tugged on his mother's arm, but she shushed him and pointed to the swirling sea.
"Look, Janner, the dragons are already here! Still now, children."
Leeli stuck her sticky hand into Sara's, making the both of them grin. "I've never seen dragons before," Sara whispered to the Igiby children with a sense of awe.
"You'll love them," Janner promised. Then he flicked his deep blue eyes away from their new friend and to the sea.
Suddenly, the writhing water seemed to grow bodies and the sea dragons gracefully lurched out of the water. The children's jaws all dropped with admiration as they soared through the air, brilliant scales of every color on the dazzling spectrum gleaming in the waning few rays of sun, then crashing back into the sea with a deafening roar. They were mesmerizing, beautiful, wonderful, enchanting creatures that captivated every soul gathered on the cliffs that summer eve.
And then came the song, the roaring, haunting song, that seemed to have a life of its own as it touched the hearts of the children. Sara gasped and gripped Leeli's hand, as well as Janner's, who was standing next to her. He blushed, but didn't dare drop it, and then he closed his eyes to let the song wash over him, knowing that it wouldn't last half as long as he wished it would.
It was glorious. But then it was over, and with one final cry, the sea dragons sunk back into the sea and disappeared into the murky depths.
"Wow," Sara breathed, releasing her clutch on Janner's hand. Her cheeks were flushed with delight as the crowd slowly dispersed back to the town, murmuring about the conundrum. The Igiby children walked alongside Sara as far back as to the main street, chattering about the song and the mystical dragons, when Nia sadly interrupted them and pulled Leeli into her arms.
"It was lovely to meet you, Sara," Nia said to the girl, and shook hands with her parents. "Maybe next year we will see you again, but now Janner, Tink, and Leeli must be off to bed."
"Mama," the children groaned as the parents said their goodbyes.
"Bye Sara!" Leeli cried from Nia's arms, waggling her fingers at her. "See you next year!"
Sara quickly hugged Tink and Janner, making both of the boy's blush again. Sara smiled at Janner, and whispered in his ear, "I won't forget you!"
"Uh, I won't, er, forget you either," he said in return, trying to suppress his happiness. And the Igiby's turned to walk back to their cottage nestled above the cliffs, and Sara walked slowly back to the Only Inn, replaying the memory of the day in her mind for the first of many, many times.