Wednesday 31 October 2007, Luna Nova
"It's a great feeling to have friends, even more so as I was still recovering from all the blows I'd suffered frommy relationship with Croix, it's all been helping me, but as the days went by, so did the Samhaim festival andas I'd already won the title of Moonlight Witch in my first year in 2005, I was free to go, but the first year girlsweren't, they had to take part, As a result, I would once again be alone with my friends, at least that's what Ithought until then, since the day was free for those who are Moon Witches to be able to go out and about,and that was precisely because the headmistress wouldn't leave the path to the Ley Line open so that I couldenjoy Halloween once again in Dublin as I had in 2006, I would have to go to the town of Glastonbury atmost, a real shame, because I missed my mum more and more every day."
Today is going to be a very boring day to spend, the girls are all with their teams making preparations for Samhaim, we're alone here in the room, Daniella will be reading all day, Becca will be playing, I just have to join her, which I hear some knocks on the door, we quickly hide everything and who appears surprises me, simply Professor Watson, which leaves me a little confused by her presence, well at least it's not Anne Finnelan after all.
"Professor Watson?" I ask her who was a bit friendly.
"Oh Chariot, I've come to call you for a quick chat, let's go to my classroom, by the way, happy Samhaim to you" says Professor Lucy and I nod my head must be something very important to talk.
"Girls, I'm going to have to go out and see what Professor Watson wants with me, I'll see you later" I say to them.
I walk along the corridors and the rest of the day is spent preparing for the festival, which is marvellous because there are no classes all day, so you can enjoy it and just relax and unwind, I see everyone looking back at me too, the good thing is that I don't have to take part because I'm the Moon Witch and by the rules the Moon Witch can only enjoy the time here at most, which I do as soon as I get to the teacher's room for more conversations, not quite understanding all this, but fine.
"Oh Chariot, I've been talking to you for a long time and tutoring you, it's great to see that you're doing so well, but I think I have a proposal for you that will interest you" she said, smiling at me and I'm a little worried at what could be that proposal.
"And which one would that be, Professor Watson?" I ask her.
"Do you want to replace me as a future astrology teacher? I'm retiring from Luna Nova, I want to go back to my hometown, I also want to be able to get out of here and say a few more things that will force me to leave for good" I'm kind of shocked, I kind of already have my career plan and I know little about it, even tho it's my favourite class and subject.
"I'm sorry, Professor Watson, but I still want to be Shiny Chariot, I'm not going to give up on my career, as much as you said it was the best decision for me, it's still not, I'm still going to decide what I think is right" I tell her very clearly.
"I know that Chariot, I'm thinking of your emergency plan in case none of this works out, which is very likely, I'll be here to pass the torch to you and make you Luna Nova's next Astrology teacher" That's really interesting.
"I'm not going to be pessimistic about anything Mrs Watson, I know I can make it if I believe in myself, but if nothing works out I might think about becoming an astrology teacher, but why the idea? You've already told me you want to leave, but why?" I ask her.
"There are many of them, one of them even too personal for you to be there indirectly, but anyway, I hope you think about my proposal a lot, because we're still going to talk a lot about it, about the reasons that led me to this, I've kind of made a lot of very questionable decisions in my life, have a good Samhaim Chariot" said the teacher as I left her room.
It's very strange, me becoming Luna Nova's future astrology teacher, if nothing goes right, then me, I'm going to have to live with Professor Finnelan every day and this time it's going to be for good being her work mate, on the other hand I can help more students who have been affected by the theft of magic that happened at the concerts, so it's a good way to help people.
I go back to my room, but before I get there I'm approached by the girls, well I didn't expect to see the whole group here, well anyway I guess I'll see how it goes.
"Chariot!" They all say.
"So are you going to take part in Samhaim? We haven't seen the name of your team on any of the papers" Patricia asks.
"I'm the Moonlight Witch of 2005, so there's no way I could be in any of the roles" I tell them, and they're even impressed.
"How cool! You really did it, are you going to help us do it too? I know you've been training us all these days and we've even rehearsed a few steps, but would you watch us?" I don't think there's much to do.
"We can even do that, I'm going to see the girls I helped so much get the moonlight witch trophy, I know they will" I say, rubbing Williams' head.
"We'd be very grateful for your presence" she said excitedly and well I helped them a lot.
They all hugged me and I even forgot about that part, I helped them all rehearse with their friends with steps very similar to my own that I had rehearsed, many of them were just left out due to the fact that there was a hiatus and the grand finale in New York that could never be realised, anyway I'm going back to the room, I think there's no way, I'm going to have to stay with my friends until the evening.
When I get to my room, it's the same scene as always, as I sit down on the ottomans and sit next to Becca, who is playing at the moment.
"So what are we going to do today?" I ask them.
"I don't know, since you came back from the summer the ley line to your mum's town has been closed, so we won't even be able to enjoy Halloween, which would be a lot more fun" said Leyland.
"I agree, but we're just going to stay here in our room in the middle of the week when school starts again tomorrow, it's a pain" said Daniella.
"We can watch the girls in their performances and congratulate them too" I say to the two who are a little in denial, but come on there's nothing to do today.
"Is that a good idea? I understand you Chariot, but we've only just made friends with these girls, they're not as close to me as you are to them, apart from that one day which was very intimate, the rest was just a day of normal friendship, we've hardly met them yet" said Parker.
"This could be an opportunity to get closer to them, to have a closer friendship, just that, think about it Daniella, we're finally starting to have some friendships" I tell myself that there's no denying it.
"Okay, you have a point there I have to admit, well then we'll watch them when the day is over, but I'm also going to ask you something, don't come and play now, we'll study together, revise all the content from this week and the previous ones, I want to see if you're really engaged in everything" Well, these are things I do for my new friends.
"I will... I'm sure I'll remember most of them, if it means spending all day studying with you Daniella, but that's it for studying with you? Isn't there going to be anything else apart from you going with me to watch the girls?" I say to her.
"No! Don't even think about negotiating anything else, it's still Wednesday, I still want to sleep in my room, you know? So don't go there" said Becca, and we started laughing.
"It's for later, consider this part as if it were due, at the weekend we'll enjoy it in another way, but you can open the book" it'll cheer you up.
I'm going to get the books from recent lessons, well we only went to lessons on Tuesday and Monday, there wasn't any today, so there are only four subjects to revise for this week, which I'll be able to do easily, especially as I have my marvellous friend who will always help me with whatever is available, I think I'm finding the courage to develop my feelings for someone again.
[...]
The evening arrived and wow, I've really studied a lot, even though there were only two lessons in the week I was able to revise almost everything and now I'm confident, I know I'm going to take the exams that come,
it's like it's part of me, the girls and I are already putting on our clothes, it's cold outside so we take our winter uniforms.
With our clothes changed, we leave the room, putting our things away and hiding them so that no teacher can confiscate our technology. Walking down the corridor, we reach the stands and it's a surprise to be here, I wasn't even here last year, I just went to celebrate Halloween and with the reserved seats, the view could have been very good.
"We're here, well it looks like the stands aren't as full as we thought, good thing we have a privileged view of the stage" said Parker.
"And what role will each one play? Do you know Chariot?" Becca asks.
"Ryouko will play the role of summonings, Tsugumi the role of cleaning, Brooke the role of magical metamorphosis, Eun the role of herbology and Patricia has been cast aside to be the sacrifice, unfortunately she got the worst role" I say to them.
"Ugh, does she know what it's going to be like?" I nod.
"She hasn't been discouraged since we're going to watch her and she's told me she'll do a great number in her part, I'm sure she will because I've rehearsed her a bit, but for the most part she's just taken my ideas and done it herself, it's going to be a surprise for you and me, which makes things very interesting" I say as I look at the stagem they are already pumped up to participate, after all the training everyone thinks they got a chance on each role.
The lights go down all around, leaving the stage dark as usual, I feel a bit strange, it's different being on the audience's side, I've been used to being the person on stage all my life, I've never stopped to be on the spectator's side, it's bizarre for me, then there's a spotlight towards the curtains, from there comes the director Holbrook who is going to announce the start of the festival.
"All right, all right, we're here for another Samhaim festival! Where we'll see which of the girls will become this year's Moon Witch, are you ready?" We're shouting in the audience and the energy is so good.
The director used her magic and left the stage, reappearing somewhere else, I think it must have been her own stand. Meanwhile, a song began to play and to open the festival there was a herbology show by Eun, who used her magic to summon various branches and roots, along with the other girls from her team who appeared on brooms.
With the movement of the plants she danced uniformly, in wonderful synchronicity, as she moved the plants followed her and made different shapes, while classical music played, everything went very smoothly with the Korean dancing, the plants, the other girls using magic, she became the centre of everything, it's beautiful to see.
"This year seems to be promising, ever since Chariot Du Nord's performance in 2005 I haven't seen them commit to delivering a show" said one of the judges.
I can see how Eun isn't making any mistakes, she's really been rehearsing a lot and achieving a very good balance, as if the plants were part of her, and then some of them grab her by the arms and legs and take her inside, which ends up shocking everyone, even me, but then a rose appears and it's beautiful, little by little it's blossoming and then my friend appears in a fairy outfit with wings and opens her arms to everyone who's clapping because that was the closing.
"That was beautiful to see, a way of combining herbology with magic for good, it was a presentation full of beauty, the girls' magic is really well executed, even if it wasn't so complex, you could see that simplicity made the presentation" said the judge and I smile when I see her looking at me from the stage.
Then the curtains close and the next performance takes place with the lights off, dirt appearing and it's the turn of Tsugumi's team, with her and two other girls, they're the cleaners and with manoeuvres flying upright on the broom they're appealing, how clever, they took their inspiration from my performance, making it a broom trapeze, but it goes into the corner for the girl in the middle, who must be the team leader, Marjoirane, who ends up transforming the broom into a kind of guitar, it's bizarre, but the sound is coming out very well, and the other two are doing a kind of pole dance that's making the brooms transform and the mops too.
"Woah, this is interesting, cleaning has become Rock n Roll!" I knew the presentation wouldn't be the same.
The buckets and mops, with their brushes, became the drums where Tsugumi was playing, while the other girl was on what looked like a broomstick bass and was strumming away at it while cleaning up the
surroundings. What a beautiful thing to see and they were singing together, that's what I'm hearing from them, wow I love that song and everyone was following along, nodding their heads.
Everyone shouted along, which then caused the whole stage to fill with foam and at the end and at the end of the sound it cleared up, which was followed by a magical effect with bubbles coming out pretending to be fireworks, it really is something that's going to be worthy of being the best performance of the day, the clapping came and lots of it, they even stood up to applaud, which I stood up together and saw Tsugumi looking at me and the girls.
"Excellent presentation, it gave a youthful air to the cleanliness, with excellence and a spectacular use of magic, what I at first even thought would be another acrobatic number, things are changing and it was fantastic, it is too rare to see two interesting presentations in a row, well done girls!" I knew the judges would like it, I trained and rehearsed these girls.
The curtains close and without a doubt I don't think anything can beat this one, but now it's the girls' turn, and Ryouko is going to bring something very special, she's even smiling, as she goes alone with her friends, she starts moving around the stage and making a glyph, using dance moves, even together they were arriving in the middle of this same glyph with fighting moves, how bizarre, them fighting each other, but at the same time beautiful, the synchronisation of the movements shows that they had rehearsed a lot for this, which caused the glyph to emanate a very peculiar glow.
"Summoning, but they're just fighting in the middle, that's quite bizarre, are they really trying something like that? If that's what I'm thinking, these girls are cooking up something interesting" The judges are loving this, I'm pumped to see who's gonna be the next one of the girls.
They go through the move in threes, and with their arms together they hold hands and start spinning and then throw themselves out of the circle, everyone was already marvelling at the effects of the magic around their bodies, until they all put their hands on the ground and a huge Japanese dragon comes out of the glyph, which everyone is amazed at, The dragon was bigger than the stage, so much so that it started flying all over the stage and then back into the incovation glyph and everyone clapped their hands at the way it moved, wow, this year is really going all out.
"Woah, that's a strong candidate for moonlight witch, it's a very high level invocation, these girls really did their best and the synchronicity of the ritual movements with the fight was fantastic, they managed to put everything together as if it were a fight choreography, it's something that only a good rehearsal could have achieved, these girls are strong candidates to be the best presentation of the day" said the judge and I got one of those smiles.
[...]
There were many mediocre performances, they didn't seem to have as much soul as the ones I helped with, it's bizarre the difference between one and the other, even the judges are discouraged, and then Brooke's moment with the magical metamorphosis, she's walking with her friends, She's another one who isn't the team leader, but it's nice to see her part of a whole team. They start to transform into various creatures as they reach the edge of the stage, one by one, with enormous mastery, and then they hold hands and I don't understand anything, unless they're trying something.
Then I saw them simply using magic to become a Cerberus and wow, that was just beautiful, they became that thing with great precision and it became huge, which was already shooting flames of magic into the audience and as they are fake they don't hit us or anything, the judges are even impressed by this and the flames spread everywhere until they covered the stage and with that the metamorphosis made them simply become three phoenixes coming out of the fire.
"This is a high-level metamorphosis, I wonder how some of these first-year girls didn't beat the third- and second-year girls and are doing so much better than them, I haven't seen something this well done since Chariot Du Nord's own presentation" The judge has no idea I helped them.
The phoenixes returned to the stage in flames that were gradually dying down, and with that they made everything go quickly, transforming themselves into ancient creatures that had come before us to do a kind of evolution until, when they reached us, the trio simply ended with a tower between them and the applause came, what a marvellous performance, the judges are enjoying it very much, it seems.
And then comes the next one, and it's the last one of the day, precisely the sacrifice, and for this the girls were even prepared, I'd never seen anything like it, they had their clothes ripped off and were slowly walking across the stage and offering it to the Vajarois monster that was beginning to be summoned
"They're giving it their all, not bad" said the judges.
"If this cycle is to end, let Vajarois come and feed on our sacrifice for the sake of all witches!" Patricia said as the monster was being summoned and she stood with her arms open.
They even created chains and a stand for the sacrifice, making it much more intense, as if there were also waves passing by on stage, with their clothes torn, they even created the illusion that there were people pointing spears at them and clapping while the monster stood there and gee, I imagine it was all over.
In a single gulp the monster takes all three girls at once and the magically created things disappear, which they devour and then the creature leaves the stage, poor things, they'll only come back tomorrow when the monster is satisfied and defecates them, it's a disgusting tradition and there's no point in continuing it.
"Not bad, for a sacrifice they delivered, but it's bizarre how the sacrifice managed to be better than many of the mediocre performances we've seen here" said one of the judges.
"Look, it wasn't such a bad festival, we even had some really good performances amongst some pretty mediocre ones, the first year girls showed effort, they're doing really well, but I already have a consensus on who's going to be this year's Moonlight Witch" said another of them.
I'm really excited to see the result, which I'm sure will be some of the girls, after seeing the others I'm sure that the girls who rehearsed with me made it, I see the curtains opening and we're just waiting, I look at the girls and they're really anxious too, especially Parker, it's going to be interesting.
The curtains open after a while and the winning teams are soon the top three, but only one of them is going to win this, they were the highlights of this year's Samhaim, they're all the ones I helped win.
"Look, we had a difficult decision and the three best presentations this year are precisely the three of you -the herbology, the cleansing and the invocation they were high-level demonstrations of magic, but only one of you will be the great one and you will become moon witches" said one of the judges.
"In third place is the yellow team led by Eun Park with her marvellous herbology and her friends, congratulations on getting here, but we have two strong contenders, if you didn't have these two you would surely be the Moonlight Witch" Eun did very well today, she gave a wonderful presentation.
"And finally our most difficult decision, by practically 0.1 point the winner has been chosen and will be one of the two, you can imagine how close it can be, one summoning a dragon with well-choreographed fighting moves and the other simply cleaning up with some well-done magic at a rock festival, it wasn't something we expected, you both did very well" said the judge and I'm really looking forward to it.
"You're the moon witch! The Lilac Team! Led by Marjoirane Lacroix, you made the rock performance a shocker, it was high-level magic and miosturando with high-level music too, using magic to emit sound waves at the same time as cleaning is not for the few, congratulations, you are this year's Moon Witches!" They're jumping up and down with excitement and it looks like Tsugumi has done it, how marvellous.
She even looks at me and jumps for joy, while her friend receives the trophy and the clothes, then the others also greet each other in a very friendly atmosphere, I never expected it to be something so marvellous to see, my girls that I helped so much are now achieving one of the greatest conquests that a Luna Nova student can achieve.
[...]
The festival was over, I met up with the girls and seeing Tsugumi in her Moon Witch costume filled us with happiness, we immediately picked her up and stood up jumping for joy and repeating her name, even the other girls on her team were a little jealous and upset, but the truth is that the celebration has to go to her, for everything she's been through she deserves this title more than anyone.
"Tsugumi! Tsugumi! Tsugumi!" we repeated her name several times until we had her on the floor, and she was very happy and emotional.
"Ah I'm the one who's grateful, if it wasn't for you helping me since I entered this place I wouldn't have made it, the one who really deserves all this here is you Chariot, you're the true witch of the moon" said Fujiwara with emotion and they all nodded in agreement.
"That's true, I wouldn't have been able to summon it if it hadn't been for you helping me get my magic back, you're marvellous Chariot" said Ryouko.
"Hey Chariot, thanks for everything, we don't talk that much, you're just friends with our colleague, but good job rehearsing her and giving us ideas, it's a shame you can't take part, it would be interesting to see what you get out of it" said Marjoirane.
"I'm already a moon witch, I can't, what I've done has already been done two years ago, but I'm glad you've done it and don't give up, we still have two years left to get your moon witch titles too, keep up this high standard and you'll go far" I tell them and they smile.
"Let's celebrate" said Tsugumi.
"We'll leave that for Friday, Patricia must be having a very uncomfortable night at the moment, so let's wait for her, after all she did well too, they even praised her for doing better than the older girls" I say to the girls.
"Well anyway, I'm very happy, I made it with your help, you're the best person in Luna Nova" said Fujiwara, hugging me and I'm so proud of her, she's just like me.
Then we went to our rooms, together, separating ourselves for the day of classes that would come the next day, it's good that at least the sacrificial girls will be able to miss tomorrow, they don't deserve to go through this, it's humiliating, this Vajarois tradition has to die one day, I hope someone finally breaks it, even if they are punished, they will put an end to this thing, neither the monster nor the people deserve it.
I said goodbye to the girls and went with my two friends to the bedroom, which was a good way to enjoy Samhaim, we even lay down on the beds and I've now got used to sleeping in the same bed as Daniella every day, it gives me a strange and wonderful feeling of comfort at the same time.
"Ahhh how marvellous, I never imagined that I would be able to rest so well at last, today was an interesting day, you convinced me well Chariot, but we still have to see how these friendships are going to turn out" said Parker.
"They're valuable friends, you can see the sparkle in their eyes when they see me, I'm happy that I'm making people happy, that I can help them... That's what I wanted to do most after all, not be Shiny Chariot, my dream is to put a smile on people's faces" I say to Daniella.
"You're always the most altruistic of us, it amazes me how even if you used a tonne of drugs, you'd still be pure, ahhh Chariot, I love your little way, you're the most special person in my life" she even kissed me goodnight.
"Look, it was worth it, but nothing will ever beat our performance, we're undoubtedly the best in Samhaim, remember how we didn't even have a rapport and you basically carried us to show us how it's done? I remember it to this day, if we'd been as good as we are today, the girls would have been completely humiliated by a much higher level of skill" I know, but there's no point in doing that.
"If we hadn't won that year, our second year would have been the easiest of all, there was no competition in either, but anyway, you're the best trio of friends I could have, I've spent the best three years of my life with you and I don't regret meeting you at all, even with everything that's happened" I say all inspired.
"Well, now that the day is over, I wish you a good night, see you in class tomorrow, let's go to sleep to let our heads rest, tomorrow we'll talk more" said Becca.
"Good night girls, I love you too, thank you for putting up with me" said Daniella.
Today was a fun Samhaim festival, even though I couldn't go to Dublin to enjoy Halloween and see my mum, I was still able to enjoy it, there are only a few days left until I can see her again, I can't wait for Christmas and New Year, I'll be able to enjoy every second and minute and hour with my family, they're certainly waiting for me.
"That was my impact on the Samhaim festival at the time, largely because of the friendships I made. Thefollowing years saw more elaborate presentations, but it was only for a short time until they forgot I existed in2011 or 2012, but until then it was the golden age of Samhaim, since the competition had become strong inthe following years because there were students who were inspired by me, without even knowing that itcame directly from me, which for a while made Professor Finnelan very angry to see that more entertainingway of showing magic that went against everything she believed in, but anyway, we're almost at the end of2007, that year that brought nothing but disgrace, but that could end in a way that wasn't so bad and waseven much better than 2006, I really don't know which year was worse between those two."
See you, samhaim witches...