The evening air on Mount Dalrin was crisp and cold, but my coat's thermal regulation kicked in immediately. Sometimes I forgot how good this thing was.
Penguin chirped from my pocket, poking his head out to look around.
We'd also brought Lumos with us. He was now peeking out of Llewellyn's arms, though he kept sniffing the air.
That was to be expected considering the rotisserie chickens we'd brought with us.
"Gléonwon?" I called as we entered the temple.
A moment later, Gléonwon bounded out to greet us, the shard floating next to him.
"You're here!" he said, sounding excited. Then he sniffed at the air, too.
"I smell… food?" he said, excited. "Oh, but before that! Look!"
Gléonwon sat down, looking excited. His whole body lit up gold.
What!!!
A moment later he… shrank.
And kept shrinking.
Both Llewellyn and I stared, startled.
Within seconds, Gléonwon had gone from the size of a small bungalow to… about the size of Penguin.
A tiny black dragon sat before us, his golden eyes bright, tail swishing.
Penguin let out an excited chirp and jumped out of my pocket, waddling closer to inspect this new development.
"The System gave me a new skill," Gléonwon said happily. "I can be small now! It lasts up to five hours. It helps me explore the caves more easily too."
Whoa.
I crouched down. "That's incredible," I said. I reached out carefully. "Can I…?"
Gléonwon headbutted my hand gently. His scales were smooth and warm under my palm.
Llewellyn hesitated for a moment then put down Lumos, who approached Gléonwon curiously, sniffing him.
When Gléonwon let out a tiny puff of smoke, Lumos sneezed.
We grinned.
We took out the chickens and sat together on the floor.
"Can I eat now?!" Gléonwon asked, tail swishing excitedly.
"Go ahead," Llewellyn said as we opened the wrappers.
Gléonwon dove for the first chicken, tearing into it with happy rumbling sounds. I expected him to turn back to his original size but he didn't. I suppose it wasn't too bad. Even though we brought several, rotisserie chickens were small for a dragon. It probably felt like a bigger meal like this.
Lumos started whining immediately and Llewellyn shredded some of the unseasoned one he'd got for him, making sure there were no bones.
I sat there, watching Gléonwon demolish chicken after chicken while Lumos tried to keep up. Penguin also turned into a fire fox to try some too, but he didn't seem too excited by it.
Llewellyn summoned Water to wash his hands then evaporated it. A second later, he looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"
Huh… That he'd done that so casually?!
I shook myself.
"We were planning to go to the festival," I said instead. "What if we brought him along? If he's this small, concealment shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Gléonwon perked up immediately. "Festival? There's a festival?"
It looked like he knew what a festival was at least.
"Fine by me," Llewellyn said, cradling Lumos and looking amused.
Penguin chirped enthusiastically.
***
We materialized among a small group of trees in Central Baekhaven. After quickly double checking that all our artifacts were working properly, we started toward the festival itself.
Llewellyn had put Lumos' leash on and he was trotting next to us happily; Penguin was in my pocket, while Gléonwon had settled in Llewellyn's trench coat's pocket, looking excited at the free ride.
The heart of the festival was in Duncheon, the highest and oldest part of the city—basically what remained of the ancient fortified citadel with the old castle from hundreds of years ago. This area had a large plaza sprawling under the open sky, with an amazing view of the city.
The celebration continued all the way down the side streets, reaching the different districts below, with a special section in Jeongdae which—like every four years—hosted all the shipwreck-themed stuff. During the last big Yun Seojun festival, they'd also added the motion simulators—basically big pods showing Virtual Reality reproductions that moved according to what was happening in the story. I imagined they'd be there this time too.
All around Central Baekhaven, pavilions were set up with souvenirs and food stalls, artists painting portraits, fortune tellers with colorful booths… especially along all the small streets leading up to the old castle.
Fairy lights had been strung overhead while the lively sound of fiddles floated everywhere.
We followed the smell of roasted chestnuts and grilled meat.
Penguin's head poked out of my pocket, and I noticed Gléonwon's nose twitching too.
I grinned. Good thing we'd fed him properly first. Couldn't imagine buying that much meat here without attracting attention. We could still buy him things to taste now, but at least he wasn't that hungry anymore.
"Where is everyone going?" Gléonwon asked curiously.
"Either toward the old castle, as we're doing," I said, "or back down toward the sea."
"Oh," Gléonwon said. "So many people."
He was right. The crowd was full of families, couples, and groups of teenagers clustered around food vendors.
We walked through them, careful to avoid the areas that were too packed, especially because we had Lumos with us. Llewellyn kept glancing down at him, making sure no one stepped too close.
At one point, a kid ran past, nearly colliding with us. Llewellyn pulled Lumos back smoothly and we ended up close enough that his shoulder bumped mine.
He looked at me.
I looked back.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing," Llewellyn said, but his hand landed on my waist as he navigated us through.
Well.
The festival merch was pretty much the same as usual: keychains with a combination of crown and pen symbols, representing King Eoghan and Yun Seojun, calligraphy prints of old sijo verses, plush toys shaped like King Eoghan and Yun Seojun that looked ridiculous, and even a version of their figurines holding functioning light sabers.
"Those are new," I said, nodding toward them.
"Capitalism at work," Llewellyn muttered, though he did pick up one to examine it closely. I grinned.
Now that I thought about it, this was our first proper festival since Mondwyn Harbor. I couldn't believe we'd come so far.
The only downside was, they had no figurines of Llewellyn here. Clearly a terrible oversight.
A stage had been set up under the old castle, currently empty, but banners announced live performances later.
As soon as we drifted toward the food stalls, Penguin's excitement spiked through the bond.
Wait… I could feel Penguin this clearly too, now?!
I glanced down. He was practically vibrating.
"Alright, alright," I said. "What got you so curious?"
We'd just walked past a stall selling some kind of fried dough—is that what he wanted?
It looked like that wasn't it.
Penguin chirped and pointed his beak toward the roasted chestnuts vendor, looking up at me, then at the vendor again.
Wait, roasted chestnuts? Really?
The old man behind the brazier smiled as I approached, though his gaze slid past me a second later.
I exhaled in relief. Good to know our concealment artifacts were still working.
"Could I get one serving?" I asked.
The vendor handed me a cone-shaped wrapper with handles, kind of like a plastic bag. I hooked the wrapper handles over my wrist, keeping my hands free.
I peeled a chestnut for Penguin, and another one for Gléonwon, passing them over.
They both took theirs excitedly.
"…"
This was good. I felt happy.
I peeled more for them while Llewellyn got us something fried and sweet-smelling.
Gléonwon poked his head out of Llewellyn's pocket, sniffing at the fried pastry Llewellyn was holding.
"You want one too?" Llewellyn asked, handing him his and ordering another one. "It's made with rice."
Gléonwon took it with both paws and chomped it down happily.
We sampled more food walking around, weaving between clusters of people and stopping to look at the stalls.
A group of kids ran past, chasing each other with glow sticks. One nearly collided with Llewellyn, who sidestepped smoothly, unbothered—though Lumos did bark at them, shaking himself.
"Where even is the exposition on you?" I asked, looking around.
That was the one thing I wanted to see.
Llewellyn shuddered. "In Jeongdae," he said. "And I'm not going."
"Oh, come on!"
"Not going to happen," Llewellyn said. "You can go by yourself, if you like. I'll wait outside."
Damn it, he was pretty serious about this.
I sighed. Maybe I had to go there by myself in the next few days, before the Festival ended.
I might be able to tease him telepathically while I was there.
The crowd thickened in one of the larger streets where a small ensemble playing a gayageum, a fiddle, and a drum had settled under one of the temporary pavilions.
I spotted an empty bench away from the main flow of people and we all sat.
Lumos flopped at our feet, panting contentedly.
I sneaked him one of the roasted chestnuts still dangling off my wrist and watched him gulp it down, his tail wagging.
"This is so interesting," Gléonwon said, climbing out of Llewellyn's pocket to settle in his lap, looking at the people walking past us. "People look small when I'm my normal size, but now they all look huge!"
Oh! I suppose this outing might be doubly interesting to him, then.
When the music changed, Gléonwon's attention flew back to it.
Llewellyn petted his wings, which made him purr as he settled down more comfortably.
At the sight, Penguin climbed out of my pocket and into my lap too, looking up at me, clearly demanding proper pets too. I grinned, rubbing his head. I wanted to pick up Lumos as well, but he currently seemed very interested in all the people going past.
Llewellyn's shoulder pressed lightly against mine and I pressed back.
…Honestly, this was the best. The stars were bright in the sky above our heads and there was nowhere else in the world I wanted to be right now.
I wondered if Llewellyn could feel that through the bond.
"Good?" I asked Gléonwon, passing him another roasted chestnut.
"Very," he said happily. "The music is nice!"
The music had picked up now. A few people started clapping along.
I glanced at Llewellyn. His eyes were on the crowd, but his hand had drifted closer to mine on the bench.
"Hey," I said.
Llewellyn turned to look at me.
I kissed him.
Llewellyn looked startled for a split second, then his hand cupped the back of my head and he kissed me back.
"…"
We made out there with Penguin dozing on my legs, Lumos sprawled at our feet, Gléonwon's excited face as he soaked in the music, and the bond singing between us.
I felt amazing.
I really hoped we would get to enjoy the rest of the night without any—
The System pinged.
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Distorted Realm Detected!]
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Distorted Realm Detected!]
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Distorted Realm Detected!]
…Fuck! Goddamnit!