The Carnival at Moonbright

She could feel the slight chill as Rhokhishi walked into the sunrise outside. While not the most helpful in their last situation, she felt that using her hands today would be beneficial. She waved goodbye to Leaf and let Gisela fly over and land on her shoulder as they passed the many citizens of Moonbright on their way to the carnival. They didn’t have enough time to check on anyone last night, so she thought it would be good to report what had happened and see that everyone else was okay.

Rhokhishi had tried to start a few small conversations on the walk over, but Gisela just stared, slightly out of focus, as they moved from Iredale to Ghostway district, then out of the walled town. She could sense that Gisela was still reeling from last night. The grass crunched under her feet as they walked off the road and across the open land.

There were footprints in the icy grass; she assumed they were her friends from last night. Rhokhishi hadn’t seen what had happened, but they did give her some information before they all went to bed. Walking across this same grass, making it to the main tent, fighting Ramona, the raising of the dead, the death of Nix… It was a lot to take in, and Rhokhishi felt she needed to see where it all happened.

Guilt had already hit her chest, but making it to the carnival made its grip even tighter. She could see many of the troupe already up and moving, but there wasn’t a joyous atmosphere like she was used to. Everyone was working, heads down, trying to finish up the deconstruction of the tents and putting them in the carriages. Even the smell of Blight’s breakfast cooking seemed to have an acrid smell. The air still seemed charged with energy, but it only filled her stomach with a grungy, churning feeling, like she needed to throw up.

Without a word, Gisela stood on Rhokhishi’s shoulder and flew up into the air and over towards the main tent where Elysium and Torra were talking with Kohl.

“Well, I’ll talk to you later,” Rhokhishi said as Gisela flew off.

She made her way over towards Lopper and Rags and gave each of them hugs. She could feel them pulling the hug tighter and longer than usual, but it ended just as quickly as it began.

“We’ve got a few last-minute things to pack up,” Lopper said. “We’ve got a few chests here filled, and then we just have to roll the weapons cart over and place it in the carriage.”

Rhokhishi looked at Rags, and she could tell by the wetness of the hair around his face that he had been crying. She patted his shoulder, then looked over to Lopper.

“Yes, Ma’am, I’m here for whatever you need,” Rhokhishi started, grabbed one of the chests, and carried it carefully to the carriage.

The work didn’t take long, and soon after, she moved from place to place, helping others finish their packing. The only thing left was the main tent, on which multiple people had already started working on it, but on seeing Gisela there, she decided to walk over and try to assist.

On any other day, the main tent of the Arcana Emporium would fill her with immense joy and excitement. The smell of popcorn and sweets, the laughter and clapping of the audience, the amazing stunts and acts performed by the troupe, all in one place…

Rhokhishi walked through the entrance, and none of those emotions came to her. The ground was still covered in markings, burned and etched into the grass and dirt. There were spots, dried pools of blood from her friends and those that attacked last night. Chairs were turned over, tables were broken, and burn marks were everywhere throughout the space. She had known there was a fight here. She had seen her friends after, hurt, but able to move and function still. This was not what she had imagined. The guilt of not being there burned deeper inside her.

I should have been here to help.

Before letting the emotions take over, Gisela flew by with a chair and handed it to Rhokhishi. She pointed to a small stack of chairs placed in a carriage by Nuv and Kiks, the two kobolds that helped with Mr. Muffins’ performances.

“We’re putting the chairs there, then we’ll take down the stage. Elysium said that if we can pour water on the ground, it might hide some of the marks and clean it up some.”

Rhokhishi nodded, then started to help. It was repetitive for the next couple of hours, but the physical labor stopped her from overthinking. She and Gisela would grab chairs and bring them to Nuv and Kiks, who would then place them into the carriage. Then, they would do it again. After the chairs were put away, they moved on to the ringmaster stage, taking each part at a time, carrying it together, and tearing it down. It felt good to be able to do something, anything.

The four of them grabbed buckets and walked out of the tent. There was a farm nearby, with pumps they paid to use, where they could get as much water as needed. They started that way, but Rags walked by, holding a small bag.

“Rhokhishi, if you’re not busy…”

“Never busy for you. What do you need?”

“Lopper and I need to gather some clothes, but we still have a decent amount to do here. If you wouldn’t mind, there’s a shop here that sells clothes. Would you go and retrieve a few items for us?” He asked, handing the small bag over to Rhokhishi. She could feel that it had maybe ten or fifteen coins in it.

“Clothes?”

“Well, yes. As you know, we don’t have a lot of nicer clothing, and we don’t… We don’t have anything for a funeral.”

“Oh…” Rhokhishi started to think to herself. Of course, there would be a funeral. It hadn’t occurred to her.

“Uhh, Rags, when is the funeral?” She asked him.

“It’ll be later this evening. Torra had gone around earlier today and told everyone. I guess, since you weren’t here, you hadn’t heard. The Queen is letting us use the castle grounds for it. Then they’ll be having the Archmage’s funeral after.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know any of that. I’ll go right now. Let Gisela know for me. I don’t know if she knows yet, either.” She asked him.

“Of course. If you see the twins or Mr. Muffins, I’m unsure if they know either. The shop is called Feathered Cape. I think it’s in the Ghostway district.”

“I’ll be on my way.” Rhokhishi placed her hand on Rags’ shoulder, nodded, then turned and left.

As she left, the wind picked up slightly, and the sun was high in the cloudy sky. Into the town, she watched as all sorts of people moved through and worked. It was weird for her to see them all moving and acting like nothing had happened, but an entire day was taken from all of them.

Why do they seem unfazed by it?

In the Ghostway district, she found the Feathered Cape. It was an odd building but interesting and appealing. The first two feet of the building were made of stone, keeping the water out during the rainy season. The rest of the one-floor building was made of wood but painted a light shade of blue. The windowsills had rectangular sections that jutted out, of which colorful plants with blossoms of oranges and red sat in the dirt. Vines grew on the left side, curving around the corner and starting to take over the first foot of the front. Rhokhishi could see sections of it were clipped recently, giving it all purpose rather than the wild intentions of nature. The door was simple, and she had to duck slightly as she opened it and walked inside.

It was darker inside, but the light from the windows pushed through the air and laid on garments of all different types. The space itself was large enough for a regular family to live in, but there were no rooms. Everything had been made open, with beams holding up the ceiling in different places. Wood had been laid over the stone and carefully sanded down so people could remove any clothing they needed without risk of splinters. Rhokhishi could feel the effort and care in making this shop.

“Fuck!” Rhokhishi heard a woman yell out. She turned to the left and saw a genasi woman floating a couple inches off the air, holding a dress in one hand and shaking her other hand wildly.

“Are you okay?” Another woman spoke up and walked over to the genasi. With care, she looked at her hand, quickly grabbed a stray piece of cloth, and wrapped it around the genasi’s palm.

“I just cut my hand open. Hurt like - Oh! Sorry about that.” She said, looking up at Rhokhishi. “Didn’t see you there. What can we do for you?”

Rhokhishi looked at the genasi woman. With her blue-ish skin and white hair, she looked to be in her mid-fifties. The other woman, a human, had fair skin, brown hair, and almost glowing blue eyes. They stood there, holding their hands together, waiting for a response. Rhokhishi jerked back into focus and spoke.

“H-Hello. I’m looking for some clothes.”

“Well, you’ll need to tell us more than that. There’s a lot of clothes here.” The genasi woman answered back.

“Hush, Mere. Go get this properly wrapped up.” The human smacked at her other hand, then turned to Rhokhishi. “Yes, we have quite a lot of clothing here for all sizes and stature. What are you looking for?”

“I need some clothing for two satyrs. We’re going to a funeral later today, and they had asked me to grab some clothing for them.”

“Oh, dear. Always an unfortunate thing, but clothing we can do.” The human’s eyes went from curious to sad. “My name is Evelin. Let’s try to find something that they’d like together, and if you have the measurements, we can do a little work to make sure it fits them nicely.”

“Thank you, Evelin.”