Submission (#545) Approved

The earthen path was edged by bright green leafed bushes laden with blooms of soft pink and lilac purple. The branches swayed gently on a breeze that smelled of fresh cut grass and spun sugar, carrying with it the small yellow dots of pollen and the stray leaf. Mahou stepped forward eagerly, enjoying the gently sloping hills, the fields of tall green grass bordered by tall trees of bright green leaves blooming with flowers of a dozen different colors. This time the adventurer was of their picking. Rune trailed behind them, stopping ever so often to crane their head. Mahou presumed he was tracking the descending sun – sunset already coloring the cloudless blue sky in shades of deep purple and bright pink.

“C’mon,” they urged. Feeling the excitement bubble in their belly as they nearly paced in place – eager to pick up speed, to get there faster.

Rune turned at the sound of their voice and smiled. An excited exclamation and the kittom rushed forward, squeaking by a “Race you!” as he thundered past. Mahou took to the game in stride. They galloped after him, pads ignoring the little pebbles jutting from the well-worn path, and instead focusing on what was ahead, slowing somewhat to take in the greenery lining the road. Despite their proximity to one another, the bushes and shrubs were remarkably different from their neighbors; some had bright bunches of little blossoms while others had individual, larger flowers. From bush to bush the shade of green from the leaves shifted to darker shades in a surprisingly smooth gradient - a little detail that Mahou felt was more work than the end result was worth, however pleasing it was to the eye. Every so often, Mahou could even make out plump little berries still clinging to their branches, undoubtedly the survivors of the morning's more industrious birds.

All of it paled in comparison to where the path ended, however. As they padded along, half-sightseeing, half-attempting to keep up their friend's pace, they found themself craning their neck upward to take it in.

The carnival was a truly grand sight despite the otherwise unassuming village responsible for it. Either by magic or perhaps by the skill of the local gardeners, the whole carnival appeared as if entrenched in a field of flowers – vines curled up sales stands, which in turn burst with flowers of a dozen different muted colors, purposefully leaning towards soft pastels of largely shades of pink. Wherever there was enough room, grasses poked through the trodden paths to display a disarray of blooms, deeper purple and white in colors of species that were ever-familiar in this region of Faerindell.

However, unlike the leisurely review of the path's flora, Mahou's attention was focused on only a single thing. Without dawdling, they looked immediately past the shops and games, past the dizzying rides and the quaint little merry-go-round, past the food stalls and the rushing elnin, to the centerpiece of the whole event – the ferris wheel. Impossibly tall, painted through with shades of cotton candy pink and lined with small, softly blinking lights that reminded Mahou of fireflies and fairy lights.

“Woah,” Rune commented, the awe in his voice bringing a less-than-subtle self-satisfied smile to Mahou's face.

“Told ya!” they crowed, smug, pleased. Rune could only nod before Mahou stepped forward, eager to lead the way. Eager to bob some apples, show Rune the rides, and sit with him on the Ferris wheel.

Before Mahou could say anything more, Rune cut in with an almost rhetorical, “Lead the way?”

It was a suggestion Mahou took to eagerly, playfully rubbing a shoulder against Rune before picking a path to follow – down the stands of vendors selling toys and knick-knacks to head for the scent that had drawn them from afar. The good host that they were, they resolved to save the ferris wheel for last; they would pick their way through it all bit by bit. Starting, of course, with food. Without preamble, they nudged past a cluster of kittoms, Rune close at their heels as they found precisely what they hungered for: Fairy floss, dragon's beard, cotton candy, and whatever else you wanted to call colorful spun sugar. The very thought of it made Mahou hum with joy.

Rune, for his part, caught on quickly and shouldered past Mahou to get them their snack. Like the others, they crowded around the stand to watch the stall's owner to work her magic. Mahou scarcely blinked as they watched piles of sugar drop into the bowl and transform, fixed on how they stretched into long threads that in turn became the small colorful clouds advertised in pictures dotting various parts of the stall. Nearly vibrating as one of those clouds ended up in their eager paws with a hastily mumbled thank you to Rune. Once Rune received his own, Mahou turned back to the fairgrounds and surveyed their options. What went well with way-too-much sugar? "Let's get in line for the spinning cup ride!"