(Narrator: Tejasvi) Oh, Diwali or Deepawali whatever you call it, it is the most famous festival in Agni-deshah. It is the festival of lights, the festival of good vs evil, etc. Whatever it is, we all have fun. Some burst crackers, others make beautiful rangolis and light diyas on them, some even paint them. We cook delicious sweets and wear our newest clothes. The cities are filled with light and happiness. Now I know this is not an essay on describing your favourite festival, so I’ll get strait to the point, today is our last day in Agni-deshah, and it was Diwali.
This festival is Vi's and my favourite; we would paint dias, burst firecrackers, ravish over Vi’s grandmom’s home-made sweets- ugh, my mouth is drooling- and, in all, have a fun time. But with all going on with the artefacts and peace in Migica we did not get any time to even think of this festival. So, Vi and Vi decided to it all in one day.
First order of business dias. We needed to paint them. Fortunately, during this season dias are very easy to find. Just go to your local market yard, and there will be many people selling dias. We bought twelve pairs of dias cool right and some metallic paints and some brushes. We were about to start when I noticed, “Vi you were in charge of the paints, right?” “Yes, what about it?” “Um, you forgot the most important colour” “No I have got gold.” “I was not talking about gold I am talking about white” “Oh no… I completely forgot.” “Never fear Marin is here”, Marin said bringing a tub of white paint what a relief. Marin to was an artist, he mostly sketches but I bet he would also be good at painting. So, we asked him to join us, and he was good. We all did four pairs each and, in the end, we got twelve pairs of colourful dias waiting to be placed.
(Narration switches to Vibhuti) Second order of business: sweets. My culinary side is unknown. I can theoretically make something, but I don’t have the practical knowledge. Thus, to make the sweets, I took the help of Ijan, who has the practical knowledge but not the theoretical, while I just have the converse; we complement each other very well. I gave Ijan the recipe, and we got to work. He was scary good at this. He taught me many things. The fawn wanted to be a taste tester; however, we did not know if these things were good for fawns. So, Ijan distracted it with some leaves. In the end we prepared delectable treats to hand around the block and for ourselves to eat.
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Third order of business: the rangoli. Tej, Evanthia and Marin handled that thing. You know, to think of it, I am so happy that my foreign friends are also enjoying taking part in our culture. I mean, they have their own amazing cultures and would also want to celebrate them if I get invited, but wow, for cultures and countries which once hated each other, our group really enjoyed each other’s company.
At the end of the day, we burst fire-crackers, which were the eco-friendly kind, developed to create a flame which is not created through combustion (the same flame created with magic) and does not release harmful toxins in the air. The bright colours of the sparks illuminated the area. Other families celebrated joyfully. We all exchanged sweets and celebrated together. Ijan was not there because he wanted to have an early night so it was alright. I was just a little disappointed that I could not have some fun with him but oh well. The night was full of celebration, and it was just what I needed as my last memory in Agni-deshah for a very long time till next year.
At late in the night, I sat on the roof marvelling at the fireworks when Ijan came up wearing his noise-cancelling headphones. He signed to me, “I presume you are unable to slumber” I signed back, “No, I am going to miss this place” Something seemed to change in his expression. He kept his arm around me and said, “These explosions seem to be troublesome without this large amplitude vibration cancelling appliance; however, visually they are appealing.” I leant against him. We sat like that for a few minutes admiring the sparks of light bursting in the sky. However, things got too awkward; Ijan had a faraway look (not in a good way) in his eyes. He distanced himself and sighed, “I should retreat to my chamber.” Then he left.