Dawn. The cool, crisp air in Tara welcomed Hyacinth, and his heart jumped happily at the sight of bright orange pumpkin patches sprawled along fields of green. He reached out a hand to touch one of the pumpkins, and it instantly grew from the size of an apple, to the size of a child’s cradle. The Unseelie Court were all iron and snow, and though he was used to that, he must admit all this color truly makes his heart sing.
He had arrived early to join in on the mourning song, thinking of his father, and of Caora, and all the other fey he considered heroes. After the song, he simply loitered around, listing in his head which competitions he’d like to try next this year. Lugnasad is a day of true happiness for Hyacinth, a day where he had willed himself to forget every single worry of the past few days and months, a day of true neutrality between the two Courts - a special day, Hyacinth’s favorite holiday.
The rest of the time until noon was spent with him mingling among all the different fey, stopping here and now for a chat, a simple greeting, and talking to his own mother. They stood together as the Queen Tailte was announced, and Hyacinth couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle when Aster was chosen. He’s certain Aster would relish being a royal for this day.
His mother, inquiringly, looked up at him to ask what was so funny, and he answered, with a small smile, “Oh, nothing. I work with him, he is going to have a lot of fun today, I am sure. I’m happy he got chosen.” Satisfied with that answer, his mother smiled. It his turn to ask, and he wanted to know if she was going to participate in the games. “Not this year, sweetheart. I’d leave all the fun games to all you young ones. Which ones are you joining in?”
Hyacinth bit his lip, deep in thought. He’d tried almost all of the games in the previous years. He’s just doing a rotation of them at this point. “I haven’t gone for running in a while, I’ll go with that. And swimming, though I’m almost certain Frost would just beat me again.” Hyacinth wasn’t very fond of competitions that required him to physically fight someone, such as boxing and wrestling, and during the years he had tried (just for the novelty of it) he had predictably lost. “Archery seems safe enough, Father thought me before when I was young, do you remember?”
They talked more about the memory of his father, and with another pang he realized he forgot what he looks like. But he promised he wouldn’t worry for today, so looked up at the sky clearing his mind, and stood there among his kind, Seelie and Unseelie alike.
He couldn’t wait for the games to begin.
A little past noon and the lanes were, one-by-one, being filled. Runners were taking their position. Hyacinth already anticipated how much this chilly air would nip at his nostrils and burn his lungs after he has completed the track. It would hurt, and he couldn’t wait. He wanted to feel the rush, the wind against his face, his long limbs working their way almost on their own to get him to the finish line.
“Hey, good luck,” he told the person next to him, offering a small polite smile, even when his heart constricted a little at the sight of the Seelie overseer ( his presence reminded him of An Fidchell ). While usually he didn’t care too much if he won or not, he wanted to win this particular one. Every year, Hyacinth chose a “special” competition for that particular year, and this 2018, it happened to be running. He doesn’t really know what his chances are, knowing a little about Forest’s past as a firefighter. If Hyacinth wasn’t mistaken, they would have had training that also included running, perhaps climbing. Forest would be formidable competition.
