A Boy, a Dog Girl and the Night of Remembrance Lanterns: Part Three

In the blink of an eye, two months passed after the night of their confessions.

The biggest reactions towards their officially becoming a couple came from Vessria and Isadora. The latter stood before them, hands on her hips and laughing out loud on the sidewalk, head tilted towards the sky. Pedestrians gave her confused looks and she absolutely did not care.

“I told you my necklace would seal the deal!”

“Please. My sons dressed the boy and I personally picked out Honey’s ensemble,” Vessria sniffed.

“Oh no, miss hero! This one is my triumph!”

“I beg your pardon, you bestubbled malcontent!”

“Balloon titted shrew!”

“Muscular harpy!”

“They’re happy for us,” Zack said as he and Honey casually walked around them.

The rest of their friends were utterly unsurprised by their pairing. Chistos merely smiled when he saw them holding hands and sitting much closer, and Chista only had one word to Honey the following morning.

“Yes?”

Honey nodded, smiling brightly.

From there the lives of Zack and Honey fell into a quiet, steady rhythm. Zack focused on his athletic training, joining the pentagrams team at the urging of Hellman and Cortz.

“The game is played on a five sided court, three strike positions, two defense positions. The goal of the three strikers is to hit the defender’s court in specific spots, racking up points. If enough points are scored on a court, the defender is out. Defenders can erect magical barriers by returning attacks to strikers courts,” Hellman explained.

“It is a game of agility and strategy, two traits you need to develop my headstrong friend,” Cortz said.

“Guys are always treating me like a moron. I mean, I kinda am a moron, but I’m not a HUGE moron, right?” Zack said as he and Luca sat for their weekly King’s Field game. Chistos, Chista and Honey sat behind him while Gratham and Helline flanked their son.

“You’re not a moron,” Luca said, tapping the field. A group of plastic soldiers effectively blocked the advance Zack was making from the mountains which rose from the mystic board game.

“What?! When did you build up those guys?!” Zack groaned.

“When you were focused on attacking. I suffered necessary losses early on to build my supplies. Losing those early skirmishes baited you into trusting force. You saw my wall as an admission of weakness. Instead I tricked you into thinking I had a weakness. Now I can survive the winter and you cannot.”

Chista flicked Zack in the ear. “Ow! Hate you!”

“You only learn through pain, apparently,” Chista said.

“I still believe in you, sweetheart!” Honey said.

“Loyal. Hopeless, but loyal,” Helline said with a laugh.

Outside of the Phoenix dorm, Zack and Honey found further friends. Zack grew closer with Timbul, often sparing with him during class. He also grew to tolerate Baltz, the rich boy giving him grudging respect as Zack continued to prove himself.

Honey, meanwhile, exploded with potential in class. She finally knew how to access her magic and trained regularly to achieve her dog form on command. It started shakily as she learned which memories and emotions let her feel what she needed and focus her mind. All the thoughts, predictably, were about Zack.

Some weeks after the date, Honey was gently moving a trail of water from one trough to another, guiding the airborne stream around balls of fire which she was manifesting. She was fully in her dog form, her brow concentrating and her ears flat as she focused on the elemental constructs before her.

“Excellent work, Honey! Your elemental control is wonderful! One would never know you only began using magic weeks ago!” the teacher said, her silver hair swaying as she followed the water.

Chista, meanwhile, struggled to keep both the fire and water stable. If she focused on one, the other began to wobble, causing her to run the water into the fire. She sighed in deep frustration, sitting near her trough. Then she felt a furry hand placed on her.

“Try again.”

Chista smiled. Honey’s words weren’t the real message. It was her presence. You can do this. Look what you did for me.

She stood, raised her hands, and tried again.

Thus life went on in Bell’s South. There were some disturbances, such as a guard leaping to his death in early fall, causing a traffic jam which lasted for hours. A spate of wizard illnesses hit, stronger than precious years, robbing them of their powers for several days as they coughed and sneezed. Overall, though, life remained stable.

Then came the annual Night of Remembrance Lanterns.

*

“I miss Halloween,” Zack said, lounging on the couch, Honey sitting on his lap. A brisk chilled breeze came through the window. Zack could smell leaves and rain. It made him sick with nostalgia.

“What’s Halloween?” Chista asked from the table.

“You wear costumes and threaten candy from neighbors and scare the hell out of each other. I loved the scaring part. Last year I had this sick homemade decaying corpse costume.”

“Oh! Scary face day!” Honey said excitedly.

“You would call it scary face day…” Zack said through a smile and a sigh.

“So it’s like the Night of Remembrance Lanterns?” Chista asked.

“The who with the what?” Zack’s face scrunched up a bit.

“Do you not pay attention to the decorations outside?”

“It depends. Are the decorations a game, a food or Honey?”

Chista walked over and flopped down next to Zack’s head. “We hold the Remembrance Festival yearly. We honor those who have died who we carry in our hearts. We carve faces into lanterns made from paper gourds and light candles in them. The lanterns float into the sky. We also dress in costumes, sometimes using potions to change forms for the day.”

“Is there food?”

Chista nodded slowly.

“We’re in!”

The kids laughed. From his chair, Chistos listened. The Night of Remembrance Lanterns was coming.

A night for remembering.

Chistos had so much…and so many…to remember.