The City of Hatter

Leonard hung on the side of the wagon with his hand gripped on its frame. His eyes widened in awe as he stared into the distance, mesmerized by the view of the city from the hill above as they rode down to the city.

Reindelle sat on the flat floor of the valley and surrounded by two mountains on its west and east side. The city itself was fortified by stone walls, two walls, consisting of outer walls and the inner walls. With the distance between them about one kilometer.

His face was overwhelmed with joy as a smile spread over his face. For a moment, he felt that little spark inside him, the spark that he almost forgot, the same spark that he had during the first time he entered the city of Vorskrig.

He closed his eyes for a moment and felt the wind swiftly beckon through his face, caressing his soft cheek, carrying a sweet and musky scent in the air. As he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at an endless sea of colorful tulips covered almost the hills surface. What a fascinating view, he said to himself.

But his daydreaming suddenly hampered as the wagon transitioned from the dusty road into a stone pavement as they entered the city’s outskirts. It's been a three day long trip from the Vorskrig, now he finally arrived in Reindelle.

As the wagon entered the first city gate, it stopped for a brief inspection from the guards. The coachman handed the passenger manifest to the guards. The guard took the manifest and she carefully examined the manifest while the other guard on the other side of the wagon took a quick brief inspection on the wagon.

“How many passengers are there?” shouted the guard from the other side of the wagon.

“Ten, not including the driver,” said the guard with the manifest, as her raspy voice echoed through the wall.

The other guard approached the wagon’s rear and started counting the number of passengers.

“How many children?” he shouted again. While his eyes scrutinized the passengers. Leonard couldn’t help himself but his eyes were drawn to the guard’s weird uniform. The guard was donned in a weird hat with his long rabbit ears coming out from the side of it. He took a quick look at him, but quickly averted his gaze. The guard in this city was a bit funny, Leonard thought.

“Four,”

“Everything seems to be incheck!” shouted the feralkin guard.

After a few minutes, they stamped the manifest and handed it back to the coachman. The same guard reached out his hand and blew his whistle, signaling to the other guard in the second checkpoint that the wagon was good to go.

As the wagon moved, he took a peek at the guards. Every guard seemed to be wearing a weird looking tall feathery cylindrical colorful hat and a dark blue coat uniform with a golden accent and a bright crimson cape draped over their shoulder, strapped with their sword in their hips and their catalyst was varied but similar to that of Kaen's.

"Kaen,” Leonard asked.

“Hmm?”

“Why are the guards in this city wearing weird uniforms, like that tall feathery hat? Meanwhile in Vorksrig the guard is wearing a plate of a chest armor, but here they wearing none of that but only a simple fabric?” inquired Leonard.

Kaen smiled upon hearing Leonard’s question. “That’s because every city has its own custom and tradition. Well, Reindelle is one of them, this city is known as the home for hat-maker and other fabric related industry,” explained Kaen while they rode deep into the inner gate. “They took pride in it and it sort of became one of the city's uniqueness,” he added.

Leonard nodded in reply, but then he went silent for a moment, trying to digest his saying. “What about yours? You too are wearing a hat too.”

“Oh this?” remarked Kaen while placing his hand on this headgear. “This is a chaperon, made from animal fur. This headgear is probably the one of the things I had that I cherished the most.” he added, smiled a bit. “My wife made it for me.”

“It's Eruvan tradition,” Oskari muttered, chimed into the conversation while his eyes fixed on the book, like he always does.

Kaen nodded, “That’s right, Padre.”

It's truly revolutionary for him to learn about the culture of others, it made him more fascinated by what's waiting out there and what's more unique tradition that he will encounter.

Leonard once again took a glance to the outside, it took quite a while for the wagon to move from the outer gate to the inner gate. It was all nothing but just a narrow wall on each side with the city banner hanging on it, a light blue banner with a top hat crest in the middle.

He looked above, he spotted there were about two or three black lines towering above, it was quite hard to see as the sunlight blinded and hindered his sight. He squinted his eyes to take a better look at it but still couldn’t get a view of it, perhaps that's the guard with their silly hat patrolling along the wall, he thought.

As they passed through the second gate, they were welcomed with the bustling activities of its residents passing by here and there, donned in vibrant fashion and their stylish hats, with the women with their wide floppy hats and the men with their eccentric top hats. As the wagon rode in the main street. His nose picked up something, a faint scent of the bakery swirled up in the air as he passed the bakery shop on the main road, tempted anyone who walked past it.

His eyes couldn’t stop mesmerized by the vibrant energy that city had. Every building he passed was nothing more than painted in such a saturated manner, yet it still brought warmth and vibrantness. A grin of joy was seen from his face as he looked up. As if a color palette just splattered on a blank canvas, the hot air balloons floating above him, while it gracefully flew among the blue sky.

As they rode on, slowly the sky above him, covered by various shapes of colorful bunting. The people on the side of the street get together hanging the bunting from each townhouse to another townhouses across the street.

“Fascinating isn’t it?”

Leonard was a bit taken aback by the sudden intrusion by Kaen, “I feel like I stepped into a fairy tale story,” he said while still looking at the city street.

“Hmmph.. That's what people always said the first time they visited the city,” remarked Kaen, “It never gets old,” he smirked a little bit.

“Is it always like this?” Leonard turned his head to Kaen. “Why are they hanging bunting? Is there a festival going to happen?

“Ah so you noticed that,” Kaen replied. “It's the Hatsquerade Festival, it's like a masquerade but with a hat,” he added. “and also a mask.”

“Ohh?” Leonard's eyes glimmered, intrigued by what he said, “D-do I need a fancy outfit for that?”

Kaen shook his head, “Not really, all you need is a hat and a mask, that's all.”

Leonard turned his head to Oskari. “You need to come along Padre,” teased him.

“No, no I’m going to shut myself in the inn, after all I need to prepare myself for the opening ceremony for the princess’s debut,” Oskari said yawned. “You forgot about that right Leonard?”

Leonard’s eyes widened, not denying that he forgot about the reason they came to the city.

“I almost forgot about the debutante,” he thought to himself. He leaned himself on his hand and looked up to the sky that was covered by the buntings. Something he always wondered, If he never “died” in the first place, as the crown prince of Verdiora, he probably would be invited to the debut and Sheera as the princess of the neighboring country probably would also attend the debut.

The wagon finally stopped on its station. Leonard took a deep breath once more and stretched his arm to the sky.

“Finally we arrived,” said Leonard, feeling relieved. “Three days worth of a wonderful experience.”

“Bad experience,” exclaimed Oskari, who disagreed with him. “I wished I stayed in the temple,” he snarked while putting his book back into his robe.

“Well what do you expect, Oskari, you are wearing a monk robe,” he added. “Of course people will look up to you.”

“You know that all my clothes are monk robes?” he said with a flat face. “Ugh, at least you are lucky to be able to wear normal clothes.”

“Maybe you should buy new clothes then,” said Kaen while picking up his luggage on his shoulder.

Oskari's face seems brightened a bit upon hearing that. Without any hesitation, he got closer to Kaen. “Let’s go!”

“Eh? That fast?” surprised Leonard.

They strolled down the main street of Raindelle. Leonard couldn’t help himself, distracted by the numerous shops lining up in a single row of street. Most of the shops were hat ateliers, despite selling the same product, each shop has their own uniqueness to be able to differentiate themselves amongst other hat-maker. Like the store with a paw sign, specialized on hat-making for feralkin with unique shaped ears. He lost himself in it as he wandered on the sidewalk alone and got separated from his companions.

He eventually braved himself and entered one of the shops. As he opened the door, the doorbell chimed through the shop. He wandered a bit in the shop, overwhelmed by the amount of hats that they were selling.

“Can I help you?” an old husky voice coming from behind the counter. Revealed a man with a goat-like horn standing towering in front of him. He blinked twice as he saw the man, surprised by his appearance, a faun he thought.

“Ah… sorry I was just wandering,” Leonard replied. “I was a bit lost, this actually my first time in this city,”

“Oh?” amused the man. “Then let me treat you with a welcome gift,” the man walked into one of the hat displays and reached out his hand and used the levitation spell to get the hat on the top of the shelves. “Since you don’t wear any hat, you will be the odd one here,” he grabbed the hat and dusted the hat. “Ah there you go, good as new.”

The man handed him the hat, it was quite something for him. It's a black bowler hat with white stripe circling the base and a red bow tie. It was quite basic compared with the hats in the shop, Leonard tried on the hat and looked up to the mirror. The hat complimented his black pants, white shirt, and red robe.

“Looks perfect on you boy,” said the man.

Leonard reached out to his bag trying to get a couple coins for the hat but suddenly he was interrupted by the man. “No need to pay me, it's free, as I said it's a welcome gift,”

Leonard tipped his hat and bowed to him and the man tipped his hat in reply as a gesture of welcome.

“Thank you,” said Leonard, as he was about to leave he noticed a donation box by the door. Because the man refused to receive the money, he donated his gold coin on the box.

“Thank you,” said the man, smiling at him. Leonard replied with a nod and left the shop.

He walked a little further to the end of the street block while searching for them. As he made a sharp turn in the bustling intersection, he found himself immersed in the lively scene that revealed before his eyes. A sudden strum of a melodic tune faintly revealed itself to Leonard’s ear, pampering him. Its hypnotic melody enchanted his ears and pulled him deeper into the crowd. Luckily, his small body allowed him to break through the dense crowd.

A traveling troupe performed on the side of the street. A man with his ridiculous top hat sat on the stool while playing his violin. Leonard was captivated by the melodious tune. He closed his eyes while the tune accompanying his ears transported him back to the time he was in the mansion as it evoked a sense of nostalgia within him.

It reminded him of Anne, her gentle humming that she always does while doing chores. How she always smiled at him whenever he passed with her whether it was in the garden, the hallways or in his bedroom. She just always smiled at him.

But his daydreaming was suddenly interrupted by the thunderous clap of the crowds. He opened his eyes, now besides the violinist there was a woman with her big floppy hat with a guitar in her arm. As they both played together, two dancers revealed themselves from the back of the stage.

The two dancers adorned with their elegant dresses like a prince and a princess, waltzed elegantly to the melodic tune of the guitar. Their movement flowed seamlessly like a betta fish swimming in a bowl, twirling endlessly in the stillness of the water, captivating whoever saw it.

They hopped and twirled around the stage as the audience captivated to their little waltz.

The whole crowd erupted in awe as the dancers used their catalyst to levitate themselves up in the air. Followed by the other performance scattered a mixed flower to the audience, brightened the scene even further. Leonard couldn’t help but stand still and mesmerized by their performance.

He spent more than half an hour watching the dance performance. As the dancers bowed for one last time and tipped their hats to the audience, they reached out their hats, asking for the tips for their performance. Many gave their money, some handed their bronze or silver coin, and a few even gave gold, perhaps a noble among them. Leonard felt a slight discomfort and panic as he reached out his hand to his bag looking for a coin as the female dancer extended her hand towards him. Leonard had nothing but a gold coin that the temple gave to him, it somewhat pressured him to give the money to them and eventually he let go of his one gold coin.

The female dancer leaned to him, teased him a little bit. “Thank you, my little prince,’ and winked her eyes to him before she moved to the others. Leonard stood motionless a bit, still thinking why would he let go of the money. But suddenly, a hand pulled his robes, “There you are,” said Oskaari after losing him in the crowd. “I’ve been searching for you.”

“Ah… I just lost a gold coin,” he muttered to himself. "A gold coin..."