PART I: THE NEXT DAY

The next day, Firstday technically, passed in a sort of quiet drift. No major celebrations, no big parties; just a slow start to unwinding after the whirlwind of the two high-days of Midsummer. About a third of the visitors had packed up and rolled out by mid-morning, setting off in convoy toward Meadowglade and eventually onward to wherever their travels would take them. Jorin was among them, eager to complete his cave-clearing job so he could return for his new instructor duties. Natala, for all her tough exterior, shed a few tears as they hugged goodbye, sending him off with a caring, "Good hunting."

Lady Ingris, meanwhile, had wasted no time making herself scarce. After losing her wager, she vanished from the party, retreating to her cabin with her husband and both slipping away just as the sun rose, with no escort and only a driver. Most folks assumed it was the sting of public defeat that drove her off, but Callie knew better. The real reason had more to do with Vanis's not-at-all-veiled threat than any bruised ego. Either way, no one was shedding tears, and with Lady Winafria and Lord Cessel pledging their support, the camp's political footing was stronger than ever.

Jasryn, as Callie expected would happen, had remained behind. She'd nailed her interviews the night before and would be receiving her Symbiote the next evening. The idea of joining with her worm had her a little on edge, but after hearing multiple reassuring stories from others telling her it was weird but painless, she managed to work up a brave smile and even a little excitement.

To start, she dove straight into things at almost break-of-day, initially chatting for a while with Thorn and Tasi, the three geeking out a bit over the details of the research project Callie had originally pitched to the officers. Then, surprisingly, Jasryn floated the idea of bunking with the recruits, curious to see if proximity to them might lead to any interesting new melded skills for her. With Callie and Pixyl now sleeping in the blanket fort, there was plenty of space for her in Ogre House, so that seemed the optimal spot. But it also raised some awkward questions about how much she needed to know about Callie's ... less-than-public background. Vanis and Callie both pointed out the likelihood she'd overhear something, and Callie suggested that she could take Jesca's bunk since the Cheetahkin was sleeping in the stables. This led to Thorn and Xera wanting to think it over before finalizing anything.

Later in the morning, after all the final goodbyes had been said, Callie spent nearly an hour showing off her turrets to Lord Cessel and Lady Winafria. Watching the little clockwork machines march and hover their way through the target range, spitting out magical crossbow bolts, was a hit, and not just with them. A small crowd of curious onlookers gathered to watch, too. Callie even showed off some layered arrow effects, which seemed to catch Cessel's particular interest, apparently his brother was a Ranger, so he actually understood some of the magic behind the class. Callie skipped an explosive shot demonstration, though. No need to create more cleanup work for the range crew.

Come the early afternoon, Arkan Pelidri wandered over to the Demon training ring where a different kind of show was kicking off. Terrin was running the demonstration, along with his Warlock recruits. On the other end of the ring, a few others showed off their own skills in counter. For a lot of visitors, it was their first real glimpse of Demons in action, and the sheer intensity of it was sobering, at least until Pixyl, in true Pixyl fashion, stole the spotlight as the last combatant. She immediately started tossing playful insults towards the Warlocks while stomping dramatically around the ring to rile up the crowd. What started as fear and awe soon turned into roaring laughter as Pixyl's antics became the show, the Arkan himself one of those laughing the loudest.

Speaking of the Arkan, he and Sergeant-Major Natala, along with Jesca and Tazrok, disappeared into the woods for what looked to be a serious conversation once Pixyl's show ended. Jesca's worried look didn't exactly ease Callie's curiosity, and even Tazrok's usual easygoing smile seemed to waver from something more sober. When the four returned nearly two hours later, Artemis and Iris along with them, the air around them had shifted. Jesca now had more of an introspective look about her, more thoughtful than her usual panicked self-doubt. Tazrok, his big smile now gone, had almost the same expression on his own face. Callie and Pixyl mutually decided to give their friends a little space rather than pump them for information, feeling they needed time to digest whatever was on their mind.

With the Midsummer nights now over, as tradition dictated, most who had paired off during the holiday parted ways without drama. Callie found it oddly fascinating how easily everyone just simply... moved on. Lhawni and Chown were back to their usual casual friendship as if nothing had happened between them. Duni and Fynisse both seemed absolutely ecstatic that things were over, the Catkin grousing that her winged partner only wanted to snuggle, while the latter complained Fynisse was 'too handsy' and aggressive. Xin was also relieved to be away from her 'agonizing snuggle duties', although Nola clearly indicated she'd had a lovely time, commenting specifically how special Xin had made things for her.

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Not everyone was ready to end things, though. Swopik and the Goblin from the kitchens really hit it off, going so far as to give some thoughts to what could be next for them after he returned from the front. Melga and Wallir were still a little over-friendly, but they had been close going back to the beginning of training, so that wasn't surprising. The same was the case with Ambria and the twins. As for Reynard and Yulayla, they also seemed to still be a thing, maybe thanks in part to the little nudge from Callie. Even the Major and Trainer Olin were noticeably closer, with Celeste looking lighter, freer, as if she'd put down a burden she hadn't realized she was carrying. Pixyl suggested off-handedly it might be simply because she finally got laid, but Callie suspected there was more to it. Like Lena, Celeste had layers she didn't make public.

And as for Lena … of course, there was the Vanis-Lena-Juniper situation. Oh boy. Juniper was trying to keep the public affection toned down, but the sly glances and soft cooing were hard to miss. On the other side of the love-triangle, Lena and Vanis were doing the classic 'pretend nothing happened' routine, which would've been more convincing if they weren't sneaking looks at each other every five minutes. Callie and Pixyl were absolutely sure things were going to get weird in Ogre House, or more-weird than normal, at least. Callie even thought for just one moment about talking to both of them to try and head that possibility off, but immediately noped the hell out of that insane idea. Hopefully, by ignoring it, the potential problem would go away.

The rest of the afternoon and into the evening found Callie with the Bards, the lot of them hiking out to the Druid meditation grove for a music session. The location would provide some privacy and a chance to focus, without needing to worry about disturbing others. They packed a simple dinner of sandwiches, wine, and a few snacks and got to work. Callie, channeling old lessons from her grandfather, started them off with the basics, teaching them the simple structure of twelve-bar blues. It was easy to pick up, flexible, and fun to play with. They even made a game where each person would pick something they could see, forcing the next person to improvise rhyming lyrics about whatever it was.

Pixyl even joined in for a while, taking up a tambourine-like instrument and hesitantly keeping time. The Pantherkin drummer, now apparently fully embracing Callie's 'crazy fast music', even gave Pixyl a mini-lesson in how to hold the drumstick mallets she used, while having her tap out a few things on said drums. The sticks were quite big in her tiny hands, but the Pixie persevered, grinning and having fun, before ultimately switching to using just her hands to play accompaniment like a tom-tom instead. Eventually, though, she got bored and, with Callie's blessing, flitted off into the woods to head back to the camp.

The time stretched on for almost six hours, slowly morphing from structured lessons into a simple jam session of pure creative, and a little intoxicated, fun. The Bards experimented with setting their old poems to new music, trying out different rhythms and moods. They even reworked Starfire Falling into something livelier, polishing it until it felt stage-ready. Deduxia, energized, set a challenge for the group to come up with new arrangements for ten songs on their way back to Imor, which would be enough to make a setlist with a few alternates.

Between music, everyone told stories about themselves, mostly for Callie's sake. Deduxia talked a little about her first husband, how they met, and eventually how it ended. It was a bittersweet tale, and now, years later, Deduxia had long processed the loss and moved on. Nekini, in turn, told the uproarious tale of how he and his wife had met, along with meeting two of the other band members. at a music competition where he soundly thumped Deduxia and she'd almost slugged him. In his words, though, he won more than just the contest and a little trophy. He took his wife's hand, declaring she was the real prize before kissing her knuckles. Apparently, they married three days after they met, and that was almost thirty years ago!

It was nearly dark by the time they all wandered back to camp, the moon not able to cast much light through the trees. Everyone at least had Nightvision, though, so it was easy to find their way. The musicians felt drained, but happy, relishing the new music they'd learned. The time also stirred something old and familiar in Callie, that of memories playing music with her father in the basement or on the back porch, lost in the pure, simple joy of it. Before they parted ways for the evening, the Bards extended an open invitation to Callie, and to Pixyl of course, to join them whenever they might end up in Imor. Maybe it would be on a stage or maybe just jamming together on someone's back porch. Did it even matter? Callie had no idea, but she was looking forward to finding out.

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