Chapter Text
The day dawned bright and early, with Taro the rooster crowing far, far too soon. The rooster was a particularly harsh taskmaster in these long days of summer, the time between dusk and dawn entirely too short. Suvi was determined to have helped defeat him once and for all before next summer. Not, of course, that she would still be here by next summer.
Ame was a brisk ball of infectious energy despite the early hour, quite unlike herself. She was very insistent that Suvi had to get up and hurry, hurry Suvi! There's so much to do today! Ame barely waited for Suvi to pull her day dress on before she stuck a piece of bread with honey into her hand and dragged her out the door.
"Where are we going, Ame? We have to do chores!"
Ame cackled. "No chores today! Grandma Wren is taking care of them! We have to forage!"
Ame chattered endlessly about all the things they needed to gather as the girls entered the forest. "We have to get thorns and nettles and thistles, to hang for protection! It's like a charm, that anyone can put up! Bad things come in the heat, and the sharp keeps them out. Then we have to find good twigs, and flowers, and some nice wild herbs; those are to make wreaths. We have to make them for each other, and Eursulon and Wren, and extras for any of our friends from the village that come by. Plus, we have to gather dry wood, especially rowan and oak and linden, for the bonfire tonight!"
The girls carted baskets and baskets of daisies and rosemary and roses and thistles and rowan and marigolds and chamomile and whippy willow canes to the edge of the forest. Once Ame's stomach gave a fierce growl (the day always counted by her perfect sense of meal times), they began the process of bringing them all from the edge of the forest to the clear yard between the cottage and the animal enclosures. Eursulon melted from the trees to carry all the thorny things in one tidy trip, although Wren had to help extricate a particularly smitten creeping rose from the fur on his right arm. With another cold meal of hard cheese and bread and piles and piles of strawberries, they all set to their crafting. Grandma Wren helped them cut their nice bendy twigs to length and showed them how to weave a sturdy wreath base that they could tuck all their flowers and herbs into. Eursulon stole away to tack the stubborn rose above the doorway, where none of them could reach without help, and continued on about the cottage with his things. He even bothered to tuck a thistle into the ledge that held the door to the chicken coop.
"To keep away the foxes," he said in a low grumble.
Once all the greenery was in its place, Ame ran into the house for yet more items to share with them. She came out, marigold-laden wreath slipping low over her brow, toting a carton filled with paper and candle stubs and little pots of flour paste. She flopped down into the dirt, and began with intense focus to demonstrate the folding of paper into lanterns. "We'll float them down the stream at dusk!" she declared, passing around supplies. Grandma Wren's eye twinkled as months and months worth of burned-down candle bits spilled out into the yard.
As the long day began the descent into dusk, the village's other outliers began to find their way to the cottage. The farmer down the road, with no wife or child, brought with him a crate of mead. The fierce young spinner woman brought a basket of warm summer fruits, as well as a few brightly colored woven bracelets for Wren and the girls. A widow, some travelers, those without steads of their own to celebrate at, trickled in, carting smoked meat and fresh fish and soft cakes to share around. At the edge of their clearing, the men set to building the pyre for the bonfire, with Grandma Wren's watchful direction.
Ame called Suvi away from her spot quietly watching the busy people, Ame's dark eyes barely peeking up at her from below the stream's embankment. "Come on, Suvi! We have to get the lanterns going before it gets too dark, or we'll break our necks!" she hollered with all the glee of a child tempted by the warnings thrown her way.
Suvi slid carefully down the slope, doing her best not to muddy up her stockings as she did. She crouched next to Ame with the pack of lanterns. "Ame, what are the lanterns for?"
"The lanterns are to help guide spirits! I think we float them because running water makes spirits confused, so they need a light to follow to go the right way, so they don't get stuck. It's the shortest night, you know, they don't have very much time to get where they're trying to go!"
"Oh," Suvi breathed. She reached out to gently steady the lanterns for Ame to poke a flaming twig down in them to light the little candle stubs inside. A weight sat in her chest as they carefully shuffled the lanterns from the bank to float freely, spinning slowing down the stream. Ame crowed joyfully as the last was launched, waving and hooting as they began to disappear into the forest. Once the last little twinkle disappeared, she took a moment more of air, before following Ame back up to the party, Eursulon's strong hand steadying her when her boot slipped in the mud.