A Light in the Darkness Book: The Moonlight Murderer

Chapter Forty-Five: Controlled Chaos

Nick raced through the hustle of festival goers to find the supply depo. Carriage traffic was nearly at a standstill because of the massive number of pedestrians. Therefor, he had to weave through most of the crowds on foot. By the time, he arrived at the depo, the sun had begun to dip. He was almost definitely past the deadline. A young dark-haired Flame Weaver was standing outside the door.

"You're Drake, right?" he greeted awkwardly. "Festus inside there?"

"Yeah. He made me keep watch," the kid replied. "You go in. They're getting impatient."

Great, Talia was already inside too. He thanked Drake and quickly entered the building. There were a few other young Flame Weavers milling about a boy and a girl. He didn't recognize them, but then he spotted a familiar figure. Simon. He greeted the Bright Flame with a firm handshake.

"Long time no see. You've gotten bigger since last time. Any progress on your studies?"

"A bit. I work a little here and there. Try to avoid any political entanglements."

"A difficult prospect," Nick admitted. "I just saw your mom earlier. She's been having a rough time of it. I'm not sure why Festus thought it'd be a good idea to bring you along for this."

"He needed someone to act as a witness for the ceremony. I volunteered."

The jester scratched his head confused. "Why did your friends tag along then?"

"Well, Drake is here to watch the door incase of interruption. Nadia and Hiro came along to help you and Talia get changed."

A look of dread crossed the jester's visage. "You can't possibly mean..."

"Oh, I do," Festus intoned, stepping up the stairs from the practice area. "Your bride-to-be has already been fitted into the ceremonial wedding vestments and now it's your turn."

It'd been a long time since he'd attended a wedding. Part of him hoped Festus would forgo this tradition due to the rushed nature of the proceeding. No such luck. He soon found himself ushered into a cramped corner behind a few shelves where Hiro helped him into the wedding robes. They were frilled, pink and a bother to move around in. There were several pieces of the vestments which required assistance to properly fit on.

Once he was fully dressed, they checked everything in an old mirror. He looked like a flower, or a swirling ball of fire if the flames just happened to be pink. He marched down to the practice area as best he could. Talia was dressed similarly to him and though she probably felt ridiculous, she'd never looked more beautiful.

Festus insisted on doing everything by the book. He said the ceremony had to be unimpeachable. Whatever that meant. As such, he had a copy of the Blazing Path, their scripture, laid out on a portable iron lectern before him. A small brass cauldron of incense on raised stand stood in front the lectern.

"Before we begin, you must cleanse yourselves in the sight of the Ancestors." The Flare waved his hand dramatically and the incense burst to flames; the fragrance filling the roo,m. "You shall now conduct the purging." He ushered Simon forward and he handed them both slips of paper.

Talia took the paper but seemed confused by the whole process. "You're not really gonna make us do this?" Nick asked.

"What's going on?" she leaned in to ask him.

"It's this thing my grandparents used to have me do. We write down our screw-ups and toss it the fire. I haven't done this in over a decade."