Chapter 5: Chapter 5
"Nico! Nico, wake up! We're going to be late!"
The shrill voice accompanied by a flurry of insistent shaking roused Nico from his slumber. He cracked open one bleary eye to find his twin sister Noelle's cherubic face hovering mere inches away, brow furrowed in an adorable pout.
"Wha...?" Nico mumbled groggily, palming the lingering remnants of sleep from his eyes. "Late for what?"
Noelle huffed out an indignant breath, puffing her cheeks out in a gesture that made Nico instinctively smile. "The Star Festival, dummy! The one we've been looking forward to for weeks?"
It took a few more blinks, but the cobwebs finally cleared enough for realization to spark in Nico's mind. Today was the annual Star Festival in the capital city - a jubilant celebration of the Clover Kingdom's culture and heritage. Markets spilled into the streets, brimming with merchant stalls and entertainers performing all manner of spectacles throughout the day and night.
More importantly though, it served as one of the precious few times each year when the Silva nobles allowed their youngest scions a rare taste of freedom outside the estate's gilded confines.
"Oh yeah, that's right!" Nico sat bolt upright, anticipation chasing away the last vestiges of drowsiness. A grin split his impish features as he regarded Noelle conspiratorially. "Race you to get ready? Loser has to try some of that weird pickled plum candy Nebra likes!"
Noelle's porcelain features twisted in instinctive revulsion before morphing into a cheeky smirk of her own. "You're on, slowpoke!"
With that, the siblings bolted from Nico's bedchambers in a whirlwind of clattering footfalls and mirthful laughter echoing off the palatial walls...
The city streets thrummed with energy upon their arrival, teeming with bodies bustling in every direction. Vibrant tapestries and streamers billowed in the balmy spring breeze, awash with every color conceivable and then some. Hawkers barked at the crowds in between belting lusty drinking songs, their wares ranging from exotic fruits to piping skewers of grilled meats.
For a few blessed hours, the twins meandered through the chaos hand-in-hand - never straying far from one another. They sampled fresh-fried doughnuts dribbled with honey and visited the lively game stalls lining the outer causeways.
At one ring toss stand, Noelle's eyes shone with longing as she eyed the stuffed animals hung as prizes. Nico gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before approaching the barker with a cocksure grin.
"Three rings, good sir," he declared, tossing a few coins onto the scratched countertop.
Retrieving the circular bands, Nico casually rolled them between his palms as he studied the distant targets with intense scrutiny. Then, with a subtle exhalation and minute gestures, he unleashed his entropy in a series of calculated bursts.
As Nico tossed each ring, he could use his entropy magic to slightly alter the air resistance, the ring's trajectory, or even the ring's rotation. By increasing the entropy, he could make the ring's path more unpredictable, making it harder for others to see how he was influencing the game. Conversely, by decreasing the entropy, he could make the ring's path more orderly and predictable, ensuring it lands precisely on the target.
The rings flickered and wavered through the air in a hazy distortion before materializing perfectly centered atop different prize posts in rapid succession. The spectators watched on in stunned incredulity, only for their stupor to dissolve into rapturous cheers and applause.
The wizened barker simply gawped slack-jawed for several moments before reflexively handing over the massive stuffed griffin plushie Noelle had been eyeing. Her eyes positively sparkled with unbridled delight as Nico draped the soft prize over her shoulders, giggling as she buried her cherubic features into its fluffy expanse.
"Best big brother ever," she mumbled into its downy faux fur, beaming up at Nico in sheer bliss.
His smile only broadened as he watched her lavish affection on the stuffed animal tightly. "Anything for my best girl."
By evening's first twinkle of stars, they had settled atop a grassy knoll overlooking the city's central square...As the final eruptions petered out into fading cinders and smoke, silence momentarily fell over the courtyard. Nico savored every second, from his sister's cherubic profile haloed in magic's afterglow to the faintly lingering tang of gunpowder perfuming the air. A beat passed before Noelle timidly rested her crown against his shoulder, still buzzing with exhilaration while clutching her stuffed prize.
"Best festival ever," she sighed contentedly, squeezing his hand again with all the unspoken undertones of her endearment packed into those three simple words.
Smiling softly to himself, Nico tilted his cheek atop her silken crown - his sole lifeline in a world that often seemed destined to deny them lasting peace and fulfillment. Yet here and now, he could savor the crystalline moment of Noelle's radiant joy become his own, just as their souls would forever remain twinned no matter what tribulations awaited.
"Yes," Nico murmured against her hair. "It certainly was, little sister. It most certainly was."
[A/N: Hey folks, I threw together a slice of life chapter. What's the verdict? Let me know your thoughts!]
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