an excerpt from After the Fall of Darkness...
The Grove was filled with laughter and the smell of early evening cooking fires as the people prepared a harvest feast to welcome home Raif. Krish pulled out his flute and as the young children gathered round. He started a playful tune and danced off amongst the youngsters. Sam hugged Larissa close as they were swept away by the women toward the center cooking pit.
Larissa stared wide eyed at the beginnings of a raucous celebration and at the apparent ease with which her friends melded into the grove. She looked over and saw Logar and Storm bending bows with the young warriors, laughing and sharing mugs of ale. Raif had Sam by the arm, introducing her to the womenfolk with Larissa following behind, bewildered.
'Come, lend us a hand Larissa,' said Sam as she grabbed a ladle and stirred a large pot, 'there is plenty to do.'
Larissa looked over at Raif using her gift knife to carve potatoes, and it spite of the clamor and jostling of the other women, actually smiling. The change was profound. From the moment they stepped into the inner grove and were warmly greeted, Larissa's friends had changed, all except Vaughn. She could see him tending the horses and unpacking the wagon, the permanent scowl still on his face. But even now, watching him closely as she joined the other women, she noticed that he seemed less tense.
Larissa turned and watched Sam dance between the pots and the fire pits, sprinkling herbs she pulled from her cloak, a pinch here, a small leaf there and she too smiled. The gaiety of the grove was very powerful as most of the women started singing as they prepared the evening meal. It was a song that Sam had taught her when she became betrothed to Carnac, one that she hummed while she cooked. But the ladies of the grove sang out, the melody and counterpoint rising and falling was nothing like she had ever heard.
'You never went to Wenona Grove during Harvest time, did you?' asked Sam.
'A couple of times, but only as guests and only for a few hours when Carnac went,' said Larissa,' why?
'You seemed surprised by everything,' said Sam, 'if you had gone like I had advised, you could have enjoyed the feasting, the story telling and the celebrations.'
'I never did any of that when I went with Carnac,' she said, 'we just met with the elders, had tea, It was all very formal. Of course we went for the rituals but we lived outside the grove.'
'Carnac was always a little too formal, a little too stiff,' laughed Sam. 'Come on, we will show you how to celebrate harvest.'
Larissa smiled, took Sam's offered hand and followed her toward the women as they danced and sang while they tended the cooking fires. Raif joined them and their laugh was infectious. Larissa could see Logar in an arm wrestling match, Storm helping him and encouraging the young boys. Krish nodded to her and struck up a new tune on his flute as he danced by, the children following and singing along. It truly was a festival.
'I have not felt this good in a long time,' said Sam.
'How can you be celebrating?' asked Larissa. ' When we left this morning, everyone, myself included, was so somber, so sad. Now you all seem so happy, as if the past few days nothing had happened. All of you except Vaughn.'
'My dear, we have not forgotten what has happened, or the journey ahead. But if there is one thing you should have learned, even from Carnac, is that the people of the grove, even in the hardest of times when all seems lost, can still celebrate, we can still step back from the hardships and truly celebrate life.'
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