CH 432

The Dawn of Perujin ~The Destiantion of the Cake-Shaped Castle~

Clack! Clack-clack!

It broke the silences.

Clack! Clack-clack!

It shook the night air.

Clack! Clack-clack!

The dance began.

The fire-lit altar shone in the square, and the flames dancing in the wind lit up the princesses and danced with them.

Arshia and Rania danced smoothly around the altar, swaying like wheat in the fall breeze. Their faces were hidden by a thin veil that moved in the wind. Their well-rehearsed moves were smooth as silk and made the people watching smile.

“Remember how Rania’s dance was a little rough last year? She’s grown so much!”

“She really has. I’m so happy for her!”

The way people talked in the audience was like proud parents watching their growing children perfrom. Year after year, they came to this spot and saw the same thing. They had seen the two sisters dancing around and around the altar so many times that it had become a symbol of the season, giving them a sense of comfort and nostalgia because it never changed.

But things were different this year.

Clack-clack! Cla-clack! Cla-clack!

They heard a beat that was new to them. Then, in the dark, a third set of wooden clappers rang out, as if in response to the strange rhythm.

Clack-clack! Cla-clack! Cla-clack!

When people looked toward the sound, they couldn’t say a word about what they saw. Soon, everyone was looking at the new person and her beautiful clothes. Dressed in the clothes of visitants, which were made to look like the clothes worn by people from far away in the east, she almost forced people to look at her. Wheat-shaped gold thread was sewn into her long, sky-blue sleeves. A beautiful sash wrapped around her hips. It was embroidered with a series of shapes that showed the life of a fruit from sprout to harvest.

But what really shocked them was who was wearing the clothes. Her platinum blonde hair left no mistake even from afar. It was Mia Luna Tearmoon, the famous princess. They thought the person behind her was her helper. Or maybe a family member. The cute little girl did have the same color hair as her, after all. Slowly, the two walked toward the altar in perfect time with the beat.

Someone in the crowd said, “Oh, so it’s the guests from Tearmoon who will be doing the Visitant’s Dance this time,” and the tone showed how the crowd felt in general. At least, they all thought they knew what to expect.

Mia started moving quickly right in front of their stunned eyes.

When she got to the altar, she changed her pace. The steady andante, which was a sign of peace and quiet, suddenly turned into a fast and furious allegro, like a bolt of lightning. The new beat, which was fast and full of emotion, gave off a feeling of pure joy.

The Visitant’s Dance came from an old practice that was around before Perujin was built. Once upon a time, the dry dirt on this land made it hard for the farmers who lived there to grow crops. Then, a visitor told them about better place to live and took them there. The dance was made to show how happy, excited, and thankful people were at the time.

Its fast pace and complex rhythms were too hard for Bel to handle, so the routine naturally focused on Mia, whose excellent dance skills let her perform with style.

I really hope we have a good crop again next year. And grow a lot of tasty mushrooms. Also, wheat. After all, we need wheat to make cake. Fruits, too, and please make them sweet and delicious.

The fact that her personal desire fit with the theme of the choreography gave her dance more realism and made it more artistic. She quickly and gracefully threw her hands up, letting her long, billowing sleeves fall behind them in a slower, smoother arc. Before the sleeves fell, she quickly turned in a half-circle to wrap them around her body. Then she stopped and quickly turned the other way.

The way her kinetic beauty and statuesque stillness worked together was synergistic. The movement of her kinetic beauty brought out the beauty of her outline in her statuesque stillness. Then she broke up the peace again by starting her next set. The dancer went from slow steps and spins to fiery flourishes very quickly. She put her leg up in the air. She put it back down with a thud, and her other leg gave her a small jump. She landed in a twirl and struck a pose while her wooden clappers rang out.

Cla-clack!

Her dance was so full of emotion and so well done that the people watching were glued to their seats, staring with wide eyes as if they were seeing something divine. They had already seen the Visitant’s Dance before. But they had never seen it done with so much heart and passion! Previous guests had only tried half-heartedly, and their simple routines were more of a participation than a performance. And that was all right. No one ever expected anything more.

But this princess didn’t settle for just fine. She had as much feeling and energy as her Perujin peers, and in some cases even more. Through Mia, the sacred dance came to life and fulfilled its purpose as a holy prayer celebrating and giving thanks for the crops of the Perujin people.

Mushrooms, mushrooms, oh my, mushrooms are so tasty! Lots of tahkoes, cakes, and veggies. May I be able to eat it all again next year with everyone.

She danced and danced with such holy(?) prayers in her heart. Rania came up behind her and danced just as hard. They moved away from each other and then back together again and again, like two skylarks playing their game. When people saw them smiling together, they thought back to a day not too long ago, when the two princesses walked up the golden slope hand in hand. They had walked together. Now they both danced together. The Tearmoon princess had shown them the most respect she could. So, they were just as excited as she was.

People went crazy. The crowd was more excited than ever before because of the dance, the harvest, and the memory of that day at the slope. There had never been a year with so much energy, as far as they could remember.

The dance came to an end at last. As the crowd cheered over and over, King Yuhal stepped forward at the right moment to make the most of the drama.

“Let’s give thanks for the harvest of the year. Praise the Lord for this kind gift!” he shouted before the altar in a loud voice.

The crowd shouted, “Praise the Lord!”

“Praise Princess Mia, too, for how honest and sincere she was when she talked to us. She deserves my gratitude, and I’d like to show it to her.”

He walked toward Mia, who was standing there with a “well done” look on her face and shoulders that were still shaking from the hard work.

“Please accept my deepest gratitude for your magnificent dance, Princess Mia.”

“Oh, well, you are very welcome. I’m glad you think I did a good job.”

Mia looked at Bel and smiled when she saw that she was looking at her with awe.

“On that note,” Yuhal went on, “do you remember the question you asked me a few days ago? Would it bother you if I gave my answer right away?”

After Mia gave him her approval, he went back to his people.

“People of Perujin, I have a favor to ask of you: please remember what happened today. All the sights, sounds, thrills, and feelings. Don’t forget them. Keep them and the wonder you felt that day on the golden slope close to your heart.”

Even though he spoke quietly, everyone could hear him.

“Everyone has seen for themselves. Princess Mia, who is standing in front of you, is not like the other noble Tearmoon people we have met. She deals with us in good faith and doesn’t want subordination from us. Instead, she wants us to trust her.”

People in the crowd murmured things like “Wow!” and “Yes!” For them, the word “trust” was a soothing balm after hearing words like “vassal state” and “lowly serfs.” Even though it was just a word, the fact that it came from a princess of Tearmoon gave it weight. They knew it meant something because the person who said it had and have always shown through her deeds that she meant what she said. Trust goes both ways, and she had already done her part to earn theirs.

“Because of this, I want to give it to her. To connect her with our people, we need to build this bridge. No matter what the Tearmoon nobles say, we will trust Princess Mia. She will never turn against us. In return, we will always be true to her. All of you who are here with me today, I want you to swear with me. No matter how hard things get in the days ahead, we will never stop trusting Princess Mia.”

He was met with shouts of approval. What started as a burst of excitement in the town square spread like a seismic wave through the city and shook all of Auro Ardea.

—

This day would later be known as the Day of Perujin’s Dawn. It was a turning point in Perujin’s history that decided the country’s fate as a whole.

—

Perujin Agricultural Country, which is south of Tearmoon, has been seen by the empire for a long time as a vassal state. It had no real standing army and no military fortifications on its land, so it could almost never defend itself against a foreign invasion. Instead, it relied on the empire for protection.

That never changed.

What did change was how its people were seen. They would never be called serfs by people who lived after them. They thought Perujin was an important country because it was home to the headquarters of the Mianet, a group of famine-fighting organizations that worked together across borders. Even so, experts couldn’t agree on when it started, despite how important it was. It started officially three years after the Day of Perujin’s Dawn, when summer got hot again, but the idea of it as a way for people to help each other started much earlier.

Some people thought that the Mianet was born this year, during the Thanksharvest Festival. They had good reason to be excited, because this was the first time that the core members of the Mianet had all met in the place that would become its home.

First, there was Chloe Forkroad, who was the official leader of the Mianet. In the end, her skills were essential to getting the operation off the ground. Then there was Marco Forkroad and Shalloak Cornrogue, who got together with many merchants and worked with them to set up a strong transportation network that moved food quickly back and forth. Next, Rania Tafrif Perujin, whose hard work helped spread agricultural knowledge across the continent and create ways to make sure crops could be grown and picked consistently. Tatiana, the holy angel in white, pushed for different kinds of medical change, focusing on the continent’s poorer countries. This led to better access to healthcare.

All of these important people in history fought for Mia Luna Tearmoon’s Bread-Cake Declaration. Together with her friends, the Great Wisdom of the Empire worked hard to get rid of plague and hunger. And the people of Perujin stood by them the whole time. For a long time, the cake-shaped castle would become the symbol and home for these messengers of peace and prosperity.

All of those, however, are events that are still to be told.

—From “The Day of Perujin’s Dawn” in The Chronicles of Saint Princess Mia.

TN’s Note: Couldn’t resist adding the pic.