The Festival

People were already dancing around the fire, when Jerick arrived at the festival. Most had a mug of ale in one hand and the hand of their dancing partner in the other. Giant spits were mounted above the fire, each slowly roasting a pig. Grease dripped down into the fire, creating a flare that shot up with a crackle. Two village men stood beside each spit, rotating it every few seconds, each man with a mug of ale in his free hand. As Jerick glanced around, most of the villagers' faces were already rosy red from the ale, those that weren't were working on it.

Off to the side, Jerick's brother sat at a table covered with food. Christoph had each arm around a different lass, a mug in one hand and a turkey leg in the other. He was rocking back and forth with the women singing along to the music, ale spilling out with each movement. The three were laughing heartily, there faces curled up into a confused, yet happy, drunken expression. As Christoph went to take a bite from his turkey leg, he caught a glance of Jerick. He shot up onto his feet, nearly knocking his two lady friends off their chairs. His arms extended outwards, welcoming his brother.

"Jerick! Nice of you tuh finally join us! 'Ere, have a mug of ale." Christoph bent over grabbing one of the mug's of his lady friends, and handed it to Jerick. Before Jerick could question the actions of his brother, Christoph was pushing the mug to his face. "Drink, Drink! HAHAHAHA." He howled as he collapsed back into his chair, returning his arms around his two wenches. Christoph leaned over to the left, nearly sucking the tongue out of his lady friend's mouth, then turned over to the right and did the same.

Jerick found a chair a few seats down from his brother, and sat, taking a few drinks from his mug. He liked the music, and the overall atmosphere that the festival brought. The feasting, the dancing, the merriment of the drink, it was all good. As Jerick lowered his now empty mug, he found Rachel sitting beside him.

Rachel was relatively new in the village, moving in about a year prior. Jerick had only formally met her once, and that was when he was helping construct her home. But, over the course of the year, they had exchanged several, more than friendly glances with each other. It was always Jerick's intention to get to know her better, but that however was made difficult by the workload Jerick had had over the year.

"Hello, I believe we've met before,.... Rachel is it?" Jerick said, as though he was digging up the name from a graveyard of memories. In reality, Jerick remembered her name the instance he saw her.

Rachel smiled with a warm kindness, "You were one of the men that helped build my home, were you not?" Rachel asked falsely. Jerick could tell she also could also clearly remember who he was.

Before Jerick could reply, a man flew wildly out of the dancing crowd, crashing into the table next to Rachel. Out of reaction, Rachel leaped back, out of the way, being caught by Jerick. Jerick didn't realize he had caught her till after the fact. Her face blushed pink as she tried to hold back a smile. As Jerick let go of her, and the man who had crashed into the table got up, staggering to his feet.

"Ey dehr pretty ladty, why uhn ya come 'ance with meh." The man's speech was so slurred it was difficult to make out one word from the next. After making his offer to Rachel, he performed a provocative motion with his hips, thrusting them forward then back, and then forwards again. "'Um on litt'le ladeh, I can show ya a gud tiem. Heh heh heh."

Jerick stood up at that statement. Standing tall, Jerick was at least two feet taller and easily a hundred pounds heavier than the scrawny shrimp of a man. The man stumbled back, his jaw trembling in fear from the shear colossal nature of Jerick's size. The drunk man turned around and trying to make his way back into the dancing crowd, zigzagged back and forth, falling over several times.

Rachel turned, facing Jerick, a smile stretched across her face. "Thank you," she said, as she curled some of her long brown hair around her finger. Jerick couldn't help himself from staring at her. Her amber eyes glistened in the yellow flickering flames of the fire. Her voice was soft and melodic, enchanting with each spoken word. For hours, they sat, finally getting a chance to talk and get to know each other.