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  The lights were showering. He knew it was another dream. A strange feeling overtook him: he was half awake and half asleep. He couldn’t feel any of his limbs and felt a dullness enveloping him. Images popped up one after another in his mind, again. A bright wall in pale blue with white stripes, a harbor crowded with ships, a sky adorned with beautiful colors, a shooting star streaking across the space, leaving a long red trail. A vast crimson ground. A golden beast with a large horn. The images shifted abruptly to the next. Now, it was a dark place like a tunnel surrounded by rocks, which then collapsed with a thunderous sound, the ceiling falling toward his head. He heard people shouting somewhere—voices filled with fear, anger, and grief echoed around him.

  I must be having this dream because I read about the news, he thought.

  Huge sounds echoed in succession, and he felt as if he had lost his footing.

  I’m scared.

  He wished the dream would end soon. In the next moment, he fell into water. In the dark water, pieces of light flickered, like a starry sky. He was entranced by the view as he sank deeper and deeper.

  ◇◇◇◇

  When Ivy and Alma arrived at Tesus’s garage after school, Tabby was already there, sitting on the floor and flipping through the pages of Tesus’s encyclopedia.

  “It’s been a while! Please come in,” Tesus said cheerfully, offering them tea and snacks, which was unusual for him. Tabby closed the encyclopedia, set it aside, and reached for the snacks.

  “How was Mond?” Tesus asked eagerly.

  At his question, Tesus started speaking joyfully.

  “It was amazing! The city is so much bigger than even Selsor. There were lights everywhere, so the town was quite bright at night. Mond doesn’t face the sea, but it has a waterway to the North Sea, which has a port. The atmosphere of the town was really different from here. In the center of the town, there is a university building and a huge library. I think living there would be wonderful.”

  “That sounds great.” Ivy smiled, happy to see Tesus so delighted.

  “So, have you decided to take the exam for Mond University?” Ivy asked.

  Tesus smiled shyly and nodded.

  “Yes, I’m thinking about it.”

  “That’s awesome.” Ivy thought it suited him perfectly. He felt more happy for Tesus than sad.

  “Is your father doing well?” Ivy asked.

  “Yes, he’s doing great. The Mond Research Center is the second largest in the country, well-equipped, and surrounded by lots of intelligent people. It’s really motivating for him.”

  Tesus smiled as he remembered how kind his father had been when they first met. He had greeted Ivy with a polite smile.

  “Manufacturing chemical materials and refining vanamond are the city’s main industries. Most people are engaged in one of these fields.”

  “Speaking of Mond, there was a cave-in accident in the vanamond mine yesterday.”

  “I heard about it. It was a serious accident, wasn’t it? The vanamond mine extended to the north, towards Mond, so now they’re limited to mining in specific areas.”

  “Mining seems dangerous.”

  Alma frowned. “It is. They dig through the mine, which is still unknown inside, by blasting or chipping. It might collapse if the ground is brittle, or a toxic gas could be released.”

  “My father said the government recommended stopping mining, but they didn’t follow through because they had to keep working to make a living.”

  Tesus made a sad face.

  “Yeah, that could be true. I don’t fully understand yet, though. There must be something you have to do, even when you know it’s dangerous. A chemical factory isn’t safe either. There’s always the possibility of an accident, like an explosion.”

  “Right, it’s all about procedure: check, check, and check again. Getting too used to it is the most dangerous thing, the manager always says. You can’t be too careful when you deal with chemicals.”

  Alma and Ivy looked frightened.

  “It’s frightening, but I want to be a factory researcher.”

  “You didn’t say before that you wanted to work at a trading company like your mother, did you?”

  Tabby looked amazed.

  “Yes, I have many things I want to do. My mother says I’m suited to being a researcher because I have great curiosity.”

  She raised her chin slightly, proud.

  “You’re good at everything in school.”

  Unlike Ivy, who hates studying and is always second from the bottom in exams, she gets excellent scores.

  “It’s a good thing to have many choices.”

  Tesus let out a smile and then slapped his knee, remembering something.

  “Oh, by the way, the snow festival in Parkhill is coming up next week.”

  “My mother has talked about the snow festival. She said it’s really fun.”

  “Right, even a circus is coming. And there’ll be lots of food stands and performances.”

  Tesus said the words “food stands” directly to Tabby, who was fiddling with a snack wrapper.

  “This will be the first snow festival since we got to know each other. I wanted to go with all of you. You know, we didn’t have the harvest festival this year. Usually, I go to the snow festival with my sister and brother by car, but neither of them is going this time because they have other plans. What do you say?”

  “I want to go!” Alma said eagerly.

  “Me too!” Ivy chimed in. Tabby just shrugged, and Tesus smiled.

  “It’s a deal.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “By the way, why is it called the snow festival when there’s rarely any snow here?” Alma asked curiously. Ivy had never seen snow, as far as he remembered.

  “Ah, that’s derived from a folktale.”

  “A folktale?”

  “Once upon a time, a princess from a distant country who married the castellan missed the snow from her homeland so much that she eventually became sick. The castellan had his people plant lys. When the lys bloomed around the town, white as snow, she became healthy again. It’s said that this was based on a true story. Since then, the area has been famous for its lys.”

  “Interesting.”

  “The Parkhill castle is deep in the mountains, away from the city. It takes about an hour to get there by car. There’s a river running through the area, and about halfway along, it widens. That’s where the festival is held.”

  “A festival by the riverside sounds exciting. I can’t wait!” Ivy was too eager to wait.

  After dinner, Ivy sat next to his mother, who had finished tidying up the dishes and was busy with bookkeeping. Ivy opened his notebook and began doing his homework, but he couldn’t focus because he was too excited.

  “Next weekend, we’re going to the snow festival together. Tesus’s mother will arrange a car for us,” he said.

  “That sounds great,” his mother replied.

  She narrowed her eyes, as if recalling a memory. “I went to the festival when I was a child. Parkhill Castle isn’t very big, but it’s elegant. Along the stairway that leads to the castle, there are flowers in bloom, and a beautiful fountain as well. Little birds gather at the fountain for water or at the trees for nuts, and you can always hear their sweet chirping. I used to dream of living in such a castle. Wilder Castle, on the other hand, is rather somber. Though it has an impressive stone wall, it’s less attractive.”

  It was common for townspeople to speak ill of Wilder Castle. However, its vast grounds were open to the public, and people loved to visit it, often using it as a recreational space.

  “The lys look like real snow when they are in full bloom. You like festivals, so I’ve wanted to take you there. However, we have this bakery to run, and it’s difficult to rent a car given our financial situation. I’m really happy for you that you’ll go with your friends.”

  “Thanks.”

  He was excited not only about attending the festival itself but also about traveling with friends to a distant place for the first time. On top of that, it was Tesus—who rarely played outside—who suggested it.

  “Cobe went to the harvest festival with his coworkers. It’s certainly fun to go to a festival with your friends. Oh, that reminds me,” his mother looked up from the notebook and glanced at Ivy. “Cobe’s letter was delivered today.”

  “What did he say?”

  Ivy leaned forward.

  “He expressed concern about your plans after graduation. He says that if you want to work in Selsor, he can help you find a job.”

  “He should worry about his own future wife.”

  He leaned back in his chair, a bit disappointed. His mother chuckled.

  “Also, he says he’ll be earning money soon for you to go to Selsor; you only need to wait a little longer.”

  “Really?”

  He could go there soon. By taking the train, he could walk through the streets of the big city, he thought. His brother, when Ivy visited him at the start of his new life there, seemed to have already adjusted to the city, walking confidently against the crowd without any trouble. He must have completely become a city person by now, with his favorite cafes and bars. And his brother would be able to show him more places than he had the last time.

  Because his brother was ten years older than him, Ivy had only spent a little time with him when he was younger. Cobe, his brother, was muscular and good at everything. He worked at Wilder for a while before moving to Selsor, and during that time, he would occasionally go to bars with his coworkers. That seemed very mature and somehow distant to Ivy. His brother had always been his ideal. Since moving to Selsor, he only came back to town once a year or even less.

  When Ivy saw him face to face, he felt awkward for reasons he couldn’t explain. He didn’t speak much, nor did Cobe, and neither of them wrote letters. But even so, his brother still cared about him and occasionally asked their mother about him. He wondered, if his brother worked at Selsor, would they talk in a bar like the adults did? He liked imagining it.

  His mother wiped her wet hands and pulled a letter from the drawer, handing it to him. It was a straightforward account of his brother’s life there, and it also mentioned a recent strike that had caused him to take a few days off.

  “What’s a strike?” Ivy asked.

  “Workers leave their jobs for a while to demand better conditions,” his mother answered as she resumed working on the bookkeeping.

  “Does it work?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so. He said there was an accident once, and a man died in a stampede when a heavy cargo fell. The new machine—a crane, I think?—was too hard for them to operate properly, but the authorities kept forcing them to use it. It’s bad. Bad, bad. I’m so worried about him.”

  She sighed, then looked up.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Can you take this back to Grandma?”

  She stood up slowly and walked to the shelf, pulling out a large pot.

  “I’ve had this for half a year. I finally bought myself a new one.”

  “Okay, I’ll drop it off at Grandma’s tomorrow.”

  He placed the pot on the table so he wouldn’t forget.

  The next day, he left home earlier than usual, heading to his grandmother’s house before school. His grandparents lived near Ivy’s home. They were spry old people who loved singing and chatting with others. Despite their frequent disagreements, they got along very well. His grandmother was stricter than his mother, and sometimes he would get scolded by her, though his mother seldom did. His grandfather, who was generally gentle, could be very scary when he got angry. But even so, Ivy loved them dearly.

  Grandmother’s house had a porch in front, and it was her favorite spot to drink tea in the morning and afternoon. As he got closer to the house, he saw his grandmother sitting at the table on the porch. She seemed to have already finished all of the day’s chores and was taking a break with a cup of tea.

  “Grandma,” Ivy called out.

  Hearing his voice, she looked up and squinted.

  “Good morning, honey. Are you heading to school?”

  “Yes, I dropped by to return the pot.”

  “Oh dear, that pot. She could’ve kept it as long as she wanted. Her living is tight these days.”

  She took the pot from him, murmuring to herself.

  “Has your teacher had her baby yet?”

  “Ah, the grammar teacher? I haven’t heard anything yet. But I think she’ll be having it soon.”

  Ivy often told his grandmother about his school, his friends, and many other things from his day. She remembered everything he shared with her.

  “Where’s Grandpa?”

  “He’s in his study.”

  “I see. Tell him I’ll come see him next time.”

  Grandfather liked reading and studying, and he often shut himself in his study. If Ivy said hello while he was studying, his grandfather would only respond with a grunt, without even turning around. So, Ivy knew it was best not to interrupt.

  Suddenly, the ground began to rattle.

  “What’s this? Is it another earthquake?”

  She placed her teacup down and leaned toward the street. High above, the sky was clear and serene, with a kite soaring in the air. Below, the ground was shaking restlessly. After a while, the shaking grew weaker and eventually stopped.

  “Phew, that scared me. It always reminds me of the explosion.”

  The explosion she was referring to was the biggest factory accident when she was younger.

  “While I was asleep, I heard a thunderclap that shook the whole house. I was so surprised, I ran outside, and the sky toward the factory was completely crimson.”

  He had heard this story countless times, and now he almost remembered every single word.

  “Your grandpa was working in a factory at the time, so I couldn’t help but worry about him. Suddenly, your mother, who was still a small child, began crying. I snapped back to reality, went into the house, and settled her on the bed. But I was so worried that I couldn’t sleep the whole night.”

  “And grandpa came back at daybreak, right?”

  He had to go to school now and was becoming fidgety.

  “Yes, at daybreak, grandpa returned looking disheveled. I ran to him, clung to him, and cried my eyes out. I was very, very scared.”

  At the end of the story, she always said emotionally that she never wanted such an event to happen again and that it was fortunate her father became a baker.

  “I never want such a thing to happen again. It’s good that your father decided to become a baker.”

  “There’s been a lot of earthquakes recently.”

  An old man interrupted, stopping in front of the house to talk to grandmother.

  “It reminds me of the explosion accident, definitely. It was very scary…”

  Grandmother started talking with him, and another old woman joined them. They began conversing. The elderly people were apparently discussing chemical factory accidents or cave-ins, but in reality, they weren’t listening to each other; they were just saying what they wanted to say.

  “I’ve got to go now.”

  “Oh, so soon? Take care. Have a nice day.”

  “Have a great day, Ivy.”

  The members of the chit-chat group smiled as they saw Ivy off to school.

  It was the dream of stars. Uncountable twinkling stars spread out before him, and he could only stare at them. They made lively sounds—sad, high-pitched, and even deep. Stars sing like people, he thought. Among the sea of pale blue, white, yellow, and orange stars, he noticed one huge red star standing out. The red star carried a sorrowful tone. He felt an urge to embrace it. He tried to reach out to the star, but as he moved his limbs, he found himself whirling in place, unable to get any closer. The star must be very distant. As if consoling the red star, the other stars continued to sing joyously.