The Summer Bonfire Festival (Year 18)

Avantika sat beside Mercury. It was nice, she thought, to have a friend. She liked to have at least one person she could sit beside at these festivals: Rudy usually when she was young, then Audra, and now Mercury. She nodded as he said that he'd never seen the whole pack together before, a wave of reminiscence washing over her. "We've changed much since I was a kid," she added. Some wolves had left, and others had joined to replace their spot in the ranks. It made sense in a way; the Hallows was a place of recovery and healing for many wolves, and some would not stay after they were back on their feet. It annoyed Avantika, but she also knew that she couldn't fully blame them. It was a main purpose of the Hallows.

She noticed Audra arriving. She would not think about her.

A woman Avantika didn't know arrived a few moments later, sitting on the other side of Mercury. Anthea, her name was. Avantika tried her best to commit that to memory. "Nice to meet you, Anthea."

She didn't have time to say much more though, since Art began speaking and the whole gathering fell into respectful silence. The Aegis was remarkably good at commanding the rapt attention of anyone listening to him talk. Still, she had a favorite part of the festival, and was glad when he finally lit the fire, which burst to engulf all of the tinder. It sparked with sudden flashes of different, vibrant colors. What had those come from? Avantika had not seen Zephyrus bring up his special metals and so had no idea why the fire was different colors, but she thought it was thrilling all the same. He began speaking again, the blaze forming a contrasting backdrop against his dark form, and began to speak of the castle. A name? It had always just been "the castle" for as long as Avantika could know. But she didn't mind a breach of tradition if it was better that way, and so she could love Hearthstone just as she always had.

A few moments after Art released them to mingle and talk freely, Avantika would look to Anthea again. Social stuff, wasn't that what she was working on? She should try to make a good first impression. "So, how long have you been here?"

"Speech"