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| Artist | jolteon [gallery] |
| Time spent | 8 hours, 9 minutes |
| Drawing sessions | 5 |
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what do they do for their community during the holidays?: 1500 words MAX
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fire mane - event rare










You can call me, Mint or Minty.
I usually type in green.
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Today marked the beginning of Silda's winter holidays, and it had meant that there was so much needed to get done during these next few days.
"Cream, dear, could you fetch me a couple supplies," Freya asked. She pushed up her round, golden glasses before she gathered a couple of heavily used books in her arms. "Just a few things from the market again; I had miscalculated how much of each ingredient we needed..."
Cream nudged Freya's shoulder, and before she knew it, the girl was behind her with cloth bags in her hands. "I made sure to make an extra run out this morning," the celestial dragon laughed. "You ask every year, so I went ahead and got it covered so we wouldn't have to rush this time around."
Freya laughed along momentarily before breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Cream wasn't wrong; she found anything unrelated to books to be easily forgettable. If it wasn't for her assistant, she would have been a much bigger mess than she was now. The duo gathered up their belongings from the small wooden shack and began to make their way to the Lovell Library.
The library actually belonged to Freya despite it being attached to the Lovell's castle, as her ancestors from long ago had built it as a place for them to stay while constantly providing the kingdom with extensive knowledge. As far as she can remember, the library itself was a gift offering, but the past nobles of the kingdom allowed and encouraged Freya's family line to use it as their home. It was kind of the royal family, as it allowed her and her family a space to study and to officially record the notes that they've collected over the time that they've traveled.
With the recent changes of laws and regulations the kingdom was now experiencing though, she believed it would provide a much better use to those who were now hiding their magical abilities. All magic was banned inside the kingdom's walls, and most of Silda had followed suit due to the ongoing war. Scornful, corrupted angels had tarnished the peace the land once experienced, and they had ultimately influenced many people afraid of magic as a whole.
Freya assumes the only reason why she hasn't been kicked out like the rest of the active mages is due to her ties with the royal family. Seeing that they have depended on her to help provide Krystal with the best education, they likely have overlooked her magical ancestry. Then again, Freya often practiced her own magic deep within the confined and secretive areas of the library, as she hadn't much time to practice anywhere else. The Lovell family, aside from Krystal, had never witnessed her perform magic, so they likely assumed she simply couldn't. Perhaps it had been a blessing that she hadn't much time for herself after all. It kept both her and the library discrete, and it worked to her advantage, allowing her to house those who were in hiding from the magic ban.
All of those who found refuge in the library was hired on under the guise as volunteer staff. Freya always sought out free help to keep the library in top shape. In order to give back to them, Freya would typically provide them modest room accommodations to give them a safe place to stay.
Though, during the holidays, when more people would find the library to be their safe haven while traveling to visit their families, Freya did her best to do something a little bit more special. Seeing that both her temporary visitors and familiar locals would be affected by the overcrowding that was usually associated with the winter holidays, Freya wanted to make sure that everyone felt comfortable, welcomed, and, most importantly, hopeful.
Freya would go out of her way to purchase books that magic users often read. Many of these books were banned from most kingdoms and towns, but Freya always had a way of obtaining them due to Cream's partnerships with a handful of traveling merchants. Additionally, she would got out shopping, purchasing exotic ingredients that most of the common people in Silda never regularly consumed. These ingredients were easier to find than the books, especially during the holidays, as many knew of the hidden mages that still set up shop at many popular marketplaces in Silda. Though the supplies costed her a pretty penny, Freya was never afraid of spending her money to make sure she could take care of others.
This year was certainly no different for Freya and Cream. They had already went out and purchased everything that they needed, and the two were very much prepared to get everything together as quickly as possible. Today marked the day that Freya's library would begin to fill up quickly, so she decided to get the books wrapped as quickly, but nicely, as possible. As they stored the supplies in Freya's own personal workroom on the second floor of the library, the viscet started on prepping the gifts right away. Cream, on the other hand, went back downstairs to welcome and lead the visitors to their temporary rooms.
She sorted the books into three different piles according to what they primarily featured. Most of the books dealt with well known magical tales and spell books this time around, with a few recipe books sprinkled here and there. Freya had wanted to bring a little bit of traditional magical joy in the lives of younger magic users, knowing that they likely didn't have the opportunity to enjoy what she had as a child. Once that was out of the way and Freya's work table was covered with neat stacks of colorful presents, she loaded up a carrier sack slung over her shoulder. She would need to make a few round trips before she could deliver all of the gifts, but at the very least the books would have a caring home to go to.
Freya handed out the books to those younger than she; she allowed them to choose one of the books from the three stacks she had. Seeing the once worried, fearful expressions turn into innocent, joyful smiles as soon as the gift was placed gently in their grasp was always enough to encourage Freya to continue delivering her gifts. It was difficult for her to feel exhausted despite the multiple treks up and down the library's stairs. When all of the younger visitors had received their gifts, she took the extra leftover books and left them out on a table for others to examine. She always allowed others to take a gift should they want it; if not, she knew that she would likely have late visitors arriving.
But that was only the beginning of it all. If anything, the start was always the easiest moment of their holiday planning. Now, they needed to prepare their annual traditional feast, but this year seemed to prove a little bit more difficult. There were more travelers staying with them now that word had spread among their community. Freya wanted to get the feast all prepped by tomorrow, but with how many dishes she needed to make, she feared it would need to be delayed.
They needed to make do with what they had now though. They woke up the next day at dawn in hopes of getting a majority of their dishes completed. They gathered their supplies, hurrying downstairs and into the Lovell castle's very own kitchen. The kitchen staff was already there working, prepping for breakfast for the royal family. The staff there never minded Freya's presence, as they enjoyed being able to sample authentic desert cuisine when she was done.
However, when Freya arrived, the staff met her with a surprise. The staff, who was all now accustomed to Freya's recipes due to her using the kitchen often in the past, had offered her help with preparing her feast. Not only was she able to host the feast sooner than intended, but the quantity of what she had to provide had increased drastically. No longer did she have to portion the food for her visitors, turning them away from seconds. While not all of the dishes were traditional desert fare due to the lack of special ingredients, they were still surely tasty and carried a distinctive familiar flair to those who lived in Silda before.
Freya was met with a realization that her community was not as small as she thought it was originally; instead, she now understood that even those who weren't of magic background viewed her as a member of their family as well. And this revitalized her own hope, something that she never really thought she would be lacking in. While the war raged on, she knew she could still be comforted here at home with her friends and fellow neighbors. With this, she could believe that life could return back to how it was originally when she was a child.(1,500/1,500)
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