Lovely white flowers mark the town. They bloom on every street corner, not in beds or fields set aside for cultivation but blending naturally & in profusion with every row of houses, as though the buildings anda the blossoms have grown up together.

The season is early spring & snow still lingers on the nearby mountains but the stretch of ocean that gently laps the town's southern shore is bathed in refulgent sunlight.

This is an old & prosperous harbourtown. Even now, each day its piers see many cruise ships and freighters come & go.

Its history, however, is sharply divided between the time ''before'' and the time ''after'' an event that happened one day long ago.

People here prefer nt to talk about it~the watershed engraved upon the town's chronology.

The memories are too sorrowful to make stories out of them.

Argonar knows this & because he knows it, he has come here once again.

''passing through?'' the tavern master asked him.

At the sound of his voice. Argonar responds with a faint smile.

''You're here for the festival, i suppose. You should tke ur time & enjoy it.''

The man is in high spirits. He had joined his customer in glass after glass until now & is quite red in the face, but no one shows any signs of blaming him for overindulging. Every seat in the tavern is filled & the air reverberates with laughter. Happy voices can be heard now & then as well from the road outside.

The entire town is celebrating. Once each year the festival has people making merry all night long until the sun comes up.

''I hope you've got a room for the night, sir. Too late to find one now! Every inn is full to overflowing.''

''So it seems.''

''Not that anyone would be foolish enough to spend a night like this quietly tucked away under the covers in his room.''

The tavern master winks at Argonar as if to say ''Not you, sir. Im sure!''

''Tonight we're going to have the biggest, wildest party you've ever seen & everybody's invited~locals or not. Drink,food,gambling,women. Just let me know wat you want. I'll mke sure you have it.''

Argonar sips his drink & say nothing.

Because he is planning to stay awake all night, he has not taken a room, though he had no plans to enjoy the festival, either.

Argonar will be offering up a prayer at the hour before dawn when the night is at its darkest & deepest. He will leave the town, sent off by the morning sun as it pokes its face up between then mountains & the sea. Just as he did at the time of his last visit. Back then, the tavern master, who a few minutes ago was telling one of his regular customers that his first grandchild is about to be born, was himself just an infant.

''This one's on me. Drink up!'' says the tavern master, filling Argonar's shot glass.

He peers at him suspiciously & says, ''You did come for the festival, didnt you?''

"No, not really." says Argonar.

"Dont tell me you didn't know about it! You mean you came here by pure chance?''

"Afraid so."

"Well, if you came here on business, forget it. You'll nvr get serious talk out of anybody on a special night like this."

The tavern master goes on to explain wat is so special about this night.

"You must've heard something about it. Once, a long, long time ago. This town was almost completely destroyed."

There are two kinds of events that divided history into ''before'' & "after" one is the birth or death of some great personage~a hero or a savior. The other is something like a war or plague or natural disaster. What divided this town's history into ''before" & "after" was a violent eartquake. It happend without warning & gave the soundly sleeping ppl of the town no chance to live. A crack opened up in the earth with a roar & roads & buildings just fell to pieces. Fires started & spread in the twinkling of an eye.

Almost everyone was killed..

"You probably cant imagine it. All i know is what they taught me in school & what does "Resurrection Festival" mean to a kid? It was something that happend 'once upon a time.' I live here & that's all it means to me. So a traveler lke you probably cant even begin to imagine what it was like"

'Is that they call this holiday? Resurrection Festival?'

'Uh-huh. The town was resurrected frm a total ruin to this. Thats wat the celebration is all about.'

Argonar gaves the man a grim smile & sips his liquor.

'Whats so funny?' the tavern master asked.

'Last time i was here they were calling it 'Earthquake Memorial Day.' It wasnt a festival for this kind of wild celebrating.'

'What are you talking about? It's been the 'Resurrection Festival' ever since i was a kid'

'That was because you were old enough to remember anything'

'Huh?'

'And before that, they called it 'Consolation of the spirits.' they'd burn a candle for each person who died & pray for them to RIP. It was a sad festival. Lots of cying.'

'You sound as if you saw it happening yourself'

'I did'

The tavern master laughs with a loud snorts.

'You look sober but you must be plastered out of ur mind! Now listen, its festival night. Ro im going to let you off the hook for pulling my leg but dont say stuff lke that in front of the other townspeople. All of our ancestors, mine included, are the one who barely escaped with their lives.'

Argonar knows fully well wat he is doing. He never expeted the man to believe him.

End of episode 1

Labels: Fairytale