Desert Sky Festival 2023

[Mallory]

Cadentia's Desert Sky Festival

Come celebrate the Desert Sky Festival this year in Cadentia! Denizens of the desert city celebrate the spring season and the migration of the Pharaoh butterflies with rooftop parties across town, where thousands of butterflies are released from cages to join the colorful swarm.



The Desert Gate Tower is hosting this year’s largest party, one of the highest points in town with a commanding view of the Great Desert. Dozens of Pharaoh butterflies, each with a unique pattern in gold and turquoise wings, are in silk mesh cages with ribbon handles and handed out to guests at the top of the stairs and lift. Kites can be rented or bought from vendors along the northern side, in the shape of wyverns and butterflies and herons, and can be flown to chase after each other and jockey for the highest point. A flagpole stands in the center, surrounded by long, blank pennant flags, where fae artists can help guests to paint or glamour messages and symbols onto these banners before running them up the pole. Servers with platters of figs and lamb meatballs, flagons of wine, and bottles of arak are eager to offer a bite and a drink to guests, charging nothing (though the locals can be seen tipping generously and often).



At the southern end of the tower, wooden ramps with rope railings lead to hot air balloons with large baskets floating just over the edge of the desert, where guests can walk up to enjoy the view. If you want a good spot on the balloon, make sure you get up there before too late -- at 10:30 they will close the basket and retract the walkway, letting the ballons float out to the end of their tether! At 11:00 guests are encouraged to release their butterflies to join the migration passing over Cadentia, at the same time as thousands of others will be releasing them all across town. Once the glittering kaleidoscope of turquoise and gold passes into the Great Desert, the balloons will be brought back to the rooftop to let guests out.



(( This is a live play event that will take place in our #the-bazaar channel on Saturday, May 6th at 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Kite vendors and event staff manning balloons and handing out butterflies are all NPCs and can be used in play by anyone. The butterflies are planned to be released at 11 pm. See you there! ))

[JewellRavenlock]

Jewell was excited to attend the Desert Sky Festival, having enjoyed it several years back. She may have arrived in Cadentia early in the day to bum around the baronial manor and get ready for the festival there.

[Mallory]

Mallory and Eri had spent the day showing Midori around their Riad Alhazu and the nearby Bazaar, telling her all about the butterflies in their wicker-and-mesh cages. By her bedtime, Midori was being looked after by family, and the blood witch set out with her wife for the Desert Gate Tower to join in the festivities and help out where she could.

[Josette Wheeler]

Josie felt a little trepidation about the butterflies being kept in cages, but a rather rare smile bloomed like a Night-Blooming Cereus when Isaac reassured her that they would be released to adventure on towards their migration journey. She was particularly transfixed with the tactile sensation of the ribbon handles and the dazzling sight of the gold and turquoise wings of the Pharaoh butterflies.

She of course danced along with her current company and any willing parties with the flying kites. ForJosie, she chose a Heron kite, admiring how high each could soar higher and higher into the sky. A soft murmur of a familiar song that held a slightly wistful tone with a certain undertone of homesickness. “Up through the atmosphere, up where the air is clear…”

Later, she whispered Bert’s words to the butterflies. She’d always loved Bert from Mary Poppins. “I don't like to see any living thing caged up. They makes cages of all sizes and shapes, you know. bank-shaped, some of them, carpets and all.”

She had no banner and flew no particular flag, but did very much delight in helping herself to plenty of figs, sipping from her canteen of water every so often to make sure she didn’t get too tipsy or dehydrated.

Eager to go up in a balloon to see the butterflies take flight, Josie made sure to get a spot early on, practically vibrating with excitement. “If you ever venture back this way, make sure to bring plenty of stories please?” Her final whisper to her butterfly friends before they were released and she did not look away till she saw every last one of them disappear into the sky and over the horizon—perhaps even some would even stray to the stars themselves.

[BardGallant]

Governor Driscol had been looking forward to this event for a very long time. He and Rhys had shared an extraordinary evening together years ago, and ever since Cadentia held a warm spot in their hearts, with this particular festival being a core memory of pure joy. They weren't going to miss this night for anything. Having made a weekend adventure of it once again, their day was spent strolling through the bazaars, hand in hand. As evening came, they climbed to the top of the Desert Gate Tower to join in the planned festivities.

[Rhys Germain]

Rhys was there with Dris, happy to return with him to a place (and event) that held such a special place in their hearts.



((More to come when I can brain better.))

[Isaac Wheeler]

Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness and still become something beautiful.
-Unknown

Springtime in the desert, a place where life was too often pared to the bone, was a time for celebration. The juxtaposition was not lost on the wayward Wheeler scion as he walked alongside his sister about the Desert Gate Tower. A look around and the thunderstorms (a rare occurrence in the desert) in his eyes saw quite the collection of life thriving.

“When I said focus, I didn’t mean charging into the deep wilds thinking to rattle down starlight from the night with a touch a your fingers.” The dogwood drawl of words chastised his sister as she moved effortlessly through the crowd and kept those afore-mentioned fingers lightly wrapped round the ribbon handle of her temporary butterfly cage. “You’re stubborn and you don’t listen…” He could have been describing himself or the Cajun who was to his other side as they walked. He’d been relieved she’d survived the Great Hunt though not pleased she’d kept her participation a secret. Given his own history with hunting a stag, he could…somewhat…understand her surreptitious motivations in keeping her participation quiet. It still rankled that big brother protective streak. And yet…it was a celebration, and therefore hard for Isaac to hold onto his anger as he watched Josie select her Heron kite and murmured a bit of that familiar song.

Wheeler passed on the kite flying and instead volunteered to hold Josie’s silk meshed cage. He took a moment to inspect and admire the unique patterns on the creature’s wings. Gold and turquoise patterns reminded him of ancient lapis lazuli carvings and a different kind of pharaoh from times long ago and he marveled when one of the free travelers, no doubt looking to get a head start, found respite on his hand. The little legs tickled as it walked, and Isaac obliged by turning his hand over to keep the Pharaoh upright before it took flight on a warm breeze. “Fly well and fly far.”

Never one to be accused of being a social butterfly, Isaac was friendly enough with a nod and smile for those he recognized and might have even been caught dancing and drinking. Scandalous! And yet there he was with those he cared for most without a care in the world.

Isaac went when pulled towards the balloons and even managed a genuine grin, stiletto sharp and sickle sloped, when his sister practically vibrated with excitement during the ascent. The cages hadn’t sat well with the knife thrower either, so he was quietly relieved when the time came for their escape and flight. It was a moment he would remember, aloft in the balloon, his sister whispering, his lover, Canaan, to his side hand in his. It was as sight to behold both the spectacle of flight and the presence of loved ones.

Once back on terra firma, Wheeler found himself ensconced atop a cozy rooftop and reclining against a comfortable Cajun and equally comfortable pillows, several flagons within easy reach and delicious figs and assorted snacks all about to watch the remnants of the sunset fade into darkness alongside friends and family.

[Kruger]

It was an unusual day for Kruger, lounging in the desert was actually difficult. That's probably part of why he chose to go shoeless, I mean bootless.

[Death Knell]

Ettyn had booked a suite with Novella at Riad Alhazu for the weekend, and wandered the Bazaar in a flowy green dress perfect for the warm weather. Though she (eventually) made it to the Desert Gate Tower for the celebration, she was often distracted by a few weapons displays tucked away in the corners, much as she had been in the labyrinthine market below the tower throughout the day.

[Novella Libertine]

Novella wandered the bazaar in search of the perfect kite and was only distracted by book stalls and friends from this misson. Once she glimpsed the balloons, however, she set her sights high and would seek out a bird's eye view.

[Mairead Harker]

Maggie and two other women, one slightly shorter and one taller, made their way up to the top of the Desert Gate Tower and stepped into one of the baskets. The Archmage carried the precious cargo of a black dragon’s egg in her arms. The other women carried caged butterflies to be freed at the appointed time. They were followed by black dragonette with prismatic wings. Azure and Olivia Ilnaren, who joined them, were in for an experience they were not likely to forget.

The shortest woman, the youngest called from the recent past, wore traditional clothing of desert tribes and a green gem suspended about her throat. As they settled into the basket, she asked, “Is this where we say something like By the power of Grayskull?”



Maggie snickered then cleared throat. “More like for the honor of Grayskull. We are women, after all.” The butterfly wings on her shoes fluttered as she looked down at the egg in her arms. “Not dancing on my own,” she murmured.







The third woman, the eldest and tallest, called from the future, wore an elegant gown of blue. For the most part, she maintained a regal bearing and silence as the balloon was allowed to end of the tether.



When the butterflies were set free from their cages, three sources of power fused into the egg, helping it hatch. The misted forms of two adult dragons, one black with prismatic wings and the other snow-white with wings like a butterfly, appeared near the balloon as if giving a blessing to the newest one entering the fold.

As the egg cracked open, it was a white dragon with what appeared to be butterfly wings. Maggie lifted the hatchling and murmured, “Hola, mi pequeña Mariposa, hija de un ópalo.” The smallest of the women disappeared once the little one arrived. The eldest started to fade as she mounted the adult white dragon that was in flight. The black dragon appeared to touch Sparks’s head with his snout before fading away. The newly hatched dragon imprinted the Archmage as her mother.