[D2LA, The Desert: Nahr'umar shore] Breaking the fast (Open)

[Al-Haddar]

The sun had finally set up on Medinaat al-Salaam. Which meant it was... FEAST TIME!

For the occasion, al-Haddar's family had descended toward the river and her welcome freshness like a swarm of locusts. They had moved beyond the walls, opted for a slightly muddy fallow land next to the water, and set up for a gigantic picnic.

There was a hella lot of cheap food, each person having brought a little something. Many varieties of breads, fruits, pastries, were in abundance if not always of the best quality. Pots of delicious vegetable and spice based sauces lovingly cooked by the best of the best of the family moved around the party with a logic of their own.

There was as much chatter going around at as the market at rush hour, and almost as many people. When you factor in the siblings, and the parents, and their own siblings, and the cousins, and the friends of every of the persons aforementioned, and friends of friends... You quickly attain a three-figures number of people.

Needless to say the happy fiesta was visible, and audible, and smellable, from a mile away.

Al-Haddar himself was, at the moment, doing card tricks to amuse a bunch of younger family members, in between tasting the secret recipe of some aunt of uncle, and quick looks at the horizon to check if some gaffer hadn't showed up to tell them they weren't allowed to eat there, in which case it was Had's duty to bamboozle them so they leave them in peace.

[Meresanhk]

A familiar face came to view. The wandering Senpet walked about. "Ah... Salam Sidi Hadir." She said with a smile on her face.

[Al-Haddar]

"Good evening lady Meresanhk! Dunno if that's your first Shilah's festival? If so, you must be hungry as a wolf! Please give a try at my second-cousin-once-removed's saksuka, it's a delight."

A flex of the wrist, and the cards disappeared in al-Haddar's sleeves, immediately replace with a flat bread in his right hand, and a bowl of cooked eggplants in his left, both he extended toward the newcomer.

[Meresanhk]

"Ah...it is my first here in this city. The desert can be cruel but that is not what this is for." She smiled and took the bread offered. She took a seat and took taking the bowl. The Senpet dipped the bread in the eggplant. "Thank you kind sidi." She nodded. "And your family as well." And took a bite. "This is nice."

[Al-Haddar]

"Good, good! Here, the solstice festival is not only a period of fasting and prayers: It is also a once a year occasion for families to come altogether. Even cousins who are usually working far away, in the distant fields up and down the river or with the caravans going through the desert, try to find a way to come back for this special time. As soon as the sun has set, It's big family party time!"

Al-Haddar's logorrhea was interrupted by a bunch of younger cousins passing next to him, pursuing a fennec fox they had somehow managed to find somewhere.

"Dunno if you have anything resembling that in the Senpet? Not really aware of how religion works there."

[Meresanhk]

"It is more or less like a moon festival... as we thank the gods of the moon and the underworld for the blessings they have to give us on the winter nights." The woman chuckled at the playful fox and children. "The tradition of sacrifice is no stranger to our people. At the festival we sacrifice a goat and eat it in communion... for it might be the last meal we might eat together. On the winter solstice we do a moon watch from dusk until dawn. Prayers and dances and song and games for the children to play."

[Al-Haddar]

"Sounds familiar indeed. Guess there are some things about these festivities that transcend all religions.

Observing the fast yourself? As a non-follower of Shilah I don't think you have to. But as the Yodotai say: When in the Jewel, do as the Jewelers.

And as I say: Better a grumbling stomach than an angry goddess."

[Meresanhk]

"Yes I am... the city is a welcome place and well it is of good fortune to follow the traditions it offers me it is my way to thank the people and keep good faith of the open hand." The Senpet nodded. "A happy Godess is a happy city."

[Al-Haddar]

"And, in the case of Shilah, an unhappy goddess means no city."

Al-Haddar grabbed a handful of sand on the ground.

"Legends have it that a long time ago, most of what is today the desert was a fertile meadow, not only the lands next to the river and oasis.

In that earthly paradise, the civilizations of back them grew strong, but also complacent. They began thinking as themselves as more as simple mortals, as walking gods that were just missing one last push to overthrow the deities in the sky.

It took but one day of wrath for Shilah to return all they had ever built, all they ever were, to the sand."

Al-Haddar dramatically blew away the pinch he was holding.

"With the city leaders of today once again brushing with the divine, transcending the natural laws of life and death, the fear of a second day of wrath is stronger than ever. Sure, it would return to the dust what refuse to die, but at what price?"

With a twirl, the peddler grabbed a half-full half-empty earthenware pot and a piece of clothes with a lot of crumbs and only a few intact pastries left:

"But, like with a potential natural catastrophe, little we can do about that but being faithful, hopeful, and enjoy life while we can. Leben? Ghribia?"

[Meresanhk]

She takes a glass and a raises a hand on the Ghribia. The woman didn't want to seem greedy. "Many legends as cultures the city has. We do have something similar as the gods wrath was what made the desert what it is."