#and ngl in the beginning it was a hot mess. turned up to my stall & there was nothing & no one

[kivaember]

Obligatory Starlight Celebration Fic

Or rather, Aza learns what Starlight actually is, since I doubt it’s celebrated in the Steppes or in Othard in general, since it culminated from an Ishgardian tradition. So. 

Miiiight do a part two! Maybe. We’ll see (if I do it’ll probably be shameless xmas smut ngl)

The Jewelled Crozier had transformed overnight.

The normally understated, grey and snowy street was bright with colour and out of place cheer, piles of papered and ribboned boxes littering the space between shop stalls, snowmen rolled neatly into place with top hats and thick, healthy carrots for noses, and gold and silver tape strewn everywhere above their heads. There was even a tinny, upbeat song on the edge of his hearing, though he couldn’t see a band or orchestrion in sight.

“What… is this…?” he muttered under his breath, trying not to look utterly bewildered as he took the last few steps onto the Jewelled Crozier proper. It was still early morning, just after dawn, where normally the only signs of life were shops opening up for the day and the odd, unfortunate Temple Knight dragging themselves through the last leg of night patrols. Today, however…

It was busy. Busy with a certain hustle and bustle that Aza was slowly beginning to recognise as festive. Ah. This must be another weird Eorzean holiday. Odd. Normally one of the Scions or Aymeric would warn him off, but then again, they had been busy lately with the mess in Doma and Ala Mhigo, so it wouldn’t surprise him if it slipped their mind.

Aza idly scratched under his jaw as he skirted the edges of the early morning crowd, making his way to his usual haunt: Denise’s Stall.

She was an old Temple Knight turned chef once the Dragonsong War had ended – the final battle on the Steps of Faith had resulted in the loss of a leg, ending her career as a knight – and Aza had discovered her by complete chance when roaming Ishgard before dawn was even touching the horizon. Knowing how hard and demoralising the night patrol can be, Denise was the only food stall he knew that worked through the night and up until after noon, serving simple yet hardy foods, caffeinated drinks and tasty treats at prices aimed mostly towards hungry, grumpy knights – and Aza, apparently.  

Even her stall had transformed – she had a tiny snowman sitting on the corner of it with her donations pot sitting next to it, and it was bedecked in more ribbon than that noblewoman’s monstrosity of a dress from that Saint’s Wake party a few months back. The clash of gold, neon green, red and blue almost hurt his eyes.

Behind the eyesore of a store was Denise. She was stocky for an Elezen, with a darker complexion than most Ishgardians and biceps that would make Bluebird drool. Her face was also made for broad grins, laughlines already setting into the corners of her eyes. It suited her. It was nice to see someone so openly happy in a place as reserved and cool as Ishgard.

“Well, well, if it ain’t my favourite customer!” Denise greeted, leaning forwards on her gloves hands, her bright grin bearing pearly white teeth, “Come to admire the decorations?”

“Not really. I came to get breakfast,” Aza said, coming to a comfortable halt before the tall. Without thinking, he dropped his usual pouch of gil into the donations pot, “I’ve heard around the barracks that you’ve started making something called ‘pineapple fritters’?”

“Oh, yeah, courtesy of our new friends in the Ruby Sea,” Denise said, immediately turning to her stove to fulfil the order. Unlike most stores along the Jewelled Crozier, her stall was entirely outside, protected by a thick tarp that Aza was beginning to suspect to be as indestructible as pieces of Dalamud with how much it has weathered. Denise never had trouble with people trying to steal things from her, though. From what he heard she had a lot of good mates in the Brume, as well as the Temple Knights.

“So…” Aza began when the noise, and smell, of cooking filled the sharply cold air, “These decorations… I’m guessing another holiday is up?”

Denise paused for a fraction of a second, before she resumed her cooking with a small shake of her head, “I keep forgetting… yeah, it’s Starlight Celebration. It’s meant to celebrate selflessness and generosity and all that shite. Encourage people to be charitable. That sort of thing.”

“Instead of being charitable all year long?” Aza asked dryly.

Denise just shrugged, “You know some folk.”

Aza turned his attention back to his surroundings with fresh understanding, though he wasn’t sure what all the tape and snowmen and the weird, red costumes some of the crowd were wearing had to do with generosity and charity. The boxes… he supposed they were gifts? Meant to represent gifts, in any case…

“Do you have to do special stuff for it?” he asked.

“Well…” Denise’s tone lilted teasingly, “It’s tradition to give out presents.”

“Uh?”

“Normally there’s an event where the Smilebringers will dole out presents to the children,” Denise continued, “Maybe have some singing – the Ishgardian Choir does some amazing songs in the Saint Reymamaud’s Cathedral, if you’re interested in that. Then people go buy some foods, get drunk, be merry, then go home and give presents to some loved ones.”

Aza blinked slowly as he processed that, “Presents to… loved ones?”

“Aye,” Denise turned around, closing the lid on the box of pineapple fritters she just finished cooking up, “I suppose that’d be the Lord Commander for you, mm?”

“And that’s… the norm?”

“Yup,” Denise popped the ‘p’, holding out the box, “That’s 25g.”

Aza, who still couldn’t tell a 25g coin from a 100g coin, just handed her a fistful of silver coins from his pocket, “Is it a thematic present?”

“It can be whatever you want it to be, I guess,” Denise said distractedly, counting out the coins and heaving a sigh, “You’ve given me way too much.”

“Keep the change,” Aza said, “It’s fine. Think of it as me, uh, getting into the spirit of Stars Celebration or whatever.”

“Starlight,” Denise huffed, her mouth twisting a little, “Do you even know how much you’ve given me?”

“Enough to show my appreciation for your good work,” Aza said with mock-cheer, holding up his lovely smelling box of pineapple fritters and turning away, “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, yeah. Have fun shopping for the Lord Commander’s present!”

Aza waved distractedly over his shoulder, then teased the box lid open, breathing in the sweet smell of sugared batter. His stomach gurgled, and he gingerly picked up one piping hot fritter between his gloved fingers, ambling his lazy way out of the Jewelled Crozier and up the steps towards the Congregation of the Knights Most Heavenly.

Presents… if this was a normal celebration that came annually, then no doubt Aymeric would’ve gotten him something. Did ‘loved ones’ extend to family too? Friends? Or was it strictly a romantic partner thing, like Valentione’s Day? Damn, he should’ve quizzed Denise some more but… well, never mind.

Odd, that Aymeric never mentioned this upcoming holiday, though. Then again, he’d been awfully busy, so much so that he didn’t even come home last night! No doubt Aza would find him asleep at his desk again. He was lucky Aza was thoughtful enough to bring breakfast to him – probably grab some water too, to flush out all the caffeine he’d no doubt replaced all his blood with.

Aza took a bite out of his fritter, wincing when it was a bit too hot, and distracted himself from the slight burn on his tongue counting out how many fritters to set aside for his partner. As usual Denise kindly did a double order of eight fritters – and she tried to charge him for four! Honestly…

Smiling, Aza closed the lid to keep the warmth in, gingerly picking his way through the fritter already in hand, and began to plan.

#ffxiv #fanfic #warrior of light #original characters #pineapple fritters are amazing fyi