#i won't character tag this yet as I need to sort things out blegh

[factorialsfandoms]

this... was going to be a flufftober prompt, but I got to a point where I liked the ending before I reached the bit where contest actually happened. Oops. TLDR: Malon, from the town just the otherside of the woods, shows up and takes home the summer crop festival with some lovingly grown sweetcorn, narrowly beating Between’s crystal flowers. And Mini in third, his tiny friends having been helping him grow some clover.

And, now I think, /also/ dropping by the LU Server’s crossover event! And introducing my pet au which... only people in the correct discord servers with me know about oopsie. Well, the crossover is with rune factory, and the prompt is competition. I’ll someday write actual info on them, but Storm is ALTTP/Oracles/LA Link and Bracken is TLoZ/AoL Link and Koei is HW Link and... The others either use their usual names or should be obvious? And them all living in one farming village deep in the lost woods, most plot things have never happened to them. Yet. Not all the Links have gathered, either, this being maybe 2 years before plot would occur. Most notably missing is Wild. I had funny for him, but then Storm decided he wanted to be happy.

This isn’t AU plot. This is just fluff.

It was the morning of the Summer Crop Festival, and the village was in full swing. Linkle had the cucuos flying banners up to the balconies, where Twilight was helping Colin pin them into place. Sky was trying to do the same thing, but his own birds were behaving far less well, instead trying to eat the brightly coloured sugar paper. Mayor Hagon was stood in the centre of the town square, directing people to the small tent where Rusl was checking the produce, and logging everyone’s entries.

Most of those making submissions had got them in early, and were now gathered around chatting. Storm was not entering this year, having won the last with an Ironleaf. Instead he would be helping the mayor and Uli judge the competition, serving as a tie break. Farore had given her blessing to him doing so, a knowing smirk on her face as the Oracle had agreed to delay his trip to Labrynna by a few more days.

He loved his apprenticeship to the Oracle, he really did! But, he was going to miss his friends and life in the Hidden Village; soon he was to travel across the sea, spending six months each studying with the Oracles of Seasons and Ages. Storm was just... going to miss these things. It had been strange enough when Koei had been called away to the war, and now Storm would be leaving too.

He wondered if there would be any new arrivals in his absence; Koei’s departure had been maybe two months after Ravio’s arrival, and three before Sky had been thrust into their lives. Both were curious men, both Storm’s seniors and scarred by the war in their own ways. Hopefully Koei would not be as hurt by it as them; hopefully the war would stop taking people away.

Speaking of Ravio, he was speaking with Rusl, giggling about something to do with his aubergine. Given the bright red ears of Between at his side, it was nothing suitable for polite company.

That was not the commotion, though, oh no - the commotion was past the check in station, where Four was arguing with Bracken.

Arguing, Storm said, like Bracken was replying. The boy had pulled his hood up over his face as he flapped apologetically, almost something to do with the jam now covering Four’s cloak. If he had to put money on it, Storm would say that it was likely the Smith’s grandson who had caused the accident, not Bracken, but whatever it was seemed to be resolving itself.

Well, being resolved by Mini stepping on his elder brother’s foot and threatening to call grandpa on him, to the amused delight of Between, and allowing Doctor Odel to rescue his ward from the situation.

“You could go join them, you know?” Uli, sat with him at the judges table, baby Thela sleeping in her arms. “You’re not needed for a little while yet.”

Storm could, he was sure. He could go help Wake and Spirit with their pumpkins, or go borrow Bracken to set up some extra decorations. Maybe Sky would even like a hand wrangling his cucuos, though Storm was firmly of the opinion that anyone who dealt with the birds regularly was signing their own death warrant. He could even go talk with Between and Ravio, though the two seemed rather engrossed in whatever they were plotting.

So, instead, he shook his head, “I’ll talk to them after; nobody’s ever much fun before the results.”

Uli laughed in agreement, and offered him an apple.

He grinned back, taking it. Before he was even half way done, Bracken had slipped up to the table, waving what could only be nervously.

“Yeah?” Storm asked of the one other competent magic wielder of their generation. The Smiths claimed their ancestral powers as magic, but Storm had yet to see any of them cast an actual spell. Ravio, perhaps, but Farore was very strict about enchantment being a different discipline. And, anyway, he had married into the family.

Bracken reached into his capelet, and bought out a bag of confetti with a nervous smile.

Well, so much for sitting with Uli and looking like the responsible adult he almost was. She waved him away as he grabbed Bracken’s hand, taking him up the clocktower.

Up with a little privacy, Bracken did not immediately get the confetti and magic supplies out. Instead he sat down on the ledge, and gestured for Storm to join him.

“Something wrong?” he asked, frowning a little at the younger witch. “Four didn’t hurt you, did he?”

A quick shake of the head was followed by Bracken’s hood being pulled down, a shaky smile joining steady hands as they signed out ‘/I’ll miss you/’.

It was a sentiment a lot of the village shared, and Storm with them.

“It’s only a year,” Storm promised. “And I’ll write to you! Just focus on your own studies, and you won’t even notice it.”

‘/Of course I’ll notice it/,’ Bracken huffed with vague offence. ‘/You’ll be gone/.’

“And I’ll come back, and I’ll bring better stuff back for us to work with. Oracle Naryu lives in the city - there’ll be all sorts of good stuff I can get there. Maybe even some of that fancy glittery confetti they have in the capital.”

There was a long pause, where Bracken did not look terribly reassured. ‘/Just promise you’ll come back safe?/’

“Of course! If anything I should be worried about all of you - I’m at least going /away/ from the war! /And/ I hear there’s fewer gates in Labrynna and Holodrum combined than just the forest. Didn’t you know? And even if something does go wrong, then I guess... Well, I’ll just refuse to die!”

His impassioned speech at least had Bracken silently giggling into his hands. It was for the best; unlike even Wake, Storm had not been beyond the borders of the forest before. The Oracle kept the inn, and Storm had lived with her as long as he could remember. Going abroad, and alone at that? It was terrifying. Still, he was excited, and going to make the most of it.

“Come on, then, let’s get this confetti shower set up,” he pulled himself up, then offered Bracken a hand. “I think some people from the other villages are coming this year? We should get set up before they arrive.”

Bracken took the hand, using it to pull himself up, before grabbing the supplies.

There was not one but three bags of confetti; it was going to be a very, very good year.