[FAIR '24] Alowyn - Tug-Of-War

The next day at the fair wasn’t as clear. There were dark clouds that darkened the sky and as a result, there were fewer crowds throughout the fairgrounds. When the chilled wind started to pick up snow, reoseans quickly left the fairgrounds leaving only the ones who wanted to brave the incoming snowstorm. That included Alowyn and Konstantin. 

“We’re looking for a brave pair to join this contest!” A loud voice called through the wind. 

Alowyn and Konstantin looked around for the source, but the wind was carrying the voice every which way. The duo wandered around where they thought the call might have come from. Snow started to fall from the dark clouds, adding to Alowyn and Konstantin’s challenge. 

“You there!” The loud voice called again. 

Alowyn looked around frantically trying to pinpoint the source of the voice while Konstantin squinted through the snow squall thinking he saw a large puller. Sure enough, a large brown puller with thick fur at his feet pushed through the snow to get to the pair of empyrians. The stranger introduced himself as Clyde, and he asked for their help to finish the last tug-of-war challenge. 

“Before it gets much worse,” Clyde shouted over the whirling wind. 

Alowyn laughed, “Worse? This is already so bad, but we’ll help.”

Her words died on the wind causing Clyde to yell back, “What?”

“We’ll help!” Konstantin shouted back. 

Clyde nodded and led the pair over to a small arena with a rope being held by another reosean. Thankfully, the arena was sandwiched between some trees and tents breaking up the wind and making it easier to hear each other. The second reosean introduced themselves as Scott. 

“It’ll be us against you two,” Clyde explained. 

“Isn’t this a little unfair?” Konstantin looked between the group. 

“Don’t worry about that,” Clyde insisted as he directed the empyrians to stand on one side while he and Scott stood on the other. 

Alowyn and Konstantin shared a look but shrugged their shoulders and picked up the rope in their mouths. Clyde and Scott followed suit. There was no one to mark the start, but Clyde and Scott just started to pull. They used the element of surprise to throw Konstantin and Alowyn off and it worked, but only briefly. 

Alowyn stumbled with the sudden direction change, however, her instinct to right her balance was to use her wings. Despite her small size she managed to pull Clyde and Scott closer to the middle of the arena. Konstantin was behind Alowyn and just followed her lead. Konstantin knew that if he tried to fly he could drag them all with him, but he also knew this storm that raged around them made everything more challenging. 

The pair of empyrians were about to win when the storm suddenly changed direction and blew right across the arena. The four reoseans had to bring themselves close to the ground and brace themselves against the whipping snow. The wind was blowing so hard that the snow hit them like it was hail. While the storm swirled around them, each side of the rope used that opportunity to plan the next move. 

“We need to end this,” Alowyn said, bringing her head close to Konstantin’s so he could hear her, “So we can go somewhere safe.”

“Surely they don’t want to continue this,” Konstantin replied with shock, “We can end it in a tie.”

Alowyn looked over her shoulder and tried to see the pair of vayrons through the snow, but it was too hard. The only thing that gave her any indication that they still wanted to finish the tug-of-war was a sudden tug on the rope. Konstantin felt and groaned. 

“Fine,” He said to his sister, “Let’s finish this.”

Alowyn and Konstantin stood against the storm as the direction of the wind shifted again, and suddenly they could hear each other again. Clyde and Scott were already in position with a competitive glint in their eyes. Alowyn and Konstantin mirrored their actions and the war was one. Clyde and Scott pulled against the tyrians’ strength, but they could barely budge the duo. Alowyn and Konstantin dragged the pair of vayrons towards the center of the arena. When the brother and sister pair put their mind to it, they quickly won the tug-of-war competition. 

“Fine, fine,” Clyde relented once he let go of the rope, “You win.”

“Thanks,” Konstantin chuckled and then said, “Let’s get out of here.”

The pairs of reoseans went their separate ways as the winter storm raged on around them. 

[759]