Anastasia, Kiril, and Rodion walked silently through the main street of Sradizmiye. People began to slowly hang decorative strings of leaves over their shops, transforming the street with a beautiful, pleasant warmth and festivity.
The Saint-Prostev, happening on the 30th of Artuxia, the last day of the month. It was customary for people to begin decorating 7 days before, hence why things started to move on the 23rd.
Saint-Prostev was an ancient festivity of a country not far away, Polsia. It was the nation right next to the Empire, sharing a long border near the north-west. The Saint was a great man, known for helping the poor and needy throughout his life. He is now a symbol of altruism and a role model for many religious people, who are more common in this area.
The people of Praussuria didn't really care about the faith the holiday was associated with; it was more out of respect for the great man Saint Prostev than for the religion.
The three members of the print shop continued to walk, receiving waving hands and salutations from shop owners along the way. Rodion seemed rather excited to greet the people of Svatse-Ye.
Anastasia looked at the shop where she bought the daily newspaper. The usually tanned man with a bald head was not present to welcome nearby people or to plead with them to buy his papers.
He did seem to be rather unwell yesterday...
Did he catch a cold?
Possibly, I think he was also sick a lot last year during the winter. Does he have a problem with the cold?
She shifted her attention away from the boutique, focusing instead on the places she went less frequently.
As the three of them didn't have any more work to do that day, thanks to Grigory, Anastasia proposed to visit some of the other shops on the street of Svatse-Ye.
The wind was chilling, and the temperature did not help to solve the case. The thick snow covered most of the road and the roofs of the multiple small buildings.
All three of them walked in the cold, fortunately, each possessing a coat to avoid hypothermia.
Anastasia noticed that a few shops had buckets on the shelves, instead of leaving them on the ground like in the summer.
The rich and exotic fruits and vegetables of the summer, coupled with the delicious fish that the Praussurian nation was known for, were now traded for bread and potatoes.
The winter did not leave place to a lot of choice when it came to agriculture. Sredizmiye, in the north of the large region of Zemedy, was extremely cold in the winter. In contrast, the south of the region was completely useless due to natural phenomena such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
Thus, the only things that remained were the leftover wheat and the sturdy potatoes, which were both very useful in those times.
A typical dish at this time of year was "kartesep", a delicious, rich potato soup with lamb and cheese, sometimes accompanied by peas, carrots, or even onions, depending on the situation and family tradition. Of course, as with any soup dish, kartesep was usually paired with plain bread.
Just thinking about it made Anastasia growl with hunger.
She looked at the price tags attached to the buckets and shelves, wanting to know the prices.
The bread was now at five kalpec a piece, and the potatoes were still at two kolpec a piece.
Inflation...
Not that I really have to worry as a noble, but it's more a matter of principles.
The person who stood far behind the shelves, preparing something behind the counter, was a lady of respectable age; her grandchildren would've probably been the same age as Rodion, who was 13, soon to turn 14.
Anastasia didn't wish to bother the old lady, so she left the shop without anything in hand.
It had now been more than an hour since the beginning of the unending march towards the grand tree. The street was filling by the minute as more and more families began to revel in the air of festivity.
Numerous children passed by Anastasia, some of them frightened by her unusual height. Kiril laughed at the sight of the frightened children until he realized they were just as afraid of him, if not more.
Rodion laughed happily, seeing both of them being avoided. His long blonde hair wavered in the cold breeze, coming out of his damaged green coat.
The children, instead, came running towards the 13-year-old bot, chasing him around the street in a playful manner.
Such happiness demotivated both companions, who then retreated for a bit. Both ended up going to a small, shady alley between two shops.
The alley wasn't very long and was covered in shadows; the clouds in the sky didn't help illuminate the passage.
Snow was pushed to the ends of the alley to facilitate traffic in this part; not that many people used this specific alley, but it was better than nothing.
"I guess you never really experienced something like this, playing along with little kids in the snow." It was a semi-guess, semi-question from Kiril.
"Nobles don't really mix with commoners, you know? I'll make you notice that you also didn't experience this as a kid, am I wrong?" She sat in the snow, her legs covered by the long white coat she wore over her red cloak.
Both of them looked at each other and met gazes.
Kiril had splendid blue eyes, very typical in this place, but slightly lighter than usual.
He also didn't have a cigar in his mouth for once.
Kiril turned his head around and noticed that Rodion was now alone in the middle of the street, going left and right, most likely trying to find them.
Kiril stood up and patted the snow off his knee. "We'd better get back."
"Oh! You're more responsible than I thought!" It was certainly sarcastic coming from her mouth, but it still sounded genuine. Every lie has a part of truth after all.
"I just don't want him to cause a scene in the middle of the street." He walked towards Rodion and made a big wave, causing the young man to rush towards them both.
All three of them began to walk again, this time not stopping on the way and directly going for the grand tree of Saint-Prostev.