“The kingdom bowels were not known for beauty. Homes’ straw roofs were riddled with holes, windows boarded up instead of repaired, and plank doors squeaked with each gust of wind. Their streets unpaved deserted to remain dirt paths. This abandoned section of housing sheltered those otherwise discarded by the rulers.” Aster read from the tablet screen that shone a blue light on his face.
Luna declared, “No one should live like that!” Her head poked out from the blankets that encased the bed. Her eyes squinted as she began to succumb to sleep.
Aster comforted with a half smirk, “That is where our princess enters into this otherwise black and white world. This village veiled in grey smog that blocked the sun didn’t know the beauty of color. Of the smells that come from field fresh flowers that palace maidens were given by suitors. They never experienced the succulent sweetness of hard candies, or savory taste from sear meats. Their only experienced luxury was the annual fireworks that gave the black night sky splotches of color that fell and burnt the smog.”
“Fire...” She yawned as she shifted in place sunk deeper into her feather pillow.
Unsure how to describe them accurately Aster searched the internet for a video.
“Explosions of colors that shatter the dark nightscape.” He stated while an engrossed Luna reached out for his phone.
Her previous cloudy eyes widened in excitement and fascination from the video. Her mouth agape from the magnificence. Her surroundings misted in hues of explosions of colors from the phone.
A sight that brought about a nostalgic grin for Aster at memories he forgot. He reached into his pocket but his phone was in her grasp. He tiptoed to his dust coated shelf and grabbed his professional camera caked in its share of dust. He quickly adjusted the settings to account for the dark surrounding but made sure to not blow out the colors.
“I want to see fireworks!” Luna exclaimed the grogginess from earlier without a trace. The stars in her eyes tinted by the variety of hues from the grand finale.
Aster strolled over with the camera at his side, before he laid atop comforter for when the next video started. The pair laughed to idle conversation as the lightshow brightened the otherwise unlit room. Luna’s exhaustion shortly took hold as she curled back under the covers.
“Aster, fireworks are pretty.” She spat out between groggy yawns.
“They absolutely are.” He whispered to her limp form.
===
Fireworks are a gorgeous sight that color the sky. A romance cliché of sorts of the male lead confessing under a heart shaped one for the two to share their first kiss. Of course, to top that sort of list would be kissing in the rain.
“Look! Look! This one makes the shape of a tuwtle!” She exuberantly exclaimed as she held out the rockets for Aster to read. He pushed along a cart that two began to fill to the brim with any type they could find.
“This one make big boom!” Luna jumped up and flung her arms out in efforts to replicate her mental image.
“Oh this one will make a pretty pink heart!”
“Stars!”
One by one they were all tossed into the cart.
===
The sun had set but neither of them were tired, Luna was anything but as she continued to play in the park until the final rays of light dispersed.
“You ready?” Aster directed towards the jittery child at his side.
“Yes!” She bellowed as loud as her voice could handle.
“1…2…3” He lit the end of the first rocket and with beaming smiles and unblinking eyes the pair waited for the first boom.
An explosion that reverberated into the night awaking any folks who tried to sleep.
===
After the first few Aster picked Luna up and placed her on his shoulders, much like his father had done for him decades prior.
The two had drawn the crowd as the night progressed with each explosion. Surely there were displeased neighbors but they were drowned out by the numerous other pleased to experience the show.
“Look Daddy it’s a tuwtle!” A young child screamed from his father’s shoulders.
“Aster look! It looks like a tuwtle!” Luna was of a similar mindset.
The night was drawing to a close, “You ready for the big boom?” Aster asked as he placed the final one on the stage.
“Big boom!” She parroted.
Aster brought the lighter near the fuse but paused, “You light it.” He handed the lighter to Luna for her to do the job. She didn’t hesitate for a moment, the joy from the responsibly leaking out in her fit of giggles.
Lit like every one before it, but this one was the most special. It was the start. For even if memories get muddied with time, this moment was the start, which means it will never be lost. Of Luna atop his shoulder and the entire small town behind their backs as they all stepped away from life to enjoy themselves.
===
“At some point life is simplified down to moments, that mix and mesh together. They become disjointed, and hazy. Strangely we remember the start, and end. Like a knot, you can find the two ends but the between the two is fog. She used to tell me that one. That I would remember the first moment she walked up to me and the second she stepped out of me life. I always said I hated goodbyes. An excuse I used for a long while about writing; that I hated endings, so I never wrote them. It was a lie, obviously.”
Aster sighed as he took out his phone and scrolled through the contacts for the name, “Silver Ring” It was a foreign number without a photo.
“Aster?” The feminine voice was quiet, welcoming, and youthful.
“Hey, Eun…”
“Eun we go live in 15 minutes,” A person in the background shouted in Korean.
“I would love to catch up but I’m in rush.” She quickly replied to him before she told the other person she needed five minutes.
“I’ll simplify it to bullet points then. You were right. I wasn’t living. I understand why you told me no. Thank you. That’s why I’m calling, to say thank you. I looked through old photos, even incomplete stories, and I see how they lacked vibrancy, how they were disingenuous. It was something you always told me. I sent you a photo of her, her name is Luna.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“She really is. But Eun…” Aster paused, his heart pounding violently as his throat constrained to stop him from speaking.
“What is it Aster?” “10 minutes until live!”
“I’m an author but I can’t find the words. I can’t think up the prose befitting of this moment. Can’t find the lines of symbolism and eloquence to make this spectacular. I can only find one word, my least favorite word…Goodbye. For it with goodbye you create another string.” Aster was started with anger at himself. Disappointed in his inabilities as an author. However by the end he was slow, his voice filled with exhaustion. And with the goodbye he always dreaded his body loosened but his heart only beat faster from nerves.
“Even if you want to cut the string, with enough heat you can burn two frayed ends together.”
“Isn’t this an ironic turn of fate?” Aster couldn’t contain his pained laughter. As when he finally decided to say goodbye, she used his own words against him.
“Aster, I have an interview now.”
“Get going then.”
“Watch it.”
“What?”
“Watch my interview.” She hung up the call without explanation.
Fireworks for me are somewhat solemn. My granddad, a great man, had us fire off fireworks before we left during summer, for me fireworks are kind of like a finally to a great story or day, something beautiful to remind you of that summer. It pains me he died, but now when I see fireworks I remember him, a good man who always smiled and made us welcome.
I don't have as symbolic story to fireworks. For Aster they are a connection to his family, a start to a string. He wanted it to be one for Luna as well. In future drafts this chapter will better tie up the arc of colors.
It sounds like your granddad was a great man. A bright man like the fireworks you use to remember him.
Who the f*ck is the love interest? My mind wonders