36: The Festival

I T  W A S  A L R E A D Y  getting dark out, with the usual starry night sky then covered with patches of dark clouds but there was enough light illuminating high up throughout the village as excited chattering emanated from people who seemed to be really preoccupied by one or two things.

Natasha, Lucas and Sang were setting down a small round table at the heart of the village which was one of the many similarly placed tables—about twenty of them—all positioned in a circular manner such that there was a vast empty space in between.

Sang had gone on to explain what was particularly happening that night. The night that had Natasha wear an immaculately flowing  dark red dress, decorated with white lotus flowers and large jade buttons cascading from the Mandarin collar at her neck all the way to her ankles. Even her blond hair had been done, pulled t