The First Challenge of the Fire Festival
It's game day! No more waiting. The Fire Festival has begun!
And we’re back!
I hope everyone enjoyed the Halloween series! I’m really happy with how it turned out.
We now continue on with Princess Hanna’s story! It’s been a long time in the making, but it’s now time for the Fire Festival to properly kick off.
If you’re new here, here’s a link to the full Princess Hanna series:
Now, let’s get started!
With Halloween finished, there was nothing between Hanna and the Fire Festival except for a few nervous sleeps.
Hanna was in focus mode now. She spent every day training with Uncle James, getting ready. She was obsessed. In Hanna’s mind, nothing in the world existed except for the Festival. It was all that mattered. It was all she thought about, all she dreamed about. Have you ever had that happen? The whole world becomes this one thing that you’re completely focused on.
Carrie and Michael, meanwhile, were having a great time. They were exploring Scale City, with Michael showing Carrie his favourite places.
More than anyone else, it was Uncle James who understood Hanna’s drive and obsession. He had been very similar when he was younger. He knew how much the Festival meant to her. And that was why his advice was always the same: “You just need to stay calm and do your best.”
With that said, when he was Hanna’s age, he’d had a very different perspective. Less calmness, more obsession. But he was wiser now… sort of.
He taught Hanna everything he knew about the Fire Festival. The types of events and challenges she might need to face. Strategies, tips and tricks.
And then the day arrived — the day of the first event of the Fire Festival. In some ways it felt sudden. In some ways it felt like it had taken forever.
Hanna looked like a zombie as she sat for her breakfast on the morning of the Festival. She’d had a very restless night’s sleep and could feel a heaviness and a tiredness in her body.
Carrie and Hanna’s dad tried to cheer Hanna up, but they didn’t have any luck.
Hanna looked down at her porridge and it may as well have been a bowl of boogers. The last thing on earth she wanted to do was eat it.
Uncle James entered the room and brought some important energy along with him.
“Good morning!” he called out happily. “Today’s the day!”
He quickly realised Hanna wasn’t quite as excited.
He took a seat at the table.
“Not so hungry?” he asked.
Hanna shook her head.
“Well it’s a big day ahead,” said Uncle James. “You’re going to need the energy. Here’s your first battle of the day. Eating that porridge.”
She finally pushed through and dug in.
*
Once it was time, Hanna and Uncle James made their way to the town square to get ready. The stands around the town square were already starting to fill up with dragons. Hanna felt a squeeze of nervousness as she saw the crowds filing in.
They continued through to one of the buildings at the edge of the town square. This was where all of the dragon competitors would wait before their events.
Hanna and Uncle James were taken through to a waiting room with all of the other young dragons who had made it through to the finals. There would be seven other dragons that Hanna would be up against, including her new friend Michael and the favourite to win the competition, George.
All of the other competitors were there in the waiting room with their trainers. Michael smiled at Hanna when he saw her, but Hanna was still too nervous to do anything but frown. Michael’s dad was talking passionately to Michael about what he needed to focus on, but Michael wasn’t really listening.
Hanna and Uncle James found a spot on a bench and took a seat. Hanna looked scared.
“You’ve done all you can,” said Uncle James. “Just do your best.”
Hanna was unconvinced.
“Remember your breathing,” said Uncle James.
“In… 2… 3… 4…
Hold… 2… 3… 4…
Out… 2… 3… 4….”
Hanna did her breathing, settling her mind and settling her nerves.
“Remember,” said Uncle James. “You’re safe right now. Before, during and after this, you’re still going to be safe.”
It was time.
The trainers stayed behind in the waiting room while the competitors walked out into the town square. Hanna was on her own now. Or at least she thought she was.
Michael suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. “You’ve got this!” he said passionately.
As they walked out, the crowds of the town square were cheering all around them.
The young dragons were led out to the middle of the town square and set up in a line, all eight of them, each with a separate big cauldron in front of them.
There was a special section of seating looking down over the town square. That was where all of the royal dragons were sitting. When the King of Scale City stood up, the crowd went silent.
“Welcome, young dragons of the realm and congratulations on making it to the finals of the Fire Festival. Today, it is time for your first challenge. A cooking challenge…”
There was laughter and cheering from the crowd. The young competing dragons looked at each other with baffled confusion. Cooking? This was the Fire Festival! Why on earth would there be a cooking challenge?
The King continued: “In each of the cauldrons in front of you, there is a kilogram of uncooked popcorn kernels. Your job is simple. To cook them!”
The crowd roared enthusiastically.
“However…” the King went on. “You can’t look into the cauldron at any point during the challenge. And you can only use one stream of fire. No stopping and starting. The four dragons with the most popped popcorn win. If you burn any, you lose.”
The stakes were set and a new wave of nerves came over the competing dragons.
The King counted down, “Three… two… one… go!”
Straight away, a bunch of the young dragons began hurriedly breathing fire at their cauldrons, including George.
Hanna hesitated. She had a sudden idea.
She thought back to the nasty bowl of porridge she had eaten that morning. This led her to another memory. She remembered back to the first time she had tried to make porridge herself when she was much younger. She remembered it well. She was hungry and had wanted to eat as quickly as possible. For that reason, she had added lots and lots of logs to the kitchen fire. In no time, the fire roared and she ended up burning her porridge to a crisp. Her mum had rushed in to put out the fire.
“Next time, low and slow,” her mum had said. “Low and slow.”
Hanna focused back in on the task at hand. She started breathing fire at the cauldron in front of her.
Low and slow.
Thanks for reading!
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