In the following days, in addition to some rest, Heppa and Tric also enjoy some recreation, namely, the After Harvest Festival. Despite their dismissal of human festivals last spring, Glammur is actually in town specifically to enjoy this fair. While it is certainly an opportunity for new tales and audiences, they were drawn by rumor of a gourd orchestra. The whole festival is gourd-themed. Artisans sell gourd containers and wind chimes, jugglers toss gourds around, acrobats with gourds on their heads balance on stilts, and so on.
As they explore the grounds and take in all the merchants and food stalls, Tric tells Glammur about the full moon dance party in Wesmere. “Even elves cut loose sometimes,” Tric says. “Though not in our forest. Our forest is… kind of dull.”
“More pragmatic,” Heppa suggests generously.
“Kind of back-country,” Tric says.
“But yer worldly noo,” Glammur observes. The elves have had a wide variety of experiences since they first met down in Untdunben six months ago. Tric even has an enormous uncut ruby to sell, loot from some adventure in the Heart Mountains.
Walking arm-in-arm with Alric, Heppa asks him what he wants to see at the festival. Maebl is covering the bar for him, but Heppa knows his free time is precious. Alric at first says he is just happy to show Heppa around. After all, he takes great pleasure from her refreshing reactions to experiencing new things. However, when pressed to make a choice, he admits he quite enjoys the pitchfork games.
First up, though, is a performance by the gourd orchestra. As the four of them walk over to that area of the field, they overhear other people talking about something called a catapult. The Engineer is mentioned in some relation to it, which makes Heppa excited to check it out later.
Instead of trumpet fanfares, the sound produced by air forced through hollow gourds calls the visitors to attention. Gourds of all sizes have been turned into instruments for the performance. Though many have been carved into ocarinas, others are serving the role of drums. After the show, there is a chance for spectators to ask questions and try out the instruments. Heppa observes how creative humans are with all their different instrument types.
Glammur provides professional observations, contrasting the sounds of vegetable instruments with those of wood and skin, such as dwarvish pipes and drums. Tric is so bold as to attempt to play the simplest flute-like gourd. The musician from which he borrows it extols all the virtues of different gourds, their timbres and tonalities. Tric’s attempts produce pathetic sounds, and he does not have the training to even understand the musician’s critique of his embouchure.
“What word did you just use? I’m embouchure you made that up,” Tric jests.
“It’s hoo yer mouth is shaped when ya blow intae an instrument like this,” Glammur explains. They pick up a gourd and run through a scale on it with no difficulty, having spent years playing bagpipes.
“I think I’ll stick with gourds as snacks,” Tric says, nodding over at one of the vendors selling small ones.
“So what are the benefits of making instruments from gourds?” Heppa asks a crafter currently working on one for sale. She had assumed gourd instruments were a normal human thing, but some of the conversation she has overheard suggests otherwise.
“They are plentiful at this time of year, as well as cheap, since they just grow,” the artisan explains. “While they are used as long-lasting instruments in some cases, such as these over here that are dried into rattles, the wind versions are fleeting. We scoop them out, removing enough of the insides to get a good tone from each of these holes we’ve carved, but we don’t dry them. They are still fresh when we play them. Our performance here is a spectacle in celebration of the harvest.”
“Do you eat them afterwards?”
“Oh, no! They will rot in a few days, especially with how much we’re blowing into them. They’ll end up in the compost pile.”
Not interested in the music so much as the design work, Heppa is satisfied with what she has learned. “Let’s go see the pitchforks!” she urges Alric, and they take their leave of Tric and Glammur.