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Glowberries sparkle in the sunlight, decorating the interior roofs of a grandiose home located at the heart of Gilded Helianthia. They smiled down on Pearl for the last time this year, and she smiled back as she got out of bed.
Pearl got dressed, trading her loose pajamas for a flowy-sleeved golden dress, which resembled the pattern of glowstone, and opting for a sparkler-adorned headband instead of her usual embroidered bandanna. Today was the last day of the year, and it called for celebration.
— • —
I’ve heard
Since I was younger
That
“Oil and water don’t mix” was one of the first lessons Pearl learned. It was a saying used to dissuade people from interacting. Pearl thinks about it as she prepares oil and lye for soap-making, and as she waits patiently for a friend to arrive.
But I swear
with all your burned ridges
You can leech what’s caustic
The two of them were like that. The two of them were from kingdoms that, before they’d both become rulers, had hated each other. He was impulsive, she was calculated. Opposites, yet… through some kind of miraculous bind, they were friends.
Pearl heard a swish and peaked out the window, spotting a flying Sausage, red cape replaced with a star-patterned indigo one and rings of gold laced within his dark curly hair. Pearl smiled, then raced out the door to greet him.
Sausage landed with a spin, having barely enough time to react before being tackled into one of Pearl’s bear-hugs.
“Hey Sausage, you cheeky nugget! ‘S great to see you, happy New Year’s!”
Sausage grinned, throwing an arm around Pearl as she led him inside.
“Happy New Year’s to you too, Pearl!”
I think that you’re worth keeping around
The pair head to the kitchen, Pearl in the lead, where she picks a couple glow berries and begins to show Sausage how to make soap for Helianthia’s New Year’s celebration.
I think you’re worth holding on to…
Sausage struggles to put on her spare leather gloves, causing both of them to laugh when he finally gets them on.
— • —
“Remind me, who’s the soap for?”
Pearl shoots him a look. Sausage blinks back innocently.
“Don’t tell me you forgot!”
Sausage laughs, grin widening, and Pearl rolls her eyes.
“Alright, alright. So, we’ll each make two bars; one for us to use, and one for the Earth.”
One of the soap bars are buried, used as fertilizer to bless the land. The other is used for the rest of the coming year, or otherwise gifted.
Pearl explains this as she pours lye into a cup of glowberry juice and water, setting the hot solution aside to cool as Sausage prepares the oil and honey. They spend the morning trading stories and mixing each of their soap batters, and Sausage shares his wish for the new year.
I’ve heard
If I were tougher
Then
“Maybe I’d make it alive,” he confides in her. “If I wasn’t so weak.”
Pearl takes his gloved hand in her own and looks down at him.
“Sausage,” she starts. “One cannot grow without weakness.”
She plants a kiss on his forehead, and he squeezes her hand.
But if seeing’s believing
“I don’t know I’ve seen a thing grow without an open coat.”
After pouring the batters into their designated molds, the pair set the soap molds in Pearl’s room upstairs, and eat their lunch contentedly.
Sausage proudly presents a tiramisu he snuck out of Mythland, and they share it eagerly.
They crack open some sparkling cider and sip it casually, not caring that it’s early afternoon. The sun shone brighter with the two’s joy.
“Wanna take a walk around Helianthia?” Pearl asks Sausage after they’re done, spread out on her couch.
In reply, he only grins, taking her hand and pulling her up.
“Lead the way, Pearl!”
Pearl greets her neighbors, and they head to the market, where the two admire the New Year’s decor and the lights hanging from every home.
The day flies by, and eventually the pair find themselves back at Pearl’s. They head to her duck pond and sit on the wooden bench beside it, feeding seeds to the ducks and watching the afternoon fade into night.
Pearl watches Sausage on her shoulder, eyes closed as he listens to the various fauna of Helianthia. Pearl closes her eyes as well, and she swears she can hear the plants grow.
I think that you’re worth keeping around…
“Whatever happens next year, I hope to spend it with you.”
I think that you’re worth holding on to…
Fireworks light the sky, and Pearl goes inside to grab 2 sparklers for her and Sausage. They light them and parade around the duck pond, dancing together to poorly-sung songs and moon-drunken laughter.
It’s late when they finally get sleepy. Pearl can’t bear to have Sausage make the flight back to Mythland, insisting he stay. Sausage agrees without complaint; they’re used to visiting each other’s and staying for the night, and in his mind, Pearl’s room is as familiar to him as she is.
Before going to sleep, however, they wait until the clock strikes midnight.
— • —
It’s the New Year, and Pearl and Sausage each take out one of their soap bars, Pearl guiding Sausage’s hands so he doesn’t break his. With dyed paper and string, they wrap their other.
Pearl places her first one in the soil by the duck pond, while Sausage holds on to his, promising to plant it in Mythland’s royal gardens.
— • —
24 hours after Pearl had last woken up, she’s bidding Sausage goodbye. They hug, and he presses his wrapped soap into her hands.
“A good luck charm for the coming year.”
Pearl smiles, handing him her wrapped soap.
“This one’s for you.”
Both hold their gifts in their hands, and Pearl watches Sausage stare at his soap as though it’s the most valuable thing in the world.
“Promise we’ll be together in the coming year?”
It’s gonna hurt like hell
But we’re gonna be well
“I’ll give you my best shot.”