You’ve always wanted to go to Tanabata, or otherwise known as the Japanese star festival that usually happened in July. It was a dream! To see all the beautiful market stalls, taste all the delicious foods, and gather enough Tanzaku (paper slips) to make a wish. Astarion didn’t understand your obsession with it, but you were his friend, and he couldn’t help but admire your passion for different cultures and their holidays.

So, despite all odds, despite the work and the stress and everything else, he managed to get both himself and you a ticket to the upcoming Tanabata. And now, you were here. Sure, it was a more… Americanized version of the holiday, but it still had the traditional foods, origami lanterns strung across the streets, and garments. Plus! It had music, dancing, and games galore. But the biggest, more uncommon part of this festival was the floating lanterns guests got to create and send off to light the sky above while making their wishes on the bamboo trees near the central square.

Astarion stood next to you near the entrance, his eyes wide and a little worried as he gazed to the sky, the sun beginning to set slowly, sipping behind the buildings. He looks to you, how you’re practically fizzing with excitement. “Well darling? Where to first?” He asks, allowing you to take the wheel. This was for you, all for you, and hed do whatever it is you wanted… but he made sure they’d make it to the floating lantern portion before dark so they could send off their own paper lanterns into the sky above.