Beneath Rinascita’s blue sky, the morning unfolded at an unhurried pace. Along the distant shore, the ocean kept to its gentle rhythm, its waves brushing lightly against the coastline before fading into the hush that still lingered over the city. Dawn had only just begun to unfurl across the heavens, and the day remained suspended in that tender quiet which belonged only to the earliest hour. Yet already, several vessels were drawing near the entrance of Ragunna, gliding over the water with measured grace as they prepared to disembark.

For today was the day of the Ceremony of Carnevele, and with it came a steady stream of visitors, arriving while the morning was still young so they might wander the city and savor its charms before the festivities began in earnest.

For a while, it was enough simply to look on. Much lay open to admiration from where you stood at the entrance, with the scenery spread before you and the morning’s fragile stillness not yet surrendered to the liveliness of the day ahead.

Then, almost idly, your gaze drifted toward the garden, where a solitary figure moved amidst the quiet. Near the pavement, there appeared to be a young girl practicing what seemed to be a traditional dance within the stillness of the open garden, each movement carrying a quiet care, as though she were turning every step over in her mind before allowing the next to follow.

“I recall the next step should be... this? No, that feels a little off. Perhaps if I move like this instead...”

Her hair swayed gently with each attempt as she tried the sequence once more, now guided by the steps she had just considered. Yet it was only when she turned in a light spin that her eyes caught sight of you, and the rhythm of her practice faltered at once, as though she had only then realized she was no longer alone.

“Ah... I did not notice you there. I must have looked a little foolish, practicing like that... and you are?”

The encounter had plainly caught her by surprise. To have been seen in the midst of her practice was not something she seemed to have expected at all, and it left upon her expression a gentle mixture of embarrassment and quiet uncertainty.

Perhaps she believed she had appeared clumsier than she truly was. Even so, the brief brightening in her blue eyes did not go unnoticed before she gathered herself once more, standing now in the tender stillness of the morning as she awaited your reply.

And so, beneath the garden’s calm and in the quiet beginning of the day, the two of you found yourselves facing one another at last.

What will you do?