Mara knew there were rules.

There had to be.

Red ribbons.

Blue ribbons.

Yellow ribbons.

Two wooden poles.

A painted hoop.

A bell.

And forty children running in every direction.

**Mara:**
“Chibi!”

A red head appeared behind a barrel.

**Chibi:**
“What?”

**Mara:**
“Which team are we?”

Chibi looked around.

**Chibi:**
“I don’t know.”

**Mara:**
“You’ve been playing for twenty minutes!”

**Chibi:**
“I know.”

He grinned.

**Chibi:**
“We’re doing very well.”

Then the drums began.

Red shouted for red.

Blue shouted for blue.

Yellow shouted for yellow.

Until someone simply shouted:

“HEY!”

And everyone answered.

“HEY!”

The hoop disappeared.

A basket became a drum.

The game became a race.

The race became a procession.

The procession became a dance.

Nobody decided any of it.

It simply happened.

Mara found herself holding hands with a boy from the other team.

**Mara:**
“Aren’t we supposed to be against each other?”

**Boy:**
“I think so.”

**Mara:**
“Then why are we holding hands?”

A Halfling girl answered.

**Girl:**
“Because we’re dancing.”

Soon nobody shouted colours anymore.

Only the rhythm remained.

Stamp.

Stamp.

Clap.

Mara turned to Chibi.

**Mara:**
“Which team are we now?”

**Chibi:**
“I don’t know.”

**Mara:**
“Are we winning?”

Chibi listened to everyone cheering.

**Chibi:**
“Definitely.”

Then Mara noticed fires on a distant hill.

Orcs.

They were shouting.

Drumming.

Stamping.

Fighting.

Laughing.

Together.

**Mara:**
“They’re doing it too.”

**Chibi:**
“Different rules.”

**Mara:**
“Same feeling?”

Chibi watched them.

**Chibi:**
“Maybe.”

**Mara:**
“Does Chaos make everyone move together?”

Chibi shook his head.

**Chibi:**
“I don’t think so.”

**Mara:**
“How do you know?”

**Chibi:**
“Because we’re doing it.”

He pointed towards the Orcs.

**Chibi:**
“And they don’t need Chaos to be Orcs.”

Mara laughed.

Later, she found the red, blue and yellow ribbons lying together in the grass.

**Mara:**
“We started as three teams.”

**Chibi:**
“Yes.”

**Mara:**
“And ended as one.”

She looked towards the distant Orc fires.

**Mara:**
“Not completely one.”

**Chibi:**
“No.”

Mara held the three ribbons.

**Mara:**
“Maybe you can feel like everyone…”

She smiled.

**Mara:**
“…without everyone having to become the same.”

Chibi stole the blue ribbon.

**Mara:**
“Hey!”

He ran.

**Chibi:**
“BLUE TEAM!”

**Mara:**
“THERE AREN’T TEAMS ANYMORE!”

**Chibi:**
“THEN YOU CAN’T LOSE!”

## PLAY EPIC. FEEL THE STORY.

Enter the Old World, where every people has its own songs, its own games and its own way of becoming *we*.

Campaigns:
https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan

Explore the history, religion, folklore and philosophy behind Mythveil Chronicles:

https://www.patreon.com/c/mythveilchronicles_bydunchanhuntergames

**Stories that remember. Worlds that change.**

# If a festival can make strangers feel like one people without making them all the same, where should the boundaries of that “we” end?