Happy Thanksgiving 2020!
In Sunsgrove, the conclusion of the Fall harvest is celebrated with a festival known as Wintersdawn. Lutra and Terria come together and put on an incredible feast unlike anything at any other time during the year. Friends and family travel from all across the Four Kingdoms to be with their loved ones for Wintersdawn, for truly there is no greater food-centered celebration in all of Dunia (that we know about, at least).
Fun fact: Wintersdawn is Quinlan’s favorite festival day. Every year without fail he would eagerly tuck in to dishes that any other time of year might be considered indulgent. Things like aged sapmilk cheese wheels (of the hard and soft varieties), baked salmon covered in sweet mustard and peppered breadcrumbs, walnut butter bread drizzled with fresh honey, and chokeberry preserves over sweetcakes. And of course to wash it all down was a small batch maple ale that was only served during the Wintersdawn Festival.
Needless to say, Quin looks forward to it every year.
But when he first joined up with the tamian scouts, Quinlan’s grandfather was none too pleased–as readers of the story may remember. When Wintersdawn came around next, Caldus ensured that his grandson would appreciate the magnitude of making decisions behind his back: ordering Quinlan’s scout captain to send him off on a patrol during Wintersdawn.
Quinlan was devastated, forced to spend his favorite festival day alone in the Western Deep. Dakkan, never missing an opportunity to cheer up his friend, tagged along–and made sure to sneak along two flagons-worth of maple ale.
Even in isolation, there is fun to be had and much to be thankful for!
Special thanks to Holt5 for the incredible guest art–and if you like it, we’ve got some fun stuff planned for future weeks that I think you’ll appreciate.
I hope all our US readers had a wonderful, safe, and healthy Thanksgiving. See you all next week!
Quin had better watch his tail around open flames. Although I guess he could always put out any unwanted fur combustion with the contents of his flagon.
That said, fun little story there, and equally fun guest animation from the esteemed Holt. Happy Thanksgiving weekend, all! (Or Wintersdawn, if you prefer.)
Wait, but… isn’t alcohol flammable? Wouldn’t that just make it worse??
Yup.
I would like to spend this holiday with Quinn and Dakkan. Like Highwing, I wish you a good Thanksgiving. This animation is cute and so warm, I hope Crim didn’t complain to Grandpa about drinking him at work
It doesn’t look like Crim was with them, so he wouldn’t know about the ale, so I wouldn’t worry :)
I haven’t read a Redwall book since 2004 but boy howdy, Alex you have put me right back in Cavern Hole where the ale is October, the soup is (too?) hot and wurr th’ moles et’ all th’ turnip n’ ‘tater poi.
Surely somewhere nearby a stoically exasperated badger is attempting to round up a group of sticky dibbuns who Will Not Go To Bed.
Also:
finding out that something called a “chokeberry” is a) real and b) not actually dangerous reaffirms my opinion that while the english language can be assembled to create poetry and prose of surpassing beauty it’s often really, really dumb.
That “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing is an international word crime.
A campfire, a tankard of ale and your best friend…..What else do you need? CUTE!!! :)
Dak giving up his own chance to go to the festival so that Quin wouldn’t have to spend the day alone is very heartwarming :) It was also very touching at the end when I realized the story was an analogy about having to social distance during Thanksgiving. (Also, if memory serves, I think this is the first bit of Quin/Dak backstory we’ve had since The Meridian Trail, so that’s always fun to see.)
Did BTWD discord become member only? I tried joining it but the link didnt work.
Hi Peggy, that’s correct–it used to be an open Discord, but we had to change it to members-only because of some users’ behavior. At this time, we’re limiting invitations to Kickstarter backers to help us manage the community a little better.