I was sitting at one of the empty seats with the rest of the family waiting for my little sister to make breakfast. It was a little embarrassing to have my little sister be the cook rather than me, but she was always better at those kinds of things; besides, she wasn’t so little anymore. My little sister already had her own children. She had three of the little hooligans running about, the eldest was nearly an adult, the middle child was fourteen and the youngest had not even reached ten yet.

It was a little embarrassing that the middle child was already taller than me, I never did manage to get my growth spurt but to be shorter than a fourteen-year-old was just unfair! Lil’sis’s husband was also at the table playing with the youngest child. I liked the husband; he was a jovial plump man but most important of all he was very nice to lil’sis.

“Breakfast is ready!” Lil’sis called out to the table informing them to clear the space in front of them for the piping plates to arrive. Lil’sis spoke with a little less warmth than she usually did today, lil’sis was always a beaming ray of positivity but once a year on this day she was a bit of a downer. That kind of irked me the wrong way since today was such an important day; however, my duty as an older sister demands that I be understanding and patient with her plight.

Everyone quickly cleared the table in front of them to welcome the aromatic plates of delicious food. I was not given a plate, lil’sis understood that I wasn’t hungry today and so my little allocated patch of table remained empty. I may not have been hungry, but that smell gave me more than a little jealousy.

The children and their father all chorused together. “Thank you, mom.”

They happily began to chow down on the eggs and ham while lil’sis found her own spot to join in. I happily watched the family sat around the table with the bright morning star shining through the windows to highlight their beautiful smiles.

For a while no one spoke, they merely allowed the chipper clang of cutlery to fill their ears until lil’sis finally spoke up. “We’re going to visit Aunt Ignis today, so I want everyone to finish their chores as early as possible alright?”

The middle child let out an annoyed grunt but quickly straightened to attention when he caught his father’s disapproving glare. I was always fascinated by how that man could control nearly anyone with just a simple stare, maybe he too had a superpower.

Giving the exact opposite reaction to the middle child, the youngest child was incredibly excited at this announcement. “Will Basal be there!?”

Lil’sis grew a bittersweet smile but seemed too lost in her own mind to answer requiring her husband to reply for her. “Of course he will be. Basal will always be with aunty Ignis.”

I could empathize with the young child, I really loved Basal; he was the greatest pet anyone could ask for. Sadly, Basal had hurt his eye trying to save me from an accident when I was younger. I was too young to know how to take care of a pet with Basal’s injury at the time so I had to hand the responsibility to others. I would always miss having Basal be my special loyal friend but with hindsight I can understand that it was the best for everyone involved.

My meandering mind was returned to the table when lil’sis finally joined the conversation and responded to the youngest child. “And we have plenty of treats that you can share with Basal, but first, we have a lot of chores don’t we?”

Unlike lil’sis I was very excited for today, I always loved it when the whole family would get together. In that regards, the faster the chores got done the faster and hopefully longer they could all visit. “I’ll go heard the sheep!”

I quickly rose from my seat accidentally nudging the eldest child’s elbow in doing so and giving them a startle as their food was knocked off their fork. “What the heck?”

Everyone turned to the eldest quizzically at their abrupt exclamation. The middle child spoke first with a devious smirk covering their face. “Are you talking to yourself again Keen?”

“No I wasn’t you bat! Maybe if you weren’t too busy stuffing your face like a pig then you would’ve noticed.”

She quickly interjected between the two before their usual sibling bickering ran out of animal-based insults to fling at each other and escalated to more scathing attacks.

“Sorry, that was my bad, I got a little excited and scared Keen. I just… really like the sheep.”

Before anyone could respond I quickly left the room to begin on my chores. I could hear the children continue their barrage of insults from back in the kitchen and I was not going to be the one to reprimand them; that wasn’t the job of the cool aunt, sheep herding was!

I always rushed to get dibs on herding the sheep; it had always been my favorite task. I used to often race others to the field first, no one could outmaneuver me though, so they eventually just gave up and relinquished the role of defacto sheep herder to me. I had overseen the sheep ever since I was a small child when Basal used to do all the hard work for me before his eye injury. I had always been quite a shy person and never really interacted much with other people; that was probably why I enjoyed the sheep so much; I could always find companionship among them. The sheep seemed to really see me for who I really was and this warm friendship I had with them helped to make sheep herding one of the best parts of the day.

Since we spent so much time together, the sheep were very receptive to my commands, which was a much-required ego boost since I often struggled with making my thoughts and opinions known to others. I herded the sheep to the best patches of grass for them to munch on while I enjoyed the great view of the town from this small hill. Hey, I could see my home from here, it was just on the hill opposite of this one. I never spent much time there since it was so much more fun and livelier at lil’sis’s place.

Eventually the sheep had finished grazing the land and I promptly led them into the safety of their little gated abode. I made my way back to the house with a jovial hop in my step though before I could even enter, I noticed the eldest child crouched on the floor peering under the warped boards of one of the small sheds that rested next to the house.

“What are you looking for Keen?”

“Where are the clippers?”

I could not help but giggle at my poor nephew, he must have been quite stumped over where the clippers could be if he was driven to searching under the shed. Thankfully for him he had me here for help and I could find hay in a needlestack in under a minute if I was trying really hard.

“I’ll help you look.” My confidence was proven well founded almost immediately as I found the clippers laying near the back of the highest shelf at the back of the shed. Somehow, even though I was one of the shortest members of the family I seemed to be the only one to notice when things were lost up high.

I easily managed to reach over and grab the clippers but rather than immediately hand them over I concocted a devious little plan. I very gingerly and carefully placed the clippers on a short bench that was resting against a side wall. I then gave a light tap on Keen’s shoulders causing him to turn around as I spoke. “Everything alright Keen? They were just resting right there on the bench.”

“No, they could NOT have been there all along?”

I beamed at my nephew who picked up the clippers with estranged confusion.

“Maybe you were the bat all along Keen?” I managed to make myself giggle with my own joke, but Keen seemed wholly unamused.

“Maybe I do need to get my eyes checked?”

“Don’t worry about it Keen, I can check. Yep, they’re still there.”

My nephew and nieces were one of the main reasons why I spent so much time with lil’sis, I had always loved children. Lil’sis would probably say it was because I was quite childish myself. I was always of the opinion that it wasn’t me who was too childish but lil’sis who was always trying to grow up too fast for her own good. Although, just because I’m a goof does not mean I don’t take my job as big sister seriously. When lil’sis first started dating her current husband I was constantly harassing and interrogating the man to make sure he was right for her. He even joked at one point that he felt like he was cursed, well half-joked, I did take my big sister role VERY seriously.

The family continued their daily work and chores throughout the afternoon practically racing against the day star as it made its orbit. The specialty of today did not change the fact that they had important responsibilities to uphold. One of the things that had always saddened me was that lil’sis was only ever making ends meet with constant effort and dedication. Luckily, effort and dedication came in limitless supply when lil’sis was involved.

After a couple more hours the family finally finished their grinding workload and gathered around the lustrous garden around the back of the house. One small part of the garden in which the family was gathered was a beautiful flower bed adorned in many vibrant colors and varied shapes. The wonderous pageant of flowers posed themselves for the onlookers reveling in their awe. I was very proud of the flower bed, it was my little pet project at this house and my constant care and treatment started to gather the attention of many of the neighbors which filled me with more than a little pride.

Lil’sis broke the silent admiration with her first command. “Alright kids, we need to pick a bouquet to bring to aunt Ignis. So, everyone pick one flower that you want to show her and Keen will clip them for us.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I adored flowers very much and part of all of the tending I did throughout the year was all preparation to create the greatest bouquet for today. I quickly blurted out my selected flower before anyone else could beat me to the punch. “Get some dove orchids does are my favorite!”

Keen turned to his mother in search of approval and when she gave him a resolute nod he snipped a pair of dove orchids and handed them to his father who held on to them in one hand and an elegant string in the other.

The youngest was the next to call out their flower. “Grab the voodoo lily, they have a cool name.”

Next was the middle. “We should give her some angel orchids, for like symbolism… or something.”

Keen then spent a little time thinking over which flower he would choose before deciding on a simple blue hyacinth. After handing all the flowers over, the father tied them together with the string and the group was ready to go on their way. The journey was not very long, it was a little hop, skip and a short trek up a small hill and they would be there. In fact, the place was close enough that they could see the hill where the sheep grazed from here.

The walk was mostly silent, lil’sis’s husband tended to the middle and youngest child while lil’sis and Keen walked with a somber hesitation. I tried striking up a conversation with lil’sis but to little success, she seemed far too gone in her own brain. Lil’sis was always so mopey when going on this trip.

It was not long until they arrived at their destination. The youngest child immediately ran off ahead of the group. “Basal!”

A large foxlike creature with four legs and two smaller appendages tucked under the center of its body was laying on the grass surrounded by strange piles of soft dirt. The creature had a long thin snout making its head appear almost like a cone. Three pairs of small eyes were stacked vertically along the snout leading to a large closed seventh eye marked with a large scar that rested below the right eyes. The creature had thin orange fur and a long bushy tail more than thrice the length of its body that wagged happily at seeing the visitors.

Basal stood up and bolted over to the youngest child practically tackling them to the ground and licking them all over their face. I was a little worried that Basal may have been playing too rough with the youngest, but they were laughing giddily so it was probably fine.

Basal stopped its affectionate assault when lil’sis approached it. “Hello Basal, how is Ignis?”

Basal gave a courageous bark. I would never claim to be an expert in the language of bark, but I could understand enough from the sentiment sent by Basal to be filled with a sense of security and comfort regardless.

“That’s wonderful to hear.” Lil’sis gave another one of those bittersweet smiles while she handed Basal a delicious treat with one hand and patted it on the head with the other.

“I want to feed Basal too! Can I? Can I?” Lil’sis handed the youngest child a bag filled with treats and then turned to Basal with burdened eyes. Sometimes it felt like Basal was a better people person than I was because Basal somehow managed to gleam enough information from just that exchange of glances to understand what was asked of; he clamped down on the youngest’s sleeve and began guiding them and the middle child off to the side to play together.

The husband handed over the bouquet to lil’sis who then slowly walked over towards a small stone plate that jutted from the ground. The plate read.

‘here lies Ignis Fatuus 3947-3960’

Next to the stone plate was a small vase containing some wilted flowers. When lil’sis saw the wilted flowers, she gave an exasperated sigh as she turned to look at Basal. Her frown could not hold against the sight of the children playing a terribly one-sided bout of tag against the creature. She promptly removed the wilted flowers and replaced them with the new bouquet.

The husband approached lil’sis and placed his hand over her shoulder. Keen didn’t seem to fully grasp the nuances of the encounter, but he also placed his hand on his mother’s other shoulder in an attempt to support her. Lil’sis threw her son a weak smile and wrapped her arm around him pulling him in and giving him a kiss on the forehead.

I decided to leave the three of them to their mourning and moved right on top of the grave. The water in the vase was a little dirty but I was able to quickly clean it with a simple wave of my hand. I read the text on the gravestone again.

‘3947-3960’

It has been forty years since then. It didn’t really feel like that long ago to me though. It’s interesting how time flies. Lil’sis finally spoke up. “I love you Ignis.”

Almost as a response to her claim a bell chimed. Basal immediately ended its playtime with the children and ran to position himself between lil’sis and the grave and began growling at the empty air; however, the air did not stay empty for long. In between Basal and the grave where I stood there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with two limbs. One arm was outstretched towards Basal, and the other was outstretched towards the empty space above the grave. Each arm held onto a glowing parchment, I looked over the parchment in front of me: It read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Ghost