Illnyea's face went through an amusing variety of emotions as she listened to the tale of their arrival at Aidais' Lament and the stunt they had pulled to keep the populace from suspecting they were onto them. First there was disbelief, several rapid blinks as she glanced between Priscilla and Kavil, and then Illnyea's jaw dropped as Kavil recounted how Sulaiman and Priscilla were having an audacious affair.

Sulaiman was staring somewhere off into the distance like he was dissociating and pretending he couldn't hear anything. Though Priscilla hadn't felt much embarrassment in the moment, when she saw the flush that darkened Sulaiman's cheeks beneath his mask while listening to Kavil describing the way they were 'all over each other,' made Priscilla feel a little flustered, especially with how Illnyea's eyebrows threatened to fly into the sky.

"Wow," Illnyea said, and she opened her mouth like she planned to say something else but she just burst into helpless giggles, staring at Sulaiman who was doing his best impression of a man who had been turned into marble. She clutched her stomach like her abs hurt from the force of her laughing. Kavil started to giggle too, sending Priscilla a teasing look under his lashes that reminded her that she had held Kavil closer than she had Sulaiman.

"Yeah, looking back, the idea was kind of stupid," Priscilla said, scratching the back of her neck while looking anywhere that wasn't Kavil or Sulaiman, "but if something's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid, and, you know, I think I see a stall over there that's selling something tasty that I've got to go try."

It was not a graceful exit from the conversation but Priscilla could feel her embarrassed flush working its way up her neck as she turned on her heel.

"I want some too!" Kavil said, darting forward to loop his arm with hers. Priscilla tried her best to not jerk away as he turned his face towards her, an impish smile tugging at his lips. The stuffed deer was tenderly tucked in the crook of his other arm.

"You're devious," Priscilla said, adopting a lightly accusing tone she hoped would cover up the fact her cheeks were red, "I thought we agreed Illnyea wasn't to learn about my harem."

"I never promised that," Kavil said, his smile deepening and showing off his dimples, "and Illnyea ought to know about your harem for when it returns in the future."

Priscilla's steps faltered for a moment as her mind was momentarily flooded with the implications of that statement – flashing back to the moment where Sulaiman had leaned in to grab a piece of grass out of her hair, to when Kavil was laying on the bed after healing her from poison, and her traitorous mind started to fill in the gaps with delusion where those situations ended differently as the word 'harem' echoed on repeat.

The only reason she didn't eat shit after a passerby ran into her shoulder while she was distracted was because Kavil caught her, pulling her closer to his body.

"Careful," Kavil said, concern replacing the teasing in his expression as he brushed off her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Priscilla nodded, still a little stunned from what her mind cooked up.

Kavil glared in the direction that the other person had walked off to, before looking back at Priscilla. He sighed, reaching up to readjust her crown of flowers that had been jostled in the impact, and tucked the strand that framed her face behind her ear.

"There," Kavil said, satisfaction in his voice, "just as stunning as before. Let's get to the stall before anyone else bumps into you."

Kavil turned, tugging Priscilla along, and Priscilla took the opportunity to take a deep breath. She shoved the improbable delusions out of her mind, firmly reminding herself that she shouldn't be thinking of such things.

Their friendship was too precious to sully with something as flimsy as romance, an unstable thing that would ruin everything when things inevitably went wrong and she fucked things up. She had only ever had one relationship that hadn't ended in tears and fighting and that was because her ex had realized they were actually aro-ace and couldn't give her the affection she ached for. Every other time, she had been unceremoniously broken up with for some reason or another – she was too obsessed with TDE when it was 'just a story,' too focused on her business instead of their needs, too emotional and loud whenever they talked, too close with Mr. –– when they weren't even related, just to name a few. She had resented being 'too much' for people until she eventually had abstained from relationships altogether, content to be a crazy cat lady for the foreseeable future (before the whole isekai bullshit).

It was safer to just be friends with someone because it was better to keep things light and uncomplicated – plus, romance would just be an unhelpful distraction when there were a million and one cult plots to stop.

"I want a stromboli with mozerella," Priscilla said, pulling out her coin purse as they stepped up to the stall, "and one of whatever he wants."

The topic of harems was well and truly dropped when they returned to Sulaiman and Illnyea with their prizes, though Illnyea kept sending Sulaiman amused glances on occasion while they walked down the streets.

They chanced upon what was the fantasy equivalent of a small zoo of magical creatures and Priscilla stopped in her tracks, staring open mouthed at the adorable critters she had only ever read about.

A horned hare stared unhappily at the two-tailed ocelot next to it, the ocelot's spots shifting with the sun as it curled up in the basket, uncaring of the hare's ire. A pair of snow crabs with white fur skirted about their icy tank, waving their bound claws like they were dancing, and a sharptooth squirrel stared hungrily at a raindew skink that was constantly sweating a sweet smelling blue liquid in its exhibit. Underneath a clothed cage was a sand owl with dappled yellow feathers and bright glowing purple eyes that watched the glass box of devil'd grasshoppers vibrate as they swarmed over a branch, and on the other side was either an electric king snake or a really long legless lizard from the Leron region.

Priscilla loved each and every one of the creatures, walking away from her party to get a better look at the critters.

The man who was in charge had a little sign next to him stating, "Ask me questions!"

"What do you feed the squirrel?" Priscilla asked, and the man jolted in surprise.

He pushed up his hat as he squinted at her. "Walnuts and fruits normally, with mushrooms to supplement it."

"But no meat?" Priscilla asked insistently.

"Occasionally as a treat," the keeper said, frowning now, "but we reserve most of it for our obligate carnivores."

"How'd you come across the snow crabs?" Priscilla asked, accepting that answer, even if she would probably do it differently.

"They were owned by a noble who fancied himself an exotic collection."

"Is it hard to reproduce Ichthor's tundra while traveling? I read that if they get too hot, they literally explode."

"Uh, we have a team that works on the enchantment on their enclosure," the keeper said uneasily, glancing at the pair of crabs that were swaying back and forth now.

"Does the raindew skink really glow in the moonlight of a full moon?"

"Uh," the keeper said, leaning back, "it does reflect the light when it basks, but – "

"Have you tested to see if the potency of the dew is lessened because it's in captivity?"

"I don't think so?"

"Is that a legless lizard or an electric king snake in the corner? Because you have it awfully close to the sand owl, and depending on what species it is, it could hurt the owl and make it cause a small windstorm – "

Two someones grabbed Priscilla's elbows and she found herself being turned away from the keeper. Illnyea had one elbow and an amused expression on her face while Sulaiman seemed exasperated by the set of his mouth.

"But I have more questions!" Priscilla protested but their grip was firm as she was dragged away. She had only asked very reasonable questions!

"The man looked two seconds from feeding you to the owl," Sulaiman said dryly. Priscilla grumbled but unhappily resigned herself to not continuing her interrogation of the keeper.

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As they continued their wandering, they happened upon a marvelous section of the festival with merchants from across the continent and beyond. Merchants cheerfully called out their sales to every passerby, each trying to be louder than their neighbor, proclaiming they had the best deals around, with wares you could find nowhere else.

There was wine from Ichthor, the land of everlasting snow near the northern most part of the Edura continent, blacksmiths from the far south of Shiov Thyae that made weapons out of bone and ivory, porcelain and glassware with intricate gold inlays from Oskaira, clockwork from Exlia, and even a contingent of enchanters from the Royal Verde Tower. Excitement buzzed under Priscilla's skin as they wandered through the stalls, but she kept a tight grip on her coin purse because while all of these things were fascinating, she didn't need them.

The first place where anyone bought anything was unsurprisingly an herb stall. Kavil searched the entire tent with the zeal of a hunting dog, consulting a small paper he had tucked into his pocket as he methodically went down the aisles until he had found every fresh herb he wanted. He picked up a bottle of a pink syrup he said would, "Probably be tasty over a pancake."

The next stop was a bookshop, where Kavil found a cookbook and Sulaiman bought something with the word 'control' on the cover, but Priscilla didn't get a good look at it before he put it away. Sulaiman also picked out a candle that smelled like lavender.

They stopped by the Shiov Thyae blacksmiths where Illnyea stopped dead in her tracks before walking forward towards a set of throwing knives. She ran a finger over the hilt that was made from a sabertooth bear's femur according to the sign, before her mouth went firm with determination. Priscilla stepped in to help Illnyea haggle with the blacksmith, though the blacksmith had seemed amused by Illnyea's enthusiasm and didn't fight back nearly as much as Priscilla had been expecting. The daggers' sheath was strapped across Illnyea's chest seconds after she purchased them, and she was utterly uncaring of the way the weapons clashed with her outfit.

"When have you ever thrown a dagger?" Sulaiman asked, eyeing Illnyea doubtfully.

Illnyea's cheeks puffed out as she clutched the daggers protectively.

"I know the basic principle behind it," Illnyea said, and turned a look that begged for approval towards Priscilla.

"Just don't stab any of us, alright?" Priscilla laughed. "I don't think Kavil would appreciate the extra work."

"Avoid the vital points and we'll be okay," Kavil said, glancing up from the cookbook, "as I should probably be practicing healing when I can."

Illnyea brightened as Sulaiman and Priscilla exchanged a worried look.

For Priscilla, she browsed most of the stalls but only a few things stood out to her that she thought would actually be useful in the future – the first was a blank notebook she could keep her designs sketches in, and the second was a map of the world she thought would come in handy. She had a few maps of Kavendash and the surrounding countries, but nothing from the other continents or from remote places like Ichthor, so this would help keep her knowledge from TDE fresh.

There was a silk stall from Aswar and Priscilla browsed it casually, though she didn't intend to buy anything, mostly trying to kill time at a close stall as the others took a brief bathroom break.

As Priscilla was admiring a lilac bolt of silk, another set of customers wandered in.

"–asty business that," a man said, sounding disgusted.

"I can't believe they had grown so bold to attack a settlement," a woman responded. "I thought dire deer were meant to be peaceful creatures."

Priscilla stopped paying attention to the silk.

"Bah," the man spat, "the only good monster is a dead monster, no matter how supposedly peaceful it is."

"Has the king truly done nothing in response?" the woman asked, a shade of fear coloring her words. "No guards sent to exterminate the population?"

The man sighed. "I don't know what the blasted man is thinking, but he hasn't said anything – Princess Lizbeth has expressed concern but she can't do anything when she's not the heir."

"But the deer are so close to the capital," the woman said, and the pair finally entered Priscilla's peripheral vision.

They were both in their mid-thirties, dressed in clothes that were a cut above the other festival goers, finely tailored things that flattered the body. The man wore a fine suit made of a deep red material that had shiny quality to it, an orange vest beneath the suitjacket with a sprig of juniper pinned to it, and a monocle placed on his right eye. The woman's blonde hair was drawn up into an intricate style that had braids curled into flowers across the crown of her head behind a gold headband, several fine silver necklaces resting on her neck, and wore a dress that reminded Priscilla of the type that used to be popular in the Tudor dynasty with square neckline and full sleeves that tied off at the wrists.

"Surely the king will want to deal with the monsters before winter approaches," the woman continued, her brows creased in worry. "He cannot let them ruin the Equinarial Tournament."

The man rolled his eyes. "Honesly, Lucilla, I don't know why you think he'll solve anything. King Rhys only cares for keeping the kingdom's coffers full so he can host parties and pretend the people love him."

Lucilla frowned, lips pursed like she had sucked a lemon. "Peli, why must you be so pessimistic? King Rhys is still recovering from his wife's death last year."

Peli gave Lucilla a disbelieving look.

"You cannot believe that drivel," Peli said, lifting his nose dismissively, "when he has so many bastards running about, born when his 'dear wife' was still alive, honestly, I thought you were smarter than that."

Lucilla's cheeks flushed, mouth falling open in offense.

Priscilla took that moment to quietly clear her throat and both of the probable nobles turned towards her in surprise. Peli's eyebrow raised at her audacity while Lucilla's posture stiffened.

"Pardon me," Priscilla said, dipping her head respectfully, "but I couldn't help but overhear you two speaking of dire deer near the capital?"

Peli's eyes narrowed but Lucilla nodded, her expression going grave.

"They've gone absolutely mad!" Lucilla said, in a tone that suggested she had been waiting for someone to ask her about this. "They've been goring cattle and farmers alike, attacking anything that moves and – "

"Lucilla," Peli hissed, grabbing his companion by the elbow to quiet her. Peli's eyes raked over Priscilla, narrowing even further. "Why are you asking?"

Priscilla scratched the back of her neck bashfully. "One of my friends is hoping to enter the Equinarial Tournament and has to travel up north, so if what you're saying is true, I'm a bit worried for him."

Lucilla softened, giving Peli a sharp look as she reclaimed her elbow.

"If your friend has enough skill to compete in the tournament," Lucilla said, "then he should be fine, but let me tell you everything I know."

The probable noble woman turned out to be a professional yapper and with each new fact she revealed, Priscilla's suspicion grew until she was confident in her conclusion.

The cult had pushed forward their plans to agitate local monster populations to make people afraid, sowing chaos across the world. Small events that would snowball out of control if left unchecked, which many of them would because the individual events weren't concerning.

"Thank you so much," Priscilla said, bowing her head, "I'll warn my friend to keep an eye out for the deer."

"And what's your name, dear?" Lucilla asked. "I don't think I caught it earlier."

Hesitating for just a brief second, Priscilla decided to go with the truth since she probably would never see the pair again. "Priscilla Sunscarre."

"Goodbye, Miss Sunscarre," Peli said firmly, pulling Lucilla away. Priscilla returned Lucilla's wave, waiting until the two nobles were out of sight before dropping her smile.

The rabid dire deer near the capital was another complication for their travel plans, but Priscilla would let her party relax for one more evening, and tell them before they left tomorrow.

By the time evening rolled around and they had just sat down to watch the play Illnyea had wanted to watch, Priscilla was tired in a pleasant way. They had browsed the stalls for another hour, but Illnyea had insistently dragged them to the flower fields because she wanted to get a good seat.

Illnyea was tearing up as the play finished, dabbing at her eyes with the ends of her sleeves.

"Their love story is so touching," Illnyea sniffled, "and so tragic. Christi deserved so much more."

Kavil seemed similarly moved, blinking away wetness from his eyes as he nodded. "Kelvia should have spoken to Christi before assuming Christi only loved her because she was a god, all Kelvia had to go on was the word of her evil twin!"

"Exactly!" Illnyea said, turning towards Kavil with the fervor of a frantic fan.

The actors had been good at what they did, and the production value was good, so Priscilla had enjoyed the play, but she wasn't nearly as moved as her friends. That was probably because she knew that the play had been based on a true story from a side plot in TDE where they had to put the original Christi's soul to rest. The god Kelvia had been far crueler in life, cursing Christi to spend eternity as a statue made of wood for 'falsifying love for the divine,' so the party had to figure out how to free Christi from the curse because it was spreading and turning everything and everyone around into wood as well.

Priscilla caught Sulaiman staring at her and she raised an eyebrow.

"How'd you like it?" Priscilla asked, tilting her head towards the stage that was being rapidly taken apart.

Sulaiman shrugged, leaning back on his palms. "It was fine," Sulaiman said, "but it's just another tale of fickle gods and the poor souls who get caught up in their wake. You?"

Priscilla chuckled, amused at how close Sulaiman was to the truth. "I feel the same, but I can see why people like it." As she continued, she spoke louder to be heard over Kavil and Illnyea's increasingly impassioned conversation about how Christi could have proven herself to Kelvia. "We should probably head to the bonfire now if we want to get a good view."

Girls and boys dressed as faeries wandered through the crowd, baskets full of flowers that they shared with every person they passed, the soft jangling of the bells around their ankles and wrists filling the air as Meadowyar's citizens gathered around the bonfire. The pile of tinder was nearly fifteen feet tall, and large boulders ringed the edge, ensuring that no one could get too close.

An archer stood on a raised platform thirty feet away, dressed similarly to the faeries slipping through the crowd. She stared at the horizon, where the sun was slowly but surely slipping further and further down as the sky was cast in a dusky gray.

As the sun fully disappeared, the archer lit an arrow and let it fly to the bonfire. After a moment, it erupted into flames and the crowd let out a deafening cheer as they threw their flowers forward. The flowers fell like a flurry of snow, hitting the flames and burning quickly to fill the air with a sweet smell.

Musicians set up nearby began to play a bright folk song that made you want to stomp your feet as they sang of a jolly lass and her farmer boy.

"Let's dance!" Illnyea said, grabbing Priscilla's hand and moving into the space that had been cleared for dancing. Priscilla laughed as she was dragged into the firelight, and she spotted Kavil tugging Sulaiman insistently after them. She grabbed her skirts and moved to the beat, laughing as she let herself have fun without having to worry about what fate had in store for them.

That was a problem for tomorrow – tonight, Priscilla would enjoy the disgruntled expression on Sulaiman's face as he robotically bobbed his head, delight in the way that Kavil twirled her around with a wide smile, and hug her sister tight as Illnyea giggled in her arms.

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