Seven days later, the entire city was in uproar. The cultivators from the Golden Gate Sect were here! Parades and parties rocked the city. An enormous festival spontaneously occurred with zero preparation. It was like they had everything under the stalls waiting for this moment. Food and drinks appeared in every direction. 

Atuel could only stare in wonderment when he left his alley to find out what the noise was. No one noticed him, the first time that had ever happened. The guards were too busy chasing thieves and guarding the massive tents that sprung up around the fountain from nowhere. 

More surprising were the dancers and showmen. It was the closest a normal person would get to the power of a cultivator. He watched with wonder as a man breathed fire! Another picked a stone as large as he was tall!

There we're men standing on the shoulders of others, five men a stack. They mock battles like giants in an epic clash for dominance.

Even a few story tellers and their plays sounded out in the streets. They had most of the kids jumping for joy every few moments.

Atuel ached to partake in the merriment. He wanted to play the numerous games and challenges set out. Maybe even make a friend or two…

Atuel sighed, his shoulders sagged. He noticed he did that a lot now, just as he noticed that all those dreams were too much to ask for. The moment they notice him, the crowd would run creating an island from which people would only stare at him. 

Instead, this was a prime opportunity that he could not let slip from his grasp.

With a quickness he did not know he had, he swiped as much food as he could get his hands on. Everyone was too busy laughing and making merriment to notice a tiny figure under the bubbly joy taking with as much gusto as they had in their drinking and partying. It did help that most stall owners were the drunkest men on the street. 

For the first time in ages, he had a chance to eat an apple. He nearly cried, but forced it down as he grabbed four more and hid them in his chest. He had to make three trips back and forth just to get all the food to his home of rags safely. His mother was quite happy to eat the well made meals. 

The softest bread, the juiciest noodles and meat buns. Even a small bottle of some drink that tasted terrible, he had thrown that one away. 

Then suddenly something in the atmosphere changed. The people stopped still looking towards the city lord’s manor. They were listening to something he could not hear. Everyone moved and had their smallest kids form lines going up the main streets to the front of the city lord’s house. There was a tent larger than anything he had ever seen flying a white flag with a golden arched gate. 

Atuel once called that place home. He shook his head and simply watched as kids entered the tent and usually came out crying. Something happened in there to decide their fate, he surmised. Probably something to do with the cultivator’s looking for new members. 

When a kid came out waving a flag of a large arched gate, the entire crowd roared in cheers and applause. The sheer pride the parents had as they strutted around accepting gifts and presents. Even the wealthiest fellows he saw, these people collected more gold in one day than most stalls in a month, made sure to bow and scrape at their shoes. 

One even sold half his entire fortune to get one of the lucky families to take his daughter as a concubine, much to Atuel’s shock. The wealthy man, who was now half as wealthy, even came out looking like he had swindled a stupid farmer. 

He had seen that look quite a few times as the traders tricked the farmers and labourers into disadvantageous deals. They would always try to catch them at the gates of the city or in some back alley to conduct their negotiations. 

Lots of swords and curses were involved. 

Atuel could not help but wonder what happened inside the tent. How could they tell if someone had whatever it took to be a new member? Or did they just pick them randomly? Something urged him to check, but first he had to grab his mother some water. No one would notice him get a large water skin and fill it up to the brim.

It would take a week to finish it if they were extra careful. With all the food, they would be set for a long time coming. He could focus on finding a source of income till they ran out.

Once done checking on his mother he rushed towards the enormous golden tent. From alley to alley, he snaked his way closer, taking multiple detours everytime he found a group of people. At one point he was chased by a group of thugs that relished hitting him with meaty fists. 

The well dressed thugs were always the slowest of their ilk. If only they were as pure on the inside as they were on the outside. 

Only near dusk did he get close enough to get around the tent to the back and squeeze through to the area between the wall and the tent.