"Look!" I said, heaving Ruth up from my knee to the window. She peered out above the heads of Roly and Poly, who were crowding the space right below it to peek out the window themselves. "That's the Academy."

"Whoaaa," said Roly, Poly, and Ruth. Even Ryan lifted himself up to see the place. ("I can't see!" cried Rebecca from the other side.)

Rosa shook Mother Lily awake. (I could never figure out how she was able to sleep so well in a crowded space with seven other people all speaking and squealing almost simultaneously, but I suppose if she wanted to sleep at all in her house, she'd have to get used to noise very well.) "Look, mother. That's the oh-so-great Academy right there."

She yawned and blinked at the place outside for a moment before resting her head back on the cushion. "That's not what's important," she replied sleepily. "What's really important is how cushy this cushion is...." Her head drooped a bit, and Rosa and I exchanged amused glances.

"That's where you go, Rosey?" cried Roly, whipping around to look at her sister with sparkling eyes.

"So many white buildings!" Poly shouted. ("Really?" said a faint voice from the side.)

"Yeah!" squealed Ruth.

"The gates are metal!" Roly said, whooping, and she let go of the door to start dancing in the crowded space. Ruth giggled. "The gates are metal and they're fancy!" 

"Yeah!" chimed Poly. ("Where?" came a distant cry from Becca in the back.)

"So much green," Ruth told me with a serious, sticky whisper. I glanced over at the school to see the bushes lining the lush lawns inside the gates. Laughter bubbled up my chest.

"You're right," I whispered back, and we giggled together.

Rosa rolled her eyes in fake exasperation, but I knew a smile when I saw one. I turned and caught Ryan's eyes, who gave a grudging nod of approval. "That's a cool school," he said gruffly, plopping back down. Then, when he thought I'd looked away, he rose back up a little to view the Academy more. I bit back a knowing chuckle.

"Geez, you guys," Rebecca complained, half-standing but totally blocked from the view. "I can't see a thing!"

"Deal with it!" said the twins.

She gasped, offended.

I laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "You can see it on the way back."

Poor Rebecca sighed, sitting back and crossing her arms. "Fine."

After the Academy came the Historical Museum of Durova, which the little ones all 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed at, and then a bunch of fancy houses that looked bigger than the two-story restaurant building, and then finally, the marketplace.

Ruth twisted around on my lap to look at me. "Is this where the festival is?"

I nodded, smoothing her hair away from her face. "Mmhm! Ready to enjoy?"

"Yes!" she cheered.

We shook Mother Lily awake and led a complaining Ryan out of his spot ("Can I just stay in the carriage?") who, noticeably, let himself be dragged around with very little resistance, then we all jumped out into the busy streets of the Midelus Festival, well-known for its parade. The very reason we were here, actually, was for that parade, one of the few times us ordinary people could see the actual faces of royals and whatnot.

The music that filled the air was as loud as the people's chatters around us, and the smell of food was enticing. My stomach growled in response.

"Look at that!" Roly hooted, running to the side.

Poly followed. "Whoa, what is that?"

"That's roasted frog legs." I waggled my eyebrows. "Anyone want to try?"

"Eww," they replied, and then ran off somewhere else.

"Girls, don't go too far," yawned Mother Lily.

Ruth tugged my hand. "Can we try going over there, Filian?"

"Not yet," Rosa said, yanking Ryan over. "Ryan, Becca, can you keep an eye on the twins?"

"Aww, not now," Ryan grumbled, slumping down. He glared at Rosa. "What about you? Why don't you and Filian look after the twins? We'll look after Ruth."

"That works too," she shrugged. "Okay, then Filly and Becca will take the twins, you'll take Ruth, and I'll take mother."

Ah yes, Mother Lily and her famous ability to get lost in the crowd in three seconds flat. "Sounds good!" I said, flipping a thumbs up at her.

"But I wanna stay with Filian," Ruth complained.

"Well, too bad," came Ryan's answer. Ruth pouted, and that was that.

I spent the entire first thirty minutes ignoring my growling stomach and calling for Roly and Poly, who we barely saw glimpses of as they ran back and forth shouting and pointing at pretty much everything. Becca and I ended up forcing them to take each of our hands so that they wouldn't get lost in the milling crowds, which was only getting denser by the minute.

"Okay, everyone listen!" Rosa barked, hands on her hips. "And mother, stop wandering past me, please." She waited. "Thank you. Now, in exactly thirty-two minutes, the parade is going to start. Until then, we will all find one food to eat per person on the way to the parade street. Is that clear?"

"Yes!" we hollered, and then off we went.

"Noodles!"

"Potatoes!"

"Is that a pancake?"

"Skewers! Meat! Eww, veggies."

"Frozen cream!"

I picked a skewer of lamb meat and vegetables, the one the twins had found disgusting because of the vegetables. Rosa chose a small dish of fried potatoes, while Ryan and Rebecca both got the pancake-looking thing. "It's delicious," declared Becca, as Ryan nodded in absolute agreement.

"Oh, mommy, look at that!" cried Ruth. She tugged on Mother Lily's skirt, letting go of Ryan's hand to point at a stand. Her eyes shined. "Can I have that?"

"Mm? What is this?" Mother Lily peered at the sign. Though I couldn't read, the food was a large cup of what looked like stew? With noodles inside. I sensed, rather than heard, Mother Lily inhale sharply. I glanced at her once before I looked at the stand again, and understood why. I could only read numbers, and boy were those numbers high.

Roly, who was holding my hand, looked up at Mother Lily's hesitant expression and immediately nudged Ruth. "No, Ruth," she told her, looking as serious as ever. "You can't have that one."

"But whyyy," Ruth started, but Poly on the other side shushed her quickly.

"Mm... Let's go play at the fountain!" Poly decided, grabbing Ruth's hand. "C'mon, Becca!"

Ignoring Ruth's cry for "My fooood, nooooo...", they pulled Ruth, me, and Becca to the nearby fountain.

When I glanced back, Mother Lily was looking at all of us with resigned eyes, her mouth in a drooping smile. Before we got too far, though, Rosa called us back and directed us to the right direction instead. Ruth ended up getting a lamb skewer like mine, Mother Lily got some other skewer, and Roly and Poly both got sweet potatoes with cream. 

I pulled Mother Lily to the side. "Do you have enough?" I whispered. "I can pay you back for my skewer."

She winked at me and shook her head. "Still got some life in this pocket, dear Filian. You don't need to worry that much."

I breathed a discreet sigh of relief. Even though I had offered, I really needed all the money I could save, with the loan sharks breathing down my neck. I was sorry, but I was also thankful, and I didn't quite know what I wanted-- but I did know that I couldn't go on without asking. My exhale turned into one of worry instead.

Mother Lily patted my cheek. "Really, Filian. Don't you worry yourself to the ground. Ava and I am not as helpless as we seem."

I smiled back wryly. "I know."

She shook her head again, this time a little sternly. "You know, but you don't understand. But that's not something to think about right now. We're here to have fun, alright?"

I cracked another smile at her. "Alright." 

We sat Mother Lily down on an empty crate we found and the rest of us pushed our way to the front of the crowd, since the kids wouldn't be able to see at the back and we could only carry two kids at a time.

"So who are we seeing again?"

"The royal family, and other super big nobles."

"Then is Rosa's fake dad in the parade?" (That's what they called Duke Chesterfield, the fake dad, since he was the true father but not her true dad, who was arguably the greatest dad I'd ever known.)

"Yup! And his wife, too."

"Ugh, that weirdo's in the parade?"

I laughed at Roly's words, who had wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Rosa, are you sure your story about what the wife did to you is really true?" I teased, throwing her an amused look. "Your sisters all think so badly of her now."

"As she should be," Rosa answered, turning up her nose. "Anyhow, I've more important things to worry about. Like how to hide myself from the sadist green-haired teacher."

"Huh?"

"But not to worry, I've prepared myself!" With flourish, she whipped out two crumpled handkerchiefs from inside her small bag. "I'll wear this on my head and on my face, and nobody would ever be able to tell that I'm Rosa!"

I heaved Ruth up into my arms and gave her a look. "I've been wondering about that bag you were carrying. And here I thought you'd be buying us gifts or something."

She snorted. "As if that Chesterfield wife would ever give me any of my actual allowance."

"So you're supposed to get one?"

"Yeah." Rosa shrugged, tying one on the back of her head. "And no, Roly, I don't have another handkerchief for you."

Roly turned to me. "Filian, do you have a handkerchief I could borrow?"

"Oh!" Poly shouted before I could answer. "They're coming!"

"Where? Where?"

And indeed, with much fanfare and trumpeting and who-knows-what-other-instruments-those-shiny-things-were, a bunch of people were marching down the cobblestone roads that had been cleared by local sheriffs beforehand.

When the knight brigade came after the band, Rosa hissed to me, "Don't stare, but look at the guy in the middle! That's Glitcherman." I craned my neck and saw, finally, the Glitcherman-- what was his real name again?-- that Rosa hated so much. 

"Which one?"

"The one with the red eyes."

I looked. "He looks alright," I whispered back. Since Rosa had always described him as the playboy knight, I'd been expecting this buff, muscular guy-- but this man, with red eyes (?! That was the weirdest part; he didn't look weird with red eyes) and dirty blonde hair, looked as slim and as tall as ever, sitting straight on his horse.

"Don't catch his eyes," she warned. "Once he sees you, it's over."

She ducked down behind me and did not surface until the entire metallic army passed us. When she popped back up, she gave me a suspicious side-eye. "You didn't stare at him for too long, right?" she said.

"No, I closed my eyes and prayed the entire time," I deadpanned.

Rosa nodded. "Good."

I rolled my eyes.

Ruth looked at us weirdly. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing important," I answered. "Anyway, look! The royal magicians!"

Rosa cursed. (The word was bleeped, but Roly gasped, nudged Poly, and said the curse word to her, which was not bleeped, who gasped in return and turned to Rebecca, who dared her to say the curse word with a murderous glare. Poly did not say the curse word to Rebecca.) "Elias Richards should be coming, then."

"Who?"

"You know, the green-haired guy."

"Oh. The magician teacher."

She nodded, bringing her handkerchief cover up to her eyes and hiding behind me again. "I don't have to be as on guard with him, but man do I want to avoid him at all costs."

I shaded my eyes from the sun and squinted. "Which one is he?"

"I told you, the green-haired one."

I finally found him. And let me tell you, my jaw dropped right away. Green hair and black eyes. How had I missed him?

From behind me, Rosa mumbled, "Isn't it unfair for someone to look so pretty with green hair?" and I agreed.

"Whoa, that magician is super pretty," Becca said in a bit of a daze.

I nodded, somewhat dazed myself. "The green hair one?"

She nodded. "The green hair one."

Suddenly, all the magicians stood on their horses (?!) and started saying something under their breaths (chants? Spells? Who knows). A burst of light sprung up from between them. The crowd all gasped and cheered when the light changed colors and flew up into the sky. With another flare, the light sprinkled on the audience like shimmery pieces of glass, and the crowd oohed in wonder.

Rosa whistled. "They went all out this year, didn't they?"

Roly Poly both jumped up and down, trying to catch the glimmers of light in their hands.

"I wish I could do that," Ruth said in awe, and even Ryan opened his hands to attempt at touching the magic himself.

"Here comes the royal family!" Rosa said, finally pulling off her strange mask with a whoosh. She smiled, dazzling some of the nearby parade viewers. "Ready to meet the King of Durova?"