"Didn't expect to see you here, Mr. Elias," Rosa said. She backed away from the sparkling green-haired man.

He smiled, though his eyes remained as piercing as ever. "Did you watch the parade, Miss Chesterfield?"

"Of course," Rosa said. I glanced at her once and recognized the pure panic on her face, thinly veiled by her smile. "It was wonderful." Her hand twitched a few times, and she sent me a HELP look. 

I sighed on the inside. Poly had already let go of me and walked by herself to where Rebecca was, who was still calling us in the distance. Sorry, Becca, not now-- your older sister needs saving.

Looks like it was time for the best friend (me!!) to come in, with her (MY!!!!) handy dandy Customer Service Rules To Never Forget While Working With Unfortunate Situations, compiled through long years of working in a restaurant. It never failed me.

I thought through my long list. Ah, yes! Customer Service Rule #11. Distraction is a really good tool! Use it, but use it wisely.

"Yes," I burst in, side-eyeing Rosa for a split second. I smiled brightly at the man, nudging Rosa behind me a little. He looked at me strangely. Rule #11 Disclaimer: Make sure the customer does not know you are distracting them!!!! I took a deep breath. "It was a great parade, wasn't it?" Good play, Filian. Since they'd been talking about parades before, this might slide right through. I smiled even wider. "The Midelus Festival is well-known for its parade for good reason!"

"Yes," the magician man said shortly. He turned back to Rosa and inhaled, clearly about to continue the conversation. I hurried forward.

"Have you been to the Midelus festival before?" I blurted out. He frowned at me now, a line starting to form between his eyebrows.

Customer Service Rule #5: When in doubt, play the dummy. "It was my first time seeing it, you see. Oh, it was so good, we even saw His Royal Highness!" I clasped my hands together and sighed, forming a dreamy look in my eyes. "Did you see that shimmer, sir?" I gushed, stepping a little forward towards him. I mimicked Rosa's sparkly eyes, though it probably didn't make the same effect on me. "You should have been there! This was the best day to come to Midelus, don't you think?"

The man took a step back. "Um, yes, of course." He coughed once, his coal-black eyes watching me a bit warily. "I was part of the parade, actually, I- I'm a magician."

I gasped so loudly that some people looked over as they passed. "What?!" I exclaimed on the top of my lungs. "You were a magician in the parade? With all the sparkly lights?!?!"

"I, um, yes." He cleared his throat, his focus now shifted on the several people that had begun to gather. "But I was talking to-"

Customer Service Rule #3: Thank them. For no good reason. All. The. Time. This rule almost always worked.

"Oh!" I yelled. "That's right! Thank you so much for reminding me, kind sir!" I beamed at him, scrambling for an excuse the best I could to follow up my thanks. I lunged forward and grabbed his hands.

He jerked back. "What--"

"C'mon, Rosey-Ro-Ro," I singsonged, letting go of him and twirling around to face Rosa. She looked stunned and confused. I winked at her. I let the lies roll out from my mouth as naturally as possible. Everyone knew true liars didn't hesitate.

I searched my brain for an excuse. Right! "We have to get that stew you wanted, right? Can't keep your good ol' dad waiting!" I pretend to wipe my forehead, though I really did have some cold sweat for coming up with that. Thanks, Ruth!

For a successful service, redo Rule #3. I turned back even as I swung my arm around Rosa and turned her away. "Whew! If it wasn't for you, sir, we would have totally forgotten!"

The green-haired man stumbled forward, blinking. "Wait! I-"

"Gotta go, Mr. Magician! Enjoy the festival!"

And with that, I pushed Rosa through the crowd in and maneuvered our way to Mother Lily's barrel. I could just barely see her shawl in the midst of the crowd. When I looked back a final time, the man was now bombarded by a bunch of people, probably all curious about a magician. I felt a little bad for him, but eh. We would never meet again anyways.

What was his name again? Ellan?

"Now, was that amazing or was that amazing?" I gloated into Rosa's ear.

Her exhale was so long that she could've been a deflating balloon. "Thanks, Filly. I owe you one."

I snorted. "Yeah you do. You owe me a tea set at your Academy."

She twisted around, an affronted look on her face. "Do you know how expensive that is?" She bumped into someone, and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh come on. You said you were aiming for the Prince. Get him! Romance him! And make him pay for everything!"

Rosa scratched her head. "Hm." She blinked. "That could actually work."

Rebecca was waiting for us by the barrel, where Mother Lily was still asleep. She had her hands on her hips in a way that really reminded me of Rosa, a full-on scowl on her face. "What took you so long? Ryan went somewhere, I couldn't control the kids, and mother just won't wake up! I don't even know where the twins went, and they took Ruth with them!"

"What?" said Rosa sharply, already back in Firstborn Daughter Mode. She put her hands on her hips, too, and I choked from trying not to laugh. They looked exactly the same now, with the furrowed eyebrows and the disgruntled mouth. The only thing different about them was their coloring and their ages-- if they hadn't been six years apart and their hair the same color, they could've been the second set of twins in the family.

"Now what do we do?" complained Becca.

Rosa started pacing. "First, we wake mother up."

"Yeah. Easier said than done," I said dryly. Waking Mother Lily up was close to impossible. In fact, last I'd heard it was part of the chore list for each day in their house-- someone had to devote a lot of time and energy to get Mother Lily out of bed. "What should I do, bring a cup of water to splash on her face?"

Becca sighed. "Already tried that. Didn't work. And twins became lost in the process."

Sure enough Mother Lily's shawl was slightly wet. I winced. "Sorry, Becca. But where's Ryan?"

"I have no idea!" She looked ready to flip something. "He said something about fellow men and then went off by himself!"

"Okay, then here's what we'll do," Rosa decided. She stopped pacing and looked at us with her serious I-have-a-plan look. "Becca, you'll go look for the twins. Try the fountain area. I'll go look for Ryan in alleyways. Fi, you stay here with Mother Lily in case any of them come back. And keep scanning the people to see if they're around here." She checked the clock tower in the distance with narrowed eyes. "If you find your target, come straight back. If not, plan to come back here in ten minutes, when the clock strikes. All clear?"

Rebecca nodded, her dark red hair bouncing around her serious face, and then she turned and ran off. Rosa also headed out. I stood on tiptoes in an attempt to spot any familiar heads I might know of, while using one hand to shake Mother Lily. Who knows, maybe time would solve her sleeping problem!

I scanned the area the best I could, but nothing of importance happened. I saw the Glitcherman guy a few times at the edges of the marketplace, and watched Rosa and Rebecca dash this way and that a few times, but otherwise everyone was just strangers.

Giggles burst out from nearby. I whipped my head around, listening intently. That had kind of sounded like...

"Roly?" I called, venturing out a little. More giggles erupted. I exhaled, half exasperated and half relieved. I folded my arms across my chest and frowned the best I could. "Roly!"

"Shh!" came the answer. From within a barrel nearby, Roly peeked out a little. She looked around a bit, her red hair stuck to her sweaty face. "Shh, you gotta hide me!"

I huffed. "Roly--"

"Shhh!!"

I narrowed my eyes at her, but I lowered my voice a bit. I hissed, "Roly, what do you think you are doing?"

"I'm playing hide and seek! Poly's somewhere around here too."

My shoulders tensed immediately. Eyes wide, I asked, "Wait, Ruth is the seeker?!"

She nodded gleefully, not noticing the despair growing in me. "She wanted to be it!" She sunk back down into the barrel.

"Roly," I moaned, then buried my face in my hands. "How could you-- Ruth is six, Roly!"

Roly popped up, giving me a weird look. She only said, "I know! She wanted to be it!" before she lowered herself again.

"Yes, but we're in Midelus! Where none of us have ever been to before! Roly, Ruth could get lost!"

The barrel stayed silent for a little while before Roly's red head inched upwards until she was fully standing, half of her body now out of the short container. "Lost?" she repeated, her voice small.

I nodded, deflating a bit. Crouching down, I said, "First, can you tell me where Poly's hiding?"

She wiped some of the hair on her face to the side with her pudgy hands and nodded a little. "I can show you where she went." She climbed out of the barrel and took my hand, and we walked to a cluster of food stands nearby.

"Poly wanted to stay close to food, so she went here," Roly told me, pointing to an area hidden between two stands. We rounded the food stand, and my heart rate slowed down a little. At least we'd have the twins. Roly continued. "I left her there and found the barrel."

"How long ago was this?"

"I dunno," shrugged Roly. "I was in that barrel for a reeaally long time. I think."

"What if she's moved spots then?"

Roly considered this. "No, Poly likes to choose one spot and not move from it. She said it's royal."

"Loyal," I corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. See? She's right..." The words died in her throat, and I knew why. She's right here, Roly had been about to say.

Except she wasn't.