"You're ill, Dem Mari." Ian leaned over and whispered right beside her ears. "Do not get emerged in the festival." His tone was a bit too firm and concerned.
Nilana just simply nodded, but didn't reply. Instead, she tugged at his sleeves to show him to the tent, where a performer was juggling 9 lighting eels with his one hand. Beside the male performer sat his wife, grilling the glowing eels over the blazing hot coals. They set a line of people, just to get a taste of the eels.
"Let's get three!" Sylvia pointed at the food. "Didn't you say you liked trying new kinds of food, Nilana?"
"Yes!" Nilana's eyes lit up with excitement and eagerness as she followed Sylvia. They had joined the queue of the tens of people, waiting for the grilled glowing eels.
Ian sighed and shook his head as he watched the two young ladies jumping out of excitement.
Soon, their glowing grilled eels were delivered to them. Nilana and Ian stood there with their fish sticks, confused about how to eat them. Sylvia, on the other hand, however, already munched the half of it down her stomach.
Pointing at her fish stick, Sylvia yelled, "You eat it from the stick!"
Nilana's mouth turned into an 'I understand' O before she sunk her teeth into the glowing eel. She took a big bite and chewed...and chewed. Suddenly her doe eyes went wide as she continued taking turns with the big bites.
"This is so good." She mumbled, giving a thumbs up indicating to Ian. Ian stood there, his hands gripping the stick of the eel, but his amused gaze on her.
.
.
.
"I've heard rumors about Sir Allister since Father and I moved into this town." Sylvia muttered as she and Nilana walked through the alleys of the festival. Ian was a few feet behind them. "But never thought some of them would be true."
Nilana battered her lashes, confused she asked. "What kind of rumors?"
Sylvia sighed dramatically. "That he's a cold, ruthless merchant from the foreign. That he shows no interest in the business that does not profit him. Selfish profiteer, is what the other merchants from Amadeus used to call him."
In her mind, Nilana disagreed with everything Sylvia told her, but she kept her steps with Sylvia, masking her expression.
Taking Nilana's silence as a cue to continue, she didn't stop. "Now that I meet him in person, it's clear how he's determined to take you home and doesn't seem to care about anything here. How can anyone be uninterested in all of this?" Sylvia extended her arm to her surroundings to validate her point. "I just...do not like him that much."
Before Nilana could even reply to any of her remarks, Sylvia's expression changed as she tugged at her hand and took a run. Sylvia's eyes sparkled with excitement, and without waiting for a response, she grabbed Nilana's hand and dashed towards a lively music station. It filled the air with enchanting melodies as a local band played folk tunes on traditional instruments. The vibrant colors of the lanterns hanging all around added to the festive atmosphere. Laughter and cheerful chatter surrounded them as Sylvia navigated the bustling crowd. Nilana was taken aback by the sudden adrenaline rush the run caused her.
"DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?" Sylvia yelled on her face because of the loud melodies banging their ears.
"SURE" Nilana yelled back. And in before she even knew it, Sylvia had brought two flower crowns and put one on her head. Both giggled at an old couple dancing at a distance.
The music changed, and a fun folk song started playing. The two ladies laughed as Sylvia showed Nilana rural town lady dancing steps. Nilana imitated her and caught the rhythm quickly. Soon both of them emerged in jumping around, doing loops with their arms.
Ian stood at a distance, studying the whole scene. Nilana smiling with her perfection of teeth out, her laughing while she misses out a step.
Soon the song slowly came to a stop, but the ladies couldn't stop their laughter and hold their excitement.
They went to every food stall there was on that whole beach side, and Ian just followed them behind. Sylvia lead the way. Nilana was her guest. It struck midnight when the ladies stopped at a liquor stall.
"Serve us the strongest there is." The blue eyed demanded, the auburn eyed could just nod.
The liquor vendor gave the ladies two wooden cups filled with dark brown liquid. Sylvia didn't hesitate for a moment. She gulped all of it in one go. Then asked for more. Nilana, on the other hand, felt dizzy even just by smelling the substance. She hesitated before giving in as she gulped all of it down.
The strong liquor burned down her throat, making everything numb. A fresh form of dizziness hit her, but it felt so right.
"More." She slammed her cup on the counter.
.
.
.
Ian was exasperated. It was more than 30 minutes that he lost the track of Nilana and Icelyn Azure. 30 minutes of frustration and non-filtered tension for Nilana worked through him; he decided to ignore it.
What was he even doing in a wild circus, such as this?
His recent actions were beyond explainable to him, that he didn't want to think about it.
All he cared about now was Nilana's well-being. He didn't even know why.
As he walked through the alleyways of the festival, checking stalls after stalls. Vendors after vendors. There was no sign of the blonde-haired girl...
"MORE MORE!!" Sylvia's familiar voice pierced through Ian, his head immediately turned towards the direction the voice lead.
It took him a few big steps to spot the two ladies, sitting on the bench of a liquor stall, One banging the wooden counter with her fists chanting "MORE", another one gulping six wooden shots one after another. Nilana was on her 5th cup when Ian gripped her hand, tight enough to stop her.
"That's enough." He glowered down at the vendor, his silver eyes screaming that he'd waste no second demolishing the liquor vendor's life. The vendor quickly put away the shots.
"Hey! You merriment disruptor!" Sylvia smacked Ian's shoulders as she shouted, "How dare you disrupt a noble lady's commands!"
Ignoring the tipsy Sylvia, Ian tugged on Nilana's shoulder and made her stand. Her fair skin was flushed red, eyes dilated and head dizzy. As she sloppily stumbled, trying to find her balance, Ian caught her.
"You're going home with me."
At that same exact moment, a group of folk musicians started with their instruments. The song rhymed through the air. Nilana bobbed her head to the music.
"No." she muttered as she looked right into his eyes. "Nope."
"What do you mea-"
"You." She pointed at him. "You are going to dance with me. Right now." And she hiccuped.