Parade

Nona remained completely still, unsure about what to do.

Thorny had made her promise that, from then on, she had to avoid interacting with the Order of the Pink Daisy no matter what. So should she pretend that she hadn’t seen them and proceed her way? No, that wouldn’t work. She had just bumped into them. Perhaps she could apologize? But again, that would break the interaction rule that Thorny had mentioned.

“Tsk, watch your step, peasant. You’re lucky that today we are too busy to deal with you.”

The tallest knight of the group, who also was the one who had spoken, made the decision for her and tried to push her out of the way. The knight looked strong enough to have sent a grown man flying a few meters. Nona, though, didn’t even budge.

The shocked group of knights was still staring at Nona’s average physique in shock when Adish and Vesper rushed to their side. They grabbed Nona by her arms and quickly got away after apologizing profusely.

“At this rate I’m gonna be the first imp dying from a heart attack with all this stress!” Thorny complained when they were far away enough. “You could have faked a fall! They are still staring!”

“Shhh, lower your voice, imp!” Adish hushed, just before looking around. “But what are all these people doing here anyway?”

“Good question,” Vesper said, looking at the rather big crowd that had formed across the sidelines of the entire avenue, while several knights were walking through the middle, clearing the area. “Maybe there is some kind of parade?”

“Oh, I have never seen a parade!” Nona’s smile widened with enthusiasm. “It sounds like fun.”

Right after saying that, the knights nearby started gesturing towards their companions patrolling the other side of the street, giving green light to proceed. The murmurs of anticipation that had been invading the area became louder when rather huge carts carrying equally enormous cages turned the corner.

Nona’s eyes opened wide when realizing that all those cages contained monsters. Several of them looked variations of common species that you could find in every region, such as the ones they had been fighting so far. But there were a few monsters that looked way rarer, bigger, and more dangerous.

Nona heard Adish and Thorny swallowing with apprehension when noticing a gigantic snake coiled in one of the cages, apparently asleep. Shocked gasps and excited conversations filled the entire street at the sight of a medium-size, burgundy dragon chained inside an iron cage. Just like the snake, it also seemed to be quite drowsy, probably as a result of a Sleep spell.

“Wow, look at the size of that beast,” Adish said, impressed right looking at Vesper with a smile. “Hey, shouldn’t you be making the most of this to catalog new monsters?”

To everyone’s surprise, Vesper shook her head.

“No. I don’t feel comfortable doing it like this.”

Nona had been so focused on the different monsters that she hadn’t noticed how tense the druid looked with her arms crossed and her jaw tense.

She was about to ask Vesper what was wrong when the next cage of the parade entered their vision.

As a kid, she had read several stories where merfolk appeared. Stories where those beings were portrayed as one of the most beautiful creatures of the sea. Her mother often mocked those descriptions, saying that, as usual, humans were egocentric enough to believe that an anthropomorphic being was more outstanding than all the other creatures that lived in the ocean. But still, Nona had secretly hoped that her adventures allowed her to see one of those with her own eyes.

And now that she had the chance, she instantly remembered one of the sentences her father used to say most, whenever one of his kids insisted too much on the things they wanted: wishes would come true, not free.

Nona hadn’t entirely understood that saying.

Now, she did.

Because those mermaids and mermen that were inside a floating aquarium that was too small for them, were behaving in very different manners: some were merely floating in the water, some were tightly embracing the younger ones, some were swimming nonstop from one side to the other, and some were banging their hands against the water shield.

They all behaved differently. But the feelings that Nona perceived from all of them were all negative: defeat, fear, despair, anger.

Nona was aware that she misinterpreted people’s emotions and intentions in certain situations. But at that moment, there was no room for doubt. Those merfolk were unhappy. Miserable. And the fact that most of the people watching the parade were just pointing at them without any respect, some laughing while cheering, made Nona feel a disagreeable feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Hey,” Nona jumped startled when Thorny spoke on her shoulder, “you ok?”

Nona swallowed, looked towards the aquarium once again. Her words completely died in her throat when one of the younger mermen’s pleading eyes met hers for a brief instant.

At that moment she felt Vesper grabbing her hand.

“Come on. Let’s go,” the druid simply said.

Everyone just followed.

* * *

Once they were back at the inn, Ms. Juliette explained that the reason for the parade was that the son of the Governor of Hairur’s Fence was about to reach adulthood, and they were going to set up a circus to celebrate his coming of age.

Such an event had attracted more people to the city. In fact, it was the first night that Nona and the others were not having dinner alone in The Tired Goose. Apparently - and living up to the inn’s name - people had gotten tired of looking for accommodation in other inns, and had decided to stay there despite the risk of getting a fine from the Order of the Pink Daisy.

However, even if the inn was more lively than usual, silence reigned at the table where Nona and her companions were sitting. A silence that was broken once again by Nona’s frustrated tone.

“And are you sure there's nothing we can do?”

“Nona, the answer is the same as the other six times you have asked,” Vesper said with an apologetic tone. “It’s logical that you are upset, but we do not have the means to do anything.”

“But it’s not fair!” Nona leaned her chin on her crossed arms on the table. For the first time, she wasn’t even hungry, so Thorny was making the most of it, eating even more than usual. “Can’t we at least try to talk to the Governor about it?”

“Alright, and when we manage to get an audience with him - which surely is not hard at all - what are you planning to tell them?” Adish patiently, rubbing his temple. “‘Good morning, Sir, in case you haven’t noticed the merfolk you have enslaved to entertain your son are unhappy and do not want to be in your show. Could you please set them free?’”

“Yes, exactly that. Could you please write it down so that I don’t forget?”

“Four-eyes was being sarcastic, depressed leader.”

Nona glared at Adish, who offered her an apologetic grin, and buried her face in her crossed arms. “I hate when you do that.”

“Sorry.”

They fell into a new silence with Vesper rubbing Nona’s back soothingly, Adish lost in his thoughts, and Thorny still munching on Nona's dinner. As a result, the conversation of other customers reached their ears.

“...anyway, it’s a pity that the son of the governor decided to keep that flying monkey as a pet. For sure it would have been nice to see it in the show.”

Nona, who was starting to fall asleep under Vesper’s gentle rubbing, jumped startled when the druid stopped and gasped in shock.

“What’s wrong, Vesper?” she asked, but instead of answering, the druid hurriedly stood up and went towards one of the tables.

“What’s gotten into the bestiary girl?" Thorny snapped. Vesper was talking to one of the guests, who was looking up a little apprehensively at the tall druid.

The druid continued talking for another couple of minutes before returning to their table, with her breathing uneven because of the anticipation.

“Well…” Vesper looked straight at Adish, “I think I have that temporary solution I mentioned this morning.”

Adish’s eyes snapped open. “What? What do you mean?”

“I didn’t mention anything this morning not to raise your hopes too soon, but I finally found an antidote powerful enough that, in theory, should allow you to cast several spells before being affected by your allergy.” Vesper raised her hand when Adish and Nona were about to speak. “The problem was that one of the ingredients was extremely weird to find, since it consisted of the armpit hair of a flying monkey.”

“Armpit hair?” Nona and Adish repeated at the same time. Vesper shrugged.

“I know. It sounds oddly specific. But I trust the source.”

“So basically you are saying that the pet of the governor’s son is the key to solving our four-eyes problem?” Thorny summarized. “So what is the plan? To kidnap that monkey to take a hair from its armpit? Damn, I think that’s the weirdest sentence I’ve ever said.”

“No, even better.” Nona planted both her hands on the table with determination. “We are going to talk to the Governor to ask him to liberate the merfolks and also to see his son’s pet to–”

“You are not going to do anything of that,” Adish interrupted with a definitive, serious tone. “I’ve already told you that I’ve made my peace with failing this year’s exam. So I don’t want to hear anything about talking to any governors, or kidnapping pets, or sneaking in the circus.”

“But–”

“NO BUTS!” Adish practically shouted in exasperation, attracting a few looks in their directions. He blushed slightly, took a deep breath, and talked in a more calmed tone. “Listen, I really appreciate you trying to help. But I don’t want you to take any risks on my behalf for this exam. So please, promise me that you won’t go on your own to play the hero unnecessarily for me.”

Nona sustained Adish’s gaze and nodded. “Okay, Adish. I promise you.”

Adish exhaled a relieved sigh and smile. “Thank you. And now, I don’t know about you, but after all that research I need a full night of sleep.”

Everyone agreed, so they went up the stairs to enjoy a deserved night of uninterrupted sleep.

* * *

“Vesper. Vesper.”

“Aargh, we’ve been here five minutes trying to wake her up. It’s my turn.”

Nona couldn’t stop Thorny before the imp literally jumped on the top of Vesper’s stomach, causing the druid to huff awake.

“W-What the–” Vesper said between coughs. “Nona, what is going on?”

“Sssh! Adish is asleep!”

“Please, that four-eyes hasn’t even stopped snoring when you have dropped your weapon on the floor. A monster could break the door and I bet he would keep sleeping.”

“You have a point there.”

“Nona, what is going on?” Vesper repeated with a tone that was half-concern, half-suspicion.

Nona offered Vesper a determined smile that made the druid gulp.

“We are going to pay Enia a visit. I have an idea.”