As we reached the festival grounds I gasped. Everywhere were candles and paper lanterns made of brightly colored paper, there were stalls selling anything and everything. Food, toys, swords, anything. There were hundreds of people, each in costume, but somehow they weren’t as ornate as Delrej’s and mine were. A wave of yet more appreciation came over me.

I felt like I had gone from being a peasant to being adopted into the king’s court. And in a way I had.

In the middle of the square was where the blessings were taking place, and where the dancers would be later. The smells of food were everywhere, and music flooded my ears from every direction

I was smothered in wonderment, completely at awe with everything. This was a side of my culture that I had never been exposed to. In fact when I rarely left the house when I left with my mother, even when she did.

He had moved me onto his shoulders now, so I could get a better view, and I was afraid of loosing my balance and falling. He kept me steady, smiling when I’d let out a stray whimper because I felt off-balance.

“So… Impressed yet?”

“Wow…” I breathed, still trying to take it all in.

“I have a friend I’d like you to meet first, and then we can go have fun.”

I nodded.

As we wandered through the crowd I saw games like Saffronfish catching, wooden sword fighting contests, exhibits of foreign creatures, and galleries of the Darklings.

Through the mess one stall caught my eye; it was simple and plain, just like the rest, but a girl not much older than I was sitting behind the counter. Her hair was an electric blue and she was selling what appeared to be dolls. However, it was made clear that she was not Canoi, her glimmering fangs and all-around undead appearance told me right away that she had to be one of the ‘Shikoe’ that Delrej had spoken of. I thought I caught her talking to one of the dolls in her hands, then I thought I saw it nod to her, and heard it exclaim a single word before Delrej took me into a tent.

“Delrej, can we go to that stall outside? The one with the dolls?”

“Yes, just wait a few minutes alright?”

He let me off his shoulders. I immediately went to go hold my nose for the air was heavy with incense, and in my opinion smelt utterly foul. Delrej seemed utterly unaware, and like him I dropped my hand trying to just grin and bear it. To be honest the furnishings reminded me horribly of my mother’s house, but I said nothing.

“Medium? Are you there?”

A female Canoi came from around the corner, but before she could come any where close to us I was half-hidden behind Delrej.

“Oh my dear, so you did come to see me?”

Her hair was black, with a single white and lime green streak in it. Her eyes were as bright citrine emeralds, and she was dressed in black,

“Yes, I did. Have you seen my brothers lately?”

“They came to see me earlier; I believe they’d still be in town. It’s not like Rhapsody to leave a party, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“YOU HAVE A BROTHER?” I exclaimed, then hushing myself with my own hands.

Her gaze automatically shifted to me. And Delrej moved to reveal me.

“So this is the boy I’ve been hearing so much about. Just yesterday Melodia walked in, my own daughter, and told me that you refused to see her anymore. She also told me that you picked up a boy outside of town. And I told her ‘ha, Delrej would never take a boy into his house! That’s something Rhapsody would do’, but here he is, before my very eyes. And I still don’t believe it.”

My eyes closed instantly, and I could feel her hand take me under the chin, tilting my head this way and that, her long nails scratching my skin. I felt she was inspecting me like I was some kind of livestock.

“I did take him in Medium, make no mistake of that. He had no place else to go.”

I felt his warm hand lie on my shoulder something that that made me feel less endangered.

“I see…”

She turned away and took her hands off me, though I didn’t open my eyes. I could hear her pace as she talked to him.

“Have you heard? Celeb-Uma’s last child died of sickness a few weeks ago. The poor girl. They all say she really loved that boy. Pity something so bad had to happen to him. I find it funny that not even I know his father’s name though. They say that it might have been Zachem’ya… But I don’t know about that. With that kind of breeding all her babies would have been so beautiful… And I hear that the one that died recently was really rather plain. Still… It’s a pity.”

I could feel him tense as she spoke, and I wanted to fight the urge to break down and cry right there. So she didn’t lie to just me did she? The thought made me hate her even more.

I flinched, and opened my eyes for a split second and she was on me in an instant. My heart faltered as she froze.

She looked up at Delrej who continued to stare at her with irritation.

“Do you have any idea who this boy is? Have you seen his eyes?”

“Yes I do. And I have. There’s no big deal about it. It’s just a stupid myth with no truth behind it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

“You’re a superstitious as always. No wonder all of us tried to get away from you as soon as your old age set in…”

“What?”

“Do you know where my brothers went?”

“In such a hurry aren’t you? Well I suppose there’s so much to see… I believe they went to go see Saxon but that’s all I can tell you.”

“Thank you.”

He ushered me out. And I was crying in a crumpled heap the minute I could run around the corner.

He took me into his arms.

“Oh Wynn, it’s alright. It’s okay.”

“I told you Delrej! Can’t you see that they all hate me?”

“Hush, hush. It’s okay; I won’t let them hurt you. I promise. And anything they say doesn’t matter because I love you. And that’s all you need okay.”

I agreed with him.

He brushed my tears away with his gentle fingers, and stroked my skin to calm me.

“You wanted to go see that stand with the dolls didn’t you?”

I nodded.

“I’ll buy you one then.”

He took my hand and helped me to my feet.

“Oh, and Wynn, I just want to tell you that you look very cute.”

I giggled. He called me cute, which was more of a compliment than I was used to, even though to anyone else it would usually just make them shrug. When you were used to being called an abomination, being cute was like saying you had a heavenly glow around you or something. Something so small, made me truly happy.

The girl’s name I found out was Sodatyel', and the dolls weren’t just toys, they were voodoo dolls. Ones that were actually alive, it was like a pet… except you didn’t have to feed it or house train it. For the most part anyway.

“Pick one you like Wynn,” Delrej urged me, taking me to look at the various ones.

I picked up one that looked rather plain, but appealing all the same. His eyes were white and wide, and he had a crooked little grin. It was black, with a little heart on the ankle. The little charm attached to his relatively round head was in the shape of a crescent moon and he had a little pocket on his tummy.

“I like this one…” I said handing the doll to Sodatyel’, who walked into the back with it.

While we waited, Delrej knelt down to look me in the eye.

“Okay. So there’s something I need to tell you about those little guys. You can name them anything you want okay? But you have to be careful because the first word they hear is the only word they can say. You may come to regret it. Lucky for you, you picked out something pretty basic, so he shouldn’t require too much attention. But you can’t neglect him okay?”

I nodded, “Can I share him with you?”

He smiled at me, laughing.

“Why of course you can! Now while we wait… You wanna go see Saxon?”

“Yes! Yes! Oh Yes!”

I was leaping up and down with excitement, even as he stood up and grabbed my hand.

“Now settle down you have to be a good little boy for her alright?”

I nodded.