Ari sneezed.

Of course the bush they were hiding behind had to be cipres. Cipres, a common name for a lot of types of coniferous trees and shrubs that like to grow in swampy areas — such as this one. Cipres, her one allergy.

"Ari, you okay?" Kei asked.

Ari simply pointed at the bush.

"What's wrong with the bush?" Dealla questioned. "Do I need to kill it?"

"Uh, no thank you," Ari said. "I'm allergic to cipres."

Dealla frowned, tilting her head to the side. "Why would you hide behind a bush you are allergic to?"

Ari didn't really have an answer to that question except 'everyone else was.'

"Seems like an inconvenient allergy when you live in a forest," Jared commented, glancing up from his aggressive journaling.

"Not as much where we live," Kei said, vaguely gesturing to Ari and herself. "It's more forest and less swamp."

He nodded and went back to his writing.

"How long have we been here? Aidyn should be back," Calix said.

"One hour, thirty-seven minutes and fifty-three seconds," Dealla recited.

"...Thanks," Jared replied.

Ari's eyes were itchy and beginning to water. She wiped them with the back of her hand.

"Why is Ari crying?" Aidyn said, stepping into view. A dark-haired caela hibri was next to him, an arm draped around Aidyn's shoulders.

"Is this your boyfriend?" Jared asked, glancing over at the newcomer.

Aidyn groaned. "Nori and Dealla corrupted you. This is Damon, who is most definitely not my boyfriend."

Nori made a silly face. Dealla pulled one of her axes slightly out of her belt.

"You sure?" Kei asked. "You look pretty cozy."

"Yes, I'm sure — Damon, this is Jared, Ari, Kei and Calix."

"That's a lot more than I expected," Damon said to Aidyn.

Ari broke into a coughing fit and Aidyn's grin disappeared. "Ari, are you okay? Are you sick?" he asked, crouching down next to her.

"She's allergic to the bush," Nori explained.

"I'm fine," Ari said, accepting the flask of water Kei passed her and taking a drink.

"Hey, remember when you made me promise not to pretend I'm fine? That applies to you too," Kei said.

"It's not like I can heal myself," Ari retorted, annoyed at her own words being used against her.

"Uh, I can," Damon interjected. "I can't cure your allergy or anything, but I can help the symptoms."

"Yes, please!" Kei interrupted before Ari could politely decline.

"Let's like, find another bush to hide behind so the cipres isn't making it harder," Aidyn said, taking hold of Damon's arm to lead him away.

Nori smirked. "And they claim they're not dating," she whispered.

"I heard that!" Aidyn called back.

"Don't care!"

｡･ﾟﾟ･｡

Ari had to admit that Damon was a talented healer.

Normally her symptoms lasted for at least twenty-four hours before improving, but when she woke up the next morning, she felt perfectly fine. When she asked how he did it so well, he just said "Magic," and wiggled his fingers at her.

Calix mumbled a greeting as she passed him, Jared talking his ear off as usual. Ari may not have been the most perceptive person, but it was extremely obvious even for her that Jared had a huge crush on Calix.

"Hey, Ari!" Kei called cheerfully from a group of fallen trees. "We're going to head down to the festival in a bit, you should eat something."

Nori held up a bagel and passed it to Ari.

"Glad that hasn't changed," Aidyn said.

Damon snorted. "What, you thought we'd give up bagels? Never."

Dealla strode into their makeshift campsite, pulling yet another caela behind her. "Greetings again, Friends Of Aidyn."

"Morning, Dealla. Everyone, this is Lyla. Lyla, this is everyone," Aidyn said, making a vague waving gesture towards everyone eating bagels.

"Six tides, really? I don't think I can hide this many people from Ryne," Lyla groaned.

Aidyn shrugged. "We're out of here in a few minutes anyway. We're heading to the festival."

"And I assume you're going with them?" Lyla said, whirling on Damon.

"A fairly easy assumption to make, yes," Damon replied.

"Fine. I know I can't stop you, so I'm going with you." Lyla glanced around before calling, "Nori, Dealla, get your asses up, you're coming too!"

"Mr. Sharp says no," Dealla yelled back.

"Do I look like I give a — "

"Okay," Aidyn interrupted. "You can come. Are we bringing Birk and Da — " He stopped mid-sentence. "Right. You still owe me an explanation about Dalia. What happened?"

"Aidyn — " Damon started.

"We don't know, okay?" Lyla burst. "She's missing. Has been since you left."

The look on Aidyn's face (he was now several shades paler than normal) told Ari pretty clearly that 'missing' usually didn't mean whoever it was would be found a week later, perfectly unharmed. "Six tides," he said, curling his arms around his knees and pulling them to his chest. Damon slipped an arm around his shoulder and Aidyn leaned into it.

"That about sums it up, yes," Nori muttered.

Ari felt like it would be extremely rude for her to say something in this situation and stayed silent. She didn't know who Dalia was, but clearly she was very important.

Aidyn stood up with a sigh a few minutes later. "We should head out. The festival is starting and we want to get there before it gets too busy."

"It's been busy for the past week," Lyla said. "Everyone wants to get in on it."

Ari glanced over at Kei and she stood up, stretching and reaching behind the log she was sitting on to grab her bag. Calix and Jared appeared out of nowhere, Calix looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Woo-hoo, party time!" Jared exclaimed, entirely oblivious to the conversation that had taken place a few moments prior. Calix seemed to read the solemn mood a little better and simply slid into place beside Ari.

"What happened?" he asked quietly. Ari just shook her head. He accepted this and didn't press her further.

Five minutes later, they were moving — Dealla in the front hacking at random vines with her axes, Calix in the back doing who-knows-what. Probably trudging along silently.

The last time Ari went to the Almoons Festival, she was about three years old. Her memories were more than a little fuzzy, but she was nearly certain about one thing — there were not this many humans when she was there.

"Six tides," Nori mumbled as everyone came to a stop. There were humans everywhere that Ari could see, filling up the city streets. Most were milling around the tents and booths, but there were too many standing alert carrying guns for Ari's comfort. Her eyes wandered around, taking in the chaos of the festival. Then she noticed something strange.

"What are all those papers?" she asked Kei, pointing to the sheets fixed to tents and booths.

"Festival programs?" Kei guessed. Aidyn walked over to one of the tents and tore off the paper, returning and passing it to Kei.

"Hey, it's that girl we fought!" Kei exclaimed. A drawing of Cynth Leeyung was on the front of the poster, along with words that Ari couldn't read. "Looks like she's wanted by the ranae for something."

"Cynth Leeyung?" Lyla said in shock. "You fought with Cynth Leeyung?"

"Her and two other girls," Aidyn said. "One was a Valloma, and the last girl I didn't know."

"Not many people survive a fight with Cynth," Damon said.

"Yes. I'd like the chance to try," Dealla said, hands on her axe handles.

"We should go check out the festival," Aidyn said. "If you see anything suspicious whatsoever, say it."

They weaved a path through the booths, glancing around at everything, both in wonder and to find a possibly empty space to sit down. Ari's group spent the walk explaining everything they knew about the sources to Aidyn's other friends, whose day-assignments were apparently just "look for suspicious stuff" — by the time Calix waved them over to a small unoccupied area of grass, they'd collectively decided to brainstorm where the rana source might be together.

"We're here, right?" Damon asked, pointing to a spot on a map of Monsum City.

Kei nodded. "It probably won't be out in the open, they wouldn't risk that. I'd guess it's either inside a heavily protected building — unlikely — or buried underground somewhere. Like a pirate's treasure."

Jared, who didn't seem like he was paying any attention whatsoever, said, "Pirates are cool. I dream of one day having a pirate ship of my own, but alas! I have no one to share the delight of it with."

He was very obviously staring at Calix.

"He's at it again," Ari said to Kei. 

She let her eyes drift back over to the numerous stalls, noting the paper lanterns that dominated much of the space. They were almost all round and colourful with moon designs on them. Those were one of the few things she remembered from her last visit to Almoons. Each day of the festival had a huge event, and judging from how all the booths were full of lanterns, they were probably today's. Almost everyone would purchase one during the day, then when night fell, they would light the lanterns and release them, each one adding a new moon to the sky. Ari remembered her three-year-old self being absolutely dazzled by the display, and so excited to release her family's lantern. It was beautiful, orange with a golden moon displayed proudly on the front. The sky would be filled with hundreds of lights, illuminating the night for dozens of flights.

Kei tapped her shoulder, startling Ari out of her reverie. "Ari, look at this."

"I can't read maps," Ari replied, looking down at the map of Monsum City.

"You can see pictures, though. We think that the source might be buried near a lake," Kei explained, pointing to a blue area on the map. "This one's not too far from here."

"Of course," Aidyn said, "it could also be in the city somewhere. There's so many guards this year, no one would look twice at a place that's a little more packed with them than usual."

"Except that the human guards don't know where the source is," Lyla added.

"We think they don't know, but what if Cynth figured it out and sent for more guards?" Damon interjected.

"It looked like she wasn't on the best of terms with other humans," Ari said. "They chased her."

"She seems like the kind of girl who'd want to get the source herself, too. I don't think she'd call anyone else," Lyla said.

"And that brings us back to the 'it's buried' theory," Kei said. "Problem is, there's a lot of lakes on this map."

"It could still be hidden in the city," Nori pointed out. "It would probably be safer without extra guards. Less suspicious."

"That's a lot of ground to cover," Aidyn observed.

"Guess we're splitting up then," Damon said. "Lyla, Dealla, Nori — you three should meet back up with Ryne and search the lakes. You'll have more luck and numbers if the Voc is on it. I'll stay here."

"Of course you will," Lyla muttered. Louder, she added, "It's a good idea, though."

"We'll check the city," Aidyn said. "If it's anywhere, it would probably be more towards the center, given that the humans will probably be more towards the outside so they can observe who comes and goes."

"Head to the center and work your way back out," Nori said. "Then we can meet up again. And I expect bagels and other sweets for my efforts."

"Do you think the Cynth girl will be at the lakes?" Dealla asked. "Mr. Sharp and Blood of My Enemies are hungry for battle."

"Moons, I hope not," Damon said.

"She was scary," Jared admitted, picking at the grass. "She had a gun."

"So does every human guard here," Lyla said. "She's not special. She was just born in the right family."

"I don't know about that," Aidyn replied. "Even without the gun, she was good."

"She knocked Kei out," Ari said, shivering at the memory.

Kei squeezed her hand. "I'm fine now, remember?"

"So... we have a plan?" Aidyn questioned, directing the conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Seems like it," Damon replied.

The group took this as their cue, everyone standing up and brushing grass off of themselves. Damon rolled the map back up. Kei shook Jared slightly so that he'd register what was going on around him.

They called out farewells to Nori, Dealla and Lyla as the three of them returned in the direction of the Voc camp, Dealla waving one of her axes at them in reply. Ari wished with all her might that one of their groups would find the source before the humans did.

She knew that wishing wasn't enough, and that they would have to search as hard as they could, but for the moment, with the bustle of the festival surrounding them on all sides and blocking their path deeper into the city, wishing was all she could do.

｡･ﾟﾟ･｡

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WEEK TO US

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(G.F.C.)