"Wow!~" Exclaimed Elizabeth as they walked into the entrance of town. Everything was covered in flowers. All different shapes, sizes, and colors. Like garland, they wrapped around the bridge and pillars. The market and buildings looked like an extended garden.

Mai smiled at her princess' excitement. "Seems that the preparation for the Lantern Festival is pretty much complete." Elizabeth turned to her with large sparkly blue eyes. "Like- Like the one we had when I was small!?"

Mai nodded, her eyes softening. "That's right. Your parents thought it best to change the date to your birthday after...the incident."

The mention of the event didn't seem to change the attitude of her friend, as she went on and on about how great the town looked. But the memories still had a bad influence on Mai as her face saddened. She shook it off quickly after realizing she was spacing out though.

Zed watched Elizabeth for a moment, a small smile finding its way to his face. She was quite the character. But that smile soon fell as he noticed the saddened look on Mai's face. Wasn't she happy? No that wasn't it. Something else was on her mind, but she shook it off, going over to the princess and talking to her like she wasn't upset a minute ago.

The Captain walked next to her friend as they walked through town. Free samples were being given away, people were playing music and dancing. But there was still that silent sadness in the air. Barely noticeable among the happy townspeople.

Elizabeth glanced around, finding that she was getting way to distracted. She had something so much more important to tend to! She can't get distracted now! There was little time to act.

She glanced behind her to find Lucas looking at some expertly made glass slippers. She casually walked up to him and stood next to him. Glancing back, she saw Mai inspecting some jewelry. This was good. Surprising given her friend's tomboy nature, but good.

Lucas noticed the girl and turned to her with a raised brow. Somehow, he knew that she had a plan in motion. She looked up at him and smiled. "Want to go look around?" He returned the smile, knowing full well what was going through her head. "Aren't you worried about those two? And won't Mai be worried about you?"

Her eyes softened, but her smile became warm as she glanced back at her Captain, who was now in a conversation with her Thief. "Yes, but she needs to relax every once in awhile. Forget about painful things and enjoy what's in front of her. Right now, she can't do that with me around." He blinked, but soon understood and nodded.

With the plan moving forward, she grabbed onto Lucas's arm and ran off into the crowd, calling over her shoulder. "Mai! I want to hang out with Lucas, go have fun with your betrothed and meet us by the docks at sundown!" With that, the two were gone, quickly being covered by the crowd.

Mai looked over to where Elizabeth's voice was coming from, calling her name, but it was to late, the two were gone. She sighed, knowing that searching for her now would be a waste of time. "If she doesn't want to be found, she won't be. Mai thought ruefully."

Though she was looking down at the jewelry, her head was filled of unwanted thoughts. It took ten years to find the person she wanted to see again so badly, two of them being Captain. Because she couldn't fight the person that took her best friend away from her when she was a child, she worked herself to the bone trying to find her with her own two hands in order to make up for being so weak in the past. But it wasn't even by her own hands that she was found, it was...

Zed watched as the two ran into the crowd and only rolled his eyes at the princess' comments. He was surprised that Mai only sighed, not even protesting in any way, shape, or form. He raised a brow, bending over to see what she was so focused on, but was met with an expression he had never seen her wear. She wasn't looking at anything, just spacing out, thinking of something that was obviously unpleasant.

"Hey..." He tried, but was only met with silence. So he tried again, this time a bit louder.

"Hello..?" She blinked, finally noticing the hand that was being waved in front of her face. Mai looked over to see that Zed had bent down to look at her face. Now their noses were only an inch away from each other.

This caused both sides to blink and suck in a sharp breath, surprised. Mai's dark green eyes boring into Zed's lime ones. After a minute or so, both looked away from one another, faces red from embarrassment.

He decided it would be best to change the subject by pointing out the obvious. "I never knew you were a jewelry person..." Smooth dude...

She blinked, looking down at the merchandise. "Oh, I-I'm not really..but I do think they're pretty..." She looked down to see a few that stood out. Such as a green hair pen with a white flower. She wasn't sure, but it looked Chinese. Then next to it was a simple necklace. The cord was black and had a single tan round seashell. She smiled down at them, wondering what their stories were.

Zed watched her, a bit relieved that she was wearing a smile instead of her previous expression. He found that he wanted to know as much about her as possible, but wasn't quite sure how to receive such information...For now though, he would just be with her and see where that will take him. "Since we're obviously going to be here awhile, is there anything you want to do?"

She looked up at him, giving a thoughtful gaze. "Not...really. This is the first time I've attended the Festival since I was a little girl. I only remember basic stuff about it."

He blinked at that. Maybe getting information wouldn't be as hard as he first thought. "What did you do when you were a kid?"

She looked around, trying to remember. "Well, we would look around all day, then we would go to the docks to watch the main event."

He noticed that she said 'we', most likely meaning her and Elizabeth. She looked up at him. "Have you ever been to the Festival before?"

He blinked, not expecting her to ask him questions. "Um, nope."

She looked surprised. "Oh, well then, there are a few things you need to see." She smiled and he raised a brow with amusement. "Yeah? Like what?"

The brunette turned back to him. "First, we look around the shops. They save their best items to sell only for today." So, the two started walking along the market. Mai was right, there were many fine items out for sale. From jewels, to clothes and knickknacks. At one point, Mai pointed out a dress that changed from red to blue, though the shop owner couldn't tell them why.

As they walked, Zed glanced around at all of the flowers. "I thought this was a Lantern Festival. So where are the lanterns?"

She looked around. "Well, the lanterns won't be put up and lit until nightfall. So until then, the townspeople decorate with flowers." He nodded, finding that to make good sense.

After looking through most of the shops, both found that they were getting hungry. Zed blinked as his stomach growled. "Guess those apples wouldn't hold us for long."

Mai chuckled. "I know where we could get something to eat." She led him to one of the bread shops.

The stand was small but plentiful with delicious breads, rolls, and pastries lined up for the taking. The owner was humming to himself as he was taking out another loaf from the oven. He turned to look at his new costumers and was met with a pleasant surprise. His chocolate eyes widened slightly, a smile spreading on his face. "Mai!" The man looked to be in his mid 40s, and had long brown hair in a side ponytail, reaching a little past his shoulder.

Mai gave a warm smile. "Hey dad."

Zed blinked, looking from the baker back to his daughter and repeating this process a couple of times. They did look a bit similar, but he wouldn't have noticed that they were closely related if she hadn't said anything.

Her father clapped his hands together. "Take anything you want! Don't be shy, I'm sure you're hungry after all of the work you've been doing." She nodded. "Thanks."

He went back to his work, a bit more chipper than before. Mai turned to her companion. "You can take whatever you want, my treat." He nodded, and took some normal bread. Mai grabbed a sweet roll before turning back towards her father. "I'm going back out dad, I'll see you later." He threw a cheerful "Okay!~" her way before going back to work.

The two were back on their way, walking and chatting. A women noticed them walk off as she came up to the bread shop. A loving smile appearing on her face. "Oh my Mr. John, your daughter is getting more beautiful each day."

He didn't have to turn toward her to answer. "I know, she looks just like her mother."

The woman nodded as she got her bread ready to buy. "And her boyfriend is quite the sight as well. They look wonderful together! Ah, young love~"

The baker stopped his work, almost dropping a loaf onto the ground. His eye started to twitch as he slowly turned to the woman. Knowing what was coming, she left him the money for the bread on the counter and started to walk away.

For a few moments, he gazed into the direction of where his daughter had walked off in. Then there was an angry fire in the man's eyes as he started to run in that direction. "WHO DARES CALL HIMSELF A LOVER FOR MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER!?"

~ ✿ ♥ ✿ ~

Lucas glanced down at the girl who had dragged him across town. She looked pretty happy that Mai didn't try and go after them. He raised a brow. "You sure you want to leave them alone?"

She glanced up at him and then downward. "I'm putting my trust in your friend. Because Mai is comfortable around him."

Lucas smiled. She was right after all. "I wouldn't worry about them then." She nodded.

The two walked around the shops, avoiding their friends when they spotted them once or twice. The princess looked up to Lucas, making eye contact with him and sharing a smile. When was the last time she had smiled before today? When was the last time she truly had someone by her side to stay? Elizabeth was so happy that she was able to finally escape the tower and come back to where she belonged. "Though..." She thought, glancing at Lucas from the corner of her eye. "There is something different than what I expected."

Lucas looked around, then back to her. "So...what do you want to do now?"

She thought a moment. "Well, there are lots of things I've missed over the years...What do you want to do?"

He blinked. "You want me to pick?" She nodded again.

Lucas rubbed the back of his head, finding himself a bit embarrassed. "I've, ah...Never been to the festival before...So I'm not sure what to do." She thought another moment, then her stomach started to growl. Lucas covered his mouth to keep himself from laughing. The princess's face started to turn a bright shade of pink.

"I guess we have something to do now. What do you want? I'll treat you." Lucas told her as they started walking again.

After swallowing her embarrassment, she turned to him. "U-um, I want..." She trailed off. He waited as she fiddled with her dress. "I want some ice cream..."

"Ice cream?" She nodded and Lucas couldn't keep his amusement from his eyes. She was just so...cute. He pushed that thought aside quickly, his own face turning pink. "Well then, where can we find some ice cream? It's your birthday after all, maybe we can find some cake too."

She gave an excited expression, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the food shops. "I think I saw it in this direction!" He glanced down at their intertwined fingers, then back to her face. At that moment, he promised himself that he would tell her. He just didn't know when or how. Good plan Lucas, good plan...