There are loud warning shouts around all four roads of the festival. There are a lot of people at this festival. Families are here, as well as elderly people and unaccompanied minors.

Ajax is doing his part by shouting to tell families in his designated area to clear out.

“Everyone! The statue marchers are going to be here soon! Please, if you want to leave the area before they arrive, do so now!”

There are a number of families who seem to heed his warnings and start leaving the festival grounds. There are other families who throw Ajax dirty looks for disrupting the event. He can hear one such family talking to each other, unaware that he can hear.

“What if he’s a statue marcher? He’s a human, ain’t he?” A beastkin man says, while holding his toddler in his arms.

“Should we leave?” His wife asks, worried about their daughter.

“*Sigh*. I doubt he’s telling the truth… But, if they show up, we can leave then. No use leaving now before anything’s happened…”

Ajax can understand that. It’s not like he’d be inclined to leave either at this point. But, there are people who would like to know in advance.

“Excuse me?” Ajax turns to see a young beastkin girl with indigo hair. She looks about as old as Olah, maybe 15 or 16 years old.

“Hi, what can I do for you?” Ajax asks with a smile. The girl looks to be slightly scared. He can hear her heartbeat slowly increasing in pace. Behind her, there is an elderly beastkin woman watching the two of them.

“Are… Are they really coming here? I-Isn’t it too early for a march?” After all, the last statue march was only six weeks ago. It should be four weeks too early for them.

This girl has not been to a statue march protest, but she has interacted with the city guards.

Her father was arrested and beaten by them when a human reported him for shoplifting at a nearby store. She was with him that whole day and he didn’t even go into that shop. Now, she is here at this festival with her grandmother. She doesn’t want either of them to be in the city guards’ vicinity.

“I just received word that they started their march a distance away and are going to end it off here. I don’t have proof right now, but the people I asked are certain. They’re speaking in the middle of Maz square right now.”

“How soon will the marchers be here?”

“Any minute now. They won’t be coming through this road, so you can leave the festival through here if you want.” Ajax tells her. The girl bites her lip for a moment before going back to her grandmother and telling her that they’re leaving.

“Thank you!” The girl shouts towards Ajax. He smiles.

He’s glad he’s not doing this for nothing. There are people who will listen to him. He might need to be more authoritative. He takes in a deep breath and starts shouting in an even louder voice to show his urgency to the people around him. He can actually make his voice louder by imbuing his diaphragm with energy.

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Shaula can hear his voice from where she is, considerably louder. She hopes he’s being careful not to deafen anyone nearby. She also tries to tell people to leave as well on the road that she is on.

“Everyone! You can leave through this road, they’re not going to be coming through this one! If you have any kids or elderly family members with you, you should consider getting away from here while you can! The guards will be accompanying the marchers, protecting them along the way!”

She is being quite loud herself. Everyone on this road is listening to her. However, there are five beastkin kids who are also looking at her. Three boys and two girls; they don’t look like they have any parents.

Orphans? Or do parents let kids that young out by themselves?

She notices that the children are in slightly dirty clothes so she assumes the former. They are talking to themselves about whether they have to leave or not. The older kids are uncertain while the younger kids are certain they want to stay. Shaula can’t blame them.

This might be their first festival and if they’re enjoying themselves, they’d want to stay.

If they’re homeless and orphans, they won’t have parents telling them to leave…

Shaula grimaces. While she’s thinking about what to do to get them to leave, a rock flies at her face. Noticing its whoosh through the air, her perception immediately slows down. She looks at the rock in front of her. It seems that it was a young boy among the five kids who threw it. He looks about six or seven years old.

She catches the rock, right before it hits her shoulder. She looks over the group of five. They look like they want to run, but she smiles softly. She carefully walks towards them. The two older kids, what seems to be a 13 year old girl and a 12 year old boy, hold their ground. The young boy stands behind them, his heart racing.

“It’s alright, it’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. You didn’t have to throw this at me, you know? I just want to make sure that you all stay safe.” Shaula says.

“...Y-You’re just trying to make us leave because you’re a human and we’re beastkin…” The young boy says, still standing behind his friends, his voice muffled. That is what it might look like. She’s sure that other people on this road probably think the same thing.

Shaula sighs. She takes the rock and shows it to the children.

“Want to see some magic?” She asks. The children didn’t expect her to say that. Shaula holds the rock in her right hand. She knocks it a few times to show the group that it is solid. The little boy peeks towards her and also sees the rock.

Shaula then closes the rock in both her hands. Within a second, steam starts to escape her hand and the children back away a short distance. Shaula shows them her hand again. They see the same rock in her hands is bright red right now.

She takes the now much softer rock and pops it into her mouth. She chews the rock a bit and very carefully blows a little bubble as if it were bubble gum. Actually, she thinks of it as if she’s doing glassblowing. She is careful to face away from them so if the bubble pops, the molten rock doesn’t splatter on them.

The kids are obviously impressed. Shaula has noticed that there is no chewing gum in this world. This is probably the first time the kids have seen anything like this.

“How did you do that!?” The kids ask all at once, a sudden cacophony of questions pouring from them. Shaula laughs.

“Can’t share unfortunately, it’s the magician’s code to keep the trick a secret. But, I can show you the trick again some other time. Right now, you all should leave the festival. The statue marchers are going to be here and they’re not people you want to be around. I would like you kids to be safe.” Shaula says with a soft voice.

The kids look at her and then look at each other. Perhaps that trick bought her some good will because the five of them started walking away towards the exit. Shaula returns to shouting more warnings towards the people. More and more people slowly start leaving while food cart owners and exhibition workers start getting peeved.

However, Shaula notices that one of the orphans, a girl who looks to be ten, is sticking around. She’s looking over at her. Her brother, the twelve year old boy, tries to get her to leave with him, but she ignores him.

Shaula smiles a little and–

“--your ears! Cut your ears! Cut your fucking ears! Cut–”

They’re here… so, Prisca and that group weren’t lying…

Shaula immediately starts running towards where the statue marchers are entering the festival.