It was late morning on the second day of the carnival and already the place was bustling with activity. Kept occupied by her duties, Minnette hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Gann or Galen all morning. Ever since she woke up, she’d been anxious to talk to them, wondering how their conversation had gone last night.

As midday approached, there was a brief lull in her responsibilities and she used that opportunity to seek out the two men. She was searching along the northwest end of the fairgrounds–where most of the talent performances were set up–when something caught her eye.

There was a huge, murmuring crowd outside a violet, plush velvet tent that Minnette didn’t immediately recognize. The front flaps of the tent were pulled open and the locals were straining to look over and around one another at whatever was inside.

Curiosity pushed Minnette forward and she carefully waded through the gathered crowd.

She recognized the Guild’s representative, Thane, standing inside the tent, a phoenix perched on his arm while another member of the guild stood to the side, holding an empty cage.

Minnette recognized the bird. It was one she and Geyna had worked with yesterday. It had taken the longest to tame, even with her animal bonding.

I guess that means the Guild is still here… With the way Gann had spoken to her last night, she half expected Galen to have forced them to leave. Perhaps he just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

She wondered what the Guild was doing over here, though. Hadn’t they been given a tent on the south side of the carnival?

Then she remembered when the guild members were carrying off the Aquaeth’s tank. “Master Thane says the carnival has given us a better place for this one!” one of them had said. This must have been the other spot Galen gave them. Did that mean the Aquaeth man was inside?

Sure enough, when she peered around Thane, she spotted the tank–still covered with the tarp–in the center of the tent.

“Should you ever handle a phoenix, you must do so with caution,” Thane told the crowd, pulling Minnette’s attention back to him. “In the wild, these birds are known for their aggression, bursting into flame when they feel threatened.”

It reminded her of someone else she knew.

Thane continued. “Back in Kri’Kori, there is a great deal of status attached to owning a phoenix, making them the most popular pet among the nobility.”

“Why do they keep them as pets if they are so dangerous?” a small boy of no more than eighty years asked.

“A fair question! You see, the elves of Kri’Kori, the Kor, are impervious to fire,” Thane explained, setting the phoenix inside the cage. “So unlike the Tamar, Valen, or–and especially–the Kiir elves, phoenixes present no danger to the Kor.”

A resounding, “Oh…” emanated from the crowd as the other guild member carried the cage to the back of the tent.

“This next creature I am about to show you is the most unique and rare creature known to elvenkind,” Thane said, a smirk half hidden under his dark beard.

He walked over to the tank and reached for the tarp. “Behold…” he said and yanked the tarp off.“The Aquaeth!”

Gasps sounded from the crowd.

This was Minnette’s first time seeing the Aquaeth completely unobscured. He had an imposing height and figure. He was well over six feet tall and pale as the moon. He wore a silver, scaled armor skirt around his midsection and a matching shoulder piece that covered part of his chest. His arms and lower legs were covered in iridescent blue markings that matched his eyes.

His eyes... Something was off about them. They were dull compared to the last time she’d seen him. Not in color–no, his eyes were still just as mesmerizingly blue as she’d seen before–but they lacked the life, alertness, and even the anger she’d seen.

“We stumbled across him on our latest journey across the Western Sea–”

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“Why does he look so ill?” Minnette blurted out.

He smiled at her in a way that didn’t quite reach his murky eyes. “That’s because he is. You see… We found him floating in the sea, alone, injured, and unconscious. We brought him aboard our ship and our healers have been nursing him back to health ever since,” Thane said.

Minnette had spent her entire life living with people who lied to and manipulated others for a living. It made her hyperaware of the body language of a liar, and if the way his eyes darted around the crowd as he answered was anything to go by, he wasn’t being entirely honest.

“Though, as you can see, he still has quite a ways to go before he is ready to be released back into the ocean,” Thane added.

She gave him a fake, but pleasant, smile and said, “How noble of you and your fellows to go through all this trouble for his sake. And to ask nothing in return? Why you must be one of the most charitable merchant guilds I’ve ever heard of.” It was a question disguised as praise. What do you get out of this?

Thane bowed, lowering his gaze so his face was obscured. “You are too kind, Miss,” he said, not taking the bait.

As he was coming out of the bow, Minnette spotted a gold glint–a key–hanging from his neck. To keep it so close, it must have been important. She wondered what it unlocked.

The crowd began asking Thane their own questions and Minnette turned to look at the Aquaeth again. She nearly jolted when she found him staring right into her eyes. His brows pinched together as he watched her. He seemed to be searching for something in her, though she couldn’t possibly imagine what.

“Minnette!” a voice called and she broke away from the Aquaeth’s gaze. The voice belonged to one of the other carnies, a young elf named Benwyn. He was lanky, had short, curly, red hair, and had as many freckles as stars in the night sky.

“Art’eir and Hinri are fighting again and I can’t find Master Aaimar!” he said in a wide-eyed panic.

“It’s alright, Benwyn. Take me to them and I’ll see if I can’t pull them off of each other,” she said.

“Thank Erondyl for you, Minnette! They’re this way!” he said, running down the path south.

Minnette sighed and looked over her shoulder at the Aquaeth one last time. His gaze was still on her even as she followed after Benwyn.

***

It was late in the evening when Minnette next had a moment to herself. She had just escorted the last of the day’s visitors out of the carnival and locked up the front entrance. She still hadn’t seen Gann or Galen anywhere, always having “just missed them” when she’d asked others if they knew where either of the elves were.

Perhaps she would see them at dinner.

As she was making her way to the fire pit where the carnival gathered to eat meals together, she spotted two of the Guild’s men heading north.

One of them–an elf with a long brown braid running down his back–groaned. “I’m tired of having to watch this damn thing all the time! The sooner we get to Mynrathos, the better!”

“Not so loud, Kip! One of the carnies might hear you…” the other said.

That caught Minnette’s attention. She pressed herself against one of the tents, hoping to stay out of sight.

“What are we even doing in this stupid carnival anyway, Jion?” Kip asked. “We’d make much better time if we just moved on.”

Jion shrugged and brushed a hand through his close-cut, black hair. “Thane said something about making more coin off it before we… you know…”

“Oh before we sell it to–OW!” Before Kip could finish his sentence, Jion smacked him over the back of the head with a loud thump.

“Shut up, you big-mouthed bonehead!”

“Alright! Alright!” Kip said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Besides, it won’t be so bad!” Jion said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I brought, this!” Jion said, holding up a squared glass bottle. “Let’s go.”

“You really are a genius, Jion!” Kip said.

“Well, one of us had to be…”

Though they could have been talking about anything, Minnette couldn’t shake the feeling that the “it” the two guild members were talking about, was the Aquaeth.

Minnette contemplated following after them but ultimately decided against it. She wanted to speak with Gann and Galen before they retired for the night, especially after overhearing Kip and Jion’s conversation. And so she continued on her way to the fire pit.