Just as Blue had prophesied Liam, the evening festival was truly a sight to behold.

The whole market had turned into mayhem. People were milling and dancing around outside. There were big torches placed all over the square and a big platform had been built on which a group of musicians currently played their sweet melody.

Liam had already believed the people to be good natured in the morning, but now they were bordering on festivities. He saw groups of people engaged in conversation or dance, with free flowing wine.

A small trio of musicians he recognized from the performers played a tune. It was fast paced, and filled even Liam with energy. Despite the slight headache he had from his evening of practice, he found himself whipping his foot to the beat.

After a quick walk through the masses Liam had found Jerem standing with Ernst at Lepo. By the looks of it Jerem was still fighting with the hangovers from yesterday, whereas the other two boys seemed in a good mood.

Ernst noticed Liam's approach.

“Liam! Haven’t seen you all day.”

“Yeah I helped Blue this morning and then spent some time alone.”

“You helped Blue this morning?” Jerem said. “Where was I then?”

“Uhh..probably still sleeping off your hangover?”

“That sounds like him,” Ernst laughed.

Only now did Liam see that the two town boys already had a glass of wine in their hands again. They really were built differently here.

They listened to music while Liam watched the people dance around them. After a few hours the sun was starting to set, and the task of illumination fell solely to the torches that were placed around the market. They hulled the whole square in a warm light and gave the happenings a familiar atmosphere. Like the whole town was enjoying some food and wine around a campfire, only with lots of music and dancing.

As the evening drew on Ernst and Lepo eventually convinced Liam to also pick up a glass again. Soon that one glass turned into three and Liam felt his perception pleasantly, but noticeably dulled.

He even almost started bobbing his head to the music, and only caught himself in time to stop it. He glanced around all these people gathered around the square. Usually he felt very uncomfortable in those large gatherings of people, especially around so many strangers, he hadn’t danced in years.

Still, something about his surroundings put him at ease. He glanced at Jerem and the other two boys joking with each other. He felt himself smiling. Was it perhaps the wine that loosened him?

At some point of the evening the musicians stopped and stepped away from the stage, in their stead entered the woman Liam had gotten to know before, although he couldn't recall her name.”.

“Helloooo people of Urbanisk. Are you in a good mood?”

A few people in the crowd answered with cheers.

“Good.” The woman said walking along the stage. She moved with grace as if she was born on that stage. “In that case I’m very happy to announce that we, the Grace Banner Performers, will be entertaining you this evening.”

She cleared the stage and a few of the torches close to the tribune went out, as if by magic, hulling the tribune in darkness. Liam watched in awe.

“You haven’t seen some of our performers yet, have you?” Jerem asked with a cheeky smile.

“No.” Liam said. “Why?”

“Ohh just wait.”

A few moments later, a man stepped on the stage. He was old. Very old. His white hair fell almost to his shoulders, revealing only his wrinkled sun bathed face. His walk towards the chair in the middle of the stage was a little shaky, and he needed to draw a deep breath after he sat down.

Liam threw Jerem a look, but the boy only gestured for him to wait.

It took a while until the man had his breath under control again. When he did though, he started speaking to them. His voice rolled over the crowd like honey, luring them in.

The tale he told them was one common enough. Liam had heard it spoken multiple times in the taverns of Charville, but never like this. He felt his emotions rising with the characters of the story, felt his heartbeat quicken as he got anxious during the development of the tale. The whole crowd sat on the edge of their seats so to speak.

When the man finished the story, Liam himself almost felt out of breath and his emotions were thrown into wild disarray..

Afterwards Liam saw a lot of people putting money in a hat. And people were donating quite generously. Liam thought he saw the mayor throwing in ten whole silver coins. Now he understood why the performers were so valued.

A group of acrobats followed afterwards, twisting their bodies in mind boggling ways and exploding over the stage in complicated shows of body control. After them came another group of musicians, then another another.

As the afternoon lulled along Liam started to appreciate the entertainment of a professional performance for the first time in his life.

—-----

“Ohh Herun*, I love it when the caravan is coming to town.” Ernst said, slapping his tight as they walked away from the crowds. While the performance was great, they needed a breath of fresh air.

Stolen story; please report.

“Me too. It is the best evening of the year.”

“Really? Is it more entertaining than your fields?” Jerem asked with friendly mockery in his voice.

“Pff please,” Lepo snorted. “What would you know about complex entertainment that fields provide?”

They turned their little walk into a voyage back towards their hill, where they spent the remainder of the evening. They listened to the sound of music carrying over the small tree range, and into their ears, while once again the brandy flowed quite freely. They laughed, they joked, and they shared stories.

It would be their last evening in town, and the boys looked sad to have them leave again. For a moment Liam almost felt a pang of regret, but then he remembered that those boys probably had caravan members passing every time. The amount of friendships they were able to build, without the knowledge of ever seeing the other person again, and still being able to approach new persons afresh. It was a little inspiration to Liam. It was exactly how he would have to approach things from now on.

At some point during the night the music stopped. The sound of laughter and joy from the town became quieter, and the hour unignorably late.

“Well I think it might be time to go,” Liam said.

“What?” Ernst slurred. “Can’t leave now Liam boy.”

During his sentence he managed to spill over his bottle of wine onto his brother.

“Yeah. Can’t leave now,” Sepo joined in without realizing the spill on his clothes.

Liam snorted. “What about you Jerem? Wanna walk back to the tavern together?”

“Well I guess it’s time then”, Jerem sighed, put his hands on his knees and started to push himself up from the floor.

“Or we can open another bottle of brandy.” Ernst injected.

“I think we should stay Liam.” Jerem immediately let himself fall back down to the floor.

Liam burst out laughing. The others joined immediately, and, a little hesitantly, Jerem as well. Soon they were all laughing quite wildly. At Jerem and his silliness, and at the whole situation in general.

Liam couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so freely. He felt a little weight lifting off of him, one he hadn’t even known he carried.

Eventually Liam said his goodbyes. And a few words of denial in answer to the question of his prolonged stay, Liam excused himself and went down the hill.

The cold wind walking down the small hill back into the town, sobered Liam up quite nicely. He only now realized how much he had drunk. The thought made him a little uneasy. He hadn’t let himself go that much in years, hadn’t allowed himself to really for fear of what would happen.

Now Liam didn’t feel fear. Instead he felt himself wishing he would’ve stayed for a little while longer. But Blue had invited him for the next morning again, and as nice as the company of the boys was, Liam was excited to spend another morning between the stalls with Blue and the other merchants.

As Liam walked through the small patch of forest, he suddenly heard some sounds to his left. After listening for a second to make sure it wasn’t any sort of wild animal, who could know in these lands, Liam decided to continue his way. Maybe he was getting paranoid with the rustling of leaves at night.

But then the sound of whispering carried over to him. And what’s more, the whispering of a voice that sounded familiar.

Liam sighed at his foolishness, and then started sneaking forward through the night. The sound wasn’t far away, and the closer Liam got, the more clear it became. He had to move extra slowly though, to make sure not to be caught.

A twig snapped underneath him, and Liam froze. The soft sound of whispering was still there though. So they hadn’t noticed. Lucky.

While he was usually more than confident in his sneaking ability and had proved that point more than once in his life, this was unfamiliar terrain to him.

Liam knew how to step into puddles without making them splash and how to pass a squeaking tavern floor without even the rats underneath them noticing. What was new to him though, was walking over the forest floor.

There were small twigs and plants that could break under his feet everywhere, and with the treetops stealing what little was left of the moon light, he felt like he was moving through utter darkness.

Luckily he had a trick for that.

Liam tapped into mana, and a warm glow started spreading through his body. Immediately the objects around him had thin purple lines springing up around them.

While the glow of those lines wasn’t enough to illuminate the objects directly, they made every single twig, branch and dried leafs on the floor stand out even if Liam only focused slightly on them.

It didn’t really work for objects Liam couldn’t see, as he found out the hard way when he hit his head on a low hanging tree branch, but it still helped him move without any more sounds.

There were so many lines in fact, that Liam had to concentrate not to get blinded by that.

He continued on his way more stealthy this time. It took him even longer now to avoid all the things on the floor, but he managed.

Finally he peeked around a tree and saw two silhouettes. It looked like they were in a heated argument, which they were having at a reduced volume.

Liam couldn’t make out much of what was being said, but he recognized the two voices. BIlby and Michael, one of the other workers.

There was a bad taste in his mouth when he thought about Bilby. Liam still wasn't over the fact that the man had cheated him out of two silver, and with a cheap trick nonetheless.

Suddenly Liam felt his interest in the conversation rising a little. He leaned closer.

“...told you we can’t keep doing it in those villages close by anymore. There are other fish here,” Michael said.

Bilby sounded agitated. “I told you I don’t care bout that. We’re either pushing it here, or we both will be in trouble.”

“Can’t tell you some of the locals will be happy about that.”

“Oh fuck the locals.”

“But what if one of the others makes a move?”

Bilby snorted. “And what? Do you think they would have the balls to do anything?”

The conversation was getting more heated, and Liam desperately wanted to hear more. Unconsciously he took a step forward, when something snapped under him.

“What was that?” Bilby raised their voice slightly.

“Probably just some animals.”

“Let’s have a look-”

Liam immediately chided himself. His heart raced as the two started walking in his direction.

Could he hide? He wouldn’t be able to do it fast. Should he run? Would they catch him? The steps were getting closer, and Bilby was almost upon the group of trees Liam hid behind.

He was afraid of making moves, but he knew this wasn’t the time to be indecisive. If he ran, chances were that the two would probably catch him, or at least catch up enough to see him in the light of the town. No, Liam needed a different option.

He felt for his energy. It was a little sluggish, and elusive. Despite his adrenaline he still felt next to himself from the amount of wine he drank.

Finally he managed to channel mana though, and following his instinct, he activated [Gravity Jump] and with a single leap, jumped almost two dozen meters away. It was only due to sheer luck that Liam hadn’t catapulted himself face first into a nearby tree.

It was a risk he didn’t want to take again, and as soon as his feet hit the ground, Liam started running as fast as he could.

He only slowed down when he was out of the woods, and returned his way towards the guesthouse normally. He walked as inconspicuous as possible, with no idea whether the two men were following him.

He didn’t notice anybody following him though. Nor was there any other outcry after his departure.

Still Liam found sleep elusive that night, expecting a stern knock on his door every moment. It was late when sleep finally took him.