I stood at the balcony; the first place dad had taken me when I first came out to see the city. I closed my eyes thinking of the memory. I sighed, then slumped over the balcony. It had been two months since I last saw dad, a part of me began to believe he might not ever come back considering he was usually only gone for about a week or two.

Mum kept saying that he’ll be back, but she was starting to sound unsure about it too. I had also noticed mum was relying a little more on Athena to help in the bakery, she claimed it was lack of sleep due to bad dreams, but perhaps there was something more to it than that.

“Alex.” I felt a hand gently touch against my back. I lifted my head, turning it to see the one who had said my name. It was Tigra. “You alright?”

I looked back out at the waters, before a smile crossed my lips at the sight of her, it was still so hard to control these growing emotions for her which I found were growing even stronger.

“I’m fine,” I eventually answered.

“This isn’t like you,” she commented. “You know you can talk to me right.” She came to stand beside me.

“I miss my dad,” I admitted. “Sure, I love training with Master Lance, Loki and Brendan, but none of it is the same without dad, his knowledge, the way he taught you new things, that always stuck in your head.”

“He hasn’t come back yet?”

I shook my head. “Not even a letter.”

“Alex,” she came to lean over so she could see my face. “I know something that’ll cheer you up,” she put on this huge smile.

“What?” I stared at her.

“A festival,” she replied, beaming with energy. “Want to go with me?”

“Don’t you need permission or something,” I responded.

“Of course,” she nodded. “I asked mum and she said I could only go if you come with me, oh knight-in-training.”

“Seriously, what about the king and taking a Guardian…” I stopped remembering something Gual told me. ‘I always know where you are.’ I gulped.

“They have no problem either.”

“Why don’t I believe you,” I said.

“And you call yourself my best friend.” Tigra stood up straight, crossing her arms and huffing as she puffed out her cheeks. I looked at her, that face somehow made her look even cuter.

“I am your best friend,” I stood up, suddenly freaking out.

“It’ll be fine Alex,” she was back to normal, her hands close to her chest as she went on about it. “It’s held in the forest by one of the lakes, there’ll be fireworks by renown talisman wielders, amazing food from all over Panthera and live music.” Her eyes sparkled as she talked about it. “I’ve never been to a festival before.”

“I don’t know.” I was reluctant to take her somewhere filled with Animalia and potential danger.

“You can drag Brendan along; I know he can’t say no to you,” grinned Tigra.

“You are not going to let me say no are you?” I let out a sigh, knowing exactly how this was going to end.

“Pretty much, so give up now,” she sounded so proud of herself.

“When is it?” I asked giving up.

“Tonight,” she cheered.

“Tonight,” I repeated shocked. “Alright.”

“Meet you at the twin lion bridges.” Tigra ran off without another word, just great. I glanced out at the jagged mountains one last time before heading back home to get Brendan. “Yo Brendan,” I called.

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“No,” responded Brendan, relaxing in the living room.

“I haven’t said anything yet.” I came to stand in front of him.

“It’s obvious you want something,” commented Brendan.

“I don’t know why you said no, you can’t say no due to your clans code,” I grinned.

“Perhaps it was a bad idea telling you that,” sighed Brendan.

“All we have to do is escort Tigra to a festival in the forest tonight,” I informed.

“What? You can’t take her anywhere without permission,” he was shaking his head.

“It was Tigra’s idea,” I mentioned.

“And you couldn’t say no, could you?” he raised an eyebrow.

“She was very persuasive.” I crossed my arms, looking away.

“Sure, she was,” grinned Brendan.

“Did I hear something about a festival.” Athena popped in.

“Alex is taking Tigra to the forest festivals,” mentioned Brendan.

“Can I come?” her eyes sparkled just like Tigra’s.

“Sure,” I nodded. “More the merrier.”

“And more trouble you’ll be in when Queen Daz finds out,” chuckled Brendan.

“She said she knows.” I glared at him. “Now let’s go, we don’t want to keep Tigra waiting too long, she’ll need my protection.”

“Awe, cute,” smiled Athena.

“Do you want to come or what?” I looked away.

“Are you blushing?” she teased, I turned my back on them.

“Let’s go already!” I raised my voice, heading out of the room, passing mum I smiled. “We’ll be out late tonight mum, so don’t wait up.”

“Just be careful,” smiled mum. “Take your sword.”

“I always have my sword.” I touched it at my waist.

“Have fun.”

“We will,” answered Brendan.

As we headed off to meet up with Tigra, I really wondered if this was a good idea, I know I told Tigra yes, and now I had Brendan and Athena with me, who had also thought it was not a good idea, was I really a sucker for doing whatever Tigra wanted me to do.

“So, Alex how fond are you of your current title?” asked Athena.

“It’s just a title,” I shrugged.

“Something you won’t have when they find out you kidnapped the princess,” smirked Brendan.

“I haven’t kidnapped Tigra,” I growled a little, knowing exactly what they were trying to do, tease me. I have to admit it was already working and I was having doubts about this little trip.

I looked up at the sky, it would be a couple of hours before nightfall, knowing Tigra she would have already set something up in her room to throw off anyone looking for her, but… I glanced around, what about Gual?

“Finally.” Tigra was wearing a hooded cape over her head. “Hurry up or we’ll miss the start.”

“What’s with the hood?” questioned Brendan.

“I know I have permission, but I don’t want everyone’s attention on me, it’ll ruin the fun,” responded Tigra. I caught a glimpse of her tail twitching, was she lying?

“Come on, let’s get this over with.” I continued to walk ahead.

“Thank you guys,” smiled Tigra as she dashed after me, hooking her arm in mine.

I glanced at her, the breath catching in my throat. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she glanced at me. “Might as well make it fun.”

“How is clinging to my arm fun?” I asked.

“If you’re going to protect me, being as close as possible is the best option,” she snorted getting annoyed at me.

“Fine,” I sighed.

I heard Athena and Brendan laughing behind us, we both glanced back to see why. Tigra shook her head, while I just glared at them.

“Where’s this festival then?” asked Athena.

“At a little lake area,” answered Tigra glancing at me. “You know where we stopped for our first mission.”

“Really.” I thought back to us racing, catching fish, and camping out. “Yeah, that was fun.” I nodded.

“I can guarantee you’ll have just as much fun as then,” encourage Tigra.

“Alright.” I relaxed a little more.

“Like a date,” mumbled Athena.

I glanced behind me again. “Excuse me,” I snarled.

“Nothing.” Athena looked in the opposite direction, while Brendan sniggered to himself.

“Ignore them,” said Tigra. “They’re just getting into the spirit of the festival which is quite common for couples to go to.”

I gulped at her words. “We’re just friends.”

“I know that,” she giggled. “You are silly for being embarrassed.”

“Sure… Let’s just go have some fun.” I tugged her along a bit faster hoping the sooner we were there the sooner this would be over.