The townspeople had really exceeded themselves in how quickly they turned the entire interior of a single building - it was probably some meeting hall or a sports hall - into festival grounds.

Lucas and Mrei were all but bouncing around with excitement, and Rolan had to remind them to mind their manners. Kress wasn't so enthusiastic about the whole thing. At least his clothes were mostly comfortable, which he wouldn't have believed with how difficult they were to get on him. He still had to constantly force himself to stop playing with the feathers and beads tied to his hair, though. He had been given earrings too, but there was no way he would punch holes into his earlobes for this, so that had been the second-best idea Lucas had come up with.

He had to admit that now that Mrei had calmed down, she really fit in like a fish in water, exchanging a few words with everyone willing to talk with her. Rolan was constantly at her side like he was her father.

And there was Jian. Kress sighed.

"Don't just stand there! Come on!"

Kress almost jumped at Lucas's voice behind him. "Don't sneak up on me!"

Lucas laughed and laid one hand on his shoulder. "Nobody is going to eat you alive. Let's go. It will be fun."

It was not fun. Too many people and too much noise. The buffet - maybe if he was high enough on sugar, he'd hate this all a little less - and Lucas staying by his side made it bearable, but only until Jian wanted to introduce him to the townsfolk. Then it really went downhill.

It was not quite dark yet when the children retired back to the motel - Rolan stayed for a while longer. Jian would have wanted them all to stay longer, but Kress simply stated that he was tired.

"Remind me to never agree to anything like this again," he muttered to the other two - who had followed him to his room - as he collapsed on his back on the bed. Then he quickly sat back up again. Something in his clothes was digging straight into his spine. "Lucas, help me out of these."

The other boy obliged, peeling the fancy clothing off layer by layer. Mrei assisted the best she could by unbraiding the decorations in Kress's hair.

Kress was too tired to even ask the girl to leave. If it didn't bother her to see him half-naked, he wouldn't let it bother himself either.

"Thanks," he said quietly as Mrei brought a clean nightshirt from his bag.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, it was."

"But they were all really nice. And they liked you a lot. You should have heard-"

"How do you expect me to feel?!" Kress suddenly snapped. "They're all looking at me like some kind of savior - which I'm not!"

Lucas tried to take his hand, but Kress moved away. "Why are we doing this..."

"To find a cure for you and my daddy," Mrei said with conviction.

"What if we never find it? What if the whole place doesn't even exist?"

"I know it does," Lucas stated. He couldn't understand why Kress wanted to give up so quickly. "My mother always spoke of the land beyond the clouds. She would want us to find it too. So once I find her and Leyla, I want to tell her we're going to do it."

Kress remained quiet. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't hurt Lucas. He had already said more than he should have.

"You'll like my mother, I just know it," Lucas continued. "Hey, maybe we could adopt you into the family once you've met her? I'm sure she'll like you too."

"Just leave me alone!" Kress pushed both the pendant he possessed and the one Jian had given him to Lucas. "Hold those till tomorrow. I don't want to see them right now."

When neither of the two budged an inch, he turned his back to them. "Go. I really don't want to deal with anyone."

They hesitantly obeyed.

"What got into him now?" Mrei wondered out loud once the door was closed between them and Kress.

"I don't know. Maybe he's just tired?" He wanted to tell the other boy that they were all in this together, that he wouldn't need to be any kind of 'savior' alone, but would Kress really listen? Perhaps it would be better to try again in the morning. Kress could get so cranky sometimes. "I think he'll be fine by tomorrow."

But Mrei didn't want to wait till tomorrow. After a good while of thought she remembered that daddy had always looked happy when she had brought him flowers. Maybe that would work here too.

Although Jenlen wasn't as big or as technologically advanced as Delavia, it was still a town and she had to scour the sides of the streets for about half an hour before she was satisfied with the tiny bouquet of flowers she had managed to gather. She tied one of the ribbons Rolan had given her around the stems and headed back to Kress's room.

"Kress? Please open this door." She knocked a little harder when there was no reply. "Kress!"

After what felt like an eternity to her the boy opened the door. "What now?"

"Um..." She practically shoved the bouquet to his hands. "I picked these for you. I hope they cheer you up."

Kress was too stunned to say anything at first. What kind of logic was that? Was he someone shut in a hospital that people brought flowers to now?

Mrei looked at him intently, holding her breath. Kress was so difficult to read. She couldn't tell what he thought of her gift at all.

Kress had to work to keep a straight face as the girl's expression turned funnier every passing moment. When he was fairly certain he wouldn't start laughing, he smiled and said, "Okay. Thank you."

Success! Mrei practically beamed with happiness. "You're very welcome! I'll see you in the morning."

"See you." Unsure what to do with the flowers - there was no vase to put them into and he hardly could take them along tomorrow -, he just placed the whole small bouquet on the nightstand. He still thought Mrei was a weird little girl, but she was...fun to be around sometimes.

~*~*~

At the breakfast table the following morning Kress greeted his companions with a slight smile - courtesy to the little bouquet at his bedside - and apologized for yelling at them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucas asked.

"Not really."

The other boy shrugged. "Okay."

That was one of the qualities he liked about Lucas. If he didn't want to talk about something, Lucas rarely - or not at all - pushed the issue. "I'd like to take the pendants back now."

"Sure thing." Lucas pulled their chains over his head and gave them both to Kress, who quickly donned them again.

After breakfast they stopped by at the bookstore - Rolan was glad to buy some books for the kids if it guaranteed some peace and quiet on the road - and then headed to the town hall to say goodbye to Jian.

The old man met them outside the building. "I wish you luck on your journey," he said. "You will let me know the moment you complete the key, right? I wish to see the land beyond the clouds with my own eyes before my time's up."

Rolan smiled. "Of course." Although nobody really knew exactly how the Sky spirits would show them the path to their ancestral homeland. For all he could guess, everybody in the Skyfall tribe would know how to get there the moment the pendant was whole.

Suddenly there was a loud sound of propellers from above them and a huge shadow covered the street. Rolan looked up. An airship, eh?

The three children instantly huddled together as the large aircraft slowly descended from the sky.

"What should we do?" Mrei asked in low voice. Now she was scared. They couldn't get caught. Not now.

"Let's hide," Lucas suggested. "We'll get seen if we try to leave the town."

"Where can we hide?" Kress clutched his pendant like seeking security from it. "They'll surely search every building."

"Eh, what got into you three?" Rolan asked. "It's just an airship."

"Haven't you ever seen one?" Jian continued. "We see them quite regularly here. Twice a week the fish industry company sends one to buy the haul of recent days."

Mrei sighed in relief. So it wasn't daddy's soldiers trying to take her back home. Or...She turned back to Kress and Lucas, "What if there's still someone looking for us aboard?"

Kress nodded. "We should leave as quickly as possible. If they're here to get the fish, they have to land outside the town." Something that size couldn't land on the streets and they couldn't load heavy crates while suspended in midair.

"Uncle, how soon can be leave?" Lucas asked.

"Right away if you want, but...why the hurry?"

"No particular reason," Kress replied before Lucas could blurt out anything...problematic. "We just should get moving and reach the next pendant as quickly as possible."

Both adults could figure out they were hiding something, but perhaps this time being young worked in their favor as apparently it was all dismissed as children's antics.

"Well, good luck again," Jian said. "I'll eagerly wait for your next letter, Rolan. Take care."

"You too." He returned to the children and ushered them towards the car parked on the other side of the square. "Let's go then."

~*~*~

They drove about an hour in silence - again leaving the road in favor of the straightest possible route - before Rolan stopped the car and turned to his passengers. "Now...which one of you is going to tell what you're really running from?"

He was met with awkward silence.

"Aidan's letter said to avoid the king's soldiers, but I assumed it was because they might not like the idea that the messenger had appeared. Now something tells me that there's something more to the matter." He sighed as the silence only continued, "Look, kids, how do you expect me to protect you if I don't know what from? Is someone searching for you? Does someone from the capital know Kress is the messenger?"

"No," Kress finally said. "Even I didn't know."

"Then why are you afraid someone is searching for you?"

"Promise you won't be mad?" Mrei asked.

"Of course I won't be mad. Why would I be?"

She had promised Aidan not to tell anyone, but...surely Rolan didn't count? "I'm a princess."

Rolan couldn't help smiling at that. "I know."

"You know?"

"I'm sure everybody else thought so at the party yesterday too. You looked absolutely stunning, lass."

"No, I mean I really am a princess. I ran away from home and daddy must have sent soldiers to look for me by now."

"Wait, what?"

Kress leaned on his hand and decided to stay out of this one. No matter the pleading eyes Mrei was giving him and Lucas.

Rolan looked at Mrei and then Lucas. "It isn't a children's game, is it? I thought you were neighbors or something."

"No, we met in Delavia - I went there to look for mother and Leyla," Lucas admitted.

"Aidan did say you met Kress there, but...Mrei too?"

Both nodded.

"And Kress and I...sort of...escaped from a cell, so...the soldiers are probably looking for us too."

Rolan leaned his head on the backrest of his seat. Things had suddenly gotten a whole lot more complicated.

"Um...are you angry?" Mrei asked carefully.

"No, I'm not angry." He looked at her again. "I just wish you had told me earlier. We need to be more careful from now on."

Hopefully allowing Jian to have his celebration wouldn't come back to bite them later.