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Ozai the Street Urchin came across his next victim.

She was a pretty girl whose generosity led her to be too trusting.

His favorite kind of person.

\'Hello there,\' he said, striding up to her, confidence flowing from his dirty smile. \'Are you new around here?\'

She looked him up and down, most likely digesting his dusty feet, ripped pants, and partially open shirt which displayed his pectoral muscles perfectly.

\'I\'m afraid I took a wrong turn. Could you show me the way to the market square?\'

\'Anything for a damsel in distress,\' Ozai replied, offering his arm as a guide.

The lady giggled. \'I never expected such gentlemanly conduct from someone...\'

She paused, choosing her next words carefully.

\'Someone so young,\' she concluded.

Now it was Ozai\'s turn to laugh. \'Young, my lady? I\'m nearing thirty.\'

The woman blushed, turning away in an attempt to hide it. \'Well, that makes me feel safer. I\'m sure it\'s dangerous for children in this part of the city.\'

\'Only the children without parents,\' Ozai agreed grimly.

\'I apologize if I upset you. Clearly family is a sensitive topic for you.\' She looked at him, her yellow eyes showing sincere concern for her companion.

\'I\'m Ozai the Street Urchin,\' he said, changing the topic before they got any closer to the feelings hiding beneath the grime.

\'I\'m Angelica of the House of Ace. Pleased to meet you Mr. Street Urchin,\' the goddess in human form replied.

Before they made it closer to the market (and emotionally closer to each other), a panther cut their path.

\'Don\'t worry Angelica, I\'ll protect us using my Street Urchin knowledge,\' Ozai shouted.

Ozai protected his angel as the panther prowled ever closer, his fate unknown as the curtain closed, signaling the long awaited intermission.

"Our performance will resume shortly!"

An eager announcement rang out after the monotone voice had finished his storytelling.

"Will love bloom between our two unlikely heroes, or is tragedy all that awaits them? Come find out in fifteen minutes!"

"They should have just had that guy be the narrator," Lucy scoffed, using her pinky to itch her ear. "His enthusiasm might have made up for the horrible acting."

"And boring plot," Kel agreed.

"Right. I mean \'protect us using my street urchin knowledge\'?" Lucy mocked. "What does that even mean?"

"No kidding," Kel chuckled at her friend\'s impersonation. "Definitely not something I\'d want to see again."

"Really? I thought it was kind of interesting," a strawberry-blonde head poked between the two women. "And did you see Ozai? Even I practically fell for those bulging muscles and surly voice!"

The knight clasped his hands together at his cheek with a sigh.

"I can\'t decide if I want to be him or to be saved from a panther by him."

Kel and Lucy exchanged weary looks.

Just hours earlier, the two had been enjoying cups of tea while Kel complained about her latest dance lesson.

The engagement ceremony was only a day away, after all, and she still hadn\'t quite mastered all the steps.

Lucy listened compassionately to Kel\'s lamenting (like she had every night since she arrived in Mevani) but finally suggested they do something fun to take Kel\'s mind off of everything.

That \'something fun\' turned out to be:

The Night Market.

Since, apparently, a festival for commoners had been going on for the past few nights as a way to make them forget about their kingdom being taken over.

Well, not so much forget as forgive.

And from what Kel saw in the streets that night, it seemed to be an effective strategy.

With an abundance of free food, dazzling entertainment and colorful banners filling the streets, people who had scarcely known a full belly since last summer were completely smitten with the Serin Empire.

Amidst the crowds, Kel heard laughter, singing and complaints about the old King of Mevani. But not one mouth seemed to have anything unpleasant to say regarding the Dragon Emperor.

It reminded Kel of the night she attended a similar street festival with Lucy in Serin\'s capital.

Everyone looked genuinely happy back then as well.

"Let\'s go grab some food and check out the fire dancers over there, instead of waiting around for this lame play to start back up," Lucy suggested, pointing at a skewered meat stall.

"I don\'t know if I can eat another bite of food," Kel groaned, rubbing her round stomach.

With all the time she\'d been spending with Lucy, it was a wonder she had been able to squeeze into her engagement dress that morning at the final fitting.

"There\'s always room for meat!" Lucy smirked, grabbing Kel by the hand.

"Wait! I want to stay and see Ozai again!" The strawberry-haired knight called pitifully after them.

It had been the morning after Kel and Lucy\'s cookie binge that Kel found out another acquaintance had also been summoned to Mevani.

Thane.

When he first saw Kel, he\'d wrapped her in an enthusiastic hug, only to back down moments later, threatened by a sudden murderous aura. (Coming from the Dragon Emperor, of course.)

Kel asked him why Ira hadn\'t joined him and Lucy, but he simply shrugged and mentioned that the irritable man was still busy processing paperwork.

Which probably meant that Ira was running the Empire and handling the addition of a new province all by himself while his friends were out doing things like enjoying a festival.

Still, Kel was happy to be reunited with another friendly face. As she spent time with her two old friends, the burden on her chest seemed to become lighter.

Just like Lucy had said, she didn\'t feel quite so alone anymore.

"I wonder if Calix was thinking of me when he called these two all the way here," Kel whispered to herself.

"What was that? You want to see Ozai too?" Thane piped up from where he sat next to her. "Let\'s tell that meat-crazed woman that we want to go back to the play."

"Meat-crazed woman?"

A shadow loomed over the two.

"Ah.. not you, of course." Shamelessly, Thane denied his comment, flashing Lucy an easygoing smile.

Lucy had always seemed strong, but, in her knight uniform, she had an unmistakable intimidation about her. It made Kel want to scold her past self for not immediately realizing that this fierce woman was definitely no maid.

But tonight, she laughed from the side as all of Lucy\'s fierceness was directed at Thane.

Despite their squabbling, however, Lucy still handed over a juicy skewer to the man, her cheeks reddening as Thane gave her another grin.

Eventually, they all agreed to forgo the remainder of the play and go watch the fire dancers as Lucy had originally suggested.

Kel had seen such dancers before in Mevani, but only once.

When she was a child, roaming the streets that seemed so lively now, she\'d come across a group of traveling performers.

The way they jumped and twirled, holding blazing sticks of flames in their hands, made the dreary streets seem a little less gray.

And she hadn\'t been the only person who felt that way.

She remembered a whole crowd gathering to watch the magnificent dance, mostly children like herself. Everyone had been mesmerized by the warm glow lighting up the cold cobblestones.

The performers never came back after that, probably because they couldn\'t make any money from the poor citizens of Mevani, but Kel couldn\'t forget that moment.

It was her first memory of fire.

Bright, warm and magical.

The dancers performing this time were also quite gifted. They spun and kicked and stepped, all while swinging fire sticks around.

Kel noticed that they didn\'t leap into the air as often as the dancers from her memories, but the performance was nothing short of magnificent nonetheless.

As she watched, Kel wondered if she could ever look so splendid while dancing.

The steps she\'d been practicing night and day replayed in her mind, fire somehow seeping into the dance as she imagined it.

She could almost picture herself twirling sticks of fire as she danced next to the Emperor.

It only seemed fitting as the engagement dance of the Dragon Emperor and his fire-gifted Empress.

"Me as a fire dancer sounds almost as crazy as me as an Empress," Kel snorted at the thought.

It was meant to be funny, but when she glanced back up at the dancers, their flames seemed less warm and inviting than before--almost cold.

She shouldn\'t have reminded herself how unfit she was to be married to the Dragon Emperor, or how the engagement ceremony was only a day away.

Even the wonderful distractions of the night market couldn\'t ease her heart any longer.

Suddenly feeling the need for air, she backed away from the crowd a little.

"Look at me acting childish again," she said to herself as she watched the audience cheer for what must have been another breathtaking trick from the fire dancers.

Everything will be fine, she consoled herself. I\'m not alone. I\'m not alo-

"Keliyah of the palace guards?"

What? That was a title she hadn\'t heard in a very long time.

"... Ozai?!" Kel\'s hand flew to her mouth as she spied the person who had called out to her.

The man who had portrayed the rather undynamic character in the unfortunate play was standing off to the side, his hands on his hips.

"I think you better come with me."