In the Midst of the Lonely Sea of Loneliness (4)

(This one might be a bit choppy but it's how I saw it happening in my head. Hope you enjoy!)

As the Igibys passed the few alleys in Glipwood, Artham caught a glimpse of his former sister-in-law watching from the shadows. He nearly tripped when he saw her and considering he had never seen Neet so close to town before, Artham wondered why she had chosen now to make an appearance.

"First close to the house and now right in town. What's running through her head?" Artham puzzled to himself internally, remembering the many attempts to make contact with Neet before.

As previously mentioned, Artham and Neet's parents had tried numerous times to bring her back home but each attempt was only met with more erratic responses. She could no longer communicate in coherent sentences and Artham could have sworn her words were flipped backwards when she spoke. If it were only the speech thing that was the issue, Neet would have been home by now. Unfortunately, when her real name was used, Neet would become hysterical and run away without any explanation. This only served to further alienate her from her family.

"Uncle Artham!" Tink tugged impatiently on his uncle's hand. "We're gonna miss the race!"

"Tink, don't pull on him!" Janner pried his brother's arms off of Artham. "It's rude."

"Well- he keeps staring dramatically into the distance." Tink folded his arms. "I just want to be able to enter the races before they close..."

"It's alright, Janner." Artham finally replied, his attention back on the children. "I just thought I saw something. Let's keep going." He began walking again, leading the children to town square.

Once they arrived, Tink was quick to run over to enter in the races. Leeli followed close behind him with Nugget.

Artham leaned down to Janner's height. "Can you be my extra set of eyes today? It's one blink and that boy disappears... It would help me a lot."

"Yes, sir." Janner answered, seeming to take pride in being asked to do such an important task.

It wasn't often that Janner was given this opportunity since Uncle Artham was always around to guide them; so whenever he was asked, Janner felt a little more grown up and up to the task.

"Thank you, Janner." Artham smiled warmly as he mentally prepared for the races. "Let's get a seat next to the finish line." He then led his nephew to the side of the closed off track on the grass and waited for the race to begin.

"Has it started yet, laddie?" Podo asked some time later, squeezing through the crowd just behind the two of them; Wendolyn followed, holding his hand as he guided her through.

"Grandpa, you found us!" Janner smiled before looking around. "It's just about to start."

With the blow of a ram's horn, everyone turned their attention to the track where the Mayor explained the rules for the race.

While Tink didn't care to listen to the rules since he had done the race so many years previously, Leeli listened very intently to ensure she didn't do anything that would get her disqualified.

After the rules were given, everyone who signed up for the race lined up at the start. Another blow of the ram's horn sent the competitors running down the track.

The Igiby family cheered for Tink and Leeli, not caring to take sides as to who would win over the other. Many other families and bystanders cheered as well.

Leeli ran with all her might but she was careful not to trip on the uneven ground the track was placed. She was a bit slower because of her deliberate strides but still managed to remain in second place.

As for Tink, he quickly raced ahead of all the others, pounding his feet hard against the ground with as long of strides as his legs would allow him. He was so determined to win that he didn't even look back; instead, Tink kept his eyes glued to the finish line with a fierce competitive spirit.

However, the closer Tink got to the finish line, the more something in his far sight began to distract him. That something was bright and from what Tink could tell, a mess of different patterns. Soon, his own curiosity got the better of him and he looked passed the finish line, looking into a face in the audience he had never seen before.

It was a woman covered in colorful scarves from head to toe. She stood far behind any of the action but since she was in the sunlight, the colors she wore shone brighter than any one else present. Her face was ruddy as if she had been running herself but had paused briefly to watch the race. Something about her was oddly familiar to Kalmar but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"Tink!" Podo bellowed over the others cheering. "Watch were ya going, boy!"

Unfortunately, the warning came too late for Tink and he tripped on a small pit in the track and proceeded to fall face first into the grass right before he crossed the finish line.

Since Leeli was carefully looking down at the grass, she passed right by him without realizing he had fell. When she saw the painted line in the grass pass her feet, she looked up and realized she had crossed the finish line. She briefly cheered until she saw her brother had fallen.

"Tink!" Leeli gasped and quickly ran over to help him up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Tink struggled to his feet but winced when he stood on one of his ankles. "Ow!"

Upon hearing his nephew yelp with pain, Artham quickly ducked under the line set up to keep non-participators out of the way and made his way over to them.

"Tink! Are you alright?" Artham lifted his nephew into his arms to move him out of the way of the other races and took Tink back to the others. Leeli trailed behind him.

"It's fine, alright?!" Tink became increasingly annoyed with all of the extra attention to his mistake. "I just got distracted!"

Artham set Tink down in the grass on the sidelines and checked his ankle. "Oh, Tink... You sprained it." He looked his nephew in the face in wonder. "You were so focused- how didn't you see that pit in front of you?"

"I don't know!" Tink took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh. "Can we just... Get some treats before the show...? It's all I have to look to forward now..."

Artham exchanged concerned glances with Podo and Wendolyn before looking back at Tink and nodding. "Yes... We can do that." He looked over at Janner. "Can you help Tink walk beside us?"

"Sure." Janner quickly replied and came over to help Tink up.

After the boys were both on their feet, Artham led everyone over to where the next event would be held- that being more grass.

"Ah, ah, I brought something just for this." Wendolyn beamed as she pulled a picnic blanket out of her satchel and spread it out on the grass for her family to sit on. "Janner dear, why don't you sit down with Tink while your uncle gets you both treats?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Janner replied, helping Tink to sit down on the blanket before sitting beside him. Their grandparents joined them as well.

"Can I come with you, Uncle Artham?" Leeli asked, taking her uncle's hand.

"Of course, Leeli." Artham smiled. "You can be my extra hands." He looked more solemnly over at Tink and Janner. "Do you two want the same as last time? Plumfluffins?"

"Yes please." Janner and Tink replied in different tones that reflected their attitudes in the moment.

Janner waited until Artham and Leeli had gone before leaning over to Tink and asking, "What happened back there?"

"It's nothing. I just... saw someone in the audience." Tink replied quietly.

"Who did you see?" Janner asked curiously, knowing how much the Dragon Day races meant to his brother.

"A lady... She was covered in scarves and... She was looking right at me." Tink shook his head. "I don't know, she seemed oddly familiar..."

"That's strange. Maybe you saw her before?" Janner asked. "Maybe from last year?"

Tink shrugged before peeking around Janner in the direction he had seen the crazy scarf woman. "I don't know... I don't think so."

Janner looked in the same direction his brother was looking curiously, wondering if he too would see this mystery woman.

Meanwhile, Artham and Leeli bought the goodies for their family at a local stand and were beginning to make their way back when Artham caught another glimpse of Neet the Scarf woman- but this time, she was just a crowd of people away from his nephews.

This sight made Artham uneasy; not uneasy in the way that he didn't want the mother of his niece and nephews to meet but uneasy because Neet had never shown so much interest within a short period of time in her children. He was so tense, in fact, that he handed all the treats to Leeli and asked her to take them to their family while he ran a quick errand.

"Wait! I see her!" Tink exclaimed, pointing to the scarf woman so that Janner would see.

"Where?!" Janner asked before spotting the strange woman as well. His jaw dropped, also sensing that he knew her somehow.

However, this moment didn't last very long because just as soon as the boys saw her, she disappeared into the crowd.

"Where did she go? She was just there!" Tink scanned the crowd carefully, wondering if he might see her a third time. Instead, he spotted his Uncle Artham, briefly seen running off in the same direction the woman went. This only made him more confused.

"What're you two getting so wound up about?" Podo raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I got the snacks!" Leeli announced at she came into the confusion relatively cluelessly. "Um... What's going on?"

Wendolyn looked at her granddaughter with surprise. "Where's your uncle gone off to?"

Leeli shrugged. "He just said he had to go do something and ran off..."

"That man..." Podo grumbled, assuming Artham was being careless. "Janner, can you go see where your uncle went off to?"

Janner had just received his treat from Leeli when he agreed to go look for his uncle. Little did he know but he would be in for a bigger surprise than he bargained for.