In the Midst of the Lonely Sea of Loneliness (5)

Artham ran through the town's street after Neet the mysterious scarfwoman. Thankfully, the streets were less crowded with the performance coming up, freeing up some room for Artham to run.

"Nia!- I mean Neet!" Artham quickly corrected himself with the false name they had given Nia in an effort to make her stop fleeing. "I just want to talk!"

Neet did not heed Artham's call but instead hurried around a corner into the same alley she had been in when he saw her previously.

Artham worried she might get herself into trouble so he followed.

Unfortunately for him, he ran right into a fang guard and toppled over him.

"Gaaaah!" The fang cried before aggressively kicking Artham off and into a wall. "You ssstinky human! Clumssssy!"

Artham hit the wall with a thud. When he realized what had happened, he tried to make amends with the foul creature in order to avoid another infraction... or worse. "I'm sorry- I was just-"

The fang jumped to his feet and hissed in Artham's face, practically pinning him to the wall by his throat. "I know who you are, pesssky Igiby! Alwaysss causssing isssssuesssss." With every 's', more spit ended up on Artham's face. "I sssshould just bite ya to get it over with!-"

Before the fang could do anything else, there was a loud clunk and crack noise from behind its head. The fang suddenly became limp and fell to the ground in a heap of ash-like dust to reveal Neet with a brick in hand.

She was huffing and puffing with a crazed look in her eyes when she looked down at the fang's dust and then back into Artham's eyes. Neet had just killed a fang in order to protect him.

Artham was unsure how to respond- he was sure just a second ago that he was done for the moment he felt the hot air of the venom near his neck.

Neet stared back at him, the pupils of her eyes shaking with adrenaline.

"Uncle Artham!" The voice of Janner was heard calling from nearby. "Where did you go?!"

Upon hearing her son, Neet's head quickly snapped toward where the voice was coming from. "Rennaj...?" She murmured to herself in a jumbled manner.

"Nia- Neet-" Artham slowly reached out to her in yet another attempt to make contact with her. "What's going on with you? Why are you here?"

"Uncle Artham!" Janner's voice got louder and he soon came into view from where the two adults were standing. "The show- it's starting!"

When Neet saw her son standing in the street, she almost couldn't believe it. Her eyes began to fill up with tears when she saw how big he had grown since the last time she saw him. "Ym Rennaj..." She murmured more gibberish.

"Neet?" Artham spoke in a whisper, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Neet looked back at Artham and her quiet tears became loud sobbing that caught Janner's attention. Despite her clearly having wanted to make some kind of a connection, she ended up running off just like the other times before.

All Janner saw was his Uncle Artham with the distraught scarf woman Tink had pointed out to him just minutes before; He had no clue what to make of it when he saw her run away in tears.

"Wh-what?" Janner stammered, watching the woman run off and then looking back at his uncle. "Who was she?"

Artham sighed and avoided eye contact. "Just someone I used to know. Come on, we need to go. Now."

Janner looked down at the ground and his eyes widened. "Uncle, you didn't..."

"I didn't... But I could get blamed for this. Come on. Quickly now." Artham grabbed his nephew's hand and quickly hurried back into the crowds, hoping to evade any trouble with the fangs.

They had just made it back when a raggedy man was announced and took his place in front of everyone.

"There you two are. Take a seat." Wendolyn instructed, seeming a little worried that they had been gone so long.

Janner and Artham obliged and quickly took their respective seats on the blanket.

Tink leaned over to Janner and whispered. "Where did you guys go? Did you see the scarf lady?"

"I'll tell you about it later." Janner whispered back, visibly bothered by something.

Throughout the performance, Artham was on edge, frequently glancing at nearby guards but at the same time, trying to appear as innocent as he knew he was. He hadn't been the one to kill the fang but he knew that his reputation with the fangs would be all it would take to frame him as the culprit and as everyone knew, fangs were quicker to discard that investigate the truth.

Even Janner wasn't able to stop thinking about what had just transpired.

"Who was that woman?" He wondered, unable to enjoy Dragon Day after what he had seen. "Why was she crying? Why was Uncle Artham with her? Was it her who killed the fang? I don't understand... How does Uncle Artham know her?"

These and many other questions filled Janner's mind and his perplexed expression was visible for all to see.

After the performance was over, Artham was quick to help Wendolyn collect her picnic blanket and gradually direct everyone to the next portion of Dragon Day.

"Aye, I'm not going to the cliffs." Podo quickly protested. "I'm headin' home. Anyone who wants to come back early is free to. I'm taking the wagon."

"Alright, children. Does anyone want to go home early or are you going to stay by your Uncle?" Wendolyn asked, assuming Artham was staying just like every year.

"I want to hear the Dragon song!" Leeli beamed excitedly. "They're just so... beautiful."

Podo grumbled but politely nodded to his granddaughter. "No takers? Well, we'll see ya all at home."

"Bye grandpa! Bye grandma!" Leeli waved as her grandparents left the festival.

Once they were gone, Janner turned to his uncle and started to question him about what happened in the alley.

"Uncle Artham, what happened with that woman?"

"Wait- he saw the scarf lady?" Tink asked with widened eyes. "What was she like?"

"I don't think nows the time to talk about her." Artham replied, still wary of the nearby fangs. "Come, let's just get to the cliffs to enjoy the rest of the festival."

"But why? Why isn't it a good time?" Tink asked, completely oblivious to what happened.

"What are you guys talking about?" Leeli inquired, probably the most confused out of all of them.

Artham let out a sigh. "Kids, I can't talk about it right now. You'll just have to trust me on this one, okay?"

"Okay..." Janner replied, his concerned expression never really going away.

"Now, let's go. We need to keep up with the crowds." Artham said, hurrying the three children along with a wary eye on the fangs.