It's a planned event, but also unexpected in how Evander and Vella decide to join Lenore and Alaric for the festival, while their parents stay behind at the townhouse. Their parents say that they'll tire out too quickly exploring Central Square with them. They're happy staying in the quiet townhouse where they can rest and perhaps have a glass of wine together.
Once they actually arrive at Central Square, Lenore understands her parents' unwillingness to join in this outing. It's loud and filled with people moving without regard for each other. It makes Lenore grab Alaric's arm and hold on tightly, knowing that she would be lost and confused if they ended up separated, especially since Lenore has spent her life staying within carefully crafted borders.
If she's on her own outside those borders, she doesn't know what she would do to find her way out and back to some place familiar.
Luckily, Alaric doesn't seem to mind. He simply glances down at her for a moment and then looks to find Evander and Vella still staying nearby rather than being swept into the chaos of people enjoying the festivities that come once a year. Considering this event doubles as a reason to celebrate another year of safety in the empire and the end of winter, spirits are high and the energy is infectious.
"Do you want to do anything in particular?" Alaric asks.
"I don't know," Lenore says, trying to look around at everything happening without being overwhelmed. "I wouldn't even know where to start."
Alaric chuckles, but it's so quiet that Lenore almost doesn't hear it with all the noise in the square. He looks at Evander and Vella. "Follow me. We'll start somewhere less chaotic and decide what to do from there."
Vella jogs the few steps required to close the distance between her and Lenore, taking Lenore's free hand in her own with a grin. In her other hand, Vella pulls Evander along, creating a chain that makes Lenore laugh. Even in the middle of so many people, she feels safe. The part of her that believed her uncle's lies is afraid to hold onto that feeling, fearing that it'll be hard to return to the cold reality of her past if she tries to embrace it.
But a bigger part of her thinks that it would be nice to get used to this feeling. That she could face the world without fear because she wouldn't be alone.
Alaric leads them to an area of Central Square where there are performances happening instead of food stalls and various vendors trying to sell them any manner of item, from masks to oddities that they promise hold unnatural powers or good fortune. This area is simpler and more spread out. Each performance—puppet show and dance routine alike—is given enough space so that neither the performers nor the audience feel too cramped together, and the stages are placed apart in a way that limits how much the sounds overlap to avoid confusion.
Whoever organized this section of the square knew exactly what it needed to thrive.
They're able to find an area between the temporary stages where they aren't in anybody's way and don't need to worry about being a distraction. Unlike the area where they entered the square, fewer people are roaming here. Instead, they are drawn into the audience of whichever show catches their eye, staying until the end of that performance or deciding to move on again if it's not for them.
Laughter flows easily here, and Lenore notices that the costumes and set designs for each performance are bright and colorful. It seems that only happy stories are being told today, even by the dancers who weave fairy tales into existence through movement and music alone.
"There's so much here," Lenore says.
"Well, it's a celebration of the emperor." Vella shrugs her shoulder. "If you don't put in the effort here, then it's basically an insult to him."
Lenore hasn't thought about it that way. "So, all the vendors and performers have to be part of the festival?"
"Not necessarily." Evander, who will inherit their dad's title and has been trained on the nuances of society, speaks for the first time since they got here. "It's more of a competition among the people who practice their individual crafts instead of a forced service that's expected of them."
"What do you mean?" Lenore asks.
"Well, you see how there are only so many stages set up for performances?"
Lenore nods.
"Each one likely had multiple options for who would be performing there. They get paid by the imperial family, so it's not a loss that the shows are free to watch during the festival. But on top of that, they're able to draw attention to their art, and that means that people are more likely to pay to see their shows outside of the festival time period if they really enjoyed it. That's why everybody is going to be fighting to be chosen for one of these stages."
It makes sense, but Lenore stops thinking about it as a wave of nostalgia hits her while Evander answers her question. No ridicule or hint that he can't believe she doesn't already know this or that it's a chore to explain. He simply answers in the way that he thinks she'll understand the best.
She can't stop the tears that start falling down her cheeks, thinking about all the years where she was afraid to ask questions and knew that she'd be treated as a nuisance or stupid for not understanding something.
Naturally, the sight shocks Evander, and he takes a half step back as he raises his hands slightly. "Lenore? I'm sorry, did you want me to explain it differently?"
Lenore shakes her head with a choked laugh at not just his panic, but also the way he tries to figure out how to calm her down instead of berating her the way their uncle would have. "It's not that. I just... I really missed the way you answer my questions and explain the things I don't know. I really missed you, Evander."
It takes no time for Evander to wrap his arms around Lenore, his grip firm but not too tight. "I'm right here, Lenore," he says. "And I'm not going anywhere. Even when you're back in Barrowmere, I'll come the second you need me."
Alaric and Vella give them space as Lenore works to compose herself enough to start enjoying the festival, letting her have a moment with the brother she spent years apart from.
In less than a year, Lenore has been able to start new connections with the family she never thought she'd see again, and it's all because of Alaric and his kindness.
So, as she takes a deep breath and follows her siblings as they insist she should stop to have a drink before anything else, she looks at Alaric and says, "Thank you."