“I’m hungry. Mom, can we eat?” Theo grumbled as we passed stalls of fruit and meat.

“We just had breakfast not that long ago. You’re already hungry?” Mom asked.

“Yes!” Theo leaned backwards to emphasize.

“All right, kiddos. You can pick out one thing for a snack. You too Elliot,” Mom said. The boys took off to find a stall of their choosing.

I glanced side to side at the various choices as Mom walked beside me.

My gaze stopped up ahead where the vendors ended and a large open square waited with people dancing to a three-man band’s song.

“What’s happening there?” I asked Mom, the twirling skirts and stomping shoes captivating my focus.

“The elves like to play and dance. They do it here in town square almost every day. Want to dance?”

I noticed that most of the people’s ears were pointed. “Elves are real?”

She gave me a weird look. “Of course. We’ve told you stories about the mischievous and playful elves.”

“I thought those were make-believe,” I told her as I drifted to the open square. The jolly music came from a drum, a flute, and a fiddle. I had felt a sense of wonder at dancers out in the middle of town even before I registered the pointed ears. How free and comfortable they must be to dance out in the open like this.

It had been a long time since I heard music. I actually wasn’t sure the last time I heard it besides Mother’s lullabies and Father’s whistling.

People stood at the fringes of the square, clapping and enjoying the atmosphere.

An elf boy around my age went around the edge, clapping and trying to liven up the mood more. His bright, blue eyes spotted me and took my clapping hand to bring me into the mix of dancers.

We spun, our little feet skipping around. He was only a tad taller than me and his skin was a warm olive. Some people danced more in place while some went around in circles. I laughed freely, latching onto this spurt-of-the-moment fun.

The elf boy led us between adult dancers, his blue eyes flicking to open areas before fastening on me again. He grinned as his flower crown bounced atop his messy, slightly curly, green hair with each step.

When the song came to an end so did our twirls.

He bowed to me and I curtsied just like the other couples did.

“I haven’t seen you before. I’m Timothy, but call me Mot or Moss, not Tim or Timmy.”

“Mot, it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for the dance. It was so fun!” Exhilarating, even, but that was too big of a word for me to be familiar with already. “I’m Madeline, but you can call me Maddie. Do you live in town?”

“No. We live in the forest just outside town. What about you?” he asked as we found a spot on the fringes of the square to stand. Mom stayed in view, watching on with satisfaction.

“I live in the forest too. That way.” I pointed where we had come from. “This is the first time I’ve come to town, but I wish I came sooner. My mom told me there are dances here almost every day. That sounds fun.”

“It is fun. You should come again. I can teach you some dances,” Mot offered. “There’s lots of easy ones.”

“I’d love that.” I smiled at him, thinking maybe I was making my first friend.

“Maddie?” Theo jogged up to us, giving Mot a not-so-approving look. “Why aren’t you picking out a snack? Let me show you some yummy food.”

I yearned to rejoin the dancing people, but I didn’t want a bigger personal audience waiting for me to be done.

“It was nice to meet you. I hope I’ll see you again soon.” I waved as Theo took my other hand and led me away.

Mot waved and went back to skipping around the dancers. He plucked up another little girl and a younger boy and got them to dance.

Theo didn’t let go of me, his face grumpy, until we reached a stall where meat sizzled and wafted its intoxicating scent. Elliot waited, nose in the air as he stared at the kebabs.

“Is this what you want?” Mother asked, having followed us.

“Yes!” Theo set his hands on the edge of the counter as he got on his tippy toes. “I want three meat sticks!”

“One each, remember.” Mother gave a humored shake of her head. She picked me up to let me have a good look. “Is this what you want?”

My mouth watered. “Yes, please.”

“Four skewers, if you would,” Mother addressed the man stationed at the stall.

“Here you go.” He traded Mother some coins for our food, to which she passed out to us. Theo and Elliot ate without hesitation or restraint. I blew on my food before trying it.

I closed my eyes and tilted left and right in delight. “Thank you, Mister. This is delicious!”

“You’re welcome, little miss.” The vendor flashed me a smile.

Mother led us down the street as we ate our meat skewers. I slowed at the square of dancing, but Theo took me by the wrist and hoisted me along.

“Do you not like elves?” I asked him as we walked down a less busy road without merchants set up outside. There were signs outside some of the buildings like a crisscrossing fork and spoon, and a shirt symbol letting me know those were businesses.

“Elves are fine, but I don’t like the one you danced with,” Theo said, his mouth smeared with the sauce from the meat.

Elliot’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You danced with an elf?”

“Yes, and I would do it again. It was fun,” I stated, not about to be peer pressured. If Mom didn’t stop me from dancing with Mot, then there couldn’t be any serious problem.

“Elves are tricksters. You can’t trust them,” Theo warned me.

“Elves can be tricky, but that doesn’t mean all of them are all the time,” Mother corrected.

I smirked at Theo. “See? Don’t be prejudiced. Mot was nice.”

Theo gaped at Mom, betrayed. “But. . .”

“You do have to be careful around elves though,” Elliot told me. “You never know what magic they’ve learned. They can learn from all the elements.”

“They can?” I asked Mom.

“Yes, but only one spell from each element, and one at a time like us,” she informed me.

That sounded overpowered to me but interesting too. I wondered if Mot knew any magic yet.

“See? He could have set your hair on fire,” Theo said.

I frowned. “Why would he do that?”

“Enough of that. It’s perfectly fine to be friends with elves.” Mom led us into a building with sign depicting a stack of bowls sitting on a partly unrolled bolt of fabric. Mom directed us to the trashcan right by the door and we deposited our empty sticks.

My gray-haired Grannie straightened from wiping clean a shelf. “Oh, look at my babies.” She set her hands on Theo’s cheeks and then mine.

“Hello Grannie,” Theo said as she went back to him, pulling out a handkerchief. Water appeared in the air to dampen it before she cleaned Theo’s mouth. She wiped around my mouth and hands, despite my efforts to eat cleanly. She looked to Elliot who had rubbed his face clean with his own handkerchief. She stood as I looked up at her in amazement.

“You know water magic?” I asked.

“Why yes, I do. I can’t do anything fancy, but it’s useful to clean up dirty shelves and dirty grandchildren,” she said playfully. “Are you just stopping by or do you need new shoes or perhaps a jacket?”

“We’re here to say hi on Maddie’s first excursion to town,” Mom said as Grannie eyed me and a table of folded clothes. Another woman worked behind the counter. Would I work here when I got older?

“I still don’t understand why you kept her home all this time. She looks perfectly healthy to me,” Grannie said to Mom.

Mom looked at a loss for words so I chimed in. “I met an elf today! He was super nice.”

“You did? The elves are nice, except when they’re in high spirits, singing songs into the dead of night when you want to sleep.” She smiled despite the obvious occurrences that must’ve taken place.

“We shouldn’t keep you from work. We just wanted to stop by. And yes, we’ll all be coming for Azuria Day,” Mother said, hand on my head.

“Good. We’ll all be glad to see Maddie there,” Grannie said, taking out her washrag from tucked in her apron pocket. “Have fun with the elves.”

Mom escorted us out. “Where should we show Maddie next?” Mom asked Theo and Elliot.

I glanced around for anything to catch my eye. I wanted to go back to the lively square. I assumed Theo and Elliot would veto that.

“The bakery!” Theo said as Elliot said, “The book shop!”

“We can stop by both. The book shop is closest so let’s go there first,” Mother said. Theo groaned dramatically while Elliot smirked.