As dawn’s eyelids slowly close on the day, the pact signers travel through the busy backstreets of Caer Sid which for that sleepy hour, were surprisingly brimming with life. The stores and buildings that welcomed the day visitors were now handing down their spots to the night owls. With poor vision and acute sensibility to the incandescent lights of the main streets, no such sources were installed on these back alleys; for that reason, the still awake day birds keep on them a set of special glasses that cut through the pitch-black. 

Maci- “ And, I think it was to the right here-”, said the teen, with half a mouth, while the other half kept looking back at Arim or Zinc for confirmation. The young man realized slower because of the darkness, so he put his gauntlet partner to discreetly point in the correct direction. 

Maci- “ Actually, my bad is to the left.”

Finley, while without much spunk, couldn’t beat the impulse to make a remark: “ I guess you put so much of your leadership skills in football that you left the rest dry out” to which Maci snarled at, while her cheeks rubied from the snuck in compliment. Finley was content with the response he got, as something else was pressuring them at the moment; a way to speak with the quiet and slow walking coral sister. 

It could have been because of the days they haven’t seen each other, but to Finley, she looked paler and thinner than usual. Her steps were deeper and he could hear panting from exhaustion from time to time. “It would be weird to ask if she needs help…right?” spurred his indecisive mind. At some point, unsure of how to approach the situation, he got closer to Tommen and Giol, who were in the middle of an important discourse about human food vs. what they got in the Layered Domain. 

Tommen-” I’m really missing some frikadeller with potatoes, Giol. No offense to the cooks here, but the difference in condiments is a rapture for me. No marjoram means the end of cuisine.”

Giol- “ And I’m saying you’re too much of a foodie diva. Let’s calm down and lets put this to a vote, right? When the portal re-opens in a month, we’ll take some things to go and let granny and your tyttöystävän compare them.”

Finley- “ Hey…pst”, the teen whistled in the most conspicuous way by sounding a loud “psst” . Even looked back to see if Mincha noticed it; to his luck, she was the only one not distracted by his rookie spy antics. “ So, uhm, can you guys…do me a favor?”

A few moments later, the coral firbolg was on Tommen’s shoulders, munching on some dried fruits the illustrator was carrying with him. 

Tommen- “ Good, aren’t they?... So, who won the bet?”

Mincha- “ Ummm…I’m sorry to say mister Tommen, but I agree with mister Giol; our fruits are much sweeter and juicier.”

Tommen- “ What? No, I mean those shouldn’t even count actually; I wanted to know how they compared with the dried food from here”, asked the Finnish young man with a 5% increase in tone. 

Giol- “ Losing composure, oh chill one? Feeling a bit feisty?”, giggled the insect firbolg, “but true, I agree with you; we should compare it with the local stuff when we find some.”

Mincha said nothing and stared forward, aloof, munching on the snacks. 

…

A bit further on, after Maci guessed the right left corner, the group found themself in a spacious gap between the buildings; a fence made out of metal bars and concrete surrounded a large green space, filled with some bushes, a few trees, and rows of plowed land with crops rising from them. A brick pathway led to the center of the square, where lengthy and bulky caravans encircled a tent. A playful bonfire made in the middle of it invited the group to come closer.

The closer they got, the louder the cacophonies of voices became. Tens of firbolgs, many bird-like in features, prepared a wooden platform, installing props and carrying what appeared to be costumes. “...I hope it’s a play”, thought Ogda, whose wishes came true the second Brigit came to greet them. 

Brigit- “ Welcome, welcome to my home away from home; this is a camp for my former villagers and the best entertainers in the whole of Caer Sidi!” cried out the girl, followed by cheers and jubilees from all the bird firbolgs. She spinned around the whirlwind of cheers, confounding her guests a little…for now.

Lian- “ Oh…so I guess this is where we’ll be holding yours and Maci’s celebration party?”, unsure if that was the motif anymore. Giol took a look at the place, a bit impressed by the caravans.

Giol- “ So, what exactly is this place? Said former village? Does that mean the Union boss from here then as well?”

The french teen squinted her eyes and realized what she forgot to do on the way there. She then turned to Arim, who wasn’t sure why Maci tried to strike him with her gaze. 

Maci- “ Dude, why didn’t you take over to tell them about Brigit’s situation?”, she tried to excuse her memory lapse, to which the young man shrugged his shoulders in response. Brigit jumped to his defense, though, reminding Maci that “ it’s not nice to pass your mistakes onto others”, a normally benign phrase, which stung the teen to her core. The teen then apologized in shame. 

Brigit- “ Well, since I don’t know how many of you know”, she started explaining while guiding the group through groups of rowdy children and firbolgs working or relaxing with some games. “ Before I became the adopted daughter of Masso, I was a hatchling in a village from another layer. Until, 14 years ago, when the flood came… for us.” A somber veil soon fell nearby, and the villagers moved their attention to the group; whenever the memories of their old home are brought back, a moment of silence is held by everyone. 

Mincha- “...You mean…like what Kira tried to…at the arena?”, asked the coral firbolg with a stutter, but a pinch on the cheek from Brigit made the fear go away.

Brigit- “ What did I say? Blame is not your burden to carry. Or your sister for that matter…ok?” The cloaked fighter gave her a gentle smile and patted her on the shoulders. “Good? Then let me show you where we’ll party. Oh, and Arim, did you really bring that?”

In response, he showed her a duffle bag he carried there and nodded. “ I’m fine with it. I can do this.”

Ogda, who could barely take his eye off the platform, wondered if they could have a chance to see a play. With a wicked smirk, Brigit clapped her hands and told them the catch; there was a price for the party. 

Brigit- “So, there will be a play. But it’s not going to be held by my people; no, we’re going to play it for them!” Before anyone could raise their questions, she then pointed toward the bonfire, and they realized that it was actually a filled cask, with a light orange flare burning on the liquid. 

Brigit- “ Today is also the anniversary of that moment…so this year I wanted to give them a respite. This year I finally had enough people to fill up the roles: You guys are my cast!”

Lian, for a longer time, thought that between her and Maci, Brigit had the good head on the shoulder; wrong, 100% misses, assessment failure. She sighed and then heard Arim whispering: “ I told you so”, grinning proudly, while she clenched her jaw, angrily.  

Tommen- “ Sounds like fun, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that neither of us are actors.”

Ogda- “...I might be…maybe”, a remark ignored by everyone.

Brigit- “ Oh, no worries; Me and Arim will narrate, while also playing the major speaking role…except for now”, she said, narrowing her eyes to scan the group.

Tommen- “ Ok…but neither of us knows the characters or sett-”

Brigit- “ Oh, it’s the Platinum Union and you’re mostly gonna pretend to kick some water around.”

Tommen- “ So you want us…to fight a puddle?” to which Brigit nodded energetically. “Screw it, I’m down. Never hurts to learn other crafts, as my teachers always said.”

The capped warrior, clapping her hand and smiling with contentment, waited for the rest who also vaguely agreed. “Good. When the young archeologist and her partners arrive, I’ll assign the remaining roles to them. So, for now, here is what I had in mind-”

Ogda- “...I…I can play Feth”, he spurted out of nowhere, a proposal which confused and peeved Lian. But she kinda understood his motivation as well. 

Arim- “ Sorry pal, Feth joined later after the incident.”

Some kids chimed in with an idea inspired mostly by Ogda’s look. “ He can play the flood, right?” The water firbolg looked at his body and hands, as if surprised to hear that about himself, but to Brigit that sounded like an insult. “ No way you brats. Ogda’s a good guy, I can’t ask him to be a monstrou-”

Ogda- “...I’m actually fine with it. Yeah, I can do that.” 

…

After five minutes of wasted arguments between the two, Brigit gave up and accepted Ogda in the role of the flood. 

Brigit- “ Right: Lian, you’ll be Masso. You have three lines; Tommen I need you as Ashen. I just need a big guy to growl; Finley, since Maci told me you had some acting roles in your school , Perren. Can you learn these lines-” The teen immediately turned to the french girl, shocked to hear that positive words about him came from her. 

Mincha- “ Uhm…can I be Goidell?”

Brigit- “ Took the words right out of my mouth. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any lines, so also yells and/or growls. Now, Victor and Nizzio can be played by the newcomers”, she said, looking over a script- “ let’s see…and Krass and Blitz were away on another mission so that checks everything.”

To her surprise, a few glares made her feel a bit uneasy, unsure what caused them to try and melt her with their stares. 

Lian- “ You forgot”, she said, circling her, Maci, Arim and Zinc with her pointing finger. Brigit looked around, then pressed her palm on her forehead. 

Brigit- “ Ohhh, right! My bad. Yeah, so I’ll play my mom; adoptive one”, she said with the face of a happy child, “while Maci will be baby Arim.”

Maci- “ WHAT?! Why?”

Arim- “ Because we need a little baby to play young me”, he replied, uncharacteristically cheerfully, while donning pieces of armor from the duffle bag. A silver, bone-like helmet with a snout and a pair of gauntlets with great claws, held through a set of straps. Hidden under the helmet, Arim ruffled the teen’s hair while giggling, which had the exact opposite effect of what he wanted.

Maci- “ The hell are you doing?”, asked the girl in a genuinely angry tone. “ No, seriously, you think that was ok to do?” The young man took a few steps back, taken a bit aback by the reaction. 

Arim- “Oh, uhm…Sorry. I just got into the role…I think. That’s just something he would have done…” 

Maci, after getting a signal from Brigit to calm down, realized that he didn’t realize the harm: “ Well…whatever. Apologies accepted. Who was that, anyway?”, she then pointed at the armor. 

Arim- “ Yeah, so this…It belonged to the one whose name is scribbled over…my former pact partner…” The rest then stopped putting on their costumes, leaving room for them to speak.

Maci- “ I see…wait, how old were you back then? 6, 7? And you were in a pact?”

Arim- “ Yeah. But in hindsight, Kuelin probably only entered it to make sure my abilities wouldn’t hurt me…With me being a kid and such…”

Maci- “ Huh; he sounded like a responsible guy. In that case, why did he brought you to a mission?”

Arim- “Oh, he didn’t. I snuck in a cart”, the young man said nonchalantly, which dumbfounded the teen even more. Maci stood quiet for a couple of seconds, wracking her brains to understand the difference between young Arim and the current one.

Maci- “ Who are you?!”