After several minutes, Jabali came to a stop outside a small building. It seemed to be covered in vines more than the others, the stone hardly visible beneath the crisscrossing green and tan. In fact, it nearly looked like Jabali’s house was planted in the center of the bustling city, especially as there were several potted trees on the roof. Large bushes sat beside the door, masking the windows.

At least these windows have glass, Zyn thought, feeling a surge of annoyance as they compared it to the windows at Jabali’s house—which always let in horquitos, no matter how many strong-scented oils they left out to repel the bloodthirsty insects.

“Here we are!” Jabali called, opening the door. 

The four entered, Jabali stepping up to a small counter to speak to the person behind it. Zyn stared at the clothes everywhere, which hardly left any walking room between the different sections. At least half the shop seemed to be dedicated to robes of all types: long, short, hooded, no hood, sleeves, no sleeves, dress robes, casual, patterns, plain… Zyn’s eyes lit up as they stared at the large variety, itching to explore them despite owning so many already.

The other side of the store was dedicated to regular day clothing: dresses and skirts, sportswear, plain shirts and pants, binders… There was even a small shoe section, stuffed in the back corner where the lighting was dim. Though it was dark, there was no mistaking the large figure holding up a pair of shoes.

“MINT!” Zyn screamed. “HI, MINT!”

Mint whirled around in shock, nearly dropping the shoes in fright. When seeing who it was, Mint’s face broke into a small smile, though they still appeared quite anxious. They ran a large hand through their tangled green hair; Zyn could see the purple bracelet on Mint’s wrist, signifying that he was identifying as a boy that day. Despite the hot temperature, Mint was wearing his typical green sweater, the sleeves rolled up.

“Hi!” Mint called.

“What are you doing here?” Zyn asked, shoving through clothes racks to make it to their friend.

“Gotta get new shoes,” Mint mumbled. “But there’s none in my size.”

“Isn’t there a shoe shop you can go to?”

He nodded. “There is, but I wanted to get a new shirt too, so I figured I’d come here first. Then I saw the shoes and thought I’d look through them, but there isn’t much selection. What are you doing here? I thought you stayed at the academy during the summer? Or go traveling?”

Zyn nodded, kicking the wooden floor bitterly. “We usually travel. But the ship’s still being repaired. Remember how the spirits crashed Dad’s ship?”

Mint’s big green eyes widened in fear. “Oh, yeah… I hope no spirits come to the school again…. That was so scary!”

“I’m sure everything will be fine!” Ren said, appearing at Zyn’s shoulder. She glanced at Zyn and added, “Jabali said he’d get us all something, if we want it.”

“Why?”

Ren shrugged. “Something about it being birthday and holiday presents, in case Dad never used the money he sent to get us gifts.”

“O-kay.”

“Just passing along the message,” Ren said with a smile.

She then skipped away, somehow finding a way through the packed clothes to reach the small walkway in front. Zyn turned back to Mint.

“So are your parents with you?” they asked curiously, glancing around the shop despite knowing that Mint was the only other customer inside.

Mint shook his head. “They didn’t come. They told me to go alone…so I could…face my fears…be more confident…and independent…” He dropped his gaze in humiliation.

“Oh! Well, you seem to be doing fine to me!” Zyn said awkwardly.

The two stood in silence for a moment, then Mint placed the shoes he was holding back on the shelf. He picked up a shirt he must have put on the ledge while looking at the shoes, then moved through the clothing racks with difficulty.

“See you at school, Zyn,” he muttered as he went.

“Bye?”

Zyn watched Mint go up to the counter to pay, then turned their attention to the robes on the other side of the shop. They darted over, reaching the section by the time Mint was out the door.

Zyn spent quite a while amongst all the robes. They found a few they liked, but narrowed it down to two: a bright blue robe with sun patterns and a rainbow-colored robe. They tried on both of them, but didn’t like the scratchy material of the blue robe. Choosing the rainbow robe, they hurried over to Ren standing nearby.

“Ooo, are you getting a new robe too?” they asked eagerly.

Ren shrugged, shuffling through the clothing. “Maybe, maybe not,” she said.

“Hey—how about this one?” Zyn asked, pointing to a lavender-colored robe with leaf patterns. “It’s perfect for you!”

Ren smiled as she caught sight of the robe. It was the same style as the purple robe she wore, with sleeves that weren’t too long. It only went down a bit past the waist, so it wouldn’t get in the way of her legs. She took the robe off of the rack and held it up to see it better.

“I do like it,” she murmured. “But I’m not sure if patterns are really my thing.”

“Nonsense!” Zyn scoffed. “Of course they are! You wear that moon-patterned one for the holidays, after all.”

“Good point,” she chuckled. “I’ll hold onto it, but I think I’d like to get some more sports pants for the winter.”

“Already thinking of winter?”

“I kept running out of pants last year,” Ren pointed out. “I had to rewear them.”

“Pfft, why didn’t you get Dad to order some for you? Or steal his pants, like I do?”

“I don’t know,” Ren admitted. “I didn’t really care. But now that we’re in an actual clothing sto—”

“How does this look?” a gruff voice interrupted.

The twins turned to see Sarala on the other side of the rack. She was dressed in a green short-sleeve shirt and brown shorts. She held a new robe in her hands as well, which was a mix of gold and green colors.

“Ooh, I like the green!” Ren said.

“Let’s see the robe!” Zyn exclaimed.

Sarala threw the robe over her shoulders. It was different from the yellow robe she previously wore. Her old robe parted to the right, but this was a standard robe that cut in the center. It was green in color, with golden trim down the middle and on the sleeve cuffs. There were a few golden symbols on the robe, but it wasn’t too heavily patterned to be as distracting or eye-catching as Zyn’s robes.

“That looks fantastic!” Ren said, beaming at her friend.

“Yeah, I like it!” Zyn agreed, giving their nod of approval. 

“Okay, I’ll go with it,” Sarala murmured, blushing.

“You’re gonna get more than one outfit, right?” Jabali asked, trudging over from where he’d been by the counter the entire time.

“One is fine,” Sarala mumbled awkwardly.

“Nonsense!” Jabali laughed. “Go get yourself some more clothes! I wanna see you’ve got at least three outfits to choose from before we check out—all of you!”

When the group left ten minutes later, Sarala was laden with a large bag. Zyn had grabbed another robe, and Ren decided to take the leaf-patterned robe as well as some pants. The three teens thanked Jabali multiple times, but he acted like it was no big deal as he waved their gratitude away. 

“Hey—has it been an hour?” Zyn asked. “Can we go play some games?”

“Yeah!” Jabali said, his eyes lighting up. “Let’s go get C3!”

Dang it! Zyn thought. I was hoping you’d forget about him….