While Dan was deciding whether or not to bother pursuing this, another tingling breeze whooshed past his legs. Unlike before, this time he noticed a small, ghostly form moving with the wind. Although he didn’t get a very good look, he swore it was a tiny, see-through piglet.

“Now what are you up to, little fella?”

As he looked around for signs of the little magic animal, he spied something else lying on the ground that made him catch his breath. A paper cone, just like what he’d gotten from the boosters. And it glinted as though it still had traces of water.

Perfect!

He was halfway kneeled to claim his prize when a little brown shape whooshed into a defensive stance right in front of his goal.

‘keeee!’

The angry squeal might have been fearsome if it wasn’t so tiny and adorable. Dan had to fight back a bark of laughter. If this little guy had been called up by a certain magic using girl, he didn’t want to get on her bad side by mistreating one of her friends.

“Hey, it’s all good,” Dan said in his best soothing voice. “I just want to help. You’re taking that cup to Miss Tucker, aren’t you?”

The little spirit pig briefly paused as though considering this offer, then shook its little snout side to side in a clear sign of refusal. It let off another less than threatening squeal and pawed at the ground in a cute little display of aggression. But when it grasped the cup in its tiny, spectral jaws and tried to whisk away, the cup didn’t go with it. Two more attempts did little more than make the cup wobble slightly in place. Dan was torn between amusement and the need to hurry back to his teammates.

“Okay, if I carry this for you, can you take me to her?”

The little spirit clearly didn’t want to admit defeat, but it was smart enough to know when to accept someone’s help. After one last, squealing tantrum, the little pig not only let Dan pick up the cup, it whisked up to take a position on his wide, pad-covered shoulder. It gave off a little disapproving grunt before mentally nudging Dan in the direction it wanted to go.

“All right, let’s go find our friend.”

The odd pair weaved past a few chatting groups as they made their way toward a small light that flickered in the deep shadows behind what looked to be the concession stand. By the light’s shape and color, Dan figured it must be from a cell phone. When he caught sight of her face in the glow of her phone’s screen, his excitement was so great that he almost ran over a pair of passing kids.

“Sorry about that. Oh! I mean, ‘pata kei taithumi’.”

The kids turned out to be a pair of very serious-looking Dichauthi elves. The very much adult Otherworlders may have tucked their distinctive long ears up under their stocking caps, but there was no mistaking the fur-fringed faces or cat-like eyes that glinted from behind horn-rimmed glasses. The deep, pumpkin-pie orange skin and walnut brown hair contrasted sharply with the EIU blue of their coats and hats. Dan didn’t know many words in Kahtha, and his accent was probably atrocious, but the pair didn’t seem to mind. They gave toothy smiles and quick nods of their heads.

“Seta shi thuli. So very polite!”

Dan gave the pair one last bow of apology, hoping he wasn’t showing any disrespect by holding a cup in the hand he’d placed over his heart. He had just noticed the disappearance of his shoulder companion when he heard a soft voice nearby.

“Oh? What do you mean you got help from a friend?”

The glowing little spirit pig gave a snorting reply before disappearing with a poof. As Dan took a step forward into the shadows, he couldn’t help but smile at the near perfect timing for an entrance.

“I believe that means me?”

Dan held out the cup in offering as Miss Tucker leapt up from a crouch. Even in the dim illumination coming from her cell phone, the surprise was evident in her dark eyes.

“Oh! It’s you.”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Dan’s smile widened as she appeared to relax from her initial caution.

“And we’ve brought this for you.”

From the way she looked away shyly and the light biting of her smiling lower lip, it was obvious she was pleased to see him. Dan took this as a very good sign. Especially when she repeated under her breath in a husky, slightly trembling tone,

“It’s you.”