Nalia woke disoriented and confused. She was still in her clothing and the bed, room, everything was different. It took her several minutes to remember what happened and when she did she sighed and flopped back in the bed. She’d consigned herself to hell for her brother. That sliver of resentment niggled at her for only a brief moment but she brushed it away rather quickly. She had not only aided her brother, for half his burden she took upon herself, but perhaps she could follow her dreams whereas she was not allowed such at home. 

The silence of the wagon began to thrum in her ears. She hadn’t been asleep long, she knew that now that her sleep-addled haze had cleared, she should have heard Nate tossing in bed if nothing else. She realized she was alone and frowned. Where had her brother gone?

She pushed herself out of bed, grabbed her jacket which she had carelessly tossed on the ground, and stepped outside. It was terribly still here, no signs of others. It wasn’t that late she knew--she was surprised she had slept at all. It was a testament to how nerve wracking this day had been. She began to walk around the grounds, her slim form causing her footsteps to make very little noise. She was small for her age, slim and willowy, and her nondescript floated in an unkempt haze about her head giving her a ethereal appearance that was distinctly at odds with her bulky grungy jacket.

The silence of the carnival, at least in this section, was so loud it hurt. Even the gnomes were gone, vanished back to wherever they had spawned from, their task complete. There were other wagons here, ones she assumed were the quarters of other workers, but they, like Ty’s, were dark. Obviously though the work day was done others had gone to do…whatever it was they liked to do in their free time. 

Nalia was reminded again of how little she knew and she realized she really wished she had paid attention when Ty had been explaining. She also wished she had paid attention when Nate had been re-hashing the details with her. She had paid some attention of course, but not enough. Now she was somewhat lost in the gathering dark and the silence. 

Nalia set out to find her brother, she knew he had gone wandering but she had no idea where to begin. So as fate would have it she went the exact opposite direction he had walked. The sounds of a party finally reached her ears, at least she assumed it was a party. She hadn’t been to any herself, her acid temperament meant that she wasn’t invited to a lot of social gatherings. She was pretty sure she didn’t give a flying rats ass about them anyway. As far as she could tell it was just a bunch of nutters gathering to try and show off, be cool, and get in one another’s pants without getting caught by the others boyfriend/girlfriend. Still she found herself drawn to the sounds of what she could only assume was a party. 

It was not long before she saw lights and it became easy to follow the sounds and light to where others were gathered. It was a gathering of the technical staff, though Nalia had no way of knowing this. They were as exotic as the rest of the carnival and to her eyes they seemed foreign and exotic. She didn’t names, or even what sort of beings they were but they fascinated her. She stayed in the shadows watching. In her eyes the sight was glamorous but in truth it was a mess of slightly inebriated chattering workers relaxing from a hard but successful day. The night was not alight with the glow of a million fairies, but it was so different from what Nalia was used to that to her it might as well have been that magical. 

She was too shy, a feeling that was out of place for her, and it made her nervous. She was brewing an emotional cocktail; but all she recognized is that she wasn’t quite herself. That more than anything put her off and she tucked her hands back into her pockets and schlumped off into the dark to search for her brother again. The otherworldly nature of this place was starting to seep into her skin, making her stressed, edgy, and even more aware of how much out of place she was. The only thing she knew in this whole crazy place was her brother. She didn’t even know herself anymore. 

She faded into herself…without someone hassling her or her brother around…she became uncertain and edgy. She needed someone to provoke her just so she could keep her emotional balance. 

***

Nate stayed in the shadows of the tree once he descended. “What an arrogant bitch” he muttered under his breath as he settled into the shadows. It was unclear to whom her referred, though to be fair in Nate’s point of view almost any of those gathered might fight that description. He had no wish to get tangled up in the stupidity he saw unfolding before him. It was, however, very informative. Sometimes he could be a much better judge of people after seeing them in a real moment. In his experience it had always been poker, but this worked just as well. This was no stage act, at least it didn’t seem to be, but this unofficial show had been interesting. They should have packaged it as a drama and then repeated it for spectators. It was better than most plays, more so because the players were so unique. As the players began to wander off Nate rose to leave himself. He would ponder the one called Andracos; he was not impressed. Trying to listen to the man for more than a few minutes would be impossible. He’d worry about that later however, now well he wasn’t sure what he would do now. He still wasn’t in the mood to rest.