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Part V: Miracles and Meddling

Staring at Penni with a concerned look coming through her green glasses was the curly haired girl from earlier, she rushed over and pulled the girl up and out of the mess of flour. "What were you even doing all the way up there?"

She cursed in her mind, a slight panic washing over her. The original plan of sneaking around stealthily had already failed, and the concept of world order flew out of the window as fast as Penni had plummeted into the cart. The only thing to do now was damage control, and then fleeing the scene as fast as possible before this girl could question a new face in such a small town.

"Uh...bird watching! But it looks like I lost my footing there, clumsy me!" She began taking steps back from the girl. "I should really get going though, really nice meeting you-"

"Wait, I don't think I've seen you around before, who are you again?"

"Y'know, uh," Penni searched her mind for a common name that would be fitting for where she was, "V-Valentina? Valentina! Yeah, I live in that one house...down the street...yeah." She coughed into her arm, there was no way that was a convincing enough excuse.

The girl's squinted at Penni, looking her up and down before snapping her fingers, a smile appearing.

"Oh! Señora Victoria's kid! No wonder I didn't recognize you, she has so many pf her kids scattered around here, I don't think I've properly met all of them."

Penni internally sighed a breath of relief, glad her half-assed answer was satisfactory. 'Valentina, whoever you are, thank you.'

"I'm not one for going outside much either, so stuff like this happens all the time," Penni replied smoothly, keeping up the lie.

"Well, in that case, I'm Mirabel!" Mirabel took Penni's flour covered hand (thank goodness she was wearing gloves) and gave it a good shake, her eyes lingering on the leathery black material. "Hey, you're not planning on wearing that to the gift ceremony, are you?"

The gift ceremony? She had heard bits and pieces of chatter about it, it was what everyone was preparing for. And if the ceremony was supposed to be a sort of joyous event, the black coat definitely wouldn't cut the dress code. "Well, I wasn't really planning on attending, I don't own any good dresses, after all."

"Why don't you borrow one of mine? I'm sure I have one in your size."

Penni was surprised at the offer, but quickly declined. "Believe me, I'll be fine!"

"I insist, this only ever happens once every few years, and it would be terrible if you couldn't attend just because you didn't have a nice dress." Mirabel left no room for argument, slipping her hand into Penni's and leading her off. "Plus, you can't go walking around like that, you look like a-"

"Mirabel! Aren't you gonna tell us about your gift?"

"Yeah, what can you do?"

Mirabel visibly tensed as the children she was singing to moments ago crowded around her, yet she kept smiling as she lightly tugged Penni the other way. "Actually, I should really get going now, adios!"

"What?"

As the children cried out in unison, that's when Mirabel started speed walking away, clearly avoiding the question. Penni couldn't help but be just the littlest bit curious of what gift Mirabel could have that would get her so...uncomfortable.

"Just so I'm caught up, why are you avoiding talking about your gift?" Penni inquired as the two quickly picked up the pace, going from speed walking to breaking out into a sprint.

"Nothing important- really. Don't even worry about- duck!" Penni was pushed down as she heard a popping besides her ears, causing her to yelp as she barely dodged getting hit by some sort of projectile. Mirbael moved her around like a ragdoll as they ran in front of wooden targets, avoiding getting hit by something that definitely exploded on impact.