Seeing

9- Happy Places

As little Bonnie and Philip sat on the old, plushy cushions of Calista's couch, eating some candies they'd received from thankful citizens, the two were really starting to enjoy this whole situation more and more.

The grown-ups, meanwhile, sat at a quaint park table outside the mobile home, basking in the afternoon sun and sipping tea.
The soft breeze here smelled faintly sweet and dry. The warm, floral scent of their teas and the sapphire sky studded with pearl clouds gave the whole afternoon an air of utter peace.

For days this small town presented level 1 challenges for the children, and a few curious, uneventful customers for the psychic. Uncle Dan was overjoyed to photograph all of the happy, goofy, and important moments. (Plus more then a few that were none of the above, in truth the man just loved taking pictures with his clunky vintage camera.)

Then, following their nomadic new friend, the group traveled onward. No destination in mind, Calista was happy to go wherever there may be some small festivity, or a busy town square.

One town, in the midst of a desert, had a tall rock in the center which was surrounded by stone carved into an intricate clock face. Bon proudly saved a resident here from being bitten by a snake.

In a forested region, a town of little straw huts used glowing crystals as lanterns. Pip had managed to find a stash of stolen stones around there.

Caves carved into the side of a mountain were nicely furnished to make the homes of one town they visited. Calista had the pleasure of bringing together a now-soon-to-be-married couple, and telling them about their happy future with three children and pet falcon they would name Arcemicarus.

Somehow, word of their abilities sometimes moved quicker then they did themselves.
The sky was a rose-red, splattered with lilacs for clouds as the four arrived at a very small camping area for the night. Two other groups were setting up, and another couple already sitting outside their tent, enjoying the sunset.
Bon ran outside, nearly tripping out of the camper, and grabbed a hand full of pine needles off the closest tree. Pip took a deep breath of fresh evening air, it carried the scent of fir trees and damp moss, and the sounds of crickets and birds.

"Oh, they do look like them, don't they?"
Pip's attention was swayed over to the slightly whispered conversation of two elderly women stringing up a tarp nearby.

"Indeed, 'a beautiful woman in a decorated purple dress and two young children. Plus a man with a fishers cap and a vintage camera'. Unless there's another group just like them, that must be the people your sister told us about!" One of the ladies lamented. She had a knitted shawl and silvery-grey hair with a hint of orange, and her ruby eyes gleamed with kind excitement.

They must have noticed Pip's head turned toward them at this point. "Oh! Hehe" She scurried over, followed closely by her friend, "hello dear! Did you hear us talking? If it's not too forward to ask, are you that lad with the magical gift of finding stuff?"

Pip blinked. "ah, I think so? I mean, that's not really-"

"Oh, I knew it! How exciting! Who would've thought we'd run into them, huh, Bea?" The more outgoing lady rubbed her shawl in excitement.

"Annie, don't scare him! Haha, I bet they get lots of people coming up asking them for help and stuff like that." The other lady, presumably 'Bea', chimed in.

Bon had wandered over smiling curiously.
Pip was stunned. They hadn't gotten any attention like this yet. No one had known who they were before. People were usually surprised. This was very interesting.

"Hey! Whatchu talking about? You make some new friends already? Haha, Pip you ladies man!" Bon teased with a playful punch at her brother's arm.

"Oooh, aren't you a doll! You must be the little sister? I heard you managed to help avoid a few small catastrophes, huh?" 'Annie' was very amused. Come to think of it, she and Bon seemed to have very similar energies, Pip thought.

"Yes, ma'am! Let me know if you ever need to know the future, haha!" Bon was absolutely like a flower in the sun with this attention and recognition.

Bon volunteered to help the ladies put up their camp, to which the two women graciously accepted.
The two children got the camp set up, with some direction and fixed mistakes, and the ladies invited to whole group over for a dinner of curry and rice, with pudding for desert.

There was happy chatting, mostly between Bon and Annie. Though, Bea did seem to take a special interest in talking to Dan. Calista and Pip just exchanged an understanding glance, one introvert to another.

Everyone wen to bed with full stomachs and happy thoughts. In the morning they said goodbye and set off again.
This was only the first, and not the last time that they were recognized.

It became more frequent, from things like people recognizing them as they walked by and saying "oh my gosh it's you guys! I heard about you! Can you show me your magic in person?" to simply "huh, you're those magic kids I've heard of, ain't ya?" when they helped someone.

Bon absolutely adored it all, and flamboyantly bowed, being glad to demonstrate and tell stories of things she'd seen on her travels.

Pip was more reserved. He wondered if any of these rumors had gotten back to his family at home. He wondered how this would effect the rest of his life.
This ability had appeared mysteriously, would it disappear one day too?