Being jumped feels like your jumping off a high building and you land completely safe as though you were skipping the last two steps on the staircase in the entrance to the palace. At least, that's what it makes me think of. Aslet jumps us right into the middle of Lues, where there are vendors that sell things from second hand books to the finest jewelry. The market section of the city also has what we're looking for... food. "What do you feel like today?" Aslet asks, gazing down on me with eyes as green as the forests in Lumen. "How about..." I pause, looking at all the possible options. "That." I point at a food cart that has heated flat-bread stuffed with rice, shredded chicken, cheese, and a mixture of avocado, cilantro, tomato and something else. "Good choice." Aslet nods and we head over. "I'll have one flat-bread with extra chicken please," he says after a moment and the man running the stall inspects us. "And how about your daughter?" He asks, gesturing at me. "Oh no, she's not-" Aslet starts to protest before I jump in. "Well excuse me but ik not his daughter! I'll have you know I'm seventeen years old! And unless he had a child when he was two and I've been lied to the whole seventeen years of my life, I highly doubt he is my father!" The flat-bread man looks surprised at my outburst, "and I'll have one flat-bread with extra avocados." I add. Our food Is ready in minutes and the man glances at me before asking Aslet for payment. "That'll be ten bronze coins." Aslet hands him the money and we walk away. "Daughter, huh?" Aslet says once we find somewhere to sit down. I glare at him and take a big bite of my food so I don't have to respond. He just laughs, "Your so cute," he says before taking another bite of flatbread. I blush a little and look away. "These are really good." I mumble around my food, changing the subject. Aslet nods. "Yesh, theshe are really good." He says with food still in his mouth. I click my tongue at him, "No talking with your mouth full mister, where are your manners?" I scold him and take the last bite of my food, finishing off the delicious flat-bread. He takes my napkin and wipes a little sauce from around my mouth before throwing it in a garbage can, making me feel childish. "Can't have a princess walking around with food all over her face." This time he scolds me and glances at the clock tower in the middle of the square. "We should probably get going or his majesty might notice your gone, it might be to peaceful and quiet." He winks at me and stands up, stretching his arms above his head. "No way! I wanna at least look at the vendors and maybe buy some stuff." I refuse and Aslet sighs. "My pockets aren't bottomless, you know that right?" This time I sigh. "Oh Aslet... no wonder your a guard and not the royal tactician." I shake my head in disappointment. "I'm the princess which means I have lots of money. Not that I care but you don't have to buy me stuff. If anyone's buying anyone anything I should be buying something for you because of all the stuff you do for me." He just looks at me, his face an expression of hurt but a smile peeks through. "Oh Zira," he moves a hand to his heart and waves the other in a dramatic gesture, nearly hitting a passrby in the face. Luckilt we had chosen a place a ways away from, the main street. "How hurt I am that thou princess has spoketh of me in such a way. I may never recover!" I giggle and he continues his dramatics. "Oh! I'm feeling faint! Someone catch me!" Just as I stand up he topples over into me, bringing us both to the ground. I land on my stomach with Aslet in top of me. "Oops." I don't need to see his face to know he's smiling. "Get off me you big lump." I respond, he sits up but doesn't get off of me completely. "Did someone say something?" He asks no one and looks around before finally looking down at me. "Oh! Zira! I didn't see you there, let me help you up." He stands and offers me a hand, I punch him softly once I'm standing up beside him. "We're in public!" I pause, "Lets look around before I really do get in trouble." I start towards the vendors and Aslet follows close behind, purposefully stepping on my heels. "You can be so annoying, remind me why I'm your friend?" I ask him politely once I stop to examine some clothing. He puts his arm around my shoulder as I pick up a pretty cropped t-shirt. It's the blue of the sky on a sunny day in Cadere with wispy cloud patterns on it. I hold it out in front of me and look in the mirror. "How scandalous!" Aslet soundly says, removing his arm from around me. "And this is why I'm your friend, to stop you from making terrible decisions." He says and I flash him a smile. "You know you love it." I turn back to the vendor, "How much?" I hand over the payment once he responds, buying a cute leather backpack as well to hold it in. Aslet grabs my arm, "Time to go, I still need to get back into uniform and my lunch break is almost over." "But..." I start to protest, "No excuses, don't make me ground you." He threatens with a wink. "Fine, but we would have gotten to look at more stuff if you hadn't spent all that time squashing me." I hurt and let him jump us back to the palace. "The festival is two days away," he reminds me once we're back in the palace. "We'll have plenty of time to look at stuff then, plus everything will be dirt cheap with bargains because so many people are coming." He starts to walk away but I stop him. "Fine, tomorrow's your day off right?" He nods, turning back to look at me. "Yeah, I really have to be going..." He taps his wrist like he's reminding someone of the time. "Promise we'll hang out after you do your princess-ey duties at the festival?" He call without turning back, his figure slowly receding. "Promise!" I call after him and he waves 'bye'. And that's when it hit me... The Festival of Creation was in two days and I haven't even started on my speech.
