Almost in Paradise

7. The festival

The hours of jumping and pausing and eating and then jumping again is becoming a routine. Sometimes we walk too. It still feels weird being with Ban, my second husbando (li'l Gil was my first lol), but I'm starting to, or at least trying to see him as a friend instead. I don't want it to get any weird between us.
I wonder how far it is left to Camelot...

"Ban" I say while we're walking through a forest.

"Yeah?"

"Not to be childish, but how far is it left? 'Til we get to Camelot I mean."

He lets out a small sigh while smiling.

"Why do you ask me? It's not like I know." He says.

Waaait...-

"You don't know!? How come?"

"I've never actually went to Camelot by myself. I'm not even sure we're going the right way. But do we have any other choice?"

"I guess not..." I sigh. He doesn't know the way and he sees me as nothing. Wow.

We arrive at a small town. It seems to be some kind of festival there, I'm not sure for what. From this birdy perspective I can see some kind of statue in the middle surrounded with different shops. It's hard to see though, since a big bunch of people are in the way.

"Any idea of what that is?" I ask.

"Nope, let's check it out!" Ban runs down the small hill we're standing on and to the center of the festival.

"W-wait for me!" I run as fast as I can after him. It's not easy to keep up, so when I get to there I've lost him. There's so many people all over the place!

I feel a knock on my shoulder and immediately turn around, expecting to look up at Ban. But this is someone else, tall with a dark green coat and hat and a fancy-looking cane in his right hand.

"E-excuse me?" I say. This is my first encounter with a stranger, if you exclude the drunk weirdos at the Boar Hat. That makes it a little hard for me to act in a proper way.

"Well hello young lady, I was just wondering... Is it rude to ask what you are doing here?" He says. I don't understand at all what he is talking about. Can I not be here? Or...?

"I'm sorry?" I say.

"I asked why you are here" He repeats and waves a little with his cane.

"I am sorry but I don't understand what you mean. Do I not have permission to be here?"

He grins.

"No, it's not that. Of course you can be here if you want to, but... I don't think it's safe for you." He lowers his voice to whispering mode. "You know, not many people see a fairy every day. They might want to hurt you."

Damn. I have not thought this far. Fairies almost never show themselfs in public for a reason: People want their wings. And I am a fairy. In public. A very... VERY big public. For a moment I loose my clear sight.

"Miss?" I don't know what to do. Should I fly away? run? "Miss, can you hear me?" Wait is he speaking to me?

I turn my eyes up to his face with a frightened look which I don't know that I have.

"I excuse myself for being rude and tell you about it, but it is surely unsafe here. You should leave to safety."

"I... You're probably right." I look around me. Should I turn back to the forest we were in before?

"Do you have any place you can go to? An inn or so?" He asks with a troubled face. Since he came over to me to tell me that I'm in danger here, he feels like a good person. Yeah, I trust this man.

"Not really."

"I could recommend a place not so far away from here. If you don't mind I could show you? Of course you do not have to follow, it's reasonable if you don't trust me on that" he inserts.

"No, it's okay, I'd love if you showed me. I would probably get lost in this crowd if I were by myself" I answer. He nods.

"Then come this way" the man says and places his cane behind my back as he starts to walk left of where he came from. I follow without hesitating.

It seems like my way of acting proved good, even though I don't have any experience. I mean, I do have experience, of course, but not in this world. It's like quite far back in time here compared to the time at home, and that mean different norms.

We walk through big crowds and I try as good as I can to keep my wings hidden. At last we arrive at a house.

"The inn is right here. After you" He says and opens the door.
I walk inside. For some reason it's darkened and I can't see a thing.

"Are you sure this is the place?" I ask.
No reply.
"Hey are you still... there...?"

I turn around and see the man's big silhouette as he pushes me inside and closes and locks the door.

I've messed up, haven't I?