The early morning sun shined brightly through the palace windows. Gen stirred from his sleep as the light came over his eyes. He whined and turned over to go back to sleep , covering his head in the process. But anymore sleep this morning wasn't meant to be, his mother came in the room a few minutes after he has turned over. She gently woke him up.

" come on sweetie time to get up. We're going with grandpa to the market today, remember? We have to leave early if we want to get to the market before the crowds." The whined but complied with his mother by sitting up to rub the sleep from his eyes.

He dressed ( with help from mother ) and him and mother made their way down the long halls and corridors of the palace to meet up with grandpa, who was already by the front gates.

" Gradpa!" Gen called to his grandfather as he let to of his mothers hand and bolted towards his grandad, who opened his arms out for a hug, then picked him up. " hey buddy ready to go?" Gen nodded. Grandpa set Gen back down and the three set of to the market. They got to the market just as it was opening.

The three made there way though the rows of stalls. This was a weekly outing for them. Mother and Grandfather , who were thieves, went there to keep their skills from getting rusty between jobs. And since they started taking Gen it has also become away to teach him how to be a master thief.

Mom and Granddad were distracted by one stall, which held more expensive items, when Gen managed to slip away from them. It was only not even a full minute later that Mother turned around to tell Gen something when she found him not by her side. She looked franticly around for him but he was no where in sight. " Gen?...Gen?...Eugenides!?" she got no answer. She turned to her father " Dad, Gen is gone!" Her voice laced with panic.

" Don't worry we'll find him." He reassured her as they started their search for the child. He couldn't have gotten to far could he?

Meanwhile Gen was over a few rows by a stall of candy. His eyes widened and mouth watering. This was it, this was the time to test his skills. He glanced around and when no one was looking he reached up and snatched a handful of candy then slowly made his way away from the stall, when he turned the corner and out if sight of the stall owners he started running. He slowed his pace and started eating his prize. He finished about half of it and put the rest in his pocket for later.

It was only then that he looked up and realized he didn't recognize the part of the market he was in. He stopped in his tracks. Panic stuck the child as his eyes searched the hordes of shoppers for a familiar face. But he found none. Now he was worried. Tears built up in his eyes as he started walking again. Looking around as he picked up his pace. The further he went the less that looked familiar. Tears now rolling down his cheeks he stopped and sat down by a random stall.

They were really worried now. They just turned down yet another row, the fourth row. Still no sign of the boy. Had someone taken him? No, they decided he was still here somewhere. He would of out up to much of a fight if someone grabbed him that it would have caused a commotion in the whole market.

It was getting late almost noon and Gen had already been missing for almost an half and hour. His mother and grandfather were thinking about heading back to the palace to alert the guards of his disappearance when they heard crying. At first they ignored it , it was just a whine. Probably some kid not getting what they wanted and throwing a fit about it. But then they listened more carefully to it. They realized that it wasn't just any kid and that it wasn't just a fit , but that it was Gen trying not to cry.

"Gen? Eugenides?" She called out to him searching the crowds for her son.

"Mommy!?" He cried looked up , he saw her. Got up and ran to her. " Mommy!"
She turned at the sound of the familiar voice. A smile grew on her face as worry melted away. She keeled down and opened her arms, which the child ran straight into. She embraced the boy in a hug. She kissed him on his cheek and hugged him some more.

" Eugenides don't you dare scare me like that again. You hear me? Don't run off! I could never see you again if you do! Who knows what could have happened to you, you're lucky no one tried to take you!"

Gen's smile for the happy reunion faded as he heard his mother lecture him. A sense of guilt came over him and more tears started to fill his eyes.

" I'm sorry mommy! I didn't mean worry you , I'm sorry! Really I'm sorry!" He cried into her arms.

" Oh Gen shhh baby it's okay no need to apologize , just don't do it again okay?" She comforted him. He calmed down and nodded.

" Okay mommy." He said as grandpa came over and picked him up from his mothers arms.

" hey buddy you go on an adventure?" He asked.

The boy smirked. " I was practicing my 'skills' grandpa."

" Oh is that so? Did you get anything good?" He asked and the boy nodded. Gen reached into his pocket and pulled out the other half of the candy from earlier, " I gots candy , there was more but I ate it!" He laughed holding the candy out to show his mother and grandfather. Who both laughed with him. They started to make their way back to the palace.

Grandfather turned to his daughter and smiled brightly " he's shaping up to be a great thief , I can't wait to see what he gets himself into when he's older."

She smiled back to her father and shook her head. " don't encourage him to cause more mischief." She said.
" who said I'm encouraging? I'm doing no such thing! I'm just teaching!" He laughed.