The next few days passed without anything exciting happening. Eisso managed to convince Ocielle to come to the festival with them (after about thirty minutes of arguing), so on the day of the festival itself everyone was ready fairly early.
They left after breakfast. Ylisstol was busier than usual—the doors of the palace where open for food, rest, and sometimes ridiculous retellings of the whole Grima ordeal. Some people from Regna Ferox, Plegia, and even a few people from Valm came. Overall, though, it was more casual than anything.
"Remember when we came with Father one year, and we couldn't even get in the gates?" Kenzie said.
"Yes," Eisso said, smiling. "And when we came with Mother…I'll always remember that. It was all four of us…we didn't spend that long here, but it was nice."
Ocielle, who was walking behind the two siblings, grunted. She didn't say anything, but Eisso nonetheless decided to drop the topic. Talking about family memories wasn't something Ocielle enjoyed listening to.
The three of them entered the castle, with possibly hundreds of people gathered by tables, and their conversations were a gentle background noise. Eisso could see that there were musicians in the back, but he guessed that only the people around them would hear it.
"I'm going to avoid every kid here until you're ready to leave," Ocielle said. "Come find me if you want; I'll probably be outside."
Eisso turned to Kenzie as Ocielle walked off. "Do you want to try to find Morgan and Lucina?" He asked.
Kenzie nodded. "They should be in the throne room," she said.
The two headed in that direction, weaving through the people fairly easily. Thanks to years of wandering the castle, Eisso was able to guide his sister to the right room. As they entered, Eisso recognized Robin, Chrom, Lissa, Morgan, Lucina, and Owain. There were a few adults there as well.
"…fate and consequences be damned!" Chrom was saying. He continued on, clearly enjoying himself, retelling the battle against Grima with a few interjections by Robin and Lissa.
Morgan was the first to notice Eisso and Kenzie. He said something to Robin, who replied with, "Yes, you three can go have fun." Then Morgan thanked her, and brought Lucina and Owain over.
"Did you bring Ocielle with you?" Morgan asked once him, Lucina, and Owain were close to Eisso and Kenzie.
"Yeah," Eisso said. "She decided to wander around herself once we got here, though."
"Let me tell Mother," Morgan replied. "I'll be right back." He left the group and returned to the adults.
"How have you two been?" Owain asked. "Everyone was busy with the tournament; we didn't get a chance to talk."
"I've been better," Eisso admitted. "But overall good."
"Same here," Kenzie agreed.
"Was Ocielle rude earlier?" Lucina said. "I've heard…bad things about her. She doesn't seem like the nicest person, at least."
"She just isn't a family person," Kenzie said. "Nothing we aren't used to." She paused for a few moments. "But how about you guys?"
"I've been great," Owain replied. "I like listening to the adults retell their heroics. It's nice to hear them and compare what was told—Uncle Chrom is pretty accurate when he's telling it to adults."
"It's different than the version we grew up with, though," Lucina said. She looked at Eisso and Kenzie. "Have you two ever heard the full story? Father explained the entire ordeal to me, once, years ago."
"I know the basics," Eisso said. "Not all of it. The school I used to go to didn't get every detail. They only said the basic information; the stuff that's common knowledge by now."
"What about you, Kenzie?" Lucina asked.
"I've heard…rumors," Kenzie replied. "Nothing absolute. Telling kids at an orphanage about a deadly demon dragon would only give them nightmares; telling your child about a deadly demon dragon within the year of adopting them would only make them want to leave. Father decided not to bring it up at all."
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Lucina said. "We can gather everyone up, and I can have my own retelling. Hopefully they've all arrived by now."
Morgan started coming back over, and Lucina turned to him. "Morgan, can you help me, Owain, Kenzie, and Eisso gather everyone up?" She asked.
"Sure!" Morgan said. "Let's see…there's five of us, so why don't we split up, and bring everyone to the training area? That should be relatively free of people." He looked over at Kenzie. "Would you have any trouble finding your way around the castle?"
"I can manage," Kenzie said. "If worst comes to worst, I can ask."
"Okay," Morgan said. "I'll see you guys at the training area."
And with that, the five of them split up to search for their friends.
(A/N: I'm not sure if I ever publicly established this, but Ocielle is bitter because she grew up as an orphan whereas Kenzie was adopted. She avoids the topic of family for this reason.)