Lost In Time Chapter 14:
Days passed, and they still were at square one. As Dex attempted to come up with the tech for a new light crystal, Keefe, Marella and Wylie ran around the town trying to spot any elf that popped up. But it was no use, nothing showed up. Every idea, every plan the team came up with proved to be a flop. Sophie only blamed herself. She was the moonlark, why wasn't she able to help her friends? Making one last trip around the town, Sophie headed back towards the palace, praying her friends had better luck than her.
"We need to come up with a reason for an elf to visit our kingdom," Fitz said as everyone gathered at the palace for dinner. After sharing what they did that day, and coming to the conclusion that, again, no one spotted any elves or absurd objects.
"But what? We've been over this Fitz, if Fallon and Bronte told others about what happened, no one would step near us." Sophie added, chewing her stale bread. She really missed the delicious mallowmelt and mashed carnissa root her mom, Edaline, made her for dinner back in the elf world.
"Sophie has a point, and how do we know if they would show up? And if they do, we can't risk the chance of being recognized." Biana added. Fitz contemplated both what Sophie and his sister said, determined to formulate a successful plan in his mind. But of course, he was out of ideas.
"What if we host a ball?" Linh said, breaking the silence around the table. "We invite everyone in the Kingdom, there's no way we won't get attention from that."
Tam shook his head, "that's a good idea sis, but it's too many people to fit in the palace. We're talking about thousands." Linh sighed in response. Tam had a point, although she hated to admit it. "Besides," he added, "we still wouldn't have a way to hide our faces."
The table grew quiet until Marella piped up. "A masquerade ball," she whispered, "We could host a masquerade ball!" Everyone looked at her in question.
"We already ruled out a dance, M." Tam said, rolling his eyes.
"No but this is something different. What if we set up a festive fair in front of the gates, and then only nobility can enter for the ball?" she added, looking enthusiastically at her friends. One minute passed. Then two.
"That might actually work," Sophie finally said, "if we host a fair along with it, we will have the whole Kingdom near us. Someone would have to know how to get to the Lost Cities!"
Wylie nodded, "it's a good idea but how would we get the supplies?" Biana and Fitz looked at each other.
"We could hire people to build different structures?" Biana said, "I know a lot of villagers that would do anything for the royal family." Linh nodded excitedly. "We could also invite different businesses to set up food stands here!" Sophie smiled as her friends worked out how long it would take, and what day they should plan for. "This might actually work!" she thought to herself, but it was soon flooded with doubt. Would an elf actually show up?
Three days passed, and everything was already being set up. "Every town knows about it, and plenty of venders willingly signed up to distribute food in the name of the Queen and King." Dex said, walking up to Sophie.
She nodded, looking at the whole set up. It was huge! A group of people were building a horse carousel and right next to it a sculpture of the King and Queen towering over a bench. A jousting arena was set up a couple hundred feet from the puppet theater, and different trading posts were being built throughout the park.
"Wanna hug?" Keefe said, walking up covered in paint. Sophie laughed, pushing him away, "I see you've been working hard."
Keefe shrugged his shoulders, "I kinda have to since this is supposed to be up and running tomorrow night." She looked back towards the fair. "Do you think the plan is going to work?" Sophie said, her voice soft and lacking hope.
"There is no guarantee it will work, but we don't know if it won't either. You just have to stay positive." Sophie looked back at Keefe. He had changed so much, starting from the bratty fourteen year old to a leader who, in times of need, was someone she could rely on.
"Thanks Keefe," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek. Sophie gave him a quick smile when she saw the redness creep up in his cheeks, and then walked back towards the palace to help Biana and Linh with the decorations. "That was too quick," he muttered under his breath, turning around to finish painting the puppet theater.
Author's Notes: Of course I had to include a ball of some sort, it's during the Renaissance Period after all. :)