So here…. ENJOY! :)

Chapter 3

"I'm Thalia."

The two children shook hands.

"You're the prince, right?" Thalia wasn't sure whether or not she should bow or kneel like other people did with the royal family, so she simply stood there and clasped her hands together.

The young prince smiled. "Of course." He answered. He held out his hand towards her. "So do you want to play or dance? It's pretty boring being alone."

Thalia was feeling quite awkward being left unoccupied. She cast a side-ward glance at Jason who was busy showing Hylla how high he could jump. The girl's parents were there… Thalia could easily find them later.

"Why not?" She shrugged and took the prince's hand. Luke smiled in return. "C'mon." he said and tugged her through the crowd of festival-goers.

She looked at him. He was wearing a white button-up suit with golden buttons, quite like a miniature version of what his father, the King, was wearing. He had slightly disheveled sandy blond hair and blue eyes the shade of the morning sky. Thalia also noted that he wore a seemingly constant mischievous grin- like one of those street children who seem to constantly be forming plans in their minds to pick-pocket you.

Luke Castellan had dragged her to the buffet table at the very front of the wooden stage he stood just a moment before. Thalia inhaled the sweet aromas of the array of food assembled in front of her. The prince pulled her forward once more and tugged up two barbeque sticks with bulging, delicious and juicy meat speared on to them.

He gave one stick to Thalia and proceeded to consume his with relish as did she, both of them enjoying the delectable taste.

"Mm, wow," Luke said, swallowing a chunk of meat. "This is… Mm, this is really good!"

"Of course it is." Thalia replied, biting off another piece. "This… This is Old Lady… Old Lady Miriam's barbeque… She… Mm, she lives just down our street."

"So you always get a taste of this?" The prince asked, wide-eyed.

"Sometimes." The little girl swallowed. "If we're lucky, she gives a whole roasted pig away for free."

"So it's like a mini-festival?"

"I guess so. But it must be like… so cool in your palace."

"No, not really." The prince bit off the last chunk of his barbeque. "It's big, sure. Pretty, yeah. But it's kinda lonely."

"Well," Thalia said as she threw away her used barbeque stick. "I wouldn't mind living there."

"But you-"

"IT IS TIME!" The man in the colorful suit from earlier was back. He stood in the middle of the stage and shooed away the orchestra. "The army will now be presenting their spectacular gun show!" As he said it, a line of soldiers clad in shining armor marched onto the stage. At least six of them held sturdy-looking bayonets.

"These guns," The man spoke as the army faced away from the crowd. "Are specially made, the only ones in this continent! Let it be known that the Southern Kingdom is the first, the very first, to play with gunfire!"

The crowd jeered, though most of them didn't even know what a gun was, including Thalia.

"And you, dear people," The man announced. "Have the honor of seeing them in action!"

The crowd roared.

The six soldiers who held the bayonets positioned themselves perfectly, the end of the gun pointing upward into the empty sky.

Of course, half of these guns would soon be stolen and the others locked away for fear of them being stolen as well causing the kingdom to hide the power of the gun for several more decades until they were finally unveiled to the world, but all was well for the moment.

Beside Thalia, Luke grinned. "You might want to cover your ears." He said, but Thalia waved him off. She wanted the full gun show experience.

The colorful man raised a red flag, the crowd leaning forward in anticipation. Then, he let it fly down and the guns were fired.

Loud booms echoed throughout the plaza. Thalia shrieked and covered her ears, eyes going wide. Luke simply laughed beside her.

Smoke cleared from the fired guns as the crowd started to recover. The frightened ones broke out suddenly into a loud cheer as the soldiers lowered their guns and began to march off the stage.

"Well, that was fun." The prince grinned. "Do you want to get some strawberry-mango juice?"

Thalia fixed her companion with a strange look. "I've… I've never had strawberry-mango juice before." She said doubtfully, causing Luke to gasp in surprise.

"That's cruel!" He cried. "Strawberry-mango juice is the best thing in the world! How is it possible that you haven't tried it yet?" He grabbed her hand once more and dragged her towards another banquet table.

It was the best night Thalia had ever experienced. She made a friend, watched a gun show, ate food- a lot of food, and tasted strawberry-mango juice. She was careful to let Jason taste some as well.

It was around an hour or two before midnight and the celebration was far from over. A citizen had accidentally dropped some biscuits in the bowl of melted chocolate and the townsfolk were now feasting on them. Thalia, Luke and Jason had tired themselves with dancing and playing so they sat down together at the foot of the Founder King Mayomer's statue a little way from the middle of the plaza. With the masses gathered by the banquet tables, the area around the statue was less dense with festival-goers.

"That was awesome." Thalia giggled. She sipped a little more strawberry-mango juice from her cup.

"Good." Luke smiled at his new friend. He was twisting and turning a dried leaf around in his hands. Jason was attempting to do a hand-stand and failing. He shrieked and fell on his face for the sixth time, causing Luke and Thalia to laugh.

"Shut it!" the little boy screamed at them, his cheeks growing red and started to do another stunt.

"Thalia," The prince turned to her again. "Are you going to be back tomorrow?"

The girl in question frowned, the sly grin wiped off her face. "I-I can't, Luke." She said. "Remember what I told you about my mom? Well, I don't think I can get away another time. We're not even allowed here right now."

Luke's eyes drifted off towards the decorations set around the plaza, his blue eyes set on a potted rose with pink and violet streamers wrapped around the pot. "Not tomorrow, huh?" He sighed. Then suddenly, his eyes lit up with an idea. "Then come back on the last day!" He exclaimed excitedly. "There'll be a parade! The general's going to lead and then we'll be gathered in the courtyard and then we'll have cake and strawberry-mango juice and barbeque and it's going to be so cool!"

Thalia looked at him doubtfully, electric blue eyes scanning him up and down. "Well," she said hesitantly. "There's a chance mom will be at the pubs again on the last day. It happened last year. Maybe it'll happen again."

The prince jumped up and cheered loudly to himself. "Yes!" he exclaimed.

Thalia had to crack a grin. "Okay, but don't get too excited. I can't promise you we'll be there."

"It's okay." Luke turned to her and smiled. "But I know you guys can do it."

"How?"

He didn't respond and sat back down next to her, cracking another grin. "Just trust me, okay?"

LINEBREAK

I know what you're thinking: wow. Nice. Corny way to end the chapter you idiot.

Hey, don't judge too hard, c'mon. I just came back from the beach and from screaming "BY THE POWER OF POSEIDON" and freaking strangers out by the shore.

It was worth it.

So yeah thanks for reading review and the next chappie shall be up by tomorrow or in a day maybe.

^_^ Bye~