The tour continued for at least an hour and a half until they arrived at the Market. Since it was a public place, there was only one-way streets between venues. 

Passing by said venues, the driver explained the market. “Here, you can find many used items sold for a fair price, such as tools, kitchen wares, clothing, and any other necessities.”

Ethan’s mother began to stare out the window as they passed a handful of venues displaying an assortment of jewelry. Ethan’s father sighed under his breath, “I know where she’ll most likely spend most of our money at.” Ethan gave his father a pat on his pack while chuckling to himself.

During his laughter, a growling sound traveled through the car. Ethan and his father gazed at Jasmine, hoping that she didn’t hear their conversation. But, it was the opposite of what they expected. She was slightly blushing and pointed to her stomach.

The driver looked back and commented, “Ah, it is about time for lunch, isn’t it? How about we take a break at a café, I’ll inform the mayor of our whereabouts. She’ll give notice to the café about us, so don’t worry.” 

Ethan’s father abruptly spoke up before the driver could call. “W-WAIT! Are you sure it’s ok for us to drive into a café with a limousine? Wouldn’t that cause some problems?” The driver was taken back by the concern, then gave a polite some and shook his head. 

“Don’t worry, when the city offers a position here, we always treat our guests with respect, which involves giving a limousine tour, so if we were to pull off to the side, no one would bat an eye.” Changing his lanes, the driver proceeded to follow the path towards a small café while making a call to the mayor.

Arriving at the café, the driver stepped out to open the door for his passengers. Filing out, Ethan was greeted by the sight of a petite café, which was busy, given what time it is. Upon entering the café, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and well-cooked food floated in the air. That itself made Ethan’s stomach growl loudly but was drowned out by the talkative atmosphere within the café.

After following a waitress to their small booth, Ethan chose to sit across his mother, his father sitting next to her. Then the driver sat next to Ethan. While examining the menu, a new waitress gave her introductions. “H-hello, I’ll be your waitress for the time, may I take your order to drink?”

The girl sounded very nervous, Ethan looked away to his menu to give the girl a polite smile, when he was caught slightly off-guard by her appearance. The girl before him was young, around the age of a teenager. Her brown hair was in a long braid that was draped over her left shoulder. Yet, her eyes were a bright ruby red, sparkling from the light that shined from the nearby window. Ethan quickly gave his drink order, embarrassed that he took so long to reply, then the girl left.

“My, was beautiful eyes that young girl had, were those contacts?” Ethan’s mother questioned the driver. The driver gave a small laugh and shook his head. Yasmine was about to continue her questioning when the noise of their drinks was set onto the table. Slightly startled by how quickly their drinks came, they turned their heads to give a thank you the waitress. “Than-!” Yet, they all stopped by the sight of the waitress.

She looked exactly like the previous waitress, only her hair was cut short, stopping at her shoulders. Even her eyes were all a sparkling red as well. “Two iced green teas, one raspberry tea, and one cold water.” Even her demeanor was different than earlier. Instead of quiet and shy, she was confident when she spoke their order, her bright smile almost blinding them.

“Are you ready to place your order?” She held up her notepad, ready to write. Ethan and his family quickly recovered from their shock, excluding the driver, who was trying his best not to laugh at their confusion. After scribbling their orders down, she went off to the kitchen.

“That was quick, we had just placed our drink orders a moment ago, in fact, only 2 minutes ago!” Ethan’s father exclaimed, then continuing, “Was that the same girl we met ear- Yeouch!” His question was cut by the sudden pain at his side. “Irwin, shush. Don’t be rude.” Yasmine had elbowed him, giving a quick glare to stay polite. “Though, I am impressed she was quick to change her hair like that,” Yasmine questioned, taking a sip of her green tea.

Ethan looked back at the driver, giving him look to explain what just occurred. The driver only replied with his hand held up, his index finger pointing up, telling them to wait a moment. Ethan raised his eyebrow, yet only shrugged and didn’t think too hard about the girl. He was more focused on taking his medication before the food had arrived. Taking out his daily pill container, he took two small white tablets into his hand and piled them into his mouth. He then grabbed his water to drink for the pills to go down easier. He breathed a relieved sigh, then put back his pill container to join in the conversation with his parents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour goes by until the sudden smell of food approached their table. Then a familiar voice made its way over their table. “So-sorry for the wait. H-here’s your order.” Before them was the first girl they met when first entered the café. She was balancing three plates on her left arm while holding a bowl in the other. “One grilled chicken sandwich, a Hawaiian burger and fries, a bacon and egg burrito, and a chicken salad.”

Placing their plates down before them, she stood back up, before tilting her head in confusion at their shock expressions. “I-is t-there a-a uh… p-problem?” She began to stutter more drastically due to the attention she was getting from the table.

Then a laugh came from the driver, who was restraining himself from being anymore loud. Calming down while still slightly laughing, he spoke.

“Nothing’s wrong, Lily. Why don’t you call your sister over to introduce yourselves? She’s up to her usual tricks again.” He then pointed to the girl with short hair, stationed at the front of the café, greeting newcomers.

Understanding, Lily sighed, “Of course… I must apologize for my sister; she always likes to play pranks. Excuse me while I go get her.” Bowing her head to the table, she rushes off to her sister.

Ethan was the first to speak, “Well, that was quite amusing.” Raising an eyebrow to the driver, who replied, “Ah, those two are residents here in Aelwynne. They are quite well known around the market, they volunteer to help advertise vendors and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves.” He then nodded his head for Ethan to follow as Lily dragged her sister behind her, grinning mischievously.

They both stood beside each other, greeting the table once again. “This is my twin sister, Ruby. Now Ruby, apologize for playing a trick on these newcomers.” She narrowed her eyes at Ruby, who simply winked at her before stepping forward to the table. 

“I’m sorry, I do love a prank when I see the opportunity.” She half-heartedly apologized, earning an elbow from her sister.

Ethan nodded, accepting the apology, then went to drink his water. His mother chuckled, “I can already tell you two are quite the opposite from each other. My name is Yasmine Willburn.” Reaching across to shake Ruby’s hand, then to Lily. She then pointed to her husband and then to Ethan, “This is my husband Irwin and my son Ethan.” Irwin and Ethan both gave their greetings to the twins.

Lily smiled kindly and was about to speak, but was abruptly cut off by her sister. “Oh! So y’all are moving to Aelwynne! That’s awesome! What jobs did you get offered?”

Ruby then grabbed a seat from an empty table and quickly sat to continue the conversation, while Lily was in complete shock at her sister’s rushed behavior. “Lily! We still have to work, remember?” 

Ruby looked over to Lily, grinning brightly, before shouting over to the kitchen, “Yo, Mike! Lily and I are taking our break now!” A shout came from the kitchen, acknowledging Ruby’s request. Lily tiredly sighs, then reaches for an empty chair to sit beside her sister. 

“Well, a break does sound good. Continuing my sister’s question, what brings you all to Aelwynne?” Lily questioned, twirling the end of her braided hair, waiting for an answer.

Yasmine responded, “Ah, both my husband and I were offered a position as an assistant for the software developer and engineer departments for the city. We happily accepted the job since your city is brimming with new potential.”

Both Lily and Ruby nodded, agreeing to her statement. The conversation continued, with the twin sister’s asking how life was outside the city and Ethan’s family asking about how they are so popular among the Market district.

After finishing their meal, Ethan’s family proceeded to exit out of the small café, the sun starting to descend over the city. They all filed into the car to continue the tour. Rolling down their windows, they leaned and waved bye to Lily and Ruby. Lily politely waving her right hand, while Ruby both of hers in the air, shouting, “See Ya!”

Seeing them vanish in the distance, Ethan and his father rolled the windows up. “Such nice girls. I do hope to see them again.” Yasmine laughed.

“I’m sure you will. They have a flexible schedule from working in several spots around the city to just sight-seeing. Ah, here we are, the city hall. Here is where you’ll pick up your keys for your apartments.”

Pulling into the parkway, the driver rushed out to open the passenger door, murmuring, “Oh dear… I hope there isn’t a long wait.” Ethan had caught the last few words of his sentence. Turning his head to the driver, he asked, “Wait, is there a long wait?”

The driver quickly shook his head while shutting the door behind Ethan’s father, then answered with, “Sorry for the misunderstanding, the wait for your individual keys won’t take long, I was hoping that you would meet with the mayor and her assistants, but she seems to be quite busy now,” He then gestured to the all overwhelming number of cars in the parking lot that they were walking past then continued, “She’s dealing with government demands and such but it has been very stressful for her to bring you all to here wouldn’t be ideal.” All three of them nod their heads, understanding the circumstances.