A warm breeze blew Demetri’s hair back over his shoulders as he tied the red ribbon in place over his eyes, the light going dimmer as he tightened the edges of the blind-fold. He inhaled fresh air deep into his lungs. Smells of dirt, paint, and cotton-candy tickled his nose as he awaited the first bell. He heard the crowd grew louder and more anxious as they waited, less patiently, for the game to begin. These were his favorite kind of days: so much to do, not enough time to think.

“Aright, everyone get your ribbons in place. You know the rules, but I’m going to say em again cause I like the sound of my voice.” Allanah got a big kick out of preparing town games and no one fought her for the job. “Once you hear the first bell, Celeste will fly away and hide at a predetermined location. You seekers will have five seconds to gain the advantage in whatever, non-lethal, way you can think of while remaining inside the circle. After the second bell you are free to roam where you like. There are only two clue holders out there with ribbons on, so try to find em quick. The first one to find Celeste gets five of my best lemon-berry cream-pies and the ability to throw them in the losers faces, if you so choose.”

“Alright crowd. Let’s give em the countdown.”

The crowd shouted together, “Three.”

Demetri shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Two.”

Celeste giggled. “You’re never gonna catch me,” she taunted the other five contestants.

Allanah rang the first bell. “One!” The crowd shouted their suggestions of what they should be doing, seeming extra excited for this event today.

Demetri swept his leg out in a circle around him, trying to trip the two who stood closest to him.

“Damn it, Demetri!” Jonah hit the ground with a thud.

Demetri laughed. “Sorry, but your nose already gives you an advantage. Can’t have you win with such a big head start again.”

The second bell sounded. “Catch the Pixie!” He ripped the ribbon away from his eyes and took a moment to assess the others. Two stood up from the ground, one took off into the sky, and the other two glared at him with a competitive smirk.

Jonah grabbed a big clump of dirt and chucked it at his head. Demetri dodged it, but lost his proud smirk quickly when he heard it hit something behind him.

“Watch it, you hooligans.” Louis, a middle aged goat-man who was sitting outside his art booth, yelled. He lifted the easel he’d been painting on. His wife and muse, Sheena, baahed in outrage as she picked up the bottles of oils, pastels, and brushes that had been knocked into her lap.

Jonah spouted excuses about how it was Demetri’s fault, his normally erect bushy tail sagged apologetically. The children, who’d gathered with their own small easels, failed to contain their giggles and started painting furiously. Sheena turned seeing their fast moving brushes pointed a finger at them, but with blue, purple and pink paint covering her, everyone laughed including her. She sighed and shrugged. “Fine, this lesson will include a full color palette today.”

Demetri smiled to himself as he fondly remembered trying to challenge his own artistic skills with whatever crazy idea he’d come up with that week when he was younger.

“Now! Where’s Celeste gone?” He searched the crowd with his eyes and saw something shimmer up the path and rushed off towards it.

“Playing catch the pixie again, eh Demetri?" a voice called down from the stage where a group of Dwarves prepared for a comedy act. It was Tirue, one the tallest among his fellows—if Demetri could call three-foot-two tall, which he didn't. "Just try not to set her on fire, huh?” the dwarf quipped.

A chubby one named Brux held up his wrist, showing he had wrapped a red glittering sash around it, and smiled a toothy grin. Brux sprayed a bit of water, from a hidden water canister, in Dementri’s direction. “Best stay back. Don’t want our stage going up in smoke now do we?” He spread his lips wider.

The small crowd around them stopped to watch the exchange. Owing mostly to their grumpy nature, everything they said on stage sounded hilarious. The fact they would gather in the square at all was impressive, let alone playing into the game. Dwarves usually kept to themselves—the majority of them lived just outside of town—and often announced their belief that everyone else was just too damn happy all the time.

“You’re as grumpy as a dragon with a toothache, Brux. Be careful. You might accidentally have some fun.” Demetri created a ball of flames in his hand and held it up menacingly. “You lawn gnomes don’t deserve a stage anyways.” He tossed his fire from hand to hand. “Maybe I’ll save the rest of these poor souls from having to listen to your trash all day.”

The people clapped and whistled. Some laughed and shouted their agreements.

“You look a little steamed, Demetri. Let me help you cool off.” Brux shot a bigger stream of water at him. Steam rose into the air as he let the water put out his fire.

Demetri bent low and caught some of the water in his mouth and let it spray on his face. “Ah, refreshing. Thanks, pipsqueaks. Now how about that clue.”

Brux turned off the water and they both bowed for the crowd, who clapped and cheered for their small performance. Brux handed Demetri a small towel and extended his hand out for Demetri to shake.

He wiped his face quickly and shook wrists with the dwarf. “You guys gotta get some new material.”

Brux’s short hefty chest shook with laughter. “Bah...You looked thirsty. And, ‘sides, your acting gets better and better. Can’t stop now, you’ll be as good as me someday.”

Demetri turned away, looking into the crowd again. Brux must have noticed his angst. “Alright, here’s your clue: Iron roof, glass walls. Burns and burns, but never falls.”

“Iron roof...What the hell does that—"

The dwarf shrugged. "Ah ah, that's all you get," he said before turning to join his group in pretending to kick one another.

Demetri thought hard. Maybe the kids' new playhouse has an iron roof.

On his way out of the square, Demetri passed Tommy, who was directing a swarm of other sprites where to hang the next strand of lights in the tops of the trees. “Hey, Demetri. Where are you headed?”

“Playhouse. I think Celeste is hiding there. And, well, I promised the kids I’d come check it out today. Two birds, you know.”

“Oh! Did you get a clue? I’m great with those. What’d it say?”

“Iron roof, glass walls," he relayed. "Burns and burns, but never falls." Tommy usually got them much quicker than he could.

The sprite screwed up his face. "Sounds interesting. I haven't really seen their building lately, but I don't know about the glass walls part."

Demetri scratched his head. He knew it was a long shot. “Yea, but you know how creative they get. You saw the pool they made last year.”

The kids had decided they wanted a pool. So now the city had a forty-foot salt-water pool with natural sand filters, complete with a water slide made from recycled plastics. Since so many buildings had been taken down from earth’s time, it left a lot of space for sports fields and play areas, open to do with as they pleased. The kids formed a group that came up with different ways to utilize the open space. Once they set their minds to something, it usually turned out to be much more elaborate than what one would usually expect from children. Demetri couldn't wait to see what they did next year.

“You know, I bet it’s—” Tommy didn't have time to finish his reply before a pixie got her wings tangled in a thicket of vines. With a devious smile, he flew off to her rescue—no doubt hoping to score a date for being her savior.

Demetri shielded his eyes from the sun, looking up at the commotion in the tree. The pretty little thing had ivory skin and a fire of auburn hair. By the way she was pretending to struggle, it was clear the stuck was more hypothetical.

"Hey! Get back down here!" Demetri huffed. "You bet it's what?" But he knew he was wasting his time. Once Tommy had a girl in his sights, he was useless to the rest of the world.

He made his way past the northern stage where a high-pitched sound of an amplified guitar being tuned pierced the air. Demetri winced in unison with the crowd. The Stirlings continued to set up the rest of their instruments as though their ears were used to such noises.

Different bands took turns playing on trade days. Most weren’t bad, depending on the kind of music you like.

An arm flung around Demetri’s shoulder, knocking him off balance. “Missing our golden years, eh Demetri?” Tate, a tall, sturdy man with giant elk-like horns sprouting from his head nodded toward the stage. There was a hint of moon water on Tate’s breath, and his green eyes had gone blue.

Demetri tried to disentangle himself. “You haven’t seen a pretty thing with coffee skin and gold wings fly by?”

But, if his old fire-dancing buddy heard him, he ignored it. “You quit. Broke up the whole band. Bloody shame, even if you did try to set my balls on fire.”

“Glad you’ve forgiven me… you know it was an accident.” He patted the clenched fingers holding his clothes. “Now, I need to go—”

“They were such great drums," Tate whined into Demetri's shoulder. "Ne’er had another set like ‘em, you know?”

Demetri patted him on the head and sighed. “Ethanol-based shellac on drums in a fire show," he rehashed fondly. “It's a wonder we're all still alive/It's a wonder the stage still stands. Though, with the way you shrieked like a filly as you hurled them at my head, you'd have thought we were all on fire.”

"I didn't shriek. I only—"

“Dude, you made the dogs howl. But no harm, man. Do you know where Celeste is?”

“It’s no fair asking fer help, Demetri. You gotta find ‘er on your own.” Tate pushed Demetri. “Hurry up now. You just missed Jonah. Ain’t gonna be easy finding which lantern she’s hiding at before he does.”

Demetri smirked and shoved him off. “Lantern?” He smacked his forehead. “Of course.” Do the kids have a lantern at their door?

Halfway across the grassy field, Orion, the red haired energetic genius, ran up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up the small hill and past the pool to the rough shell of a clay structure. “Demetri! Hurry!” He yelled, ecstatically. Orion was one of his only fire-elemental students, and the budding engineer of the group. “Come on. You have to see the inside.”

Demetri ducked to step through the slightly too small, white-clay, door arch. “Whoa! You guys are really outdoing yourselves this time.” This so-called playhouse had three stories, working plumbing, solar panels, and even little shelves crafted into the walls.

“Just wait till you see the water slide that will go down to the pool.” Saria, a tiny pink-haired pixie, beamed a proud smile at him, her wings shimmering as they fluttered in delight.

Orion placed a mudding spade in Demetri’s palm. “Will you help me make the furniture?”

“I can’t. I’m playing Catch the Pixie. Have you guys seen your auntie, Miss Celeste?”

“Not unless she’s in the walls with Link. He’s working on the secret passageway that leads down to the basement.”

Link was Saria’s mute twin brother. His mind worked a little differently than everyone else’s, which usually led to ingenious ideas such as that. He looked at the world and saw the things that could be instead of what actually existed. Demetri always thought the world could do with a few more like him.

Saria ran to the window and turned her pointed ear towards town, listening intently. “Never mind. Sounds like Jonah already found her.”

Damn. Really thought I could beat him this time. Demetri groaned inwardly. He really didn’t feel like playing house after his failure, but when he saw the hopeful face of the small ginger boy, he smiled. “Should I do a couch or a chair?” He put as much fake excitement into the words as he could muster.

Within a few minutes Demetri was covered in clay and only had a small, un-shapely, mound in the middle of the room. Link came out from behind the bookcase slowly, staring out one of the windows facing town and walked towards it. Demetri could feel a shift in the atmosphere.

Saria ran up beside her brother. “Link, what’s the matter?”

Link held a hand up and cupped his ear.

Saria leaned against the window sill and turned her head to the side, copying his motion and listened strenuously. Demetri abandoned the couch in the making, and wiped his hands over his shirt, attempting to see his fingers again. “What’s going on?”

“Shhh.” Saria hushed them. “There’s screaming.” She turned to her teacher with a fearful face. “Mr. Demetri. There’s people coming into the city.”

Demetri didn’t need convincing. These kids had never been ones to play pranks, and even if they had, Saria’s face told him this was serious. “Stay here until someone you know comes to get you.” He looked between the three to make sure they understood.