Matthew and Henry were much more excited about Lughnasadh than Sisse was. There were several reasons for this, and ones Sisse wasn't likely to easily divulge. The first was that she was, understandably, a tad wary around the Black Lake still. Scarred from memories of various misfortunes, not the least being the recent disappearance of Sloane. Second, Sisse felt that mermaids were not the most.... enchanting creatures, to put it kindly. And thirdly, well it would have been nice to round out her complaints in a set of three, but mainly it was because of the first two.

Yet here she was, wandering the stalls on Matthew's arm Henry trailing behind them. "I'd bet on him!" Her younger brother exclaimed nodding to a merman in the water when his siblings turned to look at him. Thirdly, Sisse added in her mind, she could not fathom the appeal of betting, least of all over such a small matter. It was going to be a long afternoon, Sisse internally sighed as her brothers began to consider the various inane attributes of the merpeople. Matthew looked askance at her, presumably regarding getting closer. "Go on ahead, I'll just wait here by the tree." She shooed them off grateful that they both forgot they were supposed to escorting her.

She sank back from the path away from the lake, standing between a stall selling small trinkets and a large tree, grateful for the shade in the summer heat. Like any proper lady she had her parasol open and lace gloves to protect her, but still the shade brought even more relief in the heat. The opportunity to promenade should not be this arduous, she decided as she tried to content herself with watching her brothers. Hopefully she might run into Sloane or Allie soon. Or perhaps they had better sense than her than to be talked into this.

Alvin Bixby