I lifted an eyebrow. “What exactly are we going to miss?”

  Nearly everyone in the park joined us on the grass but I noticed nobody dared sit past the halfway point of the pond. Families and lovers spread out blankets and took their seats, and many hurriedly opened their lanterns. There was soon a forest of paper decorations and a few of the children hopped up and down before their parents tugged them back to the blanket.

  Prince Yushir strolled past us and gave me a wink. He took up a position at the edge of the pond and turned to the crowd. Any hint of noise was stifled and the people fell silent.

  “A warm greeting to all of you and thank you for coming to this year’s Twilight Fair,” he spoke as he clasped his hands behind his back. “We hope you enjoyed the wonderful stalls and our lovely park. Now without further ado, I will open the Twilight Ceremony.”

  He turned away so his back faced us and swept an arm in front of him. A light blue aura surrounded him and dozens of thin tendrils of magic flowed from his person. The magic floated across the pool before it stopped in the center and began a slow, circular dance a few inches above the surface. The water in the pool rose, first in droplets and then in long threads. The threads stretched up in a gentle tornado and created a tower a hundred feet high and twenty feet wide.

  Yushir lowered his hands so they were in front of him and he moved them in slow, gentle motions, flicking his wrist as he did so. The threads split and crashed into the droplets, creating a forest of glistening tears. The threads moved faster, colliding with the tears and creating thousands of smaller round balls of water.

  That’s when I saw it. The frenzy of water created a picture of the sky realm with its countless islands, palaces, and vegetation. Delicate trees stood beside imposing palace archways and bridges glistened as they crossed over the gap between islands. The threads of water created the rivers and the canals that meandered through the walkways.

  I had forgotten he was a water user but even if I had remembered I would still be in awe of the wonders he created from the water. Everything glowed with the soft blue light of his element and shimmered against the sunlight overhead. The audience gasped and clapped, creating thunderous applause. The maestro finished his masterpiece and turned to the audience. He smiled and bowed to them.

  I leaned toward Arian and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Is this easy to do?”

  She shook her head. “Such precision is very difficult.”

  Yushir raised one hand and snapped his fingers. The whole beautiful picture collapsed into the pool and the crash was deafening. Water sprayed out across the pool and onto the banks where it sprinkled some of the closer spectators.

  Yushir’s voice cut through the applause. “I am glad you enjoyed the show. Now I will step aside and allow you to see the main event.”

  I lifted an eyebrow as the prince left the stage. He passed us again and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

  I prodded my friend’s arm with my finger and could feel the tense excitement in her muscles. “That wasn’t the ceremony?”

  She pressed a finger to her lips and pointed ahead of us. A hush fell over the crowd as a figure clothed in white materialized out of a wispy red fog on the far side of the pond. It was Lord Eastwei.

  I sat up and watched as he took up a position ten feet from the pool. Confusion clouded my mind as I recalled Arian telling me that he used the fire element.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He spread his arms wide and a giant red glow surrounded his body. I recognized the familiar sparkles that had surrounded me when he saved me from the fall into the canal. Those same glints like embers multiplied around him until I could hardly see his person.

  And that’s when they appeared. A huge pair of bright leathery wings burst from his back stretched out on either side of him. The glow was so bright that the light stretched across the pond and illuminated the crowd. A faint gasp arose from the crowd and myself.

  I whipped my head about to face my companion. “Is. . .is he some kind of shifter?”

  Arian blinked at me. “Do you not know? His Highness is able to transform into a dragon.”

  I choked on my spittle. “He can do what?”

  “He can transform into a large dragon,” she repeated as she stared in wonder at me. “Has no one told you?”

  I shook my head. “I-I just thought he was, well, that he was just-” I threw up my arms. “I guess I never really thought about him being anything other than what he looked like. And that kid. I knew he could change into that, but I would never have guessed he was a dragon.”

  “The child form is merely his younger self,” Arian explained.

  “So can a lot of immortals transform into their younger selves?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “Only Lord Eastwei and a few others have that gift.”

  Eastwei’s magic was so bright around him that he appeared to be a small sun. He focused all of that energy close to his body and flung up his arms. The embers flew high into the air in a tight column, piercing the sky like the blade of a sword. The crowd tilted their heads back to watch the glints leave beautiful glistening trails until they reached high above us where they exploded. The loud noise made me start back, but it wasn’t only the noise that surprised me.

  The embers spread across the sky in parting waves, and as they did so they peeled back the bright sun and revealed a starry night. My eyes widened and I sat up on my legs to watch the wondrous night fall over everything. More than one child squealed and many others gaped as I did at the darkness above our heads. A crescent moon shone in all its wonder and its soft light caressed the watchers.

  The appearance of night wasn’t the only wonder. The bursting embers created pictures in the sky like one could do with fireworks. Eagles and bears and countless other images appeared above us, twinkling like constellations before they descended into glittering trails before they vanished completely. He threw up more ember dust and more of the ‘fireworks’ exploded, crafting more pictures more beautiful than I could have imagined.

  I gazed up at the fireworks in awe and wonder. They filled the dark sky with all imaginable colors and designs. Flowers bloomed and dragons slithered across the blackness, leaving behind a trail of glitter that cast a curtain beneath them.

  One of the brilliant lights caught my attention. The fireworks had exploded in the very center of the bright colors and the white lights formed themselves into a familiar figure with pointed ears and a long slender tail.

  I leaned toward my companion and nodded up at the bewhiskered face. “Is that a small cat?”

  Arian looked at where I indicated and nodded. “Oh, yes. His Highness uses that one every year, or at least for the two years I have seen.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Why does he show a cat?”

  She shook her head. “Nobody knows, though I am sure some have asked. I did hear Lady Shian ask Prince Yushir last year if he had convinced Lord Eastwei to tell him but the prince could not get an answer out of him.”

  That’s when I noticed something else happen. The embers fell from as small flakes and they vanished the moment they touched the ground. However, many people held out their hands and the embers landed in their palms but didn’t disappear. The catchers had opened their lanterns and now placed the ember inside the paper towers. The embers filled the lanterns with a soft glow, but it was much more than that. The people lifted the lanterns and the paper lamps floated up into the sky, stopping at the same level as the fireworks.

  Eastwei crafted a huge slender dragon with two pairs of wings and a long snout with slender horns drawn backward toward its serpentine back. The fire-breathing serpent meandered through the floating lanterns and the glow from its scales rubbed off onto the paper light. They glowed brighter, creating tiny red stars in the sky.

  “Hurry before they finish,” Arian advised me as she opened her lantern.

  I did the same and we both held out our hands. Embers floated into our palms and I giggled at the gentle heat that emanated from the flakes. We placed the embers in our lanterns and lifted them above us. They floated upward and joined the forest of glowing paper.

  It was a wondrous sight to behold, and I was sad when the lights began to fade. Eastwei lowered his arms and tucked his hands into his sleeves. The fireworks stopped and the dragon let loose a roar before it faded. The show was over.

  And an unscheduled one was just about to begin.