A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 14

The town square was usually bare. There were a few booths around. Some people would walk around, but not many. The street lights showed only vacancy in the darkness, but when the night market arrives, the streets are filled with so many people that it's hard to walk around. There were so many different vendors it was hard to pick which one to go to. The streetlights illuminated the people under them as they stood waiting for their friends.

Harry, Varian, Claire, and Collin stood under the tall streetlight. The light barely reached their faces due to their large cloaks. Varian had insisted that they wear them. "Royalty in the streets at night will only lead to trouble," he told them as he each handed them their cloaks. Collin would mutter rude things about the knight under his breath. "You can thank me for keeping you safe later," he'd reply.

Harry also didn't think the cloaks were necessary. For the twins, maybe, but they had been out every night, and there was no trouble. Contrary to her, who was a princess from a foreign kingdom. There shouldn't be anyone who would know her here.

"Shall we use fake names, too?" asked Collin sarcastically.

"Sure," Varian immediately answered. "That will be safe too."

Collin looked surprised. "What? Are you serious?" He shook his head and laughed. He seemed to regret letting Varian come. "What would they even be?"

"Whatever you want them to be," answered Varian.

"I'll keep my name the same, thank you."

"W-wow," Harry gasped. She was awkwardly trying to change the subject. "Everything looks so beautiful." She genuinely meant it. The town square looked dazzling due to all of the festivities brought on by the night market.

"Look at how many vendors there are!" She spun around to look at them all. Off to the side of the marketplace was a tiny theater with two men moving around three puppets on strings. One was a black dragon, one was a princess that looked similar to Lianne, and the third looked like a prince. "There's even a puppet show?!" She started to head over to check it out when Varian suddenly pulled the back of her hood and yanked her backwards.

"Don't go wandering off on your own," Varian warned. "You'll get lost."

Harry glanced at him, then back at the puppet show. Children and their parents were all starting to gather around the little theater.

"Are you interested in that puppet show?" Varian asked her.

"A little," Harry replied embarrassed. "I just wanted to know what it was about."

"We know!" Claire loudly squeaked. "It's been here since day one! It's about a prince who kills the black dragon and saves the princess!"

"Oh," Harry replied. Such a dull plot no longer thrilled her.

"The ending is- "

"We wouldn't know," Collin interrupted.

Claire laughed, "Yeah, we got bored and went to see something else instead." The twins looked ahead at all the other vendors past the puppet show. "There's lots of yummy food to try, stuffed toys, and they even have jewelry to buy."

Harry smiled at Claire. "It sounds like you two went to see everything."

“We have,” Collin replied.

"We know where everything is!" exclaimed Claire.

"Come on!" called Collin.

"Okay," Harry replied. She started to follow the twins when Varian grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Why do you keep trying to wander off?" He sighed, "If you're going to keep doing that, then I have no choice." He pulled Harry's hand into his, holding it firmly. "There," he said with a voice filled with satisfaction. "Now, we can go."

Harry looked down at the hand that tightly clasped Varian's.

"But-but won't people mistake us as a couple?" she asked flustered.

Varian shrugged his shoulders. "Let them think that it'll be easier to keep them away."

Harry's face quickly turned as red as a tomato. She hoped Varian couldn't see her face with the long hood covering the majority of it.

"The twins, too," she said quickly. She turned to reach for their hands, but their little figures were gone.

"What?" gasped Harry. "How are they already gone?"

In such a short amount of time, the twins were able to quietly slip away from them.

"Well, if they could sneak away without us hearing them, then I'm sure they'll be fine," spoke an unconcerned Varian.

"But- "

"And they did say that they come down here every year."

Harry didn't say anything, but she didn't need to for Varian to know just how worried she was for the twin's safety.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "We'll find them. They couldn't have gone that far."

And so, Harry and Varian began their search for the twins while occasionally stopping at vendors to look at or to buy things. The first thing they bought was cotton candy, then, some other sweets and meats that could only be purchased during the event.

After a good half hour of searching for the twins, they finally found them. Standing at an ice cream vendor were two tiny heads with golden hair. They had taken off their hoods, but still wore the long cloaks.

"Claire! Collin!" Harry called as she raced towards them, dragging Varian along with her.

Claire didn't turn to look at them, but Collin did with a messy face. He had clearly had his fill on the vendor food. Harry looked down to see him holding a kabob in his hand. "Hey," he said with his mouth full of food. The boy had no sense of etiquette. Was he really a prince? Harry then realized why they were so confident that no one would recognize them. "How's your date going?"

Harry replied tirelessly, "It's not a date."

"We've been looking for you two," Varian said in an irritated voice.

Harry sighed, "Let's head back."

"What?" asked a now enraged Collin. "We can't go back yet!"

After receiving two rainbow-colored ice cream cones, Claire turned and said pleadingly, "We'll miss the closing event! Please let us stay!"

Harry glanced back towards Varian, and when he shook his head, she turned back to the twins and replied, "No, we should head back now."

She and Varian had barely managed to get the twins to come with them. As they walked through the town square, they kept bumping into people around them. The people wandered around keeping their eyes on the sky.

Harry and Varian made Claire and Collin hold their hands as they walked and tried to avoid the people, but they were still quite far from the palace. Harry had her hands full with Varian tightly holding her hand on one end and Collin trying to fight her on the other. She was struggling, but it wasn't that bad, not until a random man ran into her. He hit her so hard that it knocked her hood down.

The man didn't apologize. Rather, he began shouting at Harry and stumbled away from her. He was clearly drunk. It didn't bother Harry that much, although she did wish he would've apologized. She had to stop Varian from going after him.

They continued down the street until something else made them stop. There was a sudden loud explosion sound from the sky. It had made the group freeze.

"Wha-what was that?" Harry shouted.

"It's time!" Collin shouted.

They all turned their heads to the sky to see bright-colored fireworks.

"This is the end of the night market's events?" she gasped.

The twins nodded as they watched the fireworks. They all stood watching it until music started playing, and everyone around them coupled up to dance.

"What's going on now?" Harry asked nervously.

The twins didn't answer her. Instead, they began to dance around foolishly. Harry watched all the couples around her and then looked up at the sky, at the gleaming fireworks. There was too much going on around her at once.

"Well, I guess we have no choice," sighed Varian. Harry turned to see Varian holding his hand out for her to take. "Will the princess do me the honor of having a dance?"

Since Harry had spent a year learning etiquette, she became very proficient in dancing. She hadn't stepped on anyone's foot since her first dance with His Majesty, the king. She smiled and took his hand. "I would love to!"

The four of them danced under the bright streetlight as the music played and the fireworks lit up the sky. They weren't dancing seriously. To other people, they might have appeared to be a bunch of foolish kids, but they didn't care, they had so much fun laughing and dancing. The night market had been a wonderful experience.