Nina found Rinaye in the middle of the square playing a small instrument she hadn't seen before. She was singing something odd too. Nina couldn't tell what it was. Was it a love song? A song about war? She didn't know, but it was beautiful. The strumming of the chords along with Rinaye's voice stood out like magic. It was kind of squeaky due to Rinaye's small vocal chords but it was still pretty to Nina and to everyone else who had gathered around to listen to the kid sing. Her voice was enchanting. It almost seemed as if there was more than one person singing at once.

  Coins were being dropped into Rinaye's bag left and right nonstop.

  Clink, clink, clink.

  Once the song she was singing was over, Nina called her name in excitement.

  "Rinaye!"

  Rinaye looked around in bewilderment, wondering who called her name. When she saw Nina, her eyes lighted up with such excitement Allison would be jealous. She ran over to her friend more swiftly than a horse and gave Nina the biggest hug in the world.

  "Nina!" she cried. Not letting go of her legs.

  "Rinaye! How have you been? I was worried sick about you!" Nina exclaimed.

  "I'm okay!" Rinaye said finally letting go of her friend. "I just moved from the main house and I like it way better there.

  "That's great! Where is it?" Nina said.

  "The forest."

  ...

  "Are you sure you're okay?" Nina asked with worry vividly showing on her face. She knew the forest was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. How could a child live there? Who put her there? Nina was furious. She would beat them up if should could!

  "Yup!" Rinaye responded. "My friend helped me renovate and now it's really comfortable! Anyway, I need to go pay for my food now!"

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Rinaye disappeared into the crowd leaving Nina completely confused and also worried for the young child's safety. She knew who put her in the forest, only one person had the authority to do so, The Duke. That motherfucker, literally. Nina thought that maybe there was a way to hire some assassins to maybe, perhaps, kill the guy. Sadly, Nina didn't have that kind of money. Deciding that she really couldn't do anything about it, Nina walked back to the duchy carrying both a large amount of soap and her worries for Rinaye the whole way there.

  Rinaye entered the bakery once again to the surprise of the lady behind the counter.

  "I heard you playing outside, you were fantastic." She said.

  Rinaye stood up on to her tip toes and reached towards the counter placing a few bronze coins on the table.

  "Oh, sweetie! Thank you!" She exclaimed.

  "I still want the gold," her niece mumbled under her breath.

  "Ruby, don't be rude." The lady said.

  Rinaye then said goodbye with a smile and walked out of the shop, finally eating her croissant. It was well worth the wait. The pastry was flakey and the chocolate was smooth, creamy, and melted in her mouth like a cloud.

  Finally full, Rinaye decided to explore other places in town.

  One street was filled to the brim with food carts and she sampled almost every single one. She sampled spicy noodles, cotton candy, skewers, chicken, yes, an entire chicken, boiled eggs, quesadillas, chicken chow fun, chicken chow mein, beef, BACON, fruits, fruit candies, everything you could possibly imagine, this place had it all.

  Another street was filled with clothing shops. Some were fancy, most weren't, but Rinaye certainly had lots of fun trying on a multitude of clothing. From children sized ball gowns to something that looked like it came out of a renaissance fair from her old life. Everything look dazzling on her but Rinaye got the most pleasure out of messing with the higher end store's employees. She would purposely run dirt on herself to make her look even more like a gremlin than usual and then walk into the shop acting like she was lost. She would get the employees attention by calling out to her "big sister" and asking where she was. The employees would try to get Rinaye out of their posh shop as she was dirty and no doubt a . Then she would name drop a famous person, that she was told she looked like on the streets, saying she was looking for her big sister [famous person's name]. Employees would then panic, thinking they insulted a relative of a powerful and famous person and Rinaye would leave the shop satisfied.

  This worked a total of seven out of nine times, somehow.

  Don't ask me how.

  With the sun almost setting over the horizon, Rinaye decided to head back after quite a long day. She took the road back the the Duchy, climbed over the gate, sneaked back into the forest, waved hello to her brother, Arion, who seemed to be looking for something, climbed back up the stairs, opened the door, and fell directly into the softness of her own blankets and pillows.

  She had had a good day.