Out of ten shots, Aida only made four. Despite the size of the targets, the paper was oddly difficult to pierce.

  “That was a pretty good attempt,” the game proprietor said consolingly as he reached into a pack at the rear of his stall. He pulled out a small brown envelope and cracked it open, tapping out two small clay pendants. “Choose wisely what you wish to do with these charms.”

  Aida glumly looked at the two tetrahedral objects in his palm. The shapes were odd and asymmetrical, but they were also painted with delicate runes on each side. The stall owner took a pendant in each hand.

  “Present your love interest with a pendant, and you two will be blessed by the spirits with smooth communication, protection from misfortunes, and most importantly—“ he gave her a wink “—be empowered to share your love more freely with each other.” He clicked the two pendants together, forming a perfect pyramid. “These two pendants were cut from the same clay pendant, so they fit together perfectly and are the only set in the world. They serve as a daily reminder that you need to work together to achieve perfect balance and harmony.”

  He brightened as he noticed Aida’s friends gather around her, and he launched into a clearly rehearsed spiel.

  “I made this charm myself! During every step of its creation, I incorporated all of the elements while praying over them so that spirits of all elements will share their gifts: the body of the charm is made out of earth, the glaze is made from the ashes of the fortune flower, and the bail is made out of metal - to also represent the resilience of the partners’ love. Of course, water and fire are used throughout the entirety of the process - to keep emotions exciting, yet comfortable. Would anyone else like to play and try to win a set of love charms?” the proprietor finished his speech with a flourish, looking around at Aida’s friends’ faces eagerly as he placed the set into her hand.

  “Wow, you won love charms?” Lily asked brightly, reaching out to take a charm and examining it. Aida looked down at the other one, wondering if the proprietor was just embellishing the mystical properties of this fun festival trinket.

  Well I’ll be damned. Aida was impressed to see there actually was some magical ability infused within the charm; she was tempted to keep the set for herself.

  But who would you give the other one to? Balking at the thought, Aida glanced reflexively at Ezra, flushing and diverting her eyes when she met his silver eyes.

  Unluckily, she looked right at Dev, their gazes locking for a very brief - yet awkwardly long - moment before she dropped her eyes again, the charm clutched in her palm.

  Everyone’s getting into my head, Aida fumed silently to herself. Dev had never registered on her mind as a potential love interest for her until Bruce mentioned it after they came back from North Ocean Village. When Bruce first suggested the possibility, she had thought it a ridiculous proposition. Ironically, even though she had done her best to avoid thinking about Dev more than necessary, especially in that way, over the past several star cycles…her effort seemed to have been in vain. Talking to this stall owner and being presented with literal love charms further cemented her obvious failure.

  The harder she tried not to think about Dev, the more she had been thinking about him.

  What have I done?

  “Here you go!” Lily pressed the second charm back into Aida’s hand, lowering her voice as she asked, “What are you going to do with it?” In the background, Aida noticed Edward trading some baen for a slingshot.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “I think it would make sense to give it to Vanita and Abedi, right?” Aida said, struggling to keep her composure as she tamped down her frustration - for allowing herself to be so weak as to inception herself into developing a minor attraction despite not having fully recovered from her recent heartbreak.

  Does having a crush means I’ve moved on? Aida frowned.

  “I don’t think Aida agrees,” Lily said, watching Aida’s face closely.

  “But if Abedi does it—“ Myk started.

  “Sorry, what were we talking about?” Aida interrupted, keeping her gaze focused on the people directly in front of her: Lily, Myk, and Pritchard, to avoid accidentally looking at either Ezra or Dev. Pritchard opened his mouth.

  “You said you’re going to give these charms to Vanita and Abedi, right? We’re trying to figure out the logistics of who should get the set of charms.”

  “The power of the charm will be amplified if it comes from one person in the pairing,” the stall owner added from the side, clearly relishing their predicament. He glanced idly to the freshly replaced targets as Edward took aim. “It’s more meaningful that way, you see. If a third person offered it to the two of them, there may be undue pressure on them to accept - or even deny. When it’s two people, what happens between the two of them - and the spirits, of course - stays between them. More personal, the beginning of a partnership, see? Ah, that’s one target broken!”

  Turning back to Edward, the owner began calling encouragements to the boy, projecting his voice to try to entice the other passersby into taking a chance at his stall.

  “So what was the debate?” Aida asked.

  “I think Abedi should be the one to present the charm,” Lily said immediately. “Vanita was the one who asked him to the Festival, after all.”

  “We think Vanita should have the set,” Myk said, slinging his arm around Pritchard’s neck. “We know Abedi, and he’s too passive. He’s not going to offer them to her - or anyone - until he knows for sure it’s a guaranteed acceptance.” Myk knocked his own head with his knuckles. “Metals.”

  “And I think it’s unfair to make Vanita shoulder all the responsibility for progressing their romance,” Lily said in exasperation. “Do you know how scared she was to ask Abedi in the first place? It’s not fair to her. Let Abedi bear the brunt this time.”

  “Hold on, are they even having a good time, though?” Aida objected. At her question, everyone glanced down the street, taken aback. “Where did they go?”

  “Edward, are you done?” Lily asked urgently, rushing over to him. “We have to catch up to Vanita!”

  “You lost sight of them?” Edward asked, aghast. “I have two more shots!”

  “He needs to succeed on those two shots to win the grand prize,” the stall owner added helpfully. “Five in a row!”

  “Hurry!”

  Myk grabbed Aida’s shoulder. “We’ll go ahead first! Shale Port is small, they can’t have gotten too far.”

  Snatching Shon and Dev by the collars, Myk galloped off with Pritchard, leaving Aida blinking after them. They really took their friend’s love life very seriously. Even as Dev quickly caught his feet beneath him and joined the mad dash, he still flashed her a small smirk that made her heart thump.

  I haven’t moved on yet, Aida reminded herself vehemently as she turned back to Ezra, who was standing quietly beside her with a wistful expression on his face. “What’s with all the rush?”

  “They just want their friend to be happy,” Ezra said simply. “Even if they aren’t being rational about it.” He looked at Aida, with that same wistful expression. “I understand them.”

  Aida felt something shatter in her as she met his gaze. Implicitly, she thought she understood what he was saying - though she was terrified to acknowledge that thought. He raised his hand, hovering hesitantly next to her cheek. Aida kept still, her breathing shallow, keeping her gaze fixed on his silver depths, trying to ascertain his intention - hoping he would show he still cared, yet trying to suppress that hope at the same time.

  He gently placed his hand on her head, the pressure of his hand heavy enough to crush her hope. Aida heard Lily’s shrill voice as she urged Edward to take his shots more quickly, while he argued back saying he needed time to be precise.

  “I’m grateful you invited me along to join you for your first - and last Fire Festival as an adolescent,” Ezra said quietly, Aida hearing every word despite the commotion around them. “I had fun today. I’m happy to be your friend.”

  “What are you saying?” Aida asked, her voice catching in her throat. The charms burned in her hand, heavy and imposing.

  She had too many thoughts racing through her mind to be able to figure out what the correct response was - she just knew the end was approaching, and she wasn’t ready for it.

  Ezra didn’t wait for her to catch up. Smiling at her gently, he blinked - and Aida was shocked to see there wasn’t any pain in his eyes, though his eyes seemed to glisten in the waning afternoon sun.

  “Do not feel like you need to be reserved because of me. Act on your heart’s desire.”

  A small part of her was indignant: resentful that apparently she was the only one who was still entertaining thoughts of resuscitating their relationship, while another part recognized how hypocritical she was for feeling that way when she had already started noticing small facets of his personality that chafed at her. Yet another piece was relieved they were apparently going to end on good terms - thankful that she could call upon his support and knowledge, as someone who knew her secret and could accordingly provide contextually accurate information.

  “I just want you to be happy.”