The Moon Calls

6

With the duties to prepare for the expo finished, Varian took the time to wander around looking at the other inventions. 'Lots of interesting stuff here.' He thought. 'I'm sure they'll all come to benefit the kingdom, no matter who wins. After all, isn't that what's important?'

He stopped and looked towards the direction of Old Corona, wondering how his dad was doing.

"Varian, hey!" Eugene tapped his shoulder and he nodded to him with a smile. "Ready to start setting up for your big reveal?"

"Sure." Varian nodded. "Let's go to my workshop to pick it up." He headed off and Eugene followed him.

"Ugh, this is taking forever." They heard Cass grumble, and Varian sighed and walked over to her. "Why so many guest rooms..."

"Still need help?" He asked cheerfully.

"By the Sun, yes. I—oh, Eugene's here, too?" She asked.

"We were on the way to start setting up." Eugene shrugged. "Kid heard you and decided to help out. And, well, I guess since I'm here..."

"Alright." She smiled slightly. "I can trust Varian to make sure you don't mess things up for me."

"That's good enough for me." Eugene said as Varian laughed. Then they all took from the cart she had and got to work on preparing the rooms for the guests.

Eugene couldn't help but notice that both of them were humming as they worked. "Hey, uh, what songs are you guys singing there?"

"I don't actually know." Cassandra shrugged. "A lullaby my real parents did? It's been in my head for years, but no words."

"I'm trying to figure out the black rock incantation, but I'm only three lines in." Varian shrugged helplessly. "All these years and I can't figure out the darkness part. And then there's a whole other verse!"

"Ooookay, then. Carry on." Eugene shrugged and they went back to work.

"So, what did you mean by 'real parents'?" Varian asked as they moved on to the next set of rooms.

"Oh, I-I'm adopted." Cassandra admitted. "My real parents abandoned me when I was just a kid, and I don't remember them."

"I can relate to that. Well, not the adopted part. Maybe, if someone had adopted me, I wouldn't have been a thief." Eugene shrugged. "But, then I also wouldn't have climbed the tower and met the most beautiful girl in the world and her sassy kid brother!"

Varian grinned. "Fate works in funny ways."

"It sure does." Cassandra nodded, and then they split off to work on the rooms again.

When they met up again, the conversation continued. "So, why are you so anxious to get this done before the expo?" Eugene asked.

"My dad said that he'd let me be part of the guard, if I got everything done in time." Cassandra sighed. "No matter how much I want it or how hard I work, his standards for me are higher than they are for anyone else."

"Well," Varian grinned, "We're at the last rooms. Why don't you go and we'll take care of the rest of these?"

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver." She hugged him and ran off.

Varian watched her go, his cheeks a bit pink. Eugene grinned and nudged him. "Aww, you do have a crush."

"Wha—I do not." He grabbed what he needed and escaped into a room, Eugene laughing behind him.

After they finished, splitting Cass's share between the two of them on top of their own, they went to his workshop to retrieve his invention.

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