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It was an unseasonably mild morning when Nona learned of the fair. The nice lady teacher was in the vestibule when she and Camilla walked in, and after she gently probed Camilla (who dodged around each question with vague non-answers), she asked if they were planning on going to the fair.
"We'll have to see," Camilla replied.
"I hope you can make the time. I think it's important for the children to do things like that, maintain some sense of normalcy."
The fair, Nona gathered from the chatter, was like a big party but you had to pay for everything fun. That didn't seem right to Nona, because Camilla said her birthday party would have to be small since they couldn't afford very much, probably just the ingredients for a cake and maybe some juice.
When she asked the gang later if they were going, Kevin said, "Of course," at the same time Honesty said, "No"—far too quickly Nona thought. Born in the Morning said carnivals were for kiddies, so only Kevin was going to go—and Nona probably. Hot Sauce nodded, which meant it was probably even true.
Nona had expected Cam to be the one to bring up the fair, but when they got halfway through dinner without it being brought up, she realized she would have to. She thought carefully about how to bring it up for a few minutes and then she explained quickly about what she had learned at school and how it did sound like a lot of fun, and wouldn't this help them seem like a normal family and maybe the nice lady teacher would be less suspicious of them?
Pyrrha looked thoughtful, drumming her fingers softly against the table. "Maybe. When is it, exactly?"
"It's not a good idea," Camilla said.
"I hear you, Hect, I do—"
"But?"
Pyrrha sighed, the big kind she did when she was about to say something she thought Cam wouldn't like. "She's been behaving." Nona wanted to jump in and agree, she had been very good after all, but something in the set of Camilla's shoulders told her that was a bad idea.
"Yes, in controlled environments. This is going to be new, and hectic."
"We won't always be in a controlled environment. Better to practice here, no?"
"The fair isn't free."
"I'll find the money. Maybe cut down on the cigarettes for a week."
Camilla was quiet for a while. Nona was starting to worry when she finally said, "I'll talk to the Warden about it."
Nona almost jumped out of her chair then. "Oh, thank you, Cam!"
"That isn't a yes," Camilla said.
"If you want to help convince him, you should finish your dinner," Pyrrha suggested, pointing her fork toward Nona's barely touched plate. Nona grimaced, but Nona was mature enough now to admit she had a point, and went back to the difficult task of eating.
Palamedes had taken Pyrrha's side, and after some discussion they all agreed that Nona could go so long as she was on her best behavior. The week leading up to the fair, Nona had been sure to do everything she was asked and not to make trouble, and at long last the weekend came.
They left for the fair a little before the sun set, which had been a point of contention in the negotiations. It would be a little less busy and they wouldn't have to be so worried about the sun, but they would have less time to mill about. Camilla had held firm on the point though and won out in the end.
The lot that the fair was being held in was far enough from the fires that they were able to take their masks off halfway. As they turned the final corner, it finally came into view. Nona had only passed it a few times, when Pyrrha had them take an especially out of the way route. It hadn't been anything special, just another patch of cracked asphalt half-illuminated by the few streetlamps that hadn't burnt out around it, its only distinguishing factors being its size—it had to be twice as large as the next biggest lot Nona had seen—and the intact wire fencing that surrounded it. Most of the empty lots had missing panels in their fencing or none at all, so there were always people camped in them, but this one was actually empty.
But now it was full, bursting with color and people. Giant tents and metal contraptions with dazzling yellow-orange lights and big block letters towered over them. Between the larger structures, the lot was crowded with smaller stands. The effect was dizzying.
At the gate, a line formed at the table where a woman was trading money for tickets. When Pyrrha reached the front of the line, she dug the money out of her pocket and got one folded strip in return. Then they made their way inside.
Immediately, there was a barrage of light and noise and smell. Camilla herded them off to one side so Nona could look around without standing in the way.
"Step right up!" A man called from off to the side. He was standing next to a very tall box, with a bell at the very top. At the bottom there was something like a seesaw with a metal disc about the size of a dinner plate. "Test your strength!"
"What do you think?" Pyrrha asked, flexing her arms and wiggling her eyebrows. Camilla rolled her eyes the way she did when Pyrrha made an ass joke Camilla secretly thought was funny. That only made Pyrrha grin wider.
"There we go!" the man said as Pyrrha walked up. "Going to win something for your lovely ladies?"
"Going to try," Pyrrha said modestly, which wasn't very like Pyrrha at all. Then she winked at Nona, which was very much a Pyrrha move, and told her, "Go on, kiddie, start thinking about what prize you want."
Nona followed the line of Pyrrha's arm to the wire fence behind the game on which hung a variety of toys, mostly stuffed animals, but also an assortment of inflated plastic objects. One in particular caught her eye, a stuffed dog that reminded her a little of Noodle, except that it was the same color as the one from the fish shop. "That one."
Pyrrha nodded and tore two precious tickets off the fresh strip before she took the mallet, carefully wrapped her hands around it, and gave it a couple slow test swings. "
Pyrrha's muscles flexed beautifully as she swung the mallet—not incredibly quickly but with an intentional, forceful arc. It collided with the metal plate with a loud thud, which sent something on the other end of the seesaw flying up the box. It struck the bell, which rung out even louder than the thud of the hammer. A few people around them had stopped to watch, and they all clapped. Nona delighted in plucking the stuffed dog from the man's hands and clutched it tightly to her chest.
"What next?" she asked.
"It's past dinner time," Camilla observed, which Pyrrha took to mean it was time to eat.
The food stalls all had big boards above them with their menus, and most of them had pictures, which Nona appreciated. After wandering between a few and discussing between them the cost and taste of each option, they landed on a smaller booth that sold a battered and fried meat on a stick.
"What kind of meat?" Nona asked.
"Best not to ask," Camilla answered, which got a chuckle from Pyrrha.
"Wise woman."
Once they each had a skewer in hand, they stepped off to a less busy aisle and Nona began to slowly tear pieces of the meat off with her teeth.
Camilla shifted slightly, and Nona knew it wasn't Camilla anymore. Pyrrha noticed too, and asked, "All that grease not appealing?"
"Presumably." He looked down the food in his hands, and without hesitation began to eat. "I can't say I am surprised."
"It's not that bad. I shouldn't have to ask, but you're timing this, yes?"
"Counting every second."
"Get out early, just in case."
"Twenty percent cushion good enough for you? I was already planning to factor it in."
Pyrrha shrugged like she didn't care, but Nona thought her face said otherwise. "It isn't my grey matter you're playing with. Nona, not the stick."
Sheepishly, Nona pulled the wooden skewer from her mouth, revealing the half-chewed pulp she'd reduced the end to. Pyrrha shook her head and muttered, "Should have known better."
Preempting a lecture from either Pyrrha or Palamedes (or worse, both of them), she pointed to the giant metal circle at the back of the lot. "Can we go there?"
"The wheel? Sure, we've got a few more tickets left."
As they began walking in that direction, Nona clutching her prize tightly, Palamedes said, "I'm not sure I have faith in the engineering on display here."
Pyrrha replied that she didn't know how he could walk with such a big stick up his ass, which sent Nona into a fit of giggles.
"Remember to mark that one down when we get home," Palamedes told Pyrrha, who nodded.
As they got closer, Nona saw that the cars attached to the wheel were very small, only big enough to fit one person on each side. Nona despaired at the thought that they couldn't all go together. Her distress must have been plain on her face because the next time Pyrrha looked over, she stopped them.
"What's wrong, Nums?"
Nona tried to keep from crying as she explained the problem.
"I guess someone will have to sit in my lap. I'm sure Palamedes wouldn't mind," Pyrrha grinned.
"You are incorrigible," Palamedes said. "First, time's almost up, so it would be Cam, not me. I wouldn't try suggesting it to her. Second, the physics don't work out; we'd tip right over and send Nona flying. She'll just have to sit in Cam's lap. You can hold the dog."
"Really?" Nona could hardly believe her luck. She hadn't even had to promise anything to get to ride the big wheel despite Palamedes' concerns, which she had been prepared to (she had decided that she would offer to eat her whole breakfast for the week without complaint—or at least try to), and now she was going to sit with Camilla.
Palamedes gave a small shrug, as if to say, "What other choice is there?" but he was smiling, a soft smile that didn't quite fit Camilla's face right. "And there's time. Nona, be good and listen to Cam, alright?"
"Of course," she said, hurt and indignant. She almost always listened to Camilla, and when she didn't she had very good reasons for it. Like when she would try to discretely spit food into her napkin, and she didn't even do that anymore because they all caught on to her very quickly.
Camilla agreed with the plan, and before long they were loading into the ride. The ride's operator didn't even blink when the three of them loaded in, Camilla wrapping one arm around Nona and positioning her to the most comfortable spot on her lap.
The operator shut the little door and within seconds they were moving. As the wheel turned, Nona leaned over the edge. She felt no small amount of joy at the way Camilla's arm tightened around her, holding her firmly. Everything was shrinking below them as they rotated up and up, and seeing the way all the people became smaller and smaller dots until they reminded her of the ants that crawled along the dirt and rubble behind the school made her feel very small herself.
When she looked back over her shoulder, the view was even more wonderful. Camilla had a rare, precious smile. Pyrrha, who had reached across and was holding Camilla's free hand casually, was leaning on her elbow, pretending to look out the car, but her eyes never left Cam's face.
Once they reached the ground, Pyrrha informed them that they only had two tickets left, and asked what Nona wanted to do with them. It was a difficult choice. She definitely did not want to go back to get more food. She liked the game tents, but she didn't think she could win anything. That gave her an idea though.
"Camilla, would you play one of the ball toss games? I bet you could win!"
"I don't think we have room for another prize," Pyrrha said.
"I don't need a prize, I just want to watch Camilla play." It was so wonderful to see Camilla in action, the way her muscles moved together with precisely the amount of force needed, no more and no less.
"Can't argue with that," Pyrrha said, and Camilla shrugged.
Two tickets was just enough to get them three balls for the game where you needed to knock down the stack of bottles. The first throw did not go very well, and only the bottle from top row toppled over when the ball hit it.
"Rigged," Camilla muttered under her breath. She took a big, deep breath.
"You've got this," Pyrrha encouraged, and Nona nodded vigorously in agreement. Camilla could do just about anything if she tried.
For the second throw, Camilla adjusted her aim to hit the bottle not straight-on but almost from the side, and with a big sharp clang it hit the other bottle and they both plummeted from the little pedestal they were on and hit the ground, even more noise ricocheting around and Nona cheered. A few people looked towards the stall and one lady smiled at Nona when she saw that they'd won.
They tried to refuse the prize, but the woman running the stall wouldn't let them. She wouldn't let anyone think she was trying to cheat them, and they'd won it fair and square, she'd said. So Camilla picked something random and at Pyrrha's suggestion, they waited near the game stall until a child, probably about Kevin's age, came up and played. He did not win, and he had turned to leave dejectedly when Nona ran up to him and handed him Camilla's prize. His smile was so big that Nona was no longer sad that she couldn't keep it herself.
The walk back felt so much longer than the walk to the fair, and Nona was dragging her feet so much that Pyrrha sighed and crouched down so that Nona could wrap her arms and legs around her, then hooked her arm around Nona and stood up. She carried Nona like that all the way home, which was so nice that Nona almost fell asleep, barely kept awake listening to the quiet discussion between Cam and Pyrrha. When Camilla made Pyrrha laughed, her chest shook with a wonderful rumble that carried through Nona.
After they got inside and everyone got a bath, they tucked Nona into bed and she had the distinct feeling that it had been a singularly good night, one where everyone was happy even with everything that was going on, and she was determined to commit it all to memory before she fell asleep.