Three days later, Beothorn looked up at the darkening sky. "I think we can make it before the rain starts."

The wagons followed the dirt road for two days, then turned off into the woods, following a pair of old wagon ruts on a path half overgrown with weeds. They came upon a large clearing in the trees with two tall square stone pillars in the center, spaced twenty feet apart. Beothorn looked over at Thaddius sitting next to him on the buckboard. He had been impressed with the boy for this long journey. He said little, ate what he was given, and mostly played with his orb. Beothorn once tried to touch the orb while Thaddius slept, but it zoomed off into the canopy of the trees. It was back at Thaddius's side when the boy awoke the next morning. The wagons followed the path until the horses were several feet from the pillars.

Beothorn climbed off the wagon and walked ahead to the right pillar. He took an amulet from below his shirt and pressed it to a darkened flat spot on the pillar. Slowly the air between the pillars of stone swirled hazily. Thaddius sat bemused. Beothorn climbed back onto the wagon and gave a nod to the human driver to move ahead. With that, the wagons passed through the stones disappearing into the shimmery air. After the last wagon was through, the air between the stone pillars became clear once more, and the forest around the clearing came back to life.

"We just passed through the planar gateway. We are now on another plane. We will be back home in three hours." commented Beothorn

There was a recognizable shift in the breeze passing through the planar gateway. The sun which had been behind them now appeared to the right. It was a little cooler, perhaps. The path ahead sloped downward at an angle back into more trees.

The wagon team traveled three more hours coming to a large group of tents and wagons that were arranged in a circle. The makeshift community looked to be well established in the grassy piedmont. The sun was setting as the wagons pulled up to a large mobile kitchen.

Beothorn climbed down from the wagon and started giving orders as he walked to the other side of the wagon to help Thaddius down. "Take the food to the field kitchen and the rest to the quartermaster's wagon, store the wagons, pen the horses, and then get supper."

His final order was to Thaddius. "Come along, Thaddius. We have to go talk to Marena and Samphire about what to do with you,"

They made their way through the tents and carts. Thaddius saw many amazing creatures he had never seen before.

A few moments and several rows later, Beothorn stopped in front of a large blue wagon that had a step stair going to a doorway built into the side. The wagon had a solid sloping wooden top over it. It was completely enclosed except for a small window covered with a lace curtain next to the door.

"This is my home, Thaddius," said Beothorn.

"Oh," said a strange little woman laughing lightly in delight. Her hands were in fists, shaking at the side of her head. Her gleeful expression was almost scary. Thaddius could not help but get caught up in the woman's excitement as she ran toward them. Everything about her was inviting. She was not much taller than Thaddius. Her long slender face housed rosy cheeks. She was so close to the ground that he could not tell if there were actual feet below those short legs. Thaddius sensed she was glad to see Beothorn.

While bouncing on her heels, she smiled down at the boy. "Oh, what is this?" She asked excitedly.

"His name is Thaddius. Could you attend to him while I report in?" Beothorn asked Marena.

Marena started to reach her arms out to embrace Thaddius and then stopped herself. She lowered them back to her side. The short woman straightened her white apron dotted with tiny embroidered pink roses. She took a deep breath and then took another moment to smooth her straight black hair before introducing herself.

"My name," she paused. The words had come out higher pitched and more excitable than she had intended. She did not want to frighten the little boy. She took another deep breath to steady her intensity and started again. "My name is Marena. It is very nice to meet you, Thaddius." She extended her hand, and Thaddius took it. Her other hand clasped around his as well. Her whole body shook while she shook Thaddius' hand in both of hers. Marena dropped Thaddius' hand and flung her arms around him. Thaddius stood there with his arms by his side while she tried to squeeze him into cuddled submission, but he did not mind. Her embrace warmed him, calmed him, and made him feel safe all at once. It was an unusual sensation for Thaddius, one he cherished at this moment and one that he had not remembered feeling before.

"Now that we have been properly introduced," She interrupted herself with an audible thought. "You know Thaddius. I think I'm going to call you Tad if that is ok with you? " Tad just stood there still in her arms, allowing all of Marena's emotions and care to wash over him.

After several long moments, she let her right hand drop but kept her left arm draped around Thaddius as she led him deeper into the city of tents. On both sides of their path were wagons that towered over both Marena and Tad. Marena did not seem phased by her dwarven stature. She moved through the camp with purpose and belonging.

Thaddius saw the oddest creatures as they walked. He saw six-legged beasts. A giant fur-covered creature with a trunk that Marena said was a mastodon. He also saw a blue man walking with a woman whose hair looked like flames. They both smiled and waved at Marena and Tad.

"Tad, these wagons and tents all contain our acts. Soon we will be traveling to a new city to set up our next show," said Marena.

He had never seen anyone or anything like this. They were creatures of fairy tales and fantasies. The people they passed were of different shapes, sizes, and colors. They stared hard at him, and Thaddius squinted up his eyes, staring back at them. They were funny, he thought.

While Tad was distracted by the unusual creatures, a giant lizard walked by on a leash. He started Tad and amazed him at the same time. He watched the odd curled toes on each foot. The creature had a thick leather collar attached to a leather lead. On the other end of the leash was a being that had the general shape of a human but was made of white smoke, and yet it was solid enough to hold the lead. Tad was mesmerized. He could feel the creature's mind, but he couldn't exactly see him.

"The fantastic and impossible are all living in this tent city," Marena shared.

Marena took Tad over to a small pen full of goats. They were white, green, red, black, he lost track of all the colors of the many goats. Marena handed him some small carrots from a bag nearby. Keeping a few for herself, she showed Tad how to feed the goats by sticking a carrot through the fence, waving it back and forth to get the goat's attention, then letting go when the goat had a good grip on the carrot with his teeth. The goats tried to push each other out of the way to get the food. This made Tad giggle.

After several minutes, Tad and Marena were laughing while peddling carrots to the goats until every last carrot had been eaten.

"Ok, Tad, let's go see if we can find you a snack to eat," said Marena as she guided him along another pathway.

Tad passed a pair of men practicing throwing clubs and swords between each other. "Those are jugglers, Tad," said Marena, as she paused to let him watch them. Tad tried to keep track of a sword, but it was soon lost in the spinning display. The men stopped catching their items, gathered them up in their arms, turned, and winked at Tad. Then the man who had pointy ears fake bonked himself on the head and pretended to fall over. This brought a gleeful screech and applause from the boy.

Marena smiled and nodded to the men as she led Tad away across the camp to the tents.

They made a sharp turn into a green and orange vertically striped tent. The tent was enormous, much larger than the toddler had initially perceived it to be on the outside. A sitting area to the right consisted of three armless brocade chairs with pillows on each. The rest of the tent was sectioned off by tall purple sheets of fabric concealing the rooms behind them.

There was a water pitcher on the table with some cheese and bread slices. She put a few on a plate and placed them in front of Tad along with a small cup of water.

She sat across the small table from him, smiling. "Welcome to the Samphire's Carnival, Thaddius."

***