Chapter 172: It's Hard Being This Popular

Abby ended up stuck at the playground for another few hours but children slowly trickled away as time went by. The older ones who had managed to get away from their jobs long enough to participate in play practice had to go back to work eventually.

Some of the younger ones got tired or needed to do chores at home. By dinnertime the only ones left were Adam, Hagan, Iida, and Lirael's four children under the age of six.

Keeping an eye on that many children by herself had been exhausting, though for a while some of the older kids watched out for their younger siblings and that helped. Mountain heat had nothing on Arizona but she had been outside for hours and would kill for an ice cream cone.

Since coming here she had tasted ice cream exactly once when Sia's family busted out some precious ice to make it for everyone at the festival. It was no Baskin Robbins but she still nearly cried. Katie gave her a knowing look, understanding her pain in a way no one else could.

"It's time for us to go," Abby called.

Since they had been here nearly all day, the children came obediently. They were tired and hungry and some of them had missed their afternoon naps.

She had them form a chain of linked hands and walked Lirael's children back to her house since it was closest to the playground. A chorus of small "thank yous" warmed her heart as they went inside. Lirael had taught her children well.

Hagan and Iida were both cranky and didn't want to walk so Abby was forced to carry them, which of course, didn't make Adam happy. He wanted to be carried too but it was physically impossible for her to carry three toddlers on her own.

Katie, who was chatting with a woman outside of the carpenter shop, spotted her distress and excused herself to help. Aza was strapped to her chest in a makeshift baby sling but despite her tiny frame she was able to give Adam a piggyback ride at the same time.

He was quite pleased with the arrangement since he hadn't seen his mother most of the day. He ended up falling asleep on her back before they even made it home.

"Rough day?" Katie asked with a raised eyebrow when she saw the state of Abby's hair.

She grimaced. There were so many wildflowers in there now that her hair had to be full of dirt. She needed a bath ASAP.

"It's hard being this popular," she replied flippantly.

Her sister rolled her eyes. She understood that problem completely but it was usually adults who wanted her attention rather than children. That was what happened when you became heavily involved in a small village like this.

Katie's expression grew more serious once she had put Adam down on his bed and settled on the couch to feed Aza. "So. I heard the Warriors made it to town. Was Blaise with them?"

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Abby sighed. She should have known this interrogation was coming. "Yes but we didn't have the chance to talk. Our eyes met for about two seconds and I completely froze. Lian distracted me and the next thing I knew, he was gone."

"I'm sure you'll see him soon. The area Al gave the Warriors to set up camp is only a mile or so from the edge of town. They'll be coming and going all the time to get food and whatnot."

She supposed so but how was she supposed to talk to him when he was surrounded by other people? At least when they first had their reunion for real. That split second of eye contact earlier didn't count.

They were friends and she didn't expect anything too exciting when they first talked but if he intended to return her ribbon she didn't want other people to see. It would start rumors because she had done something very forward in this world without thinking.

Ignoring the romantic connotations, Abby only wanted to have an excuse to see Blaise again. She panicked and did it on impulse, okay?

What had he thought of the gesture anyway? Did he think she liked him? Not that was entirely untrue…she had thought about him often but she didn't know him well enough for it to be more than a simple crush.

Abby got so antsy while she waited for Al to come back for dinner, hoping that Blaise would be with him, but was ultimately disappointed. The commander wanted everyone to stay out of the villagers' ways as much as possible while they got used to the idea of foreign warriors. No one was allowed to leave the camp.

Ah, curse these people and their fear of others! It wasn't like they had never seen anybody from Shibatsu before. A carpenter's wife and a miner's wife with that stand-out silver hair lived in Ilmir. There were a handful more in Raisha.

She would never understand politics. Al and Katie were welcome to it; she preferred working behind the scenes.

"Any male who is physically able to withstand the training is required to take part because there are so few of us," Al told his wife between bites of dinner. "We have to rotate who goes when so everything else continues to run smoothly. I was thinking something like three hour long shifts for each group."

Katie nodded thoughtfully. "That could work. You might have a rebellion on your hands if this cuts into play practice though so tread lightly with those boys' schedules. If we need to have more women involved in their family's businesses than usual we will."

There were female Warriors in Shibatsu though none of them had volunteered for this particular mission. But none of the women here would want go through Warrior training.

It was only recently that they began allowing girls to learn trades like their brothers instead of simply helping with chores at home. Too much change too fast wouldn't settle well with such a traditional people. They had already bent a lot to Katie's modern vision.

She was certain they would get there eventually but for now decided to defer to Al's wisdom on the way his people thought. Getting girls more involved in traditional men's trades since they would be a bit understaffed while the Warriors were here could work in their favor.

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