How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi came downstairs with Ivy and the packed diaper bag, and she presented Ivy to her brothers saying, "Look how cute she is with the ribbons in her hair!" before they got into the car.

Usually, when going into the city they took the train, but since Xander had a broken leg, they worried about the train stopping jostling him on his crutches, so Dark agreed to drive and just handle paying for the parking. It meant near the end, Ivy was starting to get cranky from her car seat restraints, but once she was freed with her purple butterfly leash on her back, she was back to her usual happy self.
 
"This is a big place!" Alec said, looking around. He helped Xander out of the car and handed him his crutches.

Xander pushed himself upright and looked around with equal interest. "This is going to take a while to get through," he commented. He nudged Alec. "Take a lot of pictures, okay?"

"On it!" Alec said happily, pulling out his phone and holding it up.
 
"Do you want to look at the vendors first? I believe Khalil told me he is has a stall." Dark asked them while Daizi, holding to his arm, inhaled deeply the various smells on the air and enjoyed the sound of music which grew louder the closer they walked there.

It was by no means the busiest festival this city hosted, but it wasn't empty either. Most of the people who were around likely had a connection to the subject of the festival, but by no means all. There were plenty of families and couples who were, presumably, not Arab, college students, and others besides who just liked community events or who found it by chance and decided to see what was happening.
 
"Vendors," Alec agreed, walking beside Xander and directly behind Daizi. "That sounds like a lot of fun! I wonder if there will be clothing stalls or plants?"

"What kind of food is around here?" Xander asked, sniffing with anticipation.

Alec laughed. "We just got here!"

"It smells great!" Xander stated unapologetically.
 
"Most of the local Arab restaurants and food trucks, if I were to guess," Daizi answered Xander's question, "and I don't know about plants, but I'm certain there will be someone selling clothes."
 
Alec tipped his head. "Do I hear music? If that is live music, then this is going to be the best day ever!"

"Definitely up there," Xander agreed. "Ba, lead the way. Show us awesomeness!"
 
"Of course there is music, habibi," Daizi replied, placing her hand atop his head, "It's a festival, there's dancing too."

"We can start down this way," Dark indicated towards the nearest row of vendors and letting Ivy walk with them while she still had the energy to do so. Since it was so crowded, she was a little nervous and stuck close to her parents rather than trying to run off.
 
The twins stuck close to Dark and Daizi. Alec so he wouldn't get lost, and Xander because the sea of people parted before his tall parents, meaning directly behind them was the best place for someone on crutches to walk. It meant he couldn't see as much directly forward, but there was so much to see in every other direction! They craned their necks, trying to take it all in. It was amazing!
 
The one thing which was helping Ivy learn to run more than anything else was her Herculean task of keeping up with her parents' leisurely pace.

As they walked, they passed by a stall selling various scarves, one with goats milk soaps (likely from the same vendors Tristan bought from), a stall selling 3-d printed dragon fidget toys without the printing lines sanded down, and then a jewelry stall.
 
Alec dashed from one side to the other, trying not to get in anyone's way, but wanting desperately to see everything! The scarves were amazing, the soaps were, indeed, the same ones Tristan bought, the dragon toys were epic, and the jewelry was all so very shiny!!!

Xander mostly kept behind his parents, but he did venture off once to look at some of the jewelry, a few pieces catching his eye, but he figured he should probably try to get a good look around before buying indiscriminately.
 
Reaching out, Dark caught Alec by the back of his shirt to stop him from weaving, and in his affectionate yet reserved voice said, "If you would like to look, you can ask us to stop, rather than trying in vain to see everything all at once while we walk along."
 
"But if we stop walking, then we won't be able to see everything!" Alec said, walking backward as Dark held his collar. "There's just so much awesome!" He turned to walk the right way and pointed. "Like that! What's that? I don't even know what that is!"
 
"We have all day," Daizi assured Alec, "I am sure we have plenty of time."

"I believe that is an incense burner," Dark said, looking at what Alec had seen, "We can take a closer look, if you tale a second to breathe."
 
"Let's go look at that! That looks really cool!" Alec grinned. He started going in that direction. "Wow! It smells intense!"

Xander looked down at Ivy. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it, Mini Legs?"
 
"Mini Legs?" Daizi asked with a chuckle, keeping her hand on her husband's elbow so she didn't get lost in the crowd.

"I imagine it would," Dark said, following Alec under the pavilion, where the seller had various incense burners and sticks.
 
"Compared to ours? Mini. Compared to yours? Very mini," Xander said dryly as he crutched along smoothly behind them.

"I never really thought about what goes into making incense before," Alec remarked, looking over the various styles. "Who do you think first came up with this?"
 
"That's true, but it's still a silly thing to call her," Daizi joked, "What will you call her when she's taller than you?"

"My guess is probably someone in China, who usually seem to claim to be the inventors of everything," Dark commented, lifting Ivy so she could not damage anything in the tent.
 
"There's no way she's going to be taller than me. Just because you two are giants doesn't mean your offspring will be," Xander pointed out, refusing to imagine his itty-bitty baby sister taller than him. "If she does end up taller, she'll still be Mini."

Alec nodded as he slowly went around. "That would make sense. Oooo, Ba! Look at this one! The smoke trickles down! How do they do that?"
 
"You keep saying that, but she is already tall for her age," Daizi replied, "Maybe she will start calling you Mini instead."

"I have no idea," Dark replied, but with a tone in his voice suggesting it was capturing his imagination.
 
"She had a lot of growing to do, and a lot kids have different growth spurts," Xander said calmly. "Want any incense? Or a new holder? I don't see any spiders at first glance, but there's a snake."

Alec leaned over to watch it, wanting desperately to put his finger in the falling fog of scent. "That's amazing! Imagine having a pyramid thing! Like an Inca steppe or something."
 
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