Zeph placed his left hand on Serene’s waist while she did the same. "Ready to lose?" Ralph called them. "In your dreams," Zeph retorted back. The rest of the three boys were watching from the sidelines.

The whistle blew and off they went, hobbling holding onto each other, and falling multiple times. Serene was having the time of her life as she tried to steady herself with Zeph’s support. Ralph and Zavrian were good and it seemed like they had done it multiple times. On the other hand for Serene, it was a new experience and she kept falling and laughing. Rian and Rumais were cheering them on while Kilamin watched with a slight smile.

Serene tried to run a bit faster and fell taking poor Zeph with her. Both of them fell face onward into the sand, caking their hair, faces and clothes with sand. Hearty laughs and chuckles followed them from all sides. Serene laughed at her foolishness while Zeph picked her up. "You ok? Are you hurt?" He seemed concerned as he removed sand from her hair and face.

"I am good, let’s finish the race." She pulled him and they began to move forward. Ralph and Zavrian had already finished their race and were taunting them from the finish line. They finally finished as second last in the race while Ralph and Zavrian were declared winners.

"How does it feel to lose?" Ralph and Zavrian danced all around them while Serene tried to get the sand out of her hair, laughing all along. "Don’t worry, we will get you next time. I will practice now." Serene added with laughter. Zeph helped her to get her clothes in shape and dusted away all the sand.

"The most important thing is I had fun guys." Zeph smiled seeing her happy. Ralph and Zavrian won a small golden-coloured cup as a prize. Zavrian was beaming.

They moved further ahead and there was an archery competition being held. "Let’s see who will beat me in that." Serene blinked at the boys. Everyone took part in the competition. They were given three arrows each and had to hit the glass bottles placed in front of them. Whoever will hit all targets will advance to the next round.

Rian and Zavrian missed one bottle each, while little Rumais missed two and were eliminated in the first round. Rumais looked dejected at his loss. Serene patted his head: "I will give you some pointers when we get home. How about that?" A faint smile appeared on his face. Serene then took the bow and arrow and aimed for the bottles, ’tck, tck, take three clean shots and the bottles shattered. The crowd who had gathered cheered for her. Rumais and Zavrian gave her a high five. "Princess Serene, you are a perfect shot." They cheered.

Zeph, Ralph and Serene with two other boys advanced to the next round. Ralph and another boy got eliminated in the next round after missing a bottle. Now, it was Zeph, Serene and a brown-haired boy who kept throwing lewd stares at Serene.

Next round the brown-haired boy missed a shot. Before leaving he deliberately brushed past Serene grazing her thigh on purpose and whispered: "How has this purple rose bloomed in this desert?" Serene involuntarily winced and stepped back. Zeph was taking his turn and was up ahead so he couldn’t see what had happened. But Ralph was right there, seeing what he had done. He grabbed him by the collar and started punching him. Kilamin had moved forward as well but Ralph had already beaten him to a bloody pulp. Serene tried to stop him but Kilamin had already pulled her closer to him. Zeph left the game and rushed back to see what was happening as the crowd gathered around them. The boy’s friends had arrived as well and a bloody fistfight broke out.

Kilamin swiftly held her by the waist and flew out of there, taking her away from the crowd. They landed in a safe spot. "Are you alright?" Kilamin asked her. "Yes, I am fine. Just a bit rattled at what has just transpired. I didn’t expect something like that to happen. You need to go help them."

"My duty is to keep you safe and by the looks of it, those boys can handle themselves," Kilamin reassured her. Both of them waited for the boys to end their brawl and return.

They returned after 15 minutes, looking dishevelled and muddy. Ralph had a swollen lip, he must have received a punch. Zeph quickly rushed to Serene’s side and took her in his arms. "Did he hurt you?" There was a burning rage in his eyes as they had taken a darker shade.

"I am fine, are you alright?" She replied. "That bl*ody bast*rd won’t be laying his hand on a girl any time soon now." Ralph spat out with disgust and hatred. The younger boys wore grim expressions as well, clearly disgusted with what had happened to their guest.

"I am fine guys, let’s not sour our moods over one incident." Serene pleaded. Ralph came forward and wrapped his arm around her shoulder: "Serene you are like a sister we never had, and you are here as our esteemed guest. It breaks my heart to see that someone dared to lay his hands on you. I will make sure that will never happen again." He patted her head affectionately.

"Let’s grab some food and head home. We can have our own party there." Zavrian suggested. "Good idea, I will stay here with Serene you guys go get some food," Zeph added as Ralph and Zavrian trotted off followed by Rumais on their toes. Rian came and touched Serene’s hand asking her if she was alright. "Don’t worry Rian, I am ok." She smiled slightly. He started telling her a joke to ease the tension which had built.

The boys returned with food while Rumais came back with a white flower in his hand which he offered to Serene. "Thank you so much, Rumais." She kissed him on his cheek as she took the flower making him blush. Everyone laughed seeing him shy away and the tension dimmed down. They had decided to go home and enjoy their meal in peace.