A few hours before the faire, Tranns, Lucien, and Aden meet up in the bar.  Aden and Lucien begin a not so friendly verbal spar, as they compare ways to impress women at a faire.  Lucien scoffs at Aden's tale of how he always buys the woman he's with a balloon.  Tranns breaks them up before Aden can get too hot under the collar and the three of them join the faire going group in the lobby to depart.

 

With Casey and Jonas navigating, the Phoenix Fighters arrive at the festival, which, as Casey explains, is a far cry from what it used to be, due to the attacks.  Everyone begins to pair off, exploring the different stands.  Jesse buys Sic a necklace while Tranns and Lucien visit a fortune teller who spouts prophecies of doom and gloom.  Meanwhile, Aden buys Adriana a pink balloon and Casey and Jonas indulge in some cotton candy with Valero.

 

After a few hours, everyone begins to congregate in a tent where a loud ring master, Mavrick announces a show that no one wants to miss.  The Phoenix Fighters file in with everyone else.  Their merry mood is soon destroyed, however, when Mavrick unveils the star attraction, a horribly disfigured boy whose body is covered in scars from repeated lashings from the ring master.  They resolve to help the boy.

 

When the show ends, Adriana walks down from the stands and begins flirting with Mavrick.  While he's distracted, Tranns and Lucien sneak into the tent and begin to pick the lock on the boy's cage.  The others see that Mavrick is rapidly losing interest in Adriana, so Aden incites a fight in the stands.  Mavrick is about to go break it up when the boy starts screaming at Tranns and Lucien, insisting that they leave him alone.

 

Lucien knocks Mavrick out and the other Phoenix Fighters join up in the tent.  The boy adamantly refuses to leave the cage, certain that he'll only be beaten and abused some more.  Adriana offers him some of Casey's cotton candy and he begins to warm up to her.  She promises to give him her balloon if he'll come out of the cage and much to Lucien's surprise, the boy comes out.  The Phoenix Fighters take him back to the House and promise to help him escape Shaldani.  In return for their kindness, he gives them an amulet, which the kitchen staff analyzes and realize is an interdimensional key that can open portals to other realms, including the Ebene homeworld of Ebera.