Page 23 of Renaissance Bear

"Yeah, I guess so. You're a smart cookie, aren't you?"

Alis looked pained and Jon had a moment of wondering if Peter hadeverhad a partner, or if the man's fiddle was his constant companion because he condescended to women. "Who owns the fairgrounds now?"

"The town," Peter replied promptly. "Which means a sale would have to go through the town council, which…"

"Should have been a huge local issue," Jon finished. "Is it even legal for them to sell off township land without asking for public input?"

Unexpectedly, Laurie said, "Yeah," then looked defensive as Jon gaped at him. "What? You remember a few years ago when they widened the sidewalks down First and Fourth? The town claimed eminent domain on part of my buddy's front yard and we spent like a week looking up all the laws to see if they could do that. They could, because it was for the public good, but I read a bunch of other stuff and the short version is, yeah, they canselltownship land without any input, they just can't make a landgrab on somebody's yard or whatever without justifying it. In theory even the Mayor could just sign off on something without the town council's approval."

After a pause, Jon said, "Well, shit," and Peter, who had been looking hopeful, collapsed back into the benches.

"Why the hell would anybody buy it, though?"

"This is speculation," Alis said, "but Eloise thinks there's a conglomerate trying to trademark the name 'Renaissance Faire' and Renaissance?—"

A groan rose from all three men as they followed her partial explanation through to its logical conclusion. Laurie went up to the till to ring up the patrons who were waiting to pay for their drinks, turned away a last hopeful who was making his way toward the closing gates, and returned to the table. "How are we going to fight this?"

"The first thing we have to do is find out if the land has already been sold or if they've submitted paperwork that still has to be signed," Jon said. "But either way, we raise hell."

"I just can't imagine anybody on the council agreeing to this," Pete said quietly. "Even if they didn't know the fair itself might be under threat, why would they sell the land at all? It must have been a hell of a lot of money." He rubbed a hand over his eyes. "And not just for the city."

"You think someone was bribed?" Alis asked, almost as softly. She leaned into Jon a little, encouraging him to move forward and sit down at the table with Peter. For a few seconds everybody was getting themselves arranged, with Peter turning to face the table while the rest of them sat down around it. Jon glanced toward the other corner, where the musicians usually set up for the evening, but they weren't there yet.

On one hand, it was Sunday, and that always meant an earlier night. On the other, the empty table gave Jon a terriblesensation of loss, like the whole faire was slipping through their fingers and there was nothing to be done about it.

Peter was shaking his head at Alis. "Yeah. I think so, but I also can't imagine how much money it would take. These people, they've got integrity. Oh, I know, there's no such thing as a politician that can't be bought, but…" He pressed a calloused hand against his forehead, and Jon picked up where he'd left off.

"Renaissance prides itself on being…fair, I guess. Hah. Fair." He made a gesture toward their surroundings, and felt good, at least momentarily, that Alis smiled. "Seriously, though. It's kind of a weird little town, full of hippies and—" He nearly said 'shifters' out loud, but Pete wasn't one and he hadn't explained to Alis yet. He substituted, "—artists," awkwardly, and went on. "And as a town it wants to take care of its own. Like." He moved his hands helplessly. "I remember when I was a kid there was a small homeless population here, which is really dangerous in the winters. Mom brought us to one of the town council meetings where they were discussing what to do about it."

He lifted his eyes, meeting his little brother's. "And Laurie was so bored. So was I, but he was sitting there squirming and listening and just bored out of his mind and he finally stood up on his chair and said, 'If they don't have homes, why don't we just give them somewhere to live?'"

Laurie's ears turned red. "Everybody laughed at me."

"They did. And then Mom said, 'Well, why don't we?' and everybody stopped laughing," Jon reminded him. "And that summer there was basically a barn-raising. Half the town turned out to build the Haven Apartments over on the west side of town, and the homeless people were invited to move in, no strings attached. Most of them got their feet under themselves in a year or two, after that, and moved out, but there's always somebody whose life goes wrong," he said quietly. "Somebody who needs that kind of help. So people still move in and out of there whenthey're down on their luck, and the town does maintenance. That's the kind of town Renaissance is," he said, now turning to Alis. "We're trying, you know? We're trying to be a place that…that makes sense to kids."

To his astonishment, Alis's green eyes went glassy with tears. "That's maybe the best thing I've ever heard," she said hoarsely. "I teach elementary school, I said that, right? And kids see things in really simple terms sometimes, like you did," she said to Laurie. "What you did is incredible. You changed all those peoples' lives, just by asking why we didn't dobetter." She gave a sudden laugh, still hoarse, and stuck out her hand. "Hi. I'm Alis, by the way."

"Laurie," Laurie mumbled, shaking her hand. "I get why my brother likes you."

"Point is," Peter said a little too loudly, like they'd embarrassedhimsomehow, "it makes it hard to see why anybody on the town council would vote to sell the fairgrounds, without at least a lot of debate and hearing about what the public thought. Even if the buyer is planning to keep the fair going, it's not good for thetownto lose control of that land, so it doesn't make sense."

"What about blackmail?" Alis asked tentatively. "Maybe there's somebody, or somebodies, on the town council with secrets they don't want shared?"

Jon locked eyes with his brother again. They both knew half the council was made up of shifters, and although there were a lot of them in Renaissance, their existence still wasn't exactly common knowledge. Jon said, "Maybe," hesitantly, but Laurie shook his head.

"No way. They'd have to know the community had their backs. We'd figure something out."

"That would depend on what their secrets were, wouldn't it?" Alis asked, still carefully. It was clear she knew she was anoutsider and didn't want to offend anybody, but that didn't mean she was wrong.

But Jon thought Laurie was right, too. If something was being held over the council's head, it probably wasn't that so many of them were shifters. The shifter communitywoulddo something about that. "It would have to be something really dark," he said to Laurie. "Not the usual stuff."

Both Alis and Peter gave him a funny look, at that. Peter said, "Theusualstuff? Weed is legal in Colorado, boys. Has been for decades now."

Jon cracked a laugh despite himself. "Okay, some other kind of usual stuff, then, I guess. Maybe the mayor likes dressing in baby clothes and being spanked."

"Oh,God!" Laurie threw his elbow over his eyes. "I'm never going to get that out of my head, now! Dammit, Jon!"

Jon, grinning, stood up and offered Alis his hand. "All right, well, look, it seems like we've got a fairground to save, so come on, folks, let's rally the troops."

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