After a bit, when it was evening and close to nightfall, Hel and the others were planning to go home to eat.
Hel's fingers wrapped around Reinhard's wrist, and she tugged, pulling him forward. "You have to come to dinner! Please, please, please!"
Martha grabbed his other wrist, her grip just as insistent. "You're part of our team now. That means you have to celebrate with us!"
The other children joined the chorus, their voices overlapping.
"You have to come!"
"Mama always makes extra food anyway!"
"Papa's cooking is the best in the city!"
"We always have team dinners after water fights!"
Reinhard found himself being dragged forward, surrounded by ten children who talked over each other while still dripping water onto cobblestones. Their excitement and delight in having come was impossible to resist, even if he'd wanted to.
