Sleetshine's Secret

1 -- Pilot

"That's not like her, Sky."

"No, I swear! She jumped the fire!" The white kit jumped from hay stack to hay stack, excited from his sister's performance. The older performers glanced at one another, asking whether or not to pretend to believe the kit.

"Even if she didn't, she's gonna be one of the fire jumpers soon. Watch!" Expecting the three performers to follow him, Sky bounded out of the animal nests, squeezed under the fences, and peeked through the purple curtains. Sleet was perched precariously atop an elephant on her hind legs, bearing big, white wings on her back.

Sky watched in amazement as his sister bounced up and down on the huge animal's shoulders. She was a beautiful tortoiseshell, the new star of the show, the highest off the ground, the older performers looking small beneath the elephant's hooves.

The white tom was only a marcher. In the back of the line, he wore a silly costume to cover up his body, never to be recognized. But he didn't care about the fame. As long as his sister was treated good, he was happy. At least that's what Shale told him.

He remembered the day their mother died. Sleet was devastated, but she was still taken to perform. That night, she fell and couldn't go back until her legs healed up. The older performers came by to groom her and bring her the food she refused to get up and get by herself. Sky noticed everyone at the circus was off. The performers, the fire jumpers, the masters, the elephants, all of them lacked their smiles. Sleet was surely the heart of the show, and whatever she felt, there was an atmosphere that clouded them all.

Everything Sky and his brother did was for their sister. They didn't mind. As long as the tortoiseshell woke up and went to sleep with a smile, they were happy.

Then the masters took out the fire.

And the atmosphere tensed.