Dancing on Strings

The Sun Pavillion

The Sun Pavilion was Mai's personal miniature palace – each child had one scattered throughout the huge grounds.

Hers sat in the middle of the Orchid Lake – the third largest lake in the grounds out of five.

It was designed in a dramatized version of buildings from her mother's home country, with sloping roofs, red pillars and carved statues of lions and flowers.

It was three storeys tall, the ground floor being where she held audiences with those of court, the first floor a bare room where she 'hosted tea ceremonies' for her siblings (it was, in fact, a dance hall for rehearsals when she couldn't attend the theatre), while the second floor held her private quarters where she was not to be bothered by those outside her inner circle.

Originally it had been built with a bridge to the mainland but back when Mai had been thirteen – and going through a somewhat turbulent stage of youth – she had had it knocked down to stop people crossing over whenever they so desired.

Now the only way over was by boat, of which there were only two. One stayed at the pavilion for emergency use only – though if the worst came to the worst, the land wasn't so far away that Mai couldn't just swim. The second one saw her and visitors across. During the dead of winter, when the lake froze, one could of course simply skate over but no one dared without invitation anymore.

Visitors arrived at allocated times and, if they hadn't already planned with one of her ladies-in-waiting to visit but wanted an audience with her, they could come across but if she didn't want to see them, they would simply have to go back.

It was an overly elaborate structure that Mai hadn't thought to change since she was a child and – if it meant not having to be around people constantly – intended to leave as it was.

That morning saw one of the final rehearsals for The Doll Maker being hosted at the pavilion.

They had started at nine with the daily class before moving to specific scenes.

First the par de deux that opened the ballet when Vayle, The Doll Maker, found himself in his reoccurring dream where he meets and dances with Indigo before he's jarred awake by his father. That scene did not take long at all, everyone was comfortable with it and it was really to iron out the tiny creases.

They then practised the huge mime scene between Vayle, Indigo, The Doll Queen and Dimenco – the villain – where Dimenco announced he would have Indigo for himself after he'd trapped Vayle in the World of Dolls, intending to kill him. Indigo pleads for his life however, stalling Dimenco long enough for The Doll Queen to appear and drive him away. She grants Vayle the chance to return to his own world if he travels across the land and helps return Indigo to her rightful place as heir to the throne.

That scene took all morning and cut into lunch. Everyone knew it but with multiple groups to work with and everyone putting their own style into the mime, it was imperative that everyone had the same level of impact while having an individual presence.

Once the class was over, the others were escorted back to the theatre to carry on with their day and Mai had to bathe and dress for visitors up on the second floor.

That day, for no other reason than it delighted the court to see something so exotic, she dressed in traditional clothing also from her mother's country, to match the décor.

Not that she wore clothing of the times. The royal tailors and seamstresses had much-preferred clothing from centuries before and thus did whatever they wished.

The wardrobe of The Princess Royal was a plaything for the small army of designers that were employed to cater to the royal family.

That morning she was dressed in a mixture of blues and whites. Her white gown was made of layers upon layer of silks, silvery threads woven into the delicate fabrics to form the image of birds. On top of that were more layers of blue silks, embroidered with silver and white, the whole thing belted around her waist with a heavier silk band, also silver, the billowing sleeves flaring around her whenever she moved.