Dancing on Strings

The Missing

Mai sat up, staring at the apple that reflected her wide gaze back at her.

It had followed her back.

The dream world was not just a dream.

If felt so insanely real because she wasn't just having crazily vivid dreams. They really were real.

That apple had followed her back because she had been holding it when she'd got back into the boat. The same way her ballet shoes had followed her in because she'd been holding them when she'd fallen asleep.

She threw the covers from her, shouting for whatever servant had been sent over to wait for her to wake.

Two young maids came scrambling up the steps for her.

She had dismissed Henrietta and Joliette for the time being in regards to their constant state of distraction. They still kept their rooms in her quarters but she had spent most of her time in The Sun Pavilion.

Henrietta had been completely against the idea of her staying there alone after two attacks but Mai reminded her, without much sugar-coating, that they'd both left her at the pavilion before.

So until they either fixed their behaviour or let her know the problem, they weren't needed – she had enough to deal with, from the court, to the stage and now to her dreams, without being shut out of their issues.

She was dressed and made up in record time – Joliette, whatever her distraction, was still as ever efficient in finding her excellent servants.

She skated back to the main shore, her guards bowing to her as she joined them and changed her shoes before heading towards The Midnight Troop's campsite.

"Your Highness?"

Mai paused, then looked back to see one of the guards stooping to pick something up from the snow.

"You dropped something," he said, coming to meet her, holding out a folded piece of paper.

Mai automatically put a hand to the pocket of her gown, confused, not remembering putting anything in her pockets before taking it from him, nodding thanks as she turned away and opened the small rectangle of paper.

"We must not look at goblin men,

We must not buy their fruits:

Who knows upon what soil they fed

Their hungry thirsty roots?"

The short verse was written in a neat, uniformed script, straightforward and lacking in all the curling elegance of a court hand. It reminded her of the handwriting of generals and other gentlemen of the army.

But she had no idea where it had come from or who had written it.

She wasn't even sure she'd heard the verse before.

Goblins?

The word tugged at a memory somewhere but she couldn't recall it at that moment as she looked in the direction of the campsite.

Folding it back up, she shoved it into her pocket, intending to look later, after she'd seen The Black Rabbit, but as she crossed the grounds, a call from the palace drew her attention.

"YOO-OOH! Princess!"

She glanced up and spied Lady Anna-Beth at one of the balconies, waving at her.

"Your Highness! You must join us for breakfast!" Anna-Beth trilled and Mai grimaced.

"Maybe later," she called.