Dancing on Strings

Behind The Scenes

"So riddle me this – and you must forgive me if I sound naïve, I'm not quite as human as you – but you've just discovered your sisters have gone missing and, rather than mourning their loss or go to sleep or, indeed, try and help with the search... you, once again, want to me to break you into a circus?"

Mai looked over her shoulder at Kazimir who was trailing behind her down the snowy moonlit path of the gardens, their destination the campsite.

Kazimir, walking with his hands locked behind his head, not in the least bit bothered by the freezing air around them in his loose shirt, raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm failing to understand your thinking," he said. "You think he stole the princesses?"

"No, I do not think he stole the princesses," Mai said, "But I want to know if he has anything to do with it."

"Explain."

"Well, everything started going wrong with them after that golden apple. People have been going missing all around the country with a circus troop. I find a silver apple that could perhaps be the cure and they just so happen to vanish that same night?"

"I thought you said everyone would remember the name The Midnight Troop because they're famous yet no one remembered the name of this mysterious circus who travelled at the same rate of missing people."

"Please, I don't believe The Black Rabbit's gifts lie simply in mere basic illusion. You cannot just create a perfect replica of someone with a trick of the light or make people think they've all ventured into the sand dunes of a distant land. He proved that tonight when we walked among that banquet hall. I was not imagining it. I was physically there. Which means he can transport people into fantastical world with a snap of his fingers. I would not be surprised if he somehow made people forget it was The Midnight Troop that was around when people went missing."

"Sounds awfully powerful and that's a big suspicion. Yet here I thought you liked the moron, why such mistrust?"

"Because my sisters are missing, Kazimir. How would you react if your brother went missing?"

"If Dalton went missing, I don't think I'd be sneaking around and breaking into the lair of the bad guy."

"No, of course, you'd just hit someone until they told you what you wanted to know."

"I rarely resort to violence. I usually just have to glare."

"Well the gates won't respond to a glare. If the gates don't open, you're going to have to throw me."

"My gods," Kazimir groaned, rolling his eyes to the stars as if asking them to talk some reason into his friend. "And what is your father going to think of all this? I thought his strict orders were that everyone remains composed and this was not to become publicly known. Everyone is the act normal. How is my throwing you over a gate normal?"

"Dead of night, who's watching?"

"Should you not be comforting your family?"

"They've all gone to bed."

"So they have. We should be there as well."

"Fine, you go to bed, I'll go myself."

"How? You're not fitting through the bars in that skirt."

"My underclothes are very slimming."

Kazimir clamped a hand to his eyes and moaned as he continued to follow her. "I'm not sure stripping down to your shift is the best way to approach the matter. Especially when you're dealing with a man who has such an obvious attraction to you. He shall certainly get the wrong idea."