Dancing on Strings

The Land of Dolls

Mai woke with a jump, sitting upright in the darkened room of Griffin's apartments, only to remember that she had only woken from another state of dreaming, she hadn't actually woken up.

She felt surprisingly refreshed for it though.

Griffin rolled onto his back beside her and stretched wide, like a cat, the intricate metals across his chest again, glittering in the candle lights that bloomed around them.

She glanced back at him as he pushed up onto one elbow and ran a hand through his messy hair, eyes squinting like he wasn't entirely awake himself.

"Where are my rooms?" she asked.

"Huh?" Griffin said, looking at her in confusion before blinking. "Oh yes."

Climbing out of bed – climbing over her despite having one whole side of the bed to himself – he stood up, stretching again before buttoning up his shirt and finding his boots and socks, finishing dressing as Mai slid out of bed, grimacing at the dramatic gown that she had slept in.

She wanted to change clothes.

She wasn't sure sleeping in a dream world affected things the way they did when sleeping in the real world, but old habits weren't going to fade in one night and she didn't want to be in the clothes she'd slept in.

"Come, I'll show you," Griffin said, already opening the doors to his room and walking out, Mai following.

They stepped back to through the black void and on into the brightness of the castle beyond. Servants glided by and there were distant voices somewhere on another floor.

Activity.

"Since when has this place been active?" Mai said, falling into step beside Griffin.

"It's always like this unless we have guests."

"Guests?"

"Like you when you first arrived. You were shown a quiet, tranquil palace of dreams that lowered your guard and invited you in to share an illusion with a handsome young man who presented himself as the Prince of Dreams. People always lower their guard."

"You said Reve looked different when you first knew him, how so?"

"Oh he changes appearance every now and then. For the last decade or so he's been imitating some human who the gods take an interest in – which irritates one of the gods he's hiding from. Before that he was imitating The Northern Star, which irritated another god."

"A star?"

Griffin waved it off. "Before that, it was a Fairy King – that was to annoy Billion, mocking his High King annoyed him to the point of madness. So he changes faces, every century or so, and it's usually to mock someone."

"So what does he actually look like?"

Griffin was quiet for a moment. "I've no idea," he said, looking at her, "I've never seen him in his real form, maybe he doesn't have one. Dreams are designed to morph and change and mimic, maybe he has not true self."

By this point, they'd walked down a few corridors and were somehow back near the main staircase. Griffin led her to a set of draped curtains at the end of one corridor.

They were heavy, red velvet, with golden tassels at the end. They reminded Mai of stage curtains.

As they approached, the curtains drew back and Mai stopped.

They were stage curtains.

Before her was a huge stage, a spotlight in the middle.

"What?" Mai muttered, slowly walking forwards.