Le Cirque de la Lumière - Phan

Epilogue

Dan and Phil sit close together on a grassy hilltop bathed in sunlight. In the valley below them, colourful tents are being erected at a remarkable speed, springing up into the air and opening out like blossoming flowers. Tonight, the Cirque de la Lumiére opens for business.

A baby phoenix cis curled up on Dan’s lap, snoring a little as it sleeps. It had imprinted on him several weeks earlier after Dan had hatched the abandoned egg, and hadn’t left his side since. By Phil’s side is an all the more remarkable creature. It could almost be made from shadow, its body is so indiscernible. A pair of large, grey eyes stare up at Phil, listening quietly to his conversation.

“I’m going to miss you,” Phil is saying. “A month seems like a very long time.”

“It’s four weeks,” Dan replies. “Just think: only a week to go and we’ll be a quarter of the way through.”

“I think you’re doing the right thing, though,” Phil muses after a moment of silence. “Your mum doesn’t miss you any less as time goes by. I still can’t believe it’s been two years.”

Dan nods. “It’s strange, isn’t it? The circus is so fast paced. We’re always moving, always performing, always doing something incredible. It’s a nice break when I go home. And at least I’m not the only person who does it.”

“Yeah,” Phil agrees. “Peej is thinking of visiting his family this year. He hasn’t seen them since he was seven. Can you imagine? He might not even recognise them.”

A unicorn foal is jumping fences in the field below. Two children chase after him, laughing. The fences are twice the size of the foal, but its pearly-pink wings are helping.

The children are new to the circus. A girl and a boy, only five years old, dropped off by their parents just two towns ago. The girl caused earthquakes every time she threw a tantrum and the little boy would spontaneously combust when the mood took him and reappear several hours later covered in ash and looking bewildered. The parents couldn’t take it anymore, they didn’t have enough money for the constant repairs and they begged the circus creators to take them. There have been no earthquake incidents all week, but the boy still smells faintly of gunpowder.

Their young age and vivid imaginations helped them to accept the circus and all its peculiarities almost immediately. Dan remembers the first time he walked through those coloured gates. He remembers the sweet aroma and the buzz of chatter. He remembers the warm air and the light pouring out of every tent. He understands how the pair were able to settle in so quickly. It felt like coming home.

A thought strikes him, and he laughs out loud.

“What is it?” Phil asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I just remembered. I never did figure out what the wisps were, you know, the little blue lights that I followed to the circus.”

Had they led him to his fate? Dan wonders. Had they led him to treasure? Or were they as evil spirited as his grandfather had always told him, had they led him to the circus because they knew the havoc his presence would cause. The scattering of the phantoms, the damage to the town and all of its residents.

“What, like, Will o’ the Wisps?” Phil was saying. “You do realise those don’t exist, right? And I can confidently say I’m pretty open minded towards mythical creatures.” He laughs. “We know all the magical creatures, we can sense them and people have studied them. They’re a fairytale, Dan. A story made up for children to explain the travellers that got lost in the marshes at night. The path to the circus is always lit with torches to show people the way. Those are probably what you saw.”

Dan doesn’t say anything. He is watching the circus come to life, his fingers loosely intertwined with Phil’s. Does he believe in fate? He’s not sure. Perhaps the circus was his fate, or perhaps his destiny was Phil specifically. Is this where he was always meant to be? As Phil lays his head in Dan’s lap, Dan smiles. He can live with that.

Dan never sees the wisps again.

When daytime gives way to the darkness of night,

Don’t look for the shadows, look for the light.