Chapter XXXI (31)

  “Keep your hands pointed out. Fingers together. Stretch them more. Good. Keep your arms completely spread out like that.”

  Sara instructed Mitsuko over the basics of their routine together. It wasn’t complicated for Mitsuko. All she had to do was hop down from a ledge on the signal, stay rigid and get tossed around, then throw a sword before Blok caught her.

  “Remember, you’re not catching us,” Sara said. “Instead, let me grab you. If you fumble around for us, you’ll risk us slipping up and missing you. Only hold onto me after I have you in my grasp. Once you feel Hugh’s touch on your legs, release me. We won’t let you fall.”

  They’d been over the process a dozen times already. But Mitsuko nodded along. It felt weird. Normally something like this wouldn’t be a risk worth taking, but with the Prismatic Spiral active, it didn’t matter as much to her if she failed and hurt herself. It would just be an inconvenience. Instead, she felt excited by the upcoming performance. It was still a risk, to be sure, but in the long run it only would be a gamble of a few days. Unless she somehow accidentally speared her heart while she fell. She supposed she shouldn’t entirely count that out with her terrible luck.

  A human woman stalked up to them and examined Mitsuko up and down for a full minute with stoney hard eyes. Mitsuko always considered herself short. But she towered a head and shoulders over this woman.

  “Unfortunate,” the woman finally said. “You have hips and a chest. That makes things more difficult. I’ll need to adjust all the uniforms. Ugh. Extra work. And Alberto wants this completed by tomorrow? So annoying.”

  Mitsuko looked to Sara for an explanation.

  “Ophelia manages our props and accessories. She’s also Alberto’s wife.”

  “More like his underling,” Ophelia muttered. “Tossing this on me with less than a day’s notice.”

  Mitsuko blinked. “I see. Do you, um, need my measurements? I have them memorized.”

  She’d spent hours on hours in the hands of Hon tailors, getting hundreds of outfits arranged by the most talented people in the Empire. She knew all her measurements by heart and was ready to recite them, but the short woman waved her hand.

  “Don’t bother. I’ve got a good enough look at you. Sara is too much of a giant and their last assistant was a boy. Similar height, but everything else is all wrong. A single bend at the waist or twist of your body and you’d burst out of that thing. And this is not that kind of show.”

  “I’m not a giant,” Sara protested. “You’re just a short little stump of a woman.”

  Ophelia sniffed but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the statement. “I have several clown outfits in your size. We go through those every other week.”

  “No,” Hugh said, speaking up for the first time. “Those clothes are too loose. We’d risk fatal mistakes if we stuck her in one of those.”

  Mitsuko did her best to hide her absolute relief at that.

  “Yes, yes. I know that. Can a woman not simply lament on how difficult you all make things for her without you interrupting?” Ophelia turned her glare from Hugh, back to Mitsuko. “Now, I heard that you have a second member for your other act. I need to set up something for him as well. Those measurements I do need.”

  Mitsuko pointed her in the direction where Sterling was napping, inside a basket on a pile of crates. She took only a moderate amount of pleasure as Ophelia upturned the basket and snatched up the cat, swiftly wrapping him up in measurement tapes. Surprisingly though, once Sterling got over the initial surprise of being rudely awoken and understood his situation, he took it all in stride.

  “This is an excellent turn of events,” he announced as Ophelia gleefully tied a ribbon around his neck. “I know I have fur, but it still feels unseemly to be without a good coat. I do hope that she crafts me something befitting of my station as a sage. Perhaps a black kimono like they wear in Hon? Oh, now that I consider it, it may be difficult with the four legs. I should not expect such high skill and talent from a random commoner woman with no known accolades. Something regal then while keeping the back legs open. A golden tunic trimmed with silver threads.”

  Sterling continued to yap long after Ophelia departed with his measurements. Apparently, she’d dressed all sorts of animals, everything from bears to magical eagles.

  “Where are all of these animals at?” Mitsuko asked the trapezists.

  “Out back,” Hugh said. “Nora, our beastmaster, is in charge of making sure they don’t rampage and break anything.”

  “Break anything again,” Sara added with a grin. “She has this six armed monkey that loves snapping anything it can get its hands on. If she takes her eyes off it for even a second, it takes off.”

  Now that auditions were finally complete, Sara invited both Mitsuko and Coleo on a tour of the circus tent. There was of course the back area where they’d been chatting and where a lot of the props were stored, but the main ring and stands were what took up most of the tent’s space. She quickly ran through the process they all went through to set up and take down the tent, a chore they would be expected to help with now as new members of the circus.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Mitsuko used an ice sword as a cane as she hobbled after the trapezist. They exited the main tent through a hidden flap and into an open area behind the main circus tent with a dozen smaller tents.

  “Mitsuko, your tent is that one over there. It’s bare bones. Nothing more than a cot and a crate for your things. But it's your own space to do with as you will. Just don’t let Alberto find out that you’ve invited overnight company. Nora wakes up at least two days a week to a bucket of cold water.”

  “Alberto walks into our tents unannounced?” Mitsuko asked, surprised.

  “Not quite. Ophelia acts as his hand in this regard. His wife is the one that enforces most of the rules. And she’s not someone you want to get on the bad side of.

  “The tents are enchanted as well. No matter the weather, you’ll stay warm and safe. Ophelia loves to cut corners to save costs, but Alberto makes certain our safety is never in question.”

  “Hm.” Coleo nodded in appreciation. “I believe for the time being I will remain in the comfort of my own home. However, this is a kindness I appreciate.”

  “Well, assuming the mages figure out what’s going on with this dome barrier, we will be back to traveling in a week.”

  “You only are planning to stay for a week?” Mitsuko asked.

  “Yes. In a city this size people will have grown bored of us by then. We were lucky we just happened to finish staking down the tent when it appeared. Nobody in town knows our acts yet.”

  “Will you go to the other islands?”

  “Fascinating strategy,” Sterling said. “That might very well be useful in future loops. If you convince them to move on early and travel alongside the circus, it can hide your arrival amongst dozens of other people. The guardian wouldn’t know which of them is our Champion.”

  But all of that was dashed in an instant with a shake of Sara’s head. “Nah. Alberto’s decided there simply isn’t enough profit in it. Travel expenses don’t outweigh the one or two days of performances we’d be able to get from each town. Mauve has the largest population and is the hub of the archipelago.”

  “Hm. I believe you are correct,” Coleo said. “However Amber Island may still prove lucrative. The wizards are often free with their coin.”

  “Actually,” Sara glanced over at Coleo. “You have a point. Alberto had a connection over there. But nobody’s heard from them since the dome dropped. All divination spells bounce off.”

  “Why hasn’t the Sailor’s Guild gone over to check on them?” Mitsuko asked.

  “They tried, but the island is off course. Nobody knows where it is with the current and tide changes.”

  “What?”

  “Hm. You do not know?” Caleo asked. “I suppose a foreigner like yourself may not understand the details of the islands. The wizard island floats on the surface. It travels across the archipelago.”

  “Nothing new there,” Sterling added. “I was friends with the grandson of one of the master architects who designed it. One of the great marvels of the age. It’s quite the marvelous creation that required hundreds of different mages to produce. Not at all surprised that the workmanship has lasted a millennium.”

  “Interesting,” Mitsuko said.

  “Of course, it’s not half as much of an accomplishment as the Prismatic Spiral. We created something entirely unprecedented within a tiny fraction of the time allotted to Amber Island. Alas, I am afraid it is not as flashy as a roving landmass, so we may go less noted, despite harnessing the superior magical talent and skill.”

  Mitsuko tried to parse anything useful from Sterling’s statement. The sage had a tendency to accidentally slip secrets when bragging. But she didn’t pick up on anything this time. Just a useless boast. And she couldn’t figure out how to slip in a statement to coax him to continue without confusing Coleo and Sara.

  “New talent?” A woman poked her head out of a nearby tent. Her clothes were rumpled and she had twigs poking out of her unkempt hair. However, despite her disheveled appearance, she was still rather attractive with piercing emerald eyes and a white, straight toothed smile.

  “Yes, Nora,” Sara said. “This is Coleo and Mitsuko. A musician and bladedancer respectively. We also hired a new clown, but I have no idea where that juggler ran off too.”

  The beastmaster’s eyes flicked to Mitsuko’s ice sword she was using as a crutch to hobble around with. But, before she came up with anything to say about it, she caught sight of Sterling and her eyes went round and her jaw dropped.

  Sterling froze in place and slowly looked over at Nora. His brilliant green eyes met her own.

  “Well. This is most unfortunate surprise. I do believe we are in the company of a druid.”

  Before Mitsuko could devise a way to ask him why it mattered, Nora clapped her hands together and bowed incredibly low.

  “An Awakened being. Please forgive my rudeness, greatness. I am but a humble servant in awe of your very existence. I am a flawed individual, something I know you must find difficult to relate to in your perfection.”

  For once, Sterling was speechless. But he recovered quickly.

  “This is a lovely surprise,” he amended. “She recognizes my greatness. It seems druids went about a few changes since the last time I met one. I was worried she might believe me to be a spy from a different circle or a rogue being and attempt to eat my heart to expand her connection to the natural world.”

  “What?” Mitsuko said.

  But she wasn’t the only one utterly bewildered by Nora’s response.

  “That cat is an Awakened creature?” Sara asked, holding in laughter. “Are you feeling okay, Nora? Did you eat that curry Alberto warned us about while you were in town? He specifically said that it would be bad for human consumption.”

  “He is Awakened.” Nora bowed on her hands and knees and set her forehead on the dirt.

  “Ten minutes ago I was scratching his belly,” Sara said. “I think most Awakened animals would speak up to prevent that.”

  “You what?” Nora’s head shot up and she glared at Sara.

  “This is quite the odd predicament,” Sterling said while Nora and Sara started to argue about proper forms of respect to pay to Awakened creatures. “You see, this druid has recognized my soul as one not belonging to that of a cat. Anyone with proper vision of souls can see mine is incredibly too complex to be that of a simple animal. She wrongly diagnosed me as being Awakened, which I suppose is not too far of a stretch of the imagination. After all, who would immediately assume me to be a sage of incredible power who designed the Prismatic Spiral?”

  “Is this a problem?” Mitsuko asked carefully. The question grabbed the attention of Nora and Sara who began pestering Mitsuko with their own questions, but she meant it for Sterling.

  The cat considered. “Likely, no. The only small hiccup is that I, unlike normal Awakened animals, do not have the language capacity to speak with any but yourself, the guardians, and the other sages. I will just do my best to remain an aloof enigma. I believe that will suit our situation perfectly. Now though, you should serve me with more respect. I will do my best to keep up this display with a properly noble attitude.”

  Mitsuko rubbed her temples. She really hoped the next sage wasn’t such a pompous ass.

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