Elora applied the colour to her lips as best as she could, given the fact that the mirror was small and blurry. It was a circle hardly large enough to show her whole face. She hated the colour too, a bright red that made her look too pale and her hair look darker. Around her, the chatter of the other performers provided some white noise for her to focus on to try and stop her mind wandering. To try and stop her thinking about where on earth Cade was.
He had left this morning, claiming he was going to see a girl and get something nice. Elora had tried to stop him, saying that this explanation was too vague, that he needed to stay. But he was determined and told her to stop being so bossy.
The door of the tent was yanked back with a hiss and she looked up. It wasn’t her brother. It was Lorwen.
He was the round man who ran the circus. Of all the people who have ever been described as round, none suit it more than this one. His nose was a big button in the middle of his face, his eyes marbles and his stomach too big for the shirts he wore. Perhaps that was the reason he always scowled at the young men in the performance.
“Where, where may I ask is that idiot Cade?” He shouted.
“He went out to see a beautiful girl.” One of the other performers, Lia, grumbled.
“What, why, where is he gone?” Lorwen wiped at his brow with a handkerchief.
Before anyone else could add fuel to the fire, Elora spoke up. “He will be back very soon. I promise.”
Lorwen looked ready for a rant but he settled on huffing out some indignant breaths. “He, just, he better be here soon. I don’t do sweeping.” He tottered from the room, still wiping sweat Elora couldn’t see.
Lia leaned closer to her. The smell of her perfume was sickening, a fake fruit stench that was way too strong. Elora didn’t know how Cade could stand to kiss the girl.
“Lucky for you you’re his star, ain’t it? Otherwise, he would have fired Cade years ago.” She spoke as if her tongue was too large for her mouth and Elora often wondered if she was ill in some way. For Cade’s sake, she hoped not.
“Yea I suppose it is.” Elora agreed. She felt her leopard stirring from where she lay at her feet. The sound of Lia’s voice never failed to disturb the animals’ peace.
Lia opened her mouth to say something but was distracted by a sight behind Elora. By the way her face lit up, Elora could have guessed who it was even before he came to stop beside her.
“Should I ask why you are covered in mud?” Elora moved a strand of wayward hair out of her face with her red painted finger nails. She could see him out of the corner of her eye.
Cade’s clothes were spotted with dirt and water. His face, usually a light tan, was darkened in places by mud.
Lia, who was sitting near him now, put her hand over her nose and moved away.
“I had to make a quick escape.” Cade shrugged off his jacket and went to the other side of the tent. There, the costume wardrobe, a four-foot box that folded out three ways from Sunday, stood.
Elora could hear the hinges creaking as he opened it and the rustling of clothes while he rooted around.
“You had better put those back neatly.” She told him.
There was a brief pause in the rustling then he scoffed and continued.
“I got it though.”
Elora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew that this would just piss him off. She kept her tone as light as she could. “I suppose you want to try it out, sane as you most likely nearly died for it?”
Cade came to her side again, buttoning up a new shirt with the jacket draped over his arm. Elora always felt sick when she spotted the scars on his chest.
“I thought you might be interested. If this works, we can leave this place,” He looked over and saw Lia trying to listen in. lowering his voice and leaning in he went on. “We can start a new job, a new life.”
“As what? Fortune tellers?” Elora didn’t manage to keep the distain out of her voice that time and Cade took an abrupt step back.
“Its better than this. Besides, I don’t see you coming up with any ideas.” He shook out his jacket and slipped it on. It was brown and tattered, like the last and the shirt that came with it was almost dyed the same colour by age.
He rooted in his pocket and drew out a small gem. It was like an island in the middle of his hand. It was blue and impossibly bright. Elora had no doubt that it was worth a bit if you could find someone willing to buy stolen jewels off two peasants, but she wasn’t convinced it would give them the ability to tell the future.
Brushing dirt off it with his fingers, Cade lifted the gem towards his mouth. The candle light played on its edges and then reflected around the room like star dust.
Elora felt vile watching it go into his mouth and hearing him suck it under his tongue. Gods knows where it had been.
Cade waited, mouth slightly agape to accommodate the stone.
There was a long silence. Someone outside was yelling and Elora would have been willing to bet that it was Lorwen. He would be turning red with rage when he saw that no one was ready to go to the palace yet.
“Babe,” Lia tilted her head and then stomped over to him in her high heels. “Are you gonna be sick or somethin’?”
Cade spat the stone into the palm of his hand. “God dammit!”
“I guess we can add hyenia to the list of things that is a total myth.” Elora muttered, applying the final stroke of colour to her cheek.
“Yea whatever.” Cade grumbled, discarding the thing on the floor.
Lia waited all of five seconds before stooping and taking it. Her dress for the show was so short that Elora got an unwanted view of her underwear.
Cade was pacing until Lorwen screamed his name.
“Everything is going to be fine.” Elora wasn’t sure why she had said it. They were weak words and did nothing to heal the look on her brothers face.
“I know.” He said without conviction, then left the tent when Lorwen called again.
Crouching down, Elora looped the red ribbon around Azura’s neck and tied it in a bow. The leopard shook herself and Elora could sense her discomfort.
“I know girl.” She looked at the exit through which Cade had left. “I know.”
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