“Do I look alright?” Liliana asked as she spun before Jason, Emyr and Alistair. All three of whom she’d sat down and made to judge the different dresses she’d packed before settling on this one.

“You look fine to me, my lady,” Jason said, his voice strained. Liliana could tell the man was tired of this, but she didn’t have Astrid with her to help her pick, and Lelantos and Nemesis were awful at helping her. Neither could properly see the colors of her dresses.

“It’s just a circus. Why are you so worried about it? You had no problem walking around in those leather abominations of yours for weeks,” Alistair groaned from where he’d buried his face in his arms on the table. He had been rather helpful at first, but after the sixth dress, he’d wilted.

“It looks very nice on you Lili, it brings out the blue in your hair,” Emyr stated quietly.

He’d, surprisingly, been the most help with picking out her outfit for the night. She’d thought her brother would be more knowledgeable, but it seemed if he wasn’t the one dressing up, he had little patience. She hadn’t thought Emyr paid any attention to fashion, but he seemed to have a good eye for dress cuts, fabric, colors, and how they paired with a person. Liliana was beginning to suspect that some of her stepbrother’s wardrobe had Emyr’s influence.

Liliana had dressed in a dark red dress, a rather bold color for her. But it did make her blue eyes and the blue in her hair pop from the contrast. Her skin was also dark enough that such a bold color didn’t wash her out, but rather accentuated the deep golden tone of her skin. She had a black fur shawl, courtesy of the Shadow Wolves she’d run into so long ago now. Black boots, unseen under the thick red velvet, fit her comfortably and shielded her feet from the harsh cold of the late fall nights. She’d be wearing a black fur cloak with the whole thing, and black gloves.

Liliana had rubies around her neck and she’d worked with her hair for hours until she wanted to cry, but it sat prettily atop her head, hiding a nesting Nemesis in her locks. She’d even taken out some of the cosmetics Astrid had packed and shadowed her eyes and rouged her cheeks and lips. Liliana looked good; she knew that. But she wanted to look perfect. She had to impress Natalia.

Natalia was an incredible performer in what seemed to be a rather successful troupe. She’d have very little reason to divulge her secrets to some noble girl. So Liliana had to make a good impression, and first impressions were the most important thing. Liliana had to look composed, refined, and someone worth teaching. She knew Alistair didn’t understand. She suspected Emyr did, but she suspected he knew everything, so that didn’t much matter. He could tell her tomorrow he could read minds and it would be as surprising as Lelantos telling her he’d eaten one of her shoes. Irritating, but expected.

“Why couldn’t you care this much about social events?” Alistair asked her, his voice whiny as he tilted his head to look over at her.

“If you showed up looking like that, maybe it would shut up some of the rumors about you,” Alistair continued.

Liliana frowned at him and looked down at her tightly clasped, black-gloved hands. She knew she didn’t try her hardest at social events. She just didn’t understand what the point was trying to make the nobles accept her. They would always see her as an outsider. The best she could hope for was neutrality, with a few maybe seeing beyond her station. Like Marianne.

The reminder of the princess brought up a sad feeling in Liliana’s chest. It had been a long time now since she’d last visited Marianne. They’d had a single tea party after the ball, but after that, both of their schedules had been too full for another. And with this trip, it had been even longer. Liliana missed the ease she felt around the princess, the one noble who had never made her feel lesser for her blood.

Marianne didn’t care that Liliana’s mother was a commoner, she only cared that Liliana enjoyed the same stories she did. That Liliana wanted to see the world as much as Marianne did, and would discuss the different places they both wanted to see. Marianne because she wanted to see the sights, Liliana because of the creatures that could only be found in specific areas.

“Let’s go,” Liliana said, her voice lacking the enthusiasm it had just a few minutes earlier.

She looked up in time to see the withering glare Emyr shot Alistair, who looked back in helpless confusion. Jason was massaging his temples, muttering something about ‘fucking teenagers’. Liliana swept past the three men towards the entrance of the inn. Several guards stood, all of them dressed up. Far more than had come with them the day before. Apparently, talk of the circus had spread among the guards.

“Ow!” She heard Alistair mutter as he jogged to catch up as Liliana stepped out of the inn, flicking up the hood of her cloak to block out the chill wind of twilight. They climbed into the waiting carriage, the guards mounting up around them. In seconds, they were off.

“So-ah, are you excited to see the other acts?” Alistair asked, rubbing his side. Liliana gave him, then Emyr, a suspicious look, but didn’t bother trying to figure out what had happened. Sometimes the two of them seemed to speak their own language.

“I hope we get to see more like yesterday. I enjoyed the blades,” Liliana said quietly.

She did hope she saw more blade acts. If Natalia refused to teach her, maybe she could glean a new skill or spell from watching. What she wanted to know was how the woman controlled so many blades at once. How she controlled the blades, without touching them at all. Liliana suspected a Metal affinity, as one could sometimes get a manipulation skill for an affinity. Liliana still hadn’t gotten one for any of her affinities, but she was hopeful she’d get one for Wind at least. She might be able to do the same thing with Wind, but she wasn’t sure unless she talked to Natalia to know how the woman had done it.

If she could manipulate blades like that, it would heavily expand her reach in battle. Liliana could use blades to fight long, mid, and close range. She could even use them to block attacks, while fighting others further away. She could become a one woman army with a skill like that. Liliana loved her naginata, but Silas had taught her a long time ago to never become dependent on a single weapon. She’d somewhat failed at that, barely training her dagger skills at all. But she had never felt a pull to learn another weapon, not until now.

Maybe I could do the same thing with light constructed blades? But would they be as strong? Metal would probably be best for durability’s sake, right? And if I run out of Mana I’ll still have a physical weapon. Liliana theorized, hand itching to pull out a notebook and start writing down her theories, and all her ideas for how to replicate the performer’s actions with different affinities.

“I enjoyed the fire. I didn’t know it could be so… pretty,” Emyr murmured thoughtfully, summoning a small ball of shadow and trying to get it to move like a flame. Liliana withdrew herself from her thoughts and watched with some amusement. Emyr was the type to keep trying to accomplish something until he did. He had a startling intelligence behind his quiet exterior.

“You should get a Fire affinity,” Liliana mentioned, offhandedly.

Celestial had been her third favorite things to run on Emyr when she played, when she wasn’t in the mood for sneaky Poison assassin shenanigans. Celestial transformed him from a relatively weak CC rogue to a catastrophic AOE nightmare. With spells like [Meteor-shower], [Heaven’s Last Fall] and [Seven Star Blade] he became a very strong DPS. Celestial was a fun damage focused affinity. It sounded like it would be a beautiful, weak affinity. But no, it was made for rampant destruction, perhaps only rivaled by Chaos for pure damage output. It was just a good thing friendly fire wasn’t a thing in the game, or she’d have murdered her own team multiple times with the massive AOEs.

Celestial, however, suffered from one big flaw. Every spell or skill had a cast time. Meaning you had to channel said skill or spell before it could be of use, sometimes for minutes. And the spells had been massive Mana sinks. So it left you as a glass cannon stuck waiting for five minutes for your apocalyptic spell to go off while the enemy could feel free to kill you with a glare.

Liliana enjoyed a bit more of a ‘run and hit the baddie with a stick until it submits’ play-style herself. Chaos had an almost opposite problem. It wasn’t a Mana intensive affinity, in comparison. But every skill and spell was single target with cool downs that would make you cry. It made sense for balance's sake, but Liliana was impatient and didn’t enjoy waiting for spells to cast or to come off cooldown.

However, cast times wouldn’t be too much of a drawback for Emyr, who excelled at hiding and waiting for the perfect moment to kill stea-er, attack. His synergy with Alistair as well, and their almost guaranteed partnership meant Emyr would always have a tank there to grab aggro off of him while he set up. It was also good for Alistair, who would sacrifice even more damage as he went deeper into the tank tree. Emyr, unlike Alistair, didn’t have a guaranteed second or even third affinity. He had several his AI could pick if you didn’t play him and just had him as a companion in the game, usually influenced by whatever Alistair picked.

It was a bit odd in the game, but in real life I understand it now. Those two are as tightly bound together as any soul bond. I can’t even imagine them apart anymore. Liliana mused.

“Aim for Celestial?” Emyr asked, his voice considerate as he stared at the shadows writhing in his palm.

“That wouldn’t be an awful idea, Celestial is strong,” Alistair chimed in. Liliana stuck her tongue out at him for the slight he’d slipped in at her. He smirked in response.

“Yea, but they’re physically weak,” Emyr muttered quietly.

“So? You don’t need to be physically strong. I’ll be strong for you. You can just focus on killing everything while I protect you,” Alistair said easily.

“I-I,” Emyr stuttered, the shadows in his hands lashing about chaotically.

“Look! I can see the tent!” Liliana exclaimed excitedly, leaning into the window as she looked at the large circus tent. It looked exactly like how she imagined it, stripes and all.

She practically tumbled out of the carriage. She was so excited to get into the circus. Not just to see Natalia, but because as a child she’d dreamed of seeing a circus. She’d never been to one, but she’d wanted to. She’d had to always assuage her desire by watching clips of a world renowned circus on the Internet.

“Whoa!” Jason said as Liliana tripped on her dress and tumbled into the guard. She flushed in embarrassment as she straightened herself, her blush darkening at her brother’s guffaws from behind her.

“Well, there goes the illusion of being a noble lady, Lili,” Alistair said, snickering as he stepped out behind her. Liliana shot him a glare, the effect lessened by her red face.

“It’s alright, I don’t think anyone else saw it. And I doubt any guards here still think you’re a proper lady,” Alistair consoled her. Liliana glared harder at him, pulling back her fist and punching her brother squarely in the upper arm. He didn’t even have the decency to wince.

“Odd for bugs to be active this late in the fall. I swear a mosquito just bit my arm,” Alistair said, looking around as if trying to find the ‘bug’.

Liliana let out a huff of air and turned on her heel, swearing to ignore her brother for the rest of the night. She stormed towards the circus tent, her brother snickering behind her. Liliana was ready to enter the line before the tent, which was fairly long, when a brightly dressed performer, one of the men from the day before, appeared out of thin air.

“Lady Rosengarde, Lord Thornebell-Rosengarde, Lord Bealstal. Welcome to our circus. We have seats ready for you and your party,” the performer greeted them, bowing low. Liliana noted the man had stark white wolf ears, and a tail swishing behind him.

It would be utterly inappropriate to ask to pet his ears, wouldn’t it? But they look so soft, Liliana thought wistfully as the man stood and motioned for them to follow behind him.

“Did you already reach out to the ringleader?” Liliana asked her brother, immediately forgetting her oath to ignore him in favor of figuring out how it was known they’d be here tonight.

“No, I didn’t,” Alistair said, though he seemed to find no fault in the treatment.

Liliana pushed it to the side of her mind. She doubted her stepmother had hired so many assassins they could pretend to be an entire circus just to kill her. Imogen might have her own fortune separate from the duke’s, but she did not have this much money on hand. It was more likely a guard had gossiped, and the information had found its way here.

As they entered the tent through what seemed to be a side entrance, Liliana saw different performers greeting and guiding the guests, performing small tricks for their amusement. Delighted laughter filled the circus tent, and Liliana felt her stress subside. They were led to a roped off set of seats right by the ring, where they’d have a perfect view of everything.

“If you need anything, simply raise your hand and someone will be here to assist you. Thank you for gracing our circus with your patronage,” the performer told them, bowing low once more. Liliana couldn’t stop her lips from forming a pout. The other guests got to see tricks. Why didn’t they?

The man looked up and caught her gaze. Liliana could swear she saw a smile on his face seconds before he disappeared in a swirl of flames. Liliana’s eyes widened in delight, her hands clapping together in excitement.

“Emyr, you have to get a Fire affinity and learn to do that!” Liliana turned to look at her friend, who jolted back in surprise at the determination in her eyes.

“Think of how easily you could get out of uncomfortable situations if you could just disappear in a plume of flames!” Liliana gushed eagerly, and Emyr’s wary expression turned to one of thoughtfulness as he considered the proposal. Before he could reply, the lights in the tent went dim, and a hush fell over the audience. Liliana turned to look at the center of the ring, bouncing excitedly in her seat.

“Welcome ladies, gentlemen and all to the Silver Star troupe’s circus of mystery and wonder!”