1711, Opera d'Ghislaine, Kestramore City

          Upon seeing Julian's face, Catarina promptly hid her hand behind her back, promptly letting the pot of kohl soundlessly fall down to the floor, where it vanished underneath the cushions.

There was a brief moment of silence before Julian cleared his throat and said, "Are you quite alright, Lady Catarina ?"

    "Me ? Yes, of course I'm alright," she quickly replied, bobbing her head up and down. "Right, ladies ?"

Jessamine and Eleanora swiftly nodded. Cosmina hesitated to nod, but after receiving Catarina's death glare, she too began to nod fervently.

    "See ? Everything is fine over here, so please do not worry, Your Highness," Catarina insisted.

Julian awkwardly nodded, his lips pressed into a thin smile, and he quietly retreated, making way for his sister to come through.

    "With all the screaming and shouting in here, you'd think that this carriage is full of wild animals," Princess Demitria said sarcastically. "Come along now, the show will be starting soon."

    A famous opera called 'The Fire-wielding Lady Moirai' will be showing tonight, chronicling the short life of the legendary Queen Moirai, who allegedly descended from the goddess Rudamaris.

          "I'd much prefer watching 'Consort Elisabet's Fifteen Summers'," Cosmina remarked as they made their way into the massive opera building.
"It's a heart rending, riveting story based in truth, and not in fantasies. It is a reminder of how unfair this world can be, and how this world is controlled by the great and powerful, while we suffer in silence-"

Catarina stifled a chuckle as she watched Cosmina pour her heart out, displeased by the opera chosen tonight.

       "But I'd rather watch a beautiful lady wield a staff of fire than watching Consort Elisabet being drawn and quartered."

         "I agree," Jessamine added. "And flames are beautiful to watch, aren't they?"

Cosmina inhaled sharply as her grey eyes narrowed with annoyance. "You don't understand! All you two care about is being entertained, and not once did you ponder about the harsh realities of the world we live in!"

          "Flames are pretty," Catarina added softly, and that was the final straw for Cosmina.

The brunette's hands quickly reached out to pinch Catarina's waist, but the latter managed to escape just in time, bumping into Eleanora who walked beside her.

    And that was the first time she looked at Eleanora's face since they left the carriage.

            "Oh my God," Catarina gasped in horror, prompting Jessamine and Cosmina to turn around and look.
Catarina had only put kohl on one of Eleanora's eyes, and since the kohl did not have time to dry, it had smeared all around Eleanora's eye, making her look like the undead.

             "Quick, wipe it off before we go inside, " Cosmina urged. "It's dark out here, nobody has noticed yet."

Eleanora briskly nodded and attempted to wipe the kohl off, but all she managed to do was to spread it out even more.

             "It looks even worse than it did before," Jessamine remarked nonchalantly, while Eleanora was at the verge of screaming out in a panic.

     "Do something, Cosmina," Catarina urged. "Or Nora will forever be remembered as the girl who went to the opera looking like she had just risen up from the grave !"

    "I can't think of anything," the brunette retorted. "Oh, poor Miss Finley! Why don't we silently disappear from here, so that no one will see her ?"

This suggestion of hers was quickly shot down when Princess Demitria urged them to walk faster, as if she were on of the instructors at the Breckenridge Academy, chaperoning the students on a field trip.

Right before they entered the opera house, Catarina had a sudden spark of enlightenment and quickly grabbed Eleanora's shoulder, and tugged down a lock of her brilliant red hair, letting it droop down and cover a portion of her face, just enough to hide her eye.

          "No need to thank me," she said magnanimously, taking great pride in her revolutionary idea, as no one in human history had ever thought of hiding their face using their long hair.

She strutted into the opera house, head held up high, as if nothing could ever bring her down.

          "Thank her?" Cosmina remarked as she watched Catarina walk far ahead of them. "This predicament wouldn't have happened if it were not for her. This girl..."
Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, yet her lips were smiling fondly. "Once this ceremony is over, I will miss her greatly."

    Opera d'Ghislaine was a grand and magnificent building in the heart of Kestramore City, with walls of white limestone and pillars of pure marble. At night time, the entire building cast off an ethereal glow, as if it reflected the light of the moon.

Things were vastly different inside the opera house. Everywhere you looked at, you would see ornate, detailed paintings of the old gods and goddesses, and along the hallway that led to the seats were golden busts of famous literary characters often portrayed in plays, such as the infamous Consort Elisabet that Cosmina ardently admired.

         "This bust isn't very accurate," Cosmina remarked as they passed by. "Look, she has sapphire for eyes. In the texts, Queen Idetta clearly said 'O good sir, name your price, however high it may be. All I wish for is to see Consort Elisabet's head on a silver plate, those glittering emerald eyes that once seduced my husband dead and lifeless."

    Cosmina's whines fell onto deaf ears, and all her grievances were quickly forgotten once they entered they entered the auditorium.

Underneath Catarina's shoes, the marble floors had changed to a vibrant and vividly red carpet. The air that wafted inside the auditorium was ostentatiously perfumed with frankincense and myrrh, but underneath all those fragrances was the slight stench of tobacco and smoke, barely hidden by the excessive perfume.

       The palace entourage were allotted the royal box, in which only the members of the royal family could enter. For Julian, Nicholas and Demitria, this was nothing new, but for the seven ladies, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

One of them would be lucky enough to gain access to this box forever, while the remaining six could only watch in envy.

Needless to say, the seats in the royal box were far comfortable than the ones that Catarina and her father usually sat in, and she happily made herself at home there.

The two golden seats in the middle were usually reserved for the King and Queen, and obviously were left vacant. Beside the Queen's seat was Catarina, and on the other side, beside the King's seat was Julian.

           "See that?" Cosmina hissed to Catarina. "If you manage to seduce him, that seat will be yours. And once you become Queen, don't forget about your friends here. I really can't go back to the regular seats after staying here, so you'll grant me access to this box, won't you?"

Catarina chuckled sardonically. "If I become Queen, I won't even let you enter this opera house."

As she uttered those words, the red curtains slowly pulled back, and the audience beneath them roared with excitement.

    "Oh, it's starting now!" Catarina exclaimed, simultaneously clapping her hands.

Julian, stultified by the idea of watching 'The Fire-Wielding Lady Moirai' for the third time this year, was pleasantly surprised to see Catarina beside him, so bright, so lively.

    "You'd rather watch a fairytale rather than a real life tragedy," Cosmina retorted bitterly, and Catarina turned to face her, her lips curved in a sweet smile.

    "Flames are pretty, Mina darling."
Julian had to stifle a chuckle after seeing the expression on Lady Breckenridge's face.

Well, flames are pretty to look at, Catarina.

    The applause coming from the audience gradually died down, and the play began.
A tall, dark haired lady wearing a dress of white silk stepped onto the stage, her long fingers wrapped around a wooden staff.

    "I have become an animal in a cage, a show for you to witness."

    "For a single coin, I shall dance, and I shall sing."

    "O, for a single coin, I will do whatever your hearts desire."

She roughly slammed the wooden staff on the floor, and from the top, sprang a bright, lifelike flame.

    "This flame, the flame of the gods, the flame of my great ancestor."

    "I can turn you into a pile of ash if I wanted, but what good will that do?"

    "O, for a single coin, for a loaf of bread, for a slice of meat, whatever you hearts desire, I shall do!"

Twenty or so people swarmed the stage, all carrying a pouch filled with silver coins. They crowded around the actress who played Lady Moirai, forming a circle around her.

    "For the price of a single coin, I want you to dance like a headless chicken!" a man with a short moustache shouted.

    "For the price of a single coin, I want you to sing the most heartfelt arias!" a woman in a yellow frock ordered.

The people then closed in on Lady Moirai, demanding more things, some obscene and some harmful, and on cue, she shouted, "No, do not come near me!"

It was a rehearsed act, and even Catarina knew that it was written in the original play, but why did it sound so desperate?

    "This is not an act! Don't come near me! The mechanism for the fire is faulty!" the actress shouted exasperatedly, and almost immediately, there was a loud explosion, causing Catarina to close her eyes in shock.

When she reopened her eyes, she saw that the entire stage was engulfed in flames. The actors shrieked in pain as the fires licked their flesh, and even the props caught on fire, causing smoke to rise up into the air.

   Catarina's eyes became watery after the first breath of smoke, and as the smoke filled her throat, it became harder and harder for her to breathe.

        "Why are you crying ?" Cosmina asked after noticing her tears. "The actors aren't badly hurt at all, and look, the fire is already being put out."

Catarina shook her head, her right hand clutching her aching throat. "No, it's not that," she croaked. "My chest hurts. I need to go outside for a while."

    "Do you need me to go with you?" Cosmina offered, but Catarina swiftly shook her head.

    "No, no need. I'll be back in a moment," she told Cosmina, trying to hold back the cough that was rising up her throat. She quickly sat up from her chair and sprinted towards the balcony at the end of the room.

    Julian, who had been talking to his sister, immediately forgot about what he has been thinking about, and wordlessly watched as Catarina passed by in front of him, unaccompanied.

    "Jules?" Princess Demitria called out. "What is wrong with you?"

Julian's amber eyes flickered towards her for a brief moment, and then back towards the direction Catarina vanished to.

    "Julian, I am speaking to you-"

    "I need to go somewhere," Julian insisted,  leaving no room for negotiation. He swiftly stood up and headed for the balcony, leaving nothing but dust in his tracks.