Dancing on Strings

Forever and Always

"Then where are they?"

"Who? The girls? I only know as much as she said."

"No. My sisters!"

The Black Rabbit was quiet for a moment, then his mouth opened.

But he didn't say anything. He looked confused until an understanding dawned and he pursed his lips before looking at the fortune-teller.

"Wake," he ordered with a wave of his hand.

Mai looked back to the fortune-teller as the woman lifted her head and detached from the shadows, drifting forwards, looking at Mai. She seemed so impossibly life-like, so human in the turn of her head and the move of her hands.

"Where are the princesses?" The Black Rabbit asked, his hands squeezing Mai's wrists, one thumb gently rubbing her skin.

The fortune-teller looked at Mai for a time.

"They're gone," she said simply, "Through the veil into the other side."

Mai's hands balled into fists, crushing the fabric of The Black Rabbit's shirt as she stared.

"But are they dead?" The Black Rabbit stressed.

"Dead? No. Not dead. But gone. They will not come back by their own volition."

Mai's eyes widened. "But they can come back?" she said, staring, "We can get them back?"

"Perhaps. But your armies shall do nothing to help you. The might of a king commands no power. Perhaps, if luck holds your hand, you may be able to bring them home. But you will not come home with them."

Mai's heart stopped.

In an unconscious movement, The Black Rabbit released one wrist and pulled her closer, his arm wrapping tightly around her shoulders as he stared at his own puppet.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"As I told Her Highness, she has a challenge in front of her and she may not make it out the other side. We do not all survive the war. Of course, she must find her sisters first, should she wish to bring them home."

"Where?" Mai said, staring, "Where are they?"

"Through the door."

"What door?"

"Through the Door of Broken Dreams."

Mai closed her eyes, taking a breath. "I don't know where that is," she ground out, "Or what that is. Is it here? In the dream world? Is it a metaphor for something?"

The fortune-teller just looked at her.

"Tell me!" Mai snapped.

"Find. The door. And do not let it lock behind you." With that, she drifted back, smooth as a phantom, as she drifted back into the shadows, as if she were simply going back to sleep.

Mai gaped at her for a moment, the rounded on The Black Rabbit.

"Why did you stop her? Wake her up!" she snarled.

"She won't tell you anymore than what she wants," he said, catching her hand as she made to wrench her wrist from his grip. "She told you what she could. I swear, I let her say all she could. If she said nothing more, that is her choice. I can't change that. As I said, I only have limited control over some of them."

Mai shoved him back and he released her, allowing her to pass as she strode out of the tent, throwing the tent flaps open and exiting into the snowy night.