The Parts We Play

Who's That Girl, Lefevre?

Archie scampered in the bedroom window of his sister's familiar, and found Victoria testing how steeped the tea was.

He loafed comfortably near her. "It has been quite a week," he sighed, gratefully accepting the teacup she slid across the carpet to him.

"Oh?" Victoria asked, tucking her tail over her paws.

"Yes," Archie confirmed. "Last night Douxie and I encountered some sort of- dark magic user, we think. There weren't any discernible humanoid features. I'd never felt anything quite like its aura."

Victoria raised her eyebrows, ears flicking back partway. "Mother of Mordenkainen, Archibald, have you informed Douxie's companions?? Could they even deal with it?"

"He plans to, I believe," Archie said. "I thought you should know so that the Halls can be made aware."

Victoria nodded. "I'll tell Irene after tea."

"How is she these days?" Archie asked politely.

"Stressed, handling costumes for this Phantom of the Opera production," Victoria said. "Her little sister scored the lead, did you hear?"

"I did," Archie said, ears perking up. "Douxie says she's quite remarkable, would you congratulate her for me?"

"Naturally," Victoria said, tail sweeping amiably behind her. "The poor girl is rather nervous about performing in front of a real audience."

Archie snorted. "Raised to kill since birth, and she gets stage fright. I suppose humans all have their little internal fallacies."

"Even Akiridions," Victoria agreed. "It is comforting to know some things never change."

Archie raised his eyebrows. "Cara is Akiridion???"

"Had I not mentioned that?" Victoria blinked. "My mistake."

"Vicky," Archie said flatly. "That's rather a large oversight. You all adopted her, what, thirteen years ago now? How did you even get your hands on an Akiridion so young to adopt one???"

Victoria sobered. "Her mother left her here," she said, lowering her voice. "She was alone in the woods for hours."

Archie fell silent for a moment. "That's... horrible," he said quietly.

"Supposedly, there was some terrible threat coming for her House and her mother was hiding her here," Victoria told him. "She was a noble back home, so it's possible, but I'm not sure I fully believe what her mother told her. It's not hard to lie to six-year-olds."

Archie sipped his tea. "Does Cara know who Krel is?"

Victoria nodded. "Indeed. In fact, she says she used to be friends with him. But she doesn't think he'd remember her."

Archie blinked. "Really? That's ironic-"

"-given the fact Krel got the role of Raoul? Yes, I'm aware," Victoria smiled.

"He got it?" Archie said, sitting up. "That's great news. He worked hard on that audition."

"Irene said he carried himself well onstage," Victoria said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him in action."

***

Krel found out he had the part in a matter of days, and at the first rehearsal he was met by Douxie at the door.

"Krel! Good, here you are, right on time," the wizard greeted him cheerily. "Let me show you around, introduce the cast."

He led Krel to a practice room with a short raised platform to serve as a more informal facsimile of the big stage. Cast members were bustling around behind the curtains, but one girl- the redhead Krel had seen at auditions -stood on the platform, voice ringing through the room.