Helena sprawled on her bed in her caravan, drawing new streets for The City as the afternoon faded into evening. Her black & white socks were lovingly secured in their own kingdoms, and she hadn't felt the urge to act out the adventures of the Queens since that strange adventure. Valentine was hanging from his marionette strings, just beyond all the worries of the City.

Or so she hoped...

Valentine's tower was gliding through the sky, taking him about his very important business as it was willing to do again since his apology. Wisps of paper-grain clouds drifted by, tugging at its corners and the toes of the tower's foot. It sailed on, heedless of their grasping invitations to ride the wind.

Valentine himself was pacing aimlessly around the foyer, glancing out the window on occasion, and trying to convince himself that it would not, in fact, no matter how many times he looked at it, change into a view of a bedroom with a bed, a wardrobe, a moon mask, and a cuddly little sea anemone...

...No matter how much he wanted it to.

No one had consciously noticed the subtle differences in her drawings, even though she got to design the posters for the circus now. There were less sphinxes, for starters, and more and more of them seemed to focus on a spiky-haired fellow of jaunty disposition. He was often in different styles of hats, which she hoped he enjoyed, bu he was also alone, which she knew he could not.

She worried about drawing herself into pictures with him, because what if it created yet another Not-Helena? How many Helena's could one universe take before breaking? It was an answer she hoped never to find out. But there were times when it was tempting. For some reason, whenever she thought of Valentine now, he seemed to feel lonely.

She wanted to create an idealized version of herself, with a name with a bit of style and dignity, but she was terrible at making up a name for this possible alternate self.

And on the topic of alternates, Edward was quite the farthest name from her mind when she ran into real-life Valentine. She had to hesitate before saying his name every time. It had been about two weeks, and everything was still so vivid in her mind.

But she belonged here, with Mum and and Dad and the family circus. Her act had even improved a little... At least Mum didn't have to put on the ridiculous gorilla suit any more. Now it was Ed's job, and Helena laughed a bit more picturing Valentine in the suit, feeling a little guilty each time. It was obvious Ed liked her, and he had a shadow of Valentine's rakish charm. She warmed to him a little more each day, but something in the pit of her stomach kept reminding her of Valentine every time he chuckled, or moved his shoulders just right.

There was a slight desire to make him a mask like Valentine's, but she knew it wouldn't be right to him... Either of them really. There was only one thing to do.

Valentine was straightening overcoat, and adjusting one of the new hats that had taken to appearing in his tower. He could only assume she was drawing them for him, and it was both comforting and unnerving at the same time.

Because if she'd drawn and made everything, then it meant... And for a creator of that level... Or whatever she was... And it mean that he was really only...

It just about hurt his brain trying to wrap around the concept. But maybe he'd understand it later. Right now, Her Majesty wanted to reward him for his selfless aid in restoring balance to the world. It all sounded well and good, but it was obvious she had no idea what really went on out there.

He opened the door into the Queen's chamber, and stood stock still, at a loss for words.

Just before bed, she finally did it. Valentine was standing in big hat with a big feather, arm in arm with the Princess of Light. He was a very important man after all, he deserved someone else very important to be with. She felt a little jealous, even though she knew it didn't make sense. After all, Jade would be more like a representation of her real self in the MirrorWorld, wouldn't she? And if Valentine were happy with someone, wouldn't it mean she could be happy with someone else, too?

"Oh Mr. Valentine," the Queen started. "I don't how we can ever thank you enough for saving our city." She glowed with brilliance of goodness and truth, and her white hair shone down her back.

"Well, I am a very important man, you know." Even his usual response sounded muted and odd. He'd seen the Queen before... Once... on less than ideal terms. But there was a girl waiting here, and she looked like...

"Of course I know!" Her laugh was musical and sweet, and coming from anyone else would probably have sounded condescending. "Why else would I have given you that lovely tower, hm? Anyway, you simply must meet my daughter, Jade. She was beside herself with worry, and demanded to meet whoever woke me. For being a very important man, you can be difficult to get a hold of."

She smiled warmly, and he tried to listen as she spoke, but his eyes were fixed on Jade. It was a dream. Or a dream of a dream. Because as right as she looked at first glance, there was something... Off about her, and the longer he tried to act like he wasn't staring, the more apparent it became.

But before he could realize or protest, she was taking his arm and leading him around the palace grounds. Her hand was warm, and solid, and comforting... And painful. It felt wrong. But he listened to her talk, and hoped that soon Jade would help him forget anything strange had ever happened.

The weeks wore on at the circus, and they traveled across Scotland and Wales. Ed grew better at juggling each day, and they spent hours juggling together before the circus even opened. She was beginning to like Ed back, but there was always the question nagging at the back of her mind.

Would she like him so much if she hadn't met him before?

Valentine could feel things changing. Or perhaps, more accurately, staying the same, which was quite a change for the City. He hadn't even gotten a new hat in over a week, which he found bothered him quite a bit more than discovering the new hats from nowhere had.

And Jade was beginning to be a nuisance.

"Oh, Mr. Valentine, where shall we adventure to today?" She was almost insufferably cheerful, and honest, and trusting. He found that he needed to bite back more and more of his sarcastic comments for fear she would misunderstand. The first few misunderstandings were enough to teach him that he didn't want to do that again. Seeing a princess was not all it was made out to be.

"Please my lovely, call me 'Valentine'. I think we're well enough past formalities." That was another thing. 'Mr. Valentine', all day every day he saw her... Which worked out to be every day. She just huffed lightly at him. They'd already had that conversation before, so he went on. "I want to visit Giant's Orbiting today, my precious gemstone, and see if there aren't any more giants yet."

She wrinkled her nose in a disgusting display of those facial muscles she flaunted so carelessly. He could convince himself it was almost cute, if he tilted his head just right and squinted so he couldn't make out her clothes. The white hair was a bit distracting, but he knew it was only becasue she'd never be her.

"But doesn't that sound terribly depressing? Wouldn't you rather a hike through the hills again today?" She cuddled up to his arm, batting her eyelashes at him and pleading. It just about made him sick.

Helena would never plead like that. She demanded, and had no time for silliness like this. Of course, in retrospect, that could've just been because she was on an important questy-type thing, but he liked to think she was no nonsense like that all the time. "Depressing perhaps, but informative none the less. Besides, I doubt if anyone's been in there recently, and it is a part of your kingdom after all. As Princess and future Queen, I think it's important for you to be accurately up-to-date on as many areas of the city as you can." Logic. It was one of his favorite tools as of late. He never thought he'd be one for logic.

"Fine then, Giant's Orbiting it is." Jade sulked a bit, but it went against her nature and didn't last very long.

Valentine couldn't help but feel that she seemed flat. It wasn't a term he'd used on people before, but then again, he hadn't known they were all drawings before. It was dissatisfying all the way around. He could only think that she'd done this for him, making a new princess for him to be with... A shadow of herself to try to keep him happy where he was. And it wasn't working. She couldn't even juggle!

And for some reason she insisted on introduced him as 'Mr. Valentine, the jester'...

She was sulking again, and it suited her disposition just fine, so long as she kept away from her mother long enough to avoid that damned room. It was frustrating. The taste of freedom had only made coming home that much more unbearable, and there were never any boys in the kingdom. She'd discovered that she really fancied boys, and doing her own make-up, and those little skirts over those 'jeans' things that everybody wore.

There had to be another way out, didn't there?