Regarding the petition that is going around, I sent notice upon it to the fanfiction site. I want to know what's really going on because I feel this is all bullshit. If the site's really going to ban you for replying to reviews THEN FINE! There's no sense in dwelling over shit like this when they AT LEAST give you the ability to share your work with the public! I mean, why are you going to whine and complain? And hell, for all you know, this is just some bored person who wants your PENNAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS so HE can HACK INTO YOUR PROFILE! Do you REALLY want that? I sure as hell don't! So I sent to (two email accounts) this site and told them about the rumors going around. I posted the statement regarding the petition (not the list of names since its a lot of names) and I even posted my reply to it, that apparently no body is listening too. God, you are all very immature if you think something like this shouldn't be avoided! LISTEN TO MY WORDS: DO NOT SIGN THAT PETITION!
In saying this, I hope you have all finally grown brains and realized the truth.
Enjoy this chapter, it's only 16 pages long but long enough for what it holds.
And by the way, if you hate me because I posted this directly to the readers who actually read authors notes (cause sometimes I don't), then so be it. If you hate me for stating my opinion (which is most likely correct) then you're an idiot who will change your mind according to the bandwagon (and if you don't know what 'bandwagon' means, then I'll translate: you're a flake and when other people decide to sign the petition, you sign it too depsite what you really know is going on)!
So there, hate me if you want and stop reading a story that shouldn't have our thoughts to deal with anyways. And I ask you all, NICELY NOT to flame me; you wouldn't like flames in YOUR review slots in YOUR stories for stating your opinions, so do you think I do? Treat others with respect; don't flame me for speaking my mind. Thank you.
- Chapter Ten -
After Madam Giry learned that Uno had managed to perfect her dance steps in less than a complete day's worth and only attended rehearsals because it was required, the older woman finally had told Uno to skip out on the remaining rehearsals until the final rehearsal was called. Uno didn't mind; in fact, this gave her more of a chance to be by herself and learn about her new home. Several ballerinas, on the other hand, had sneered their jealousy against her but Uno only brushed them off.
And with what little Madam Giry had given Uno for money, Uno had to resolve to stealing from the stage crew and whoever else casually left their things behind. She only had a few franc notes left to her name that the ballet mistress had given her and it wasn't enough to spend on a few meals a week.
"Uno!" A petite blonde ballerina squealed out. Uno looked up from her cup of coffee one morning and saw Meg making her way towards the table. Immediately, she took the seat across from the perfected ballerina.
"I just heard about what happened," Meg blurted out. Uno's brows knitted together and she lowered the pasty she had just recently picked up. "Maman had just told me that you have already completed your dance steps long before the rest of us had even learned the first step."
"I'm amazed," Uno said. She glanced back down at her plate and stifled a small smirk. Meg frowned and cocked her head to the side. Uno raised her gaze back to the girl seated across her and picked up the pasty once again.
"I would have thought you have learned this news last week with the rest of the gossiping ballet rats."
"Well," Meg turned away and allowed a faint pink to creep into her cheeks, "I have but I never believed it. And then I discovered you stopped coming to class and I questioned Maman about it."
Uno snorted and Meg raised her head once again. "That's cause she told me to stop coming until the final rehearsal," Uno explained. "Said I'm not helping with making all the other dancers feel comfortable." She stared down at the pastry and with sarcasm, added in, "Which shouldn't matter, considering they can't dance, anyways."
Meg pressed her lips together and watched as Uno took a bite of her pastry. Her brows furrowed as she glanced down at the table between them. "Not all of us are horrible," she murmured.
"No," Uno shot back. She swallowed her bite and cleared her throat. Meg raised her head, frowning a small pout at the girl across her. "You are actually the only other dancer I can say knows what she's doing. Besides that, everyone else sucks."
"Uno," Meg whispered, "your language—"
"I know," Uno cut in, "it's horrible. You don't need to remind me when I have your mother doing the same."
"Why don't you quit, then?" She urged. "It isn't right."
Uno shrugged her shoulders, brushing the topic off. "I don't care. I'm not here to make friends." Uno raised the pastry back to her mouth and proceeded to take another bite.
"You're here to dance and hope to someday meet your Prince Charming," Meg smiled. Uno paused, pastry half in her mouth already. "I wonder what he'll look like," Meg added in dreamily.
"Don't," Uno said sharply. She lowered the pastry and stared seriously into Meg's confused gaze. "Don't make me lose my appetite."
"You don't want to get married and have children?"
Uno snorted once again at that. "Married and have kids? Yeah, as if that'll be possible."
"But—"
"Meg, you best hurry up before Madam Giry makes us stay even later!" Uno glanced away from Meg and up into the eyes of a frizzy red-head with brown eyes and a bent nose. "You know we are required to be on time for rehearsals."
Meg glanced at Uno quickly with a soft expression before nodding and getting to her feet. Uno glanced back down at the pastry and ignored the chattering of high pitched voices. Before they finally left her alone, Meg leaned back over and murmured softly, "Perhaps later we can finish talking?"
"What's there to discuss?" Uno retorted. Meg stayed quiet and followed her friends away, leaving Uno to be alone in the café once again. Uno frowned down at her coffee, chewing on her most recent bite of the pastry.
She hasn't really seen Paris in this era; in fact, the last time she's even been to the French Territory, it was in her time and it was during a battle and all she saw was a destroyed Eiffel Tower and a burning art museum. Perhaps there was something worth seeing in eighteen-seventy-three.
She decided that after her meal, she would take to the streets and explore. After all, how bad can the Parisian streets be during the day?
-
Uno lowered her head and passed by several highly decorated faces as she crossed a small alley, following the path along one of the streets littered with horses and carriages. Uno hadn't expected to be thrown so far back into the future that automobiles have yet to even be created, but apparently she was. The only time she's ever seen a horse was when she visited Relena's estate and when she learned to ride it wasn't by carriage or by 'womanly standards'; Relena had insisted she learn to ride correctly and not side saddle.
Now Uno knew that if she were to ride she would have to ride side saddle.
She grunted and hung her head. Madam Giry had warned Uno about the streets, saying that much has changed compared to what Uno expected to see, but there was one thing the older woman had left out: the types of people she would be seeing.
So far, Uno could count up many drunk and poor faces that were asking for money, several whores—or as she would have to start calling them, prostitutes—and a few high class faces. Though at the moment, as she passed by a jewelry store, she saw many high class people surrounding her.
"You there!" Somebody called out. Uno's heart skipped a beat as she raised her head to glance up at the face of a man in a black top hat with a suit on. "How would you like to be adorned with the diamonds of the rough?"
Uno narrowed her eyes, recalling the last time this has happened to her for a measly book collection and how, when she finally got out of it all, she was stopped by the two main reasons for the war to have even started.
"No," Uno replied softly.
"Oh now surely there is a man in your life who will be willing to buy you this exquisite Jade and Opal set," he insisted. Several of the faces turned to glance at her and Uno frowned, wondering if her midnight blue, velvet gown had dubbed her a royal ass instead of a simple ballerina.
Uno took a deep breath. "No," she barked back.
"Well," he paused to let out a chuckle, "perhaps you need some jewels to gain the right man?"
Her jaw locked in place and her fists balled on her sides. "No," she growled back. "And quit insisting that I need a man in my life. I'm only sixteen."
Uno learned how wrong it was to say that all too late. Several of the posh faces chuckled and turned away. The man laughed and planted a big hand against his stomach, probably holding himself from laughing hard. Uno growled and turned away to shield herself from their thrilled faces.
"Oh you poor girl," a soft voice purred. Uno turned around to see a woman with black hair wrapped up in a bun, a soft shade of violet painted around blue eyes, and pink cheeks balancing out plush red lips.
"Sixteen is the right age for a man," she carried on. "Why, when I married Archy here I was only fifteen!"
Uno frowned and glanced up at the man she was hanging off of and found he looked twice the woman's age. Her lips parted and she took in a gasp of air. Several others began to laugh at her stunned expression.
This can't be, her mind reeled back. Marry at age fifteen to a man who looks sixty? No fucking way!
"I'm sorry," Uno choked out on her next breath. "But I don't understand your ways." More laughter came out after she finished and although Uno felt the embarrassment crawling up her spine for being laughed at, she had a way to escape. "It is much different where I was raised."
"And where," came another voice, this one much louder than the other. Uno turned to see a woman with short brown hair, crimped into curls, with different shades of pink makeup on.
"And where," she repeated after a few more chuckles, "might this be? England?"
"America," Uno shot back defiantly. Immediately, the laughter ceased and the expressions on everyone's faces changed to that of serious. "Things are done differently in America."
"A-America?" The shop owner gasped. "You're an American?"
"Furansujin no baka," Uno growled beneath her breath. "Baka!" (Translation from Japanese: The French are stupid, stupid!) She spun around and pushed her way through the crowd, continuing on her way that she was originally heading before she was rudely stopped. She crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her balled fists, and ignored the remarks she could make out from behind her.
A giant shop window came up on her right and peering into the window, she found it was a toy store. Biting back the urge to shout rude remarks at the high society that she had just left behind, Uno pushed open the door and stepped inside the little shop. The ding of a bell knocking around as she closed the door behind herself alarmed the store manager of a customer and no sooner than when Uno entered the building did a short plump woman with red hair tied into two braids, one on both shoulder, stepped into view.
"Est-ce que bonjour, comment je peux vous aider?" The woman asked. (Translation of French: Good morning, how may I help you?) Uno cursed beneath her breath and shook her head, still unable to get the hideous Parisian faces out of her mind. The woman frowned, noticing the young girl's upset face, and sighed.
"It is those Parisian faces that have scolded you, is it not?" The woman asked in scratchy English. Uno shot her face up to the plump woman in shock but she only chuckled in return. "Yes, they have done the same thing to a few other customers who have come in here. Trying to married women to talk their husbands into buying more expensive jewelry for them."
"You-you speak English?" Uno asked in surprise. The woman regarded her for a brief moment before giggling behind her hand.
"That I do," she replied. "You must not be from around here for clearly you would see that half of the Parisian society these days does, too."
Uno turned away and grumbled beneath her breath, "I wouldn't know. This is the first time I left the Opera Populaire since I've arrived and I don't remember what I saw when I got here, either."
"The Opera Populaire?" The woman asked. She backed away from Uno and took in the girl's appearance. Uno frowned. "Are you a dancer?"
"Is it noticeable?" Uno asked as-a-matter-of-factly. "If so, I wonder why those people mocked me about not being married at sixteen."
The woman shrugged her shoulders. "No need to worry about them," she blew out with a breath of air. She waved her hand in the air at the topic and strolled away from Uno and back over towards the counter in the back of the store. Uno's brows knitted together and she followed the woman to the counter.
"They wouldn't know a horse's reins from its own tail if they even opened their eyes and learnt that carriages are not of our future," she remarked. "My husband's brother lives in America and sent a telegram to us stating that there have been a few men strolling around with some mechanical carriage that is powered without a horse."
Uno nodded and stepped up to the counter as the woman rounded it to the other side. "There is," she agreed. "I have seen it." She knew the second half was a lie but knew the woman wouldn't know. Instead, the woman turned to her and frowned.
"You have?" Uno nodded. "But how?"
"I came from America," Uno explained. "To be a ballerina or something of the sort."
"Well," the woman stated in shock, "then what are you doing here if the opening is next week?"
"Madam Giry asked me to quit coming to rehearsals," Uno explained. "Since I've already completed my steps when the rest of the ballet is still struggling."
"You've completed a full act?"
Uno shrugged her shoulders and glanced down to the glass countertop. Inside the display were several child books. "And besides dancing there's not much else to do," she replied.
"Well then what can I help you with?" The woman asked suddenly.
Uno cocked her head to the side and glanced up at the woman. "Would you happen to have any puzzles? Jigsaw puzzles, that is?"
"A jigsaw puzzle?" The woman repeated, her brows rising to her hairline. Uno nodded and watched as the woman stepped back around the counter and into the center of the store. "Well, we have these."
Uno turned around and saw the woman pick up a box off a round display, showing a simple drawing and large pieces. She frowned and glanced around the rest of the boxes, seeing the other pictures and realizing that each puzzle had large pieces.
"Do you have anything where the pieces are much smaller?" Uno asked softly.
The woman sighed and replaced the box back on the shelf. Brows knitting together, she turned to look at Uno in the face. Her lips pressed together and she planted her fists on her hips while releasing a breath of air.
"How… little?" She asked in weary.
Uno shrugged her shoulders and glanced away. "Tiny," she answered. "Something that would be impossible for a child and hard for an adult."
"I have something," the woman slurred out. Uno frowned over at the plump woman with a worried look. The woman turned her head to the side and stared at the young ballerina at another angle.
"Come," she said suddenly and turned around. Uno followed her into the back, behind the counter and into another room filled with empty boxes, chairs, and tables. "This is usually the room where I store things but my husband had designed a jigsaw puzzle several years ago, hoping that it would begin a new trend."
A brow shot up above Uno's right eye. "A trend?" She asked questionably. The woman began pushing a few empty boxes out of the way and pulled up a packaged box. Inside the box, Uno saw a much smaller box with the imprint of the Opera Populaire painted on it. The woman withdrew the puzzle box and extended it out to Uno.
"When you said you were a ballerina from the Opera Populaire and you were in search of jigsaw puzzle with tiny pieces, my first guess was that word about the idea got around," she explained. Uno glanced up at the woman as she glanced down at the box in her hands. With a sigh, she added in, "My husband, Richard, tried his hardest to insist to people that a harder puzzle would keep a child's mind from straying to less educational things."
"He's right," Uno agreed. The woman turned to the ballerina with a frown. "All my life my father only bought me the hardest of puzzles and it's taught me to piece together some of the hardest tasks."
The woman nodded and glanced back down at the box once again. "When you said who you were and what you were looking for I immediately had hoped that the trend had begun." After taking a deep breath, she sighed out, "I guess I was wrong."
"Tell your husband," Uno began, "to keep making these puzzles and I'll keep buying them."
The woman frowned over at the young ballerina, her red brows creasing together. Uno stared at her seriously and to let the woman know her intentions, she took a deep breath and raised her chin.
"Will you let me buy it?"
"Are you able to afford it?" The woman shot back. Uno narrowed her eyes.
"How much will it cost you?"
"At least twenty francs," she expressed cautiously. "This puzzle's been back here for years. I don't expect to sell it for the same price as the others."
"I almost expected you to say thirty," Uno replied in aghast. "But twenty I can afford."
She woman took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Very well," she breathed out in a rush.
She waved her hand in the air and shooed the young girl out of the back room. Uno stepped around the counter and headed towards the register while the woman stepped around to the other side. The ding of the machine opened up and Uno withdrew twenty franc notes from her dainty black purse and handed it over. After receiving the payment, the woman packaged the box into a bag and held it out for the ballerina to take.
"Thank you," Uno expressed kindly. The woman nodded her head and smiled in return.
"Many thanks to you, as well." Uno stifled a smile and turned to go. "Are you sure you can put that together, though?"
The new question caught Uno's attention at the last minute. She set her hand on the door's bar and turned to glance back at the plump woman still standing behind the counter. With a definite nod of her head and her eyes displaying her challenge quite clear, Uno replied silently. The woman raised her own chin as if wishing Uno a silent 'good luck' and watched as the girl left the building.
The first place Uno glanced at was the jewelry shop where her earlier experience had taken place. With luck clearly on her side, Uno was thankful that the crowd had diminished and left. She was alone when she retraced her footsteps back down the path towards the Opera Populaire.
Half way back to her destination a swiftly moving carriage strode by and Uno glanced up to see a familiar face. She hadn't met them but Madam Giry once pointed out Viscount Raoul de Chagny. Now, getting a much closer inspection than when she was dancing on stage for her audition, Uno noticed his carefree expression and groaned inwardly.
He's a pussycat, she admitted. Uno closed her eyes and shook her head as her feet carried on. If that's Raoul de Chagny, he looks like a complete sissy.
When she reached the outskirts of the Opera Populaire she saw the Viscount Raoul de Chagny's carriage parked outside. Biting her tongue and hoping that he wasn't here to visit, Uno prayed that Madam Giry wouldn't try and stop her to introduce the two, much as she had already tried once before. Uno casually headed into the building, taking each step one at a time, and as soon as she entered she noticed the bundle of life everywhere.
Around the base of the grand staircase stood Meg and a girl with extremely curly hair; Uno had learnt that her name was Christine de Chagny. Madam Giry stood off in the distance talking with the managers and Raoul de Chagny and several ballerinas were scattered around with their friends. Uno didn't stop the second she entered the building. In fact, she squared her shoulders back, raised her chin, and headed straight for the door that would take her towards the dorms.
On the way she felt eyes swarming all around her. Biting her tongue and balling her fists, Uno kept to herself and minded no one. She heard Madam Giry murmur her name and heard Meg whisper a few things to Christine about the 'dancer who had already completed her steps' but they weren't any real threats.
As soon as the doors shut behind her, Uno found she was in more of a mess than she had expected to be in. The halls were practically packed with action as everyone undressed and cleaned up from their rehearsals. Apparently, Uno realized as she made her way through the busy crowd of people, all rehearsals had just ended.
-
With a deep sigh, Uno glanced down at the bustling bodies below the life of the clouds and stars. The streets at night, as usual, were livid with people from all around. She remained sitting on the edge of the building, legs draped over the sides, and her eyes fixated on several couples as she watched them either bicker or secretly make-out.
She even smirked when the bickering woman had slapped the man.
Well I guess not everyone is as weak as they appear, she summed up.
Like the past several days Uno had kept to herself and as soon as night came upon the Paris lands she ducked away and retreated into the silence of the roof. Nobody ever caught her as she escaped the clutches of nocturnal sleepers; in fact, no body even questioned why she was never around when they went to bed. She figured that if they saw her in the mornings then they would know she hadn't skipped out on them entirely.
But I wake up before them, Uno frowned at the realization that these girls wouldn't ever notice is the fell off the face of the Earth.
Litterally.
Uno sighed and laid back on the slab of masonry that made up the opera building's roof. She stared up at the sky to the many stars littering it with their sparkle and the bright moon glistening in the black field. The stars shown down on her with its rich sparkle of blues, greens, yellows, and reds, each indicating their distance away from the planet, while the moon with all its bright rays, expressed its undying beauty in another life.
"So beautiful," she murmured to herself, "how it looks when it's not inhabited by colony citizens."
A smile managed to come to her lips. Yes, she realized, Earth and its planetary system was a magnificent view if nothing else was around just yet. The moon was bare and empty as man won't even step foot on it for at least fifty years and the stars have yet to fully be discovered.
Uno closed her eyes, remembering the last time she remembered watching the stars at night. She was only seven and Theresa was eight; both of them had spent the night in the Victorian Library in Quatre's Mansion, beneath the vast sea of stars. It was Uno's favorite room because, when the lights were on and daylight was filtering in through the glass dome-shaped ceiling, there were millions of books to be read. And at night, which was also Theresa's favorite time to be in the room, all those stars in the sky, including the moon itself, shown down upon them with its glorious beauty.
When Uno opened her eyes to see the same thing she has seen when she was little—and sadly, not during the span of her battling days—her eyes caught sight of a shooting star, soaring through the black sky at the same rate it took to travel in her machine. The shooting star and its appearance brought a sad smile to her face. The last time she had seen a shooting star, she was gazing up into the sky, waiting for the shipment of neo-titanium to be delivered, only during that time shooting stars happened all the time.
Uno sighed and closed her eyes again. Shooting stars didn't happen in her time; they were just space shuttles or fighting machines flying through the atmosphere. People used to be silly and wish upon them but she knew wishes couldn't come true from somebody flying through space, being mistaken for a shooting star.
"Theresa," she murmured through a whispered plea. "What I wouldn't give to have you by my side again."
Her head began to throb with the oncoming of new tears. Uno bit her tongue to keep from crying and actually managed to succeed. She swallowed back the lodge of tears and gasped out for air. When she opened her eyes once more she sighed. Nothing has changed and nothing will change; unfortunately, it was just her luck to be sent to a world where it was highly unlikely for that to happen.
Pushing herself up Uno glanced back down at the sea of life below her and frowned. People were still up and about but the life of it all was slowly dying. Fewer people remained on the streets and Uno noticed it was getting rather late. She gathered herself and stood up. After fixing her dress of the wrinkles she realized she was wide awake.
Well fuck going to sleep, she decided. Uno turned and headed towards the door. When she entered the building it was just as it was every other night; the halls were bare and dark, indicating how everyone was already practically asleep.
Uno made her way towards the kitchen, stole inside once again, and lit up another oil lamp. After locking the kitchen back up, she made her way around the dark halls with the tiny light she had and headed towards the stables. The moment she stepped outside she dimmed the light all the way until it gave off nearly any light, leaving just enough lit so she could still brighten the flame later on, and placed it on a table. She reached for a saddle and removed it from the wall then covered the lantern with it; if anybody were to see the lantern they'd know somebody had been there but if they saw the saddle out of place, they would assume another stable boy had done it for a reason and leave it alone.
She'd only put it away when she's ready to return to the dorms.
Uno stalked her way down the makeshift hall and peered around at all the dark shadows. She found a stable boy nestled in a pile of hay and frowned. She could tell by the whisky bottle in his hand that he wouldn't wake up any time soon. She turned and glanced at several of the horses and noticed a few of them were marked with names. The ones that were empty of ownership held light colors and Uno reeled away from being caught on a brightly colored horse at night. Near the end of the path, in the final stall which was much larger than the rest, stood a gate without a name and a horse encased entirely in black.
She smirked. Bingo. I found just what I need.
Uno reached the gate and noticed it was locked. Frowning down at the padlock, she found it was a rather simple one to pick, but decided that if anybody had locked this horse up there was a purposely good reason for it. Instead, Uno glanced back to check on the stable boy and finding him still asleep, she hoisted up her skirts and climbed over the gate.
The horse took a step back and whined, tossing its head up into the air at the intruder. After getting back to her feet, Uno ducked and rushed towards the beast. Her hands instinctively went to mane of the hose and she began petting its muscular neck.
"Shh," she whispered.
She continued to hush the horse and quickly went to the side where a birdle and saddle hung on a few hooks. Removing it, Uno returned to the stallion and prepared the steed, readying him for a ride into the night air. As soon as he was ready she hoisted her skirts back up and climbed on top. The horse whined, throwing his head back, but Uno massages its neck and mane while she cooed it. As soon as she had full control, she grabbed the reins and kicked the horse into running into a full circle around the stall then with a soft cry, she galloped him from the back of the stable towards the gate.
The horse leaped into the air and landed on the other side. Swiftly, she guided the animal out of the stables and off into the wilderness that sat besides them and away. She kept to the shadows, hoping nobody would be able to make out the woman in a blue velvet dress, riding a black stallion with a European saddle and not a European side saddle. Uno lowered herself to the horse, signaling the creature to quicken its speed, and soon enough she was in darkness, surrounded by a forest of trees.
The black horse quickened its pace and took Uno deeper into the woods. It leaped over a few scattered logs that have fallen, several branches that have become nothing but mangy bushes, and even over a few heavy puddles that appeared laden with mud. Uno galloped the creature deep into the night, letting it guide her to wherever it desired to go. She closed her eyes and let the wind whip past her body in a fast blur. If she toned her ears corrected and ignored the hammering of hooves on the soft earth, she would have almost expected to open her eyes back up and be seated on her sport bike, cruising dangerously down the freeway in opposite direction of the traffic.
But she opened her eyes and found the same thing she saw when she closed them. Dark trees lurked around her in every angle and the horse continued running, sending the cool night air to smack Uno in the face. She sat up, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back, allowing her long brown braid to flap in the wind. Excitement flooded her veins much as her blood rushed through them and for a brief moment, Uno almost forgot where she was and what had happened to her.
Almost.
Being on horse back in a dress wasn't something that's happened in her mission-filled life. Even when she had to sneak into the Government party, dressed as a date for a high named Government official, she never fled in a dress. In fact, she had waited until his limo delivered them back to his estate before shooting him in the head.
You wanted a goodnight's kiss, she thought to herself as she sped home on her bike after shedding the horrible, light blue dress off after the assassination was completed, you got it. Straight to the brain, that kiss hit you hard like a bullet.
Uno opened her eyes and returned to the matters at hand. She pulled back on the reins and slowed the black horse to a crawl, allowing him to rest. What she pulled them up to was magnificent all on its own. In fact, she never saw anything copied off its beauty in the era she came from. It was a lake, albeit small, however; but a lake nonetheless. And off to the back of the lake was a small cliff with a waterfall. From where she sat on the back of the horse the sight was stunning.
Uno choked out on her next breath and stifled a smirk. "Well I'll be damned," she mumbled. And indeed it was a sight for sore eyes. "Maybe now I can bathe."
She knew the girls at the Paris opera house bathed in tubs but Uno was a modernized girl; she hated bathing unless she had too and she was on the verge of realizing she had no other choice until she stole the horse for a midnight ride. Now, finding the waterfall had been like finding a vortex communication link to the future; it was just too good to be true.
However, sadly, it wasn't anything compared to that vortex communication link to the future she was still in search of.
Uno took a deep breath. "Well horsy," she brushed her hand against the creature's black mane and petted him, "I think it's time we get back to the stables."
When Uno returned with the mare she strolled casually up to the stables, still seated on top of the creature's back. She stopped just outside of the stable doors and narrowed her eyes. Her surroundings, outside and stable and in, proved to show nothing out of the ordinary and the hour was high into the night that she knew not a soul would be around. With a quick nod of her head, she kicked the horse and galloped him into the stable. He leaped over the gate and almost instinctively she jumped down from his back.
"Good boy," she whispered while she petted his neck once again. "Good boy."
Uno removed the heavy clothing from the horse and replaced it on the hooks off to the side of the stable. He whined and threw his head back and immediately she went to his side and petted him once again. After a few more shushes and cooing, Uno managed to get the black mare under control. She hoisted her skirts back up, climbed over the gate, and readjusted herself once she was set.
The stable boy was still asleep in the same position and after waving her hand in his face to see if his lids blinked, Uno made haste and stepped away entirely. She replaced the previous saddle back on the hooks near the front stable doors and picked up her lantern. The flame was still lit and Uno waited until she was back inside the Opera Populaire's dark halls before brightening the tiny fire.
She shut the door slowly behind her and waited a moment before taking another step, waiting until her eyes fully adjusted to the darkness that now surrounded her. Part of her wanted to return to the roof but she knew that she had to get to bed. If she didn't get to sleep soon then she would still be sleeping when the rest of the ballet woke up and that was something Uno didn't need on her conscious.
She didn't need to be an easy target for La Marcella to take notes of. And with what Justin used to tell her—and Madam Giry, very recently—she murmured names of her past in her sleep. No. Uno definitely did not need that on her conscious. It was bad enough to watch her every move; now she would have to watch her every breath even as she slept.
Finally, she could make out shapes in the darkness and began heading in the direction towards the dorms. Perhaps tomorrow Uno would ask for a bar of soap—unless they use something else to bathe with—and head out into the night to return to the waterfall. However, she knew one thing for certain: if she didn't get cleaned soon, her battle fatigue aroma will begin to get stronger and much harder to bear.