Duck stood at the side of the large, traditional, Edo-style room with Chibiusa. She felt pretty good about finally telling Chibiusa about being an actual duck, and she was glad Chibiusa was so understanding. She stared down at her socked feet. It was strange to be wearing a dress and no shoes, but apparently tradition in this town was to take off shoes at the door and leave them in the cubbies.

Duck stared across the gathering. Fakir, Helios, and Illia were chatting with people about the upcoming ballet. But there was also Mr. Fishman and someone he introduced as his best friend who was also a giant fish man with his giant fish fiancee dressed in traditional kimono. There were a ton of carp here, not just the fish people but the koi ponds surrounding the indoor gardens as well as many paintings of koi. Chibiusa had explained to her that koi symbolized longevity and life, but Duck felt that this was a little excessive.

"You look unnerved, Duck," Chibiusa observed.

"What me? No not at all!" Duck replied nervously.

Chibiusa frowned a bit. The fish people were somewhat unnerving, with their giant mouths that reminded her of the carp that would come to the bridge over a pond and beg for food. She'd sometimes thrown fish food over the railing and watched the collection of mouths all fight for the food. "Something's bothering you, isn't it? Is it the fish people?"

"Well yes, I mean no. That's not the only thing," Duck shook her head.

"It's not yesterday, is it?"

Duck quickly shook her head, pretending not to think about how a touching moment had turned into something terribly awkward. That always seemed to be a thing when she shifted back into a human girl. "N-no. I asked Fakir to dance with me earlier, and he said no."

"He might be busy," Chibiusa reasoned. "They've kept Helios pretty busy too."

"Yeah there is that," Duck frowned a bit, staring back down at her socked feet. "But something about the way he said it struck me wrong. It was like he'd lost all the passion in his voice."

"Nerves?" Chibiusa wondered.

"Well that's just it," Duck shook her head. "Fakir's super confident and stubborn. He's really good at dance and performance and even in the previous story was really strong when I had my doubts a number of times. Sure, he can be forceful sometimes, but this felt different."

Chibiusa stared at him through the crowd. "He looks the same."

"He does, but his eyes are wrong," Duck insisted. "It's like the life has drained from him."

"Do you think a story is affecting him?" Chibiusa worried.

"I dunno," Duck shook her head. "But I mentioned to Helios something felt off, so he'll keep an eye on Fakir to make sure things are right. I'm just super worried with the stories getting violent lately."

"We'll just have to keep an eye out for anything that seems like a story," Chibiusa reasoned. She looked up as Mr. Fishman tapped a spoon on the side of the wine glass, quieting the crowd.

"Dancers and friends, cast members and family, thank you all for coming!" Mr. Fishman announced. "We're here to celebrate the upcoming performance of Princess Kaguya in the grand theater in Gold Crown Town. I'm also happy to announce the stage manager, James Fishburn, will soon be getting married to his beloved fiancee, Effie."

One of the fish people with Mr. Fishman took a bow. He was a koi as well, though golden instead of orange like Mr. Fishman. He was with his fiancee, a smaller koi that was mostly white with golden and black specks.

"It's a double celebration tonight!" Mr. Fishman added.

Duck pursed her lips together. "Why do those names sound familiar? and why is everyone with this theater a fish?"

The doors of the room slid open, accompanied by a hurricane of rose petals and a familiar weirdo now caked in red glitter paint and red fairy wings. "I'll dance a dance of celebration!"

Mr. Fishman sighed. "Not now, Femio. Go back to work and stop dressing like a glitter fairy!"

"But how could I not dazzle you all with a dance?" Femio protested. "It's a sylph, by the way."

Chibiusa stared at him, unimpressed. "He really doesn't give up, does he?"

Duck shook her head. "He's pretty persistent."

James Fishburn seemed to be most focused on Femio and his erratic dance, much to Effie's dismay. She punched him in the side.

The performance abruptly stopped as the rose petals settled. His assistant was yanked from the hallway, Femio himself soon thereafter and the doors were slid shut once again.

"I don't see why you dislike him so much, Gurn," James frowned as much as a giant fish man could. "His dance was rather enthralling."

Mr. Fishman drew a fin to his face. "I really don't know what you see in that kid."

"I'd like to at least give him a chance," James insisted, breaking away from Effie and heading for the door.

"Don't be foolish," Mr. Fishburn chided.

James ignored the scolding and existed the room anyway, much to Effie's dismay.

"There's something going on here," Duck nodded assuredly. She grabbed Chibiusa by the wrist, using their smaller forms to weave through the gathered audience and find Fakir near the front. "Psst. Psst. Hey Fakir."

He didn't move much more than turn to scowl at her.

She pursed her lips together. Fakir was avoiding her for some reason. Perhaps it was because she was being rather informal at such an important gathering, but something about that stare felt cold. Releasing Chibiusa's wrist, she pantomimed at him the ballet mime for reading a book.

He sharply shook his head.

Illia spotted her in the crowd. "Is Duck trying to get your attention?"

"It's nothing," Fakir insisted coldly, turning his attention elsewhere. "I'll give her a talk about interrupting the celebration later."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Illia worried.

"Not really," Fakir shook his head.

Illia exchanged a worried glance with Helios, and the latter very well understood. Fakir had been off since he'd returned home from the library last night, but he wasn't certain until he heard the disdain in his words. Only days before had Fakir and Duck danced a pas de deux with passion at the fire in the gazebo, and now he spoke of Duck like she was inconsequential.

He spotted both Chibiusa and Duck in the front of the crowd, offering them a quick pantomime to handle the story while he remained here with Fakir. The knowledge that Fakir had given him gave him perfect understanding of the ballet miming, so he could communicate naturally with Duck, who also understood it. Chibiusa didn't, but he saw Duck lean over and whisper the meaning to her.

They both wove back through the crowd, slipping out the sliding doors and into the hall. The hallway was littered with rose petals left behind by Femio and his performance. The petals had been disturbed, someone following him as Femio had been pulled away.

"I bet Mr. James made those tracks," Chibiusa reasoned.

"Without a doubt," Duck agreed. "I'm pretty sure I know this dance. It's La Sylphide. It's a pretty famous ballet where a man falls in love with a sylph despite having a fiance. But it also ends in with the sylph dying."

Chibiusa wrinkled her nose. As much as Femio irritated her, he didn't deserve for his story to end in tragedy. "Let's-" She paused, hearing the same music as the day before. "Is that a barrel organ?"

"Miss Edel!" Duck recognized the tune quickly, taking off down the hall towards the music. Sure enough, standing in the hallway was the familiar puppet cranking the barrel organ playing that same familiar tune. "Miss Edel, what are you doing here?"

"Beware the shapeshifters," she stated.

"Shapeshifters?" Duck pursed her lips together.

"I get it," Chibiusa nodded. "There're a lot of Japanese legends about shapeshifters, everything from kitsune to cats and even spirits. There's a second legend playing out here, isn't there?"

"Who can say?" Edel replied cryptically.

"Well if this is anything like the last one, it could be two legends blending together, intertwined in a way that we may not be able to separate them," Chibiusa reasoned.

"But which one?" Duck questioned.

"I dunno," Chibiusa shook her head. "There are a lot of legends with shapeshifters, and we only went over a few in class. It could be any of them." She stared down at the necklace Edel had given her the day before. The carp carved out of a gem. Now that she thought of it, there had been a lot of carp and koi since they first spotted Femio as the sylph the day before. "Koi. It's about koi."

"Koi? The fish we keep seeing everywhere?" Duck lost count in how many they'd seen in the past two days.

"There's a legend, I can't remember the name, but it tells of why we fly koi flags during certain festivals back home," Chibiusa explained. "The man dreams he's at a river, and he reaches a dragon gate. When the koi swim through the dragon gate, they grow larger and shapeshift into dragons."

"D-dragons?!" Duck exclaimed. "Like the ones that kidnap princesses?"

"Those are western dragons,," Chibiusa shook her head. "Eastern dragons a symbol of power and strength and are usually kind, but with the way this place twists legends? They might not be so kind."

"We should go find Mr. James!" Duck reasoned. "Thanks, Miss Edel!"

"Do take care," Edel wished them well as they left, kinking at the joints and suddenly removing herself from the story like a marionette pulled from a stage.

The pair leapt from the door in a burst of feathers and glitter, transforming and heading down the street. Tutu traveled using long grand jetes while Chibi Moon resorted to long leaps. Fortunately both could travel very well in their transformed state, which made covering ground much easier.

"There, they are by the river," Tutu spotted James and Femio. "By the long bridge across the waters."

James had stopped Femio in his dance, standing by the river, talking with him near a bridge. The conversation seemed a bit heated, as Femio had persistently attempted to twirl away but was stopped by James each time. Koi burst out of the river nearby, growing larger and larger as they approached the bridge. Once they crossed over it, they stretched and transformed, becoming eastern dragons that wriggled into the air and off to somewhere in the sky.

"This is surreal," Tutu commented as she landed on the building.

"This is definitely the tale of the carp flags," Chibi Moon realized. "That bridge must be the Dragon Gate. And look, James is trying to drag Femio to the gate!"

"We'll need to stop him before this takes a turn for the worse." Tutu leapt off the building in a grand jete, waving her arms like a graceful bird flapping its wings. It allowed her to travel farther, landing in front of James. She wound her hands over her head, offering one to him. "James, won't you dance with me?"

James defensively wrapped his arms around Femio. "You can't have him!"

"Princess Tutu!" Femio tried to reach out to her. "My love! Save your prince!"

If it hadn't been for the dire situation, she might've objected. "James, it is you who I want to dance with me."

"Oh my crushed heart and soul!" Femio whined. "To be rejected by my princess once again!"

"Not happening," the fish man declared, forcefully pushing her aside and heading towards the bridge.

Tutu leapt once again in front of them, trying to stop them from approaching. She glanced up at the rooftops, seeing Chibi Moon had made her way across them, her Kaleidoscope in hand. Stopping James would be difficult as he was incredibly determined to reach the bridge, dragging Femio mercilessly with him.

James once again shoved Tutu to the side, resuming his approach. Chibi Moon frowned. The transformation from a koi to a dragon was supposed to be a joyous one, not forced and with an unwilling guest. She took a knee on the building, her Kaleidoscope poised before her. She had to save them, she had to protect James's marriage and Femio's dream to do whatever he called dancing.

She thought of Helios and Fakir, of how the latter was acting strangely and the former was working to protect him. She thought of the ballet they were going to perform. She wanted to see Helios dressed in that lacy jacket that reminded her of attire popular in the royal court. She wanted to spend more time with Helios and Fakir and Duck. She wanted to see them all happy.

She had to succeed.

"Please, Kaleidoscope! Reveal what's destroying their dreams! Moon Dream Meditation!"

Rainbows bowed forward, arching off the building rooftop and down into the street below. They enveloped both James and Femio, forcing the falsely guided dreams to separate from them as doubles. Tutu reached forward, touching the doubles and turning them into leaves once again.

"Huh?" James blinked stupidly. "Why am I here? I bet Effie is worried!" He sauntered off, leaving Femio to faint dramatically on the pathway.

Tutu caught the leaves, sighing in relief as the story had come to an end. A few more koi leapt from the water, travelling through the gate and back into the sky. "Truly, the transformation is quite a sight."

"It really is," Chibi Moon agreed, leaping down from the building to the walkway. "Almost sad to see this one go." Her attention snapped to Tutu as the ballerina suddenly jarred backwards. "Tutu?"

Several backwards steps then a backwards sissounne scissor kick. A few pique turns and she found herself spinning backwards and away from the scene. She tried to turn herself back around, reaching in an arabesque towards Chibi Moon, silently crying out for help. She suddenly leapt into an impossibly high grand jete, twisting at the top to turn herself towards the other way. She leapt away from the river and out of her friend's reach.

"Tutu?!" Chibi Moon quickly took off after her. "TUTU!"

...

Author's notes

La Sylphide is just a bizarre ballet. Femio had hinted at it in the previous chapter, calling himself a sylph several times, but what makes it jarring is that sylphs are female. Then again, Femio has crossed the gender boundaries a few times, making him the perfect target of a ballet that reverses gender roles.

The fish people in the story are playing out all the roles in La Sylphide and unlike other stories so far, they are literally named after the characters in the ballet.

The Legend of the Dragon Gate blending with La Sylphide made for a very strange and surreal scene. As Chibiusa mentions, this legend is the origin of the koi windsocks that fly during Children's Day. The Dragon Gate was just a cool concept, so I blended it in with the symbolism of the last two chapters, since it didn't have enough for me to create a story on its own.