Kaleido Star: Heart of a Lioness

Chapter 1

Off-Broadway

Walking behind the curtains of a big stage is a mature-looking woman. However she is walking with a small notebook in hand and a pen placed between her nose and upper lip like a moustache, this in turn makes her look more like a juvenile schoolgirl. She is seemingly pondering something, but doesn't fail to notice her surroundings as she carefully notes when something catches her attention. A discarded cup of coffee, a janitor's uniform folded on a chair, one of the old unused props, any meaningless thing seems to spark ideas in her as she quickly writes her ideas.

Finally she sits down in a front-row seat and reviews her ideas.

Panting a young blond sits herself next to the elder woman, obviously exhausted wiping the sweat of her forehead.

Curious to see one of her actors this exhausted she asks.

"Are you done for today?"

"No she is not." interrupted an imposing female voice. "But it's Macquarie's first session of the new training regime; she's bound to get tired quickly."

"I think she can talk for herself." said the elderly woman, refocusing on the girl next to her. "So what do you say?"

Macquarie however was still with her eyes closed panting and with her arm over her eyes. She barely managed to silently answer.

"What Layla said."

Normally the girl would only talk with the highest of etiquette, but after the rough training she had just gotten through, it was the only thing she could say. Neither of her superiors seemed to mind it tough.

"Hmpf, sometimes I think it's you calling the shots around here, not me. I wonder how Kalos managed you back at Kaleido Stage."

"You can blame yourself Cathy; it was you who offered me a partnership and not an actor's contract."

The director sighed. "I curse myself for that. To think how much trouble it would have saved me."

With that their little argument ended and rehearsals continued. Macquarie also followed shortly, there was only that long of a break she was allowed. If she ever dared to hope to reach the same glory as Layla, she needed to build up more strength, because after she barely lived up to her expectation in the Golden Phoenix show, she now needed to surpass them. Cathy on the other hand knew that this was all part of Layla's routine she put through all of her rookies. At least that meant that Layla saw potential in her, however her expectations have rarely been breached and it would still be a while before the former maid would become reasonably good. The only person to have ever surpassed those expectations was Sora.

But Cathy saw something different today. She had seen it before but it took her a while to realize what was going on with Layla. Beneath her usual calm and collected exterior, and her usual flawless performance, there was something. But what was it?

Cathy pondered. Haven't I see this before?

Layla didn't notice the intense pondering, but she felt something, something that Cathy started to notice. It did not affect her routine and there was little to no real evidence that would suggest a troubled nature.

Everything is going smoother than usual. Macquarie is starting to slowly improve; by the next show she'll be good enough for slightly greater roles. Then I'll send her to some other stages for her to gain more experience.

A pleasant feeling started to course through her.

I forgot just how rewarding having an apprentice is. This stage is slowly starting to become more like Kaleido Stage. I wonder if I provoked this change. Seems to be the only explanation.

Her good mood however quickly changed as the previous thoughts crossed her mind.

At the moment, there is little I would want to improve. … but … why? Why do I feel I want something? What is it I desire?

Now Cathy realized and she slapped herself over her forehead. It had been obvious all along. She took the pen that was now placed at the top of her ear and wrote down in her small notebook.

I must be getting old. How could I fail to notice what's going on with her? At least this time she'll be going during her vacation.

With that final note she closed her notebook and placed her pen back as if it was her moustache, just in case a new idea popped into her head.

A few hours later Macquarie finished her daily quota. Layla allowed her to stop, considering it enough for today. However she also specified that during the three-week vacation Macquarie should keep up her training and increase difficulty with each new week.

"Yes mistress ... I mean Layla, I will."

"Good, enjoy your vacation; I expect you in top form when the new rehearsals begin."

"Thank you, I'll try my best."

"Don't forget to talk with Cathy."

"Yes, yes of course. "

With that the satin-blond girl left tired, but happy, heading towards the director. Layla continued to practice as she normally did. She still had enough spare energy for another couple of hours.

Cathy was still pondering various things and didn't even notice when Macquarie came to her.

"Excuse me."

She spooked the director whose pen-moustache dropped.

"Argh! … Don't do that whilst I'm thinking."

"I'm sorry, but I would like to see the notes you made today."

"You do? Why?"

"Layla told me I should get more involved with other aspects of the stage and I'll be presenting your ideas to the other producers."

Cathy laughed a bit.

"There's always room for improvement isn't there? Very well. "

Cathy retrieved her pen from the stage floor and replaced it back to its previous position on her upper lip. Macquarie opened the small notebook and took one idea at a time. The pages where quite full with concepts: some very literate ideas, others abstract scribbles. Never the less she had to go through all of them in order to understand them. Cathy was pleased to talk about her ideas and if it was Macquarie's responsibility from now on to present the idea to the others of the staff it was all the better for her. She admitted that the girl had a lot more patience with the other directors, than she had.

"So this protagonist does not see the answer, although it's in front of her?"

"Yes." said Cathy nodding, happy that the young girl was starting to understand her ideas.

"Aha, I see."

Another few ideas were discussed before they got to the final written page. Macquarie at first didn't know what to make of the three words that were underlined, showing its importance.

"Layla Road Trip?" she read confused." Is the mistress going somewhere?"

Cathy nodded. "I wasn't sure at first, but she seems troubled again and you know what she does when she thinks she's at a standstill."

"Layla is troubled? She looks perfectly normal to me."

"Well, that's why I am the director here and you an actor. It is funny though how she fancies these kind of trips to figure herself out."

"At least this time we should find out where she is going."

"That's a great idea!" said the elderly woman taking her notebook back in her hand, intending to write the girl's idea down so she wouldn't forget. "Argh! Where did that pencil go!?"

Macquarie laughed a bit, then reached out to Cathy's face to remove the pencil from underneath her nose. In all the deep consideration of new ideas, the director forgot her pen was still substituting a moustache.

"Here it is." the girl said with an amused look.

"I knew that!" answered Cathy taking the pen. I really am getting old.