It felt like forever before they pulled each other a part to breath after their long, heart felt kiss. Kara had been kissed before, but they were all friendship and family chaste kisses, not that she could remember her families touch at all, but this kiss was filled with an emotion Kara had not felt before…love. Clopin still held her in his grasp, although they were arms length apart, before she did something she had never done before to any man, she moved her body close to him, and hugged him. For many many years, all she had in her life was pain and the feeling of being lost and incomplete, but this man had just told her that he loved her, how could she say how she felt about him? She had never realized until know what all the signs meant when she was with him: the butterflies, looking at him then when he looked, she would look away…why did it take so long for her to realize that she loved him back? Was it because she was alone for so long? Or perhaps it was because she never knew fully what loving another person meant…until now. "Kara…" he said quietly. "Yeah?" "I love you." Kara smiled and responded, "I love you too."
It was the most exciting news to reach the Court of Miracles in years, Clopin the man they thought never would get a girl in his life due to his obligations as king, finally had someone! All the men were proud and the women in glee. The next couple of weeks were very busy preparing for the Festival of Fools that was approaching faster than they were ready for. Esmeralda had planned to dance, but they all wanted to show off the 'sun' and the 'moons' talent this year, and she was fine with it. Together they had picked up what to wear, and they chose for Lily to wear a very dark purple dress complete with a red scarf around her waist, while Kara wore the opposite. They also chose to wear a small little head piece, Lily with gold and a purple jewel at the top, and Kara with a silver hair piece and a red jewel in the middle, together they looked stunning. They both practiced their routine and were very exhausted by the end of each day, but were excited none the less. After each night, Lily would be with her or Esmeralda still talking about the festival and how excited they all were. Lily had told Kara in private that she was excited to see Frollo, and now Kara didn't care that she loved him because she knew what love was and how sometimes its not what you expect it to be. Now every night instead of going to her tent, which was now a change room, she was Clopin in his arms, in his bed, which made everyday like a blessing to her. "Are you excited for tomorrow?" he asked her the night before the festival. "Yes, but also nervous." She said moving closer to his warmth. "You'll be beautiful." Clopin said as he kissed her head, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep thinking about her dance with Lily tomorrow.
The next morning, all the streets of Paris in front of the Notre Dame church was full of colourful ribbon, flags and a bright stage. There were people and gypsies alike dressed in costumes of almost anything you could think of, it was the most fun and colourful day of the year, and everyone seemed happy. It was almost time for the festival to start and Clopin was already getting the crowd excited and pumped for the next acts to perform. "Once a year we throw a party here in town! Once a year we throw all Paris upside down!" he sang with joy and enthusiasm, while Kara and Lily were in a tent getting ready for the time when Clopin would magically call them upon the stage. Both girls were ready and waiting when they heard Clopin move about the stage where a hole was where they would soon be standing in his place. "See the finest girls in France! Dance la Kara and Lily! Dance!" And in a puff of red smoke, there they stood in their ready pose. The gypsy band played to the beat to their fast gypsy beat and their tambourines flashed in the sun. Both had planned to dance to Frollo were Lily could see him and give him her scarf, while Kara would tell him that she wasn't afraid of him, though she didn't tell Lily that. Both dance towards him, Lily kicking her legs high in the air, while Kara spinned and did a leap in the air right into the Judges arms. Lily threw her scarf with her sun on it and wrapped it around his head, then his neck and gave him a peak on the cheek, giggling as she dance away back to the stage, while Kara leaned in close to his face and said, "I'm not afraid of you." And pulled his hat over his head and danced away, much to the crowds approval. They ended their dance with Lily on the ground her arms high in the air, and Kara balancing on one foot with her arms almost grabbing Lily's. The crowd cheered madly and threw them coins upon the stage. They both bowed and left back to a tent that was set up for them to undress and change back into their normal attire. "Lily we did awesome!" Kara said giving her friend a big hug. Near them, they could hear Clopin and Esmeralda picking men to become to king of fools, which only went to the ugliest face in Paris. "I want to see who gets crowned!" Lily said and quickly dressed and left her clothes in a heap on the ground. Laughing, Kara picked them up and folded them in a nice bundle before she herself changed back into her normal clothes.
Once she was ready, she saw a misshapen man begin tied down to the pillory where he seemed to be struggling. People began to throw rotten food in his face and laugh at him while he seemed in pain and afraid. Pulling the dagger she had always in her wrapped scarf around her waist, she ran to him, where she could see Esmeralda following her as well. Pushing past people, Kara came upon a man with a hump upon his back, and miss matched eyes, which were covered by his red straggling hair. Although she could only see one eye, she could see that he had been crying, and her heart dropped. She could hear Esmeralda and Frollo arguing back to each other, when she released him from his bonds. "You gypsy!" he called to Kara. "How dare you untie him!" Smiling at the man, she turned her attention to Frollo and yelled at him, "How dare you treat a poor boy like this! You don't deserve my respect!" His face was livid as he ordered a man in shining armour to have both she and Esmeralda surrounded and arrested. "Kara quickly get out of here and head to the Court of Miracles, Lily and I know how to take care of these guys." Esmeralda whispered to her, just as Lily had sneaked past the guards to stand by her friends. "Lets see ten of you against the three of us, that's so unfair!" Lily said as she and Kara threw powder to the floor causing them to disappear quickly. While Esmeralda and Lily were having the guards follow them, Kara snuck up behind Frollo's little viewing box and took out her dagger. Coming up silently behind his chair, she put a hand over his mouth a cut his cheeks, hard enough to leave a scar like he did on her. Once she could feel the blood on her hand upon his mouth, she turned around and faced him, "That's for my father and mother, and for the scar you left me all those years ago!" As he grinned at her she jumped down from her spot in time to see that her friends had gotten away and the man that she had saved was walking towards the Notre Dame cathedral. It began to pour rain, and she knew that going to the Court of Miracles would have been too risky, so she ran into the church after the man.
She was dripping wet by the time she came into the church, and the man was also out of sight. Kara was amazed how quite and peaceful this atmosphere was with the candles and chanting of words she did not understand, but enjoyed listening to. "Oh no! Clopin!" she yelled as she remembered that he would be worried, she ran to the front doors and yanked them open in time to see Frollo and some guards walking up the steps. "Oh my god!" she muttered as she slammed the doors closed and ran in the opposite direction, but they were just as fast. She heard the doors open and left a stabbing pain in her right leg. Kara fell to the floor and hit it hard as she felt blood running down her leg. "You bastards!" she screamed. They had sent a small arrow into her leg and it hurt like a bitch, but she still tried to crawl away, when he grabbed her leg and pulled her to him, "You will pay dearly for this." He said pointing to his cheeks. Frollo couldn't help but notice that when he pulled her, her skirts had risen above her knees. Noticing what he was staring at her bare legs; Kara turned and slapped him as hard as she could. Growling his grabbed her raised wrist and squeezed it. "You don't learn do you, you gypsy wench." He said to her, "I'm going to make you suffer." He whispered low enough so only she could hear. "Take her away to the palace of justice!" he ordered his men. Getting up he walked away, as two guards came and pulled her roughly to her feet. Her blood left a trail while she was being dragged, as they came into the rain, a crowd had formed and she could see familiar faces, especially one that was yelling and trying to push past the people and guards. "Kara! Kara!" Clopin yelled, but he couldn't get close enough as she was roughly shoved into another carriage and began to move to what seemed her doom. She looked out the window only to see Lily and Clopin running to follow it, and banged her fists on the glass. "Clopin! Lily! Please help me!" she was scared, and she didn't want to be alone in the Palace of Justice near Frollo.
The carriage stopped and she was flung out onto the street roughly. She was wet, cold and in serious pain that it hurt to walk on her hurt leg. "Kara! Kara! No!" she heard Clopin yell, and saw Lily sneak into a side door. "Clopin! Go before they get you! Go!" she screamed, for she didn't want him to get caught. She was pulled into the Palace of Justice and looked at a long hall with a large fireplace at the end, with a large cross on the top of it, but she only had a second to look at it, before she was led to the dungeons. She could hear prisoners moan and scream, and her heartbeat was beating so fast, she thought it could be heard bouncing off the walls. Kara was led to what looked like a torture chamber where she was strapped down on a wooden plank, waiting for what was to come. She could feel them break the arrow in half, as they prepared to pull it out without any kind of painkillers. "Ready? Is the doctor here?" she heard a man say. "Yes." Said an older voice. Then there was a ripping sensation and she screamed as tears fell down her cheeks. Even though they were bandaging her leg, she continued to cry, it hurt so much that she could feel herself slip in and out of conscious, before she blacked out completely.
Lily was with Frollo in the hallway that Kara had seen on her way in, pleading with him to let Kara go. "Please Frollo let her go! She was angry at what you did to her family all those years ago! Please Frollo my love let her go!" she was on her knees and holding his black robe. "You would have her get away with what she did to me?" he asked coldly. Lily looked up at him, her face brimming with fresh tears, "No, but you have already left a mark upon her, don't make her suffer anymore!" Frollo went down to Lily's level and lifted her chin with one ringed finger, "When I am done with her, she may leave, but until the, she is in my authority." "But please don't hurt her or kill her!" Smiling and laughing he got up and removed her hand from his robes as he walked to the fireplace, "I have no intention of killing her Lily, you may leave now." Frollo said, as Lily picked her weak body off the floor and walk out of the Palace of Justice back to a worried Clopin. Looking into the fire he touched his now scaring cheek and smiled, "I will not kill her…yet."