From the Hall of the Mountain King

Walter flipped through the mail as he approached the flat. He could already hear Otto's piano and Nomura's singing from the street below. They had both grown in the past century. And if either of them teased him about the grey at his temples, he just had to remind them that they were the cause of it.

He stopped short, looking down at the envelope. Omni Reach.

'That can't be right. We haven't even been here a year.'

He tore open the envelope, expecting the worst. He was pleasantly surprised. Tucking the rest of the mail under his arm, he opened the door and followed the music into the parlor. Sure enough, his brother was playing the jaunty song at the piano while their sister sang at his side. Walter leaned against the doorframe and wait for them to finish.

"That was marvelous, you two." He applauded, "Now, go put on your best. We have a mission."

"Really?" Nomura lit up.

"VVhere?" Otto turned on his bench.

"The Paris Opera House." Walter held up the letter, "There's going to be a performance of Peer Gynt and a piece of the bridge is in the singer's costume."

"So we're going to the opera to see where it is first." Nomura took the paper from his hand.

"Yes." Walter let her have it, "Once there, I'll locate the piece. Then, you and I will cause a distraction while Otto infiltrates backstage to grab it."

"I like zis plan," Otto grinned.

"Then go get ready. And don't forget to wear the coat with the trick pockets."

Otto nodded and led the way up the stairs, Nomura scampering along behind him. Walter watches them go before carefully closing the piano. He glanced out the window carefully before drawing the curtains and making his way up to the bedroom he shared with Otto.

LLB

Nomura carefully folded her hands in her lap as she sat between her brothers. Walter handed her the opera glasses he had purchased for her for the evening. Otto crossed his knees gently. More and more people filtered into the theater, the noise pressing against her ears. Walter silently placed a hand on her knee. She hadn't noticed she was shaking it.

The lights began to dim over the seats as the orchestra began their final tuning. The people in the seats falling mercifully quiet. Then, all was quiet. A young woman, not much older than her, strode elegantly onto the stage. Her light blue dress sparkled with hidden gems and her thick black curls were pulled up neatly and held in place with a jeweled band. Walter leaned over slightly, evidently having already spotted the piece of Killahead Bridge.(1)

Then, the music swelled once more. The deep red curtains behind the singer lifted, displaying a painted rural setting. Nomura's breath caught. There were no other performers on the stage, the orchestra was in the pit. It was just the woman. The opening song came to a close, and she sang.

Nomura could have sworn she stopped breathing at that moment. Her heart pounded in her chest and she could see the story the woman was telling. The theater around her vanished as the story of Gynt and the trolls came to life around her. Her heart leapt with the music and fell with the woman's singing. The skin of her face and arms prickled and tingled as if someone was running the feathers of her hat over her.

Then, it was over. The crowd burst into applause. Walter pressed his handkerchief into her hand. When had she started crying? He carefully helped her up and urged her towards the door. Otto had already disappeared. She dabbed at her eyes and looked around the lobby, debating on whether it was the guards or one of the artists she should distract. Then she saw the singer and lit up. She couldn't walk in on Otto stealing the piece if Nomura was talking to her. And if she got to talk to the artist herself, that was just a bonus.

LLB

Otto slipped from his chair as soon as the singer was finished. It wouldn't do if anyone saw him shift forms. He crept from the lobby, down the hall, and into a more hidden alcove. Then, he shifted into a small beetle and flew deeper into the opera house.

His heart was still racing from the spectacular performance. He used that energy to fuel his search. The tiny body of the beetle didn't have much energy. As he neared the singer's changing room, he hid away and shifted back to his human form.

"Lorri, you were amazing!" Cooed a woman, "You're best performance yet!"

"Thank you, Miranda." It was the voice of the singer, "But it was really just another show. When you've had as much time to practice as we have–"

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a marvelous singer and a fantastic performer."

"Be that as it may, this doesn't change my choice to make this show my last. We've already been in Paris too long. People will start to notice."

Otto tried desperately not to move in his hiding place. The Pale Lady only knew what would happen if the two women discovered a strange man hiding near the dressing room. All he had to do was wait for them to leave and snatch the bridge piece that had been a part of the singer's belt.

"So you keep saying," He could hear Miranda roll her eyes, "But where exactly do you propose we go, hm? Back to Greece? Or maybe Italy this time?"

A woman in a lilac dress stepped out of the dressing room and, for a moment, he thought she was the singer. She had the same thick black curls and same curved nose, even the same figure as the woman he had seen on stage. But she didn't carry herself the same way. And, though her scent was on the dressing room, there was another that was more prominent.

"Actually," The singer's voice came from within the room, "I was thinking we could try going to America."

"America?" Miranda put her hands on her hips, "That's your big idea?"

She whipped around and Otto stiffened in his hiding place. She shook her head as the singer continued.

"Yes! We could try our hands at the theaters there. I even hear they have traveling actors like we used to do."

"Just hurry up," Miranda crossed her arms and rounded on the open door, "If we're really going to leave then people are going to want to say goodbye to the great Loraine Pepperjack."

"I'm coming. I'm coming. I just had to grab my glasses."

The singer, Loraine, stepped out of the room and closed the door. Otto hastily covered his mouth to hide his gasp. He had known she was beautiful when he saw her on stage but it had not prepared him for seeing her up close. She was still wearing the sky blue dress but the jewels that had decorated it and her hair were now gone. Without the jeweled headdress, her thick black curls hung loosely down her back. From behind the thick glasses shone bright blue eyes.

The sisters set off down the hall, arm-in-arm but he still did not move. He told himself he was waiting to be sure they had gone. He shook all thoughts of the Pepperjack sisters from his mind before sneaking into the dressing room to find the bridge piece. He raked his gaze over the belt until he found it and, carefully, cut it off. Then, he hid it in a secret pocket on the inside of his coat, transformed once more into the beetle, and flew off down the hall. He transformed back to his human form in the same alcove as before and set off in search of his brother and sister. They had what they came here for.

LLB

Months after the mission at the opera house, Nomura was still talking about the aria. She was still singing the songs. And that, of course, meant that Otto had learned how to play all of them from memory on his piano for her. Walter shook his head as he remembered. He stepped into the post office once more to collect their mail and was pleased to see that the packages he had commissioned had arrived.

They certainly weren't much but, considering the anniversaries of him finding both Otto and Nomura were coming up, he had something made for each of them. He tucked the packages under his arm and flipped through the envelopes again. Another one from Omni Reach. He tore it open and frowned. His heart fell to his toes. This couldn't be right. Not once in the past three hundred years had they done this to him. He tightened his hold on the packages. It looked like his plans would have to change.

He walked the rest of the way home in a trance. As if there were a thick fog over his path rather than the bright sunshine. He forced himself to open the front door, his body trying to prevent the inevitable.

"Bruderlein? Nono?" He called.

Otto came from the study, pen still in hand. Nomura wandered down the stairs, having been getting ready to head to an event at the museum.

"There's…There's something I need to talk to you two about." He nodded them both into the parlor.

Once both changelings were seated on the sofa, he handed them each one of the packages. Otto peeled open his carefully while Nomura tore at the paper. Inside each was a masterfully crafted locket. Otto's was plain silver but inside, was a miniature painting done from a sketch of his mother and baby schwester. Nomura's held a painting of the three of them when they had arrived in France. It too was silver but, on the front it read "To thy own self be true".

"VVhat are zese?" Otto looked up at him.

Walter sighed, "I had meant to give them to you for your anniversaries. But, it would appear the Janis Order had other plans."

Nomura snatched the letter from his hands and frowned as she read it. Otto read it over her shoulder before straightening.

"WAS!?" He rounded on Walter, "But zey've never separated us before!"

"Well, they are now." Walter put a hand on his shoulder, "You are to go back to Germany first thing tomorrow. I'm being sent back to England and I have to leave tonight."

Nomura stared at the paper for another moment before dropping it on the bench beside her and leaving the room.

"Nomura?"

"VVhere are you going?"

She stopped but didn't turn, "The letter says that I'm staying here. So that means that I have to finish getting ready. I'm supposed to be a visiting noble from Japan after all. It…It would look strange if I didn't show up to an event for myself and the other visiting nobles."

Walter wanted nothing more than to hold his brother and sister. But there simply wasn't time for that. He had to pack and make it back to the post office to catch the mail carriage before it left. So he settled for clasping each locket around their necks and pressing his forehead to theirs one last time.

"It's not forever," Otto croaked. "Z-Zey have to put ze bridge back togezer someplace so…"

Walter nodded. Nomura just shrugged and made her way back up the stairs.

LLB

1) I have no idea if a woman would have been allowed to perform Peer Gynt at the Paris Opera House back then. I chose a woman for this because the only production I've ever seen of Peer Gynt was performed by a woman and I wanted to tease Janbach a little. LLB Also, I had to double check and I was not expecting my timeline to be near perfectly accurate to the year. Peer Gynt arrived in France in 1798 and the Napoleonic War started 1799.