Her Majesty The Prince

The lead actors bowed once, twice, three times; Lou lost count. The raucous applause and cheering of the crowd never abated, not even for a second. But eventually, the final moments of the last show had to come to an end, and the golden curtains of the royal theater finally closed on the stage.

And Lou immediately fell to her knees, unceremoniously tipping backwards into a sitting position, the edges of her vision going dark.

"You okay there Lou?" Roy asked, still holding her right hand as he knelt down next to her. Libellule did the same, holding Lou's left hand as she reached up with her other arm to take off the blindfold part of her Witch-Fiend costume. The two small discs woven into it lit up from the sudden motion, the light quickly extinguished as the actress stuffed the band of fabric down the front of her robe.

All of it had happened so fast. Lou had seen the Prince in the audience, chased him through the old renovated castle for an unreasonable amount of twists and turns, finally cornered him on a distant balcony and... and just let him have it.

What had she done?

She'd never screamed out in anger so loudly, least of all at him. She had run through the full gamut of emotions, and from what she'd been able to tell, so had he. It was no longer a lingering hope in her heart or a guilty desire going against reason—it was true. He cared about her. Regardless of the misguided things he had done or the terrible ways he'd shown it, he cared. Lou's gut instinct had been right. There was only so much the Prince could do to distance himself from the heart beating in his chest.

But now that the existence of his feelings was out in the open... would anything come of it? Aware of it or not, he was still running away, despite Lou's best efforts.

"Here you go ma'am!" the child said as they ran up to her from backstage, a cup full of water and Lou's handkerchief at the ready.

"It's okay," Lou said as she sat up properly, gradually regaining her senses. "I'm okay."

The child stared blankly at her, unsure what to do. They hesitantly held out the cup and piece of cloth anyway.

Lou chuckled and accepted the items, freeing her hands from the colleagues at her sides. "Thank you." She took a sip, first out of politeness, but then out of necessity as her body's needs began to catch up with her.

"Well I ain't coming back from that," Roy said, shaking his head. "Dry eyes after curtain call."

"I told you I wasn't gonna cry tonight," Lou said with just a hint of smugness.

Both of her colleagues held back a laugh.

"...What?" Lou asked. Had they figured out what happened while she'd been gone? Or perhaps...

"It's written all over your face, hon," Libellule said with a smirk.

Lou felt the color rise to her cheeks right as the realization hit her. "Oh no, my makeup. Is it...?"

"A bit of a mess," Libellule said as she gently rubbed Lou's back.

Lou sighed and dipped the handkerchief in the cup of water, attempting to wipe off as much as she could of what was left on her face.

"You did good on stage, though! Handled it like a pro right 'till the end. From what I could see, at least." Libellule turned to Roy. "Did anything happen after the drop?"

"She had to run an errand for a lil' bit," he said, ruffling Lou's hair. "Came back just in time for bows, though."

Lou looked up at Libellule's shocked face. "I can explain! It's, uh..." She trailed off, eyes downcast, focusing on her reflection in the cup she was holding—slightly smudged, but presentable. She wondered if she actually could explain it. What was she going to say? Her foolhardiness had almost ruined the play? Then again, if anyone would understand, it'd be them. She put the cup down and mustered her confidence. "He was in the audience tonight. So I... I chased him down before he could leave."

"He?" Libellule asked. "Who's... wait. HE was here?"

Lou nodded.

Libellule put her hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Oh, hon."

"Well I don't mean to pry," Roy said, leaning closer, "but I do have one question: didja catch him?"

Lou's face scrunched up. She nodded.

Roy broke out into a conspiratorial smile as he patted her on the back. "Atta girl."

Lou immediately sprang to her feet, taking a few wobbly steps as she tried to outrun the blood rushing to her face. "I gotta go check on the kids! Dusty's taking care of them and, and, and I don't wanna keep her." She could have all the time she wanted with her feelings later; right now, she still had a job to do. One of the best parts of it, too.

The sea of smiling faces waiting for her on the other side of the door made Lou's heart soar. The three actors walked out into the auditorium, where a sizeable number of audience members had remained to mingle with some of the cast. Lou made her way through the throngs of people, trying to locate her former coworker.

All the time Lou had spent on stage over the past two years had made it easy to forget how different things were once her feet were on the ground. Before the coronation, she had full view of the situation; navigating a crowd was as simple as picking one of the clear paths that lay before her. Now, it was like pushing her way through a thicket in the dark. Half of her attention was focused on catching occasional glimpses through the gaps in the shifting masses; the rest of it was spent making sure she avoided getting trampled underfoot. Not that there was any rational risk of that, she chided herself. But the instinct was hard to dismiss.

As soon as she spotted Dusty—surrounded by her family and the troupe members' kids, engaging in lively discussion with Françoise the set technician—Lou ran to her, arms outstretched. She was ready to take the youngest of the troupe children back from her friend, but as she got close, she found the toddler fast asleep in the arms of the former royal maid. Lou slowed in her approach, relieved.

"...everywhere at the end? I gotta know how you did that!" Dusty asked.

"Trade secret!" Françoise said smugly, adjusting her glasses and dramatically flicking back a lock of bright curly hair.

"Aw c'mon, you can give me something! That looked awesome!"

"...Oh, fine!" The technician leaned closer, her ego sufficiently stroked. "Okay, so! You know how witchsilver shines when you shake it? Well, turns out you can trade duration for intensity if you alloy it with—"

"It's the princess!" said a high-pitched voice.

Lou looked around for the source, quickly finding Dusty's youngest sibling looking up at her, mouth wide open. She squatted down to get a little closer. "Hello!" she said with a big smile. "Did you like the play?"

"Yeah!!" the child shouted, pumping their fist in the air. "Le Loup was so cool! Ripped that witch-meanie to shreds!" They looked around. "Is he here too? I want a cape like that!"

Lou's smile lost a bit of its glow as she gently held some memories at bay. "Maybe you'll get to make your own someday." She looked at the child's modestly dapper outfit, focusing on the checkerboard-pattern neckerchief. "It looks like you've already got a nice accessory of your own, though."

The child gave her a big toothy grin as they tugged at the fabric, straightening it out. "YEAH! My dad helped me make it last year!"

She patted the child on the head, holding on to her smile as best she could. "See? You're already set."

Lou looked around from her squatting position, checking in on the other kids—some of whom were in her care, others in Dusty's—and making sure they were handling the noise and the crowd well. But, of course, all they could talk about was the play. This had been their first time in such a large theater. The first of many, hopefully.

"Glasses! There you are!" Dusty said, unceremoniously hoisting Lou up by the crook of the shoulder so the two former colleagues could talk face-to-face. "Great work up there! You didn't tell me you were such a natural!"

"Ah! Thank you," Lou said sheepishly. "But I'm not. Not really. I just had really good teachers."

"Hey, I ain't kidding, you were amazing. I never knew you had it in you! Where's the shy little newbie banging her head everywhere? All I saw was a princess up on stage!" She laughed heartily. "You sold that coronation speech like it was nothin'. If I didn't know you better I'd think you were there when it happened."

"Ahaha..."

Dusty leaned closer to get a better look. "Damn, Glasses, you look so much like her. Why didn't you tell us who you were from the start?"

A chill went up Lou's spine. Oh no, not again. She had already been through so much tonight, she wasn't ready for this at all. What could she say? How much did Dusty know, exactly? Lou was way out of her depth. She'd only managed to make it this far by telling her troupemates that—

"You should've told us you were one of those princess lookalikes!"

The relief was palpable. "Bodyguard," Lou corrected quietly, her shoulders slumping. This had been one of the most exhausting evenings of her life.

"The whole time." Dusty shook her head in disbelief, her mouth in a half smile. "That why you kept to yourself so much? Were you afraid we'd find out? But... wait. Wait, that doesn't make sense."

Lou braced herself, holding back a whimper. The brief hope she'd make it out of this unscathed vanished instantly. She wasn't good at this. She'd need much, much more than two years of acting practice to run circles around people using words. As things stood, the only path she knew was through.

"Didn't they give lookalikes those sweet retirement packages when they gave 'em all the boot? How'd you end up back at the castle slumming it with us maids, of all things? What was so important it had you scrubbing floors for months?"

"Well, I... uhh... I mean..."

"OH." The furrowed, scrunched-up look on Dusty's face instantly faded as her eyebrows shot through the roof. She stood straight up, as if experiencing the most sudden, most intense moment of clarity. "Oh I had this completely wrong. Gods, it all makes sense now!"

Lou felt a head shorter and three sizes smaller. She had worked so hard not to mess this up! She'd gotten so far without spilling her secret to everyone, and now she was going to lose sleep over yet another person knowing that—

WHAP!

Dusty gave her the heartiest slap on the back. "You sly dog, that wasn't an accident at all! You were trying to climb into his bed the whole time!"

Lou could only imagine just how red her face became at that very instant. She tried to say something in her defense but the stuttered sounds that came out of her mouth didn't even add up to a single word.

But of course, Dusty noticed. She noticed instantly, judging from the look on her face and the self-satisfied chuckling that followed. "Oh, Glasses, I gotta give it to you, I had you all wrong! That's a level of commitment worthy of legends!" But then another thought visibly crossed her mind, one that brought back the jagged edge Lou knew her for. "And what did he do with that dedication? He threw you right back out! Gods, I hope he's having the worst night of his life, wherever he is."

The relief Lou felt was palpable. She could work with this. Somehow, despite her inexperience with duplicity, the bits and pieces she'd told people all fit together without too much trouble. She'd been unlucky enough in other ways, she'd gladly accept this good fortune.

"I'm... I'm fine, I'm doing okay now," Lou said, scrambling to find a topic that would take the pressure off of her. "Besides, uh... I was chatting with your little sibling! It's nice to see the family you told us so much about!"

"Heh, enough about you, eh? Alright, I suppose that's enough prying for one night." Dusty flashed a grin with her unusually pointed teeth. "Yeah, my folks finally made it over! All that scrimping and saving paid off. We're still getting settled, but everyone's raring to get started."

"Oh, started on what? I forget why you all wanted to come over here to the capital."

Dusty gestured broadly with her free hand. "Opportunity! It's real easy to get a proper business going here thanks to the city services and the guilds and whatnot. So me and Cleaver got to talking one morning when I was on kitchen duty, and before we knew it we had a menu and a spot picked out in the lower city!"

"You're opening a restaurant?" Lou said, taken aback.

"Oh we're opening more than that! But yeah, the restaurant's a good start." Dusty grinned again. "You better come over next time you're in town! I figure we'll have something up and running by then."

Lou furrowed her brow at Dusty's sheer optimism. For countless nights back in the princess days, Lou had stood by as the Prince worked on one thankless pile of paperwork after the other. Half of it always had to do with the city administration—the vocal half, specifically. "That... that sounds really fast, I heard it takes a lot of time and effort to get anything done. Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure! Besides, the mayor owes me a couple favors. That old geezer ain't gonna slow me down with red tape."

"Wait, the mayor does?" Lou stared blankly. Dusty was the last person she ever thought she'd underestimate, and yet... "I guess a lot must have happened while I was gone."

"What? No, that's from before you left. Remember the time they opened up the royal bathhouse to the maids? The mayor managed to schedule himself a visit to the castle that same day."

"Yes, I remember—wait, what happened?!"

"Nothing." Dusty pressed her free hand against her chin and cracked her knuckles. "Nothing happened. That's why the mayor's still got a functioning windpipe. It's also why me, my folks and Cleaver are gonna have a functioning business sooner rather than later."

"That's... wow." Then the realization hit her. "Wait, you said Cleaver? Cleaver's gonna leave the castle too?"

"Yeah! Best cook in the capital. I'd be a fool not to team up with him."

Lou thought about the old curmudgeon with the fast hands. No one else had ever managed to make a meal the Prince genuinely loved. Or gotten Cleaver's curry recipe just right, either. The Prince had recruited him for the castle kitchen specifically because of his trademark dish.

"The... the Prince isn't going to like that." Lou almost blanched at the thought of him learning the news.

Dusty laughed almost loud enough to wake the toddler in her arm. "Good! He should be so lucky that that's the worst thing to happen to him, after what he did to you. Chiffon and I were chatting about that earlier."

"Well, he..." Lou perked up. "Wait, Chiffon's here?" She looked around, her eyes desperately seeking a head of light-colored hair. "Chiffon made it?!"

"Yeah, she came in right before the show started! Said hi to the kids and then we got to talking. She shouldn't be too far..." Dusty got up on her tiptoes, craning her neck to get a better view, for an intolerably long amount of time. After seconds that seemed like hours, she gave a quick nod of recognition. "There she is! She's talking with some of your buddies near the stage door. Wanna head over and say hi?"

"Yes!!" Lou said, with enough enthusiasm that she quickly repeated herself, more quietly this time. "Uh, yes. I'd like that."

Dusty grinned. "Let's wrangle these kids, then?"

Lou nodded, already on the task. She knew at least two of the older troupe kids who'd be excited to see a familiar face. She rounded up her colleagues' children—making sure none had dropped anything they'd miss later—and joined her group with Dusty's.

"Heh," Dusty said as she counted heads, "all we need now is Sleeves and we'd have the old castle crew back together. You think they're still working for the Prince? I can't tell if they're more likely to have straightened up and left to study with that witch aunt of theirs, or to have stuck with hustling people out of house and home in card games."

"Maybe both!" Lou said, then cleared her throat. "I mean, uh... anything's possible."

With the oldest kids corralling the youngest, they all carefully navigated over to the front of the auditorium, where current and previous troupe members had congregated.

"I thought I was done," Alphonse was saying, his face in his hands. "I thought that was it! But then the third showing became three new showings, and then we added another act, and then... This is the longest play we've ever put on?! How did this happen?"

Chiffon patted the playwright on the back. Her smile shone as brilliantly as ever, though her hair—a little longer now after two years—was hanging off one shoulder in a lovely, fluffy braid that contrasted beautifully with the dark color of her evening dress. Lou couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Chiffon out of uniform. Her heart picked up the pace as her feet did the same, and she herded the children in her care closer to the group.

"And tonight was supposed to be it! The final show!" Alphonse continued. "But now all these mayors and councilors are saying 'oh we love the play, show it again!' and 'oh you need to show it over in my hometown too, they'll love it!' What are we going to do? I have had the draft of our next production on my desk for weeks now. I should tell you about it, it will be perfect for..."

The beleaguered playwright brightened up as Lou approached. "There she is! Lou!" He walked over, reaching with a hand to give her a warm clasp on the shoulder. "The new star in our constellation. Lou, you were wonderful tonight! I almost can't believe it has only been two years since you walked in carrying Rita's letter. You learned so quickly!" He gave Chiffon a big smile. "She learned so quickly!"

"Wait, Glasses, your name is Lou?" Dusty said, keeping a careful eye on the kids. "Huh! Doesn't that get confusing?"

"Nah, when she's up on stage we just call her Lil' Lou," answered Roy with a chuckle as he patted Lou on the shoulder. He walked over to Dusty and the kids, holding out a hand. "Name's Roy."

"Dusty. Nice to meet ya." There was that sharp grin once again as she drew Roy aside a couple of steps, children in tow. "You play a pretty imposing wolf there, Roy! You do some training on the side?"

Lou was at a loss for words as Chiffon walked up to her with a smile fit to burst with emotion. Though this part of the auditorium was packed, the two of them had been left with a moment to themselves. There were so many things she wanted to tell her former coworker, her friend, her... If Chiffon hadn't recommended the Shepherd's Troupe on that fateful day when she left the castle, Lou didn't know where she would've ended up. Her gratitude was indescribable. Lou returned the smile, doing her best to maintain her composure as she struggled to find just the right thing to say after all this time.

"I'm so proud of you," Chiffon said with sparkling eyes.

Lou immediately burst into tears.

Before she knew it she was in Chiffon's arms, holding on tightly as two years of pent-up feelings came pouring out. Those little words had smashed right through all of Lou's carefully-built resolve. She had needed to hear them, deep down, for longer than she had ever realized. Months. Years. Decades, even.

Part of her had hoped not to completely fall apart in front of all her colleagues and some members of high society, but the rest of her figured it would've happened sooner or later. Besides, the other troupe members were no strangers to outbursts of emotion—especially not Lou's.

"Oh no!" Chiffon said with gentle dismay, gently rubbing Lou's back as she held the smaller performer. "I didn't mean to make you cry... There, there. It's okay! You did really great, Lou."

There were so many things Lou wanted to tell her, but one pushed its way to the front almost immediately. "He was here," she said, her face tucked under Chiffon's chin. "He watched the whole play. He saw me. I saw him. And he tried to leave, and I chased him down, and I caught him on the balcony, and we had a big fight, and..." She took a shaky breath. "I got through to him. I think I did. I really think I did."

"Oh, Lou," Chiffon said, gently rocking the both of them side to side. "You've been putting it all on your shoulders again, haven't you?"

Lou tried to calm down, slowly breathing in, then slowly breathing out. She wanted to tell Chiffon about everything she'd experienced in her time with the troupe. She wanted to tell her about her new friends... no, her new family. There was so much she wanted to share, and she couldn't do it properly unless they were face to face. She gently disengaged from her former colleague, and took a step back.

Chiffon gave Dusty and Roy a long look before turning her attention back to Lou. She shook her head, smiling despite her furrowed brow. "Lou, I can't believe you! You've been doing so much. You can't do it all on your own, you need to ask for help!"

"I... I have," Lou replied, her lip quivering slightly. She glanced in the direction Chiffon had a moment earlier; she looked to Libellule, standing not too far away; she gazed at the other troupe members around her. "I have been asking for help," she repeated quietly.

"You need to ask for more!" Chiffon said, drawing Lou into another hug, more fierce than the first. "You deserve so much more. You can ask for it! It's okay!"

Lou returned the hug, part of her confused, the rest of her overflowing with emotion. She hadn't been doing all this herself, had she? Her friends had been there every step of the way. She had been asking. Not for help with everything, to be sure, but just enough. After all, everyone else had their hands full with their own troubles. She didn't want to overstep. She didn't want to... to be...

Lou held on tight.

"I don't know if I can," she finally said.

Chiffon gently stepped back, taking Lou's hands into hers. "Well, you can practice with me."

Lou blinked. "What... what do you mean?"

Chiffon let go of her for a moment, walking over to Alphonse to pick up something by the wall. She returned, a colorful haversack slung over her shoulder, filled to bursting.

It took a moment for Lou to put two and two together. "Wait... are you...?"

"I'm rejoining the troupe!" Chiffon said with a smile equal parts cheerful and self-satisfied. "I think I've had enough of the castle life for a while. I'm excited to see the stage again! And you can tell me all about what I missed while we're out on the road." She patted the leather bag at her side, then looked down at the sharp angle poking at her hand from underneath.

Chiffon turned around for a moment—"Oh, that reminds me! Alphonse, I got those books you asked for!"—then turned back. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to borrow anything for such a long time, but once Sir Frederic heard it was for the troupe, he immediately put in a good word for me with the royal librarian."

"You're... you're really coming back?" Lou asked. She had heard the words; she trusted Chiffon. But there was a very vocal, very loud part of her that just couldn't believe something she had wanted so much was truly happening.

"I really, really am! Packed my bag and everything." Chiffon's smile took a slightly playful air, one that Lou had only seen on the rarest of occasions. "Did you miss me?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Lou laughed through the last few tears that had stubbornly stuck around. "I really, really did."

The bigger troupe member put her arm around her smaller colleague. "Well then, you should show me what I missed! Is Betsy still pulling the wagons alright? How are the kids?"

Lou's heart was already beating faster as the possibilities seemed to open up before her in ways she had never dared to imagine just a few hours earlier. Countless topics collided in her head, coming to mind faster than she could speak them aloud. "The twins kept mentioning you! You should go talk to them once they stop playing with Dusty's cousins and siblings. All they could say for the longest time was how 'Mommy Rita did it this way' and 'Mommy Rita did that better' and it was so... Oh, and Betsy! You never told me about Betsy! I was wondering how the troupe moved all those tents and sets and people from place to place! And, and... oh, gods, I still haven't returned the bags Frederic lent me, they're all packed up. There's no way I can dig them out of the storage car before we leave in the morning."

Chiffon patted Lou on the back. "It's okay! These things happen, I'm sure he's used to it. People forget things, it's normal!"

"Yeah..." Lou paused, then looked up at her. "I think there's an open bunk in the wagon I'm in. Want the bottom spot, like old times?"

"Sure, like old times!" Chiffon smiled in that particular way again. "We can share too, if you want."

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