Marionettes
TIARA
“ARE YOU SURE I can touch it?!”
My eager voice bounced off the walls of the great hall. The royal family was attending a party thrown by a duke with close family relations to us. I’d been absolutely dazzled by the puppet show that captivated the rest of the guests as well.
The puppeteer seemed both moved and humbled by the warm reception. He offered me the marionette I’d shown the most interest in.
With his instructions, I worked the strings. The marionette wobbled awkwardly, but all the guests applauded my efforts nonetheless.
“Look at that, Tiara,” Pride told me. “You’re so good at it.”
“No, it’s really hard! Would you two like to try?!”
The audience was surely only being polite, but my big sister’s praise elicited a shy smile from me. Unable to move the marionette as skillfully as the puppeteer, I made it bow its head apologetically to my siblings as I suggested they take over.
“Um…why don’t you go first, Stale?” Pride said.
“If you insist, Elder Sister. Although I wouldn’t say I have much confidence. It looks quite difficult.”
Stale accepted Pride’s offer with a bow. He left his glass with a waiter and took the marionette’s crossbar one hand at a time. Following the directions from the puppeteer, he managed to move the marionette much more fluidly than I had. The crowd gasped and applauded, though it was hardly surprising to see Stale display that kind of skill.
I could make the marionette stand and bow, but Stale’s bow included subtleties like hand movements. The smiling doll moved elegantly, like it had a soul of its own. Pride and I curtseyed in return, charmed. Even Stale smiled a little as he thanked the puppeteer and carefully passed the marionette to Pride.
My big sister looked like she wanted to decline, but in the end, she timidly accepted the crossbar. Her shoulders stiff, she followed the puppeteer’s instructions…and stopped almost right away.
“Oh… It’s no use.” Her face fell. “The strings got tangled. I’m sorry.”
Pride was a force of pure destruction when it came to any skill not required of a queen, and the marionette was no different. The crowd smiled politely, and she returned the doll before she ended up ruining one of the tools of the puppeteer’s trade. He untangled the strings with ease, put the marionette into a pose, and handed the crossbar back to her.
The guests applauded warmly now that Pride was holding the doll the puppeteer had kindly posed for her. Though they treated her a bit like a child, she managed to smile back through her embarrassment.
When she accidentally wrenched the marionette’s right arm into a painful-looking pose, she quietly apologized to the doll once again.