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ONCE dinner had ended, preparations for the shadow puppet show began. Feilong had summoned a group of Yulan performers traveling around Jinlong to the palace. Soon, they would put on a show in the North Star Sanctuary. Angelina sat on Feilong’s lap with Kyril and Ryuho on either side of her. She was still somewhat angry, and being forced to sit on her father’s lap irritated her.
Prime Minister Tomi, Feilong’s right-hand man, Yuen, and Kyril’s tutor, Junshi, were also present. All three men were related to Feilong’s mother, Ryoui, and as such, he treated them as family. They’d been his confidantes even before he’d inherited the throne.
Feilong’s trusted knights were keeping a watchful eye on the traveling performers. For their part, the performers stood uncomfortably to the side of the room, all wearing pitch-black Yulan attire.
A large, white curtain had been hung in the room where the shadow puppetry would be performed. A barrel organ was in front of the curtain. It looked like a cart with large wheels and a black-lacquered box resting on the top. A tianshi was engraved on the center, and a golden bell hung from the top. Furthermore, multiple Tianshi’s Protective Seals decorated the sides of the box. Finally, two small tianshi figurines holding trumpets stood on either side of the large barrel organ.
“It looks like a baby carriage,” Kyril told Angelina while observing the instrument.
“How do you make the sound come out?” Ryuho asked.
The troupe leader spun the barrel organ around to show them the back. “When you turn this crank, it produces music,” he explained.
Slowly, the troupe leader turned the crank, causing a short section of music to drift from the barrel organ. At the same time, the tianshi on either side blew on their trumpets.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Angelina squealed with delight. “What a pretty sound!”
The gentle tone of the wooden pipes enveloped the room. Captivated by the upcoming performance, Angelina immediately forgot about her frustrations with Feilong.
“It will sound even more wonderful when accompanied by the shadow puppetry,” the troupe leader said.
“Yeah, I can’t wait!” Angelina cried.
The troupe leader smiled at Angelina. He performed a deep bow like a theater director–right leg drawn back, left hand pressed across his abdomen, and right arm held aside. That caused Angelina’s heart to race with excitement. She sensed Yulan culture radiating from his bow, as she’d never seen anything like it in Jinlong.
“Well then, let’s begin the story,” the troupe leader said.
As the lights in the room faded, black shadow puppets appeared on the white curtain. The play told the story of Jinlong’s founding. Shadows wavered on the curtain in time with the barrel organ’s music. Despite being a shadow puppet show, splashes of vibrant color appeared here and there. The characters were leather dolls wrapped in cellophane. Since Angelina couldn’t spot rods or anything similar to manipulate the shadow puppets, perhaps the troupe was using magic.
The altogether wondrous performance spellbound the children. The comically designed characters moved in sync with Jinlongian-style music. However, the music also produced a vaguely foreign ambiance. In any event, Angelina found herself transfixed by each and every curiosity. It was as if she’d fallen into the shadow puppet world herself.
When the show ended, Angelina began clapping. Excitement danced through her. She’d never seen a shadow puppet show or a barrel organ before. Everything about the performance had been so novel and fascinating.
“Ryuho!” she cried. “That was amazing, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah!” he shouted in answer. “It was a lot easier to understand than a textbook! All history lessons should be taught like this!”
When Feilong saw the children speaking to each other in high spirits, he smiled in satisfaction. The presents he gave Angelina never seemed to please her. In fact, they utterly perplexed her more often than not. For some reason, she’d been furious when he’d decided to summon traveling performers for the evening. Until now, she’d been giving him the cold shoulder, but in the end, tonight had been a success. Angelina looked truly happy, after all.
The troupe leader came to stand before Feilong and bowed his head, his blond hair falling like silk. “If you are that pleased with our show, would you allow us to put on one more short performance?”
Angelina looked at Feilong with eyes full of anticipation.
Feilong smiled back at his daughter. “Please do,” he said to the troupe leader.
The troupe leader bowed deeply. “In that case, allow me to tell a Yulan story to Princess Angelina and Crown Prince Kyril, as our people’s blood runs through their veins.”
The traveling performers opened the barrel organ’s lid and replaced the roll of paper with another one. Apparently, the sheet music produced the instrument’s sound. Moments later, a new song drifted from it. The melody was quite different from Jinlongian music. It resembled the Yulan lullaby Feilong had sung to Angelina, its somber tone engendering a sense of nostalgia.
A winged tianshi danced gracefully upon the curtain. The story was modeled after a Yulan legend. After falling in love with each other, a tianshi and a Yulan queen began a romantic relationship. That led to the tianshi being cast out of Heaven. In the end, the tianshi and the queen married each other, and they forged a golden bell as husband and wife. When they rang the bell and wished for happiness, the story concluded.
The lingering note of a bell echoed throughout the room.
“Was the tianshi happy even though he couldn’t go home…?” Angelina muttered to herself.