Luna Park's Arc

Chapter 10 of 14

Luna ran the song clean in the hut three times, then walked to the showcase grounds an hour before curtain. She passed the gate inspection with the waiver code and stepped onto the swept floor in her training parka. The jacket was thermal, fur-trimmed, with reflective ice-blue panels at the chest and pockets. It was the warmest thing she owned and the only thing the runners had not taken. She caught her reflection in the gate glass and saw the problem at once. The blue panels matched the snow on the tiers. The fur trim matched the frost on the rails. She blended into the crowd seating behind her like a shape cut from the same paper. The rival arrived through the far gate and the murmur in the stands lifted. She wore a silver crown set with pale blue stones, spikes catching the light from every angle. The stones threw small bright spots across the floor as she walked. A canopy stood over the center mark, wooden poles braced wide, canvas stretched tight, metal reflectors angled at the performers. Luna watched the reflectors swing toward the rival and catch the crown. The pavilion threw the rival's image onto the broadcast feed in a hard sharp cut. Luna stepped under the same lights in her parka and saw her own face on the feed monitor at the gate. She was a gray smudge against a gray wall. The camera did not know where to look. She had ten minutes. She would not buy a costume she could not afford and could not pass inspection now anyway. She walked back to the gate, asked the inspector for a marker, and signed the waiver line a second time to add one more item to her forfeit column. She unzipped the parka and turned it inside out. The lining was flat black, plain, with no panels and no fur. She pulled it back on. Against the white tiers and the pale floor, the black cut a hard shape. She walked to the swept floor and stood at the center mark. The reflectors swung. Her outline jumped on the monitor. The camera locked. The rival's crown still pulled the eye. Luna had not beaten the crown. She had only made the camera able to find her at all. The scout marked her column at the gate desk, two notches gone now, costume and inspection both. The head scout's runner walked the floor and called first position. Luna took it. She had a body the broadcast could see and a song she could run clean, and the rival had the crown and a full rack and two notches of lead. The count from the canopy started at eight.