Following the fortune-teller’s directions, Bailey finds a small crowd watching a kitten act and recognizes the red-haired girl from his earlier visit. After the show, he briefly loses her in the dispersing audience, only for her to tap his shoulder moments later while dressed like an ordinary patron. She introduces herself as Penelope—called Poppet—and brings over her brother Winston, who insists everyone calls him Widget.

Walking with them through the bonfire courtyard, Bailey learns they can move “incognito” because patrons rarely look closely. They talk easily, teasing each other like close siblings, and split up briefly to get food: Widget fetches cinnamon pastries while Poppet and Bailey get cocoa. Bailey asks how Poppet knew his name before; Poppet explains she sometimes sees the future in fragmented, unclear glimpses, like damaged pages of a book.

Reunited, the three continue “doing rounds” through the circus, with Poppet and Widget quietly implying they are watching over things. They visit the Stargazer, where Poppet tries to read the stars; the ride reveals an open sky above the dark carriage track. Poppet is suddenly overwhelmed by the stars being painfully “bright,” and admits they have been strange lately—nonsensical and headache-inducing—so she should stop trying for a while.

To lift her mood, they go to the Cloud Maze, a towering, shifting structure of layered “cloud” platforms above a sea of soft white spheres. Widget quickly climbs upward while Bailey and Poppet wander, crawl, and climb through the vertical maze. When Bailey worries about how to get down, Poppet demonstrates the simplest way—jumping safely into the sphere “cloud” below—prompting Bailey to follow, laughing as he falls.

Near midnight, Poppet and Widget walk Bailey to the gates. Poppet returns with a silver pass granting Bailey unlimited admission and arranges for the ticket booth to alert her and Widget whenever Bailey arrives. Bailey promises to come back the next night, and Poppet kisses his cheek goodbye. Walking home changed by the evening, Bailey feels closer to the person he is “supposed to be,” and dreams of being a knight carrying a silver sword.