In April 1895, as Le Cirque des Rêves camps near Munich, Herr Thiessen is especially pleased he can stay in his home city. He is also anticipating a long-promised visit from Celia Bowen, the circus illusionist with whom he has exchanged letters for years, though they have never met.

Celia arrives at Friedrick Thiessen’s workshop dressed plainly compared to her usual circus attire, but he recognizes her immediately. She surprises him again by speaking fluent German, explaining that spoken languages come more easily to her than writing them. As Friedrick shows her his blueprints, gears, and half-built clocks, both are struck by how different it feels to meet in person after so much familiarity on the page.

When Friedrick asks why she has never asked to meet before, Celia admits she once wanted to keep her identity from him and later felt dishonest. She explains she first wrote because she valued his perspective on the circus, a view she cannot fully share. Friedrick accepts the revelation as a welcome surprise rather than a betrayal.

Celia becomes fascinated by a finished but broken astronomical clock—dark metal on a base carved like white flames—that Friedrick has not had time to dismantle and repair. With Friedrick’s permission, Celia places her bare hand on the cage and, without visibly manipulating anything, sets the internal mechanisms into motion until the clock ticks steadily and all its moving parts align. Friedrick chooses not to ask how she did it.

Over dinner, they talk more about books, art, and cities than the circus, easing into conversation despite shifting between languages. When Celia finally asks why he has not demanded an explanation for her tricks, Friedrick says he prefers not to know, and that he is more interested in the woman than the magician—an answer that deeply pleases her. They walk to the circus together; Celia performs without outwardly acknowledging him, but later joins him in the midnight paths, even shifting her scarf’s color toward a rêveur’s red as they grow closer. They repeat these evenings until the circus’s Munich stay is cut short when news arrives from London.