In the brightly colored hidden quarters behind Le Cirque des Rêves, the Murray twins rest after their performances in a striped tent beneath a large, leafless tree. With no patrons nearby, Poppet and Widget sit against the trunk, drinking mulled cider and enjoying the quiet hours before dawn.

Widget suggests reading or walking, but Poppet refuses because her last attempt at reading the future felt “all red and confusing.” Poppet describes overlapping images: fire; a red substance that hurts her head; a man without a shadow; and a sensation of unraveling or tangling like kittens with yarn. Poppet adds that there will be “company,” though Poppet cannot see who, and the timing feels both soon and far away.

Trying to understand the troubling image, Widget presses for details, and Poppet identifies the red as looking like spilled paint on the ground, dark and jumbled. Poppet admits the red portion feels unpleasant, while the prospect of company feels comforting. Poppet has not told Celia yet, preferring to wait until the vision makes more sense.

At Poppet’s request, Widget tells a story about a wizard who shared powerful secrets with a young, clever, beautiful girl. The girl uses the wizard’s own magic to trap him inside an ancient oak tree, but her careless use of the secrets causes their power to fade along with her. The wizard, however, becomes part of the tree and its descendants, gaining a kind of immortality through what he lost.

After the story, Widget warms Poppet’s cider again with magic, while Poppet’s cup floats smoothly back to her hand. Poppet reflects that being trapped might not be so terrible depending on the place and the company, and the twins laugh together beneath candlelit branches as the tent settles back into silence.