"Careful, boy, careful!  Balance there... and good.  Again!" 

    Not saying a word in response, the boy did as he was told and jumped down from the rope, walking back again to the beginning and climbing up to balance on the narrow tightrope with nothing but a straight stick to help him balance.  He was no older than five but carried himself well.  Standing up tall, feet not quite touching each other on the rope, and the stick held just so in front of him to help him maintain that balance.  Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, the boy furrowed his white eyebrows in concentration and took a step forward.  Then another.  He wobbled a little on the third step and fell off on the fourth, though luckily the rope stood only two feet from the ground.  Before he had much of a chance to even get back up, a hand had grabbed him by the arm and forcibly hauled him back to his feet. 

    "Up, now," said the voice of his trainer, not unkindly but a bit exasperated.  "That's your third fall in the last half an hour, Snowflake."

    The boy, Snowflake, hung his head a little.  "I'm sorry, sir.  Can I have a break?"

    "What?  The master said--"

    "Please?"

    His trainer, a short lean man with closely cropped black hair, sighed but nodded.  "Fine.  Five minutes.  But stay in the tent."

    Snowflake brightened.  He was not really sure exactly how long five minutes was but it was something, and something was always better than nothing -- except for the times that it wasn't, of course, like when he was given a task to do instead of being left to his own devices, but right now it was good.  Now very cheerful, the small boy slipped away and began to explore the tent.  It was his whole world, this tent, but even though he had been around it a thousand times there always seemed to be something new going on to see.  He especially liked to watch the Phoenix because a few times he got to watch it be reborn and that never failed to awe him.  It was a magnificent sight.  He ran up to go see it now as it was hanging up from one of the beams in its great cage.

    "Hello, Holmes!" he called to it.  The bird just stared at him with drooping eyes and even more drooping feathers.   It looked like Holmes would be rebirthing soon but not just yet; not today.  

    Snowflake frowned.  "Poor Holmes."  This he spoke in a very quiet voice so no one could hear him.  "You don't like a cage.  I wish I could fly so I could let you out.  Then we could fly away together and go see the sun."

    Wistfully, the boy turned to look at the edge of the circus tent.  That was forbidden territory and always closed up so he could never even peek out, much less leave the tent.  This was his home and he was safe here.  That's what everyone always told him.  Inside the tent was safe and outside was dangerous and he must never go out and when he had asked why his brother could go, they only said it was because Crow was stronger.  Snow was not strong enough.  Still, he couldn't help but wonder what the world must be like outside of here.  Crow had told him things but he wanted to see, he wanted to--

    What was that?  For a moment, Snowflake thought that he saw light shining through the tent but he had only caught a glimpse and now he wasn't certain he had seen anything at all.  But no... wait!  There it was again!  And this time it lingered a little longer before the wind released the tent and it closed again.  Just a little hole, a little slice in the thick fabric of the tent, but enough to let in light and more even than that, enough that he could see out of it if he just got close enough.  Fervently he glanced around but no one was paying him much heed, for once, so he mustered up his bravery and crept over towards the slit in the tent.  Snowflake was very small and easy to miss so he was able to slip through the people, creatures, and other contraptions of the circus with relative ease.

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   And there, he had reached it!  It was but a foot in front of him now.  Heart pounding and eyes wide, he reached out a hand to it.  The wind blew it again and the light flooded in.  He froze for a moment and blinked, taken off guard by how bright it was when he was so close to it, but when it blew shut again he stepped forward once more to look through the hole.  His hand was touching it now, pulling at the tent...

    A rough hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back and he fell hard, grunting loudly in surprise.  Immediately he tried to get up again and lunge towards the hole in the tent, desperate to see what was being hidden from him.  He had been so close!  And again he was pulled back.  A shadow fell in front of him, blocking the hole and the light, and with a heavy heart, Snowflake realized he had been bested and bowed his head with disappointment.  Disappointment and fear.  He knew what he had been about to do was wrong but in his excitement, he had momentarily forgotten it.  Now he must pay, just like everyone else who disappointed the Master.

    His trainer slowly knelt down in front of him.  "What were you doing?" he said quietly.

    "Nothing..."

    "Snowflake, what were you doing?"

    "Please, sir, I didn't mean to.  I just wanted to look."  Snowflake looked up finally, his eyes wide and pleading.  

    The trainer continued speaking, his voice very gentle.  Snowflake almost wished he would yell so he could get the punishment over with.  "You know the rules, why did you break it?" 

    "I don't know."

    Sighing, the man in front of him shook his head.  "I'm sorry, boy, but I've got to get the Master.  This is serious, you know that."

    Silently, Snowflake nodded.  He did know that it was serious.  The only thing was, he had no idea why it was so serious.  Didn't matter.  The thought of the Master coming to him personally was enough to make him start trembling in fear but his trainer took no heed -- or if he did he did not say so -- and yelled to someone to go and fetch the Master.  Snowflake remained very quiet as he waited and stared up to Holmes, wishing very much that he could climb on the back of the Phoenix and fly away with him.  Fly away and never come back.  

    They didn't have to wait very long.  Snowflake had just been thinking that the waiting was horrible, knowing he was going to be punished and having to sit there all silent until it arrived, but the moment he laid eyes on the Master he started to wish that he was still waiting.  He had never seen the Master look so angry before.  Fidgeting with the tassels on his shirt, he affixed his gaze firmly on the ground and refused to look up again.  

    "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, BOY!"  The Master's voice boomed so loudly that it drew attention from other people in the tent and most of them ceased their work to look.  Snowflake flinched and took a step backwards, staringat the dirt as if he thought maybe if he looked at it hard enough he could make it rise up and save him from this scolding.  Silence fell for several moments as the furious words lingered in the air.  When the Master finally spoke again, his tone was quieter but no less angry.  "I have forbidden you many times from going out.  From even looking out, for the dangers of the outside world are too great for you.  Do you understand?"

    Snowflake nodded.  He didn't understand at all, though.

    Sighing, the Master shook his head.  "There must be punishment.  The boy must be beaten."

    "No!"  A voice near him cried out before Snowflake even had a chance to react.  The voice of his trainer.  And this time everyone who hadn't already stopped to watch finally turned to see what was going on as tension built up in the tent.  No one ever talked back to the Master.  The trainer seemed to be just as surprised at his action and looked nearly as pale as Snowflake himself but stood his ground, standing in front of the small boy as a shield.  "Sir, please."

    "You dare talk back to me?"

    "Please, only listen.  The boy is going to be a star.  He is pure and talented -- surely that purity should not be tarnished?  The bruises would show to darkly on his skin."

    A pause.  Then, finally, the Master nodded.  The tent itself seemed to sigh in relief.  "Very well," he said.  "Very well.  But the boy must still be punished."

    "He has a brother.  Beat him, make the boy watch.  He will learn."  The trainer no longer sounded so kind.  Whatever gratitude Snowflake had felt to the trainer for helping him escape his punishment, it fled the moment his brother was brought up to be beaten in his place.   And why?  Why should his brother suffer for something he didn't even do?  Why was this even happening at all?  He had only wanted to look outside, that was all.  

    None of this made any sense.