Pleased. I will not know anyone at Court, after all; it will be good to have someone I can talk to.

Without her, you might be totally alone. At least you will have someone to share your thoughts with.

At any rate, the four of you arrive at the capital before you have gone completely deaf from Magdalena's chatter, swallow some supper, and fall into bed.

Early in the morning of your first day at Court, your aunt takes you to Their Majesties' private rooms, where all the ladies- and gentlemen-in-waiting are assembled.

A servant opens the door at your aunt's knock, and the first thing you see is a tall, middle-aged man addressing an assembly of ladies- and gentlemen-in-waiting. He turns and regards you and Aunt Leonor with a raised eyebrow.

Aunt Leonor curtsies. "Don Benedicto," she says. "May I present my niece, Ana de Peña."

"Oh," Don Benedicto says. "Yes, of course. Thank you, Doña Leonor." Your aunt curtsies again, and leaves.

Don Benedicto looks at you in a manner more appraising than friendly. "We are rehearsing a masque to be performed before the Court this evening. It is somewhat late to be adding another part. Perhaps it would be best if you took a seat and observed."

"Oh, but Don Benedicto," says one young woman. "Doña Teresa is feeling ill. Why could I not take her part, and Doña Ana take mine? I am only being rescued," she adds, turning to you. "It would not be difficult to learn at all."

That proves to be an understatement. You soon discover that the role assigned to you consists of waiting atop a tower while battle rages beneath you. Eventually, the hero of the masque will fight her way to you, and release you from imprisonment.

Still, despite the small and boring nature of your part, you have to admit that the masque being rehearsed is very impressive indeed. You have seen them before, of course; even staged some small ones with your siblings; but the scale of this is immense in comparison.

A masque is an after-dinner entertainment in which ladies and gentlemen disguise their identities and play assigned roles. In this case, the story is of a mage, Perseverance, who uses her magic to dispatch many evil creatures–Greed, Pride, Gluttony, and so forth–with the aid of helpful sprites with names like Purity, Devotion, and Endurance. At the end, Perseverance reaches her true love, Virtue, and rescues Virtue from imprisonment.

You think it is likely that the young woman who used to be playing Virtue considered it a significant advancement to take the part of Devotion instead. Devotion has many lines, and participates in a dance of all the helpful sprites.

You watch the rehearsal from atop your tower, admiring the construction of the tower and the care that has been put into the costumes. If this is an everyday entertainment, your time at Court will be dazzling indeed.

At last Perseverance succeeds in reaching you, and you rehearse the rescue. Perseverance is a nice-looking young woman…although "young" is perhaps not quite the right word, you realize suddenly. She is older than most of the ladies- and gentlemen-in-waiting assembled here, in her mid-twenties at least.

As you climb down from the tower, your gown catches. You quickly pull it free, thankful it did not tear. "We will have to be careful not to do that tonight!" you say to Perseverance, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, it will not be 'we' tonight!" she says.

You look at her in confusion.

"The Queen is taking the part of Perseverance tonight," Don Benedicto says. "Except of course you must not recognize her."

"I must not…?" You can't imagine what they mean.

The young woman playing Perseverance explains. "The Queen will come in disguise to play the part of Perseverance. We are all to behave as though we cannot tell it is she in disguise. The Queen does this on occasion, so that she can be certain her riding and dancing and magic is admired for its own sake, not merely out of deference to her title."

You try to make sense of this. "So…we are to admire the performance of the one playing Perseverance, and then feign surprise when she removes her mask?"

"Exactly."