InsaneJournal

The feast day in Ostia is naturally more subdued, with most employees feeling little like celebrating. Few venture into the city, despite being so close to such a wonderous place – it has lost its allure. Those who do choose to pay a final visit to Rome are hardly bidding a quiet goodbye in their wake. Even on this last day, the bodies of Templars are still being found in alleyways and courtyards, in tunnels and safehouses. Most of them have gone to ground, understanding that they are being hunted, but there are always exceptions. For the mourning employees of Le Cirque Nocturne, they look like prey.

Food is laid out, but the atmosphere of the Cirque is solemn and tired; everyone has been exhausted by this stop. Moving on is the thought in everyone's mind. There is no sense of revelry; the circus is quiet and prepared for the move well before midnight.

At the appointed hour, the Coven, the Ringmaster, and some of the Fae gather around the Cauldron. Its damage has been repaired; it looks as it always has. And soon, the familiar power begins to build. There is at least one new face among the employees there, but the feel of the magic is the same. A steady build, a sudden swell – the feeling of time and space folding in on themselves... And then the release of all the magic, the sensation of movement and then settling. Just like that, Rome is behind them, the sound of the sea and the salt air replaced by a heavier, earthier feel.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The Cirque has settled close to the holy site, well within sight of the temples and towers. A few miles away is the modern city of Siem Reap. In the city, there are museums, traditional Apsara dance performances, a Cambodian cultural village, souvenir and handycraft shops, silk farms, rice-paddies in the countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake.