Caraval

Ecstatic over Master Legend’s letter, Scarlett bursts into the barrel room to find her younger sister, Donatella (Tella). Scarlett calls out for Tella, but there’s no reply. When she hears a moan coming from beyond the rum barrels, Scarlett assumes Tella has drunk too much after their latest fight with their abusive father, but she’s shocked to find Tella with an attractive sailor, Julian. Scarlett knows her sister is comfortable with boys but feels awkward. Tella reintroduces Scarlett and Julian, who Scarlett observes is “as cool and seductive as a slice of shade in the Hot Season” (13). Julian arrived in Trisda about a month ago, and Scarlett knows every woman has had her eye on him.

Scarlett asks to pull Tella away for a moment, and when she does, Scarlett confronts Tella about her behavior. Tella is evasive and playful, but Scarlett remains serious, as she worries their father will catch her. Tella catches sight of the beautiful letter in Scarlett’s hand, but rather than snatch it like she normally would, she looks at it with disdain. Tella assumes it is another letter from the count, the man their father has arranged for Scarlett to marry. Tella dislikes the count and the idea of arranged marriages, but Scarlett thinks this will be their escape from her father and has accepted this as her fate. Though she doesn’t know the count’s name, she thinks he must be nice, since he writes her lovely letters.

Scarlett informs Tella that the letter isn’t from her fiancé but from Master Legend. Tella points out there’s a ticket with her name on it enclosed in the letter and squeals with joy. Caraval is taking place on Isla de los Sueños in three days, and Tella is adamant that they have to attend. Scarlett, though excited, knows that they cannot go. Last time they tried to leave Trisda, their father drowned the sailor who offered them a ride. Tella is not deterred because she believes they’re older and smarter now. She thinks they could get away with it. Julian offers them a ride. Scarlett wants to go with every fiber of her being, but her desire to stay safe by not agitating their father makes her believe that it’s just a “beautiful, ridiculous fantasy” (19).

Footsteps approach, and Scarlett knows instantly it’s their father by the smell of his perfume. Governor Dragna pretends to be cordial at first when he finds them, introducing himself to Julian. The conversation quickly turns when Governor Dragna asserts Julian tasted more than the rum in the cellar. Governor Dragna wants to know which sister he kissed. Scarlett and Tella blame each other, and at last, Julian takes Tella’s side, stating that he kissed Scarlett. In response, Governor Dragna, who wears large, pointed rings, hits Tella across the face because “every time Scarlett or her sister disobeyed, Governor Dragna did something awful to the other as punishment” (23). When Tella is bloodied and on her knees from the second blow, Governor Dragna is satisfied and reminds Scarlett that if she behaves in any way that threatens her marriage in 10 days that her sister will face greater consequences.

Scarlett scolds Tella for letting herself be punished, since her father surely wouldn’t have hit her face with her wedding approaching. Tella dismisses Scarlett’s concern and says their father would’ve abused her just as badly anyway. Julian interrupts them, saying he will take them to Caraval for free. He was planning to leave the next morning anyway. He leaves them to discuss his offer.

Scarlett remains firm that they will stay put because she fears her father’s abuse. Tella remains equally firm that she is leaving either way. Tella doesn’t believe Scarlett’s marriage is the answer and asks, “What if the count is as bad as Father, or worse?” (26). Scarlett dismisses these concerns, referring to the kind way he writes to her in letters, but Tella points to the count’s secrecy around his identity as cause for concern. Scarlett thinks it’s their father who is hiding the count’s identity because the letters are always torn off at the bottom. Tella asserts that she’d “rather die” than remain in Trisda (29).

Tella leaves to tend to her own wounds rather than waiting for the maids to come. Realizing Tella is going to pack, Scarlett chases after her but can’t seem to catch up to her, running through guest rooms and courtyards. At last, she thinks she catches sight of her and yells, but it’s not Tella. Scarlett knows she has to find another way to stop her sister from leaving and incurring their father’s wrath. She knows she won’t catch Tella, so she relies on their old secret form of communication: passing a secret message through the priest, who has always obliged them when they offer a donation. They had first gone to the priest to pray for their mother, Paloma’s return after she disappeared, but even though their prayers weren’t answered, they did find that the church offered channels for their secret communication. In her note, Scarlett instructs Tella to meet her at Del Ojos Beach that night and only signs the note with a heart.

When Scarlett arrives at Del Ojos Beach that night, she remembers the horrors she witnessed there at the hands of her father and his guards. The guards told her the sparkling black sand was the charred remains of pirates as a child, which she still thinks of every time she sees it, even though she knows it’s not true. Del Ojos Beach is also the spot where her father had drowned the sailor, Felipe, in the dead of night as punishment for trying to help Tella and Scarlett escape a few years ago. Scarlett reveals Tella doesn’t know the truth about what happened to Felipe; no one does, but Governor Dragna forced Scarlett to watch Felipe die. She doesn’t want anything like that to happen again and believes her marriage will save them, so she puts any flights of fancy about stealing away to Caraval with Tella and Julian out of her mind.

Instead of Tella, Scarlett finds Julian waiting there for her “with the practiced ease of someone Scarlett felt it would be unwise to trust” (36). After a brief spat with Julian over what’s best for Tella, Julian presses a cloth over Scarlett’s face, and she falls.

As Scarlett falls unconscious, she hears Tella speak to her softly and brush her cheek, telling her that safety isn’t everything. Then, Scarlett lucid dreams about a memory with her grandmother, Nana, who told her and Tella stories of Master Legend and Caraval when they were younger.

Master Legend was born to the Santos family of performers—creatives who were a little short on talent but “were as beautiful as angels” (40). Nana knows Master Legend’s origin story, about how he was in love with a blonde girl named Annalise. Legend was too poor and talentless to be in a position to marry Annalise, so he devised a plan to perform at the crowned empress’s coronation and gain enough fame to be worthy of marrying Annalise. However, Legend’s plan failed, so he sought a witch to make him more talented. Legend wanted “to lead the greatest troupe of players the world had ever seen so that he could win his true love, Annalise” (42). The witch said Legend could only have one of these wishes. Legend chose the former, believing that, with fame and success, he could win Annalise’s heart. The witch granted him his wish, which came with a cost: The more he performed using magic, the more he’d become like the characters he played.

Legend became highly successful, but Annalise no longer recognized him and decided to marry another man, which broke Legend’s heart. Legend has since become a mythical figure with the way he can use magic to bend reality into fantasy, and opinions of him vary greatly, from seeing him as akin to a deity to seeing him as a monster. Tella and Scarlett’s reactions to this story had been quite different as children: Scarlett was most interested in Legend’s magic, but Tella seemed intrigued by his role as a villain.