Trinity City, California, 18-something or other.

Trinity was a small, yet prosperous city that history would eventually forget all about. At the time this story takes place, though, it was still a warm and welcoming destination for gamblers, travelers, or just plain anyone with a little extra money and time to spend.

Around dusk one evening, a lone figure rode into Trinity City on a white horse. The hair under her brown hat was long, wavy, and red. Her face was fair and freckled, but something in the squint of her green eyes belayed a hard and rough life. She wore a brown, buckskin jacket and matching pants along with a red vest and white blouse on her lithe body. And the leather gunbelt on her hips held twin Smith & Wesson pistols. Her name was Kate Manser, better known to criminals everywhere as Cinnamon.

She made her way down the city's main street, which was lined with countless saloons, cat houses, and opium dens, all doing moderate business, until she reached the end of the street where a huge, fancy place called Brass Hall stood. It was all aglow with life, light, and noise like a giant firecracker in the night.

"Whole town must be in there," Kate said to herself. She hitched her horse up next to several others near the entrance and then sauntered on inside. Sure enough, the place was packed. Men and women of all types cavorted about with drinks and smokes in hand. There were blackjack tables, poker tables, and roulette wheels scattered throughout the place which was illuminated by dozens of gaslight lamps. A stage took up one whole side of the large room and on it a chorus of dancing girls kicked up their stocking covered legs in a can-can as a band played nearby. Scantily clad waitresses covered in feathers swiftly moved around the room dropping off huge mugs of beer and collecting the empties from the table tops of the enthusiastic audience. One such waitress approached Kate at the door.

"Sit anywhere ya like, hun," she said as she breezed past with a full tray.

Kate walked over and sat on a stool at the bar next to a clean looking gentleman in a fancy vest and string bow tie.

"I guess this is the place to be around here, eh?" she said to him loudly over the din.

"It is indeed," he said smoothly after glancing at her and noticing how lovely she was. "You must be new to Trinity City. Let me buy you a drink."

Kate considered him for a second. His teeth were mostly straight and his hair was well combed.

"What the hell," she said with a shrug.

The can-can dancers all shuffled off the stage in unison as the band finished up their song. Red velvet curtains closed and a portly man in a brown suit and bowler hat took the stage and threw up his hands to silence the applauding audience who hooted and hollered for the girls to come back out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, continuing tonight's assortment of entertainments I'd now like to introduce to you Zatanna! Here to perform amazing and fantastic feats to astonish and confound!"

With that he hurried off stage as the curtains opened again. The bartender handed Kate a glass of something and she began to sip it while watching the stage with mild interest. A dark haired woman now stood upon it in a grand pose. She was wearing a fancy black and white dress that almost resembled a man's tuxedo complete with black vest and bow tie, but with elbow length black gloves as any proper lady would wear. Next to her was a small table with am upside down top hat on it. Kate hadn't initially caught the name the man in the bowler hat had said, but now that very same name escaped her own lips, "Zatanna!"

"Holy moly," said Kate, then she downed what was in her glass.

"Something amiss?" asked the gentleman who had bought it.

"No, just... never thought I'd see her again," said Kate still watching the stage.

On it Zatanna had stepped towards the audience holding the hat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you'll notice, nothing in the hat," she said as she showed the room it was empty. Then she sat it back on the table. She next produced a long black wand from the cuff of her sleeve, which was enough to make people in the audience "ooh" and "aah".

Zatanna smiled and waved the wand over the hat. Then she reached in and pulled out a fluffy white rabbit. The audience was quiet for a minute and then began to applaud loudly. Zatanna said, "Ta da!"

Kate watched the show with a smirk on her face. She had met Zatanna not very long ago, maybe a year or so, due to a time travel snafu brought about by some super villain and after spending only a small amount of time with her Kate had come to know that Zatanna's tricks were not only real but far more impressive than what was on display here. Still, it wasn't everyday in the old west that someone pulled a rabbit out of an empty hat, so she watched along with everyone else as Zatanna did her act, amazed at the magical wonders she performed, such as interlocking several metal rings and making doves appear out of her gloves.

Once she had performed about ten different tricks, Zatanna gave a final bow to the audience and the curtains closed to much applause.

The gentleman turned to Kate and said, "Are you a fan of illusions?"

"What? Oh, not really," said Kate, barely remembering he was there. "Reality is already hard enough to deal with." Then she pushed herself away from the bar. "If you'll excuse me," she said and walked towards the back of the stage as the man in the bowler hat stood upon it again introducing a dog act.

Kate walked behind the stage where she found two doors. One labeled men, the other women. She knocked on the women's door and it was quickly opened by one of the dancing girls.

"Is Zatanna in here?" asked Kate, trying to peer inside.

The dancer called behind her, "Zee, you have a visitor." and then she walked away allowing Kate to enter. The dressing room was just one big room that had been zoned off by several changing screens with a few vanity's up against one wall and several costume trunks and dress forms scattered around. At one of the vanities sat Zatanna, whose face lit up as soon as she saw Kate heading toward her.

"Oh my god, Cinnamon!" she called, standing up and running over to her. "It's so good to see a familiar face." She gave her a big hug.

"We're friends, call me Kate," said Kate. "And also, likewise. What are you doing here...again?"

"It's a long story," said Zatanna.

"Well why don't I buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it," said Kate.

Zatanna smiled, grabbed her top hat off of a nearby hat rack and popped it on her head, and then said, "You're on, little lady," and followed the redhead out of the dressing room and back to the bar.

To Be Continued