Author's note: Wow! Thank you for all your very encouraging reviews! I hope you like the second chapter!!
NobleBrokenBeauty: I've come across Eleventh Night before! I really enjoyed it very much and I think I can promise something different.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this chapter. Sigh.
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To be honest, Mai had always been slightly terrified of her guardian. Tall, stern and unsmiling, Lin managed to convey an unspoken aura of professionalism and great pride in his role as the Royal Minister for Trade. The aura also subtly implied that he took his appointment very, very seriously and that only extremely foolhardy people would even dare to interrupt him when he was in the middle of a job. And there were many – especially ever since Prince Oliver had begun taking an interest in the economic intricacies of his father's kingdom, his workload seemed to have multiplied exponentially overnight. As a result, he was seldom at home.
It was always "Naru this and Naru that", Mai liked to mutter whenever the older man was hauled away by an urgent call from the palace. She could count on a single hand the times that she had actually sat down to a meal with her guardian in the past month. And even then, Mai, who was loud, cheerful and optimistic, would find those precious times spent with the taciturn man to be slow-going. Her parents had died three years back, leaving her at the mercy of her parents' creditors, who'd eagerly seized whatever they could. It was in fact sheer luck that had put her in Lin's way. Already the Minister then, he'd been on his way to the Merchants' Guild when she was in the act of being thrown out of her home by the debt collectors. Neither Mai nor her merchant parents (when alive) had known Lin Koujou except by sight at the Guild, where he had eventually sent off the creditors and then took the young orphan under his protection by setting her up in his private residence as his ward. While she had felt nothing but gratefulness towards the quiet man, she too had often wondered why he'd extended a helping hand, and, with a sense of guilt, if she was not in fact imposing on him.
Lin, who had been oblivious to his ward's thoughts, was perusing an urgent letter that had arrived just before lunch. It had, most unusually, come via Madoka's specially bred messenger pigeons, one of which was now pecking hungrily at his salad. Scanning quickly through the short note, which only said, "Urgent – Naru – Trouble – Keep Private – Come to Takigawa's room asap", Lin made a swift decision. He rose from the table in a fluid motion that Mai could only admire and gestured for the housemaid to clear away the remnants of his uneaten meal. "Excuse me, Mai. I've to leave now – urgent business at the palace."
His ward looked up at him out of round hazel eyes and then dropped her gaze with a sigh. "Alright. I've to go down to the village today anyway."
He nodded curtly, and then suddenly noticing her forlorn expression, said more gently. "I'll ask the groom to prepare a carriage to take you to town."
"And Mai, don't take the shortcut. You always get lost."
When Lin had left, Mai went down to the kitchens and after leaving a few instructions with the housekeeper, went out by the back way, a basket in hand. The wide blue sky was scattered with big white clouds, and the forest just beyond the back of the mansion seemed to shimmer invitingly. Mai knew that a small footpath through the woods led straight to the town, a shortcut that the palace staff often used when they wanted to get groceries quickly or to sneak back in after a drinking session at the pub. The day was clear and bright and she could see for miles around. If she stuck to the path, she'd get to the town and back in three hours, and she wouldn't even have to wait for Lin's groom to get the horses ready. After all, Mai told herself, the last two times she had been stuck in the forest, it had been at night, and more experienced staff had gotten turned around before too. Without further ado, she set off down the path. Lin, for one, would not know.
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Naru glared at them from where he had been abandoned on his tutor's bed. Madoka and Takigawa were arguing with each other again. Useless, he thought, and then decided to see if he could try and move his new limbs. He lifted up his right hand, no, now right forelimb and examined it critically. He seemed to be a vivid peridot green, with darker green bands circling his hind and fore legs. The skin looked a little dry. A glance at the shaving mirror on the chest of drawers next to the pillows showed that he had bright copper eyes with a narrow black central slit in each. Hey. I don't look so bad he thought. The black slit pupils narrowed further as he concentrated on crawling cautiously to the edge of the bed. Now that he'd figured out how to work his body, he needed to speak to his two subjects. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was…
"Ribbit!"*
Madoka and Takigawa turned instantly from yelling at each other to stare at him.
"Oh dear. He can't speak," Madoka said, a little uselessly. Naru rolled his eyes, a feat that he still seemed capable of. He opened his mouth a little wider to try again, but this time, all that happened was that his long pink tongue lolled out and spread in a little lithe bundle between his webbed feet. As both his tutor and the enchantress fell about laughing hysterically, Naru was left to shore up the remains of his rapidly unravelling dignity as he fought furiously to get it all back into his mouth again.
"Ribbit."** He said again after managing to get his mouth and air sacs to work correctly again and glowered at them pointedly. It was clear to him what had to be done even if it wasn't to the other two. They needed to break the spell for one thing. Madoka had said she couldn't. And Takigawa didn't have an ounce of magic in him. But Gene did. He needed to get to the Academy of Magecraft where his brother was. And even if his brother couldn't, there was surely someone else in the whole of the school who could fix this. But first, he had to inform them of his plan and croaking had so far only provoked more laughter. He eyed the table by the window. There was an inkwell and paper. Naru tensed, aiming for the nearest corner of the table and leapt forward, only to find himself sailing right past the table and out of the second storey instead.
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As his carriage was making its sedate way towards the palace, Lin sneezed abruptly. He gingerly touched his nose, which had become raw from being cleaned so repeatedly. Ever since the carriage had taken a turn at a crossroads and the mansion had vanished from sight, he hadn't been able to stop sneezing. Perhaps he was coming down with something. Leaning out of the window, he could see the flags of the Royal Palace hanging limp on their turrets. And soon after that, the carriage made its way past the city gates, and Lin was treated to a brief view of the bustling market square before passing under the fluted pillars and arches of the University and finally arriving at the palace gates.
At that moment, had Lin chanced to look outside, he'd noticed a small object soar out of the Royal Tutor's bedroom window, but as a sneeze chose that exact same moment to erupt out of him and into the face of a palace guard, he ended up apologizing to the red faced man instead. Hence, when Lin eventually reached Takigawa's chambers, he was not at all prepared for either the sight of the latter running past him at breakneck speed and swearing or that of a tear-streaked enchantress standing by the open window.
Translator's notes:
* Silence!
** If you two hadn't already guessed, arguing has failed to produce anything effective, but if you two had, I won't even have to inform you, though I don't think you can understand me either.
Kindly R&R please!
