Rui went looking for Munto early next morning. He found him, not surprisingly, in the war chambers.
"Don't you ever sleep?"
"It's the Elders, isn't it?" Munto didn't look surprised.
Rui nodded. They'd both been expecting this. All other options exhausted, the heads of the United Army were finally caving to the inevitable.
Almost. "They want to us to meet at their headquarters."
Munto flicked his fingers, his expression one of supreme indifference. Rui grinned.
"That's what I thought. I'll relay the message."
X X X
Of course, it couldn't happen right away. Yumemi, always under guard now, watched from afar as delegates arrived in various vehicles and were ushered into the amphitheater, the large structure some distance from the palace used to house and entertain foreign dignitaries.
From the stream of complaints issuing from its current occupants, she gathered that it'd been even more neglected than the gardens. And small wonder; it was also the place that had triggered her most recent flashback.
Delegates to witness the proceedings; Elders to initiate them. The Elder's carriers were the grandest vehicles of all. From Munto and Rui's hushed conversations, she gathered that the Elders had put up a stiff resistance, even threatening not to hold the talks at all. To which Munto replied that they could suit themselves all the way to hell.
She'd laughed at Rui's expression as he tried to rephrase that into something more diplomatic, better suited for Elder consumption, but the discussions and the slight weariness Munto's face betrayed during that exchange left her with a feeling of sadness she couldn't shake. Later that night, when most everyone was asleep, she wandered out into the grounds. The guards followed, she knew, but they were considerate enough to keep out of sight.
It had been a hot day. Maybe that was what drew her back to Ryuely's pool.
Yumemi. Yumemi.
The water stirred and murmured. But the voices were familiar, and she welcomed them all. "You remember me, don't you?"
Yumemi.
"I thought so."
X X X
He listed patiently, waiting until Rui had skimmed through and tactfully summarized every complaint, every howl of injured pride, every demand for concession. Then he dictated replies, making them curt but keeping on the short side of downright rudeness. Rui gracefully supplied whatever diplomacy his answers lacked. Munto knew that his general and right hand had already taken care of the most generic complaints himself.
The onerous job finally done for the day, he waited until Rui was surely two or three halls away before methodically sweeping all the papers off his desk. He watched them crash with grim satisfaction. Then he picked them all up and stacked them neatly on a corner. It was one of his philosophies that people should clean up after themselves.
And not just when it came to objects. He stalked through the hallways, trying unsuccessfully to shed the bad taste dealing with the Elders always left in his mouth. They were people who claimed responsibilities and then abused them when it seemed expedient. The fact that they were purportedly acting in the interests of the collective good instead of out of personal ambition did not excuse their methods, though it seemed to assuage any guilt. Bargaining with their erstwhile scapegoat obviously set ill with them.
He laughed unpleasantly. It had to be uncomfortable to be at the mercy of someone you'd recently tried to murder, much less in the middle of a whole population who had yet to forget an attempt at genocide.
"Lord Munto?"
He was outside, he realized. It was too late to feed the swans, but he'd wanted some cool air to help his mood. A soldier was greeting him.
"How goes it?" he inquired.
"Well, sir. All quiet at the amphitheater and on the grounds."
"Very good. Carry on."
The soldier nodded. He was young, younger even than the king. No doubt one of those born after the ban on childbearing was lifted… or rather, ignored. The hope of his parents had been catching, and the fact that they staked their lives on it without ever seeing the results had inspired many to follow their example.
He felt a little better. A kingdom with both old and young people was in better shape than a circle of aged politicians who had yet to admit that all their schemes had failed.
Water was splashing somewhere up ahead. He followed the sound; it was farther than it seemed at first hearing. It was a warm, still night, and the smallest noise carried like a bell. But eventually he tracked it to Ryuely's pool.
Yumemi sat on the edge, swishing her feet through the water. Her sandals were perched on the brickwork.
Sensing a gaze, she looked up, spotted him and froze. Then she jumped up, tracking wet prints across the ground.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I guess you're not supposed to cool off in the Pool of Memory, but it was so hot, and I couldn't sleep, so I came out here, and the water looked so nice -- "
He couldn't help laughing. She looked so guilty. Her bangs and the collar of her dress were damp, so she'd been splashing her face too.
"Sit down. It's all right." He came up beside her and leaned down to run a hand through the pool. She was right; it was cool. "This water's seen worse."
She searched his face for traces of anger, then sat back down with a sigh of relief when she found none. She slipped her feet back into the pool.
"The amphitheater is all lit up now."
He followed her gaze. The amphitheater was on a lower level than the palace grounds, and at this time of night it blazed like a small city. He suspected there were plenty of visitors who had trouble sleeping in his land. "It is, indeed."
"Looking at it makes me nervous."
He settled on the edge of the pool next to her, his shoulders making a motion between shrug and sympathy. "I don't blame you. You'll work harder there than you ever have in your life."
Facing hostile Elders, ambivalent diplomats, and skulking operatives like the one who'd mistaken Irita for her? Crowds of people scrutinizing her every word and deed? The thought was already giving her stage fright.
"I have to do it."
He touched her shoulder. "I'll be there."
She chuckled. "You'd better. I'm not setting foot in that place otherwise."
"And they won't listen to me without you. We can't let them separate us."
She made a small noise. "You think they'll try?"
"Oh, yes." He dipped a finger in the water and drew an arc across the pool rim. "One way or another, they'll try."
She bit her lip. He drew another arc, sorting through what he needed to say.
"Yumemi."
"Mm?"
He blew out a contemplative breath and chose his words carefully. "I don't think they'll try to take you away again. What I mean is that they will say whatever it takes to turn us against each other."
Her lips parted in shock.
"I've been careful. They don't have any facts to stand on, but that won't stop them from contriving something."
The way he was avoiding her eyes fell into place beside what he wasn't saying. "You mean --"
"Yeah," he said shortly, and if the light hadn't been so uncertain she might have thought he colored. "Be ready for it."
She choked on that for a while. "You mean, when I thought you were super busy or avoiding me, it was because --"
"I didn't want to give them anything to throw at you."
No wonder he'd been so careful to stay away from her room, except the one time Irita had questioned his security priorities. If he'd needed to talk to her, he always sent Ryuely or one of the maids. Though she was pretty sure he checked the locks and windows daily when she was out.
She swished her feet mechanically, trying to adjust the awkward new information that had just been plopped in her lap. The thing was, she could see how it would sound plausible to someone who didn't know Munto, royalty being what they usually were. She was grateful that he'd given her a chance to process it all now. Being hit with an accusation like that on top of stage fright would probably have been too much for her to handle on the fly.
"Yumemi."
She faced him with some embarrassment. He didn't look too comfortable himself.
"Stick with the truth and stay next to me. You'll be fine."
"Heh. You haven't seen me blow my lines at school."
He dismissed that with a flip of his hand. "That's irrelevant. When it matters, you always pull through."
She squirmed. "Thanks. Uh, it must be fun dealing with people who are always out to smear you."
"Smearing isn't the point. They'll do whatever it takes to get their hands on the source of Akuto."
This conversation was making her more and more self-conscious. "Have you seen anything in this pool?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
He grinned. "You."
"Oh." Well, that had backfired. She leaned down and splashed her face.
Yumemi. Yumemi.
Her hands stilled, half in and half out of the water. "Can… can you hear them?"
He could hear something. His eyes were unfocused, looking somewhere beyond the center of the water.
She jumped up as the pool stirred, flailing to keep her balance on the rim. Munto steadied her with a hand under her arm. Even with the advantage of the pool edge, she was barely level with his chin.
Munto. Yumemi.
The water swirled upward into its mirror, and both of them were lost in it.
Munto felt his hand tightening reflexively, afraid Yumemi would slip away into the undulating surface. He saw flashes of scenes he didn't understand; strange buildings, small people with round ears like hers, the inside of a dark, cavernous space. Strange shapes like the Pillars, but smaller and transparent. And suspended within one of them…
"Yumemi!"
Her eyes were closed as though in sleep, but there was pain on her face. He could hear a whisper of her voice, reaching out to him feebly.
Munto. Help me. Munto…
"Munto!"
He came to with a jolt. She was clutching his shoulders, shaking him. Or trying to. Her size put her at a disadvantage there.
"Yumemi --"
"I'm here." She was shaking too, he realized. "I'm right here, Munto."
He raked in a breath and put his hands on her shoulders to reassure himself. She was there. She was real. "What did you see?" he whispered, when his heartbeat had slowed.
Her hands tightened fractionally. "A… a man, a heavenly being. He was really tall and thin. And -- and grey," she added. "He looked right at me. He's… scary."
"Gunther." So the man was still a threat. Whether working under the Elders or on his own, he was going to be a factor in these talks.
"What did you see?"
Cylinders. Darkness. Pain. Calling him -
He shot her a troubled look, then shook his head. There was no making sense of that jumble. That Yumemi was in danger, he already knew. "I'm not sure."