The Collar and the Parasol

Decisions made, they wasted no time in enacting them.

Lightning was to take Courtesan and head south, far from the Ice Tree and the Tower. Heron and Ivory would also make their start in the south. They had only given themselves a short time to prepare.

The Lunar found Ivory in the manse's work room, building what looked a lot like a parasol.

"I need you to make me something," Lightning told her.

Ivory looked up the work table. "A new power bow for Courtesan?"

"No," she paused, "could you?"

"Probably," she said quickly, "if you want it."

"I'll keep that in mind. I need something to control her."

"Like she's an automaton?"

"No," Lightning shook her head. "No slave collars. Something that will make her control herself."

Ivory looked confused. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"The field around this manse, could you create one that was man-portable?"

"Maybe," she paused, "probably. I'm pretty sure I can. Why?"

"Courtesan was driven to try to kill you by the voices of the Neverborn. She would do quite a lot to avoid hearing them again."

"Oh," and then louder, "Oh. I see." Ivory nodded. "I'll make something."

"You will?"

"Shouldn't be too hard. And I have a positive opinion towards anything that keeps people from trying to kill me."

"Understandable. This is not going to interfere with your other work?" She looked towards the parasol like thing.

Ivory shook her head. "Won't have anytime to make anythin' else for you."

"If you can make this it will be more than enough."

"I will not give you complete freedom to do as you wish," Dreaming Blue told Heron. "Even for the Orrery."

"I am not asking you to, nor do I need your permission to do what I wish."

They stood outside the tower, near the Razor. The sun had been up for several hours and the air was growing warm.

"You might find your actions hampered if the Brotherhood takes an active interest in your activities."

Heron simply smiled, as if such events did not concern him in the least. No wonder he did so well as the Gaming tables, she thought.

"What will you swear?"

That, Dreaming Blue thought, was a good question.

"I will not hide the fact that you and Ivory travel to Malfeas, though I will not broadcast it."

"Acceptable."

"And if asked I will pass on that Lightning has taken the Abyssal into hiding, to protect her from other Abyssals."

"Very well. But that leaves our actions to return her Exaltation to what it was."

Dreaming Blue considered his words. "You do not talk about saving or redeeming Nihilistic Courtesan."

"No, I do not."

"Why?"

Heron looked away from Dreaming Blue for a moment, starting up at he sky. "Ivory spoke a prophecy to me last night."

"That girl and her prophetic statements. Low level leakage from the Loom of Fate, or momentary disturbances in Sacheverll's slumber. She shook her head. "They are messy."

"But true it seems."

"True is messy. True is the worst because it leaves little room to get out of the fate."

"That is an interesting statement."

"Better a prophecy controlled and vague. What did she say?"

"The light of the Unconquered Sun will burn death's doxy to nothing and the Lunar shall be forever scarred by the light."

"Charming. Who else heard this?"

"At the moment, Ivory, myself and now you."

"Keep it that way. I dislike prophecy like that. I will let my superiors know you seek an audience with the Unconquered Sun. It will either make them laugh or scare them to death. That is the most I can keep secret." She reached out towards Heron and he took her hand.

"I swear that I shall not tell anyone of your plans, other than you seek an audience with the Unconquered Sun, if Ivory gives me the Orrery before you leave for Malfeas, and I shall keep my silence until the day after the end of the upcoming Calibration."

"Let Heaven witness and bind your oath," Heron spoke, and around them his anima flared up into golden flames.

"You are all bastards," Dreaming Blue told him.

Silken steel, dyed a soft pink, with a white, snow drop pattern on the material, covered the parasol's oricahlcium and moonsilver frame. Ivory had it open above her, spinning it, looking up at the old realm characters she had put on the underside. The words were a prayer to the Unconquered Sun, spinning the parasol made it a prayer wheel.

It was quite elegant and pretty.

She put her hand around the bottom of the shaft, twisted, and pulled out a blade of gold. A small sword, with an edge that had been honed with sunlight and soul, she suspected it could cut a thought in two if she could hit it. Ivory slid the blade back into the shaft, locking it in place.

She closed the parasol and placed it on her workbench.

"I am not travelling to Malfeas with you."

Ivory turned to look at Hu. "Of course you are," she said.

"No, not this time."

Ivory frowned. "You haf to come with me," she said.

Hu shook his large head, a strangely human gesture. "Heron has chosen to keep your plans from me. I agree with him."

"I don't care. You're coming with me!"

Hu got up from the floor, he twined around her, like a house cat might have twined around her ankles, but Hu's body covered all of her. He knocked her off her feet, but at the same time kept her from falling, instead gently putting her on the floor before pinning her with a large paw. "I am not," he told her.

Ivory struggled against him a moment, but the tiger was much stronger than she. "Who will protect me?" she asked, her voice softer.

Hu did not release her. "If you are smart enough you will not need protection."

"That's not fair!"

"Thank you," he said, and then released her even as he left.

Ivory sat up, watched him go. "Stupid Hu," she said softly.

She was still sitting on the floor when Darken Gray came into the room. "Young ladies do not sit on the floor."

"This one does right now," Ivory told her.

Darken Gray's heels clicked on the floor as she walked over to Ivory. She knelt down and placed a hand on Ivory's forehead. "What has you upset?"

"Hu is not coming to Malfeas with me."

"That is no surprise. Gods are not made welcome in hell. I am not going with you."

"Hu's been with me since I Exalted," she said softly.

Darken Gray pushed Ivory's hair away from her face, smiled, and said, "All the more reason for you to return quickly to Creation and Hu then. Now up on your feet." She stood, pulling Ivory up with her. "Are you finished your work here?"

Ivory looked around the workshop. "Yes."

"Well, we shall clean up, and then it will be time for you to go to bed."

Ivory, feeling tired, did not argue. She looked through the odds of scraps, finding places to put them, while Darken Gray sorted though tools and put them where they needed to go.

"The shelves are too empty," Ivory said as she put a twisted coil of moonsilver into a drawer.

"Yes," Darken Gray said, hanging a large mallet up on the wall. "I suppose in this age it will be difficult to get replacement materials."

"I can probably r'place more of the raw materials." With a grunt of effort she put a bar of orichalcium up onto a shelf just above her head. "The reagents and mechanisms will be harder to get."

They continued in silence, tidying up. The room, while looking a little sparser than when Ivory had first come into it, was neat at the very least.

Darken Gray took Ivory's hand and led her from the room. The lights went out behind them.

A dream woke Ivory, leaving her laying on a bed roll, a little confused. "Caretaker?" she asked.

"Yes Ivory?"

"What time is it?"

"Two hours and twenty one minutes after midnight."

Ivory sat up, pushing the thin cover off her. "I dreamed of something."

"Would you like to tell me?"

Ivory hugged her arms around her knees. "Of the orrery maybe." She paused. "Is there an observatory here?"

"No, I am afraid not. There is a planetarium on the lower levels."

"A planetarium?"

"Yes."

"Does it work?"

"It does. Would you like to see it?

"Where is Darken Gray?"

"She is in the room next over."

Ivory thought about it, then got up, her night dress settling around her. "Please show me the way."

"Of course."

Outside of the room Ivory found another of the sprites bobbing in the air, waiting for her. She followed if through the shadowy corridors of the manse, her bare feet quiet on the floors.

As she walked she asked questions about what was through the various doors she passed. The Caretaker told her, informing her of the current condition as well as past uses.

"Ivory, both Heron and Sparrow are up ahead."

Ivory paused. "What are they doing?"

"Talking."

"As long as they are only talking," She said softly. "Let's circle around."

"Of course Ivory"

It was a music room, and there were a few instruments that had survived the ages, but most had succumbed to time. It was brightly lit, and provided enough place for Sparrow and Heron to spread out maps and papers on the floor in front of them as they talked.

There were also several wine bottles and a pair of glasses. The bottles had come from the Razor, the glasses from the manse. The two of them had drunk quite a lot, but Sparrow supposed that Heron, like she, had an increased tolerance since exalting.

"If anything happens, your likeliest allies are the Marukan and Lookshy," Heron said.

"Too far."

"Make it worth their time to travel the distance. Lookshy has air transport."

"Worth their time? Yes, I suppose it could be."

"What are you thinking?"

"We have it in us to become the premier maintenance facility of the age. But that requires Ivory."

"Ivory can teach," Heron told her.

"Maybe, probably not. Who wants to learn things from a child?"

"She will grow up soon enough."

"We may not have the time." She pulled a letter towards herself, sliding it over the smooth tiles. "This is a bad time for you to leave."

"There won't be a good time."

"I don't want you to leave. I thought we'd be able to work together. With the resources taken care of we could find some project that would just allow us to be with each other."

Heron moved his hand closer to hers, but did not take it. It was sparrow who chose to reach out and grasp it. "We're scattering, as if we had never met."

"We're scattering to help each other. We'll be back together soon enough."

"Or we will all die, alone."

Heron squeezed her hand. "That might happen."

Sparrow took a deep breath. "And it might not, I should not dwell on it." She kept her hold on his hand for a few seconds, then gently slid her fingers out of his. "I can put together enough of a deterrent to keep the small threats away, but if something big happens, how do I get Lookshy's help?"

"You start with Karal Linwei and Namiko Teresu," he told her with a smile. "Convince them that there is a benefit for Lookshy and they will do the rest for you."

Sparrow nodded, but then said, "Why is it that your strongest allies seem to be women?" She was not certain why she had said it, she certainly hoped it did not make her sound jealous, even if she was, which she was not sure of.

Heron lifted his shoulders and picked a piece of paper up from the floor. "I am not sure that is the case. And even if it is," and he smiled at her, "I am just as likely to have taken my male friends as lovers as my female."

Sparrow wanted to tell him that that did not make her feel better, but she knew for certain she would sound jealous then. "If Lookshy and the Marukan will not help, who else, male or female can I talk to?"

Heron did not answer immediately as he looked over the maps. Finally he said, "No one close enough or with the strength to help."

"Alright, then I need to start thinking about making more allies."

"What are you going to do?"

Sparrow reached for one of the reports and said, "Think about it."

The planetarium was in the tower's basements, a large globe, carved out of the rock, the huge projector suspended in the centre of the space. It reminded Ivory of the Solar manse under Lookshy. She walked along the cat walk until she stood by the assemblage of lenses and gears made of brass and orichalcium.

Hesitating for a moment, fingers brushing against the controls, she took a breath and then activated the device.

The room went dim, and above her were projected the starts of the night sky.

"Is this accurate?" she asked.

"It is," The caretaker answered. "This is currently what is in the night sky."

Ivory looked at the projection above, astronomy lessons allowing her to pick out the constellations and stars, to even put some significance to their current placement. Soon enough she grew bored with the stars and looked again at the projector and its controls.

"This seems more complicated than it needs to be," she finally said.

"The Lady built if herself. I cannot say if it is more complicated than what she intended."

Ivory thought that a strange answer, but did not press the Caretaker. Instead she accessed the controls and activated the second set of projectors.

Below other stars appeared, with a clockwork nature to them. Ivory stared down at them and asked, "That is the Calendar of Setesh?"

"Yes," the Caretaker told her, "but it is not current. That is how the Calendar appeared when first built. What is appears like now the projector will not show."

Ivory looked all around, her gaze drifting from the stars above to the Calendar below. "Why did she build this?"

"I cannot say."

After several minutes Ivory reached out and shut the projector down, leaving the room in darkness for a few seconds before the lights came up. "One more thing for me to find out."

Hu sat alone in the tower's antechamber, staring at the sarcophagus.

"Would your mother have approved of Ivory?" The caretaker asked.

"She would have been disappointed to learn the Exaltation passed as it has," Hu answered. "A child, the descendant of the very people who had killed her and destroyed Creation."

"I will serve whoever possess the shard, but do you approve of her?"

Hu growled to indicate he did.

"And how long will you care for her? Your mother would not have wanted you to put your career in danger to look after Ivory."

"Five Days in Darkness allows this."

"You owe your mother no debt that is repaid by becoming guardian to the one who now holds her power."

"What business is it of yours Caretaker?"

"The Lady had me care for both the tower and her children who lived within."

"I am not that cub anymore."

"That may be so, but I remember it well enough, and I suppose one of my last duties to the Lady is to ensure that her remaining child is happy."

Hu was quiet for a time, eyes focused on the sarcophagus. "I am content for the moment."

"Will you tell Ivory?"

"Likely, when she is older."

For Courtesan it was as if only one moment had passed between her being put in the stasis pod and Lightning opening it.

It had been three days, though she could not credit it. Still, when she stepped out of the Tower is was the bright day of early morning, so obviously some time had passed.

"Follow me," Lightning told her, and the Lunar started towards the forest. They walked past the Razor, and Courtesan thought to ask about the others, but chose to hold her question. Lightning did not look like she would choose to answer.

They passed into the shadows under the trees, and the old roadway that spiralled out of the deep crater the manse occupied. It was quiet, cool, soft sounds of insects and the cries of birds. Every now and then she saw the white of old bone amongst the leaf litter.

She supposed they might have been walking two hours or so, by the glimpses of the sun she would see through breaks in the canopy. The pace Lightning set was a quick walk, not changing. The trees thinned and they came to the rim of the crater.

Lightning stopped. "The field that protects this tower ends as soon as you step over it the rim." She turned to look at Courtesan. "When you step over it, the power of the Underworld can reach you again."

Courtesan took a step back, though whether from Lightning or the boundary, she was not entirely certain.

"I don't want to leave this place," she said quietly.

"Ivory won't have you here, bringing unwelcome attention."

Courtesan turned and looked over her shoulder, wondering if there were other places like this, ones where a child would not chase her away. "You don't know what it is like."

"I suppose not. I can offer you something."

Courtesan turned back to Lightning. The Lunar had produced a wooden case, it rested across the palms of her hands as she held it out towards her. Courtesan took a handful of small steps forward, she reached for the case and opened it.

Within the box rested a band of woven orichalcium and moonsilver in the pattern of roses wrapped in thorns, set with slivers of jet and small rubies. It was quite beautiful and Courtesan's hand reached towards it. "It is a collar," she said after a moment.

"Or a necklace perhaps," Lightning said, "it might be any neck jewellery, but let's call it a collar. I will lock it around your neck, after that I can cause it to fall free whenever I chose, and you may remove it yourself as you wish."

She looked away from the collar and up at Lightning. "And if I take it off?"

"Only a Solar or a Lunar can lock it around your neck again."

"And when it is locked?"

Lightning's smile held no warmth in it. "Ivory is certain it will offer you protection from the voices of your Underworld masters."

Courtesan nodded, swallowed to moisten her throat. "What would you have me do?" There had to be a price.

"When we pass beyond the boundary field, if the collar does indeed silence the voices and whispers, you will swear an oath and Heron will have heaven bind it."

"What is the oath?"

Lightning did reply immediately. Finally she told her, "Obedience to me while you wear that collar."

Courtesan thought about it for a few seconds. "I'll accept that."

Lightning shifted the box about and took the collar from it. "Turn around."

Courtesan did so.

"Lift your hair."

She reached behind her to gather up her blonde hair and lifted it to expose her neck.

Lightning stepped up close behind her, Courtesan stiffened her knees to keep her legs from trembling. "Ivory says that if you call upon the powers of the Underworld it might open a temporary hole in the protection. Keep that in mind."

The smooth, silky soft metal slipped around her neck, was pulled gently tight, and there was a click as Lightning locked it. Courtesan reached up and ran her fingers along the metal. The metal seemed to tingle against her skin.

Lightning tossed the wooden box aside. Courtesan turned to see the Lunar stepping over the crater rim.

Courtesan followed, pausing a moment before making that step. She felt the effect of the field, like stepping through a spiderweb. On the other side of it the strange sense of peace she had felt was gone, but the voices of the Neverborn did not erupt in her head. Even the quiet murmurs she had recently been subject to were gone.

If she held herself still and searched deep within she thought she could sense the potential, but it was far, far away.

"Is it working?"

She looked at Lightning, swallowed again and then nodded. "I don't hear them."

"Good," Lightning said and continued down the old, broken road, finally stopping and taking a seat in the shadow of a thorny bush.

Courtesan made her way close to the Lunar and took a seat nearby.