For once I have the next chapter ready in a timely manner – and even look to be getting the next few at least up in the weeks to come. There are only a few more dominoes to set up now before I begin knocking them down… (Yes, arresting Mikke was a set up, not a knock down…)
Again, I have to thank the people who are still reading after so very long!
I have a few other Rayearth things nearing completion (with only a few scenes to go), which should be joining this in the next few months – having learnt my lesson on my inability to stick to a posting schedule, I'm going to finish them first. ^^ Also, I'm concentrating on finishing this. ^^;
Any and all comments are greatly appreciated! I hoard reviews like a jealous dragon, though I feel horribly shy about them.
oOo
Chapter Twelve : Playing Dress Up
oOo
The summoning dragged at her, but did not want to take Clef. It was like a sharp undertow dragging her underwater and out to sea, but instead of her legs it wrapped about her shoulders and roared in her ears, washing out the hallway and all of Clef but what Umi held on to with her left arm wrapped about him. That grip anchored her firmly to the corridor. The spell grew stronger second after second, and she could barely breathe from the pain of it trying to tear her free. The ache nearly blocked the trail of cold steadily creeping between her shoulder blades.
Umi grit her teeth and would not let go. She dropped her sword, got her other arm down to wrap about Clef as well, fighting for each inch of motion. She'd never resisted this spell before, and spots began to fizzle in front of her eyes as she tried to breath and couldn't. Both of us! She chanted to herself. This was her summoning and it could damned well do what she told it to-
She felt Clef move, shuddering as the spell took reluctant hold of him as well. Relief hit like a punch to the chest and for a moment – just a moment – her hands loosened.
The spell surged and ripped her away from him.
No!
Umi twisted and battered herself against the magic as it rushed on, her desperate shout lost in the rush of water and the stinging of salt-spray on the back of her throat, in her eyes, and she was tossed, alone and disorientated, into the warm bubble of Selece-as-Mashin.
"Clef!"
She had reappeared floating high in the air, nothing about her but empty space and the Venue a tiny mark in the bare green land below. She turned towards it, her cloak wrapping about her legs in her hurry to dive back down, and then stumbled when Selece's will held the Mashin in place, freezing her as well. /I have him, Umi./
"But – what?"
/Look at our hands./ Selece's voice chided her gently, and she looked forwards and down, the disorienting effect of both being the Mashin and inside the Mashin both making her head spin a little before she managed to see Selece's hands cupped protectively together, soft blue light surrounding them, and Clef laying inside.
The sound Umi made then was undignified and embarrassingly like a sob, but thankfully only Selece heard her. She blinked hard to clear her eyes, still stinging from the extended rush of the summoning and prickling harder now. Selece let control go slowly, and Umi pulled them upright in the sky again.
Clef looked so small and pale in those dark clawed hands. "Is he-"
/Just fainted. There was too much magic, and he would keep trying to shield both of you./ Selece sounded approving despite the words. /I seem to be keeping the worst of Autozam's upheaval from harming him further. But you will have to deal with the other spell./
Other spell?
The tracker, with impeccable timing, reached the level of her heart and stabbed cold through her. Umi gasped and drew Clef in closer, pulling the wings and the strength of Selece about the both of them and working one of those clawed hands free of the strange bubble, because she needed a hand to cast magic with and she could already see the fireball screaming up through the air towards them; orange and red with a sickly flickering blue light cracking through it.
Umi's thought as she drew a breath and reached deep into the touch of her magic was I really need to learn to shield. No new words came to her, and she committed to the usual path – throw as much power as she could at every obstacle. Drawing her sword would waste time, so she just flung her arm forwards. "Kouri no yaiba!"
The ice was the fastest attack she had. It slammed into the fire maybe fifty metres away, and the shock wave rocked her back another few even as the fireball burst on up through the steam and smoke of the crash, a fraction smaller but just as fierce as before. She could already feel the heat of it, burning on her legs even through her long boots.
"Aoi tatsumaki!"
Her second spell crashed down, the cyclone of water pouring down from her hand and swallowing the ball whole. The funnel bulged and steamed where the fireball battled on inside, dark lightning shrieking out through it in all directions; Umi bit her lip hard and flung more and more water down. Her lungs burnt with the effort of dragging air in as the atmosphere shook from the rising heat. The spell rattled against her palm as the water flung itself into existence, and the vibration ran up her arm, made her shoulder ache. But Selece was all about her, his power keeping her steady, and she steeled herself against him and kept on going.
A bare three meters from them, it shrieked like a kettle boiling dry and fizzled out of existence.
A cloud of steam rose up about her as the resistance against the waterspout cut out, and she nearly tumbled over. Umi could see nothing but white for a moment, and hurriedly uncoiled the Mashin's wings to fan away the steam, squinting to see through it – but there was nothing else in the sky to threaten them, and the freezing pain in her chest faded away.
Umi relaxed, her shoulders crunching when she rolled them as they loosened up for the first time in days. The bulk of the Mashin about her was incredibly comforting for something she couldn't easily see, familiar and not safe, not exactly, but powerful. She felt more in control up here than she did below. She was relieved, and proud of herself.
And also worried, because through all of that Clef remained unconscious.
With Selece's hands keeping Clef close in to the Mashin's chest, he was right in front of her; close enough she could see the beads of water on his hair and clothes which had strayed from her attack. They caught the light as he groaned quietly, and began to shift.
Her claws flexed closer about him. It must have felt strange. He certainly sat up quickly enough, sparks snapping in the air about him, and giving Umi pins and needles in her fingers.
"Hey! Stop that, I don't want to drop you!"
Clef's head snapped up, and he stared up at the Mashin, eyes very wide.
"…Oh. Um. Umi?"
"Yes. Who else has a dragon-god to hand?"
"Ah." He blinked, slowly. "…It's the first time I've seen a Mashin this close. Lord Selece is very impressive."
/Tell the mage I am pleased he should think so, but would he refrain from moving too much, or I will lose hold of the cushioning about him./ Selece boomed, and Umi passed the message on, tagged with her own to hold on tight. Clef turned to look between two of the massive fingers and sat very still when he realised how high they were. He swayed for a moment, closed his eyes, and leant against one strong finger.
"You need not worry. I'm not moving." He said. "…I'd wondered before what a summoning is like from the inside."
"Not normally much like that." Umi shrugged, and watched Clef bite his lip instead of laughing at the Mashin shrugging, his eyes still rather too wide. "Do you feel alright? That blue about you is Selece trying to mute Autozam. Is it working?"
"Yes, actually." Umi worried some more as he blinked, still slowly, but then he shook his head and seemed to drag himself back together, sitting up straighter and loosing the stunned expression for a frown. "Does Lord Selece know what's happening in Autozam?"
Selece's disquiet lay thick about Umi. /No, I cannot. Mokona has kept all knowledge of Her to Himself, and I cannot tell enough through the echo of the disturbance in the Mage./
"That's… unhelpful." Umi sighed. She relayed the message to Clef again then asked "is it at least settling down? We can't stay up here all day. We must be missing breakfast already. The assassin doesn't seem to be trying anything more for the moment… not this one, anyway. Clef, you said that coldness was a tracker. Isn't that what was trying to find you before, in Cephiro?"
"Yes." He sighed. "Though they had a better idea of what they were looking for this time. It caught on to both of us fast. That shouldn't be possible with someone you don't know very well, unless you have detailed information about their magic so you can identify them by aura instead of name. But it was the same basic spell and I'm almost certain it was the same mage. There was a spell caught on its tail again – did we leave the range of it, do you think?"
Umi laughed shakily. "Uh, no. That's why you're damp. It caught on to us both, so I put the fire out." She wasn't going to admit how close it had come, how she had needed the entire head start of being so many miles in the air to wear it down. From the look of surprise which crossed Clef's face, he was nearly as shocked as she was that that had worked. She pressed on before he could dwell on the subject. "You have to teach me to build shields sometime, but more importantly, it means someone here sent an assassin to Cephiro."
"…Yes. Someone had a reason to want us gone before we even got here."
"Why?"
"I don't know! If it was to do with the Defence Force, the timing would make some sense. They're getting desperate now when we seem to be getting somewhere – though who knows where the last votes are going to come from. But why would they target me for that? How could they know I would be so tangled up in it?"
"They timed the attack to match Autozam's fluctuation. Brooke's already tried to kill you." Umi pointed out. Part of her was worried by how calmly she was discussing this, floating in mid air and holding Clef in her hands. (So bizarre…) Mostly she was ignoring that thought until Clef wouldn't be able to feel every tremble in her hands magnified through Selece's form.
He shook his head. The blue light which had surrounded him was beginning to fade, his features returning from alien to too-pale-but-within-human-bounds, but he didn't seem to notice, staring blanking ahead – straight at her, though he couldn't possibly see her through Selece's chest. "The coup on Autozam probably happened the day before we left Cephiro. There was a fluctuation then, at least, but much less dramatic than since. The attacks have been happening for far longer than that. And if Brooke had a mage hidden here, then why would he have sent Mikke after us?"
"That assumes he's the one behind her." Umi muttered. Clef ignored her, and she knew it made too much sense to really think otherwise, but she wanted the culprit to be Brooke. She could do something about him if it came to it. Eagle's orders weren't as important as Clef. If it wasn't Brooke, she didn't know who else to keep a sharp(er) watch on.
"There has to be something else… If I could figure out what then perhaps we could stop them. Especially as their attacks are growing more dangerous – that fireball was laced with something meant to counter my power. This really is getting annoying."
He said annoying and meant worrying, she knew. His lips pressed tightly together as he thought about it. Umi remembered the darkness which had crackled through the flames and nearly clenched her hands into fists. She caught herself just before she did, with a brief vision of Clef yelling as she clutched him in Selece's hands. "And it would get LaFarga and Lantis to stop fussing so much?" Umi offered, trying to shake the dark mood off a little.
"That would be nice."
The blue faded away, one small shimmer in the shape of Selece's symbol remaining a moment longer like the Cheshire cat's grin. She felt Selece's smugness in her own chest and flavouring the air about her. /It is safe for you return below now. Autozam has ceased fluctuating for the moment. I may be able to cushion the surge without manifesting, should it happen again. I shall return you to the corridor you left. You will be alone, and should retrieve your sword, in case you need it again./
Umi blinked. "…Didn't it go back into the glove?"
/No. The summoning got in the way. I suggest you keep hold of the mage and your blade, next time./ A rumble of laughter ran out through the Mashin, making Clef grab tighter hold as the hand he sat on shook. /The little mage may wish to transport himself this time./
"Yes." Umi muttered. She wondered for a moment about telling him to go back to the room, but she'd have to admit why she'd appeared somewhere else or look incompetent. "Uh, Clef? We can go back now. Selece says he can drop me back in the corridor, but you should probably take yourself. Just… be careful. My sword's down there somewhere."
"…You left it behind?"
She blushed, fiercely glad he couldn't see her. "I was keeping hold of you! It worked out fine, and no one will be able to steal it-"
Clef shook his head, glanced down, then shut his eyes and dragged a swirl of gold and silver light about himself. It tickled her hand, and when it faded, he was gone, and the next moment she was sliding down after him.
Her sword lay three steps away in the middle of the floor. It began to swirl back into water and towards her before she was fully in the corridor. Clef huffed, one corner of his mouth twitching up, but kept from saying anything. Instead he held out a hand. "We're running too late to eat in the Hall, but we should grab something from the kitchen before we go. Otherwise one of us will faint in the middle of the morning. While it would entertain a great deal of the room, it wouldn't be very helpful."
Umi took his hand, and after the cool slick rush of transportation with Selece's power, the sharp tingle of Clef's spell across her skin was even more startling.
oOo
A light rain misted down across the Venue as they walked to the Assembly Hall, Umi finishing the last few bites of a sharp tasting pink fruit. There wasn't a cloud in the sky above them. "Strange…" She muttered, holding one hand out and letting the water wash it clean of juice
Clef turned to look at her. "Really? When you were tipping water out into the air a few minutes ago?" He kept his voice quiet.
Umi stared up at the sky, stopping walking. "…Huh. Why isn't there any ash, then? From the fireball?" The drops soaking into her robes were pure, leaving no mark on the icy blue of her sleeves. Clef looked up as well, holding his own hands out.
"Good question. I don't know. Maybe there is a shield of some kind over the Venue, purifying it? Though I sensed nothing as I came down…" They were so near to the corridor into the Hall that they were being passed on both sides by other latecomers, but Clef didn't hurry her up. He lingered as well, and they stared up together, the coolness refreshing on their faces.
Eventually Clef shook his head, his fringe clumping together with the dampness, and looked across. "You learnt a new spell, didn't you. The other day."
"I've learnt several, Clef. Which one did you-" Umi began, then realised which spell he wouldn't mention in public, given she'd learnt it to use against that acid. "Oh, that one. But I didn't use it. …Do you think that would have worked against the fireball? It might have taken out that darkness."
Clef sighed, but one corner of his mouth twitched up even while he shook his head at her and she realised that fireballs were probably more verboten than acid as far as public conversation went. "I don't know, we'll have to test it out when we get back home. I didn't think you'd used it, exactly, but… magic isn't…" He paused, looking up at the sky again as he searched for a word.
They were nearly the only people outside, but Umi didn't point it out, too interested in what he was going to say. "Magic isn't clean. Every spell one learns can affect the way you use all magic, unless you learn very tight control and then use it each time you cast a spell. Perhaps, now you can use water to cleanse, a little of that purity has got into your other spells. Or maybe you were using it instinctively with that kind of a spell coming up. Either way-" He looked at her- "we've probably told half a dozen people we're involved with this weather and we're on the verge of being late. Come on."
He took her hand and pulled her into the corridor. She could feel the cool metal of his ring against her palm, then she was distracted by his mutter and the quick burst of warm air which dried them off as they walked through the tunnel, and missed him letting go. It was irritating, having to sit down and listen to the rambling so soon after something so shocking – but the familiarity of the room was soothing, and all the eyes on them a better shield than most magic Clef could cast.
oOo
In the middle of an entirely boring speech on the right to put tariffs on exports of agricultural tools (which wasn't actually under threat, so why the Representative for Isca was quite so up in arms about it was a mystery to Clef,) cold struck the back of his neck again, and began to seep faster than ever before down his spine. Umi wriggled next to him and he grabbed her arm below the table with one hand while twisting the other through the gestures to call a shield about them, stop the gathering spell in the earth from reaching up and trying to swallow them down whole.
Easily done, when he wasn't being shaken inside and out by Autozam. The tracker pressed against the shield and tried to change itself enough to worm through, but Clef was proud of his ability with shields. They wouldn't get through with anything smaller than Highly Noticeable.
Unusual, to send a tracker down into the ground, but there were wards in the walls and the roof of the hall; the floor had been forgotten. Tricky, too – and the spell gathering pointless energy below them was certainly Cephiran in nature. So close after the last attack, two different attempts to break through his shields…
Umi moved her arm below his hand, and he came back from worrying at the threads of the spell to flick his fingers and set up another. /You can move now. We're safe. But yes, that was another tracker spell, fuelled by earth magic this time. You must have impressed them. It's the element we're both weakest to./
The light of the shield was invisible in the air, but glinted briefly in her eyes and on her hair, like it must on him. The air within the shield was still, but he could feel the tracker now pressing against the outsides of it, trying to work through the shield, modifying to try and break through –
- which meant that the assassin was still directing the spell –
He tried to grab hold of the spell with his shield, modifying a loop of it with a muttered order, but the other mage sensed the change and the tracker vanished before he caught it, replaced a moment later with a modified version of the same which leeched away at the shield he had up, so he had to keep pushing will into it to hold it steady. Whoever the assassin was, they were getting close to knowing the shape of that spell, of his magic in action. And they were doing it too quickly. They had to have been testing him with each of those spells back on Cephiro, to be this close to breaking through… He winced, a headache beginning to throb in his temples. (Spirits, he needed to get some rest… After this morning, he was achingly far from top form.)
If they mapped him out entirely, things were going to get a lot more dangerous, however practised he was with shields. And he'd lost his only chance so far to grab onto this person by reacting too damn slow. (Tired old man, he jeered at himself.)
Possibly a good thing, while they sat with all the worlds watching them, but so frustrating. The air inside the shield began to snap a little with excess static and Umi slid her arm until their fingers tangled below the table. Clef held on and breathed deeply for a moment until the snarl of temper settled down again. They were too close to achieving something here for him to lose it in the middle of a meeting all for the sake of this damnable invisible ninja.
/They must be desperate, to attack like this. Though what a statement if they managed it…/ Umi thought at him, the words coloured with subdued fear she was never going to admit. So brave, his Knight. /You've really managed to piss someone off. It has to be the Army thing./
/Yes. But I can't see why any of the Table would do anything so obvious. Though we know the first attempt at poison was Huginn-Muminn… perhaps admitting that openly was to put us off the scent? But the actual mage cannot be in the room. They would not need the tracker to target us if they had line of sight./ There were several seats empty this morning about the walls, and the larger delegations had more aides than would fit at the table at a time. It did not cut down the suspect list very much.
/But – Clef, if these attacks are related to the ones in Cephiro, why is today the first like that since we arrived? There have been no monsters, no trackers – nothing but Cerys and Mikke until now!/
He paused a little too long, and felt her suspicion through the spell like a rasp at his heart. /I haven't been hiding from you! Don't think – I wonder if they might have been trying in the night, while we slept. Some mornings the shield has felt different, ruffled. But I thought I was imagining things./ He glanced at her long enough to chance an apologetic smile. /Invisible Ninja. You see?/
She took the admission of doubt in stride. /But now you think they have been attempting this all along?/
/Someone had affected the shield back on Tuesday, the afternoon before that first poisoning attempt, too. If they have been trying different methods of breaking through, and are getting desperate – it's not the usual kind of shield, after all. Perhaps they decided they have to try something against more ordinary spells./
/…Perhaps they'll give up, now they've failed./ Umi offered, though neither of them could believe it for a moment. The tariff rant had ended, and the next section was one Clef needed to listen to. He squeezed her fingers one last time then untangled their hands and set himself to paying attention to the new speaker.
He kept a watch on the tracker spell and the earth one below, all the same.
oOo
They got back to the privacy of their rooms after lunch, as the afternoon was free to prepare for the ball in the evening, and Clef was in need of a break more than several hours more pointless chatter. They needed another vote, from somewhere, but he had no idea who to approach – or how. All the mornings spent mapping out which lands shared causes, and what mattered to them… he had plenty new information to help the fledgling Guild of Merchants work out who to speak to, when they got back home, but none of it had given him a handle on someone new. Eorl was the only person he had left he thought he might sway, and she was assiduously avoiding speaking to him in public now.
He'd have gone back to the room and had lunch there, if they hadn't already missed breakfast with people staring. But at least the faces in the café were mostly friendly, and Spark (the head of the kitchen had noticed their conversations too) kept the tea flowing through the meal. But now he got through the door, and wanted nothing else but his bed.
He hesitated, watching Umi walk to the sofa and shift a pile of his paper collection to the floor so she could actually sit down. It was embarrassing to admit to her that he needed a nap, however he phrased it, but after last night…
No. After the week they'd now been here, they were in this together, and she deserved his attempts to be open. He could offer no less if he wanted her to be honest in return.
He hesitated too long, and she got in first. "Now you've room to think about it, I don't suppose you've any more idea what's happening on Autozam?"
Clef shook his head and leant on the edge of the sofa. He'd spent half the meeting wondering about it. "None, save I don't see how it can be natural. If the faction that sent Brooke here has been acting against the scientists in charge, then perhaps one of them is free and retaliating? That would be my best guess… whatever it is, Autozam is certainly volatile. All we can do is trust in Eagle to know what he's doing for the moment. Though once the conference is over, a visit might be…"
"It's not like we've not enough to do anyway." Umi said, not really to him. "Though we got rid of one problem this morning."
"Mm. Good thing Kuregu doesn't know the rules of Cephiro too well though." He said, then could have kicked himself.
It took Umi a moment to realise he'd let something slip. "...Why? Aren't you covered from whatever charges he could bring against you?" She demanded, turning to stare at him, and blatantly curious over what had happened. He wasn't volunteering that up.
"Oh, no, I am. It's charging someone with poisoning you that might be a problem. But that's in the next set of Bills to be ratified, along with the Academy. It took a while for me to drag the right laws out of the old books, or it would have been done sooner... and you have no clue what I'm talking about." Umi shook her head, reduced to staring at him. "I did ask that no one tell any of you in case you worried, but I didn't expect it to actually work." He mused.
The expression he got at that was not impressed. Umi looked ready to shake an explanation out of him if she had to. But he waved a hand in apology and got on with it before she actually reached over, voice slipping into a steady rhythm as he leant harder on the sofa and forgot about sleeping for the moment.
"The Magic Knights have always been outside the law of Cephiro because of the task they carry - the greatest sin a Cephiran could commit, but the greatest blessing the Knights can give. They're given licence to do whatever is necessary to complete their task. And because of that task, no Pillar would want to see a citizen charged with trying to stop a knight - to kill or kidnap them - because they would be doing so for the Pillar's sake, and protecting the Pillar is protecting Cephiro... the Knights and their task could not exist within the laws of the land, so you stand outside of them. With very little constraint and very little protection."
Umi was pale, and he could see her thinking back over the time they'd spent in Cephiro, vulnerable in a way they had known nothing of. He reached over and brushed a long section of hair back over her shoulder, and rested his hand there. "Do you really think any of us wouldn't have done whatever we had to to keep you safe?" He said it with a smile, and won one back.
"No, thank you. But it's a bit… startling."
Clef nodded. His fingertips were just brushing the skin of her neck now. "Hence why I didn't want to mention it until it was fixed. I did well on that front."
Umi laughed, leaning into his touch. "Ban everyone else from talking then doing it yourself. Though… I suppose things have changed, this week." She looked back at him. "You're telling me more."
"You need to know some of it. You seem interested in the rest. And I might have a tendency to ramble on when I'm tired."
"I'm still surprised that no one mentioned it at all, though. In all the time we've been visiting… You can't have personally spoken to all the people we've met!"
Clef pulled his hand away. "It was always assumed you would need very little protection, because you were Magic Knights. There haven't been many Knights who would visit again, certainly none who ever settled with us. Because they didn't come back, the fact they were outside the law was never really brought up. People forgot it, like they forgot the old role of the Council. I came across the rule when we were reinstating them. The change I've proposed brings you under it like anyone else in Cephiro. By the time we get home it should be in place - no one will oppose it, not with the three of you walking about able to do anything you want. It protects them as much as you. And with Fuu..."
"If she marries Ferio - or whatever your equivalent was, I've forgotten it again - Ferio will be in charge of the Castle, which is the seat of power, and that would give her access to the council?" He nodded. "What about Hikaru? She was the Pillar, at least for a moment, shouldn't that be more worrying?"
"Well, the Pillar was always under the law, so not really. She's the least worrying of the three of you, bizarrely enough. In fact, given that the pillar devolved makes all three of you as much citizens as the rest of us, it's possible to say that under the current system you don't count as Magic Knights anymore and are a new sort of thing altogether. But that would be splitting hairs. Also, we've been introducing you as a Knight everywhere around here. The Judges would have a hell of a time untangling it all if anyone noticed."
"Well, I hope they don't, then." She shook her head.
Clef pushed himself upright, and rubbed at his head. The lingering headache he'd had since that fluctuation (since he fainted, spirits, why was he always getting into trouble in front of Umi? And she'd dragged him up in a summoning – stubborn girl. That really shouldn't have worked…). "We have a few hours. I'm going to get some rest until then. Do you want me to call up Cephiro so you can catch up with the others while I'm out?"
Umi brightened, then seemed to think better of it, posture slumping and her voice turning wry. "Best not, actually. Fuu will ask me how much revision I've done, and the answer will only get me in trouble. I'll get on with some work."
"…I'm sorry. You've been spending so much time trying to help me-"
"No, it's not your fault, Clef! I wanted to help. And I've had time I could have used… I just keep practising your letters instead of getting on. It's so much more interesting." She grinned, and waved him away. "Go get some sleep. I'll be fine. I could do with the quiet myself."
"The menu's on the desk if you're hungry, and just in case you change your mind – to use the Comm, put your hand on that biggest button and think on, then just think of Cephiro. It should ring through."
"Got it. When should I wake you up?"
He stopped halfway across the floor to pull a face at her. "When the alarm goes off and I fail to wake up. We have two and a half hours, I'll set it for two." He fumbled off boots and mantle, curled into bed, and managed a few seconds worry that he was too anxious about getting some sleep to actually manage it, before he did.
oOo
That evening they walked into the large ballroom maybe quarter of an hour after people started turning up: it was a long enough wait that there were plenty of heads waiting to turn and watch them come in. Umi tried not to giggle too hard as they swept down the short flight of stairs, quite blatantly put in for people to make an impressive entrance. They made a nice image sweeping down, even if she had to think it herself.
Caldina had planned carefully their outfits to match: they had each been sent off with three choices. Clef left Umi choose hers and dressed to match when he woke up, cheating and using magic to cut down the time it took. (The fact Umi was entertained by the idea of Clef packing whatever he was told to obediently was neither here nor there. But also making her giggle.) She'd managed to inspect them briefly in the mirror in their room, but only from the waist up, and she'd been trying to not stare at Clef. But in the Ballroom there were full length mirrors set everywhere, massive gilt-framed things propped against the columns which littered the room, and everywhere she looked she could watch them.
Her dress was long, a heavy dove grey silk which flirted with her ankles under a kind of thin tabard connected to a set of thin, sinuous silver straps at each shoulder by a rich purple Cephiran stone. Each metal strap flexed comfortably with her movement, engraved with a rippling pattern which repeated across the dark blue of the knee-length flare of the tabard, embroidered there in silver and purple again. The whole was caught in at the waist with a wide silver belt. She felt like the missing link between European medieval and art nouveau. Or the Romans. But she liked the flow of it, and the softness of the material next to her skin. Small silver hoops hung at her ears, and her wrists were covered by a cross between a guard and a bangle – more silver, and more scattered purple stones.
One had come with the outfit. The other was her gauntlet, transformed by Clef with a thought and a word, his fingers resting cool against her wrist as he had looked down and brushed the glove gently into its current form. Her arm rested casually on his as they descended.
Clef's shoulders were mantled in the same grey, though a different cloth, caught at the throat by a stone to match hers. There was no long robe now - nothing to get in the way. His trousers and shirt were cut straight, the former grey again, and the latter a softer version of the purple, but the tabard he wore was the same as hers, merely wider. (And without the straps. Probably. She assumed it was attached to his shirt somehow, though as he'd cheated to put it on, she wasn't actually certain.)
He'd managed to find hoops to wear at his ears which matched her jewellery, and the ring on his finger had become silver and blue, instead of the gilt-edged, purple-stoned thing he'd taken to wearing recently.
Not that she'd been looking.
They stepped down, the steady lightness of a sprung dance floor under her heels - strappy heels, silver dance shoes just like ballroom ones at home, really, and though the heel was only just two inches to ensure she could run in them, the sole of the shoe was like suede, for the right amount of grip and give on the wooden floor: going outside would probably ruin them.
Oh yes, Umi was pleased with the image reflected back at her, safe in the knowledge it was all designed to let her fight and show them both off. She would have to do something to thank Caldina when she got back home...
The ballroom was massive, the actual dancefloor at the end of the room marked out by the lack of widely spaced pillars, tables with gilt-legged, velvet-cushioned chairs, and tall nearly-tree plants in rich red-glazed pots. Twisted gold-and-crimson garlands wrapped about the pillars from the cream moulded ceiling (more gilt picking out the design there) and hung high overhead between the massive chandeliers, crystal and gold gleaming with dozens of tiny white lights. Along the side wall, there was also a set of doors flung open, with a sign above. "What's up there?" she asked, seeing the stairs beyond.
"That goes to the roof gardens. There's a cafe, I believe, and also a section for walking in when one needs to escape for a moment or two."
There was music playing - when they got close enough, they could see the band in one corner of the dancefloor, on a dias raised about two inches just to separate it from the room. For the most part, the instruments were similar enough to those in an orchestra from earth, but there were a number of bamboo flutes instead of wooden or metal ones, there were a few brass instruments which looked like nothing so much as mad science experiments, and there was one girl sat on a cushion on a bench, with something Umi would swear was a kayageum across her knees. The result was a rich but slightly jarring melody, simply because it wasn't a mixture of sounds she was used to. But she had heard it before - Caldina had made sure of that - and she found she could remember the lessons well enough, watching the people on the floor, to work out which of the dances they were doing.
"Come on." Clef walked straight to the dance floor, taking her with him. "Let's prove we know what we're doing and get it over with."
"You just don't want to have to talk to anyone else." Umi murmured.
"...That might be a bonus." Clef admitted, with a grin. "Do you really want to spend the evening making small talk?" The current piece of music began to wind up, and they paused at the edge of the floor while the couples swirled to a halt and bowed or curtseyed to each other, and many of them filtered back out through the tables towards their companions, or the bar. "Also, you're less likely to stand on my feet than most of these others."
"As long as you can keep off mine, we should do okay then." Umi shot back. The musicians were taking a sip of their drinks and shifting into place for the next song. Clef held out his hand, palm up, and she accepted it. He led her onto the floor, and drew them to a place near one of the corners and swung her about into place facing him - she went with a grin and an extra twirl across the floor. The ceiling above them was high and bright, the room warm and full of chatter- but lighter, brighter chatter than they had been surrounded by for the past week. Quite a few of the Representatives seemed prepared to use it as another excuse to stand about talking at each other about business, but mostly people were relaxing and looked ready for fun.
The music started, and Clef held his hand out, the gesture a request built into the dance. Umi stepped forward and accepted it, and the hold they took was pretty much the same as a ballroom dance back home. She'd taken ballet for more years than she really cared to remember, and they had learnt some as part of their warm up sessions. It stood her in good stead now. If she had been unfamiliar with dancing like this, she would have been nervous at standing pressed so close to Clef's chest as the music played and they began to twist into motion.
She was nervous for the first steps, waiting for one of them to read a cue wrongly and stumble, tug in opposite directions. But it never came. They swung smoothly about the room one way, then checked and twisted the other, and her steps grew surer as she realised Clef didn't just know what to do.
"You dance better than Ferio!" Umi said, aloud, and then tried to look at Clef as he burst into laughter; he'd dropped his head too far forward and all she could see was his hair. His breath was warm on her bare shoulder, and she fought not to shiver, the rest of her feeling cold suddenly - apart from the long line where they touched, chest to hip to thigh. "What?"
"You sound so shocked. I've had more time to practise than the Prince has, you know!" When he stood upright again he didn't bother looking where they were going, but smiled at Umi, more carefree than she'd seen him in a long time. Cheeks flushed, eyes bright, they could have been all alone for the attention he was paying the rest of the room, and Umi couldn't look away from him. It was a small miracle that they didn't run into anyone as they moved on.
"Well, yes," Umi managed to say, and knew she was beginning to blush, but couldn't stop it. "I'd have thought you were too busy to learn to dance, though."
"I wasn't always the Master Mage!" Clef actually tried to pout at her - it didn't work, because his grin kept breaking through, but it was enough to lose Umi's fight with her blush. "You know that! I told you already about bouncing about the worlds for years."
"Yes, but you made it sound like you were wandering about looking at the ways all the different worlds worked - like a study project!"
Though. Thinking about it, maybe that was just what Umi had decided to believe, because she wasn't sure where the impression had come from, but with Clef laughing in her arms it was suddenly easier to imagine him floating from place to place to find something entertaining, not just educational.
Still trying to pout, Clef shook his head mournfully. "Right. This is war, you realise?" They swung to a halt before Umi even noticed the song was ending, and she stared at Clef as the next track began. The apprehension must have shown in her face, as he dropped the clowning and smiled naturally again. "I won't let you get tangled up, but after that, we definitely have to test out all Caldina taught you. I've a reputation to rebuild, it seems."
Clef let of her and took a pace back so he had room to hold his hand out, again, between them. Umi hesitated. "…How long ago did you last have a reputation for dancing?" She had to ask, if only to see him try to pout again.
"Only a century or two - come on, lady knight! Or aren't you up for the challenge?" Not waiting any longer, he took her hand, and pulled her along to the corner, dodging already-moving couples as they went, Umi laughing delightedly behind him. He pulled her across in front of him, letting go, and she curtseyed with a fancy flick of her skirt, and stepped in to take hold again as he bowed - lower than he had to anyone else here, then they were pressed together and spinning away down the floor, with long interlocking steps which twisted their feet together, threatening to trip them over each other with each step - but never managing to.
This dance - which Caldina had brought out with a laugh after three days of afternoon lessons and made them all try, bringing in Ferio and a protesting LaFarga so that Hikaru and Fuu both had someone to dance with as she spun Umi about the dining hall herself. They turned quick enough that Umi hadn't been able to keep track of her feet, and tripped over every change step when the dance swung the other way. Hikaru and LaFarga had to take a more sedate path about the place due to the rather imposing height difference, which made the pivoting steps more awkward, and Ferio was leading Fuu gently so they could talk as they went, but Caldina wasn't going to be so relaxed with Umi's training.
Which meant that now she could turn away from Clef to hide her grin, lean her shoulders back another few inches, and lengthen her stride to make each twist a little wilder, and when they shifted into a change step together it just worked.
They were both breathing hard when the music ended, and both grinning just as widely. Umi's heart thumped in her chest with the joy of moving so well, with someone else. There was a magic in dancing which had nothing to do with power and everything to do with enjoying oneself, and she knew, looking at Clef's grin, that he was grinning at himself as much as her. "It's been a while since you've just danced, right?" She asked.
"Mm. It's not that I'd forgotten I liked dancing, but I just... what it feels like, you know? Going a little mad for once, but without it ever being dangerous..."
"I don't know, we were spinning so much we could have gone over with quite a bang at the end there..."
"No, we wouldn't." he told her, immediately, then blinked. When his grin returned it was different, almost tentative. Shy. "We wouldn't have."
Umi blushed the darkest yet and looked away, trying not to puff up in pride. "We do make quite a good team..." She murmured, and listened avidly for the next piece of music to start. But when it did, she was disappointed: she didn't recognise it, didn't know anything to dance to this beat. Resigning herself to a break, she drew away from him slowly. Clef, still holding her hand, turned to take them back into the centre of the floor. "I don't know this one," Umi protested, tried to draw back.
"Stay anyway?" Clef cajoled her. "Trust me? I'm sure I can steer us through this." With that shy smile still lurking in his eyes, how could she say no? The couples beginning to move were all in hold, just like the other dances, not twisting too much... actually, this looked rather like a foxtrot, maybe a touch slower, but the motion was gliding about smoothly-
Clef twisted her about, and Umi found they were moving along before she had time to protest, with him whispering instructions each time there was something a little more complex than just stepping back when he stepped forwards, or forward when he went back. They made it about the floor with only a few dodgy moments each time, and even though Clef stuck to what must be the basics compared to the people sweeping past them it felt like a victory when she lasted out the music.
A victory she'd had to fight for, though, and so when she didn't recognise the next dance - and the people about them began to spin about fast - she shook her head decisively and led them from the floor. "You can teach me that one back in Cephiro." She insisted.
"We don't do much dancing in Cephiro." Clef pointed out. "Not in the castle, anyway. It was never very appropriate, what with the Pillar..."
"Things are different now! Besides, if you want more Cephirans going about and visiting other places, they're going to have to be able to dance if they want to fit in, right? That's why they have this Ball, it's a thing shared among the lands. So you're going to start."
"We are, are we?" He raised an eyebrow at her. Umi hit him on the shoulder, forgetting entirely to be ladylike.
"We are! I'm sure Ferio and Caldina will approve, and as they run the castle between them most of the time..."
"Your devious mind knows no bounds." He said, loftily, and it was fascinating the way Umi could see the grin still in his eyes. That, at least, was her excuse for staring hard enough she flinched when Tatra tapped on her shoulder. Clef, damn him, burst out laughing.
"Princess Tatra, good evening! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there - shut up, Clef!"
"Good evening, Lady Knight. You both seem to be enjoying yourselves." Tatra smiled, politely ignoring the hitch in Clef's voice as he managed a greeting. "You both dance very well."
"Chizeta must take some of the credit for that on my part - Caldina was the one to teach me a few of the dances, in the week or so before we came. There wasn't time to learn everything, though." Umi said, with a look full of regret back at the dancefloor. "Like this one."
"Ah. These always come in pairs, as well." Tatra said. "Though it makes my request less of an imposition than I'd feared - would you dance the next with me, my friend?" And she smiled at Clef.
He looked rather startled. "I, Princess - I mean, Honourable-"
"Your knight will be perfectly safe with my guard, and now that you've proven you can do more than pace out the steps like most of the people I get to dance with, you have to make up for the truly horrendous job you did at it last time we were here." Tatra told him, still smiling amiably, and before Clef or Umi really had a chance to react to that he was being swept out onto the floor, and Umi was left to watch across the room, surrounded by the loose circle of Tatra's guard - apart from the two who took to the floor with each other to shadow their Princess and Clef through the dance. For all Umi really wanted to be out there herself, she had to admit it was fun watching Clef as he fidgeted through the first steps of the dance, then settled into it and began to move properly.
"He looks well today. You make an attractive couple, on the dancefloor." Said a woman's voice, behind her. Umi flinched, twisted, and came eye-to-eye with Lady Eorl stepping between two of the Chizetans; the Representative's gaze seemed fixed on the dancers, tracking Clef and Tatra through the mob. Umi hesitated, then just waited for her to say something else, bereft of a response.
"Of course, he always has danced better with friends than enemies. I suppose most of us here look like the second now, to him."
"I'm sure Cle- Representative Clef doesn't think of you as such, Lady Eorl."
Eorl turned to look at her closely. Umi stiffened and met that look evenly as she could. "...Either you believe that, or you are a very talented actress. Either way, thank you." Eorl glanced back at the dancers, her glittering jewelry catching the light and spilling rainbows across Umi's vision. "Tell him, please, that at midnight I will be in the gardens, and request his presence there. I will wait by the Astoria flowers. I know he used to like those."
Umi silently watched her walk away, torn between unease at another summoning so like Reigan's (not that it had gone badly then. But she could do without that kind of adrenaline rush quite so often, thank you...) and a growing sense that whatever history lay between them, Eorl regretted what she and Clef had become.
Which begged the question: what had they been? Umi didn't like even thinking about that. It wasn't like she was jealous. Even if she had liked - there was no point in being jealous if something had happened between him and someone else in the past, and she could honestly say she wasn't. Wouldn't have been, she meant. Wouldn't be even if she did like-
Umi rubbed a hand across her forehead in frustration. She didn't like it, because she didn't know what Eorl wanted from Clef now, nor what she would do to get it, and she didn't trust her. That was her job here, wasn't it? To worry over things like that?
The musicians took another break, and Tatra brought Clef back and monopolised the wait staff until not only the three of them, but every member of her guard had a drink in their hand. Umi sipped at hers, then tapped Clef's elbow and leant close, whispering Eorl's message.
"...I see." He said, and drank a little more while she watched him, impatient for some response. The frown slipped back onto his face, and Umi suddenly wished she'd not told him anything. Before she could try to chase it away again he shook his head a little, sighed, and relaxed: his shoulders lowered, the frown vanished. "Nothing to do but go see what she wants, we need her vote if we can get it, but we've time enough before then. Does anyone know what will be in the next set of dances? I know they do a list, I never thought to look for one." He addressed the end comment to everyone in earshot.
Smiling - that broad smile which made Tatra close her eyes, the dangerous one - the Princess handed a slip of paper across, and Clef looked over it briefly. Umi looked, too, but the spider-track scrawl refused to mean anything much. Clef seemed pleased, though. "That should do fine. I think you will know most of these, Umi."
"Then may I have the next dance with you, Lady Knight?" Tatra asked, leaving Clef blinking again. Umi laughed, and agreed, and left Clef with the guards to dash across the floor with the Princess.
oOo
The stairs from the ballroom to the roof were decorated with the same looped cloth and ribbons about the railings as the columns in the ballroom, and the lights dimmed as you went up. There were a few groups of people going up too, and on the final landing most of them went to the right and the door at the end there, through which Umi could see more chairs and tables set about like a garden cafe with wait staff circulating between them, lanterns hung between the small trees and ribbon-wrapped poles. Clef took her to the left hand door, out of which there was quiet, and starlight, and the smell of evening flowers. She stopped by the door a second, with a thought for her dancing shoes, and with a small glow of light her uniform boots were poking out from under her dress instead.
The air was growing damp and smooth with dew as they stepped out onto the grassy paths of the roof garden. The place was a maze, marked out with tall trellises woven from thin branches, the bark still on them, rustic and elegant at once. There were plants about the bottom of the trellises, but also large-leaved vines twined all through them, making strange silhouettes by their sides.
It was hardly the small place she'd imagined after Clef's words earlier. It must have taken up more than half the roof space.
Their boots made no noise on the grass; the rich material Caldina had commissioned for their clothes also fell silently, and Umi wondered if that was intentional as she walked on. The cafe they'd seen was entirely cut off from view by a high wall, and there was something stopping either light or sound from escaping and infiltrating their side. As they went along there were small openings here and there in the maze, with little bowers and formal gardens, some lit only by the stars, and some with the subtle light of soft red and gold lanterns among the plants. Umi was entirely lost by the time they'd taken three corners, in the dark; but she trusted Clef to know where he was going.
They came out of the walkway through a deep arch and into a rose garden, the scent of them thick on the air, heady. There was already someone stood on the far side of the place: Umi recognised the Lady Eorl by the glimmer of gold netting outlining her hair. Clef pressed a hand to Umi's arm, stopping her in the archway, then left her there. It was the only way in that Umi could see, unless you could fly. She stayed in the shadow and watched.
Eorl turned when Clef was halfway across the lawn, and the starlight shone on her in an annoyingly attractive manner. Her clothes moved with a rustle and gentle clinking from the masses of delicate jewellery. The stones glinted with each breath she took. Clef stopped maybe three paces from her, carefully not obstructing Umi's view, and bowed his head for a moment.
Eorl kept no such polite distance and stepped far closer to Clef than she had done previously. She was of a height with him - that inch or so taller than Umi, and she had the figure to pull off the draped layers she wore. They made a stupidly beautiful pair.
Umi scowled.
"You wanted to speak to me?" Clef didn't step back, but he sounded mild, not welcoming. "I take it you still are not willing to do so in public?"
"You know I cannot tie my land to you so easily. We are none of us secure on the table - none save the top seven, perhaps. It has no bearing on us personally... between us as people, instead of Representatives - I thought, we spoke together so easily, I thought you understood that. That we might..."
"We spoke as easily as friendly acquaintances might, surrounded by less friendly people. And as soon as those conversations might have been seen as a statement, you backed away. Again. Since I've been here, you have not stepped out of your way, even to warn me personally to be on my guard."
She raised a hand towards Clef's face at that, stepping forwards once more. "No, I did not mean..." Clef didn't move - but Umi did, taking a half step forwards before she could think, to the very edge of the archway. There she caught hold of herself, but Eorl had already seen. Her hand dropped. Umi wasn't unhappy with that.
"Ah, yes. I'd forgotten, for a moment." Eorl said, softly, looking at Umi over Clef's shoulder before turning back to him. "It was clever, to use the truth as a shield like that."
She was talking about the rumours over them, and Clef made no move to challenge it.
"Even if I'd come alone, I'd be giving the same answers to what you want of me." Clef told her, and his tone was gentle, but his voice came out so distant it was almost brutal. "You know that."
Eorl sighed, and looked out over the garden. "I did want to speak with you then, Clef, but - do you have any idea how long it had been since we'd seen each other and you'd disappeared back into your hidden world?"
"Oh, at least four centuries. That doesn't change the fact you left me for the dogs to play with when you could, at the very least, have told me to watch my drinks more closely."
The words sounded like Clef should have been angry, but there was nothing in his voice but that distancing gentleness, and Umi was very, very glad he'd never turned that unconcerned tone on her. Eorl's figure glittered again as she sighed.
"You know why I did it. I apologised back then. I'll not say sorry again."
"I wouldn't ask you to. Just try to remember, and perhaps we can even be friends again, one day."
"I'd like that." And Eorl was being honest, even from here Umi could hear it. "Not just because you're beginning to grasp your power here. I thought of you, from time to time, after you left. Wondering what other bored aristocrats you were entertaining for a bed and a meal. If your magic was even stronger back on your own world - what illusions you could throw about there."
"But I don't play with illusions now. My job deals with real things." Clef tugged her back to the point. "You have to know what they might do if this Army comes to be. I can't think you're fool enough to endorse it."
"No, but I'm not fool enough to say no until it's certain I'd not be weakening my home, either." Finally Eorl stepped back, the curl through her back and shoulders straightening until she was no longer inclined towards Clef, and Umi breathed a little easier. "We aren't so high on the table as to be secure, not now, with a half dozen little lands searching for any weakness to break their way onto the table. Our neighbours - Pedredan, mostly - have been accusing us of putting the border lands before those of the alliance. They say that our place should be refigured, taking out of the reckoning all activity and influence which lies outside the borders, and if that happened? You and Autozam and the others would be waving as we fell past you and out of sight. Our economy is built on the extra resources of inner status."
"You have to vote one way or the other, in the end. There won't be an abstain button, not calling for a referendum."
Information offered up freely, repaid in kind. "Thank you. …You need one more land, besides my own, by my reckoning? If Reigan has indeed chosen yours." Clef nodded. "Get that one, and you will have my support openly and explicitly."
"Thank you, my Lady." Clef bowed.
Eorl sighed at him. "Yes, well. I'll leave you and your true Lady to enjoy the clean air away from the throng downstairs. I do so hate years when perfume is in fashion." She came across the lawn, and paused to look Umi in the eye. "Good luck with him." It was a murmur, too low for Clef to hear across the lawn. "There's nothing to stop you keeping him safe."
And then she was gone, two figures meeting her and falling in behind as she walked swiftly along the path, and Clef arrived at Umi's elbow before she could puzzle out the emotion in those last words.
"Shall we go?" He asked. "We should probably walk slowly. Eorl won't want us appearing on the stairs right behind her."
"It would defeat the point of a secret meeting." Umi agreed, and fell in beside him, wandering back along the paths. "...So. Bad break-up?"
"Bad what?" He blinked at her, then it clicked. "Oh, with Eorl - no, not really. There wasn't much to break up in the first place. It was later... well. She didn't help when I first got here, nor when Kuregu tried to get hold of me, but it's never really seemed to bother her before this year." He shrugged. "I wouldn't have expected it of her, but I think she's jealous. She won't push it, though."
"You really trust her." Umi's surprise was a little too plain in her voice, and she winced, but he just looked up at the sky, and sighed.
"She was in a tough position. If it came down to helping Eagle or keeping Cephiro's place on the table, for example - which it might well come to, one day soon - well. I know what I'd end up doing, but I know how much it would cost me, too."
A memory rang through Umi's head, Presea reporting to them in a hushed voice what he had decided. Even if it means they choose not to take the post, I will tell the candidate the full story of the Pillar.
"You'd help Eagle."
"Yes. No more wilfully sacrificing individuals for the good of the many."
She wasn't sure even she was meant to hear that last bit, but she had to reach out - she found Clef's hand with her own and held on tight. He jumped at the touch, but squeezed back, and she had to swallow hard before she trusted her voice to come out light and teasing.
"You do realise that includes you, right?"
He knocked their hands against her leg. "That includes us, yes."
She opened her mouth to reply, and then froze, as the roof door opened not too far away, and a group of people came through, talking. She listened hard: there had to be five of them, at least.
"Damn," Clef hissed, pulling back, "They'll have seen Eorl on the stairs, coming from this side of the garden, too." He tugged her from the path, but there was nothing solid for them to hide behind. "Can't transport us. They'd just see the light anyway. I'm hardly the only mage here, but I'm the most obvious - apart from you, that is."
"What do we do?" She looked about – the gardens were smaller when you wanted to hide. But this group of people was walking straight for them.
"Disguise our purpose here - sorry, Umi."
He leant forwards, pulled her to face him, and she had enough time to think what, really? To whisper his name.
Then he kissed her.
oOo
end chapter twelve
oOo
