Mystic: So I edited a couple of chapters, fixed the whole moon issue. (This is why I need good feedback readers. Please tell me where I'm screwing up.) My brain is in scrambles because my beloved German Shepherd (i.e. Pope Benedict XVI) is abdicating the papal throne, something that hasn't happened in over seven hundred years. Yowza, this is going to be a very interesting Lent. (I'll be a sedevacantist!)

"Miss Maggie! Question!" Eiko raised her hand, waved it wildly. "Before we -ahem- adjourn for the day, do you have any idea what these mean?" On very bright afternoons, the older fae held her studies in Conde Petie's Inn where another 'Margaret' offered them free water and discounted pumpkin snacks. Lady Margaret was very tickled to learn that she shared the same name as the dwarven innkeeper.

"What does what mean, little summoner?" The cool water felt wonderfully refreshing when the sun shone its brightest.

Eiko handed her tutor a drawing she had completed, full of color and personality. (circles triangles Kuja made her circles triangles) "We keep noticing this symbol and Kuja wanted me to ask you about it."

Lady Margaret put on her reading glasses and examined the shapes. "Where are you seeing them?"

"Everywhere. It's carved on the side of the lavatory, on the wall of Kuja's cellar, Mama saw it in her tea leaves -" The fae raised an eyebrow. " - it's even in my henna!"

Lady Margaret raised both eyebrows. "I'll be a dwarven uncle," she murmered beneath her breath." She grabbed hold of Eiko's hands. "It seems your family has a case of the Bad Wolf."

"Bad Wolf?" said Eiko. "Like the miraculous medicus?"

"Powerful fae sorcery. Very rare, but very possible."

"Is that what it says? Bad Wolf?"

The fae shook her head. "No, that's just in the fairy tale. This seems to be in your father's language." But who or what fae could possibly be trapped in a place that would understand Ancient Terran? "Mayhap it's for him," she said. "Have you summoned your wisp lately?"

Eiko scowled, bottom lip far out in a pout. "Stupid sprite keeps pointing at Kuja."

"Then the message is for your father. Will o'wisps know their stuff, cute little sadistic things."

"Kuja isn't my father."

"Legal guardian doesn't sound as adorable. He's your father because he takes care of you." Lady Margaret almost swooned and refilled her glass of water. She may be advanced in years, and many people still considered her hot, only, they often came in flashes. "Simple."

Her tutor's logic made plenty of sense, but Eiko loathed to admit it. Zidane once said that it was very easy (and fun!) to father a child, but much more difficult to actually be a father. (But then he sauntered over to Dagger and said he'd be willing to raise any and all brats if they be but their own before Steiner grew angry and chased him around the campfire.) The last horned summoner never thought it'd be the villain to raise her and possibly give her his name.

Still, the prospect of having Ultima at her fingertips made her almost want to jump in his lap and let him read her a bedtime story. No, no; maybe force him into having a tea party. Actually, he'd probably enjoy that more than her. Tackle him as he waltzed through the front door after a day of work? Mm, the first idea seemed most plausible, if Kuja didn't push her to the floor out of sheer disgust. ("And the miraculous medicus snapped his fingers - Eiko, child, get off of the floor. It's not becoming of a young lady.")

Eiko shuddered to think what the former Angel of Death would be like with a child of his own blood. "Um, how old do I have to be to become a dancer?" Please don't say moon cycle, please don't say moon cycle, please don't say moon cycle...

"Your moon cycle, silly."

The girl dropped her face into her palm. "Yeah, okay. Sure."

"Your father needs to check the mirror," said Lady Margaret, grinning.

"Huh, what?"

"It's a riddle. Tell him to check the mirror."

Circles triangles. "Is that what the symbol means?" Circles and triangles.

"No, but tell him anyways. Check the mirror. And do have a good Solstice, dear."

xxx

"Kuuuuujjjaaaaa!" Eiko repeatedly tugged at his sleeve. "Kuja, Kuja, Kuja, Kuja!"

The sorcerer wrestled away his arm. "What?!"

"I'm back." She gave a fiery grin as Caela waved from the doorway. The slave-girl often escorted the child home in the late afternoon. "I talked to Miss Maggie like you said." She started to tug at his sleeve some more, watched as it fluttered.

"What did I tell you about tugging at my clothes?" Kuja wrenched free again and took several steps back. Wrinkes didn't flatter him.

"To not to," Eiko chuckled.

"Summoner, I will count," he warned. "And you will not like it when I reach ten."

Eiko pouted. "Oh, fine."

"Are you packed?"

"Yes."

"Then what did Lady Margaret say about it?"

"She gave me a riddle."

"A riddle." Kuja wondered what it'd be like to kick something or someone off of a cliff again. It would be a beautiful scene on a well-lit stage.

Eiko held out her drawing. "She thinks the message is for you. Calls it a case of the Bad Wolf."

"Just like the miraculous medicus," said Hilda as she walked out of the bedchamber, packed belongings in hand. "And our mystery continues, does it not?"

Kuja didn't desire to look at the markings at the moment. He tucked the paper away in a folder. "What was the riddle?"

"Oh, my mother and her riddles." Lady Hilda shook her head.

"...Check the mirror."

Hilda lost all color to her face, fought to keep her composure. She was a fae, nobility, wife to the respected medicus. It would do no one any good if she fainted or lost her temper. She rubbed her temples and ignored Kuja's questioning glance. "But of course," she finally said. "That sounds like something my grandmother would say before retiring for the night. Caela, please be sure the house doesn't burn down."

Caela nodded quickly, red hair flopping in front of her eyes. "Yes, domina. The house will be safe with me."

"No wild parties," said Kuja.

xxx

For the Silver Dragon, carrying a small family upon its back was no difficult feat. The creature sailed without effort on the evening breezes, casting dark shadows on the earth below. Lady Hilda sighed in contentment when they passed through the light of the pale red moon. Color and expression returned to her face, but her blue eyes were increasingly darker, almost black. Kuja grinned at his bride, planted a light kiss on her bare shoulder. "You're very beautiful this evening, cariad." Once out of the red moon, into the blue, her paleness returned. "I have a cauldron all set for you."

She felt his heart as he rested against her, heard its rhythm. "Please tell me that your garden hasn't grown over in neglect."

"Why would I do a silly thing like that?" he answered, pouting in jest. "There is plenty out there for you to harvest."

"In the desert?" exclaimed Eiko. "How in the world do you grow a garden in the desert?!"

"Magery," Kuja answered, brushing silver locks out of his face.

"Then what's with the greenhouse in Conde Petie? Can't you grow a garden there?"

"The greenhouse had already been built by the time I arrived. I simply made it better."

" ...How long have you been growing that ego?"

He turned to glare at the summoner. "I will drop you."

"Nu-uh," she teased. "I'll just summon a friend and fly away to safety."

Kuja rolled his eyes while Hilda hid a chuckle behind her hand. "Child's play," he muttered. "Never-ending child's play."

"She is a child," Hilda said with a smile. "And your ward."

"Are we there yet?"

Kuja shook his head. "No."

"How about now?"

"No."

"...Now?"

"No."

Milliseconds later. "Now?"

One ...two ...three ..."Yes, we're here. Jump off."

"Will you two stop?" Lady Hilda huffed, hands on hips. "You're both acting like children."

"He started it." Eiko stuck out her tongue.

Kuja scoffed. "How did I start it? You continued to ask the question like an incompetent, brain-dead imbecile."

"Takes one to know one!"

"Gaia help me! I will turn this dragon around!" Kuja and Eiko both looked wide-eyed at the lady's outburst. "Can you two not act like a cat and dog for one second? Do not force me to silence you both!"

"Lady, I'm immune -"

"I'll fight it," she deadpanned.

"You'll collapse trying." The sorcerer gave a triumphant grin. "And then what will you do?"

She returned his smile, sly in her own special way. "I will enjoy the peace and quiet."

With her fun clearly over for the time being, Eiko was forced to entertain herself in another manner. I sense there's something in the wind ...that feels like tragedy's at hand...

Kuja glanced over his shoulder, unsure if he should be shocked or amused.

And though I'd like to stand by him. Hilda's clear voice cut through the night. Can't shake this feeling that I have.

The worst is just around the bend. Mother and daughter smiled, singing into the night, calming its creatures. And does he notice my feelings for him? And will he see how much he means to me? I think it's not to be.

What will become of my dear friend? Owls quieted their gentle callings, birds hushed their rustlings of the trees. Eiko carefully crawled her way onto her mother's lap, the words almost second nature. Kuja stared at the two females in his life, himself silent and contemplative. For an accused blood mage, the lady could haunt the world with just her voice. But blood mages no longer existed on Gaia; he checked the records thoroughly. Chaldean Fae did not use blood -their own or anyone else's- in their spells.

The only time Kuja hesitated in his research was when Hilda made the comment that her grandmother and tutor practiced the "old ways", that they'd have drained Garland dry. The sorcerer was always told that those specific blood mages never existed at all. In horror stories, maybe, used to frighten misbehaving children. The elephant lady once told him a particularly gruesome tale of the females luring young men to the shadowy forests with the promise of passion, only to leave the victims void of a heartbeat and the crimson fluid that flowed through the veins.

Check the mirror.

The few clouds overhead swirled into the circles and triangles that plagued the family and mocked them with the incessant presence. Eiko continued to sing on her mother's lap, unaware, innocent. He felt Hilda grab his hand, which jolted him out of his thoughts. For now, he was content to simply listen.

When they flew over a small pond, barely anything out in the dry desert, his own curiosity forced him to glance down at the still liquid. The clear water didn't move, it sat like glass in its surroundings.

Check the mirror.

He and Eiko sat upon the dragon's back, no one else.