It was chaos, or at least pandemonium, Riku quickly decided. All recognition was gone, all give-away signs of who belonged to what suit concealed from his eyes. Everyone was a stranger, even those cards he dealt with on a daily basis. All the words he heard might as well have been a foreign language, even were he able to distinguish them over the cacophony.

He caught the arm of the nearest card, remembering what Knight had taught them on their one-day crash course and said, "Ace of Staves. Who are you?"

"Nine of Cups," the card responded, and as it was said the signs became clear again – as long as they were dealing with each other.

"Group?" Riku offered, but the card declined with a curt shake. The signs were covered and he found instantly that he couldn't remember the suit or rank of the card, even though it had been said just moments before.

Ideally he wanted to find a ten. True, it was a slim chance and no doubt the other Aces had the same idea, but if he could find a ten-

"Four of Pentacles," a card told him, holding his shoulder. "You are?"
"Ace of Staves." He almost offered to form a group, but remembered that the rules said the inquering card had choice there.

"Form a group with me, we'll have a better chance." There was the offer. Riku hesitated – a ten would mean instant victory, but the chances weren't in his favour.

"Done," he replied instead, taking the cards hand. The two of them were grouped now, with the Four of Pentacles the leader of the group. Just as Knight had told them, he remained aware of his partner card's suit and rank.

"Five or fifteen," he muttered. "We want a Six now."

"Could be in trouble there, there's at least one Six out."

"I know," he replied shortly.

Another card accosted them, uncertain of which to ask until Riku nodded to the Four. There was something hauntingly familiar about her, but with the game...

"Five of Swords," she told them firmly. "What rank do you have?" Because they were a group, and she couldn't ask for individual values. Riku concealed his surprise as she identified herself – it was Kairi!
"Fifteen," Four responded. "Will you join our group?" he offered, as a group was allowed to ignore the onus on the asking card.

Kairi didn't hesitate to take Four's hand in agreement. She gave Riku a brief wink, but otherwise showed no sign.

"Just need another Ace now," Riku said.

"If we don't end up disbanding first," Kairi replied.

"Don't bet on it," Four told them, leading them through the throng. "I never disband a group I lead."

"What are you looking for?" Riku asked him.

"I'm not exactly. I'm just trusting my instincts."

They passed The Fool in the center, who even when he was giving advice was as unintelligible as any other card because he wasn't dealing with them.

"Should we ask and see what advice he has?" Kairi suggested.

Four hesitated. "I don't like it – he's been known to give bad advice."

"We don't have to take it," Riku told him.

He hesitated again, then nodded and turned back and accosted The Fool. "Fool, what is our best course?" he inquired.

The Fool glanced them over, then said, "Split or swap with the five-man group, but get them quick or you'll be for a loop."

Four's expression soured, but he muttered thanks.

"Now we just have to find a bunch of five cards in a group. Which is going to be a pain, none of us are tall enough to see over this crowd."

"Hey, Ace," Kairi said. "Give me a leg up on to Four's shoulders, that'll give me height."

"Is that allowed?" Four asked hesitantly.

"One way to find out," she shrugged. He held his hands together to give her a step up, helping her up into place. Riku spotted looks of surprise among both the visible Royal Arcanas and their respective disqualified cards. Deti was among them, looking startled but when he appeared to spot Riku he burst out laughing. Riku only wished Deti didn't think it his idea.

"Well?" Four said tensely. "No time to waste here."

"There's two groups," Kairi responded. "Closest is behind us; turn around and head for the Swords corner."

Riku's heart was beating harder, not from exertion but from excitement. Could The Fool have given sound advice, and were they about to find the card they needed?

Another lone card delayed them, revealing himself as the Three of Cups and demanding their rank.

"Twenty," Four responded shortly, adding, "No group." Then once the card had been dismissed he muttered, "Every sodding time. If I lose out again because a card's delayed me..."

"Turn left," Kairi directed them. "And pick up the pace if we don't want to miss them."

"I could go ahead and grab them," Riku offered.

"You're not the leader," Four reminded him. "Only I can do that."

"Oh yeah. Forgot."

They reached the group at last, Four quickly catching their leader and saying, "Twenty. You?"

"Eighteen," the leader responded. "Have an Ace?"

Riku winced – if they traded him away and they got out, that'd sting!

Four was unmoved, thinking quickly. Riku guessed he was figuring their rank without him and what it might involve. "Give me twelve and I might," he answered.

"No can do. Don't go just yet – what about a Five? I'll trade you two."

Almost as bad! Kairi surely wouldn't appreciate his getting out at her expense!

"Not enough," Four responded, clearly thinking quickly. "Have to be at least Six."

"Get out of my face then," the leader replied in disgust, moving away.

"Damn! Where's that other group?" Four demanded quickly.

"Opposite us, by the Staves," Kairi replied after only a moment.

"Wait a moment," Riku stopped them. "I've got a feeling – what about that card?" he pointed to one. He appeared no more distinguishable than any others, but he was certain his guts were telling him that was the one they needed.

"It's not out of our way," Four decided, changing course and taking the card's arm. "Twenty – you?"

The card started, "Ace of-"

"Game!" The Fool cut him off. Riku's heart felt as if it had stopped. He didn't know whether to feel excited because he'd been right, or dismayed at how closely they'd lost out by. They wouldn't know until The Fool identified the winning group. All four of them stood nervously still. Was it them?

The Fool approached, the cards parting around him remaining together only where they were grouped. Riku watched hopefully as he reached them, then his heart sank again as he continued right on past.

"No," Kairi breathed. "It's them."

"Them?" Four whispered.

"The ones we tried to negotiate with," she hissed back.

It was indeed. Now the cloak of anonymity had been lifted he recognised the leading card of the group through the gap left in The Fool's wake. He was triumphantly holding the hand of the Three of Staves. Eighteen and three – Twenty-one.

Riku saw now that their leader was the Two of Swords, followed by the Ace and Five of Pentacles, the Four of Cups and the Six of Swords. Three was the only Stave among them, completing the five-man group's winning combination.

"So damn close," Four sighed as Riku helped Kairi down. "Good game though. Better luck next time, both of you."

"You too," Riku agreed, shaking Four's hand and offering Kairi a hug.


"I'm serious, we were that close!" Riku insisted not long after dinner had started, having launched into a recounting of his first time playing.

"I know, I was watching remember?" Four said. "You should have seen the Queen when you put the Five of Swords on your leader's shoulders," he chuckled. "She couldn't decide whether to call foul or hope you got out."

"Should have seen the other suits!" Ten laughed. "I could see the other three when you did it, they all looked like they'd been knocked senseless."

"Except the Two of Cups," Nine added, "I was right up near him, and I heard him laughing. Mind you, he's delusional, so it might not count."

"Keep it to yourselves, but he's not actually, he just acts," Riku confided. "He knows exactly what's going on, and he's the one who told me last week they were breaking the rules."

"Bet that'll be a shock to our Six when she starts getting coherent again," Two said, nodding toward the end of the Cups table where one of their cards was trying to spoon-feed the barely conscious Six of Staves. Her eyes were open, but they looked blank and unseeing.

"Maybe their Two will take her aside and explain it to her," Four mused.

"Hey, Ace," Eight called from further up the table. "Why did you let the Queen take over that allotment you were working on?"

"Did you see her while she was supervising me?" he replied. "Doesn't take a genius to tell she wanted to get involved herself. As long as it's useful, I don't mind."

"Speaking of the Queen," Four murmured quietly to him. "You might want to try to avoid her for a bit. She's a little sore that we might well have you to thank for getting cards out twice in a row now."

"Trust her to put a damper on things," Riku grumbled. "Anyway, I gave her the allotments, she owes me for that."

"That's if she sees it that way," Four warned.

"Stop being a spoilsport will you, and maybe find something to drink so we can at least drink to my coming so close to winning on the first try."


Much later, once the four suits had departed The Tower, Riku leaned back on the carriage's front seat, finding he was oddly happy about how things had turned out. He hadn't managed to win, but he'd come so close to getting out and he'd also possibly been responsible for getting Three out.

Neither Page or Knight had said anything as they'd boarded the carriage to leave, though Knight had given him an approving nod. If he hadn't seen how close he'd gotten, he at least acknowledged the part Riku had played so far.

Vitesse had similarly not said anything, but unlike them she simply passed him by and headed into the carriage without even looking at him. Deti, on the other hand paused with him and said, "Nicely done, my boy. Maybe not this time, but next time for sure."

Four rode up nearby, looking slightly bothered.

"Trouble?" Riku asked quietly.

"Just a couple of sprites. They always show up just before what passes for springtime around here. Not that we get proper seasons, we just get typical weather matching them. We've had the winter snows, now it's time for spring... with sprites, wind and rain."

"You don't like spring much either, do you?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Four replied innocently. "I'm sure somewhere there are people who like working in a howling gale with rain lashing at them, but I can't seem to find them."

"And the sprites?"

"You wait to you meet one yourself, Ace. No amount of words does those pests justice." Then he ghosted back into the settling night.

Riku chuckled to himself, checking their path behind the light their lanterns gave out. He decided he'd stay up again tonight to see what their newest replacement card would be, hoping no one else in Radiant Garden had noticed the cards – except maybe Merlin.