A Night of Summoning

It was surprisingly easy to convince Diarmuid to discuss tactics for the upcoming battles. Harry wasn't sure if that was because of their talk on the red bridge, or because Diarmuid considered it only proper for him after his Lord specifically requested advice. It was probably the later, but Harry was too pleased with how enthusiastic the spirit got the more he spoke.

Scouting the land got multiple mentions, with examples from Diarmuid's past experience. He was also quite eager to discuss the fortification and disguise of their hotel room.

"Disguise?" Harry said around a bite of meat and egg. "You mean like, hide it?"

"Or make it appear to be somewhere else," Diarmuid said happily. "If our enemies do not know where we are, they cannot attack us."

"I suppose." Harry chewed a bit and went through all the spells and charms he thought would work. "Or at least I could confuse anyone who finds us."

"Which will give us ample time to escape!" Diarmuid grinned and raised his glass of cola. "Crafty thinking my Lord Harry!"

"I guess. Only if it works anyway."

Diarmuid looked like he was going to assure Harry that any method he thought up would of course work, and Harry had had enough of that for the evening.

"So what did you want to do to meet up with these other heroes?" he asked quickly.

Predictably, Diarmuid closed his mouth on whatever praises he'd intended and turned instead to thinking of an answer to Harry's question.

"It should be easy enough to find them,"Diarmuid mused thoughtfully. "Every Heroic Spirit should be able to sense the others, if not precisely then at least enough to know their direction. I suppose the biggest difficulty will lie in avoiding their Masters."

Harry blinked at the spirit as he fell silent, clearly deep in thought over the problem of meeting other heroes but not their summoners.

"Why?" He asked blankly, once it was obvious Diarmuid was too lost in his thoughts to continue.

Diarmuid looked up, eyes wide. "Why?" he repeated, startled.

"Why do we need to avoid the mages?" Harry asked with a shrug. He took another bite of gooey egg and crispy meat while Diarmuid frowned.

"I do not wish to make your desires for this War a lie in the eyes of the other participants," the knight said seriously. "If I were to meet another Heroic Spirit alone, I could explain my Lord's wish to stay out of the competition for the Grail, and offer a friendly bout, one Hero to another. But if we meet the Masters as well, they may not give me such a chance and may see our actions as some form of subterfuge."

"Hmmm." Harry thought about that for a moment as he chewed a cherry tomato. "You mean they might order their summoned spirits to attack us."

"Succinctly put Lord Harry." Diarmuid nodded. "And worse, the other Masters may believe your disinterest in joining the War to be a lie."

"Right, cause what sort of person would seek out fights if they weren't intending to win," Harry said, not at all sarcastically. Luckily, it appeared to go right over Diarmuid's head.

"Should any Hero or Master not understand something as simple as an honorable duel for the sake of one's Lord, then that is truly a mark against their honor rather than yours Lord Harry."

The amount of fierce honesty Diarmuid could pack into each heartfelt word was almost frightening. Harry was suddenly glad that he couldn't remember enough Japanese to hold a conversation. It would be so much more embarrassing talking to the ancient knight in public if the surrounding people could actually understand them. As it was, they already drew too much attention with how many women Diarmuid's handsome face attracted. Harry had hit a few of the pushier ones with some mild confunduses just to be able to have dinner in peace.

"We are going to have so many arguments with the other people taking part in this nonsense," Harry muttered to himself.

Diarmuid looked up at him quizzically from cutting his steak.

"Nevermind," Harry waved a hand and went back to picking out the tastiest looking bites from his plate. "So, we'll try to avoid the mages, but don't know how yet. We'll figure that out when we come to it then. When does it start again?"

Diarmuid gave an elegant shrug. "We suspect that the mage Kayneth was trying to summon a Servant early, so the majority of summonings are likely to occur on the full moon, when such magics are easier to work with."

"Huh. That's," Harry glanced up as he remembered the moon yesterday, so tonight's would be...

"Tomorrow," he said with a start. "It's been three nights since you were summoned, so the other six should appear tomorrow then?"

"It depends on how many Masters have been chosen already, though some may have summoned earlier, as Kayneth did, and have simply not arrived yet," Diarmuid said. "Regardless, the War will be paused until all Servants are summoned and some may not be not called until days or even weeks after all the others are gathered."

"That doesn't seem fair."

"Yes, those late summonings are generally done by accident when the Grail is simply trying to round the numbers, so I would say it is not fair at all."

The night of the full moon found Harry setting up a collection of snacks along the ledge of a concrete wall in a park. When Harry expressed an interest in waiting for the summonings to occur and see if they could pinpoint their locations, Diarmuid had advised doing so away from their own base, in case anyone noticed their snooping. Harry had only meant passively sensing the magic of the summons (which he figured would be as blindingly powerful as Kayneth's had been, and therefore easy to spot in this dull, almost magic-less world), but he had the feeling Diarmuid believed he'd be using some sort of scrying spell.

It gave him an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, but he decided not to clarify the matter with the spirit. After all, if passive sensing like Diarmuid had mentioned the summoned heroes could do was something unique to spirits, well... Harry didn't want anyone to know he could do it too. It would just complicate things.

Instead of worrying, Harry focused on trying to find a snack Diarmuid honestly enjoyed. The knight was very patient about trying everything Harry offered him, but had so far only had polite interest in any of them. Except for a few, which certainly had not been enjoyed at all.

Although the faces he made while trying not to insult his Lord's taste had made them somewhat fun for Harry.

"The moon should be approaching its zenith soon," Diarmuid said.

Harry glanced up from the line of snacks. "That's probably when the rest will summon their spirits, right?"

"Yes, I believe so," Diarmuid looked up at the sky and the moon above. "If they seek to use the heavens to grant more power to their summoning, then that would be the perfect time."

"Hmmm." Harry selected one of the packages at random. "Here, how is this one?"

Diarmuid looked curiously at the package as he took it. "Bamboo child…?" He hesitantly put one of the chocolate cones in his mouth. "Hmmm."

"Any good?" Harry asked hopefully.

Diarmuid smiled gently. "Yes, it is quite good!"

Harry sighed. "So, another miss. Well, I'll keep trying."

The spirit looked like he wanted to argue- either to reassure Harry that his snacks were all delicious, or to avoid anymore mystery snacks with terrible, spicy flavors- but a sudden rising pressure made him freeze instead.

Harry looked up with a frown. "What…?"

"It's happening," Diarmuid said. "Mages around the city are building power for the summonings."

Harry didn't have a chance to ask more before the power peaked and, for a brief moment, the air around him felt as familiar as Hogwarts, as Diagonal Alley, or really anywhere from home- so full of magic you wouldn't know it was always there until suddenly you landed in a world where it was gone.

All that magic flowed out into the world from three burning points of light he couldn't really see, then it faded away, and the mundane-ness of the world smothered Harry like a plastic tarp as it settled heavy, stiff, and suffocating around his senses.

"I'm not certain how many that was," Diarmuid was saying, "but it surely had to be more than one. It seems that those Masters are across the river though."

"Three," Harry muttered dazedly. Diarmuid glanced at him sharply as he shook off the feeling of wrongness in the air and looked up at his spirit. "You can tell where they are?"

"Not exactly." Diarmuid gave an apologetic wince and pointed to the other side of the river next to the park. "I can feel the power of multiple Servants in that direction, but none behind me."

"Oh?" Harry slowly collected his snacks and picked up his bag. "So, do you think we're the only ones in the downtown area?"

"Hopefully not." He gave Harry a considering look. "Sensing other Servants this way isn't precise enough to give a location, but if we are indeed the only ones on this side of the river, we will be easier to track than the rest."

"I don't think we have much choice." Harry finished putting the snacks away and swung his bag over a shoulder as he stood. "That side is all residential- neighborhoods and schools and parks. There isn't anywhere a couple of foreigners can blend in."

Diarmuid gave a rueful grin and shrugged. "We shall have to rely on moving around and trust the bounded field you placed around our base."

"Yeah, even if someone tries to follow us, the wards should prevent anyone from seeing exactly where we go."

"So all we need to do now," Diarmuid turned to Harry with a wider, more excited grin, "is find a Servant looking for us, and challenge them to a duel!"

Harry shook his head and smiled. "You say that like it'll be easy."

Diarmuid laughed and followed after Harry when he started walking down the path.

"It is only the duels that need be difficult! I am sure whatever Heroic Spirits have been summoned will be glorious to battle!"

"I'm sure they will," Harry said with a soft smile. "It will be fun to see."

They wandered up and down streets all the way back to the hotel while Diarmuid occasionally stopped to sense the other Spirits. Whoever they were though, they never came close enough to actually track. Diarmuid said it was more like sensing a storm when the hairs on the back of your neck stood up- he could feel other spirits were around, but after the power from the summonings died down, he couldn't tell where or how far they were, simply that they were somewhere in Fuyuki.

Of course, he could also tell somehow that not enough Heroic Spirits were in the city. He never mentioned Harry's count based on the summon circles he'd felt, but did say there were unlikely more than four other Spirits in the city.

"There must still be some stragglers," the spirit had all but moaned once they reached the room hours later.

"You sound disappointed," Harry said from the bed with a yawn. "Doesn't that just mean we have more time to prepare?"

"We have prepared our base, and until we know more about who we are facing that is all we can really do," Diarmuid said with a sigh. "The other Servants will likely keep a low profile until all the players are present, then they and their Masters will seek each other's identities in order to plan the most effective attacks."

"So, spying then?" Harry moved back until he could lean against the wall and let his legs stretch out over the stiff blanket. "I guess we could do that."

Diarmuid was silent for a moment, then hesitantly faced Harry.

"I...cannot argue that would be the most effective method to win in this War, but," Diarmuid paused and Harry tried to look as patiently expectant as he could. "But, I still do not wish to give anyone a false impression of your intentions, and seeking out Servants and Masters through such indirect means could make them suspicious."

"So...you want to approach everyone directly?" Harry asked, voice pitched for a pleasant, curious air so the spirit wouldn't take his words for chastisement.

Diarmuid suddenly kneeled and looked up at Harry beseechingly.

"I understand I have been selfish, to insist upon challenging other Heroic Spirits when you have no desire to take part in the War," he said in a rush. "I apologize, my Lord, there is no need to continue with this-"

"Woah, woah!" Harry waved his hands and scooted forward. "I thought we went over this already? I agreed to do this too, it's fine!"

Diarmuid looked up at him, face twisted with worry. Harry sat forward and put his hands on the spirit's shoulders, feeling him tense.

"Calm down, what's going on all of a sudden?" Harry frowned when Diarmuid only lowered his head and said nothing. "It's fine if you want to approach the other spirits directly, I just wanted to be sure that's what you wanted to do."

"I-" Diarmuid looked up at him, searching his face for something. Harry kept his expression as open as he could, not sure what would set the subservient knight off again. Eventually, Diarmuid relaxed, though his eyes seemed terribly sad.

"I do not know what else I might have done to offend my Lord," he said slowly, sorrowful gaze focused on Harry like he was the only person in the world. "I know you do not care for the Grail, or for bouts of strength, so my selfishness must be the cause for your displeasure. I cannot even enjoy your generosity with the foreign food you gift me."

"Wait." Harry blinked in confusion. "Is this about the snacks?"

Diarmuid looked so lost for a moment that Harry worried he might cry.

"It's really not your fault if you don't like them," Harry said quickly. "And if you don't want to keep trying them you can just tell me! I won't be angry, I just thought it would be nice if you found something you liked to eat!"

Diarmuid looked less lost now, but he was staring up at Harry with some surprise.

"Food's fun, you know?" Harry continued and he patted Diarmuid's shoulder comfortingly. "But if it isn't your thing, that's fine- there's no way I'd get mad at you for something so petty!"

"I, no, that's not what I-" Diarmuid sounded very confused now.

"Then what is it? Why do you still think I'm mad at you?"

Diarmuid just stared at him. "I… You stopped supplying me with mana."

"...What?" Harry sat back and gave the spirit an odd look. "What are you talking about?"

"For the last hour or so you stopped…" Diarmuid's eyes widened. "No- you were never supplying me with mana, that's right!"

Diarmuid sat up straight while still kneeling, but his eyes had a far-off, focused intensity to them, nothing like the helplessness of only a moment before.

"You were not the one who drew the circle to summon me, you were only following that other Mage because the Mark had appeared upon you," Diarmuid looked up at Harry with a fierce expression. "Of course you became my Master instead, but the Mage who formed the circle must have manipulated it so the mana supply would come from a source of his choosing."

Harry blinked at the spirit, then thought back to that night.

"Oh!" He sat up, and Diarmuid leaned forward to listen. "Most of the circle was drawn with boar's blood, but his fiancée supplied blood for some of the outer symbols. They mentioned that would give them an advantage somehow."

Diarmuid grinned like a wolf. "They altered the ties of mana so the Master would not be supplying it, so any Master present could theoretically have bonded with me. Their greed is why our compatibility superseded the power of the circle."

Harry had to smile at how pleased the spirit looked by that, but then Diarmuid frowned.

"I must apologize, my Lord," he said, that sorrowful look was back in his eyes. "I should not have doubted you."

"You couldn't have known- hell, I didn't know until you said something!" Harry sighed when Diarmuid still looked remorseful and not at all like he was going to stop blaming himself for misunderstanding. "More importantly- this mana supply thing, why did you think being cut off from it was a punishment?"

As far as distracting the spirit went, Harry had hit it on the nose with that question, but somehow he also made Diarmuid's guilty mood worse.

"I deeply apologize, Lord Harry," Diarmuid said as he bowed his head and all but sunk into the ground. "I knew you were unfamiliar with all the rules of the Grail War, and I never sought to explain more to you!"

"Well I never asked anything more than I cared to!"

The spirit didn't have an argument for that, but he also didn't raise his head.

Harry sighed and slid off the bed to sit on the floor next to his kneeling, too-humble-for-his-own-good knight of a spirit. Diarmuid jerked in shock and moved back. He looked like he was going to argue about his 'lord' being on the ground as well, so Harry cut him off before that started.

"I'm guessing that since you thought you were being punished, this lack of mana is painful?" Harry said quietly. He just looked at the spirit steadily, waiting for him to meet his eyes.

"I...it is not painful, exactly," Diarmuid finally said. "But it is uncomfortable, and it greatly weakens me. In another day, I am not sure I will be able to maintain physical form."

Harry tried not to react, because any sign of shock or worry would be taken very badly at this point, but he couldn't help that just the slightest bit of disappointment could be heard in his voice.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Diarmuid bowed his head lower. "I do not know if there is a formal way to reestablish a mana bond between us as I do not know how those mages altered the bond in the first place, but alternate methods of mana transfer should work."

Harry waited. "So...what are they?"

Diarmuid looked up at him wide eyed. "Oh- I can gain some mana from consuming food."

"Okay, I'll be sure to buy more, just let me know whenever you're hungry."

"Thank you Lord Harry," the spirit bowed his head again gratefully.

Harry waited again, but Diarmuid was keeping his head down as if waiting to be dismissed.

"Is that it?" Harry asked finally.

Diarmuid flinched. "Ah… That is…."

"Just tell me, please." Harry said with a sigh. Honestly, if he wasn't worried the spirit would be hurt, he would mention that Diarmuid not sharing information was how they ended up here in the first place. But Harry knew he had to take at least some of the blame- he knew the ancient knight was reserved to a fault, so he really needed to be more proactive from now on, for both their sanity if nothing else.

The spirit was very hesitant when he finally looked up, and Harry was honestly shocked to see he had a faint blush as well.

"It is also possible to transfer mana via…" Diarmuid's eyes darted up to Harry's face then away so fast he wasn't sure it even happened. "Close physical contact. Skin contact."

"Oh." Harry blinked. That didn't actually sound so terrible, maybe ancient Irish knights were shy about that sort of thing? Or, were they against men being physically close? Harry was pretty sure that wasn't so, but at least Diarmuid hadn't said anything about-

"And of course," Diarmuid took a breath and bowed his head as far down as it could go. "Sexual intercourse is one of the most powerful methods of mana transfer."

Oh, of course it was.

Harry could feel his face heating up and wondered if Diarmuid knew he was blushing and that was why he'd bent his head so there was no way he could see. Naturally, then the spirit glanced up for a brief moment and immediately blanched. Diarmuid raised his hands in a rush as he finally sat back from his kneel.

"Not that such would be necessary! I am more than certain that food consumption will suffice!"

Harry gave him a look that he hoped showed how little he believed that.

"So, three ways to transfer mana, huh?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Lord Harry." Diarmuid winced a little, but he kept his gaze on Harry's face so he was probably just embarrassed.

"And when you listed those three ways, did you do it from weakest to strongest?" Harry asked. Diarmuid's face froze. "So it's been what, barely an hour since you stopped getting mana from Archibald's fiancée and you've been feeling uncomfortable and think you might lose your physical form sometime tomorrow. Is just eating really going to be good enough?"

Diarmuid looked stricken.

Harry turned away and drew his knees up to his chest so he could rub his face into them and groan quietly.

"Okay," he said after a minute. "Okay. We'll try skin contact I guess and see if that helps. If it doesn't then-"

"I would never dishonor my lord so!" Diarmuid said fiercely. "If it comes to that, I would sooner vanish entirely!"

Harry looked over at the spirit a little wide eyed. "You know… I didn't think ancient Celts, er, Fianna was it? I didn't think your people were so against homosexuality?"

Diarmuid looked confused. "Homosex- ah, men laying with men and women with women?" The spirit shook his head with a frown. "My people were not against it, that is not the issue in this case."

"Oh?" Harry turned his head so he could lay a cheek on his knees. "Not your type I guess?"

Diarmuid straightened, eyes going wide, and a blush came back very faintly around his ears.

"That is not the issue either!" he said indignantly. "I could never put my lord in a position where he had to choose pragmatism over his own autonomy!"

Harry sat up, and just stared at the odd spirit.

"My autonomy?" he said. Diarmuid nodded seriously. "What about yours?"

"Mine?" Diarmuid shifted with an odd look on his face. "I am doing my duty as my lord's vassal, to force my lord into a position like that would be a mark against my lord's honor as well as my own!"

Harry sighed and shook his head. "I have a feeling we are both upset for very different reasons."

Diarmuid's face went stiff, but otherwise he made no response.

"If you weren't so dedicated to being a knight, I really wouldn't mind sleeping with you," Harry admitted with a rueful grin. Diarmuid's eyes snapped to his in shock, and Harry laughed. "You'd probably be a lot of fun, but having sex with someone who feels like they have to definitely isn't fun at all."

Diarmuid looked down, quiet and somehow uncertain. "Certainly, pairings between equals is always better," he finally said.

"Right," Harry snorted, "well then, let's just try skin contact and hopefully that will be enough, alright?"

"Yes, my lord," the spirit said as he looked up quickly. He still seemed concerned, but was at least more relaxed than when he'd thought Harry was punishing him for Merlin only knew what reason.

"And really- you can use my name," Harry teased. "I know you know it now!"

"Of course I do, Lord Harry."

"I meant without the honorific."

"I could never be so rude as to address my Lord informally."

"I hope you would at least try if we end up sleeping together," Harry joked. It fell flat though as Harry himself didn't find it very funny, and Diarmuid's face went pale and painfully serious.

"It would be better to simply withdraw from the War and free you from my selfishness, than to force my Lord into such a position," the knight said firmly.

Harry smiled sadly and shook his head. "How much skin contact do you want to start with?" he said instead.

Diarmuid frowned and looked away. "I am not sure," he admitted slowly. "It is more effective than food for mana transfer, but even so…."

Right, so either sex was the only truly practical method of transferring magical energies between people, or a Heroic Spirit required so much magical energy that sex was the only method that was actually useful.

"How much do you feel comfortable starting with?" Harry said with a shrug. "We can start with that and just work up to whatever you feel is good to stop at."

"I-," Diarmuid cut himself off and looked away. "As you wish, my Lord." He took a breath then turned to Harry with an apologetic smile. "In that case, we may as well lay together with our chests bared."

"Alright then," Harry said as casually as he could. The poor knight seemed genuinely concerned he might be taking advantage of Harry. He wondered if that was a cultural thing- he'd said that same sex couples weren't an issue, but disparate power dynamics in a couple were?

That was surprisingly modern for an ancient society- although Diarmuid seemed a little confused over who actually had the power to take advantage of the other, but that was probably just him.

It still ended up being an incredibly awkward night. Harry took forever to fall asleep, trying to figure out how exactly he was supposed to send mana or whatever to Diarmuid, and he wasn't sure if it even happened before he finally drifted off.

As for Diarmuid, Harry didn't think the knight slept at all. He was in exactly the same position he'd been in when Harry fell asleep, even though Harry had clearly latched onto him like a limpet at some point during the night, and he did no more than smile gently and carefully shift Harry to sit up before getting out of the bed to kneel beside it.

"You doing any better?" Harry asked blearily while he rubbed the dust out of his eyes.

"I am much improved, my Lord," Diarmuid bowed his head, "I am certain there shall be no issue with my mana consumption now."

"Really? I didn't even feel anything, you actually got energy from this?"

"Indeed I did," the knight looked up with a rueful smirk. "In fact, I think between this and eating food normally, I should be at about the same power level Archibald's ally was keeping me at previously."

"Oh." Harry blinked in surprise, then shrugged and gave a yawn. "I guess as long as it works, and you're feeling better."

They didn't speak of it again, both preferring to focus on finding the other Heroic Spirits as they wandered fruitlessly around Fuyuki all day. By night, Harry at least was too tired to do more than get ready for bed, and fall asleep pressed against Diarmuid's warmth.

Really this whole thing would be a lot more fun if the knight were a little less subservient.

AN: The Holy Grail War's about to start! Let me know what you think is gonna happen, who will Harry and Diarmuid meet first? What battle do you think is gonna happen? And for those still worried about it- yes this will be slash. Eventually. And it will have slash references and other stuff until then. Deal with it~3

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!