Disclaimers and other junk: Treize, Lady Une, Mariemaia, and the rest of
the gang belong to other people. Alice, Carolyn and the kids are mine;
Death, the Dark Knight, and various other creepy personages belong to
themselves.
Warnings: implied yuri (DxC), yaoi (3x4). More like shounen ai and
shoujo ai, really.
Pairings of note: 13x11, 6x9, the aforementioned DxC, 3x4. Also 5xSP,
1xR, 2xH.
Ghost Knight
Chapter 15
by Anne Khushrenada
She dreamed in the dark, covers pulled up over her head, face pressed
against her pillow. As if even in sleep she did not want to see.
Not that there was a lot to see, even in her dreams.
At first there was only the dark, and silence, but then there came a
voice, a voice that seemed to be whispering her name.
/"Mariemaia."/
It was a woman's voice, and she did not know it. The voice seemed to be
waiting for an answer, but Mariemaia had no idea what to say. She wasn't
sure she wanted to say anything at all.
/"Mariemaia, Ghost Knight's daughter."/
Who, even in her own dreams, knew that name? She had only heard it once,
when she had gone to her father's grave and he had spoken into her mind.
From that Mariemaia had grasped that it was a secret thing, a private
one, and seldom did she think it even to herself. Though the Ghost
Knight certainly seemed a thing her father could be, and the title
suited him even if she didn't know quite what it meant.
And yet at some level she /did/ know. It was the otherworldly in her
father's voice and expression, the way his eyes saw more than she
thought hers ever could. It was the truths he knew and the secrets he
would never tell, and in her heart Mariemaia knew it, though she did not
know how.
Perhaps that was why the voice called to her with those words.
/Mariemaia, Ghost Knight's daughter./ Perhaps that voice, in saying
that, knew her better than she did herself.
/"Danger arises, eldest of the Khushrenada blood. It arises, and it
comes."/
"Thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Mariemaia said. "We did sort of figure that
out for ourselves."
"You see some dangers, and yet are blind to others," the voice replied,
aloud now. "You would let it destroy you before you'd be willing to
understand."
"Maybe I don't care," Mariemaia said, "what destroys me and what
doesn't."
"You will learn too late that you care too greatly. When you understand
the depth of the betrayal."
Mariemaia blinked and shook her head. Suddenly she could see, amid the
darkness growing lighter now, what seemed to be a pair of violet eyes.
The eyes watched her, and they were almost compassionate somehow.
Almost, but not quite.
"I know betrayal," Mariemaia said. "I've seen it before."
"Not like this, you haven't. You know a few secrets, and so like a fool
you believe you know them all. Well, Ghost Knight's daughter, you
don't."
Mariemaia sighed. "There's a hell of a lot I don't know. I get by."
The eyes moved, as if their owner were shaking her head. "Child,
child..."
"Oh, stop with that already," Mariemaia snapped. "You know my name, and
you know who my father is. You should know I've never been a child."
"No," the voice agreed. "You have not been." The outline of a woman
appeared before her, though the silhouette was strange. It took
Mariemaia a moment to realize the strange curves and angles belonged to
the armor she wore. "And this is what it has done to you. See how bitter
these years find you, Mariemaia Khushrenada? Your blood, your past, have
made you what you are."
"Clearly," said Mariemaia.
"But think- What would these same things make someone else? The same
lack of a childhood, similar pains and betrayals... the similar loss of
the things that mattered."
"I don't know," Mariemaia replied. "It depends, I suppose. When I
lost...what I lost, I found Lady Une. I found a world to take the place
of what I'd had before."
"And if you had not?"
Mariemaia shuddered. "I could have become..." She didn't want to think
about the details, or see them in her mind's eye. Not now, not ever.
But the armored woman understood, or seemed to. "Yes. At the end of the
road, that may be what you face. Yourself, as you might have been, as
you almost were. She planned it that way, of course. Probably finds it
amusing. She doesn't understand. The other is dangerous, but you have
power enough to shake the worlds, all of them."
"I don't understand," Mariemaia said quietly. "I don't understand a word
of this. Who is she? What has she planned? And who is this other?"
"If I could tell you, I would," the woman replied. "I can't. Some would
say I have said too much already. But there are some rules that do not
bind me, and quite a few who will not cross me. I am sorry you cannot
make more sense of my words yet. Perhaps you will understand them in
time. I hope you will."
"In time for what?" Mariemaia asked. Of all the questions lingering in
her mind, she did not know why she asked that one, why it came so
quickly to her lips.
"I can't tell you that, either," the woman said. "I'm sorry. Keep to the
path you're on, Mariemaia. I can say no more."
"Can you tell me your name?" She didn't know what the woman's name
mattered, either, but suddenly she very much wanted to know what it was.
"Always with you it's the questions I can't answer, isn't it? Heed the
words I've given you, Mariemaia Khushrenada. Heed them well."
And before she could say anything more, the figure vanished. The dream,
if that was what it was, went with her, and Mariemaia slept on, though
some part of her subconscious mind turned the woman's words over and
over, seeking to unlock their meaning.
* * *
Truce Ground of the Avatars
Mortals thought of the place as Purgatory, and in some respects they
weren't far wrong. For the avatars, those such as the Fates and Death,
and those who served them, it was neutral ground. They met there when
doing so elsewhere was out of the question.
Treize and the Dark Knight had come to the Truce Ground for just that
reason. The Place Between Worlds was far too crowded, and she had flatly
refused to allow him entrance to her realm. For his part, Treize was
just as glad; he wasn't sure he would have wanted to make that trip.
He'd arrived a few moments early for their meeting, the meeting which
Death had- reluctantly, Treize thought- arranged, and had found the Dark
Knight preoccupied with something. And so he'd watched silently, until
he had realized what she was doing.
At first he had been angry. He'd been very close to telling her to stay
the hell away from his daughter- But then he'd begun to listen to what
the Dark Knight was saying.
Her words were cryptic; Treize supposed they would have had to be. But
she'd said as much as she could, more than /he/ had been able to, and
with luck Mariemaia would have sense enough to take the warnings to
heart.
Treize hoped so, anyway. He would have warned Mariemaia himself if it
had been allowed, but it was not. And so the vague warnings of a spirit
he didn't trust would have to be enough.
"That was kind of you," the Ghost Knight said. It was as close as he
planned to come to thanking her for what she'd done.
"Kinder than you expected?" the Dark Knight shot back, without turning
to face him. She sounded bitter enough about it that Treize considered
apologizing. Almost.
"Yes. I can't help but wonder what you wish to gain by it."
"Perhaps it is an attempt on my part to curry favor?" she asked.
"With whom? Me?" Treize shook his head. "It is a good beginning."
She nodded. "You wanted to see me. Why?"
"I could spend decades chasing rumor and legend. I don't have time." He
watched her carefully, much as he could with the other spirit hidden
beneath her armor. "I came to find the truth."
"From me?" The Dark Knight shook her head; she seemed amused. "You came
seeking the truth- from /me/? Oh, they were right about you, Ghost
Knight. I have not seen the like since- Well."
Treize crossed his arms, leaned forward. "You do not wish to waste my
time," he said.
"Oh, but I do. Haven't you heard the stories?"
"I have heard them," he said. "They are fragments which contradict each
other."
"Of course," she said. "What do you think a legend /is/, Ghost Knight?"
"A continent framework upon which any story that suits you can be
built," Treize countered.
"Perhaps my version of events might show a personal bias?" the Dark
Knight asked.
"Perhaps it might." He paused. "Very well. Would you care to tell me the
truth beneath the story?"
She shook her head. "That is not something I can do. We both have our
limits. As you've seen."
He nodded. "Imagine my surprise, to come here and find you dreamwalking
with my daughter, and to find you trying to help her, of all things."
"You still don't understand it." She shook her head. "No. You still
don't /trust/ it."
"No. I don't."
"You may be smarter than I thought."
"How...kind," said Treize.
She laughed. "I can see I'm going to enjoy this. Let me tell you
something, and you can decide for yourself if it is true. Your daughter
has power- she has not come into it yet, but one day she will. When that
happens, perhaps she will be reminded of what I have done."
Treize's eyes narrowed. "You play with fire more than I think you
realize."
"You're a fool."
"No. Mariemaia is Khushrenada, she /is/ fire. Beware of what may become
of you if you touch her."
A laugh came from beneath that strange armor. "A threat. Oh, how
quaint."
"I," Treize said quietly, "have had my share of enemies. Most of them
proved worthy of the name."
She spun to face him then, a quick flash of eyes- violet, perhaps-
showing anger. "Enemies," she snapped. "What do you know of enemies?
Upstart-"
"Your equal," Treize cut off the tirade at its beginning, "or we would
not be having this conversation."
She dipped her head in a nod. "No. We wouldn't."
"So. You can't, or won't, answer my questions. Very well. You will
excuse me, then."
Treize turned away-
"I marked the boy," her voice called after him.
Over his shoulder, he asked, "What boy?"
"David Ling."
"Was it painful for him?"
She laughed. "Very."
"Ah," said Treize. "Don't expect me to thank you for that- I'm sure it
was in your own best interest somehow."
The Dark Knight shrugged. "Perhaps. Suppose one wanted the unbiased
truth of the legends. To whom might they go?"
"The Voice of History, one of Time's avatars, knows every tale ever
passed along around a campfire, every story or legend written down. She
would know."
"And this Voice of History- Is she speaking to you at the moment?"
"We have a long-standing low grade enmity that usually doesn't get in
the way of our working relationship."
"Hmm," he said. "Thank-"
Treize blinked, and the Dark Knight was gone.
* * *
They were all there, Death and Fate, War and Time, Earth and the others,
spirits of the smaller things. Death called them, and they came- to the
Truce Ground in fact, only shortly after Treize and the Dark Knight had
left it.
"This," Earth said, "Has gotten out of hand."
"I agree," said Atropos of the Fates. "Reign in your creature, Lord of
Death."
Death gave her a look that was clearly annoyed- his lack of facial
features did not keep the message from getting through, not to the other
avatars. War leaned forward, looking interested.
Time sighed.
"Are you still," Death asked, "going to insist upon wasting our time
with that?"
"Yes-"
"Is it possible," asked the Voice of History, "that he could have done
it unawares?"
"I believe most things he does to be deliberate," said Death. "Still, he
protests his innocence in this, and I cannot doubt him."
"/I/ can," said Cloth of the fates.
"/You,/ all three of you, are prejudiced in favor of your Dark Knight,"
Time pointed out.
"As /he/ is prejudiced in favor of his-" said Lachesis.
"Can we afford anyone's prejudice now, that is the question," said
Earth. "If the Fates read wrong the threads, what then?"
Silence.
"It was suggested to me," Death spoke into that silence, "that the Ghost
Knight be leveled with."
"You can't be serious," War said. "The damage he could do-"
"And what of the things he might set right, if he only knew that he
/could/?" Death countered. "What of that?"
"He knows too much already," War shot back.
"A little knowledge," said History, "is worse, and more dangerous, than
none at all."
"Do you /support/ this idiocy?" asked Atropos.
"Perhaps you don't understand," said Death. "I did not ask you here to
take your council. Only to tell you that the choice is made. I felt you
should be informed of my decision. That is all."
"You /can't/-" said Clotho.
War was laughing. "He can, actually. Preposterous, but there you are."
Death smiled, and turned his gaze to the fates. "You three know more
than you are telling."
Atropos smiled back at him. "Don't we always."
"I demand to see the Tapestry," Death said.
The Fates gasped as one. "but you can't /read/ it," said Lachesis.
"No, but I have one who can. How much you have forgotten. Voice of
History, I call upon you! Tell your tale."
"Would you have it so?" the Voice asked.
"Yes."
"Who comes among us in the Ghost Knight's wake, who was comrade in arms
in life, is he who sees..." History smiled.
"Ordinary, you said," Atropos snapped.
"As ordinary as Khushrenada," said Death. "I have a Seer, Atropos. /The/
Seer."
"You lied to me. You /lied/."
"Did I?" he said. "Well. And so? I will see the Tapestry, Sisters of
Fate. It will be done."
"So be it," Fate's eldest sister snarled. "But we will not forget this."
"I wouldn't expect you to," said Death. "By no means should you fail to
remember."
"Damn you!"
"Oh, very good," said History, quite amused. "That's rather redundant,
you know."
* * *
Treize found Walker skipping stones across the River. The former soldier
looked up as Treize approached, and set aside the stone in his hand with
a wry smile.
"It was more fun when I could feel things," Walker said. "So...?"
Briefly Treize outlined the conversation that had taken place.
"I'm starting to think Death might have been right about her, you know,"
Walker said when he'd finished.
"Perhaps," Treize said. "But it had to be tried. And it wasn't a
complete waste of time."
"How do you figure that?"
"Two reasons. One, she told me about the Voice of History."
"Do you trust her?"
"Of course not, but the existence of the Voice is easy enough to check."
"Okay," Walker said. "I'll grant you that one. What's reason two?"
"She slipped," Treize said. "She told me she had marked David Ling."
"What-?" Walker began.
The Ghost Knight shook his head. "No, don't say anything. I want you to
think on that for a moment or two, if you would."
Walker frowned in thought. "She marked-?"
"I will give you a hint," Treize said. "You and I go to the Well, and
what images come to the surface, as soon as we are near enough to see?"
"Alice, Lady Une... the children..."
Treize smiled. "Yes."
"She marked him... Are you saying she did intentionally what we've
done...unconsciously?"
"Yes."
"So..." Walker picked up another stone, turned it over in his hand.
"Then answer this for me. Did you know Mariemaia was my daughter before
I told you?"
Walker frowned again. "Now that you mention it...yes."
"How?"
Walker looked up and smiled. "Because she's /marked/, by God. There's
something there that says, 'Ghost Knight's daughter'. I can't see it,
but I can feel it..." The smile grew wider. "Oh. /Oh/! If you can be
'read' in Mariemaia..."
"Then how the Dark Knight marked the Ling boy may tell us more than she
might have wanted it to," Treize said.
Walker nodded. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go have a look."
* * *
Treize sat back on his heels, a look of satisfaction upon his face.
"Ice," he whispered.
Death, his back to the Ghost Knight, whirled about at that whisper.
"/What/ did you say?"
"/Ice/," Treize said aloud. "She marked him, and ice was her weapon."
"I don't know why I didn't see it before," Death sighed.
"Too many shadows," Walker said. "She hides behind them, so that you
think it's just darkness, but under that-"
"Ice," Treize said again. "We may not yet know /why/, but we certainly
know /who/."
the gang belong to other people. Alice, Carolyn and the kids are mine;
Death, the Dark Knight, and various other creepy personages belong to
themselves.
Warnings: implied yuri (DxC), yaoi (3x4). More like shounen ai and
shoujo ai, really.
Pairings of note: 13x11, 6x9, the aforementioned DxC, 3x4. Also 5xSP,
1xR, 2xH.
Ghost Knight
Chapter 15
by Anne Khushrenada
She dreamed in the dark, covers pulled up over her head, face pressed
against her pillow. As if even in sleep she did not want to see.
Not that there was a lot to see, even in her dreams.
At first there was only the dark, and silence, but then there came a
voice, a voice that seemed to be whispering her name.
/"Mariemaia."/
It was a woman's voice, and she did not know it. The voice seemed to be
waiting for an answer, but Mariemaia had no idea what to say. She wasn't
sure she wanted to say anything at all.
/"Mariemaia, Ghost Knight's daughter."/
Who, even in her own dreams, knew that name? She had only heard it once,
when she had gone to her father's grave and he had spoken into her mind.
From that Mariemaia had grasped that it was a secret thing, a private
one, and seldom did she think it even to herself. Though the Ghost
Knight certainly seemed a thing her father could be, and the title
suited him even if she didn't know quite what it meant.
And yet at some level she /did/ know. It was the otherworldly in her
father's voice and expression, the way his eyes saw more than she
thought hers ever could. It was the truths he knew and the secrets he
would never tell, and in her heart Mariemaia knew it, though she did not
know how.
Perhaps that was why the voice called to her with those words.
/Mariemaia, Ghost Knight's daughter./ Perhaps that voice, in saying
that, knew her better than she did herself.
/"Danger arises, eldest of the Khushrenada blood. It arises, and it
comes."/
"Thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Mariemaia said. "We did sort of figure that
out for ourselves."
"You see some dangers, and yet are blind to others," the voice replied,
aloud now. "You would let it destroy you before you'd be willing to
understand."
"Maybe I don't care," Mariemaia said, "what destroys me and what
doesn't."
"You will learn too late that you care too greatly. When you understand
the depth of the betrayal."
Mariemaia blinked and shook her head. Suddenly she could see, amid the
darkness growing lighter now, what seemed to be a pair of violet eyes.
The eyes watched her, and they were almost compassionate somehow.
Almost, but not quite.
"I know betrayal," Mariemaia said. "I've seen it before."
"Not like this, you haven't. You know a few secrets, and so like a fool
you believe you know them all. Well, Ghost Knight's daughter, you
don't."
Mariemaia sighed. "There's a hell of a lot I don't know. I get by."
The eyes moved, as if their owner were shaking her head. "Child,
child..."
"Oh, stop with that already," Mariemaia snapped. "You know my name, and
you know who my father is. You should know I've never been a child."
"No," the voice agreed. "You have not been." The outline of a woman
appeared before her, though the silhouette was strange. It took
Mariemaia a moment to realize the strange curves and angles belonged to
the armor she wore. "And this is what it has done to you. See how bitter
these years find you, Mariemaia Khushrenada? Your blood, your past, have
made you what you are."
"Clearly," said Mariemaia.
"But think- What would these same things make someone else? The same
lack of a childhood, similar pains and betrayals... the similar loss of
the things that mattered."
"I don't know," Mariemaia replied. "It depends, I suppose. When I
lost...what I lost, I found Lady Une. I found a world to take the place
of what I'd had before."
"And if you had not?"
Mariemaia shuddered. "I could have become..." She didn't want to think
about the details, or see them in her mind's eye. Not now, not ever.
But the armored woman understood, or seemed to. "Yes. At the end of the
road, that may be what you face. Yourself, as you might have been, as
you almost were. She planned it that way, of course. Probably finds it
amusing. She doesn't understand. The other is dangerous, but you have
power enough to shake the worlds, all of them."
"I don't understand," Mariemaia said quietly. "I don't understand a word
of this. Who is she? What has she planned? And who is this other?"
"If I could tell you, I would," the woman replied. "I can't. Some would
say I have said too much already. But there are some rules that do not
bind me, and quite a few who will not cross me. I am sorry you cannot
make more sense of my words yet. Perhaps you will understand them in
time. I hope you will."
"In time for what?" Mariemaia asked. Of all the questions lingering in
her mind, she did not know why she asked that one, why it came so
quickly to her lips.
"I can't tell you that, either," the woman said. "I'm sorry. Keep to the
path you're on, Mariemaia. I can say no more."
"Can you tell me your name?" She didn't know what the woman's name
mattered, either, but suddenly she very much wanted to know what it was.
"Always with you it's the questions I can't answer, isn't it? Heed the
words I've given you, Mariemaia Khushrenada. Heed them well."
And before she could say anything more, the figure vanished. The dream,
if that was what it was, went with her, and Mariemaia slept on, though
some part of her subconscious mind turned the woman's words over and
over, seeking to unlock their meaning.
* * *
Truce Ground of the Avatars
Mortals thought of the place as Purgatory, and in some respects they
weren't far wrong. For the avatars, those such as the Fates and Death,
and those who served them, it was neutral ground. They met there when
doing so elsewhere was out of the question.
Treize and the Dark Knight had come to the Truce Ground for just that
reason. The Place Between Worlds was far too crowded, and she had flatly
refused to allow him entrance to her realm. For his part, Treize was
just as glad; he wasn't sure he would have wanted to make that trip.
He'd arrived a few moments early for their meeting, the meeting which
Death had- reluctantly, Treize thought- arranged, and had found the Dark
Knight preoccupied with something. And so he'd watched silently, until
he had realized what she was doing.
At first he had been angry. He'd been very close to telling her to stay
the hell away from his daughter- But then he'd begun to listen to what
the Dark Knight was saying.
Her words were cryptic; Treize supposed they would have had to be. But
she'd said as much as she could, more than /he/ had been able to, and
with luck Mariemaia would have sense enough to take the warnings to
heart.
Treize hoped so, anyway. He would have warned Mariemaia himself if it
had been allowed, but it was not. And so the vague warnings of a spirit
he didn't trust would have to be enough.
"That was kind of you," the Ghost Knight said. It was as close as he
planned to come to thanking her for what she'd done.
"Kinder than you expected?" the Dark Knight shot back, without turning
to face him. She sounded bitter enough about it that Treize considered
apologizing. Almost.
"Yes. I can't help but wonder what you wish to gain by it."
"Perhaps it is an attempt on my part to curry favor?" she asked.
"With whom? Me?" Treize shook his head. "It is a good beginning."
She nodded. "You wanted to see me. Why?"
"I could spend decades chasing rumor and legend. I don't have time." He
watched her carefully, much as he could with the other spirit hidden
beneath her armor. "I came to find the truth."
"From me?" The Dark Knight shook her head; she seemed amused. "You came
seeking the truth- from /me/? Oh, they were right about you, Ghost
Knight. I have not seen the like since- Well."
Treize crossed his arms, leaned forward. "You do not wish to waste my
time," he said.
"Oh, but I do. Haven't you heard the stories?"
"I have heard them," he said. "They are fragments which contradict each
other."
"Of course," she said. "What do you think a legend /is/, Ghost Knight?"
"A continent framework upon which any story that suits you can be
built," Treize countered.
"Perhaps my version of events might show a personal bias?" the Dark
Knight asked.
"Perhaps it might." He paused. "Very well. Would you care to tell me the
truth beneath the story?"
She shook her head. "That is not something I can do. We both have our
limits. As you've seen."
He nodded. "Imagine my surprise, to come here and find you dreamwalking
with my daughter, and to find you trying to help her, of all things."
"You still don't understand it." She shook her head. "No. You still
don't /trust/ it."
"No. I don't."
"You may be smarter than I thought."
"How...kind," said Treize.
She laughed. "I can see I'm going to enjoy this. Let me tell you
something, and you can decide for yourself if it is true. Your daughter
has power- she has not come into it yet, but one day she will. When that
happens, perhaps she will be reminded of what I have done."
Treize's eyes narrowed. "You play with fire more than I think you
realize."
"You're a fool."
"No. Mariemaia is Khushrenada, she /is/ fire. Beware of what may become
of you if you touch her."
A laugh came from beneath that strange armor. "A threat. Oh, how
quaint."
"I," Treize said quietly, "have had my share of enemies. Most of them
proved worthy of the name."
She spun to face him then, a quick flash of eyes- violet, perhaps-
showing anger. "Enemies," she snapped. "What do you know of enemies?
Upstart-"
"Your equal," Treize cut off the tirade at its beginning, "or we would
not be having this conversation."
She dipped her head in a nod. "No. We wouldn't."
"So. You can't, or won't, answer my questions. Very well. You will
excuse me, then."
Treize turned away-
"I marked the boy," her voice called after him.
Over his shoulder, he asked, "What boy?"
"David Ling."
"Was it painful for him?"
She laughed. "Very."
"Ah," said Treize. "Don't expect me to thank you for that- I'm sure it
was in your own best interest somehow."
The Dark Knight shrugged. "Perhaps. Suppose one wanted the unbiased
truth of the legends. To whom might they go?"
"The Voice of History, one of Time's avatars, knows every tale ever
passed along around a campfire, every story or legend written down. She
would know."
"And this Voice of History- Is she speaking to you at the moment?"
"We have a long-standing low grade enmity that usually doesn't get in
the way of our working relationship."
"Hmm," he said. "Thank-"
Treize blinked, and the Dark Knight was gone.
* * *
They were all there, Death and Fate, War and Time, Earth and the others,
spirits of the smaller things. Death called them, and they came- to the
Truce Ground in fact, only shortly after Treize and the Dark Knight had
left it.
"This," Earth said, "Has gotten out of hand."
"I agree," said Atropos of the Fates. "Reign in your creature, Lord of
Death."
Death gave her a look that was clearly annoyed- his lack of facial
features did not keep the message from getting through, not to the other
avatars. War leaned forward, looking interested.
Time sighed.
"Are you still," Death asked, "going to insist upon wasting our time
with that?"
"Yes-"
"Is it possible," asked the Voice of History, "that he could have done
it unawares?"
"I believe most things he does to be deliberate," said Death. "Still, he
protests his innocence in this, and I cannot doubt him."
"/I/ can," said Cloth of the fates.
"/You,/ all three of you, are prejudiced in favor of your Dark Knight,"
Time pointed out.
"As /he/ is prejudiced in favor of his-" said Lachesis.
"Can we afford anyone's prejudice now, that is the question," said
Earth. "If the Fates read wrong the threads, what then?"
Silence.
"It was suggested to me," Death spoke into that silence, "that the Ghost
Knight be leveled with."
"You can't be serious," War said. "The damage he could do-"
"And what of the things he might set right, if he only knew that he
/could/?" Death countered. "What of that?"
"He knows too much already," War shot back.
"A little knowledge," said History, "is worse, and more dangerous, than
none at all."
"Do you /support/ this idiocy?" asked Atropos.
"Perhaps you don't understand," said Death. "I did not ask you here to
take your council. Only to tell you that the choice is made. I felt you
should be informed of my decision. That is all."
"You /can't/-" said Clotho.
War was laughing. "He can, actually. Preposterous, but there you are."
Death smiled, and turned his gaze to the fates. "You three know more
than you are telling."
Atropos smiled back at him. "Don't we always."
"I demand to see the Tapestry," Death said.
The Fates gasped as one. "but you can't /read/ it," said Lachesis.
"No, but I have one who can. How much you have forgotten. Voice of
History, I call upon you! Tell your tale."
"Would you have it so?" the Voice asked.
"Yes."
"Who comes among us in the Ghost Knight's wake, who was comrade in arms
in life, is he who sees..." History smiled.
"Ordinary, you said," Atropos snapped.
"As ordinary as Khushrenada," said Death. "I have a Seer, Atropos. /The/
Seer."
"You lied to me. You /lied/."
"Did I?" he said. "Well. And so? I will see the Tapestry, Sisters of
Fate. It will be done."
"So be it," Fate's eldest sister snarled. "But we will not forget this."
"I wouldn't expect you to," said Death. "By no means should you fail to
remember."
"Damn you!"
"Oh, very good," said History, quite amused. "That's rather redundant,
you know."
* * *
Treize found Walker skipping stones across the River. The former soldier
looked up as Treize approached, and set aside the stone in his hand with
a wry smile.
"It was more fun when I could feel things," Walker said. "So...?"
Briefly Treize outlined the conversation that had taken place.
"I'm starting to think Death might have been right about her, you know,"
Walker said when he'd finished.
"Perhaps," Treize said. "But it had to be tried. And it wasn't a
complete waste of time."
"How do you figure that?"
"Two reasons. One, she told me about the Voice of History."
"Do you trust her?"
"Of course not, but the existence of the Voice is easy enough to check."
"Okay," Walker said. "I'll grant you that one. What's reason two?"
"She slipped," Treize said. "She told me she had marked David Ling."
"What-?" Walker began.
The Ghost Knight shook his head. "No, don't say anything. I want you to
think on that for a moment or two, if you would."
Walker frowned in thought. "She marked-?"
"I will give you a hint," Treize said. "You and I go to the Well, and
what images come to the surface, as soon as we are near enough to see?"
"Alice, Lady Une... the children..."
Treize smiled. "Yes."
"She marked him... Are you saying she did intentionally what we've
done...unconsciously?"
"Yes."
"So..." Walker picked up another stone, turned it over in his hand.
"Then answer this for me. Did you know Mariemaia was my daughter before
I told you?"
Walker frowned again. "Now that you mention it...yes."
"How?"
Walker looked up and smiled. "Because she's /marked/, by God. There's
something there that says, 'Ghost Knight's daughter'. I can't see it,
but I can feel it..." The smile grew wider. "Oh. /Oh/! If you can be
'read' in Mariemaia..."
"Then how the Dark Knight marked the Ling boy may tell us more than she
might have wanted it to," Treize said.
Walker nodded. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go have a look."
* * *
Treize sat back on his heels, a look of satisfaction upon his face.
"Ice," he whispered.
Death, his back to the Ghost Knight, whirled about at that whisper.
"/What/ did you say?"
"/Ice/," Treize said aloud. "She marked him, and ice was her weapon."
"I don't know why I didn't see it before," Death sighed.
"Too many shadows," Walker said. "She hides behind them, so that you
think it's just darkness, but under that-"
"Ice," Treize said again. "We may not yet know /why/, but we certainly
know /who/."