Part 10

Duo slid out of the bed as quietly and as stealthily as he could, but still was frozen in place by a pair of angry Prussian blue eyes. "Where are you going?" Heero asked.

"I can't sleep, I think I might just take a walk." Duo answered, wishing he could lie and just say that he was going to the privy.

Heero was still in a foul mood. "It smells like snow." He snarled, "make sure you put a coat on." He rolled over back into the warmth of the bed, "and we have to meet Mina for breakfast at one past sun up. You might want to sleep before then."

Duo had never expected that Heero might just let him go, he had expected two answers, one that Heero would demand he get back into the bed, and the other that he would insist on going with him. "I'm just going for a walk, I'm not going to meet Tobin." He said.

"I know." Heero said into his pillow without turning over. "You don't lie."

That meant more to Duo than he quite expected, he didn't even know why he had even qualified it. "I will be back soon."

"Three hours, baka." Heero answered, "then I'll come and get you."

The walls of Halcyon were remarkably crowded. A plump woman in a heavy red cloak stood looking out to sea, her blonde hair was a mess of ringlets, to which her hood was pinned. Duo stood next to her. She was much older than anyone he knew, but she wore a fantastical beauty that time had done little to change. Like Minako she was a woman who had become beautiful. "Hello, ducky." She said turning to look at him.

"Do I know you?" Duo asked.

"I thought everyone knew me." She said sadly, "I am Livia, the dowager of Jacurutu, will you grace me with your name, ducky?" It didn't matter to Duo that she called him Ducky, she sounded so sad. It seemed to give her comfort to talk to him, part of him wondered if she was one of the dead.

"Duo Maxwell," he answered. "Couldn't you sleep either?"

"No," she said, "I don't sleep very well anymore. Sometimes I walk the walls, the sea air soothes me. I'm sorry," She reached out and touched his face, "my sorrow is my own, I shall leave you, ducky, leave an old woman to her night time wandering." She bent down and kissed him on the cheek in a strange gesture. "You're a beautiful boy, Duo Maxwell, and I ask only that you remember the cortigiana onesta who spoke to you." Then she walked away leaving him with questions and a mist of her cloying perfume.

He walked along the wall, saying hello to a guard, but when the guard turned to acknowledge him his throat was missing. Duo backed away and bumped into a young girl in a long white dress, her hair was the colour of moonlight and her eyes were like dark pansies, she smiled when she saw him, and then wicked as a sprite with a laugh she ran, looking back to make sure Duo was following her. Unsure what else to do, he did.

When she reached the corner that overlooked the east courtyard she turned to face him, and then with a winning smile blew him a kiss, then fell over backwards off the wall and to the ground below.

"She always falls." Minako said behind him, wrapping a fur over his shoulders. "I saw you when you walked past the window, I thought you might like someone to talk to."

"Do you always see them?" Duo asked.

She nodded, "most of them mean no harm, Eluneth," she gestured at the wall with her head, "the girl who fell, is most often weeping as she runs, she was murdered here, but it's nice to see her smile."

"She was so beautiful." Duo said sadly. "And so very young."

"Yes," Minako said, "she was, but now she will always be beautiful and always be so very young." She wrapped her arm about his shoulders. "Come inside, your Senshisha will worry if you're gone too long."

"What about Mamoru?" Duo asked looking up at her, he had never realised that she was taller than him, but she stood nearly half a foot above her.

"He worries." Minako said, "but he sent me to talk to you. He trusts the dead to protect me when he can not."

"She was so sad." Duo said, "she was so very sad, and I didn't know what to say to her."

"Eluneth?" Minako asked, "I thought she looked happy."

"No," Duo answered sadly, "Livia."

"Livia left her room?" Minako asked shocked, then she realised what Duo meant, "She's not dead, she's just lost her husband though, just being there for her would have meant the world to her. Did you see anyone else?"

"there was a guard." Duo answered, "his throat was slit."

Minako nodded. "They know you can see them now, they want you to see them, some of them don't realise that they aren't trapped in their death cycle, like Eluneth, she always falls. I remember my first major death vision." She led him through the small wooden door and into a small sitting room where she built up the fire. "I was taken by my mother into a hospital, I thought I'd go mad." She poured him a glass of wine. "There's no easy way to face them, Duo, all you can do is face them. It's nice because they can offer you comfort even when you think you can break. The first time you walk a battlefield and they turn to you because they don't know what else to do you think you'll shatter. That's when you need your Senshisha. He will be your rock. I can train you, I can show you, but I can't shield you." She let him curl up on the couch next to her and rest his head in her lap. "You know you're like a son to me, because you're the only one that will ever understand."

"What about Mamoru?" Duo asked as she started to stroke his hair.

"He never loved me." She answered, "we were too young." Her voice was soft and sad, "he was your age and I was twelve, my mother had just died and I was taken to Dramathen and married to him before I knew what was happening. He was made my Senshisha because he was strongest and quickest, not because I chose him." She was stroking Duo's hair softly, the room warm and he was slowly drifting into sleep. "I don't sleep much anymore," she said. "They come to me in my sleep, not the dead, but my memories.

"Maybe it's time." Minako said, "do you want to take him back, now Heero?" She said to the dark shadow in the back of the room.

"When did you know I was there?" Heero asked, he was an assassin, there was no way she could have heard him, even Duo, the master of stealth, hadn't noticed.

Her smile was vulpine. "You can't creep up on the lady of Meirin, those you bring with you would have alerted me to your presence even if I hadn't seen you in the mirror."

Duo woke in Heero's arms not quite sure how he had gotten there or why he felt so safe there. His first instinct was to snuggle closer, but his second instinct was that this was Heero's arms and the perfect soldier wasn't in the best of moods with him to begin with. He did his best to remove himself without disturbing Heero, who merely grumbled in his sleep and tightened his grip.

"G'sleep." Heero murmured. "S'not morning."

"Master Heero," Primaverra said ripping open the curtains. "Master Duo, good morning. I have a bath prepared." She didn't seem in any way fazed by seeing Duo wrapped in Heero's arms. "Lady Minako has said that you are to have breakfast with her this morning, so I didn't bring you breakfast. She also said that Master Duo that you are not pleased with the way I dress your hair, why did you not tell me?" She yanked open another curtain. "Now come along, Master Heero, you're going to have to let him go if you're to go in the bath." She swatted him playfully with a hairbrush.

Duo flinched expecting Heero to, at best, kill the girl outright. "G'way." He mumbled instead.

"You leave me no choice." She said, "I'll just have to let you sleep and let the bath go cold." It was an attempt at emotional blackmail.

"Good." Heero answered and reaching over Duo closed the curtain again.

"Heero," Duo murmured, "We've got to get up." He tried to wriggle but Heero wasn't letting him go in any way. "If nothing else I need to go." He was bouncing.

Heero let him go. "Prima," he said to the curtain, "tell the Lady Minako we will be late, that master Shinigami and I have a few things to discuss, and Duo, you've got five minutes, then I come and get you."

"Yes, master Heero." She said with a little laugh in her voice, "by your command."

Author's notes

I've been told that people are having problem with the indigenous cast so here you go, a crib sheet.

Shinigami no Minako Tenno-sha (Minako/Mina) - the lady of Meirin and the Darin ambassador to Dathyl.

Takehito no Mamoru Senshisha (Mamoru) - Her guardian and husband

Alister D'Cevni - The queen's secretary, kind of like prime minister or president.

Aeka Baatorin - The queen (also called Eladriel which is why some of them call her Ellie)

Matherion D'Karioni - Duke of Jacurutu and the Seraphim Lord, meaning he rules the Seraphim. He is very ambitious.

Primaverra - Duo and Heero's maid.

Tobin D'Cevni (also Vivikan Tobrettin Mikael D'Cevni) Alister's younger brother, primadonna at the Dathyl Opera.

Josian - Tobin's prime crony, sings at the opera.

Terenz D'Cevni- the queen's physician - he talks really fast

Adam D'Cevni - the queen's apothecary - a scientist

Grace D'Allaro - the queen's surgeon

Brisen - madam of the scarlet arches

Most of the characters are irrelevant, but if you have any questions about any other characters just ask.

The Dead

Avili - Was Primaverra's Lady, married to Tobin, killed by Seraphim in accident. (Killed by Danan D'Karioni - Matt's brother)

Eluneth - D'Cevni princess who was murdered.