Disclaimer: Grawr.

Warnings: Language, feminine issues, swimsuits, closeted lesbians. Do I need a warning for that last one? I don't think so, actually...

:n:

"You look adorable!"

Garfakcy stared down at himself, green eyes widened at the vast wash of sweeping navy skirts. It was a spare dress, having belonged, Havana had informed him, to one of her old roommates. She hadn't seemed particularly keen on explaining why the other had left, quickly changing the subject, and Garfakcy was not in the mood to question her.

In fact, he wasn't really in the mood for any of this.

Sweatdropping as he now took in with something nearing horror the tightly-bound brown bodice, Garfakcy shivered to himself.

The friendly maid didn't seem to notice, however, as she continued flattering the fit.

"It actually looks good on you. You're so skinny!" She sighed somewhat enviously.

He glanced at her momentarily, distracted from his shock by her comment.

"Yeah... Whatever," he mumbled, wanting too much to rip the material to shreds to pay her much attention. Rip it into shreds and then throw them away, he corrected himself.

The one thing that was true about this facade was that Garfakcy did make an excellent housekeeper.

"Fanny?"

It took Garfakcy a second to realize that she was talking to him.

"What?" He asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"I... I'm sorry," Havana faltered, biting her lip, "I can call you Garfanny, if you'd prefer..."

Garfakcy barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes, a feat he thought quite impressive.

"Whatever. What were you going to ask?"

"I'm supposed to show you around the castle," she said tentatively, sounding faintly apologetic.

Garfakcy wanted to wince at her tone, but, once again, kept an impassive expression.

"Fine."

She nodded, giving him a soft relieved smile.

...I scare her, he realized suddenly. This knowledge gave him a small surge of triumph, one that burned warmly behind his now slightly narrowed jade eyes.

Havana didn't notice this sadism, however, as she was already turning for the door, leading him out of the small bathroom he had changed in.

"This way," she said cheerfully, slightly heeled shoes clicking on the marble floor with her fast steps.

Garfakcy almost stumbled as he quickened his pace to keep up with her longer strides. He wasn't used to heels, even these thick wedges issued by the castle and barely rising an inch off the ground. They were still an adjustment from his flat supple boots, though he was rapidly gaining the hang of them.

They weren't that comfortable, he thought sulkily to himself. They were on the tight side, the stiff heel rubbing uncomfortably against a fold in the dark stockings he had been forced into. He could see the slight height change, however, and had to grudgingly admit that it was nice to be an inch taller.

"These are the inner halls," Havana explained, for all the world as if she was showing a tourist around a popular attraction, adding in with a touch of pride, "these are the rooms that our dorm cleans. The doors branching off this hallway all lead to the guest chambers for when the Lord is meeting with diplomats and they need a place to stay overnight. We're in the process of giving them a good once-over, because they're also going to be used to put up the guests for Lord Lykouleon and Lady Raseleane's anniversary ball."

She gave a happy sigh.

"Isn't it romantic?"

Garfakcy stared at her incredulously and she flushed a bright red and hurriedly continued.

"A-and, um, if you continue up here," she said, lifting her skirts slightly off the ground and starting up a wide flight of stairs, "we'll get to the private chambers of the Officers, Knights, and Lady Cesia."

She waved her hand down a second hallway, larger and more richly furnished than the first, with intricate carvings of flowing plant growth bleeding into draconian forms decorating the ceiling beams. The doors were all double and warmly polished, the hard floor beneath their feet seemed to glow from within from the multiple cleanings it received daily. Large windows looked out on their left over the sprawling castle gardens far below, a glimmer of water in the distance denoting the presence of a lake. Where before the doors had been spaced fairly close together, these had a greater distance between them, and it was obvious that the chambers they were hiding from view were massive, with several individual rooms apiece.

As much as he didn't want to, and as used as he was to the coiling majesty of Kharl's castle back in Arinas, Garfakcy was unable to prevent his eyes from widening at the sight.

"These are the private chambers?" He asked, receiving a bubbly nod and smile from the other maid, and walked slowly over to the nearest of the large windows. Garfakcy placed one of his hands on it, each individual glass panel that made it up as large as his head.

"No wonder Lykouleon's got his rooms back here," he admitted admiringly.

"Oh, Lord Lykouleon and Lady Raseleane don't have their private chambers here."

He pulled his gaze from peering down into the mesh of greenery.

"...What?"

"Their rooms are further back. I think they're another floor up," Havana mused, "I'm not too sure exactly where. Lady Cernozura is in charge of them, so I've never seen them myself. I hear they're grand, though," she fantasized, clasping her hands together.

"They must be enormous, and filled with all sorts of lovely items, with windows that overlook the whole of the castle grounds..."

Garfakcy stopped listening to her, spinning fully around as footsteps sounded nearby. Voices were speaking, growing steadily louder, and it wasn't long before a small group of females rounded the corner at the far end of the long hallway.

"...Didn't even buy this! In fact, I didn't ask you to, either!"

"Oh, shut up! Stop being such a pussy about this! None of the others are making such a fuss!"

"That's because we're too ashamed to open our mouths."

The girl with the long wavy black hair cast a glare at the smaller girl walking beside her, letting her equally dark locks fall into her drawn face.

Garfakcy ignored them, however, all his attention placed on the blonde who had first spoken, now self-consciously adjusting the large white towel she had wrapped from above her chest to her knees.

Yes, that had to be him, the one that Dragon Fighter was describing.

Garfakcy had never met him personally, but the faerie magic radiating off of him, combined with the faint traces of recently cast shape-shifting magic...

A slow taunting smirk began to spread across his features.

So this was the famous Dragon Knight of Water.

That meant that two of the other four were the Knights of Fire and Earth, Rath and Thats.

He looked them over quickly, immediately picking out Rath by his white forelock and Thats by the very faded scar across his face.

Cool jade eyes glittered as he realized that he had been led straight to the start of his mission. He had identified the three Dragon Knights with ease: now he had just to get close enough to them to discover... A few key facts.

And once that was done, he could tell Lord Kharl to get on with his half of the plan. The sooner this was accomplished, the sooner he would be back in his normal body.

He was startled out of his thoughts by someone tugging anxiously on his long sleeve.

"...Eh?"

Garfakcy tore his gaze from the rapidly approaching females to look up at a nervous Havana, suddenly realizing that she was talking rapidly to him under her breath.

"...Back, and curtsy," she whispered hurriedly to him, repeating her message as she gathered that he hadn't heard her properly.

"Step back and curtsy."

Garfakcy blinked, startled, and automatically obeyed the command, offering up a light dip that was nearly as refined as the lower one given by the black haired girl beside him.

As the five girls disappeared down the main stairway, Havana spoke up.

"That was Lady Cesia, the castle fortuneteller, and her friends."

"Do you know their names?" Garfakcy asked, feigning interest. He only wanted his conclusion verified, although he didn't need Havana to help him with that.

Havana furrowed her brow, trying to recall what she had heard at the breakfast table through the quickly moving castle grapevine.

"One is Pyore, and one Rune... Like Lord Rune the Dragon Knight," she giggled, "isn't that a coincidence?"

Garfakcy sweatdropped, mentally wondering about the girl's intelligence.

"And the last is Kitchel." Havana looked momentarily confused. "No, that's not right. Lady Kitchel was one, and the other..." Her sentence trailed off as she tried to fit the pieces together logically. "...I must've misheard or forgotten her name," she said apologetically.

"I should know this..." she lapsed into silence once more, slightly flustered.

Noting that Kharl would be pleased to hear that Rath had been the only one sane enough to think up a decent name for himself, Garfakcy nodded, pretending to be placated with her explanation and not noticing her blush.

"So what now? Which of these rooms am I supposed to be cleaning?"

"They're at the end," the other said cheerfully, gesturing for him to follow her. "Down here. You're lucky! You're in charge of Lord Rath's room, F-... Garfanny."

Garfakcy was torn between smirking at her strict use of his "full" name or smirking at his mental image of Lord Kharl when he discovered exactly where he would be spending much of his time.

"This is it."

He looked up at the wide oaken double doors that stood before him at the very far end of the hall, right as it turned the corner into another long row of spacious chambers.

Testing the doorknob, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Didn't these Dragons know anything about securing their privacy?

Garfakcy stepped in and nearly stumbled, eyes open wide in abject horror.

"Lord Rath is out on a mission with the other two Knights," she explained cheerfully, apparently unaware that her charge looked faintly ill, "so you only need to clean his rooms once and then go over them again quickly once he gets back."

The bed was not only unmade, but spilling over onto the floor as if someone had been in such a hurry to vacate it that they had tripped over their sheets, pulling all of the bedding halfway off and into a sloppy pile that overlapped a small heap of unfolded shirts. These appeared to have been tossed to the ground from the open dresser standing at an odd tilt away from the wall. There were shattered bits of metal scattered across the scuffed floor, mingling with books in varying states of disrepair. The windows leading out onto the small porch, Garfakcy noted with growing distaste, seemed to have been left open for the past day, and a puddle of rainwater was washed across the nearby floor and papers.

Garfakcy didn't think he would be able to clean this place only once.

"It's a bit disorderly," the other maid acknowledged, sending her two long braids bouncing with a small nod, "but once you get it in order you'll only have basic chores until he returns."

Garfakcy shuddered, still not paying her any attention: he was too busy being repulsed by the mess.

Havana mistook his shudder and the slight tic to his eyebrow and hands to mean that he disliked the idea of added work, and quickly elaborated.

"Oh, it's not that bad! Just laundry, really, and cleaning the hallways and entrances. It goes fast, and then you'll have a good deal of the day off to relax and get to know your way around this place. Besides," she smiled, "that's for tomorrow. Since this is your first day, you don't have to do any work yet. C'mon," the girl tentatively took his hand, leading him from the room. "I've been let off work early, and none of the others will be done yet. While we're waiting for them, why don't I show you around the palace gardens?"

Garfakcy let himself be led away, his mind still reeling as he ticked off ever more things that needed to be done to the room.

The paint behind the dresser was beginning to chip: obviously from being scraped against so many times. He had caught a glimpse of a damp towel lying on the floor in the bathroom, and something was half-shoved under the bed that looked suspiciously like a demon-hunting trophy.

One that had once been alive and was now sprouting life of its own...

:n:

Kitchel slid into the lake, letting the cool water rush over her skin and face and shivering delightedly at the sudden drop in temperature. She chanced to open her eyes and was pleasantly surprised at how clear the water was. It was shallow where she had entered, only around three feet deep, and the bottom was easily visible. Turning slowly underwater, she could see for a good distance out towards the middle of the lake before the water became too shadowed and murky to view what lay beyond.

Coming up with a gasp, light hair whipping around her face, Kitchel looked towards the shore.

And glared at the four figures still sitting on it.

"The water's fine, you know. You can come on in."

"See?" Cesia said, exasperated, "just go in, already."

Both girls were met with three stubborn stares and a muttered obscenity.

Cesia narrowed amber eyes.

"It's too hot out here. And its not like anyone's around to see."

The three Knights shifted uncomfortably, towels covering their entire bodies, all of them looking rather out of place next to the two bikini-clad girls.

"Fine," Thats finally muttered, slowly dropping his towel and quickly slipping into the water. He had to admit that it was a lot more comfortable, especially as this end of the large lake didn't have much shade at its shore.

"You guys coming in, too?" When she received no response, Kitchel shook her head. "Suit yourselves. When you start to bake, feel free to join us."

"In the meanwhile," Cesia said, sliding into the cool lake beside the other two, her tiny black swimsuit turning even darker with the water, "we need to discuss what our official story is. If we're to stick to it for a month, it needs to be free of holes."

Rath glanced briefly at Thats, then averted his gaze, snickering behind his closed fist.

"I'm not pregnant," the Knight of Earth scowled. "It's a dumb story."

"I rather like it," Kitchel grinned, ducking under the surface just in time to avoid the wave of water sent flying her way.

"It's believable," she continued, popping back up. "That's the sort of thing that could actually happen, especially in such a small town where everyone knows everybody else."

"Wait... Thats could get knocked up in a small town?" Rath asked, honestly confused.

"No," Cesia scoffed, irritatedly running a hand through her black hair, all of it still dry except for its tips where it trailed in the water. "That a girl pregnant before she was married in such a community might leave before it was obvious!"

"...We could just say we're here on vacation," Rune suggested sheepishly, ashamed that he had agreed to the excuse in the first place.

"But you already told your boyfriend about this one!" Rath interjected, cutting him off.

The elf flushed a deep crimson.

"He's not my damn boyfriend!"

Cesia spoke up, smoothly leading them away from that confrontation.

"I agree with Rath. It's too much trouble to go back and redo our explanation, especially as Santiago's probably told all of the other Dragon Fighters about it."

Rune looked startled.

"But... I told him to keep it to himself!"

"Please," Kitchel rolled her eyes heavenwards, brushing wet locks of hair from her face. "You really think he'd do that? You'd have to give him a pretty heavy bribe."

"I told you he should sleep with him," Thats muttered darkly, sinking farther down and letting the water come up to his bare shoulders.

The castle fortuneteller swiftly cut short that potentially violent argument as well.

"No one is sleeping with anybody." She ignored Rath's stifled laugh at her comment and continued speaking. "We'll just hope that not too many people have heard it yet but, as it is likely that most of the castle already knows the rumor, be prepared to pretend that it's true."

"Which means consolidating our stories!" Kitchel added cheerfully, then suddenly turned slyly to the Earth Dragon Knight.

"So, Thats, who's the father?"

She was unable to duck this second wave as it hit her in the face and Cesia continued as the thief coughed, her hysterical laughter not making it any easier for her to breathe.

"That's a good question, actually. We need to come up with a name and you three need to get your facts straight on how you know each other and me."

"We've grown up together," Rath said quickly, "and you're my cousin. ...Once removed." He added, comfortably tugging the large white towel tighter around his slim body.

Cesia nodded, "I don't see any problems with that. It's plausible. Where are you headed after this month's stop here?"

"I said something about going to stay with my family in Memphis," Rune said, suddenly remembering this fact.

There was a gasp and Kitchel appeared, leaning heavily on the firm lake bed, still sniggering to herself, though now more from Thats' reaction than her simple joke.

Rune looked at her questioningly, shaking his head as a slight breeze blew his long hair into his eyes and moved the light cloud cover, causing the sun to glare suddenly off the lake.

"Is she okay?" He asked, gesturing towards the female thief.

"You're an elf," Thats stated crossly, crossing his arms on the bank on Cesia's other side, "if she passes out, you can always revive her."

:n:

"...And there's a lake up ahead!"

Garfakcy sighed monotonously. He had been listening to this idle chatter for the past half hour, though it felt more like several lifetimes.

A schoolgirl could fall in and out of love exactly twelve times in the thirty minutes he had been following along with the maid's game of tour guide.

...Thirty-one.

"There," she pointed through a small gap in the trees in front of the path they were winding their way down. "It's normally empty at this time of the day, but it looks like there's some people in it..." Havana craned her neck, taking a few steps off the path for a better look.

"Oh," she turned faintly red at the realization of whom she was spying on hit her. Nervously tucking a strand of black hair that had fallen out of its restraints behind her ear, Havana dropped her voice slightly, finishing her speech quickly.

"Well, this is the lake. We usually come down here on our breaks or holidays. In the winter it'll freeze over, and you can ice skate here. Now," she paused suddenly, distracted by the movement down by the lake's surface.

Garfakcy looked over as well, watching the slick flash of dark green as one of the girls pulled herself out of the clear water.

"Um, now... We should probably head back to the dormitory."

The words startled him, and Garfakcy turned just as the other spun about, dark braids whipping the air behind her.

"Come on," Havana called, already a couple paces ahead of him, "the others should be finishing now, and you still need to meet them."

He blinked, then followed after her without complaint: straightening out the few items he had brought with him sounded like a good plan. Garfakcy had taken a few steps back down the dirt path when the feel of something warm and distinctly wet on his very upper, very inner leg caused him to jolt to a halt, eyes wide.

Kharl, Garfakcy thought to himself in a mixture of numbing shock and fury, I'm going to friggin' kill you.

:n:

A/N: ...That actually didn't take that much longer than I thought it would. I was betting on an update that was late by at least a week and a half. Wow. :impressed with self:

:n:

RandomRathFan: It was something like... O-OU ...Just so you know. XD

Go-ruden Kiba: ...I kept forgetting they were naked(more or less)... :sweatdrop: But they did get dressed... Sorta. XD Swimsuits: not a big difference, eh?

Tarinyo's Forest: ...Okay, ya know what? I'll call you Kagome again from now on. -.-; :too long to write all that:

Kat: Oh no! Of course I don't own your soul. We've decided this already. That would be mighty awkward, don't you guys agree? ...Okay, I'm going to tell a couple of them to shut up, as they are of the opinion that having random manslaves would be a rather fun thing. :sweatdrop: MOST of us here(including me) agree, though. n-n;

Yume-chan29: ...I got it. For right now? They are "whatever"-sexuals. :sweatdrop: That name seems to be popular... :had just needed to find a random name right before posting:

Jin: NADIL:glomps: Have fun in Japan. n-n

Dark-Birdie: Hehe... I'd love to see a picture of that. XD

Blackcat: n-n Thank you!

ShadowDown: Your name sounds so pretty... :heart:

The Shadowess: XD What the hell indeed. And, yes. :shifty eyes: Corset. ...Don't let Thats hear you. :giggles and ducks flying object:

:n:

School has started, therefore I need reviews to remind me to work on stories instead of homework. :D

...Well, no. I need reviews to remind me to work on stories during all free breaks and downtime. :sweatdrop: