Written for the 31days comm on lj. August 2005. I claim proud kinship to your blood.

Yuuko has three conversations. Semi-crossover with CCS. Some lines used are found in John Donne poems, which each section is titled after.

1. Go and catch a falling star

"Art thou true, my dear Yuuko? Would you turn my hair white and make me catch a falling star?"

"Nothing so obvious. People would start to get ideas. Pass the brandy if you're so inclined."

"Ideas, my dearest, are the germs of genius." He brandished a scroll with drawings and equations scribbed onto it. If one looked closely enough, they would have been able to discern the faint outlines of a winged lion. "But the genius that would be our love would be too much for this world. Indeed, it should not be allowed to form."

Her cat-eyes were slitted with smiles and opium-laced lassitude. "For this world? Are you beginning to have any improper thoughts or ideas about our near-incestuous closeness?"

"Not for price would that sweet blasphemy be worth it!" he declared. "We are too young to love, unworthy of the wisdom of ages. No! We must earn that wisdom! Study the heavens so that we may prevent stars from falling and our ebony hair from turning white! My dearest, sweetest love, you would cause me to quake in my clogs and wipe my spectacles with blindness. No my dear, we should not love but depart from it. Let not thy divining heart forethink me any ill; instead, breathe, be happy and drink! May we live long lives and earn eternal wisdom! Let the stars fall, I shall not be the one to catch them."

Her gentle, drunken snore was his only reply.

2. The Triple Fool

"As your elder, I think it's my place to educate you. In chess, the queen's job is to protect the king. That's why she can do so many things: she can move backwards and forwards and sideways and diagonally. She can move one space or the length of the world. The queen is powerful; she lives and breathes for the king. She will do anything to save the king. Rules, she says, are unimportant! What can compare to the life of my beloved? So I can move her here and here and here, and it's fine because it's the queen. It's her job to protect, to be stubborn and fierce, to crawl through your traps like a stealthy and intelligent feline or brave your attacks like a courageous and predatory hawk. She cannot be tamed nor fettered unless it be by kingly verse. She flies over earth's crooked lanes, purges salt from sea and I can move her from here to here."

The ice cubes chinked against the glass. He looked quite illegal and far too young to be sipping the gin with such equanimity. "Yuuko-san, I'm afraid I must apologize in advance."

"For what?"

His smile was gentle and all too familiar. Stretching slim fingers, he picked up a pawn and moved it forward a square. "Checkmate."

She snatched the glass before he could drink more. "No more for you," she declared through a mouthful of gin-flavoured ice. "For we are two fools, the wise man and his queen and no more room for a third."

3. Valediction to His Book

It was very strange to find a house in such a remote area, he thought. Stranger yet to find that it wasn't out of place but wasn't a part of the place. The door opened and two small girls took his hands and led him in.

There was a woman inside, reclining on pillows. She was full of the mysteries that his studies had only begun to hint at, Aztec gold and maps of Atlantis in her fingertips and hair. She smiled and he found himself smiling back before kneeling into one of the soft cushions.

"I think I like you better with shorter hair," she said after a moment, tapping resin from her pipe into a dish. "Maru, please get something to drink for our guest." When they had left, she said, "You took a while to show up. I was afraid that you might have forgotten."

One of the strange girls returned and placed a cup and saucer in front of him. He thanked her and sipped it automatically. It was jasmine tea, sweet and pungent on his tongue.

Her sister stepped forward and held out the book to him. The binding was exquisite and the golden lion on the back gleamed oddly. His eyes flickered across the spidery gold veins and to the lock.

"Take it," commanded the woman.

"Yes, of course," he said. The book exuded a strange smell. Probably from the thick sheaves of ageing paper. "How much do I owe?"

She flicked her pipe in his direction. "Because of our long-standing relationship, I'll be generous. One of the letters you keep in your pocket."

He paled but reached into his vest to bring out a faded, much-creased paper. "Study this manuscript of my beloved and I," he told her.

Her palm was warm and soft against his cheek, like mulled wine. "Your love was too great, and her absence tries how long it can hold."

He closed his eyes. "Our distance cannot be measured in longitudes or latitudes."