Awry Affairs

Change a hawk to a little white dove

More than a feeling, that's the power of love

~ Huey Lewis

Chapter 5

If you want to take revenge on a man, send him a really beautiful woman. ~ Arabian Proverb

Luxion's drone followed Leon as he climbed down a steep pit, a rope connecting the young man's belt to the hovering machine. Luxion swore that the anti-gravity engines could bear Leon's weight, but he preferred to be cautious - even if it could, he was less certain of his ability to cling to the drone as it descended.

"This would be much faster if you took my advice, Master."

"And it's considerably safer this way," he panted. "If we get attacked, and there are monsters that can climb up the sides of this pit, I'd rather have options - it'd be hard to defend myself if I need both hands to cling to you."

Finally, his questing feet found a flat surface beneath him and the boy looked around, seeing that he had reached the bottom. He exhaled in relief. It wasn't like flying in a knight armour or on an airbike - neither of which would fit down here - there was nothing between him and falling except his skill, some luck and Luxion's loyalty.

Leon wished he could rely more on the latter. He didn't think Luxion had ever betrayed the Leon in the books, but he also had very strong opinions of his own. I shouldn't assume that I can take the books as a guide either, he reminded himself. This isn't a game, but it isn't just a story either. Thinking like that is a trap. "I imagine someone's noticed I'm missing by now," he said out loud. "Can you provide some light, Luxion?"

"Of course."

Leon waited a moment and then sighed. "Light us up, please. And well played."

"Thank you, master." The AI sounded rather pleased with himself even as spotlights from the drone began to light up the dungeon. This part of the sprawling underground caves was off-limits to students - too dangerous, according to the staff. Rumours had it that the chamber that would have to be conquered to 'complete' the dungeon was down here. Since that would prevent the dungeon from spawning valuables and monsters, the academy would rather no one did that. It was worth more in its current condition and most lords who controlled a dungeon felt the same way.

Leon had never been here, but he suspected that if the final chamber was actually hidden by the staff they would have thought of a way to hide it that wouldn't draw reckless teenagers raised on tales of great adventurers like moths to a flame.

The game had covered it though - dungeoning had been one of the major combat scenarios that players had to defeat in order to level both the heroine and whatever admirers formed her party up so that they could deal with the actual plot of the game. Working from memories more than a decade old, Leon picked his turns carefully, walking deeper and deeper.

Three monsters crossed his path and each proved insufficiently protected against a shotgun blast. Technology really did make life easier, as well as having an AI watching your back for ambush predators.

"Alright," he said at last, reaching a familiar looking crack in one wall. "I think this is it. The bracelet should be stuck at the back of this."

"Assuming your memories are correct, master."

"Yes, assuming." Leon gestured towards it. "Light up the inside, would you? There could be something lurking."

He squinted into the crevice as Luxion obediently directed a spotlight down it. Nothing seemed to be moving, but no metal was reflecting the light either. Perhaps the bracelet was just too scuffed and dirty. Assured that he wasn't likely to be bitten by anything, Leon reached in, tracing either side and then the back of the crack.

Reaching as high as he could, then crouching low, his fingers found nothing. Pulling his arm out, he stripped off his gauntlet and tried again - hoping he'd just failed due to having his hand covered and missing the goal of this excursion.

"Dammit," the boy gasped at last, pulling his arm out. "I don't think it's here. Maybe I've taken a wrong turn."

Luxion bobbled in the air. "Human error is always a possibility, master."

"Thanks."

"However, I have another theory." The drone directed its spotlight down at the ground, highlighting footprints on the dirt floor. Some of them were clearly Leon's, but others went onwards, deeper into the dungeon.

"This early?" Leon muttered. "That's weird." He planted one boot next to one of the foot prints and then stepped back and compared the two. "It's pretty fresh… and someone with smaller feet than me. Maybe it's Olivia… or it could be Marie."

"Neither would be good for your plans, master."

"On balance, I'd prefer the gremlin," Leon muttered. "Olivia's nice, but she'd likely not be able to deal with this yet. Not according to what the side stories described. Marie's a problem, but she'd have a better idea what she had and be more resistant."

Luxion traced the footprints with his searchlight. "Will you follow them?"

"Yeah." Leon reloaded his shotgun. "If nothing else, whoever it is, they're headed away from the way out."

"Your chivalrous streak will get you into trouble one day."

"It's a good job that it's so small and underdeveloped then," Leon told the AI and set out following the trail.

The footprints only went two more more junctions before they merged with another trail, one that had at least two over-laid sets of footprints.

"This is ridiculous," Leon muttered, dropping to one knee beside the trail. "How many people are down here?"

"I count three," the AI declared.

The boy shook his head, more in disbelief than disagreement. "You're sure?"

"Myself, my master and someone walking in circles."

Leon blinked. "Really?"

"The boot prints are all from the same boots." The AI played the light across them. "All are the same length, all have the same weight distribution."

"Okay… I'll take your word for that." He shook his head. "So rather than following whoever this is, let's backtrack and see if that finds them faster."

"Your problem solving skills amaze me," the AI concluded, already drifting in that direction.

"I could wait here," Leon admitted, "But they might have stopped or diverted so this seems to make more sense. You'd better turn out the lights though."

Luxion snapped them off immediately and Leon stumbled as he was suddenly stuck in near total darkness without having time for his eyes to adjust. Muttering irritably, he pulled out a lantern and lit it. It meant having one hand occupied, but the footprints weren't all that visible without some kind of artificial light to work with.

One turn later, there was an outcry from ahead of him. "Yay, the light at the end of the tunnel!"

"Oh no," Leon muttered to himself.

Luxion sounded way too smug in his ear as he corrected: "Oh yes."

"Oh, it's not a way out," Katarina Rafa Claes said in disappointment as she came into full view. She didn't seem particularly worried about her predicament and her bag was bulging. "Hello!"

"Lady Claes," Leon greeted her. "I wasn't expecting anyone else down here."

"I fell down a chute," she admitted cheerfully. "It's not so bad though. There's plenty of mushrooms down here and as long as I stick with the left hand wall I should find myself out of this maze sooner or later."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Mushrooms?"

"Yes." The girl reached into her bag and produced a sizable purple mushroom. "Would you like one?"

"I'm fairly sure that that's poisonous," Leon told her. "Have you eaten any?"

"Well, no. I was looking for some water first."

"That's probably for the best." He extended the lantern and pointed at the footprints. "I think you've been going in a circle, this passage loops back on itself."

"Oh bother." Katarina upended her bag on the floor and started picking metal nuggets out of the heap of mushrooms that resulted. "I tried going downwards to find water but that didn't work, and then I tried staying left. How else do we get out of here?"

Leon took a deep breath. "Well, I see you have a pick. Between us, maybe we can get up the pit I fell down."

"Great! You're really good at this dungeoning," she told him. "But you need proper equipment. A sword just isn't as useful as a pick or a hoe." Then she plucked a familiar looking bracelet out of the pile of her finds.

"Where did you find that?" Leon asked resignedly. Of course she'd found it, that was the only logical deduction. And how was he going to get it off her before she wound up possessed?

Katarina gestured behind her - the exact opposite direction from the crack, but he supposed that she had been walking in circles. "I found it jammed into a wall back there. Isn't it pretty? Maybe someone dropped it."

"I can't think how else it got down here," he admitted. "It's not like the usual finds of metal. You should get it cleaned up and keep it as a souvenir."

Dropping it back into her bag, the brunette nodded. "Anne will know something suitable for polishing metal and then I can give it a good scrubbing!" She flexed her arm to demonstrate the vigor she presumably would put to the task.

Leon paused. "Jewelry can be a bit delicate, Lady Claes. You might want to have an expert work on it. I know someone who works on that. Let's get out of here and I'll see if I can set you up to get it restored to good condition."

"Oh, that would be great." And then she just pulled the bracelet out of the bag and tossed it to him.

That was easier than I expected. "Okay, I came this way, so if we backtrack," he observed, "We should reach the pit quite easily."

"Are you sure these mushrooms are poisonous?" Katarina asked, looking at the little pile mournfully.

"How could you lose Katarina?" Alan asked his brother angrily. He'd been the only one in their little group to be left behind - unless you counted Miss Campbell, who would be coming down into the dungeon with a different class tomorrow. But he'd at least thought that they could keep her safe!

"There was some sort of trap!" Gerald snapped, his face worried. "We need to find her as quickly as possible!"

Sophia had used her wind magic to contact the other groups, as well as the teachers. Regrouping at the end of the second level, they were reorganising into search parties.

"Did you try going into the trap as well?" suggested Alan.

Sophia shook her head, face pale. "We tried that, but it didn't open. I think it was one of those one-use traps - the sort that doesn't reset for days."

"Lady Claes isn't the only one missing," one of Alan's team mates reported. Daniel Fou Durland was heir to a minor barony out on the northern frontier. Alan didn't know him well, but he seemed to have his head on straight. "Bartford's missing as well."

"Oh no," Sophia groaned.

"You know him?" asked Mary, curiously.

"He hosted that tea party we went to with Olivia," the albino explained. "He's really nice but he doesn't have magic."

Alan snapped his fingers. "Right, Scarlet Rafa Ades' friend. I know him."

Daniel nodded. "That's him. He was with Raymond's group but they got separated somehow. It shouldn't be that bad, we're only on the second level, but it's got the teachers worried."

The teacher whistled sharply for attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, as you've all completed one of the routes through the second level, we can be sure that the missing students are further down. Fortunately, all the traps and pitfalls mapped out on this level only go down to the third or fourth level."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Alan muttered.

His fiancee jabbed him with an elbow. "There are plenty of monsters down there, Alan! And Lady Katarina will be on her own!"

"We're re-organizing into seven groups of four students each," the teacher continued. "Each group will be assigned a different section of the third level to search for the lost students. Meanwhile, we teachers will go down to the fourth level to search there. I must stress that you are all to take care not to get separated in the third level and none of you are to risk entering the fourth level. The monsters and obstacles down there are significantly more dangerous, and you're not prepared for them."

"Should we stick together?" Gerald asked Keith and the two girls.

"No," Alan disagreed. "You should split up, that way most of the search parties have one of us with them. We all know Katarina so we're more likely to recognise if she left any marks or signs of her passage."

Mary nodded in agreement. "Alan's right. If anyone will notice a sign that Lady Katarina has been in our search area, it's us."

Alan turned to Daniel and his other team-mates from the second level. "Do you want to grab your friend Raymond and work with me? That leaves the rest of you to work with my fiancee."

He didn't like leaning on his rank, but there were times when it was useful to be the King's youngest nephew. None of the group argued with that and he left Mary with her new team while he and Daniel picked up a fourth member. Jake Fou Podebrat was irritating as hell, in Alan's view, but he also had a good eye and he was the best shot in their class. The viscount's heir was sulking on the edge of the class rather than finding a new team - unsurprisingly, his previous team had ditched him immediately - so he didn't argue with Alan when he was told that he was going with them.

The teachers only stayed with them as far as despatching them through one of the third level entrances before they departed for their own search. Alan waved Podebrat forward. "You take point," he ordered. "Look for footprints or for anyone climbing - Katarina's like a monkey, she might be trying to get back up to the second level by going vertically."

Podebrat nodded, shouldering his rifle and moving forwards.

"You guys know Bartford well?" Alan asked. "What should we look for from him?"

The two exchanged looks. "Not that well," Raymond admitted, adjusting his glasses. "He doesn't hang out much with the other baron's heirs."

"He's alright when he does." Daniel seemed wary of sounding like he was discounting Bartford. "He's just busy all the time - studying with Lady Ades or going down to the port. He's got good tips for how to meet girls that aren't going to ask for the earth."

"Great," Alan conjured a whip of water and lashed out at a snake-like creature that had crawled out of a hole Podebrat had gone past. He had to sever it into four different pieces before it stopped moving. "But that's not all that useful for finding him. He's not good at magic, so what does he fall back on?"

"He was carrying a shotgun and a sword - more of a machete," Raymond reported. "And he had a length of rope."

"That's a start. Did you hear that, Podebrat?"

The rifleman paused at a turn, looked back just enough that his nod was visible, and then resumed checking their path.

"Okay then, cover the side passages and check them in pairs," Alan directed. "I'll cover you from back here and watch the rear."

The two baronial heirs hastened to obey him and the little squad moved systematically along the marked route through their sector of the level. Technically the marked routes had cross connections, but the guideline was clear: check those connections back to your main route then backtrack and resume checking yours. It was a little redundant, but it was thorough and that was the goal.

None of the footprints Podebrat found were fresh enough though. No one had been down these passages in several days, not before them.

"Dammit." Alan muttered as they approached the far end. "I hope someone else has had more luck." He didn't want to contemplate going back without Katarina, and presumably Bartford had a family as well that would miss him.

"Maybe they're on the floor below," Daniel suggested. "Or if there's a trap here that leads further down."

Alan wheeled to shut the boy up, but he saw Podebrat raise his hand suddenly for silence. They all halted in place, watching their surroundings.

"I heard a shotgun fire," the pale sniper advised after a moment. He pointed down the last cross-connection. "Down that way."

Gritting his teeth, Alan regretted deciding he'd be best as the hub of this team. "Check it out, all three of you," he ordered. "I'll cover the main corridor so we don't miss anyone else using it."

Watching the others scurry down the corridor to investigate, he called up water again and slashed vindictively at the side of the wall. He was on the third letter before he realised he was carving Katarina's name into the rocks, like some love-sick idiot. Lowering his hands, he let the water fall away. What was taking them so long!?

"Stuart!" someone shouted from the corridor.

Dammit. He turned on his heel and ran down after his squad, long coat and scarf flapping behind him. He expected monsters, but what he found was the three of them in a defensive stance around a doorway.

Before he could demand answers, Podebrat pointed inside. "This route is prohibited for student access, but the gun's down that way. Three shots so far - I think he's reloading."

Alan nodded. "And Bartford had a shotgun."

Raymond nodded in confirmation.

"Right. Daniel, you and Raymond go back to our corridor and make for the end, let the others know as soon as they reach the end of the level. Tell them Jake and I are checking this out."

"I think this leads to the pit," Daniel pointed out. "It's an open fissure that goes down several levels. If Leon's there, then he could be well below you."

"Then at least we'll know. Move!" He snapped.

The two ran off and he looked at Jake. "Are you good to go?"

The brooding boy worked the action of his rifle and nodded.

"Okay, you have point again and I'll back you up. And Jake? Don't put a shot into my brother's fiancee or the other idiot who managed to get lost. If we have any accidents, I'll throw you down the damned pit. Are we clear?"

Podebrat met his eyes… and then gulped nervously. "Y-yes."

The passageway they followed reached more or less what Alan had expected from Daniel's earlier description and briefings in class. The pit had dozens of openings in view, leading into levels above and below them. There was a modest ledge at the end of this passage, but other entrances seemed to just drop off and some ledges had no exit.

The bottom of the pit was low enough to be out of sight in the available light, but it was far easier to see two figures clinging to a ledge about fifty feet below and on the other side of the shaft.

"Heave-ho!" Katarina shouted as she brought her pick down in a blow that cracked the skull of the monster clambering upwards towards her. It tumbled away, buying the girl a reprieve,while behind her the somewhat familiar figure of Leon finished reloading his shotgun.

"Go!" Alan heard the boy cry out and Katarina turned her back on the next monster climbing, starting to scale the cliff above her. He couldn't hear her speaking, but he'd seen her do it before and knew she was channeling her limited earth magic to create handholds. There was a roar as Leon fired the shotgun down twice, picking off one monster after another.

Podebrat dropped to one knee. "I can pick off the nearest monsters to them."

Alan frowned and then shook his head. "Pick off the ones that might sweep others down as they fall - we need to thin their numbers." Then he raised his hand, conjuring up water from the air and forcing it to chill itself. Honestly, he'd never focused much on using his magic for long range attacks, focusing more on using it for self defense. Still, this was one of the standard spells for a water mage.

Three arrows of ice slashed across the pit from his ledge, skewering monsters closer to Leon. A moment later Jake fired his first shot, aiming deliberately and then pausing to reload before he fired again.

Leon looked up to trace the source of the friendly spells and threw a jaunty salute up at them. Letting his shotgun hang from its shoulder strap, he removed two grenades from his bag and pulled the pins. The boy dropped them to either side of the ledge and was already scrambling after Katarina before the explosions below marked the grenades detonating.

"Alan!"

He looked up and saw Katarina waving at him. She'd reached another ledge, this one with an exit.

"Over here!" she called, as if he couldn't see her.

He waved back. "I don't see a way around! Do you know where that passage leads?"

Katarina shrugged.

"Great," he muttered. So close and yet he couldn't get to Katarina. Throwing two more arrows of ice, he pinned a pair of monsters to the wall. Why were so many of them after the two students?

A moment later Leon reached the same ledge as Katarina. He turned and fired his shotgun down at the monsters climbing up. Between their combined efforts, none of them were close enough to be an immediate threat, but more were climbing. Katarina even picked up a rock the size of her head and dropped it down. It seemed to hit something.

"I'm open to suggestions," Alan hissed to Podebrat.

The boy shrugged. "I have thirty more rounds. After that…"

Alan was hoping for something a little more constructive but then he heard noises behind him. Looking back, he was pleased to see familiar faces. "Gerald, Keith!"

"Where's my sister?!" the Claes heir demanded, a hair ahead of Gerald's own query.

"Look over there," the musician answered. "Gerald, we're going to need firepower to deter those monsters. And Keith, can you form a ledge around the pit so the two of them can get over here?" It was amazing how much easier this was with the right tools.

"Consider it done," Gerald declared with his usual confidence - usually irritating but right now it was reassuringly. A torrent of flames streamed down from Alan's twin, blazing easily across the pit and sending the monsters scrambling away - those that didn't topple burning back into the depths of the dungeon, ablaze with furious flames.

Keith stood next to Alan and the wall of the pit began to flow. "It's tricky without destabilizing the sides," he admitted. "This probably won't last more than a few minutes."

Even so, Alan could see a ledge beginning to form, a few inches wide at first but then pushing out further until it was more than a foot across. Sweat was pouring off Keith's brow - partly in effort and perhaps partly due to the heat from Gerald's flames.

Fortunately, no one needed to give the two stranded students a hint. Leon gestured for Katarina to go first and reloaded his shotgun with just three rounds - he must be out, Alan realised. Closing the breech, the boy began edging along their escape route, back to the wall whereas Katarina was facing it so that she could use her hands to steady herself. Alan had to admire the dark haired boy's cool as he barely looked at where he was going, shotgun ready in case anything got past him.

As soon as Katarina was close enough, Alan reached out with tendrils of water and dragged her over onto the ledge and then back into the safety of the passage. Just to be fair, he did the same to Leon, who finally lost his cool and almost dropped his shotgun at the first contact.

"Right," Gerald declared once Leon was with them. "Keith, do you think you can close this passage behind us?"

"That should be easier," Katarina's brother agreed, looking the girl over frantically for signs of harm. "Katarina, are you alright."

"It's been quite an adventure!" she declared proudly.

"We can talk about it later," Alan suggested. "Let's get out of the dungeon first."

"Right," his brother agreed and hustled them along, Podebrat loping along in the lead with his precious rifle, Keith bringing up the rear. There was a crash of falling stone and a wave of dusty air followed them as the earth mage took the simplest route to blocking pursuit and collapsed at least a ton of stone into the passageway behind them.

Coughing on the dust, all six of them reached the main passage and Alan was amused to see that Gerald and Keith each grabbed hold of one of Katarina's arms, perhaps to see that she didn't get lost a second time.

"Well, we made it," she said brightly. "I feel like a real adventurer now."

Leon rubbed his brow. "Unfortunately, there's one last trial we must pass before we've really completed this adventure," he warned.

Alan blinked. "What's that?"

Katarina's impromptu companion pointed ahead and Alan saw the senior-most of the teachers overseeing the class standing at the junction. "And what," the man demanded, "Were all of you doing in a passageway that is clearly marked as prohibited for all access?"

Leon found Katarina wearing a heavy apron and merrily scrubbing pots in the school's large kitchens. He was wearing a similar apron, having just finished his own time peeling vegetables. While the school didn't lean towards corporal punishment, they did have ways to handle disobedient students and straying while in the dungeons was one of the zero tolerance issues.

"Hi Leon!" she called, seeing him enter.

"Are you still working?" he asked. "I thought we were in for the same amount of time."

Katarina glanced up at the clock. "Oh yes. Well, I may as well finish all of these." She indicated the handful of pans still waiting to be washed. "I don't want to leave this half-done."

"Fair enough." Leon glanced at the doorway and saw two heads of hair just barely ducking back before he could make out their faces. "I have that souvenir for you, once you're done."

"Oooh, thank you!" the girl exclaimed brightly.

Leon looked at the busy kitchen. "I'll wait outside, no use getting in the way."

He'd just exited and hung up the borrowed apron when Keith Rafa Claes confronted him. "What are you doing with my sister?"

"Other than punishment duties in the kitchen?"

"I heard him say something about a souvenir."

Leon glanced back and saw Mary Fou Hunt giving him an unimpressed look. Honestly, that was more intimidating than Keith. The other boy was slightly built and while he was a powerful mage, he was also understandably wary about using it without care. Mary had a nasty streak though, and despite sharing a class with no less than four girls from ducal backgrounds, Leon suspected that she was the one with the closest hand around the social affairs of the class. It was fortunate that she was constrained by not wanting to upset Katarina.

"Yes, that's right. Something she picked up in the dungeon. I offered to have it cleaned up for her."

Keith tried to look down his nose at Leon, a doomed effort since they were about the same height. "Well, I'll pass it to her when she's done."

"You know, there's a fine line between being a protective brother and being a possessive creep, right?" Leon asked.

"What-what are you talking about?" Keith reddened - more with embarrassment than anger. "I just don't want anyone getting my sister into trouble."

"Then rest assured that I have no intentions of doing so." Leon bowed slightly. "I'm merely here to return Lady Katarina's property, into her own hands. It's not as if I'm exchanging gifts or engaging in some form of courtship. That would be grossly inappropriate when the lady is engaged."

"Of course it would," Mary agreed quickly. "What is that she found? There's no harm in showing us."

Leon eyed her and then nodded. "Indeed not." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a flat jewelry case and snapped it open, revealing the glittering silver bracelet with its intricate carvings. Luxion had made a point of polishing it up once the spectre of the Saint had been removed, claiming that he was being professional about living up to expectations.

Leon wasn't going to call the AI tsundere - except in the privacy of his own head.

The spectre had merged with the other one, which was a little unexpected. However, the main point was that the bracelet was no longer at risk of letting the wearer be possessed by the consciousness of the ancient saint.

Leon wasn't sure if the risk was all that great for Katarina - she certainly wasn't short of willpower, but on the other hand her focus could sometimes do with work. On the whole, he suspected she'd simply brush aside any darker impulses the saint tried to impose on her but it wasn't a risk worth taking.

"Oh that's nice," Mary said in admiration. "If it had some sapphires on it, it would be perfect for Lady Katarina."

Leon shrugged. "I can't help you there. I just had it cleaned and polished."

"And this was just lying around the dungeon?" Keith sounded suspicious.

"Apparently. From where she said she found it, it was well into the prohibited area, so whoever lost it either won't admit to it or it was so long ago that the academy wasn't in control of the dungeon at the time." Leon shrugged. "She found it before we met up so I couldn't tell you much more, why not ask her?"

"Mary! Keith!" Katarina emerged from the kitchen, still wearing her apron and gave them both effusive hugs, ignoring the fact that her apron was still soaked in soapy water. Fortunately the two were wearing their school uniforms, which were up to absorbing the moisture - Leon suspected that it would have done a number on one of Mary's gowns if the girl was wearing one - she was impressively built for her relative youth and her neckline was probably struggling to contain her at times. "I didn't know you were friends with Leon!"

"Well we are in the same class," Leon offered. "It'd be strange if we didn't know each other at all."

"You say that," the tall brunette said, "But I didn't know half the girls at your tea party until we met there."

"Something I'm sure you've rectified," he told her smoothly. "And here's your bracelet. All cleaned up as promised." He extended the box but Katarina simply plucked the bracelet out of it.

"Thank you," she exclaimed, slipping it onto her wrist. "Look, Keith. I found this on my very first dungeon adventure! Isn't it pretty?"

"It is," he agreed, "but you do need to be careful Katarina. If Leon hadn't explained it, this would look as if you were accepting a gift from a strange boy."

Katarina blinked at him. "But Leon's not strange! He went dungeoning with me, and before that he threw a lovely tea party - I had so much fun and I made friends."

"I think what he means is that it looks bad for you to seem to be getting expensive gifts from a boy you're not engaged to," Mary expanded for her friend. "A lot of boys court their wives at the academy, you know."

"Yes, I keep wondering if Gerald will find someone that he likes," Katarina agreed, missing Mary's point completely.

Leon smiled thinly at Keith and Mary's faces. Neither of them wanted Gerald to actually marry Katarina - for their disparate reasons. But nor did they want someone else to sweep in and win her affections.

"Besides, he's courting Scarlet," the brunette added absently. "So Leon wouldn't be courting me."

Wait what? Leon stalled out at that suggestion.

"Are you?" Mary asked him, curiously. "I mean, her engagement was cancelled recently…"

"We were studying together before that happened," Leon said slowly. "I confess I hadn't considered that it might appear otherwise…"

"Don't go breaking my cousin's heart," demanded Katarina fiercely.

He nodded slowly, heart rate slowing back towards something normal. "I think I'd need to know where her heart lies, but thank you for making me aware that things appear that way. Clearly I should discuss this with her."

"What will you do if she is interested in you, master?" asked Luxion quietly through the ear bud.

Leon considered that question. He didn't dislike Scarlet, but nor had he really considered her in that light either. "Procrastinate," he subvocalized after a moment's thought.

"You are the worst," concluded the AI.