2 January 2019: With the new year and everything happening at home, I am a little late updating this fic over here on FFN. It's been up on AO3 for days. Sorry. I honestly prefer AO3. It's so much easier to use. So, if you're looking for a new chapter at the end of the month, and I haven't posted here yet, check there.
Content Note: No changes have been made to this chapter. It is the same as posted to AO3.
Chapter 19
In which Clef talks to his Household
When she kissed Clef, Umi briefly considered the fact she might end up scandalising whichever of the maids was sent to fetch them, given they were all here, and decided she didn't care. She didn't expect to look up and see both of her parents standing in the doorway. Flinging herself off Clef, she tugged her clothes straightish.
Fortunately, they didn't look angry. There was a small smile tugging at the corners of Papa's mouth, and Mama failed to cover her laugh with a cough.
"Mr. Clef, you've apologised to us this evening, but I am afraid we haven't apologised to you for our daughter's conduct," Mama said. "I'm starting to think we probably should."
"Mama!" Umi wailed.
"Umi-dear, it's rather obvious you're the one driving this mischief," her mother said with a look that only made Umi's face grow hotter. "Come along. Dinner is ready."
Umi glanced at the clock, and frowned a little. "Already?" It was the middle of the afternoon, not time for an evening meal.
"As your Clef has to travel home again afterwards, we thought it would be polite to eat early so he would have time to enjoy the experience."
When her parents left, Umi thumped Clef on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me they were there?"
"How was I to know?" he argued. "I was a little distracted, because someone decided that now as a really good time to be friendly."
By the time they made it downstairs, Umi had decided it was silly to let herself be embarrassed; it wasn't as if she hadn't walked in on her parents being romantic multiple times in her life. Pushing all of those thoughts aside, she grabbed hold of Clef's hand and dragged him toward the dining room, only to be told they would be eating in the Japanese-style room instead.
Four little tables had been neatly set out, and Clef took the seat he was waved to, kneeling on the cushion with far more dignity than Umi, who shot a suspicious look at her parents - both smiling pleasantly back at her.
When the beautifully arranged first course was set before her - complete with chopsticks - Umi let out an exasperated, "Mama!"
Her mother smiled and waved a hand. "Hara, would please you bring some western-style cutlery for Mr. Clef?"
"I'm sure I could try to use the implements that you do," Clef said, though he was eying them with uncertainty. "You did try to teach us on that picnic last year-"
"You were so bad at it you only ate sandwiches the whole time," Umi pointed out, before glaring at her mother again. "But you shouldn't need to, because it's rude to force guests from another culture to feel awkward while they are trying to eat!" Not that a guest was really meant to be being served traditional cuisine before they'd worked out chopsticks. Well, if they were throwing Clef in at the deep end, they could throw him a fork, too.
"Ah, but your Clef isn't a guest, is he, love?" Mama grinned at her. "He's family."
That made Umi pause - did it mean her parents had accepted Clef? She honestly couldn't tell. Technically he would be the father of her child even if she never saw him again.
Just because her mother didn't dislike Clef didn't meant she'd let Umi keep him.
Mama gave her a pointed look. "Eat your food."
Shoving her sleeve back, Umi murmured a thank you for the food before picking up her chopsticks, then looked down at what they'd actually been served - and paused. The little china dish had one carefully decorated bite of steamed tofu with a hollow on the top for two layered sauces, and there was a small glass of sake for everyone but her.
"That's alcohol," she pointed out, before Clef could take a drink - he was busily contemplating his food with some curiosity, and hadn't got that far yet, but he looked up at the warning then down at his glass.
"For sipping, or toasting, or quaffing?" he asked.
She blinked at him. "Quaffing? Really?"
His lips quirked up. "Not that, then?"
"Who would-"
"Harvest festivals and formal events held at that time in most of the lands out halfway between Autozam and Fahren," he explained. "There's a particular drink made from the local fruit - so it varies wildly from land to land and region to region, but the goal is to drink the whole glass in one go. That first drink is a drink to the local spirits, a 'we drink this for you', and the more of it you manage in one go the more they get, so the more they will bless you the coming year. Or at least that's how I remember the explanation, but it has been a long time since I was visiting."
"Huh."
Papa raised his glass. "This is a local variety, as well, but not to be drunk in one go." He took a sip, and Clef followed suit.
"That is rather nice," he said, and then looked at the food again, restricting himself to slow sipping.
"Just eat it," Umi advised, before he could start asking any questions. If they were getting a sakizuke course then they were in for a full kaiseki ryori - probably at least ten small courses (and a couple not so small), themed for the season, expensive and impressive if you knew what you were looking at. Which Clef didn't, so it probably wasn't going to have the impact her parents wanted - whatever that was. Probably some mixture of 'we're honoured to meet you' and 'we have enough resources to throw on meals like this at home so don't think of harming our daughter'. Either way, if he asked about everything they were served, they were going to be here hours.
Which gave her parents plenty of time to politely grill him some more.
Maybe that was the actual goal. Papa certainly sidled into it, asking what kinds of drinks were local to Clef - and when they were drunk - and got around to asking Clef how much he drank, to which he got a wry 'very little, mostly just a glass for high days to celebrate the toasts with', which was managed to turn the conversation onto what kind of holidays Cephiro had. Clef started to describe the celebration at the start of the harvest season in Mazda when the second course interrupted.
This one had a selection of more bite-sized appetizers, the plate and food decorated with autumn leaves. "Don't eat that, it's mostly there to look pretty," she instructed, reaching across to point at it. "And they don't taste of much."
"The voice of experience?" He glanced across, and he had a bit more colour in his face - hopefully the food was making him feel better, and he wasn't tipsy off half a glass of sake.
"I was very small. And curious. And bored."
Mama sighed, a hand pressed over her heart. "I had forgotten the day you made yourself a leaf sandwich. It seems only yesterday…"
"It was more than ten years ago!" Umi snapped, as Papa joined in the nostalgic noises. The last thing she needed was her parents making Clef even more conscious of her age.
Mama took her turn at leading the conversation, steering it onto what Clef actually did for a living - yes, he was Guru, what precisely did that entail? Umi was able to answer half of that, to give Clef a chance to actually eat. She'd picked up more than she'd realised of what he did day-to-day, mostly from listening to him complain.
The courses went on, and so did the questions. A couple of the dishes made Clef pause, but he didn't baulk at anything.
They were on to the rice course when Papa looked at Mama, waited until Clef had swallowed, and said "Has our daughter spoken to you of marriage?"
Umi spluttered - he'd not let her swallow before he'd asked that. Before she could do so, Clef was responding.
"She has, though not in detail. I believe it is a legal agreement between two individuals which would make our relationship legitimate, if you condoned it?" Which wasn't quite what she'd told him, in fits and starts, but it was close enough. "If it is what is best for Umi and our child, I am willing and able to enter such an arrangement."
"Would it not put you in a troubling situation, legally?" Mama asked, watching him carefully. That Clef didn't seem familiar with the concept didn't phase her; then, after the magic and the seven hundred plus years he'd been alive, maybe she had thrown all expectations out. "To enter into a relationship of this kind."
Umi shook her head hard enough to stop Clef responding. "He's not Japanese, so he'd go on my family register," she argued, having thought this through a lot last night. "So I'll be legally responsible for Clef, he won't be responsible for me. He'll be my dependant."
Clef blinked. "I was just going to hope no one would ask such a question, as marriage is not an institution in Cephiro, but if that is so - then it would actually be allowed, I think?" He looked at Umi. "If you truly want legal responsibility for me, of course."
"You don't have a family name, so you'll have to be a Ryuuzaki anyway," she told him, grinning. If they were married, she definitely got to keep him.
"You would have no objections to that?" Papa asked, while they moved on to the small plates of pickled vegetables. Clef startled when the first hit his tongue - Umi tried not to laugh, he obviously hadn't been expecting the tang of the vinegar.
"No," he managed, once he'd swallowed. "I would be honoured to be part of Umi's household. Though I certainly would not be expecting Umi to have to support me, unless it does come to exile."
Umi reached over to thump him on the shoulder. "Don't even talk about that," she muttered. "Not unless we actually have to. It's depressing."
"Well, I'd get out of Council meetings," he pointed out, and she stuck her tongue out at him as the last of the savoury courses came out, a different soup, with rice to round it out and make sure everyone was as full as they could be before the dessert round.
They were nearly finished eating the fig compote that came out last when Mama asked, "So when shall we be able to visit this Cephiro of yours?"
"Yes," Papa agreed, giving Umi a look. "I should hope we won't be waiting another six weeks."
"Would fortnight from yesterday be soon enough?" Clef offered sounding like he'd been giving this some thought. "It's the end of our year; I have a number of reports that need finishing right now, and two weeks would give Umi a chance to rest after this week."
"I'm fine," Umi argued, but Clef ignored her.
"And it would give me a chance to inform my household about - everything," he finished.
"But Clef-" Umi started, staring at him.
Clef shook his head. "Aveo would never forgive me if I didn't tell her."
Umi bit her lip. Of course he was going to have to tell his family, the same as she told hers. Aveo and the others had been so welcoming. Now she'd pulled Clef into all this trouble, she wasn't sure they'd be happy to see her at all, and especially not if Clef was telling them to let her stay even if he were exiled.
She'd been looking forward to visiting and getting to know them better, but now… "Wait." She stared at Clef. "Festival is two weeks from today."
"I know. That should make it easier, since you three girls were planning to attend the party on Seventhday and stay overnight. Hikaru and Fuu should be able to help with the transport issue."
"A festival?" Papa asked, and Clef nodded.
"Our holiday celebrating the changeover between the old year and new. There will be several banquets over the course of three days, and formal balls each of the evenings. We plan to have a lot of visitors to the castle, some I am sure Umi will want to introduce you to. It would be a good opportunity to see the land and witness some of our customs without your presence being too… extraordinary."
"I guess it would make sense, if I'd just told them about Cephiro," Umi murmured. It was several months early, but Tarta and Tatra were planning on coming to Festival - their first visit in more than a year. She could always say she'd wanted her parents to meet them, which was even true.
"It would look a little less like treason was the reason for the visit, yes," Clef agreed. "There should still be guest rooms in the castle, if you were able to stay overnight - I think that would be easier for Umi, especially with the excitement of Festival at the same time - or if you would rather visit at a calmer moment, we can arrange something else?"
Mama shook her head, smiling slightly. "Avoiding these charges does make sense, and this Festival sounds as though it could be interesting. We can bring along the paperwork for the marriage, it should be long enough for Papa's contacts to help us produce some. I hope you do not mind, but you will have to be British on the paperwork - my husband was stationed in London for a time, and knows people who can generate some paperwork for you, as you do not have any."
"I am sorry to put you to so much trouble," Clef said, then paused. "Britain. Is that the land with the peculiar hats - what did you call them?" Clef looked at Umi. "Bonnets?"
She thumped him on the shoulder. "Only in historical romances!"
"Ah."
"Umi," Mama scolded again, though she was trying not to laugh. She stood, brushing out her impeccable clothes, and the rest of then followed suit. "Perhaps you should take Mr. Clef home before you hurt him. I will have the car brought out." She moved them deftly into goodbyes and out of the house before Umi knew quite what was happening.
"Well," she said, as they headed back towards Tokyo Tower. "I guess that wasn't as terrible as it could have been?"
"I need to learn to use your utensils," Clef muttered, closing his eyes and leaning back in the seat, clinging to her hand.
"What, that's all you have to say?"
"It's all I'm certain of right now," he muttered.
He didn't say much more all the way back to the Tower, or through meeting Hikaru and Fuu on the observation deck - they didn't have time for lengthy goodbyes, as Hikaru needed to head out again already, and they left him in Cephiro looking pale but at least able to stand on his feet and tell them steadily he was fine.
Umi kissed his cheek, hoped she believed him, and let her friends pull her away.
.*.*.*.
Clef stood in the castle corridor for a long minute after the knights left, then closed his eyes and let his magic carry him home.
Standing on the gravel path, Clef stared up at his house and took a slow, steadying breath. His chest ached and his whole body felt stretched and overused. If Umi felt even a fraction of this when she traveled between worlds, no wonder she was constantly complaining of a headache.
What he needed was a long bath and multiple nights of sleep, but he was too jittery to achieve either. What he wanted was something strong to drown out his mortification over this entire situation, and the fear lurking behind it.
He certainly wasn't looking forward to Aveo's reaction. Why hadn't he listened to her advice in the first place?
Clef made his way through the house and down to the kitchen. Aveo was at the worktable chopping ingredients for dinner, humming an old tune. Elysion was perched on a stool across from her peeling more vegetables. He walked past them without a word.
Somewhere in the bottom of the pantry was a large bottle of the wine they'd made of the first puragu harvest from their new orchard. It was being held aside for a special occasion, but it was probably the strongest thing they had in the house right now. All of them being mages, they didn't really keep much alcohol around.
He sifted through the baskets of bottles on the floor, most of which contained oils and vinegars. It took three baskets before he found a large bottle sealed with wax. A sharp gesture of his hand melted if off, running down the bottle, uncomfortably warm where it his his hand.
Aveo appeared in the doorway, hands on her hips, lips twisting down when she saw what he held. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
"I should think that's obvious." Clef stomped out past her - the bottle opener and glasses were all on the cupboard by the pantry door, rarely used unless they were entertaining. He grabbed an opener and one of the largest glasses; the stopper came out of the bottle with an echoing pop as Aveo turned to stare at him again. He ignored her, splashing an unhealthy measure of liquid into his too-large glass and raising it to his lips. The tang of of the wine was sharp on his tongue.
Aveo grabbed his arm before he could take another drink. "You're absolutely not going to do this again." She hauled him out to the little dining room - Clef grabbed the bottle and absently noticed Elysion slipping out the kitchen door as they went. "Last time you did this, you redecorated the entire house, and it took weeks to undo the worst of the damage. Two doors still don't close properly."
She pushed him into the nearest chair before vanishing back into the kitchen to return with a small stack of glasses; confiscating the bottle, she poured a drink for herself.
"What had you risking life and limb to travel to that other world?" Her piercing gaze over the rim of her cup made Clef shift in his seat. "You've obviously accepted your feelings for her, so what is it this time?"
"I went to meet Umi's parents," Clef said and emptied his glass. "Because she's pregnant."
Aveo stilled, and tossed back the rest of her drink before pouring herself a second. "But how? I gave her the correct potions, and I know she had all five doses - I got the empty bottles back from her. None of my potions have failed for centuries."
Clef opened his mouth to mention the lack of magic in Tokyo, but the garden door thumped open.
"If Yugo doesn't stop letting his children play in his neighbour's cattle pastures, I'm going to file a complaint with the Judges. That's the fifth concussion this year. You'd think those kids would have learnt by now," Getz called out as he loudly scraped off his boots. He stomped into the dining room and paused in the doorway for a brief moment eying Clef's outfit before dropping into an empty chair and claiming the bottle to pour himself a drink. "What's the occasion? Besides Clef getting himself back into the Circle without Honda falling off again?"
A strange kind of recognition crossed Aveo's face. "When you were monitoring Umi's health after the incident with the ocean, did you ever check the status of her regular spells?"
"No…" Getz set his now half-empty cup down and blinked at her. "She's from a world without magic, why would I need to do that? She doesn't have any regular spells, and she was in no condition to be doing anything which needed an active protection charm."
The understanding of what Aveo was asking struck Clef right before Aveo said. "I don't know, maybe to be sure the contraceptive she was taking was still in effect?"
The look of dawning horror to cross Getz's face would have been amusing in any other circumstance. "Oh, no. Please tell me she's not."
"I wish I could."
Getz emptied his cup and gesture that hand at Clef. "But he's taking something! He's been taking something. How can she be pregnant?"
"I didn't start it until the eighth," Clef muttered, filling his glass again - though it was only half full before Getz was grabbing the bottle from his hand to refill his own glass. If the contraceptive had broken a day before Umi left Cephiro, then it didn't matter if her theory about being unable to carry anything back to Tokyo was correct - the seed could already have implanted, which would certainly track as part of her to any spell.
"That was foolish. Even I knew you'd be pouring the kettle before the week was out. Are you absolutely positive?"
Clef grimaced into his drink. "I met her parents today."
"I'm not gonna be her healer, mate," Getz declared. "You know I don't do babies. Definitely not babies in the womb. I'm not making any sort of exceptions for your misbegotten child."
"No one's asking you to! She's seeing healers in Tokyo."
"And they're telling her all the two of you need to know, right?" Getz asked, his abortive hand gesture implying at least one of the areas he meant.
"How should I know?" Clef snapped. "They're in Tokyo! I don't even know what her land's understanding of pregnancy is!"
Getz pulled a face, seemingly torn, before closing his eyes and saying "Just - don't go blowing air up in there while she's pregnant, okay?"
Clef stared. "Why would -"
"Over seven hundred years and you've never run into that one? Just don't start now. Anything else should be fine as long as she's not uncomfortable, doesn't cramp badly, and you don't - I don't know - drop her on her stomach or anything. But just - protection spells, keep clean, all that."
"I'm not drunk enough for this conversation," Clef grumbled.
Aveo reached out and patted Clef on the hand. "I'll find my books in a bit. They're still around from Elysion's birth - they'll be more useful than he is."
Getz filled his cup back up to the brim and then stared thoughtfully at it. "It's kind of exciting, though, I guess. I mean, it's terrifying, but it's probably exciting that you're going to be a father, right? Given you like children and all."
"You like children, Getz." Aveo rolled her eyes at him.
"Yeah, when they're big enough to talk back to me and I don't feel like I might break them."
Clef snorted. "It's kind of hard to break a baby."
"No it's not. You so much as poke the wrong bit or drop 'em and that's it. Baby's are delicate, mate." At that declaration, Getz downed the rest of his wine in one go.
"Well, I suppose it's a good thing Kol lumped off to Autozam," Aveo said, taking a slow sip from her own cup and ignoring Getz's flailing. "Two babies would probably be a bit much right now. Twins don't run in her family, do they?"
"Mother!" Kalos shrieked, appearing in the doorway looking horrified.
Aveo shrugged, her lips twitching up into a grin as she turned. "What? I keep thinking another child might be nice now things have settled down."
"Were you going to give me some warning this time?" Kalos demanded, stomping into the room, gesturing broadly.
"I gave you warning last time."
"Like five months, and that doesn't count - you were already pregnant. Would you have even told us if Didi was around, or were you just planning to just get pregnant without Ely and me even getting to say 'Hi'? I think we'd both be annoyed by that."
Aveo picked up another cup from the stack and poured some of the wine into it. "Of course I would have told you if your father was visiting."
Kalos pulled out a chair and sat down, taking the cup from her mother automatically before looking at the bottle and then over at Clef. "Okay. Two questions. One: What are you doing home today? Two: Why are we drinking this bottle of wine? I thought it was being saved for a celebration."
Clef held up his glass as if he were toasting to Kalos. "We are celebrating the fact that I am an absolute fool."
"How's that different than any other day?" Kalos asked, leaning back in her chair, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Clef's pregnant," Getz said, pouring himself another cupful.
"What?" Kalos stared at Clef, then reached across the table and yanked the glass out of his hands.
"Umi." Clef grabbed his cup back. "Umi's pregnant, not me."
"Which is why Clef went to meet Umi's parents." Aveo poured a little more wine into Clef's glass before topping up her own and setting the bottle out of his reach.
"So that's why you went to Tokyo. Here I thought she was dropping you," Kalos shook her head and took a drink. A moment later, she leaned back in her chair at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. "Hey, Bri, you'll never guess what's happened!"
"Is this an appropriate-for-all-ages happening, or should I send the children somewhere else before you tell me?" Brisa called back. There were some grumbling complaints from Urvan and Ciel behind her.
Aveo summoned a coin pouch out of her ring. "Urvan, Ciel," she called, and handed the money to them when they appeared in the doorway. "Take Aygo and Elysion into town to get us all something for dinner."
"Something healthy," Kalos added.
"Can pastries count as healthy?" Urvan asked, with a wicked grin.
"Just go." Brisa shooed them out. She waited until the garden door shut behind them before asking. "Okay, what happened?"
"Apparently, dear Uncle Clef's going to be a father," Kalos said.
"Really?" Brisa stared at Clef for a long moment before asking, "We're happy about this, right?"
"It's treason!" Clef snapped.
"Well, so's the fact that you've been courting her, but we've all been ignoring that." Brisa smiled and shrugged. "You were happy, and I think all of us agreed that was more important." She disappeared back into the kitchen.
"If you'd just started taking that cursed potion before she arrived this would have never happened," Aveo complained.
Clef sighed. "If I hadn't had sex with her, a lot of things wouldn't have happened."
"Well, if Getz had done his due diligence as a healer, that shouldn't have mattered." Aveo took another sip of her drink. "Isn't the standard procedure for failed contraception to trigger a seasonal bleed?"
"Even if I'd known, I wouldn't have," Getz admitted. "She'd burnt every last stitch of magic from her body. The spell alone would have been too much stress on her body, and a triggered bleed is almost always worse than a natural one. If I had known, we'd have had to wait and see if anything happened, and make a choice then."
Kalos leaned back in her chair to call into the kitchen, "Hey, Bri, if it's Getz's fault that Umi's pregnant, does that mean he's on the hook for child support?"
"If either Umi or Clef want to sue him for wrongful pregnancy, there is a precedent." Brisa answered, reappearing with a pot of tea and food - mostly bread with some of the vegetables Aveo had abandoned.
"Clef's got more than enough money to do the supporting all on his own."
"Which is still illegal," Clef muttered.
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you had intercourse." Getz said, gesturing with his cup. "Did no one teach you there are other equally pleasurable things you can do with someone else which cannot result in a child?"
Aveo sighed. "I really should have made you start taking something the moment I realised you were courting the girl, let alone inviting her to stay with us."
Brisa pushed a plate with bread and a couple of bites of vegetables at him as Kalos happily poured tea for Brisa, and then topped up her cup with the teapot. Sighing, Clef bowed to the collective will of the household - who were obviously not going to let him drink himself beyond thought, so he might was well eat something before his stomach rebelled on him too.
At least he wasn't worrying alone.
.*.*.*.
Umi slumped into the backseat of the car, about half an hour after she'd left Clef in Cephiro, feeling dizzy and ill and generally pissed off. Why had she turned around that quickly? She should have sent the car on and stayed with him an hour or so before getting a taxi home.
She hated to admit it, but Clef was probably right about needing the fortnight of rest before attempting to to take her parents to Cephiro. Which was infuriating. She wanted to actually spend some time with him! They'd hardly seen each other for weeks - which was completely her fault.
"Are you alright, Miss Umi?" Matsuo asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks"
"For what it's worth, your Mr. Clef seems like a good person."
"Thank you," Umi stared out the window the rest of the ride home.
Back at the house, she stomped into her mother's study. "Mama, why was everyone here?"
Her mother looked up from her computer and smiled dangerously. "If you're planning to marry this person, the staff ought to know his face."
"That's nonsense!" Umi flailed. "You were just trying to intimidate him."
"My dear, if he were the sort of person to be put off by how we live, he would certainly not be a good match for you, baby or no." She raised an eyebrow at Umi. "Given how little about Japan you seem to have told him, he conducted himself very well. But then, given his supposed age, perhaps that was to be expected?"
Umi crossed her arms. "You wouldn't have believed me if I'd told you how old he is."
"Maybe not. But we will see for ourselves what this 'Cephiro' is like when you take us in a fortnight, we will have to judge what we can believe then." Mama looked Umi over. "You don't look well. Maybe you should rest this week."
"I'm just tired," Umi sighed. "I'll feel better after I sleep."
Mama nodded. "Why don't you take Papa a fresh pot of tea, and then get to bed."
Her father was sitting in the tatami room with the door open, staring out into the garden as Umi carried out a teapot and another cup.
"Oh, you're home," he said when she took his empty cup and refilled it. "Did he get back okay?"
"Yeah," Umi curled around the second cup. The night air was cool and had her shivering a little even though she'd not taken her jacket off.
"Do you remember when you fell out of that old persimmon tree?" Papa asked, staring at it out in the garden.
Umi pulled her knees up and nodded. "I had to start school with a broken arm."
"You were so angry about ruining your junior high debut," Papa said, letting out a huff of a laugh. "You thought no one would want to be friends with someone so clumsy."
"You told me I needed to change my outlook, or something." Umi sipped the tea, trying to pull in some of its warmth. "Is that what you're doing? Trying to find a new perspective?"
Papa sighed. "This Clef of yours seems a decent sort of person, if not what we expected."
"I don't think he was what I expected either," Umi said with a laugh. "I know he wasn't expecting us, when we were first summoned."
The allusion to what had happened didn't distract him. "I never thought we'd be planning your marriage before celebrating your graduation."
"I'm sorry," Umi murmured.
"You've got a lot of your mother in you," Papa said and smiled wryly. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can make things - interesting. Let's hope the little one takes after it's father."
"I don't know if that's any better. He's less impulsive, but still has a terrible temper."
"We'll take paperwork along with us to this mythical world of yours. Though, of course, none of it will matter if your great-grandmother doesn't approve."
"Granny? But - if we're married there'd be nothing she can do even is she doesn't like him. Right?"
Her father shook his head, lips twitching. "Do you think one little slip of paper would stop her from throwing him out of the family?"
"Ah." Umi pulled a face, staring out at the tree. Her mother's grandmother was after all, the head of the Ryuuzaki family in every way that mattered. "How am I going to get Clef to Kyoto to meet her?"
"I don't know." Papa stared down at his tea a long moment before looking over at Umi. His eyes suddenly went wide and he bolting to his feet, hastily pulling the door shut and yanking off his suit jacket and throwing it about Umi's shoulders. "You shouldn't be sitting here freezing while I rattle on. Come on, let's get you warmed up. We'll worry about that all later."
He pulled her to her feet and led her out of the room.
.*.*.*.
After a slightly unusual dinner of fried pastries and salad, the adults left the children to sort themselves, and convened a meeting in Clef's private sitting room. They had a large pot of tea to share between them, as the rest of the bottle of wine had been hidden away 'So Clef won't make any more foolish choices tonight.'
Getz was draped across one of the chairs, his legs thrown over the arm. "What are the chances you're going to get these changes of yours through before the baby's born?" he asked.
"Not high," Clef sighed, stirring another spoonful of sweetener into his tea. "I can at least set things in motion before I have to resign."
"You could have the next one thrown out," Brisa suggested, looking over one of the childcare books Aveo had brought up with her. "If you can get a committee of judges to agree it's unenforceable, it can be thrown out. I think you have to suggest it to the council first. I really have no idea how that one made it into law in the first place."
"Wasn't it because of Edsel?" Kalos asked.
Everyone blinked at her.
"Oh, don't tell me they haven't taught that bit of history to the rest of you. I would have thought you would have come across Edsel in all your research." Kalos looked pointedly at Clef. "They were the Soru a few eons ago? Decided the best way to heal the pain of the world was through sex? Please let me know when I'm ringing any bells."
"Wait! Is that the one who ended up with a few dozen partners and at least twice as many children they recognised and cared for, but weren't legally allowed to support, all because they'd used inadequate contraception?" Brisa sat up. "Those cases came up when we were learning family law, but I haven't thought of it since my training days. It's never been particularly relevant before, and I haven't got to family law with Ciel."
"Half the contraception we have wasn't invented until the past few millennia, and there are still mistakes," Getz said, waving an eloquent hand at Clef, whether because he was a product of one such error, or had had such an error, Clef couldn't tell. Maybe both.
"That's probably one of the catalysts of the law. It would definitely be difficult to support the land and the Pillar when you have numerous families wanting your time and attention." Clef rubbed a hand over his face. "But there's no longer a Pillar, and I only plan to have one partner to support."
"But how many children do you think you two will end up with?" Kalos grinned. "You seemed quite keen on keeping Umi to yourself most of that week, and if that's going to be an ongoing trend…"
Brisa snorted out a laugh. "I don't know. They may have learnt their lesson."
Clef just rolled his eyes.
"I still can't believe she's pregnant," Getz said, dropping his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "I knew I should have ordered a shipment of those new sheaths from Autozam, but delivery was so expensive."
"It's too late now to worry about what we should have done." Clef leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes.
"And it's certainly not going to stay a secret for long," Aveo said, tone matter-of-fact. "There are plenty of people who are sensitive to even the slightest change in someone's aura."
Brisa shook her head. "Most of them wouldn't gossip about it, and the child doesn't count legally until it's here."
"That cryptic son of a fish!" Getz snapped upright, nearly spilling his tea and making everyone else jump. "That water-breathing, cold-blooded, slippery little-"
"Getz!" Aveo snapped.
"He knew!" Getz flailed.
Clef snapped his head round to stare at Getz. "What do you mean 'he knew'?"
"Rio said Umi was connected to Clef, remember? He said she 'carries such a strong connection' to Clef. I couldn't figure out what he meant. I mean, the two of you were obviously together, but - He can't have known!"
"Well, the child was probably conceived by then, so it's possible," Aveo said. "Someone must be able to sense these things or how would we know how those first few weeks actually work?"
"But why didn't he just say she was pregnant?"
"Probably because he assumed, like the rest of us, that she was taking some sort of preventative measures and it wouldn't amount to anything," Kalos said.
Brisa nodded. "It's rude - and upsetting - to mention something that might not even stick."
But stick it had, despite all odds and intentions.
The conversation slowly drifted away from the topic of the baby-to-be and to more mundane ward business as the evening went on. Clef knew they were trying to keep him from fretting himself into an anxiety spiral and he was glad of it. He stayed until it was too late for him to sensibly return to the castle that night - he was far too tired to work any magic safely. Aveo walked him along the corridor to his bedroom like he was a small child who needed coaxing to even think about sleep.
Clef paused in the door, then turned to look across the hallway at Umi's bedroom and then the one beside it. "The nursery…" he started.
"Can wait until the new year," Aveo said and nudged him toward his own door. "Go rest."
.*.*.*.
The week had barely started before Umi's teachers were in a staff meeting, leaving Umi's class - and most of her year group - to have a self-study period. With entrance exams only a few short months away, her classmates should probably have been using the free time to actually study, but at least half of them were gossiping about the newest episodes of their favourite dramas, or wondering what the teachers were up to.
Umi tried to ignore them, sat flicking through the pages of a novel she was meant to be reading for English class, not really paying attention to the words. Her mother had announced at breakfast she was meeting with the school today, but Umi hadn't expected all the teachers to be involved. Did that mean it was going well or terribly?
"I am so ready to have these exams over and done with," Satomi complained, thumping her textbook down, and was met with murmured agreement from their classmates.
"Well, if you weren't trying to get into Tokyo University, you wouldn't have to study as much," Rika said. "There's a reason why I'm aiming for our school's partner university."
"That's just because you know your parents are going to set you up with someone rich, so you can be a society lady," Yui said with a snicker.
"I'm not the one with the society lady career aspiration," Rika said, reaching over to poke Umi. "Right?"
Umi rolled her eyes. "We were twelve! I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life."
"Speaking of marriage," Satomi grinned wickedly as Umi turned around. "How are things going with your boyfriend?"
The classroom went silent as Umi suddenly became the focus of everyone's attention.
"Boyfriend?" Rika asked. "Why haven't I heard of a boyfriend?"
"Because I don't talk about him at school." Umi shot a glare at Satomi and turned back to her book, trying to ignore the curious stars of her classmates.
Satomi cackled. "Oh, he's only a topic for parties with alcohol?"
"Come on, Umi," Yui said. "You never told us you had a boyfriend. What's he like? Is he cute?"
Umi didn't get a chance to answer because the classroom door slid open and Moe walked in. "Hey, Umi, why's your mother in the staff meeting?"
"Because I'm pregnant," Umi muttered before she could stop herself.
Rika snickered, but Satomi let out a long-suffering groan. "When are all of you going to stop teasing me about that?" she complained. "I'm sorry, okay. You know I say whatever comes into my head. You've been a little weird lately, and you have that older boyfriend, and…"
"All it takes is one foolish mistake," Umi agreed, her voice quiet. She closed her eyes and took a slow breath. Even if her mother was here about it, she didn't need to let her pregnancy become the new school gossip. "I'm going abroad for university, so I don't need to worry about these exams."
"How does that help?" Moe asked. "I'm going overseas too, hopefully, they still want my results so they can convert them to a local equivalent or whatever, to make sure my scores are good enough"
"This one's got it's own entrance requirements. I have to pass those, but it's not for a while yet and it isn't so bad."
"Lucky," Yui said.
The conversation wandered off again. Umi tried to get herself to just read and stop wondering what her teachers were saying to Mama, but she couldn't concentrate.
"I'm going to the toilet," she muttered, and slipped out of the room - she wasn't very subtle, but the discussion had turned into an argument over last night's drama, so no one was paying much attention to her.
She made it to the teacher's room as her mother was walking out looking positively cheerful, while the teachers were thanking her? Umi stared.
Mama spotted her and waved her over. "Oh, Umi-dear, I was just coming to find you. We've just been discussing the new IT suite the Ryuuzaki Group will be sponsoring as your graduation gift to the school."
Gaping at her mother, Umi was at a loss for words. She knew her mother was persuasive; she hadn't expected her to resort to bribery.
Umi's homeroom teacher patted her on the shoulder, with a wry smile. "Come on, let's get back to class and let your mother get back to work."
.*.*.*.
Clef slept poorly, his dreams full of Council arguments and trials. He still dove straight back into work, trying to be present and professional when all he wanted to be was away. He wanted time alone to process everything that had happened. Instead, he was attending meetings and catching up on all the work he'd missed during his day and a half away.
He filled out the booking request for Umi's parents to stay over Festival, but couldn't find ten minutes free to take it in. Then he ran into Ascot between meetings and caught him by the arm, summoning the form. "Could you submit this to Housing for me? I've got to be downstairs in two minutes, and I don't think I'll make it back up before the offices close."
"It'll save you the lecture,too," Ascot said, reading the names on it with wide eyes then carefully putting the paper on top of his stack. "Caldina's on shift today."
Clef pulled a face. "She'll see Umi at Festival, if that's what she's worried about." With a pat on Ascot's arm, Clef said "Thank you" again and rushed down the corridor, avoiding any further questions.
.*.*.*.
Umi went home with Mako in an attempt to feel normal, if only for a few hours. They walked together to the station, and caught up with Huki when they changed trains, the three of them heading back to the Aihara house together.
It was just like old times, those years before Hikaru and Fuu, before Cephiro, when she'd spend time with them after school playing video games. Except now it was Huki beating Umi mercilessly at a racing game, when it used to always be the other way around.
"I don't know this new one!" Umi complained, throwing down her controller. "I've never played anything on this system."
"Well, maybe if you'd come round more often, you'd be better at it," Huki shot back.
Umi stuck her tongue out at him and leaned back against the sofa with her arms crossed, knowing perfectly well that she was being childish. Maybe she hadn't been playing video games as much anymore, that didn't mean she should be this bad at the game she used to crush him on. But she wasn't concentrating well, either.
"Hey, why was your mother at school today?" Mako asked, nudging the tray of snacks they'd liberated from the kitchen towards Umi, like she was trying to soften the question.
A wicked grin curled the edges of Huki's mouth. "Did you get into a fight again?"
"I haven't done that in years," Umi snapped back.
"If it happened once…"
Umi grabbed a cushion off the sofa and smacked him with it, but she nearly knocked the tray over as she did, so stopped at one hit. Hugging it to herself, she leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. "I guess she was bribing them to let me finish school."
"You must have done something really bad then," Huki said. "If it wasn't a fight for someone's honour, then what was it?"
"I'm pregnant." The words slipped out so easily, but hung heavily in the air.
Mako nearly choked on her biscuit. "No. You're not."
Huki just stared.
Face burning, Umi clutched the cushion like a lifeline. "I stayed at Clef's house this summer," she admitted. "I slept with him, and we messed up."
"Does he know?" Huki asked, voice quiet.
Umi nodded.
"Do you need anything?" he asked at the same time as Mako's "Can we help, at all?"
"It's fine. He's even offered to marry me."
"Oh." Huki sighed heavily, and Umi reached out and swatted him.
"I was never going to be your 'get out of jail free' card." Umi drew up her knees, curling tighter around the cushion.
"Don't you like him?" Mako asked.
"It's not that. I just - this is all a lot faster than I meant it to happen. I wanted sex, not a baby."
"Well, it takes one to get the other."
"I'm well aware of that, thank you."
There was a pause before Mako sidled up to Umi, her voice conspiratorially low. "So, what's it like?"
"What's what like?"
"You know." Mako poked her.
"Don't answer that!" Huki wailed. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know anything about either one of you - doing that."
Umi bit her lip and then turned to Mako with a sly grin. "Let's just say I don't think I'll regret marrying him."
The two of them giggled, and Huki let out a disgusted groan.
"It's okay, Huki," Umi said, reaching out to pat his knee. "I'm sure there's someone for you out there."
"Yeah, like I'm going to get to be with them. Heir to the company, and all that. I'm expected to make a good match and produce the next heir."
"Well, I'm probably moving abroad, so the Ryuuzaki Group will need a new heir. I'm sure my parents would be accepting of an alternate arrangement." Umi grinned.
"Oh, shut up." Huki gave her a shove.
"Careful!" Mako called wrapping her arms around Umi's shoulders protectively. "She's in a delicate condition. You'll hurt the little Umi."
"Just what we all need - another Umi."
When she finally headed for home, Umi didn't necessarily feel normal, or like her old self, but she felt better somehow. The Aihara twins were her oldest friends and if they didn't think this was the end of the world, maybe it wasn't so bad.
.*.*.*.
Between Ascot's lessons and Clef's extra meetings over the guild debacle Clef didn't manage to check in with Ascot again until late the next evening.
Clef was in his office trying to do his part piecing together guild and ward reports to fill in the very large blank currently lurking in the middle of Arnage's paperwork. Corvair had apparently destroyed almost all the records he had access to when his suspension went through. Spirits only knew what else he was covering up.
A tentative knock at the door broke his concentration; he called out "Come in" without looking up.
Ascot walked in carrying a small tray of food. "I hadn't seen you in the dining hall, so I thought this might be welcome?"
"Thank you." Clef gratefully set his pen down and tried to make space on the corner of his desk. He couldn't remember having eaten anything after a morning bowl of porridge, which meant he'd made it through the day on nothing but strong overly-sweetened tea. "Really. Thank you."
Ascot set the tray down. "I'm supposed to tell you that you aren't allowed to monopolise Umi's time at Festival."
"I doubt the Chizetan princesses would let me, even if I were so inclined. Was there space?"
"We reserved a suite on a floor between yours and the knight's room." Ascot pulled a slip out of a pocket and set it on the edge of the tray. "I didn't point out how close it was to yours to Caldina."
"Thank you." Clef nibbled on a bit of bread as he stood and went to the kettle. "Tea? Or will Caldina accuse me of monopolising you as well?"
"What? No. I mean- yes, I'd like tea, and no, about Caldina." Ascot sank quietly into a chair, watching him. "How is Umi doing?"
Clef paused, holding the lid of the teapot. That was a complicated question. He was concerned, but he wasn't sure if that was just because of his guilty conscience. Her parents didn't seem overly worried, so far as he had noticed. "I think she's okay," he said, finally pouring the tea. "She seemed - mostly okay the last time I saw her."
"Good." Ascot's voice was quiet. He only gave a silent nod of thanks when Clef handed him the tea cup a moment later.
Clef sat back down and tried his best to get himself to eat the food Ascot had brought him, but he was struggling to do so. It wasn't that he didn't like the food - they were dishes he often chose - it was just that Ascot's question had him thinking about how pale Umi had looked when she'd brought him back. There had been a tremor in her hands, though she'd tried to hide it. "Perhaps I should try to convince her to see a healer when she returns," he murmured.
"She's not seen a healer yet?" Ascot sat up straight. "But she's months along now!"
"What? No. Not here, but in Tokyo she's -" Clef stopped and stared over at Ascot, who was slowly flushing bright red.
"I - it's none of my business," Ascot stammered, waving a hand. "It was just - that first visit after she stayed with you, Yaris and Lanos… I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."
Clef realised he wasn't surprised that Ascot knew. If anything, it was a relief. Sinking back into his chair, he sighed and let himself slump down even further. "She's fine. Or at least she seems to be doing as well as can be expected? We didn't plan for this to happen."
"I know. I've just been worried. I didn't know if you knew, or if she had just decided she wasn't, you know, keeping it, and-" Ascot shook his head. "When I asked Lafarga, he said I shouldn't mention anything I know because of my friends, because it was private information."
"Lafarga?"
"I didn't name any names. I just- I didn't know what to do. And I couldn't ask you, because..."
"Next time, you can suggest that person sees a healer, without saying what in their aura is off, if you're concerned for their health," Clef said. "But trying to force them to go can lead to an argument, or three. At least one ending with Caldina accusing you of things you haven't done because she assumes everyone is as morally ambiguous as she is."
Ascot stifled a laugh. "You two really aren't getting along, are you."
"That's putting it mildly." Clef rubbed a hand over his face.
Ascot nudged the tray over to him. "I'll sort some of this and get it out of your way," he said, picking up an armful of paper Clef had already gone through which needed either filing or sending back out. "Umi will be fine, I'm sure. And Caldina will have to calm down sometime."
"I hope so," Clef muttered, but picked up his bread again as he got back to work.
.*.*.*.
Clef's sleepless nights didn't get any better as the week progressed. Early Sixthday morning he woke up screaming. In his nightmare Umi was locking herself away in the water dungeon to save him from disgrace, his memories blending with the present to make a horribly clear scenario. His throat ached from his loud pleas that she stay - that they could work this out - and the water running down his face turned out to be his own tears.
Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Clef sat up and leaned back against the headboard, trying to convince himself that Umi was safe and well in Tokyo with her family, not self-imprisoned beneath the castle. She wasn't shutting him out anymore; she just wasn't here.
Shoving himself out of bed, he made himself a cup of tea and sat down on the settee with it. Aveo's books sat mostly untouched on the low table. He hadn't had time to do more than flick through them yet; the little image Umi had given him lay beside them.
Clef clutched the picture, the shadow of the life growing inside Umi - the child they had made. He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes.
He wanted Umi to have a safe pregnancy, and a safe delivery. He wanted to meet their child and he wanted to bring them both home with him. It felt selfish and irresponsible, and worse. This wasn't supposed to be how it should be. The whole world - two worlds - should be opening up in front of her, instead she was tying herself to him?
She deserved so much more than whatever he had to offer and he was terrified he wouldn't even get to do that.
He needed to pull himself together and get a move on if he was going to get this blasted repeal bill on the agenda for the coming year.
Unfortunately, his day didn't continue any better than it started, and the fact he was snappish and irritable throughout most of the Council meeting probably didn't help when he finally had the floor to bring up the second law's dismissal - and was dismissed himself when he'd barely started.
"I don't see why we have to go through this process when we all know that this law has never been and never will be enforceable!" he all but shouted, refusing to sit down.
"Do you mean to have it struck off without debate?" Sylphy asked, voice disbelieving.
"It's allowable." Clef picked up his notes for the reference. "Under subsection-"
"We shall not get rid of a law just because you find it inconvenient," Verna snapped, cutting him off. "I will not let this go down in the chronicle as 'the law the Guru threw out because he found it irritating'. I do not care if there was a precedent in the old assembly, we will not be functioning like that."
"It's a legal precedent! If a Council of Judges - not politicians - finds a law untenable-"
"That is a function intended for laws which have become old enough for review - not things which are before this council!"
Clef let out a frustrated sigh. "Then can we just put it on the agenda for next year? That is literally all I have been asking. I just want it heard, here or elsewhere."
"The other only just went through, you can wait!" Gorham snapped from his perch in the back row.
"It's been four sessions!" Clef turned his attention up toward the squat little rock-spirit. "As I recall, the hold for related bills is two sessions. I have a right to be heard."
"You are only allowed to submit a personal bill once per quarter, and as you said, it has only been four sessions. Is it now the trend in the Mages Guild to ignore the law and do what you please, despite the consequences to others?"
Clef flinched, hard enough the papers shook in his hands, a wash of cold running through his chest. The dig was meant to refer to the Corvair debacle, but it didn't feel like it. He had to force his next few words out, but once he'd started he couldn't stop the torrent.
"Perhaps, after several centuries of sacrificing my personal life to Cephiro and watching almost everyone I have cared for - my family, my students, my Pillar - leave me and die, I would like to share the luxury every citizen save us has, of declaring I intend to do all I can to protect someone because they're important to me! Would you rather I have no purpose in life anymore? I can assure you, attending these meetings does not give my existence any sort of meaning." He stopped, breathing hard.
There was some shuffling of papers about the room following that outburst, but it didn't stifle Gorham for long. "Well, if you get so little fulfilment from being Guru that you can't even respect the rules you swore to live by, perhaps you shouldn't be Guru anymore!"
Clef stared at him. That was enough.
"Fine!" he said, reaching up to yank the coronet from his head and throw it down on the chamber floor. "I quit!"
Note: All feedback is loved. Hope you enjoyed this. Now I need to sort out the next three interconnected chapters.