Chapter Five
"You wanted to see me, honoured Elders?"
Washu stepped into the main chamber, squinting up at the gallery above with a mixture of confusion and apprehension in her eyes. "I wasn't aware that I was scheduled any reviews with you this morning - and my paperwork for the genetic testing can't have been processed so quickly, I'm sure. Is there something wrong?"
"No, Washu-sensei. Nothing is wrong." The chief of the Elder Council smiled down at her, and at his geniality, Washu felt herself relax somewhat. "In fact, quite the opposite. If you'll be patient just a moment or two longer, I'm awaiting one further colleague this morning and I'd rather not give the information out twice when once will do just as well."
"As you wish." Washu bowed her head. "Although you've got me curious now, sir. Cloak and dagger, isn't it?"
The Elder's smile broadened at her wry tones, and he nodded his head.
"Yes, I'm afraid this is a top secret business, which is also why I want to explain it only the one time." He admitted. "Though I'm assured that you have a very competent department who can get along with their work in your absence."
"I should hope so, by now." Washu agreed. "Most of them are capable of receiving highest honours in the future, that's for sure...I have every faith in them being able to carry out my instructions without me breathing down their necks all the time!"
"That is as well." The elder rubbed his chin absently. Washu frowned, but before she could question her companion further, the door of the chamber opened to reveal another woman dressed in the uniform of the Science Academy. She was young, though her silvery hair gave her a strange, ageless appearance, and deep red eyes sparkled from behind pince nez glasses. Washu eyed her curiously, noting the Arian symbols on the ring she wore, and at her scrutiny the woman smiled, her pretty dark eyes lighting up with humour. She stopped within a few feet of Washu, bowing her head in deference.
"Well, Professor Hakubi. It's an honour." She said warmly. Washu stared for a moment, then returned the smile.
"I'm afraid you have the advantage over me." She admitted. "I didn't realise we'd met."
"We haven't." The woman dismissed this with a careless flick of her hand. "But I know you by reputation. Your science is supposed to be legendary - or so my former head of department always said."
"Head of...?" Washu frowned, and the girl grinned.
"I'm Dr Akara. Najya Akara." She said simply. "I worked with Professor Niwase in the Geological Research division. That's how I know of you, Professor. Niwase-sensei was very impressed by many areas of your scientific studies."
"I see." Washu pursed her lips. "It's nice to meet you, Dr Akara."
"Najya, please." Najya dimpled. "After all, if we've been called out like this, we're either about to be scolded or assigned. And since I can't think of any blots on my conscience, I'm going to guess it's the latter."
"Wise deductions, Dr Akara." The elder spoke up at this point, from where he had been watching the two women with some amusement. "Now you are here, I will explain to you the nature of this meeting. Please be aware that anything discussed within this chamber is under the seal of scientific secrecy. You may discuss the task with one another, if you both choose to accept the commission, but not with anyone outside the project - either now or in the future. Is that understood by you both?"
"Yes, sir." Washu agreed, curiosity burning in her green eyes, and Najya added her agreement, her ruby eyes glittering with anticipation.
"The commission comes from the Planet Jurai." The Elder said at length. "As I'm sure both of you are aware, that doesn't happen very often. Jurai have always preferred to keep as much of their research as possible 'in house', but it seems this particular study has need of your skills - both of your skills. I'm not entirely clear on the details myself - I suspect that's been deliberate, knowing Juraian security - but I understand that it's some kind of research into elements. Crystals, to be more specific. Stones thrown up by a volcano and their properties. I've been led to believe that there's been a major scientific breakthrough in energy transferance, and that it's thought that this project could help benefit the lives and well being of many, many Juraians who are born at a defecit."
"At a defecit?" Washu frowned. "But what kind of crystals, Honoured elder? Volcanic rock has been proven to have healing qualities for generations - why all the fuss and secrecy?"
"That I don't know." The elder admitted regretfully. "But I have faith that the project will not be a waste of time. The man in charge was, until lately, one of our own. Professor Niwase is heading the experiment, and he has asked specifically for both of you to be a part of his team on Jurai. The project has royal patronage from Prince Kagato's household, and the noble Prince has agreed to make an exception to normal Jurai policy...to allow outsiders into their research procedures in order to facilitate the cause. Either way, it's a huge opportunity for you both to be involved in ground breaking science...and for you to learn more about Jurai."
"Mikamo Niwase?" Washu stared up at the elder uncertainly. "Are you quite sure about that, Honoured Elder? I mean, Niwase-sensei and I didn't exactly leave things on good terms. We...we had a falling out. Over...over scientific conclusions. The results...didn't marry up."
She faltered, aware that Najya was eying her in interest, and she bit her lip, forcing herself to keep the Elder's gaze. "Are you sure it was me he wanted?"
"Niwase-sensei is a scientist and he knows when to respect the input and work of others, Professor Hakubi." The Elder smiled at her softly. "There are those among the Academy elite who are unsure about your methods and your techniques, you can't be oblivious to that. I think this would be a perfect chance for you to prove to them once and for all what kind of a scientist you are - and that we didn't convey professorial robes on you for anything except your scientific skill."
"I didn't say I wouldn't go." Washu said hurriedly. "I was just startled, that's all. I didn't think Professor Niwase thought very much of me."
"I'm surprised to hear that." Najya remarked. "He was always very complimentary of your work when I was studying in his department. In fact, he recommended to me a thesis you'd written on the geology of Kihaku, and I found it very enlightening. It takes a brave soul to venture into that planet's atmosphere most days - but to write such an exhaustive study on the formation of the landscape shows real commitment. Mikamo-sensei always admired commitment. I'm sure that's why he asked for you."
Washu pinkened.
"I wrote that a long time ago." She admitted. "And it's not the best thing I've done - I dabble in so many fields and never choose to focus solely on one. But if Professor Niwase and Prince Kagato want me, my skills are at their disposal. I know that refusing an offer from Jurai is never done, and much as I like to set a precedent, I'd like the hit on my record."
"Then I'll make the arrangements for you both to travel their forthwith." The Elder looked approving. "I understand Prince Kagato is eager for you to begin as soon as possible, and plans to send a Juraian transport to collect you, as soon as all has been finalised. I know it's short notice, but you have time to delegate your responsibilities and close up any outstanding loose ends in your departments. I'll send for you both once more when the transport is due to arrive. I know you don't need me to tell you that you carry the reputation of the Academy before you."
"If we're very nice to this Prince Kagato, he might let other academics come from here to study" Najya mused. "Professor Niwase must have realised that for himself. I always felt he didn't really want to leave the Academy - but I guess if he can improve our public relations on a planet so fundamentally interesting as Jurai, then he's more than doing his bit for us."
She dimpled.
"I'll be sure to tell him so, when we arrive. It will be good to work with him again."
Washu bit her lip, glancing down at her hands as she fought to retain her composure.
"Yes, it will." She murmured, too quietly for Najya to hear. "But can I? After everything, can I stand in a lab with him like nothing has ever happened? Or am I going to find that I'm as much in love with him as ever?"
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"What do you want, Azusa?"
The Lady Aiko got up lazily from her window seat perch, casting her older brother a playful, amused smile as she drifted across the chamber towards him. As she rested her hand on his shoulder, Azusa was aware of the faint waft of exotic Arian perfume, and from the expression in the woman's reddish eyes, he knew that she had been busy already that morning. He frowned, cupping his sister's chin in his hands.
"Aiko, we have to talk about something." He said softly. "And I would prefer it very much if we could do it while you were in your right senses."
"I'm perfectly lucid this morning, my brother." Aiko laughed, dismissing his concern with a careless gesture. "Contrary to popular belief at court, being a woman doesn't make you completely oblivious."
"That's not what I meant." Azusa sighed. "Aiko, I wish you wouldn't dabble in powders and chemicals. This is a serious matter, and you're more likely to be indiscreet. I've kept my silence on the subject, but you did promise me you wouldn't engage in such things any more. Has my trust in you been misplaced?"
"Oh, Azusa." Aiko sighed, the humour fading from her expression as she realised her companion was in deadly earnest. "Must you play the Crown Prince so early in the morning? I promise you that my mind is quite sane and ready to hear whatever it is you have to say. My private actions are not your concern, however - and I've not yet heard of them doing anyone any harm."
She grimaced.
"Besides, to get through any morning spent in Father's company requires some form of aid." She added grimly.
Azusa sighed.
"Very well." He said resignedly. "But you should guard yourself, anyway. With things so uncertain, you ought to have more sense about you, my sister."
"As I remember it, it's your son who's so keen to marry a half blood jezebel, not mine." Aiko seemed amused by this, and she gripped her brother by the hand, leading him over to the big, rich-red chaise that stood beneath the chamber's window. "Sit with me and tell me what's on your mind...something clearly is, and if it isn't the machinations of Lord Yosho, I'd be interested to know what it is."
"Father raised something with me the other day and I want to know whether or not it's true." Azusa bit his lip, casting a glance over his sister's slight form as he did so. She had always been devastatingly beautiful, he acknowledged, and even with the haziness that the powder cast across her ruby eyes, she was every bit the noble princess. Thick, silky hair mere shades darker than that of her late mother curled over her shoulder, held back by clasps of purest silver and across her brow she wore a coronet set with delicate gemstones mined from the most distant reaches of Jurai's planetary holdings. Even now, as she approached her middle years, she looked little older than her own son, and he marvelled at how she had managed to stay time, maintaining her youthful visage even when her twin brother had begun to show the cares of the world in lines across his brow. Many men had vied for her hand in marriage, bedazzled by her smooth, fair skin and her charismatic personality. But she had also generated the reputation as a young woman of being a heartbreaker and a flirt, dancing between the affections of all and sundry but unwilling to give her hand to any one husband. She had married but once, and been widowed little more than a year later, but she wore no mourning robes and Azusa knew her continued refusals to take another mate were a part of the dizzy dance she considered her court social whirl.
He sighed heavily.
"I want to speak to you about Kagato." He said heavily.
Surprised flooded Aiko's expression and she frowned, leaning back against the wooden support of the chaise as she eyed her brother curiously.
"My son?" She asked.
"How many other Kagatos do you know at court, Aiko-chan?" Azusa fought to keep the impatience from his tones, and Aiko spread her hands.
"I just haven't heard you pay particular attention to him before." She said with a shrug. "What about him? Has he done something to concern you?"
"No...no, he hasn't." Azusa pursed his lips. "And I pay closer attention to him than you think I do. Aiko, Yosho is acting in all obstinacy on the subject of Lady Haruna. I'm doing all I can to turn his mind to his responsibilities but he remains adamant and stubborn on this subject. Father has had Haruna removed to a colony, but even so he does nothing but speak of seeing her again. I'm very much afraid that, if things continue, I shall lose my son for good."
"You think he intends to forgo his throne and title in favour of that slip of a girl?" Aiko's eyes opened wide. "Are you serious, my brother? Yosho, the paragon of court virtue, nobility and honour seeks to throw off the shackles of his inheritance and dally with the housekeeper's daughter?"
"Yes, he does." Azusa rubbed his temples. "And it doesn't bring me any pleasure to acknowledge it. Father won't see it as clearly as I do, either - I don't think he believes that, at the end of the day, Yosho will truly abandon Jurai. He thinks this is a phase - as well it might be - but my son is not easily swayed from his purpose. I believe he does love Haruna, Aiko. And if he was not a Prince and she was not who she was, I might even sanction the match. She is not a bad girl...she is just wholly unsuited to be Consort."
"Sometimes the rules and regulations of this court are so stuffy and inflexible." Aiko sighed. "Why not let him marry his shrew, Azusa? In the long run, she is a descendant of the royal line. True, on the wrong side of the bedcovers, but since when did that matter, anyway? Our history tells us of tribal warriors who bequeathed land to sons and daughters without entering into any matrimonial arrangement. Lady Tsunami herself is supposedly born of such a match. Why does it matter so much that Princes marry only those born within wedlock, and of high-born blood? Wasn't our goddess a woman who got her hands dirty and lived among her people?"
"Yes, but I don't think Father would take on board your arguments." Azusa said frankly. Aiko laughed.
"My father spends precious little time even acknowledging that I exist." She said simply. "He used me as a political pawn to marry Hotaru when it was needed, but otherwise, he might as well have only one child. You are his shining light, Azusa-oniichan. And so you should be, since you've always followed in the right, honourable path a Crown Prince should. You never question, never argue...always do as he bids you do. You married his choice of woman and obligingly fell in love with her. You travel when he orders you to travel and you provided him with a grandson, not a grandaughter, so that the great chauvenist himself could not fault your devotion to the succession. Yes, Azusa, why should he have time for Haru or I, when he has you to dote his attention upon?"
"Aiko..."
"Oh, that doesn't make me any less fond of you, my brother." Aiko put a gentle finger to his lips, shaking her head. "But it's true all the same. You will be a fine Emperor, one day."
"But who will follow in my stead?" Azusa removed her hand, sending her a troubled look. "Aiko, if Yosho does abandon Jurai, what then?"
"I see." Aiko looked thoughtful. "And this is why you come to speak to me this morning, is it? You know that Haru and I have never awoken magic inside of ourselves. Father blames that on Mother's death, but I think we must just have been cursed without it. Either way, neither he nor I will inherit Jurai after you."
"But Kagato?"
"Ah..." Aiko smiled. "Now I follow your train of thought. You want to know if Kagato possesses the power?"
"Yes." Azusa bit his lip. "That, and other things. Aiko, I ask you to be plain with me about your son. There are things Father raised -things I must know for myself. If my son does disappear into the mists, I must name my own successor in his place. And to do so, I must...I must put my mind at rest on other matters."
Aiko's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
"What matters?" She asked softly. "My son certainly has magic - whether it is the Jurai power or not I couldn't tell you, since the seers never visited him when he was born...nor me beforehand. I and my offspring were never deemed important enough to matter, after all. Do you mean to name him, Azusa, if Yosho should abscond Jurai?"
"That depends on one other thing." Azusa hesitated for a moment, then, "Sister, please don't consider this an impertinent question. I ask you only because Father raised it and I want to settle my mind. Not because I believe you to be without honour. But..."
"You want to know if he is truly Hotaru's son." Aiko's eyes danced with amusement. "Oh, Azusa. You always dart around the subject when you should ask the question straight. You'll waste so much of your life if you continue to put diplomacy ahead of directness."
"Yes, that is what I want to know." Azusa sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, sister. I know how it must seem - that I'm here on Father's errand. But you're the only person who really knows the answer, and well, Father did raise one point with me that's stuck in my mind. He mentioned Lord Kagato's golden eyes - and when I think on it, I can't remember a portrait of a Royal with those eyes, not so far back as I can remember. Mother and Father, as branches of the Royal Tree, both had reddish eyes. I do, as do you and Lord Haru. My son inherited them. But Hotaru-dono's eyes were obsidian black."
Aiko gazed at him for a moment, then she let out a peal of merry laughter.
"If you already know the answer to your question, why ask it?" She demanded playfully. "Clearly you've already reasoned out a conclusion which is sound and based on good scientific logic. You don't seem to need my confirmation at all."
Colour drained from Azusa's face.
"You mean...he isn't...?" He faltered, and Aiko rested a gentle hand on her brother's.
"Would I have married Hotaru otherwise?" She asked softly. "No, Azusa, Kagato is not Hotaru's son. I forbid that dour, bloodthirsty old man to produce an heir as bright and full of life and ambition as my boy. But I knew...and so I consented, because I knew how the court would treat him, if they thought otherwise. I trust you with this, my brother, because I know I can. But Kagato is not Hotaru's heir. As you have surmised, he is too handsome a prince for that."
"Oh, Aiko." Azusa buried his head in his hands. "I wish you'd lied to me. How can I possibly name him as my heir, knowing that?"
"Why does it matter?" Aiko asked reasonably. "Yosho may yet submit to power and influence. It has happened before...why not again?"
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then you must trust your own heart and do what you believe is right." Aiko said, her expression suddenly serious. "For all my flaws, Azusa-oniichan, I have never lied to you. If you wish to shame me and my son, you have all the weaponry to do so, now. But I have faith that you won't do that. I think I know you too well."
"Sadly, you do." Azusa ran his hands through his thick hair, loosening the band that held it in a neat queue as he did so. "But if Kagato is not Hotaru's then...who?"
"Ah." Humour sparkled once more in the Princess's eyes, making her appear ten years younger, and Azusa had the impression of the court jezebel once more. "That is an impertinent question...and I have never spoken his name to anyone. Not even Haru, who knows quite as well as you do that Kagato is not all he seems. I've never revealed his identity, and I may never do so. It can do noone any good - but suffice it to say he is a man of power and of breeding."
"Aiko, be serious." Azusa sighed. Aiko shrugged.
"I am being." She said matter-of-factly. "Kagato believes his father was Lord Hotaru, and I've no reason to give him any doubts on that score. It would wound his pride, Azusa, if he knew he wasn't all he seemed. And I won't do that, because I love my son very much. Contrary to your beliefs about my behaviour, I am not that bad a mother that I'd destroy his dreams and his position just to satisfy my brother's curiosity."
"I thought you trusted me."
"I do." Aiko inclined her head. "But I also know you, Azusa. You persevere with things and it would be impossible for you to let it lie, once you knew his name. You'd chase it up, try and find out more...and then Kagato would be shamed before the whole court. Before Father. I won't have it. If you wish to deny my son his place in the succession, then that is a decision of your conscience. I've made the choices of mine."
She hesitated, then smiled.
"Please don't be so shocked at my secrets." She added softly. "Remember I was only seventeen when I was wed to Lord Hotaru. I was young and I made mistakes. I have never made the same one since...and Hotaru went to his grave believing he had sired a son."
Azusa sat back in his seat, his heart heavy.
"I suppose so." He acknowledged at length. "And you know I won't betray you to Father or anyone else. But it creates conflict inside of me. The royal line of Jurai has principles it must uphold to retain it's stability. It seems that two illegitimate children are going to be it's downfall - Lady Haruna and your own son. Can I judge my boy for wanting to marry Kisho's bastard daughter when my option is to name your bastard son in his stead?"
"It sounds so cold when you say it that way." Aiko said reproachfully. "Let the matter rest, my brother. See what progresses with Yosho, before you worry unduly about Kagato. Besides..."
She paused, mischief flickering in her reddish eyes.
"It might not prove important, after all."
"Meaning?" Azusa stared at her, and Aiko smiled.
"Women speak to one another." She said softly. "Have you not noticed how much Misaki-chan has been off her food of late?"
Surprise flared in Azusa's eyes, and Aiko chuckled, nodding her head.
"I think it likely that there will soon be another child in the equation." She murmured. "Maybe you would do as well to calm your flutterings until you know whether or not I'm right."
"If Misaki bears a healthy son or daughter, and by some fluke they inherited Jurai's magics..." Azusa faltered. "Aiko, are you sure?"
"As I said, I think it likely." Aiko inclined her head slightly. "Misaki speaks to me - well, she and Haru both do - far more than they do to you or Funaho-kyou. Those of us who lack Father's favour group together - but even he may be forced to acknowledge Haru's line if Misaki does, finally, bear a child."
"Indeed." Azusa nodded. He paused, then got to his feet.
"I'll go to Tsunami's tree and give prayer for Yosho's sanity to return to him." He added quietly. "And also for your suspicions to be founded in fact. I know that women have intuition about these things - I know that you told me when Funaho was expecting Yosho before it had occured to me. So I will have faith in your judgement and hope for the best. Perhaps Jurai's future rests on the head of an unborn babe...but better that than risking all on the shoulders of a bastard child instead."