7. Parting

Just up ahead the lights of the mansion were visible, peeking through at the end of the path. Illumi slowed to a walk as they approached the edge of the woods. The moon had come up at last, and the lawn surrounding the mansion was bright with its light as they left the trees and approached the portico at the rear of his home. He continued to carry her for about a dozen steps onto the lawn, when he realized that it might look improper if he were to continue to do so right into the house. He carefully lowered her to the steps of the portico. As he had run, her hair had been blown behind them, mixing with his own, and dislodging most of the leaves from when she had fallen, but there were still a few tenacious twigs and stems and he instinctively reached out and gently removed them.

They had returned. She stood on the steps of the portico and supported herself leaning against a column. She wasn't sure she could stand unaided. In front of her on the lawn stood Illumi, his fingertips delicately touching and then withdrawing from her hair, the moonlight stripped him of color and made him an angel of pure shining silver. She thought she might weep at his beauty.

She didn't look too steady on her feet, her fair skin almost transparent, her eyes wide and luminous, and her lips and cheeks darker indicating that she was still flushed. He hoped she really was all right. "I apologize for your misadventure, Miss VerHoffen." Then he added, "If you want to see the grounds on your next visit, someone can go with you to insure your safety." And yes, he did have someone in mind.

This was goodbye. He was leaving and she hadn't said anything to him, anything at all. Silver-tongued VerHoffen's daughter was at a total loss for words. She wanted to tell him everything. All of her thoughts, hopes, fears, dreams…everything she was or ever could be; and she wanted him to tell her the same things about himself. She needed to know him, and she wanted him to know her. "Illumi?"

"Yes?"

"I'm so sorry about Mike. I didn't realize…I hope I didn't startle him or put him off his food or interrupt his routine…or anything." Could she sound more idiotic? She didn't think so. But she had to let Illumi know. She wanted him to see that whatever was important to him, whatever he valued… she would care about too.

She was sorry…about Mike? Mike had tried to eat her. Surely she couldn't be serious. A stabbing feeling, something oddly like regret hit him. She must have thought his defense of Mike meant it was of little consequence if she had been killed, that she didn't matter. Of course she mattered. She was…she was…the daughter of a very important client.

"Lucia, I-"

There was a sudden commotion, the loud sounds of several people approaching. He could hear his mother's shoes clicking on the portico's tiles. "What could possibly have taken this long?" Mother was in front addressing her question to Grandfather Zeno, who followed directly behind her. A little further back, and panting with exertion at keeping up with the pace she was setting, he saw Milluki. That wasn't a good sign. Just outside the doorway to the house proper he thought he could make out Mr. VerHoffen, as well as Killua and Kalluto. He didn't see Father anywhere. That was a very bad sign.

"There you are you poor darling! Oh you must be absolutely freezing. Whatever happened to your shoes?" His mother had seized the girl and was giving her a thorough inspection. She didn't appear happy with the results.

"Oh Madame Zaoldyeck," Lucia always addressed his mother this way, and she seemed to like it, even though Illumi thought it made her sound like a fortune teller, "this situation was entirely the fault of my own selfish thoughtlessness and carelessness." She took both of Mother's hands and looked entreatingly at her face. "Please accept my deepest apologies for all the unnecessary trouble and worry I have caused you and your household." Her powers of speech had obviously returned. She bowed her head and he thought he saw her look at him out of the corner of her eye, but he wasn't certain. His mother, however, turned her face toward him.

"Nonsense," she was talking to Lucia, but continued to face Illumi, "you are our guest, and you can't possibly be expected to be aware of the potential hazards here. That is why it is our responsibility to watch over you." There it was. It was almost anticlimactic when Grandfather addressed him, "Silva is waiting for you, downstairs." Milluki was standing in front of him, wearing a most unpleasant smile. Illumi wondered how long it would be before he would have the opportunity to put some pins in his cables, hopefully when he was in the midst of downloading one of his "films".

Illumi began walking to the house. He turned and said to Zeno, "I have to drop something off in my room. Then I'll report to Father." He saw that Mr. VerHoffen had removed his jacket and draped it over his daughter. They were already heading toward where the airship waited to take them back to their world, on the other side of the wall. He slowed his pace and watched for as long as he could, then he sprinted upstairs to his room the moment he was inside. He reached under his desk and unlatched a hidden drawer, where he kept notebooks of his most secret techniques, and personal observations made of various assignments. On top of these hoarded items he placed her shoes.

He held them briefly, running his thumb over the petal soft surface. After carrying her, he knew the wearer's skin was even softer. He didn't want to leave them, but there was a strong possibility they would be damaged where he was going now, and he wanted them to be perfect when he returned them to her on her next visit. He would tell her he had found them while he was walking through the forest. She was smiling, chatting, and gesturing as he had watched her leaving, so she was apparently fine after all. Next time he would show her the eastern part of the forest. In particular, a dark reflecting pool surrounded by cedars that was a favorite spot of his. He locked the drawer, closed his room, and headed back…downstairs.