Ken had a tattered map spread out on Yuuri's desk. The maou stood beside him, trying desperately to follow. It was all well and good for the Daikenja, but magical theory and technique made his head spin. All he could do without letting the Maou out was heal a few scrapes and bruises, and he had no idea how he did that.

Conrad, Josak, and Wolfram had followed him up, all apparently trusting Lady Celi to keep the peace. Insofar as anything like peace could center around her. Conrad and Wolfram looked grave, and Josak was combing Friend Rat's fur with a tiny comb probably made by Anissina. Yuuri wished he could be so casual.

"I don't really understand how you're following this… whatever it is."

"As it stands, it's… it's a force. It's clearly having an effect. But it's like trying to track wind. There's nothing to see but the result." Ken had the rare, grave look that made him look like an ancient, brilliant hero and not a particularly goofy high school student. "Well, that and some residual energy that Ulrike's managed to pick up in some scrying crystals we modified, but it's very time consuming and difficult to gather those readings."

Yuuri restrained himself from snapping. Was is beyond Murata to answer a question? "What effects?"

"Oh. Well, the energy spikes correspond to… I guess you could call it severe misfortune. Often of the violent kind." He pointed to the various dots on the map one by one. "Here a village that's never had trouble with so much as a rabid deer is attacked by two manticores that should have been up in the mountains five days' travel away. Here the supposed murder of one family's patriarch escalates into warfare between two clans with fatalities on both sides, and the man's death turns out to have been a suicide anyway. They're all like that. Taken as isolated, these are tragic events, but the sort of thing that can happen. People acting rashly, fear and bad luck leading to violence… But look at the way all of them are distributed."

Ken traced his finger slowly over the dots. There were a few scattered here and there, but there was a large cluster out in human territory on the frontier border of Big Cimaron, overlapping into the lands of Cavalcade. Yuuri wasn't any better at geography than he was at history, etiquette, mythology, calligraphy, or anything Gunter taught. But he was pretty sure that was just wild country. High mountains, wide, not particularly fertile plains, some desert, not very heavy population, often ignored by the seat of power.

How typical. Those poor people. Yuuri stared at the dots Murata had indicated and let his eyes slide over the dozens more. People were hurt and dying. And even Ulrike and the Daijenka couldn't tell why.

"Tell me about… about the energy." Yuuri swallowed, trying not to let his emotions overwhelm him. He could cry for the poor victims after he'd done something for him.

"That's even more confusing, I'm afraid." Before he could go on, the door was opened. Raven, in his new greatcoat in the colors he had selected for his coat of arms (deep blue and even deeper green), had his hands on Candide's shoulder. The boy didn't seem to be struggling. Yuuri had been noticing his newest knight had a very calming effect on people. It probably helped that Yuuri hadn't been going down to see Candide since the fork incident, and no one had been making him eat.

"Would you like me to remain, Your Majesty?" For Raven to be so far from Stoffel's side was odd. One could only surmise Celi had given his orders.

"I think Josak can keep an eye on him."

"Sure. Go play with Petunia, Friend Rat." He held up his hand so the rodent could hop onto a bookshelf and scamper off. Josak took over Candide and Raven melted out of the room again.

"Right. He'll be useful. The power we've been sensing is mostly found in the same region as this major grouping of disasters." Ken continued tracing what he meant on the map, but as diagrams hadn't been drawn to help him, the gestures were largely unintelligible. "There are smaller spikes, as well as smaller clusters. Two of them. Here and here." He jabbed a couple of scatters of dots nearby.

"What about here?" Yuuri pointed to a circle of dots that was definitely inside Shin Makoku.

Wolfram coughed. "That's… my father's territory, near the manor. Frankly, we don't have to look much further to explain misfortune lately."

"Oh." Yuuri patted Wolfram's shoulder and let it go. "Well, we've got to head out to this area. Right in the center should be a good place to start looking, right? I guess we'll need a few people. Conrad and Gwendal can come with me, and Giesela in case we need some healing done, plus a handful of castle guards. Big Cimaron's not fond of us, of course, but if we go over the Cavalcade side of the border and only have a small party—"

Yuuri stopped. Everyone was looking at him with measured, disapproving disbelief. Wolfram broke the silence. "You don't really believe we'd let you walk straight into this with the information we have?"

"What else can we do? Murata, is there anything you and Ulrike can find out that we don't know already?"

"Uh…" He looked uncomfortable. "No. Not magically. I'm sure questioning your prisoner could help. This is where you're from, right?" He looked over his shoulder and smiled at Candide in his cheeriest, most irksome manner. Candide turned his head and snorted, which Yuuri couldn't really blame him for.

"He hasn't told us anything but his name, and I left him stewing in the dungeon for a few days while I was trying to deal with Mael and his…" Yuuri shook his head. "I'm sure we'll get to understanding each other someday, but we don't have time now…" Yuuri was sure slow and steady would do the trick. Quick and revelatory wasn't cutting it.

Conrad tried to look stern and ended up just scowling, which made him look a bit more like Gwendal. Same effect as when Gwendal smiled. "Yuuri, think about what you're saying. Putting yourself in danger for the sake of humans in an unknowable predicament is—"

"Is what he does. You won't argue him out of it that way." Josak grinned. "I'll be right back." He ducked into the hall. Yuuri watched him go for a moment and turned his attention back to his other advisors. Josak was confusing.

"But if we don't deal with it, who will? What kind of energy is it?"

Ken looked very sheepish. "We don't know. It doesn't feel like our magic or the humans'."

Not exactly the argument he'd wanted, but Yuuri used it anyway. "I want to protect this world and all the people in it. I know Shin Makoku is my responsibility, but why should that mean I should let people suffer and die just because…" Because why? Because why indeed?

"Because you'd be endangering yourself," Conrad said calmly. "And therefore endangering Shin Makoku. For a human problem."

"But it's got to be involved with the people Candide is working for, doesn't it? That means it's a danger to us, too."

"I can attest to that," Wolfram said, a little sulkily. "But that doesn't mean you should dive in like an idiot, Yuuri! We have no idea what—"

"Not for long!" Anissina was suddenly in the room, the wind catching her hair and dress, emphasizing her maniacal grin. Josak leaned on the doorframe, looking pleased with himself. "Daikenja, take me to the temple. I'll have the name, age, and favorite breakfast cereal of our mystery sorcerer or sorcerers by this evening."

"Oh." Yuuri grinned. He won. He could tell already. "Good. If you get that report right to me we'll get on dealing with the situation." Yuuri spoke quickly, before Conrad or Wolfram could cut in. He'd won fair and square, but he still wanted a little insurance on that.

"Easily done, Your Majesty. This is just the sort of challenge I like. Come along." She beamed beatifically at Murata, who shrank back a little bit. He was less used to Anissina than those who lived in Covenant Castle more or less full time.

"What are you going to do?" Candide hadn't so much as made a sound Yuuri had caught since he'd been tragically forked, so the voice startled him. It was weaker than before and a little shaky, but there was a lot of spirit behind it.

"Um, so far we don't know. Relax, Candide. It's not as though we're going to hurt anyone." He hoped. Yuuri certainly didn't intend to hurt anyone. To discipline, maybe, those who were causing all this. Justice and all.

"No! I won't let you near them! You won't harm any of us because I failed!" He lunged forward suddenly enough to break Josak's grip. Admittedly, Josak had been going kind of easy, not wanting to bruise the poor, fragile kid. Before Candide reached Yuuri, Ken kicked out and twisted his leg up around Candide's knee, throwing him neatly onto his back. He stepped on the kid's ankle.

"Um, Murata, what was that?"

"Hmm? Oh, mostly the guards at the temple have been giving me a little practice. But I was a warrior in a few of my lives, too." He shrugged. "Wow, Shibuya. Even for you, this is an extreme case of persistence."

"It's not his fault." Yuuri winced as Candide tried to get back up and Josak caught him, slinging the kicking, weakened boy over his shoulder. "And he's… he's had moments. He told me his name."

"Yep, only you could pull that off. Well, shall we, Miss Anissina?" He smiled up at the woman, who smiled back and made him cringe again a little. Even the captain of Shinou's guard was more subtle about being terrifying. "We'll try to give you more information as soon as possible. In the meantime… why don't you go spend some time with Wolfram?"

"Well, I can't do anything else until I know more…" He'd admitted at least that.

"Oh, very flattering, you wimp." Wolfram bopped Yuuri on the side of the head. "You had better have a way to apologize. Nicely."

"How about we find Greta and have a picnic?" It had worked in the past. Yuuri tried a smile and got one in return. Wolfram was even moodier these days. He extended his arm to Wolfram and link elbows. "After we make sure Gunter hasn't killed your brother while I wasn't watching, anyway."

"Why? Let him do it." Wolfram caught Yuuri's eye and sighed as they left the room. "It wasn't the potion."

"Huh?"

"I don't care what Mael put in that wine. Maybe it did something to me, but it wasn't the reason I…"

"Oh, that." Yuuri kissed Wolfram's cheek. "I know." He didn't, exactly, but he hoped it would calm Wolfram down.

"Is that alright?" He actually looked worried. "I was… I mean, I was definitely pushing more than maybe I should have, and… I'd never try to make you do anything you didn't—" Yuuri put a finger against Wolfram's lips. It seemed the sweetest way to tell him to shut up.

"Why are you worried, Wolfram? It was nice. And it's not like you've ever held back much in your advances." Yuuri smiled teasingly, though it was hard to even remember back when he hadn't wanted Wolfram to kiss him. It already seemed like another life.

"Because if I tried to make you, I'd be like him."

Yuuri took his arm away from Wolfram's elbow and put it around his waist instead. "I promise, you will never be anything like him." In retrospect, considering Wolfram's jealousy and inferiority complex, maybe that wasn't what should have been said. But Yuuri couldn't just let Wolfram do that to himself. Mael was working hard enough to make him feel worthless. He didn't need the help.

"I love you." Wolfram turned and kissed Yuuri a lot more deeply and enthusiastically than the maou felt was appropriate for a hall in the middle of the castle, especially one Josak had just passed them in, carrying a still struggling Candide. "But you are such a wimp."

"That I am. Let's find Greta." He was a little breathless from the kiss, but in the middle of the day, with so much to do, he couldn't get lost in Wolfram like he had the night before. Greta was making cookies with Doria, who was happy enough to give them a picnic lunch.

The sun was hidden behind clouds and there was just a little hint of a chill to the air today, but that didn't put much of a damper on the general festivities. Wolfram and Greta showed Yuuri how to make a proper daisy chain, and Wolfram displayed absolutely no reticence about his expertise on such a subject. Yuuri modified the technique a little to add one bloom of Beautiful Wolfram to a crown, and managed to make his fiancé blush that way. And that was just for the sandwiches.

By the time dessert was on the way, Greta had invented several new and highly refined flower-based construction techniques and Wolfram had stretched out with his head in Yuuri's lap. Close to healed as he was, he still got tired a bit more easily. Especially if it meant using Yuuri as a pillow.

Petunia appeared on the blanket to enjoy the crumbs of Wolfram's sandwich. Yuuri looked up, in case she hadn't come alone. He found himself looking at Josak's knees. One could forget how tall he was sometimes. "Hi. Is Candide alright?"

"Fine. Well, a little bruised. He threw himself at the bars twice before he realized I wasn't impressed." Josak shrugged. "Um, I know you're busy about now, Your Majesty, but I've got a bit of a favor to ask. My counsin's been offered a commission in an infantry unit that's patrolling down in Karbelnikoff territory and she wants to go give it a look, but her son's not really up to the trip. He's coming to stay with me. Would it be alright if I stuck around the castle? I can get a room in town if you want me to."

"Oh, that's fine." Yuuri was a bit curious about what Josak's relatives might be like. He couldn't help picturing a whole family of them. Except… "Er, which… I mean, um, on what side of your…?"

"She's mazoku," Josak said with a slightly mocking smile, amused at Yuuri's attempt at sensitivity. He meant well. "The kid's a half breed like me, though. Seems the taste for humans runs in the family."

"Well, okay." Yuuri smiled and nodded, at a loss for any other reaction. "Be nice if Greta has someone to play with."

"He's a little older than she is, but yeah, it'll be good for them." Josak smiled and patted Greta's head when she nodded. There was something a little odd about his expression, but Yuuri couldn't pinpoint it before he turned and walked off with a wave. He leaned in to Wolfram.

"I'm sure Josak knows I won't mind his little cousin coming over. Did he look a little strange to you?"

"Maybe. He usually does. I never saw the child, and I've only met his cousin once. Nice woman, if a little frightening."

"Frightening how?"

"She's a lot like Josak."

"Ah."

Anissina was back that night, and dragging a rather worn looking Ken with her, announcing to the dinner table, "I have precisely delineated the patterns and distribution of the energy spikes identified by the priestess and Daikenja as well as ascertained the main attributes that indicate its nature!" Upon seeing her pronouncement hadn't had quite the impact she'd wanted (mainly because everyone was stunned), she stamped her heel onto the table and leaned forward, braced on her knee. "I know exactly what to do."

"That's great!" Yuuri stood up quickly. "What?"

"Why, investigate further, of course, but with a lot more information." She picked up a platter half full of roast pork and shoved it at Mael, sloshing juice onto his lap and drawing a noise from him like a quieter version of his reaction to the rats. At a nod from Anissina, Ken spread a map out on the table. It was the same one as before, with a few penciled in lines on it.

"The energy has its main source right here. I did a bit of research. This is the location of the High Temple of El."

"I've heard that before…" Yuuri bit his lip.

"Your little assassin friend." Ken shrugged. "It's not just his region. It's his exact origin. He's working for the same human cult that's apparently causing this effect."

"So it's a lot of human magic?"

"Nope." Anissina shook her head emphatically. "Not in the least. Couldn't be further from it. What the patterns displayed by this energy most resemble are the ancient writings of the Daikenja and other contemporaries on the activities of Soushu."

"I couldn't see it before because we needed Anissina's, um…"

"Mr. Clarifies the Inadequacies of Lesser Machines."

"Yes, him. I mean, that. But it's not an exact match, either. Whatever it is, it's old and powerful and very bad, but it's somewhat contained. It's acting like Soushu when it hits, but it's weaker and restrained."

Yuuri bit back his protests. If Soushu wasn't finished, what had all those awful trials been good for? He reminded himself at least it had stopped for a while. "So it's like if someone had Soushu on a leash?"

"Something like Soushu, but that's a pretty good grasp of the situation for you." Ken harbored no illusions about Yuuri's mental acuity.

"Ha ha. So we really do just have to investigate. Well, I think my original plan will hold. Me, Conrad, Josak, and Gwendal with a handful of extra hands."

"Ahem!" Wolfram stood up and glared.

"You're still not at your best after that injury." Yuuri said timidly. Even not in top condition, Wolfram could stare him down. "Besides, I don't want you hurt."

Wolfram softened just for a moment before snorting disdainfully. "Ha. As if you'd be alright without me. Remember whose job it is to protect you?"

"Conrad's?" Greta volunteered. Wolfram practically choked.

"Neither of you is going anywhere." Conrad took advantage in the lull in Wolfram's declamations to tug his younger brother back into his seat. "This is even more dangerous than previously assumed. We should arrange an investigation, but the maou should not be placed in such danger."

"Well, the maou makes his own decisions. Right, Anissina?" She'd sided with him before.

"Yes. Even stupid, masculine ones that will likely get him killed." Anissina rolled her eyes. "Listen to your advisors when they make sense. Otherwise you'll be mired in your own youthful ignorance forever." And with that she strode off, perhaps to terrorize someone else. Perhaps in search of chocolate. Chocolate to terrorize.

"When she puts it that way…" Yuuri blushed a bit. "I know it's dangerous, but who's better equipped to deal with it than me? I managed once before."

"You managed to defeat Soushu after it had spent centuries bound and depleted, without anything to feed upon, confined to one point." Gwendal took a sip from his glass before continuing. "The greatest and most powerful Maou you certainly are, we've been assured, but you are still young. You lack the experience Shinou needed to contain and drive back the power and minions of Soushu."

Yuuri admitted that was a fair argument, but circumstances were a little different here. "But Anissina said it's contained now."

"We don't know how, or by what power. It could also be laying low of its own volition." Conrad glanced to Ken, who hesitated a moment and shrugged, which made Yuuri doubt the plausibility of that particular comment a bit.

"But we won't know unless we go find out, and if you all have your way, we won't go until we know more. That's a lose-lose situation." Yuuri looked around for support, but even Wolfram seemed to have joined their camp, as he would any that advocated Yuuri not getting himself hurt.

"Well, Ken, can you find out any more?"

"I'll try. Anissina's machine seems useful, and I do want to see what else it can do. Give me another day and I'll try to find something to satisfy your retinue, okay?" Ken grabbed a roll from the table. "Can I stay for dinner?"

"Sure." Yuuri walked into the other room and grabbed a chair to bring back. He was almost back at the table before he remembered about being the maou and having servants. Never would get used to that, not with his mother glaring at him from memory for being a messy little boy.

Ken left promptly after dinner with promises of results. Yuuri wasn't sure how much he believed he'd get them. It was obviously difficult and unprecedented, and he tried to be patient and fair.

He was careful not to seem strung out to either Wolfram or Greta when they went to bed. Wolfram helped with that a lot by kissing Yuuri to sleep. That did quite a bit to resolve tension. But he woke up knowing it would be a very long day waiting for Ken to get his results.

Yuuri spent half the morning doing paperwork, figuring that if the hours were going to drag anyway, he might as well get something done. He impressed Gunter with his diligence, though not as much as he usually would have. Gunter was doing a lot of work of his own, apparently moving the title to Arianwyn (which still gave Yuuri the heebie jeebies). He was also on edge in general. Yuuri assumed mainly because of Mael, as he kept excusing himself to go check on Arianwyn, who had made a full recovery and was mainly occupied in the courtyard with swordsmanship. Either he intended to run Mael through himself or he was bored.

Yuuri tracked Wolfram down for lunch and dragged him outside to eat. They sat on a stone wall around some flowers near the front gate and enjoyed sandwiches mostly in silence, hands twined together between them. It was nice and peaceful, and Yuuri almost let the situation slide from his mind.

Friend Rat ran past. Nothing special there. Petunia followed about half a minute later, and Yuuri raised an eyebrow. Josak strode past with a vague wave in their direction, and the maou was interested. When he looked over, he saw Josak open the small side door beside the main gate. The big, swinging doors as tall as two men were for state visitors. The smaller one served perfectly well for those not of royal or noble blood.

The woman who stepped through was almost certainly the reason Josak thought he could pull off drag. Had he not been informed Josak's cousin was female, Yuuri probably would have assumed he was looking at the soldier's brother. She was even taller than Josak himself, though a bit narrower. Just a bit, still plenty of muscle. Her face was a bit shorter and less defined, but they had the same coloring, shock red, electric blue, and paper white.

Riding piggyback was a boy who did look about Greta's age. That was the nice thing about Mazoku children, Yuuri thought. They didn't grow up too fast. He too was a pale redhead with shockingly bright blue eyes, but he was a tiny child, thin and quite short for his presumed age.

"Think his father was on the short side?" Yuuri whispered to Wolfram.

"His father must have been a midget for that."

"Actually, I was about that size at Chai's age. We tend to hit our growth spurts a little late." Josak grinned at Yuuri, who suddenly became fascinated with his shoes. Curse his espionage-trained ears.

After exchanging a few words, Josak and his entourage walked over. "Hindelle, Chai, I'd like to introduce you to Shibuya Yuuri, Twenty-Seventh Maou of Shin Makoku." He smirked a bit at Yuuri's slight discomfort at his title. His bashfulness was rather sweet. "Oh, and his fiancé." There was a barely perceptible pause. "Wolfram."

Wolfram looked as disconcerted as Yuuri at not hearing his full list of honorifics, but fortunately, before he said anything, Hindelle cut in.

"We hear almost as much about you from this oaf as we do about Lord Weller." Josak actually balked for a moment while his cousin smiled. "Chai, don't be shy. Say hi to the nice maou."

"Hello!" His voice was extraordinarily high and squeaky. Yuuri hoped Josak really had been a lot like that as a child. It amused him. He waved from his position on his mother's shoulders. He was even paler than Josak, Yuuri could tell up close. Unhealthily pale, aside from a spattering of freckles, and very skinny. "Thank you for letting me stay, Your Majesty."

"I hope you like it here. It's been kind of messy lately, but I know my daughter likes living in the castle. Maybe you two should go play? Have you had lunch yet?" Yuuri was getting better at the parenting thing.

"Nope. Mama, can I have some lunch?"

"Thank His Majesty. Sure. You need to eat more." He slid a little further down her arm and was passed to Josak. Yuuri was getting confused. Why not just let him walk?

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"I'll go find Greta and you two can have Sangria make you up a lunch. How'd that be?" Yuuri stood up, holding a hand out for Chai to take.

The boy ignored the proffered hand. "Um, kay. Lunch sounds good, but I'm not always very good with playing with other kids, so—Conrart!"

"Chai!" Conrad suddenly stepped past Yuuri to snatch the boy from Josak's grip and half toss him into the air. "You're getting almost too big for me to do that."

"Really? Because Mama says I really need to eat more so I'll keep growing."

"Oh, definitely. You're going to be taller than your cousin soon."

Wolfram leaned over and whispered into Yuuri's ear, "Conrad can do that to me if he wants to…" Yuuri nodded, but that information didn't strike him as particularly useful. Though it was fairly hilarious and would come back to haunt him next time he most needed to be serious.

He'd finally figured out what was so off-kilter about Chai. From the waist up he was a thin and small but perfectly healthy child, but his legs hung limp and the muscles lacked any definition. It helped Yuuri's deduction to note that Chai's mother had opened her large suitcase and pulled out a mass of metal and canvas that folded neatly out into a small wheelchair. Conrad set Chai down swiftly, but with care and tenderness. He was treating the little boy like he was made of glass.

Yuuri looked at Wolfram, who seemed similarly confused. Clearly he'd never heard that Josak's little cousin was crippled either. Yuuri wasn't very good at this sort of thing. Should he ignore the chair? Was Conrad's excessive care necessary?

"I see you've got an extra surrogate father looking after you, Chai." Hindelle smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead, shooting a sly look at Josak that he ignored. "Now you be a good boy. I should be back pretty soon."

"Bye, Mama. I promise to be good. Or a dragon will eat me."

"What have you been reading now?" She stood, shaking her head. "Goodbye. Josak." She punched him in the arm. "Lord Weller, Your Majesty, Wolfram." Hindelle made a general, sweeping bow and headed back through the gate.

Conrad smiled after her and began wheeling Chai toward the kitchen. Friend Rat jumped onto the boy's lap and curled up, and Yuuri remembered Greta's story about the rodent defending "a little boy" from spiders. Josak caught up with him for a companionable chat. Yuuri started the rise, then sat back.

"We should warn Greta to be gentle when she plays with him." Wolfram said lightly, following them with his eyes. He looked rather uncomfortable. "I wonder what happened to him."

"Could he have been born that way?" Yuuri hoped that. It seemed less cruel to never take a step than to have it snatched away, somehow.

"Maybe." He shook his head. They both watched the little procession go, and Wolfram leaned his cheek against Yuuri's shoulder. "Something's lodged in the back of my head and I can't figure out what."

"Like shrapnel, or something you can't remember?" Yuuri ruffled Wolfram's hair and smiled in response to the irritated look he got. "I hope he and Greta get along. By the way, I was thinking she should probably have a pet. Seem like a good idea?"

"Yes, that'd make sense. She shouldn't have to keep borrowing Josak's messengers." Conversation drifted into mundane topics, but Wolfram seemed still to be on edge, and Yuuri was eaten up with curiosity. What could have happened to the poor child? Would it be in bad taste to ask?

As sundown and dinner approached, Yuuri was beginning to get twitchy. Ken ought to have been back by now, or at least have sent some sort of message. Yuuri knew how difficult this probably was, even for Mr. Infinite Lives and Memories, but at least he could have sent a note about how he was getting along.

Wolfram had decided to go and read, so Yuuri was reduced to pacing around being impatient alone. Which was probably why Wolfram had left in the first place. He leaned against one of the pillars around the practice yard and Friend Rat darted past him. Followed by Greta pushing Chai's chair much faster than probably was safe, the little redhead squealing and giggling. The chair hit a rock and made a jump, spilling them both out. Yuuri started to rush over, but both children were laughing too much for either to be hurt. He walked over anyway, figuring Chai might not feel it if he had been injured below the waist.

He looked fine. "Hi, Your Majesty."

"Yuuri, did you see Chai's chair? It's so great. I wish I had one. People would push me around all the time."

"Yeah, but your butt gets kinda tired. That's the one problem."

"Hehe! You said butt!"

"It does! Wanna chase Friend Rat some more?"

"No, I think he's getting tired. Wanna play baseball instead?"

"What's baseball?"

"You don't know baseball! I'm pretty sure that's against the rules. And how come Josak didn't show you? He's a really good pitcher, but he's not supposed to go in the outfield anymore because he'll chase anything no matter how foul it is. Yuuri, can I show Chai how to play baseball?"

Yuuri was trying to think of a way to delicately point out Chai might have trouble with some aspects of the game when one of the temple guards appeared at his shoulder. "Excuse me, Your Majesty? Ulrike was just wondering if the Daijenka was ready to come back. She's found out something else of interest."

"Um… Murata's not here, though." Yuuri frowned. Certainly he'd have been told. Even if no one wanted him going to investigate, they wouldn't hide new information from him.

"He left the temple several hours ago, Your Majesty, and there's nowhere he'd be headed but here." The girl frowned back. This was worrisome.

"You two play nicely. I'm going to ask if anyone's seen Ken." Yuuri ruffled Greta's hair, noting she'd lifted Chai back into his chair easily. Lots of upper arm strength on that girl. Must have been all the pitching practice. Maybe a little league would be a good idea.

Later. He headed into the castle and found Conrad and Josak having a conversation that stopped very abruptly as he entered the room. "Um… has either of you seen Murata?" he asked, trying not to pry. From the few words he'd caught, it wasn't anything to do with the strange power causing human misfortune, and that was all he cared to meddle in right now.

"No. Wasn't he supposed to be back this evening? Give him a little more time, Yuuri." Conrad turned to go back to whatever was so important. Yuuri noted he had that uncharacteristically dark look again.

"I would, but he left the temple and seems to have disappeared en route." Yuuri sighed. "Who would have been guarding the walls this afternoon?" He'd noticed, though he had a sense he wasn't supposed to, the increase of soldiers wandering around. Everyone was on edge, and his advisors did what they had to. Yuuri wasn't going to argue about that.

"Um, Jonathan and Lyle. I'll go speak to them." Josak let Petunia jump from the table onto his shoulder and nodded to Yuuri. In contrast to Conrad, he almost looked pleased. Maybe he wanted a break from whatever was going on that he and Conrad had to speak about at such length.

Conrad smiled at Yuuri. He looked almost back to normal. "With luck it's nothing, but I'm sure it's at least nothing we can't deal with. Our Daijenka is a bit of a handful, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Knowing him he saw a pretty face and got distracted." Though Yuuri doubted it. Ken's flakey act was just that. An act. He carried the accumulated wisdom of a hundred lifetimes, and he wasn't going to blow off something important.

"How is Chai getting along with Greta?" Conrad seemed to want to lighten the mood.

"Oh, they're hitting it off great. Greta's a friendly kid."

"I was hoping. He obviously has a little trouble getting along with other children."

"About that. Um, was Chai born with—"

Josak burst back into the room. "Bad news. Well, maybe bad news." Josak looked a bit out of breath. "Daijenka walked through the gates. Didn't say anything and seemed subdued, but no one saw anything strange about that. He's a weird one. He walked inside, but that's all they saw of him."

"You'd think he'd have gone to me…" Yuuri cursed under his breath. "Split up. Between the three of us we should be able to find someone who saw him."

Yuuri headed upstairs. Celi, her maid, Mael, Sangria, Wolfram, three guards, and Dorcas hadn't seen Murata since the day before. When he gave up and went downstairs, Josak reported that Raven, Stoffel, three retainers, Doria, a plumber who was fixing the bath, Anissina, Gunter, and Gwendal hadn't seen any more.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, you're looking for Daijenka?" It was Lazana. "I just sent Josak down to the treasure vaults for him. He walked right past me while I was dusting earlier."

"Why is it the only ones who knows anything around here are the maids?" Yuuri asked, hurrying after Josak. Conrad followed. The treasure vaults seemed to have been left open. Yuuri would have to remind Celi about that. Also ask her to return the various jewels she was currently wearing around for fun, Stoffel and Evert's separation now hardly an issue.

(And why on earth had shiny rocks been so necessary anyway? She'd explained, but Yuuri didn't get it.)

"I don't like this." Conrad sighed. "He's behaved questionably before."

"But it turned out to be all for the best anyway." Yuuri didn't want to jump to that conclusion. "The vaults are full of all sorts of old magic stuff." He knew that all too well from experience. "Maybe there's something he needed. He's kind of a flake sometimes. For real, I mean. He may have just forgotten to tell anyone."

"True. Josak, how goes it?" Conrad seemed to be addressing a tiny sliver of red visible through a gap between some boxes.

"Found him." A pale hand waved at them. "Better come and see this, Your Majesty." Yuuri hurried around the crates. Ken was sitting still, staring at a small, circular mirror. It behaved rather oddly, reflecting the scene before it a moment or two behind, the lighting strangely distributed, colors off. It was trying to be a mirror and not quite succeeding. Ken's eyes were open but completely blank, and he didn't respond to Josak's fingers being snapped next to his ear.

"What's this thing?"

"No idea. There are plenty of artifacts down here whose use has been lost, or never was known." Conrad nodded to Josak, who picked Ken up. No response except that his glasses slipped off and would have broken if Conrad hadn't been so quick.

They carried him upstairs. As soon as they left the vaults Ken began to twitch. He abruptly sat straight up, bumping his forehead into Josak's chin with a resounding thunk. "How'd I get here?"

"I'd say at a guess you were carried," Josak quipped, setting him down and balefully rubbing his jaw. "Hard head on you, Daijenka."

"It's protecting all this wisdom." He shook his had violently. "Your chin's not exactly cushioned. …Last thing I remember I was adjusting Anissina's machine. There was a flash of… I guess it almost looked like UV light."

"What?" Conrad blinked and Josak just shook his head.

"Um, purpley." Yuuri just happened to recall that. Trust the straight A student. "And?"

"And I was knocking my head on Your retainer's face."