Within minutes they were away from the airport and on their way to Old Valencia, the stately historic district filled with museums, chic cafés, and the sprawling mansions of the obscenely wealthy. As they drove Rin carefully absorbed their surroundings. From her vantage point in the back of a single car on a single street in the massive city she couldn't tell where she was or where they were going. What she could do was get a feel for the architecture, the bustling crowds, and the feel of the city.
Like many urban European population centers Valencia was an incongruous mix of urbane modernity and evocative antiquity. A round edged convenience store the shape of a giant iPod stood next to the fluted spires and gargoyles of a medieval church. Tall buildings of glass and steel surrounded squares dominated by statuesque stone fountains. The roads had the narrow, twisting, serpentine quality of a city that was paved long before the automobile ever graced its streets. It would have been charming and fascinating if not for the tension of the task at hand.
Despite the sights of the city around her Rin felt her eyes being drawn again and again to the driver. The back of his head was impossible to read but she could see his eyes in the rear view mirror. They scanned the streets, his thick brows relaxed as he guided them safely through the brisk afternoon traffic. It suddenly struck Rin what a blind act of faith it was to allow a complete stranger to guide a steel box at sixty miles an hour through oncoming traffic with her strapped into the back. It bothered her how little that bothered her. If she felt this safe with someone she didn't know was she losing her edge? Her suspicion?
Without realizing what she was doing Rin found herself staring at the driver as she worried. He glanced up and caught her gaze. Her first instinct was to jerk her eyes away. Instead she forced herself to stare at him, her brow furrowing, determined not to look away first. The driver broke their gaze, but not with the hastily snatched glance of an adolescent playing eye games with a pretty girl. He simply glanced at Rin, held her gaze for a moment, and then moved his eyes back to the road. Rin colored and she felt foolish, heat rising in her face along with an irrational anger that the driver could get that reaction from her.
She was about to speak when the driver turned sharply into a large estate surrounded by a thick hedge. She recognized the ornate ironwork of the massive that gate that swung inward on motorized hinges, the Von Einzbern family crest emblazoned across the hand twisted bars. The driveway was long, almost a private road, bisecting wide sweeps of lawn and decorative, well manicured trees. The Von Einzbern mansion dominated the center of the estate, a massive multi winged structure with hundreds of winking windows and a multi story spire rising from the back and terminating in a pointed conical roof. It was a testament to the vast wealth of the Von Einzbern family that such a gaudy structure should remain unoccupied for months on end until some dilettante decided they wanted a Mediterranean vacation.
The driver pulled to a stop in front of the wide marble stairs that led up to the double main doors. He opened the door for Rin but she had hardly set foot onto the ground when she was nearly bowled over by a squealing, gibbering whirlwind of white blonde hair and infectious energy.
"Illya!"
"Rin!"
The two embraced and Rin took stock of her young friend. When they last met Illya had been a precocious fourteen year old girl determined to defeat any challenge the Clocktower could throw at her. Now sixteen and on the cusp of womanhood she was filling out nicely. Her face had always bourn the promise of slender, imperial beauty. Now she had the finely crafted features of a porcelain doll, the hint of baby fat giving her face a soft, alluring appearance rather than making her look childlike or immature. Her hair was a shade of blonde so light that it was closer to ice than to gold. It was long, past her waist, and had enough body to bounce in rippling waves as she hopped from foot to foot in glee. With a hint of almost motherly approval Rin noted that Illya had grown to be much taller than her. She found it odd to be looking up into her slender features rather than down on a round faced and exuberant cherub.
"Oh my god I can't believe you're finally here how was your flight did you have any trouble this is going to be so much fun I'm so glad to see you!" Illya gushed, taking Rin by the hand and half leading, half dragging her up the steps into the house.
"I'm glad to see you too," Rin said when they were comfortably seated in the study. "But I'm a little surprised to see you here. I thought you were at your family estate?"
"I was, but Ochsenfurt is just so boring this time of year. Besides, when I got your letter asking if you could use my summer place I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a little vacation!"
"I'm surprised your father let you come, he always seemed to stern to me."
"I was surprised as well, but when I told him where I was going he seemed almost eager to get me to come. If it gets me out of Germany and on vacation with my closest friend in the whole world why look a gift horse in the mouth?"
Rin frowned slightly. The head of the Einzbern family would know about the war without a doubt. The fact that he was putting his daughter right in the middle of it spoke of some hidden agenda. But how much did Illya know? Did she think that she was in Valencia for a carefree vacation with a friend? Or was she here to compete? Without a doubt she held some role in the game of shadowy intrigue that was unfolding around Rin. But was she a queen or a pawn?
Any concerns she may have voiced were cut short as a plump housekeeper bustled in with a steaming tea service. She had graying hair and a crinkled, matronly smile.
"Oh, Melva! Perfect timing!" Illya said. "Rin, this is Melva Sualez. She's our housekeeper, her husband Estavio tends the grounds. They take care of this place when nobody else is here."
Melva curtsied politely and set out a pair of teacups, pouring for Rin and Illya. The activity was somewhat unfamiliar to Rin, she was used to the strict formality of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. It was pleasant, in its own way, the European custom of informality. It felt easier to be open with friends without the layers of protocol between them. Illya was the only person with whom Rin would feel that the formality was a barrier, not a protection.
Illya thanked her and Melva curtsied again. She left the teapot and took the tray as she left. Rin liked her. She had the familiar respectful air of a servant, the attitude of a stalwart caretaker as much a member of the family as any parent. It was comforting and familiar. Not at all like the affable but intense independence that she had sensed in the driver.
"Who else do you have on staff here?" Rin asked casually, phrasing the question generally so as not to betray the true object of her interest.
"Just Melva and her husband. Oh, and Shane, whom you've already met."
"Shane? The driver? What does he do around here? I can't imagine that you need to employ a driver full time with nobody here but the caretakers most of the year."
"Oh, he does a little bit of everything. Estavio isn't as spry as he used to be, he originally hired Shane to fix the car when he showed up a couple of months ago. Estavio swears by him. I think he wants to adopt him. He helps around the house, fixes anything that breaks, takes care of the heavy lifting, that sort of thing. Yesterday he pulled a stump out of the flower garden in back. It was sweaty work. He took his shirt off…"
Illya leaned on the arm of her chair and rested her tiny chin on her hand. Her eyes took on a glazy, far off look. Suddenly she jerked upright, her white skin turning an interesting beet color with embarrassment.
"Er, that is to say, um, he's a very reliable fellow and I, um, we don't know what we'd do without him. Yes."
Rin took a sip of her tea to muffle a giggle. She knew what it was like to be sixteen and have a hopeless, puppy dog crush on a muscular, handsome, capable, mysterious, reliable, tall, broad shouldered stranger. With straight white teeth. And big brown eyes. And…
Oh no.