CHAPTER 19
Magic Knights Reunited

Scott picked up the chattering girls from the airport. They seemed to be having an excellent time with each other and really enjoying the countryside they saw outside their windows. He acted as a tour guide and told them a few interesting things here and there as they drove so they would feel comfortable.

"It will be so wonderful to see Miss Umi!" Fuu said with a smile, her eyes shining brightly behind her glasses.

Hikaru agreed, pointing out that, "It's been years!"

"So you all really are best friends, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes," Fuu answered. "I would trust them both with my life." She didn't add that she actually had trusted them with her life when they were Magic Knights in Cephiro.

"That's a true friend," Scott said with eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I'm sorry you're not getting married, Mr. Scott," Fuu said sympathetically. "But I thank you for having us as your guests."

He shook his head as if trying to clear his memory of the engagement. "She will be happy to see you, and right now that's the most important thing."

Hikaru placed her tiny hand over his. "You really love her, don't you?"

"I always will," Scott admitted.

The drive was less personal the rest of the way back to the ranch. Instead, they discussed traveling, favorite foods, and movies they'd seen recently. It was a nice hodge-podge of things so he could get to know the girls. He decided that he rather liked them and started to understand why Umi considered them her best friends.

A few miles away from the gate, Scott got an idea from something they'd casually said of their travels and friendship. He asked, "So do you also know Clef?"

"We do," Hikaru said as she exchanged significant looks with Fuu.

He wanted to know so much about the man who had his love's heart. He didn't know where to start asking. He didn't hate Clef. He was only sorry that he had gotten to Umi first. Speaking politely, Scott added, "It will be a nice reunion for you all."

Once inside the gate, the two women looked around to see the buildings on the modest compound. There were several free-standing classrooms and various living quarters. At one time, it may have been a real ranch. There was a certain western charm to it.

Scott parked the van as close in front of Umi's bungalow as he could get. With a gesture he indicated, "It's that one. Go on. I'm sure she's waiting for you. I'll bring your bags."

"Thank you!" Hikaru called over her shoulder as she and Fuu scrambled out of the van.

They bounded over to the door and both started rapping upon it as if part of a drum circle. The girls giggled and played more intricate rhythms as they waited for Umi to answer.

An older woman walked over to them with wide smile on her face. "Greetings! I'm Joan. Umi isn't there. She's in the kitchens right now. We had a last minute emergency because some of the ingredients for our party are missing. She's making a shopping list and thought she could be done before you'd arrived."

"Oh," Fuu replied with disappointment. "Well, Miss Hikaru, we've already waited this long. A few more minutes won't matter."

"Would you like to follow me?" Joan asked, gesturing her hand to the building with the kitchens and Clef's small room.

Nodding in assent, the visitors followed her while behind them Scott finished putting their bags on Umi's doorstep.

In the kitchen, there was complete chaos, as to be expected in this situation. A few of the students had gotten into the refrigerator and used the eggs to play some pranks. With other random misdeeds, there was not enough supplies for the graduation party.

Umi looked around at the mess feeling at wit's end. It's not that they couldn't go get more supplies. It was just the thoughtlessness of the students and inconvenience of timing. Clef was near her, lurking quietly, directing human traffic when he could. She appreciated that commanding presence he still used when necessary. The leader in him would never go away no matter what he was doing.

She gazed upon him, remembering his Cephiro self and comparing him to his new Earth self. In his unguarded moment of talking to one of the students, he was beautiful, but in a way unlike before. His eyes were still blue and wise, as if he could tell any lie or half-truth you might try to pass by him. The students were getting the benefit of it as he quizzed them on the specifics of their mischief. His hair had always been in disarray, but it was still thick and shining, a sparkling platinum halo around his head. And his mouth... well, his lips were full and begging to be kissed. It was like a succulent ripe fruit ready to be tasted according to the writings of romance novels.

Umi touched her mouth as she remembered the brief, soul-burning kiss they'd shared at the dance. He thought himself Harry then, and yet he'd kissed her so passionately. Oh, it was a wonder how he might kiss her in full possession of all his memories and feelings toward her! The mental image made her blush, and she was very happy that he could not read her mind.

She saw, too, his body as that of a grown man. He wasn't large or bulky, but he was strong and graceful, like a dancer. When Harry had performed for the children his show was magical entertainment, he moved with the performing skill that made him appear to dance fluidly from pose to pose. He was simply enthralling.

She smiled secretly to herself and looked down so her bangs could cover her face. It was only the quiet presence of two warm bodies on each side of her that made her lift her head up. To her right was Hikaru, long hair still worn in a braid down the length of her back. Fuu was on her left, staring her in the eyes and looking as if she were going to burst from the excitement.

They dared to test how long the bubbling quiet could go before all broke loose. It was Fuu who gave in and shouted, "Miss Umi!"

Throwing her arms around her friend, she gave a tight embrace as if to hug away all the years they'd not been together. Behind them, Hikaru joined in the squeezing until Umi felt like she was the meat inside a Magic Knight sandwich.

"Okay, okay. You can let me go!" she said in mock irritation. The smile on her face was huge as she held Hikaru's hand.

Joan, who had brought the friends to the kitchens, cleared her throat softly to get attention. "Once you ladies are settled in, I would like to invite you to tea."

"Yes, please!" and "Thank you," stated the two new guests at once.

When Umi had been surreptitiously watching Clef, he had been talking to the teenaged students. When Fuu and Hikaru had entered, he straightened up his posture and stared at them in mute disbelief. Even though he knew they were coming, seeing them standing before him made him almost not trust his eyes. They were women, still so lovely and young, and not the girls he had known some ten years ago when they'd been on their second journey to Cephiro.

Hikaru noticed him first. She'd seen his photograph, so he was not a complete surprise to her. She bowed slightly at her waist before running to him to capture him in an excited hug. He surrendered to it and hugged her back with all that was in him.

Walking on silent cat's-feet, Fuu came near them full of her own disbelief, "Clef-san?"

Tilting his head, he replied her name with a smile that curled his lips and dazzled all the way to the golden hoops in his ears.

She looked at him with tears misting her eyes, though not yet falling. The hug she gave him was more stately than Hikaru's ever exuberant display.

Sneaking into the hub of activity, Scott stepped inside the doorway. "I put all their things by your step." he whispered in Umi's ear.

She tilted her head to him, taking her eyes off the reunion on the other side of the kitchen. "How did they get here, Scott?"

Speaking softly, only for her ears he replied, "I asked them to come. Even though you'd canceled our wedding plans, I thought maybe you needed your best friends to help take you home. Maybe it would make you not feel so sad."

She smiled appreciatively and nodded her thanks at his profound kindness.

Being the very example of poise, Umi walked to get her friends from Clef declaring that she was going to help them settle into her bungalow for their visit. Then the three young women left Americans and Clef behind in the kitchen.

"He looks so different," Fuu said once they were inside Umi's place at the ranch. They were sitting on her comfortable sofa ready to chat and catch up on all that was important.

While Clef's appearance was not as much of a surprise to her, Hikaru's old feelings were. "Seeing him makes me miss Lantis," she sighed.

Frowning prettily, Fuu said, "And I miss Ferio."

Silence lived in the room as they reflected their old loves for longer than most people would be comfortable.

"So what's going to happen with you two now?" Fuu wanted to know after the ponderous moment was over. She was trying to think logically and calmly.

The corners of Umi's expressive mouth twitched. What could she say? She and Clef certainly weren't a couple yet. Maybe they could work on it, but if they kept having misunderstandings, they might never get that far.

Stating the truth as she knew it, Umi replied, "I will enjoy the time I still have with him."

"But aren't you going to tell him you love him?" Hikaru insisted in a scandalized tone.

The Water Knight held holding back a sob. "Oh, I've told him many times, but," she qualified after Hikaru's pointed look, "not since he's regained his memory."

"Then it seems a fresh start is what you need," Fuu declared as if that solved everything.

"But I'm leaving soon!" Umi wailed. Normally she would not be so petulant, but this unsure situation made her feel stress and confusion. "And even if it doesn't matter, neither one of us is sure how he got to Earth!"

"Can he go back?" Fuu asked shrewdly.

Umi had opened her mouth to speak, but it was Hikaru who interrupted her. "I don't think he can."

"Why not?" Umi asked with interest, curling her legs underneath her as she listened to Hikaru's theory.

"With the pillar system broken, unless there is someone to call him back to Cephiro, this was a one-way trip. There were no other mages as good as him."

"This is true," the blue-eyed woman muttered.

"Miss Umi, did you bring him here?" Fuu asked, her eyes sparkling with an idea. "When did you say you saw first saw him?"

"On my birthday," she responded, vaguely remembering the person standing in front of their vehicle frozen like a deer caught in front of the headlights.

Wyndham's knight smiled excitedly, and glanced at Hikaru for validation. "Did you have a cake? Did you make a wish?"

Scoffing, Umi said, "Well, yes, I... Oh. Oh!"

She sat in stunned silence. It surely couldn't have been that simple. She didn't have the power of the pillar in this world or Cephiro. Could her wish have brought him to her? She thought back to that birthday party, being surrounded by her friends, and to the simple wish she'd made. She hadn't wished for him, at least she hadn't done so deliberately. She'd just opened her heart and then blew out the candles.

"I'm going to have to talk to him," Umi declared.

"Of course you will if you love him, and I know you do," Hikaru said as a gentle tease.

Yawning a few minutes later, Fuu requested that no matter when Umi had the talk with Clef she would like to sleep right away. It had been a long time of travel for them, and both she and Hikaru were weary. Abashed at her breach of hostess manners, Umi showed her friends to where they would be sleeping during their short stay with her.

When the morning came, Hikaru went on a walk by herself to see the place where Umi had been working. It was lovely in its own wild way as opposed to the urban areas in Tokyo and much of the rest of Japan.

She smiled to herself when she heard the footsteps behind her. They were neither stealthy not did it appear they were trying to be. There was a surprising amount of grace to it if one considered that his leg had been broken a few months ago.

"Magic Knight," Clef said softly. He'd not spoken that out loud yet, not even to Umi.

The woman's smile in return after hearing her appellation dazzled him.

"How are you?" she asked, interested in any of the answers he may choose to tell her.

He indicated for her to walk with him, and he took the time to show her the river that he'd once fallen in while chasing the pages of his book. "Hikaru, I'm afraid. There is so much uncertainty in my future, and I am no longer sure where I belong.

"And magic," he dropped his voice in case anyone might be close enough to hear them, "it's only a child's game here. I have none, and I just don't know how to be this way. It also makes me sorry once again for all that you three had to do to be our Magic Knights."

Hikaru smiled softly and squeezed his hand. Clef was not a man who shared his doubts or fears, so this new Clef on Earth was truly a new creature, in spirit as well as in body.

"We were talking last night, and I think I might know how you got here. I'd like to know your side of the story if you'll tell me," she encouraged. "What were you doing before you got here?"

Clef sighed in frustration. "I've said this already. I was alone in my garden. There was absolutely nothing unusual about the day in Cephiro."

"Did you think of Umi?" she asked mischievously.

Not wanting to make a full admission, he hedged by saying, "It's possible."

"Oh, Clef. You and Umi really need to talk. I think I know what happened with you two, but it will be much more special to you if you figure it out together."

He pursed his lips while thinking and finally commented that he would have to talk to her. "Hopefully without interruptions this time."