The Clocks

On Monday morning, all four children were still somewhat wobbly, so their mothers made excuses to their schools and kept them home, after which the adults met for the first time at Akane's place. She'd wanted the others to become familiar with the layout of her home, just in case. Just in case of what wasn't something she could articulate at the time, but it seemed prudent anyway. Besides that Akane wanted the others to explain to her how they investigated the background of a new hire, something that had now become necessary since they learned of the German plan to infiltrate the banking system.

"Right then, I think I understand the gist of it. Obviously there's no way to do one of these 'background checks' on every employee of every branch. We're going to have to focus on officers, and those who have access to funds transfer information, and we probably ought to convince your husbands that copies of at least the basic details of all large loans should be sent here."

Deducing the others' unasked questions, she elaborated, "We know that the Germans are planning to infiltrate the bank. We can also be sure that, no matter how 'trusted' Avi was, there's no way that whomever hired him would have told him everything, or even most of their plan. All he needed to know what who the target was and some general background.

"Surely, knowing when large sums of money are being transferred and to whom could be useful to the Germans, but knowing who has recently borrowed a large sum could be even more useful. To us as well as to them."

Miranda nodded. "I see. That way we'd know who is overextended and might be vulnerable to bribery...or blackmail. It wouldn't be impossible for the Germans to arrange for 'accidents' that would make those customers even easier targets."

Blair sighed. "You both realize that once we've honed our techniques as much as we can with our husbands' banks, we're going to have to look into all the other large Italian banks doing business in other countries? I have absolutely no idea where we're going to find enough people to do that for us. I'm short of people as it is, and I know that Miranda is too."

A disembodied voice broke in on their conversation, "One of the things I've learned at school, and I believe it was in one of your classes Mrs. Fukui, is that generals who tried to oversee every little detail didn't last very long." There was a short pause. "That's probably because they tended to either get killed in battle or eliminated, one way or the other, by their rulers."

Miranda rolled her eyes then turned in Eugenia's general direction. "Genie, first of all, you should still be at home resting. Secondly, I believe that I told you to stop sneaking around like this and eavesdropping on us. Several times, correct?"

Eugenia allowed herself to be seen, so her mother could see her bowing in her direction. "You did indeed say that Mother, several times, and, if your recollection is as clear as mine, quite painfully -- at least from where I stand. Speaking of which, may I sit down? I'm still a bit shaky from all that unpleasantness over the weekend."

Akane waved her to a chair. She had certain suspicions about why Eugenia had revealed herself, and she didn't want to miss the show.

"Thank you Mrs. Fukui."

She turned to her mother. "I believe you were going to yell at me again?"

Miranda looked at her with narrowed eyes. She too had realized that Genie had something planned. "No, at least not immediately. Get on with it. We still have a lot to do today, and we hadn't allotted time for dealing with invisible people."

"Darn. You're no fun. Or that's what I might say if I were watching us, which I'm not. So I'll just answer all of your questions, including the ones you haven't asked yet.

"First of all, insofar as we know, I'm the only person still alive who can do what I do. After what we saw Friday though, it's plain as day that we can't count on it. Which means that you're going to have to come up with a way to make sure that people like me aren't listening when you have important meetings. There's not going to be any better way for you to do that than to have me, possibly, in the room when you check those procedures out. Sometimes I should be there, and sometimes I shouldn't.

"Secondly I don't need to be just good at this, I need to be perfect. If I make some tiny mistake that you spot, all you're going to do is yell at me. Someone else might make me dead, which is why I'm going to keep ignoring what you told me about not eavesdropping. "Not to mention that I can't memorize entire conversations. I'm going to have to be able to write up a good synopsis though. How better than for me to practice with what you've said at one of your meetings? Then all of you can review it and show me where I've missed something, or if I've put in details that you don't need to know."

She tipped her head to the side, thinking. "That's enough about me, at least for right now. Let's get to what you were just talking about. Please don't take it the wrong way, but you're overthinking it. You've identified the problem. The next step is to raise the question with the people with expertise in the field. You don't need new agents, or even to use the ones you have already.

She cocked her head to the other side. "I could be mistaken, but I don't believe that there's any bank anywhere that wants to lose money. When father goes to the next meeting of the bank owners in Naples, he can casually mention that they'd caught an employee who'd been placed there by some unknown party who wanted to damage the bank's finances and reputation. Said person was sending confidential information on loans and money transfers to said unknown party. After that, any smart banker will come up with new policies to at least limit the possibility of it happening to them. The only thing worse for a banker than losing money is having clients spread the word that they're indiscreet.

"What such policies might be, I don't know. And, please forgive me, you don't either. Let the experts deal with what they know best. You do what you do best, which is, well, whatever it is you do. I suspect that what I've learned is still only the tip of the iceberg."

Her eyes lost focus briefly. "Yeah. That's everything. I'm done."

Miranda looked at her, in some ways for the first time. The first thought that struck her was that she was indeed somewhat like Jason. She was only passingly acquainted with the word "tact." However that was fine insofar as today was concerned. Her second thought was more of a feeling. She was very proud of her willful daughter.

Thirdly she noticed that Blair and Akane were waiting. She was Eugenia's mother, so she got first crack at her.

She leveled a finger at Eugenia, took a deep breath and intoned, "You will NOT..."

At that point Eugenia flinched, but she didn't avert her gaze.

"You will not EVER skip class or neglect your homework (or your other studies) just because you're practicing this 'stealth'."

She nodded to Blair. "I think Hiroshi came up with a very good word for it."

She returned her attention to Eugenia. "Also, I think it's high time that I told you how very proud of you I am." She flowed across the room and hugged her daughter tightly.

"Now, it's shaping up to be a lovely day today, and you truly aren't up to being in class, so what I want you to do is...."

She paused, accurately assessing that Eugenia was looking forward to a relaxing rest of the day off to do as she pleased.

"As you suggested, you will busy yourself with pen and paper and write up a report for us on today's meeting. After that the three of us will review it and let you know, in minute detail, where you've made mistakes, which information is unnecessary, and what you've missed. After that you will write it up again, as many times as it takes until we're satisfied."

The grin she directed at her daughter was decidedly malicious. "You're going to be a very busy girl for most of the rest of the day."

She stretched dramatically and yawned. "Blair, Akane, it's a lovely morning. Why don't we drop over to the Blue Mermaid and have our mid-morning tea. I understand that they have a new pastry chef who's quite good. We can sample her offerings while we're there, so Akane can compare them to her family's products. It never hurts to know what the competition is up to. When we get back, Eugenia should have her first draft completed."

She smiled sweetly at her daughter. "She'd better."

Blair and Akane didn't say a word, but collected their things and headed for the door, right after Akane handed a pen, ink, and a stack of paper to Genie. Only after they were outside and heading down the street did Eugenia hear the faint echoes of the laughter they'd kept in check until then.

As she began writing, she realized that her mother was right. Some Japanese words worked better than those in other languages. When she thought of her mother, "oni" flowed from the tongue better than "demon."

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After being together for coming on to a year and a half, the other children had long since stopped making plans about when and where to meet on their days off. Through some sort of biological GPS they would always find each other. It was that which prompted their experiments that morning.

The first thing that they decided to do was see how far away from each other they could be before they began to feel any degree of distress. As with most things in life, it was not as far as they'd hoped, but not nearly as close as they'd feared. Much as they loved each other, the idea of being on a short leash the rest of their lives was a bit galling, especially to teens who were feeling a perfectly natural urge to become independent.

Over the course of several hours they found that the very first signs of discomfort appeared at about a one kilometer separation. At one and a half klicks they could still function, but they were noticeably more distractable than usual. Two kilometers was the absolute limit. Anything beyond that would leave them confused and somewhat disoriented.

Oddly enough, were any two of them touching, the distance away the third could be and still function normally was a surprising three kilometers. Likewise speaking "twin" was also less tiring for all three in the same situation. They decided that was enough experimentation for one day, so they agreed to meet for a late lunch at an inn on the Outer Ring Road that was favored by the girls' parents, the Mule's Tale. After meeting outside, they entered the main dining area.

The inn had been remodeled two years earlier after the owner Alicia Strongbow had married Master Merchant Aldus Ringvold. The original combined dining/drinking area had been converted into a dining area that catered to families, while a new, and much larger taproom, for those mostly interested in the excellent ales and wines the inn stocked, had been built on the other side of the kitchen. The two were connected by a wide corridor lined with wooden pegs at multiple heights that served as a cloakroom as well as a passageway.

Alicia was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, giving instructions to the staff about dinner preparations. She turned as she heard the door close and was met by Yoko's cheery, "Hiya Mrs. Ringvold. Do ya think we could get some sandwiches and cider? We missed lunch, and we're very hungry."

"Of course you can Yoko. Take whatever table you want. It's not like we're expecting a crowd this time of day."

After Alicia had relayed their order to the kitchen, she came over to the table, drying her hands on a bar towel as she approached. She had a big smile on her face as she teasingly asked, "Now tell me, who have we here, your boyfriend?"

Seeing as all three of them were sitting on the same side of the table, with their shoulders touching, she really didn't have to ask, but like Hibiki she had a mischievous sense of humor and wanted to see how they'd react.

She was taken aback when both girls lifted suddenly serious faces and said in unison, "Yes, that's right. We'll be getting married as soon as Jason turns 16."

Well now! That was VERY interesting, especially when the boy's only reaction was to nod his head. For just a moment it seemed that the girls' minds were somewhere else, then a fleeting, startled expression crossed the boy's face, after which he said, "Yes Mrs. Ringvold. We will. I'm Jason Fukui. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Jason Fukui. I don't suppose you might be related to Sebastian Fukui?"

Jason responded, "Yes ma'am. He's my father."

"Well, well. It really IS a small world. Will you do me a small favor and please tell your father that those new Festa pastries turned out great? They taste just as good as always, but they're working faster to kill the bitterness of the draught."

Jason smiled back. "Sure thing. He was pretty sure that tweaking the recipe would do the job, but he always says: 'No matter how good you think something is, the customer is the one who tells you whether or not you're right'."

"Mind if I sit for a bit?" Without waiting for an answer, Alicia pulled out the bench across from them and sat herself down. "Your father is a wise man as well as being the best patisserie in the entire city. Someday you may hear people who don't know any better refer to him or someone else in the same line of work as 'only' a baker.

"I may be biased being sort of in the same line of work," She made a broad gesture that took in her building, "but let me tell you this, someone who finds the flavor of their food disagreeable, or, worse, that it makes them ill, is a miserable person. Humans are capricious creatures. If we're miserable, many of us try to make someone else miserable just so we're not feeling awful by ourselves. It's mean and stupid but there you are."

She stood suddenly. "Look at me, practically giving you a lecture when what you really need is a good meal. Fortunately I can remedy that. After all that's what my calling is. I'll bring it right out." She bustled into the kitchen and soon returned with not just sandwiches but crisp green salads and a new pear for each of them for dessert.

"I'm charging you girls only for the sandwiches, and I'll put it on your family tab. As for you Jason, since you'll be saving me the trouble of walking all the way to your father's shop and back to give him my report, this one is on the house."

She smiled winningly at him. "Of course, if you should come back later, especially if you bring friends, I won't mind at all."

Jason sat motionless for a few seconds then winced slightly, as if two small feet had just kicked him in the shins. The girls faces were suspiciously blank.

"Oh. Thank you very much Mrs. Ringvold. If the food tastes as good as it smells, I'm sure that I'll be back again."

` Alicia bestowed a smile on them, then turned to leave. The boy was definitely lacking in social skills, but it was evident that the girls were working with him. By the time they were married, she was certain that they'd have him reasonably well trained. From what she'd seen so far, they'd probably made a good choice. He'd needed some prompting, but his words had been his own. He was not only polite; he had chosen what he said with care.

He certainly wasn't getting the short straw. She'd known the girls most of their lives, and both of them were charming, intelligent, and pretty. He was probably going to find himself deliciously happy once they got settled in with each other.