The Clocks

Miranda was standing on a second floor landing at the front of the house adjusting the position of the potted plants in the bay window overlooking the street. From that height, it was easy to make out the small knot of disturbance in the crowd that marked the passage of someone in a hurry. Soon she was able to discern that the person in a hurry was Eugenia, who was, by then, practically towing Mario behind her. How very interesting. From anger to holding his hand, albeit in a non-possessive way. This promised to be amusing.

She turned to find Mimi immediately behind her. "Do you need something Madame?"

"Tea for three in my office please. As soon as it is ready."

"Of course Madame."

MIranda glanced briefly out the window again, then turned back. Mimi was nowhere to be seen. Someday she'd have to ask her how she did that.

She let them in the door herself, and, once it was firmly closed, looked pointedly at their clasped hands. Genie let go as if she'd just been burned. Mario simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Come with me you two. It seems we have something interesting to discuss."

Mario looked a question at Genie, how could Miranda possibly have known?

Genie shrugged and lifted her left arm with the palm up; a gesture indicating, roughly, "I have no idea either, but that's the way she is."

Once they were seated in Miranda's study, Genie said, "You first Mario. Then me. After that, Mother and I may need to speak privately for a bit."

Miranda nodded, so Mario summarized their day together, except for Genie's "spell" which he described in detail.

Genie followed with a vague description of her physical well-being as it related to distance from Mario.

All Miranda said in response was, "Interesting." She raised her head, then, rather than using the bellpull as she usually would, she decided on an experiment. She spoke in a conversational tone, "Mimi?"

"Yes Madame?"

Nobody had seen her enter the room, but she was standing just inside the closed door. "Please invite Jason and the twins to join us. As soon as is convenient for them. Please apologize to their mothers for me, and tell them that I need to ask them a few questions."

"Yes Madame. Immediately." Mimi swirled out the door and quietly closed it behind her.

Miranda smiled at Genie and Mario, who were clearly confused.

"Abide a while children. I need to clarify something before we proceed further. To do that I need a bit of help. While we're waiting, just relax and enjoy your tea."

"Yes Mother." "Yes ma'am."

Seventeen minutes later the twins and Jason were ushered into the room. Miranda knew for certain because she'd checked the clock when Mimi left. Very interesting, but also very irritating. Even were the Saturday crowds not in the street, it would take about five or six minutes to walk to Blair's home, and from there it was another eight or nine minutes to the Fukui's. Then 12 or so more to return. Even if the children had each been standing in the doorway of their homes, with their mothers next to them, the soonest they could have gotten here would have been about 25 minutes.

It felt like a fog that had been fuzzing her mind for the past few years had been lifted. After she sorted things out with the children, a full investigation was warranted.

Introductions were made all around. Mario was quietly polite, but his curiousity was growing more and more obvious. What in the world was going on?

Miranda explained what had happened to Eugenia that morning. Immediately the twins turned to each other and their eyes went slightly blank. For a moment Mario was puzzled, but then he had it. Ah! They were speaking in "twin." He'd heard of it, of course, but he'd never seen it this closely before. He relaxed back into his chair. However, what happened next almost had him leaping to his feet in astonishment.

The twins, their names were Yoko and Hibiki, he'd have to remember that, had turned to the boy named Jason. Now all three of them had that fuzzy look. What in the world? While he was no expert, everyone knew that only twins could speak "twin." Which meant two people. However it certainly looked like he was speaking to them in the same way. They couldn't be triplets. They looked nothing alike, not to mention that their surnames were different.

He turned to Miranda, intending to ask for an explanation, but was forestalled by her grin and a finger across her lips compelling his silence.

The three newcomers seemed to have finished whatever it was. They stood and moved to stand behind Eugenia. Jason stood with his hands on her shoulders, then the twins each put both of their hands on one of his. All three of them closed their eyes and soon had looks of intense concentration.

Mario mouthed, "What's happening?"

Genie answered in the same way, "No idea."

They both turned to Miranda, who smiled smugly back at them. It was important that one keep up one's appearance as the font of all knowledge. She knew why she'd called the trio, and what she suspected, but, In reality, she had no idea what exactly was going on either.

After a minute of absolutely nothing visible happening, the three opened their eyes. Hibiki looked at Mario with speculation in her eyes. Jason said, "Interesting...."

Yoko was a bit more forthcoming and smirked at Genie. "I guess we're not gonna have ta help ya find him after all."

At first Genie was at a loss, but as she replayed what Yoko had just said, she remembered what the twins had promised her on the day they'd smashed their way into her mind. Mario thought that her sudden blush made her even more attractive than ever, though he had absolutely no idea what might have prompted it.

The tension in Miranda's shoulders fled, and she leaned back in her chair. So.... Very interesting. Still, there were some details that needed firming up. Facing the trio she said, "Thank you for coming. There's a bit more we need to discuss, but, for now will you please wait in the kitchen?"

Dutifully they bowed then exited the room.

Miranda added, "Genie, I think you need to go with them. This time, no hanging around outside the door. You won't hear anything. Besides Mimi will be escorting you downstairs." Then she added to the apparently empty air, "Isn't that right Mimi?"

"Indeed it is Madame. Shall we go Miss Eugenia?"

Without waiting for an answer, Mimi stepped across the threshold of the room, walked to Eugenia, then took her arm before she led her out of the room and firmly closed the door.

Mario's eyes had automatically followed the movement. Now however they swung back and focused on Miranda. He didn't bother asking anything. He knew that she'd tell him exactly what she meant to say and not a word more.

She leaned forward and steepled her fingers on her desk. "I'd intended to wait at least another two or three years, but events often move outside of my control without asking permission."

Seeing shock in Mario's eyes, she hastened to add, "I'm joking little one. I don't have incredible magical powers, just a somewhat twisted sense of humor. Oh, and please don't agree with me. Only my husband is allowed to do that."

Mario nodded hastily.

"Very good. Now, as to what is going on. Before I explain, you need to make a decision. If you can't decide today, there's really no hurry. But I will ask that you give me your answer before you leave town on Friday morning."

Mario nodded cautiously then looked at her attentively.

"Some of what I'm about to tell you is probably not new to you, but as I don't read minds, I'll cover all the basics, just in case. All twins born here speak 'twin'. That is of course widely known, as it is that twins serve important roles in the military and business world by facilitating communications. What isn't all that well known is that some twins literally cannot be separated from each other for any length of time, even so much as spending a night at a friend's home here in The City. Such twins become physically ill even after those few hours.

"In general the health of all twins is directly related to how far apart they are and for how long. Even the most robust will die if the separation is for too long or too far.

"That also isn't anything confidential, though even here only a minority of the population are consciously aware of it. That I serve directly at the direction of Her Grace Duchess Henrietta as her eyes and ears in The City is. You're an intelligent young man. You obviously had realized that I was more than I appeared, though it's unlikely that you knew about the Duchess."

She ended that last with a tilt of her head and a questioning expression, to which he shook his head "no."

"I'm certain that I can trust you not to mention that to anyone. However, what I'd like to tell you now is not only confidential, it's considered need to know. At present there are only four people in the world who have thus far needed to know this particular information. You'd be number five, if you are willing to devote the most important part of your future time to the service of the monarchy. I am NOT asking you to quit what you love doing, far from it, but more of your time will be required to be spent on the various tasks I'd be assigning you.

"In exchange you will have the gratitude of myself and the Duchess, though obviously not publicly. I think that, as a merchant, you might also appreciate that your stipend would be substantially increased."

Mario stood and bowed deeply. "Lady Miranda, any honest merchant, no, let me rephrase that. Any merchant who is being honest with himself will admit that, in the long run, the money isn't nearly as important as the trade. Oh, yes, surely all of us enjoy what we can do with more money, but mostly it just lets us expand the, ah, 'size' of our playing field.

"I started 'playing' in your world on my own when I began expanding my network of informants beyond what any merchant in his right mind would usually need. Much as I find 'my' game fascinating, yours is much more fun.

"There's one other thing any good merchant knows. You can't get ahead in the game if you let your opponents know what you know. Secrecy and dealing with conspiracies small and large are our bread and butter. Master Ringvold drilled that into me, sometimes most pointedly." He winced, then shook himself.

"So, I suppose I really don't need till the end of the week, or even till tomorrow. I'll be pleased to join your 'new' game. I also promise not to say anything about it to anyone."

He added thoughtfully, "I expect that we'll need some time to thresh out the necessary details, but I can make myself free to begin as soon as tomorrow morning. I'm at loose ends till one more shipment comes in from up north anyway, and it's not due for another two to three days at the earliest."

Miranda nodded and reached for the bellpull. After the four children arrived, she gestured them to seats and for Mimi to close the door, after which she cast silence on the entire room. "Yoko, Hibiki, decide which of you will best be able to explain your 'connection' to Jason and Eugenia. I'll also want you to explain what's going on between Genie and Mario."

Yoko stood. "I'll do the first part. I've gotta say that it surprised me. Biki could feel what's going on with Genie better than I could, though all three of us could tell that it's there. She'll explain the second part, if that's OK with you."

Miranda gestured assent. How interesting. She wasn't aware of anyone who knew that twins could have an "imbalance" of abilities. She'd have to ask Akane to see if there were anything about it buried in the historical records. For now though she focused her attention on Yoko, who had just turned to face Mario.

"Biki and I are like any other twins when it comes ta 'speaking' to each other. There is one difference though. Right after we started at Chapman two years ago, Jason surprised us, no, it was more like knocked us on the floor by starting ta speak to us in 'twin' also."

Mario stiffened in shock at the confirmation of his suspicion, but otherwise didn't move or make a sound.

Yoko nodded at him then continued, "We worked just like any twins do, except that there were now three of us. Nothing changed until there was a messy, ah, 'incident' last fall. Ta fix it, the three of us forced Genie to join our group."

A look of intense distaste crossed her face. "All four of us were sick as dogs that'd eaten rotten meat afterwards, 'specially Genie. Basically we were 'puking our guts up' for about 10 minutes or so. I didn't check the time, and I don't wanna even remember it.

"Well, that's my part. All four of us can speak our version of 'twin' now."

As Yoko began to sit, Hibiki was standing. "My turn now I think. What Yoko did not tell you is that we cannot be separated from each other for any great distance without becoming ill. Well, at least Jason, Yoko, and I cannot. We never tested it with Genie. For the three of us, the maximum distance we can be apart, where we can retain our faculties and do not feel excessively sick, is a bit under two kilometers, three if two of us are together."

She paused and turned toward Miranda. "Mrs. Donetti, may I please have a sip of water? My throat is getting dry for some reason."

Manda noted that Hibiki wasn't all that good at acting yet, but it was passable. Mario hadn't noticed how absurd her statement was. At least he showed no sign of it if he had. She'd have to sort that out later. It might be important.

"Of course my dear. Come over here. I have an extra glass."

She poured. As Biki approached, Miranda noticed tears in her eyes. Ah. So that was it. She carefully slid a handkerchief across the desk while she handed Hibiki the glass of water. Hibiki managed to sip with one hand and blot with the other, all the while keeping her blotting arm concealed by her body.

"Thank you Mrs. Donetti. I feel much better now."

She turned to Mario who was leaning forward with an attentive expression. Genie however was sitting at the other side of the room and had had a clear view of what Hibiki had just done. The question in her mind was: 'Why?"

Hibiki nodded at Mario. "Today the two of your were almost seven kilometers away from the rest of us. Genie was doing well, until she was separated from you by several hundred meters. Once she was, the symptoms you described were exactly what happens to us," she gestured at Jason and Yoko, "when we are getting too far apart from each other.

"Our assumption is that she is now tied to us in that way as well. We also suspect that you can, somehow, serve as a stabilizing factor, a 'roaming anchor' if you will, and that your presence can prevent her from suffering the effects of Separation Sickness. We also have an idea as to why, but we need to discuss that with Genie and her mother, privately. It will be up to them to tell you should they find it needful for you to know."

As she sat, Jason unexpectedly stood and took up the narrative in a dry, matter-of-fact voice. "We'll need to do some testing, just to be sure. It will, at the very least, require checking how far apart the two of you can be, without her falling ill, at varying distances from The City. Since you seem to be a, shall we say, moderating factor rather than a critical one, the likelihood that your leaving The City on your business will cause her problems is probably nil.

"We should test that anyway, some time before you must leave, just in case. If you don't account for all the variables in an experiment you're likely to miss something, and it may be important so..."

He recoiled slightly then smiled apologetically at the twins, "Sorry."

He turned to Miranda, said, "I'm finished," then sat down.

Miranda asked Mario, "Well youngling. Do you have any questions?"

Mario opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and closed it once more. Finally he said, "No, at least not right now. I need to go away and think, probably overnight. I'd like to speak with you in the morning. If I may?"

"Agreed. Be here at 10. I have things to do early in the day that I can't reschedule. The rest of the day I'll have free since it's a Sunday." She looked at him closely. "Though I think you'll be joining us for Sunday dinner."

Mario had trouble believing what he'd just heard. Such an invitation was usually reserved only for visiting family or very close friends. "Ah, yes ma'am. I shall be pleased to join you. Thank you very much." He stood, bowed, then exited the room having recognized her tone of dismissal.

After the door had closed, Miranda turned back to the twins. "Will you both need to be here? If so Jason can wait in the family parlor."

Yoko stood. "No, Biki can deal with it. Jason and I'll go window shopping. We have a friend with a birthday coming soon, and we haven't bought her a present yet. May we be excused?"

"Of course. I'll have Hibiki call you when we're finished."