The Clocks

Beginning the next afternoon, Jason began to run them through a fairly exhaustive set of tests to determine not only how far apart they could be, but also whether hills, buildings, and even flowing water might have an effect on the safe range. Due to school for the kids, and work for Mario, this required most of their free time for the next three days.

During the process, they determined that, at least within the valley, there was no problem communicating with Genie so long as at least one of the twins was with Jason, or the twins were together. With only Jason and Genie trying to use their private channel, things began to break up right at about where the road left the south end of the valley.

The final results were promising. At three kilometers out, the absolute maximum distance that Jason and the twins could be separated and still be semi-conscious, Genie was able to be as much as 600 meters away from Mario without having serious symptoms. Right where the road left the valley it was down to 200 meters.

On Wednesday, the two of them rode all the way to where the road from The City met the King's Highway. In the last kilometer and a half, the safe distance seemed to stabilize at about 150 meters. No matter what obstacles were in between them, the straight-line distance remained the same. Genie's communication link to any two of the others remained rock solid at any distance.

As a final test on Thursday afternoon, all five of them rode south as far as Warehouse Row. The twins didn't have any problems with becoming faint, or confused, as they had when they were separated, but, as they passed the warehouses, they began to be assaulted by gradually worsening anxiety. There was nothing in particular associated with it except a steadily growing desire to "go home." Jason was affected as well, but to a much lesser extent. Still, he did become fairly uncomfortable.

At that point they all turned around. When they reached the Mule's Tale, it was dinner time, so, not wanting to separate any sooner than necessary, they decided to eat there. As they came in, they saw Alicia at the counter, obviously arguing with someone. She raised her head to see who had come in, then waved them in the general direction of the dining room. As one they chose the table closest to Alicia. They wanted to hear what the argument was about.

"Listen you old coot! It is not spelled wrong. T-A-L-E is correct."

His back was to the eavesdroppers, so they couldn't hear his reply. "All right. All right. I'll tell you but only once more. Are you sure you're sober this time?"

All five could see his nodding head and see him holding up a tankard, which Alicia sniffed suspiciously. Then she smiled. Apparently it had cider in it, that being the only non-alcoholic drink she sold in that particular container.

"Look you, it's a very short story. The original owner of the inn had a, shall we say, unusual sense of humor. One day he was more than a little tipsy when he heard one of the customers telling a rather bawdy story about a mule and..." She looked up at the children, "well, the details don't matter. What does matter is that he hadn't named the inn yet, and it's said that he laughed so hard he fell on the floor from it -- though it may have been because of the ale he'd already put away. Anyway, he liked the story so much that he had someone make up a sign for him right then and there. Ever since then it's been the 'Mule's Tale'. He said it made him laugh every time he saw the sign and was reminded of that story.

"Now I have other customers to take care of. You set yourself down and take your time. We have those chops you like so much today, if you've a mind to stay for dinner."

Alicia bustled over to the table. This was getting to be as interesting as any of the stories she'd heard lately. All five of them together? Something very interesting had to be going on. She was eventually going to have to get to the bottom of this new tale, no matter how long it took. But not right now. For now she'd take their orders and enjoy watching them interact.

Genie was sitting as close to Mario as the twins were to Jason, even though there was plenty of room for her to sit further away on the bench. That confirmed her suspicion from the first time they'd been here. Alicia would savor the possible answers to her questions later. Sometimes trying to figure out why something was going on was just as satisfying as knowing the answer.

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On the way back they didn't exactly dawdle, but neither did they hurry. I suppose that one would be most accurate if one said that this time they did amble. They paused at this shop and then another, mostly just window shopping, but occasionally buying one trinket or another, mostly as gifts.

When they were coming up on one area that was somewhat darker than the others, Jason innocently suggested, "Genie, why don't you and Mario go in there and do some kissing and such. He's leaving in the morning, so you won't be able to for a long time. That's a good place. We've used it fairly often. Either Yoko or Hibiki will stand guard while...."

The rest of what he was going to say was cut off when the twins, who had lagged slightly behind to look at some hair clips, caught up with the others and simultaneously punched Jason in his arms as hard at they could. This time they didn't bother to speak "twin." They laid into him verbally, starting with Yoko. "You unthinking, idiotic, fool! How many times do we have ta tell you ta think before ya say something? Especially when it's something private. It's not like we haven't told ya before."

Hibiki took over, "You know that you are not EVER supposed to talk about private things like that except with us. You dummy!" Then she looked at Genie and Mario. Even he was blushing. How interesting. She started purring, so softly that none of the others could hear her. "But now that Jason's already said it, I suppose that I would not mind keeping an eye out while the two of you 'say goodbye' to each other. I shall probably even keep my back turned as long as Yoko and Jason find enough to talk about to keep me from being bored."

Genie looked as if she wanted to die or kill someone and wasn't entirely sure which. Over their link the others could feel that she was mortified, angry, frustrated, and intensely curious. The twins pushed Jason into position in the middle of the opening, then took their stations on either side of him. Then they began chatting about nothing in particular, pointedly ignoring the flustered pair behind them.

After a while, Genie took hold of Mario's cuff and pulled gently, leading him further into the darkness. Once she felt that they were adequately obscured from eyes in the street, she stood on her toes and whispered, "It's embarrassing, but I don't know anything at all about this kissing business."

Mario whispered back, "I'm not exactly an expert either."

Suddenly a pair of hands sneaked behind his neck and pulled down insistently. Just before their lips touched Genie murmured, "Then I guess we'll have to see if we can figure out how it works."

A few minutes later Yoko sent over the link reserved for the three of them, "I see she hasn't learned ta shut down her emotional leakage when she's ah, excited, has she?"

Hibiki answered, "It looks that way. How much more time do you figure we ought to give them?"

Once again Jason demonstrated that while he was still having difficulties with what to say and when, he'd become a shrewd analyst of feelings. "I think about another five minutes. If we leave them be any longer than that, we might have to explain to her parents why we let her get pregnant.

Both girls clamped their physical hands over their mouths, and their mental hands over the channel that connected them to Genie. Uproarious laughter was not conducive to maintaining a romantic atmosphere. Jason kept his eyes on the stars while they were getting themselves under control. What seemed like moments later he announced, "It's time."

Naturally it was Hibiki who opened herself to Eugenia and purred over the link, "You might think about getting your clothes back in order. A couple of the shopkeepers are starting to look at us oddly."

Genie jerked her head back as if she'd been given an electric shock. Looking down at herself she noticed that Mario's hands were in places that they shouldn't be unless they were married, or at least formally engaged. She was especially flustered considering that they were in an unnamed alley.

She put both of her hands on his chest and pushed firmly, if reluctantly, against it until they were separated by half a meter. Then she frantically began to straighten her clothes. Moments later Mario seemed to snap out of whatever state his mind has been in, which was mostly turned off. When he saw Genie's condition he jumped back, smothering an oath as he did so.

Consciousness flooded back, followed immediately by embarrassment, frustration, and regret. His first thought was; "What have we been doing?" His second was, "When can we do it again?" He slapped himself on the cheeks with both hands, then turned his back to give Genie some privacy.

At that point Yoko sauntered up, chuckled, and said, "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" Then she began to help Genie rearrange herself. If Miranda saw her like this, there'd probably be hell to pay. She lifted her head and spoke to Mario over Genie's shoulder, "Get yerself out there with Jason and send Biki in. I'm gonna need help fixin Genie's hair."

Fortunately all Mario needed to do was tug his tunic back down to smooth out the few wrinkles. As he was about to pass Hibiki, she stopped him by stepping in front of him. Mario heard an odd noise and realized that she was purring. "Didn't you say that you won't be back in town before the first week of August? You need to realize what's going to happen when you two meet then. You're not going to be able to control yourselves when you're alone together, ever again."

She looked up at him and he could see that her primary expression was sympathetic. "You might, just might, consider taking a fair sized stack of writing paper with you when you leave. I suspect that either you arrange to get married immediately when you come back, or be prepared for either Miranda or Robert to kill you within the first week. There's no way in the world you'll be able to hide what you and Genie will be doing." Then she reached up, patted him on the cheek, and continued on into the alley to help Yoko.

When Mario reached the street, Jason was looking up at the stars. "Ah, Jason? Maybe you can help me out here. It's about those twins of yours. I don't understand at all what's going on. They say that they're not quite 15 yet, and it's true that it's about how old they look. Sometimes though, when they talk, it sounds like they're at least 40 years old."

Jason stopped looking at the sky and instead stared at the cobblestones at his feet. He paused a few seconds then answered, "I'd not thought about it, but you're right. Sometimes there's something very odd about them that way. I guess I'm just used to it and don't think about it any more.

"It doesn't really matter though, does it? They care a lot for people and would do anything to help their friends and those they love. Does your age really matter if you strip away all the non-essentials? I'm pretty sure that's right, but then I've only just turned 14, so I might be wrong."

He paused and rocked back and forth on his heels, trying to calm himself down without making a scene, then continued, "But I don't think so."

The walk back to the Donetti's passed without anyone speaking further, not even in "twin." The only thing that had changed was that the girls walked ahead, with Genie flanked by Yoko and Hibiki, who were each holding one of her hands. The men followed along about three meters behind them.

Genie let herself in, not even turning around to say goodbye to Mario. Her control of her emotions at that point was still erratic, and she didn't trust herself. When the door closed, Mario spun around and strode briskly back down the street, heading toward the Mule's Tale. He still had things to prepare before he left in the morning.

Jason escorted the twins home then went home himself. He wanted to think about a formula that had come to mind as he'd watched the movement of the stars. He had an idea that might just explain why the planets moved the way that they did.

Jason was a very honest boy, and he freely admitted to himself that one of the reasons he wanted to work out the math was that when he did so he literally forgot everything else. Right then he REALLY wanted to forget what he'd felt leaking from Genie and how it had made him feel about the twins.