The Clocks

The children were summoned and dutifully appeared almost immediately, though how they appeared prompted a great deal of consternation in both Miranda and Blair. Jason was panting, sweating profusely, and none too steady on his feet. Following him were the twins with Eugenia between them and with her arms around their shoulders. All three were staggering like the proverbial drunken sailors. There was also a particularly acrid odor which told their mothers that some or all of them had recently been vomiting.

As their mothers hastened over, Eugenia interrupted them with a weakly raised hand. Without looking up she croaked, "No. Don't bother. I don't think I'm going to die. That was five minutes ago. Now I only wish I were dead."

Without moving she said, "Yoko, Biki, just lower me to the floor. I think I'll stretch out on the carpet. I don't think I could handle a chair right now."

The twins looked at each other, then gently lowered Eugenia to the floor and helped her stretch out. Immediately thereafter they too found open areas and laid themselves down.

Their mothers spoke rapidly, on top of each other, "What in the world? Was the food poisoned? Is anyone else sick? If you need to throw up again, do it in the trash can, not on the floor. Do you need medication? Are you sure you're going to be OK?"

They might have gone on, just spinning their wheels, had Jason not intervened. That alone shocked them into temporary silence. They'd never heard him initiate a conversation before.

"Ah. Excuse me? I think I can explain."

He hung his head slightly and continued in a quieter voice, "It's OK if I do it, isn't it? You won't get mad if I don't let you talk first, what with you being adults and this being your house?"

Blair surprised both of them by walking over and hugging him tightly. "No Jason. I know I said that you shouldn't call me "Mother" yet, but it's OK for you to think of this as your second home. So you just go ahead and tell us what happened, OK?

"But sit down first. You don't look as bad as the girls, but you certainly don't look good."

"Thank you Mrs. Macklin. I am feeling sorta, well, I guess the best word is 'rotten'."

Jason semi-collapsed onto a nearby chair then waited while Miranda and Blair re-seated themselves.

Seeing them turn to him, he began, "Well, ah, we were talking out in the courtyard while we ate our snacks. What we were talking about was talking. Uh, talking in 'twin'. I'm not sure why, but all of a sudden all four of us had the same idea. We figured that it would be really useful if Genie could talk in twin too. To tell the truth, I'm still not sure why, but I know that we all were sure that it was important somehow."

His voice trailed off, and he appeared to be trying to puzzle out why such an insane idea had come to him...them.

Since his head had been hanging down while he spoke he hadn't noticed that as soon as he said that the idea had struck all four of them at once, Blair and Miranda's heads had snapped up and they'd looked intently at each other. They might as well have been twins at that moment for their thoughts were identical. "You don't suppose...."

Immediately they heard a momentary, high pitched sound, much like wind chimes. It disappeared as quickly as it had come.

So, "she" had intervened. They knew that there were a number of constraints on Lady Blue's actions in their world. Somehow she'd always managed to avoid telling them what they were or how they worked.

They nodded at each other and Miranda spoke, "Jason. Did you have to think about how to do it, or did the way to do it just suddenly appear in your mind like the idea to try did?"

He slowly raised his head and looked at her. "No Mrs. Donetti. That's a lot of what we talked about. We finally figured out that it might work if we set it up so it was sorta like how it was when I learned. It was Yoko's idea that the three of us stand around Genie like a triangle, and Hibiki thought it would help if we touched her.

"So what we did is they put their hands on her shoulders, and I held her hands. Then we just sorta, I guess 'pushed' is the best word. We pushed really, really hard. For me it felt like I was trying to pull aside a really big, heavy curtain. I'm not sure what the girls felt."

He looked in their direction then winced. "Ow! Right now talking 'twin' really hurts. They said that they'll tell you later. Then don't even want to use their regular voices right now. They're afraid they might start throwing up again."

Miranda and Blair both looked even more anxious than they had before, but they clamped their jaws shut. This was obviously very important.

"Anyway, I was getting pretty tired. It was almost like when the girls first took me out walking when I was fat. That was hard. You know I.... Never mind.

"Just when we were about ready to give up, something popped and we could talk to Genie. But at first it wasn't like 'twin' at all. It was more like we could see everything she was thinking and feeling."

His face softened, and his voice became somewhat husky, "They're not angry with her now, and they aren't jealous any more either. That's because we could all see that she truly does love me and how much she's hurting because she can't be with me this time."

Puzzlement washed over his face. "I don't know exactly what they did, but that's when Yoko and Hibiki pushed me out of Genie's head. I could tell that the three of them were talking, but it was really, really fast and I couldn't hear any of it. When they stopped I knew that they'd decided something though. The twins would get to be with me now, and Genie's turn would be later.

"I'm not sure what that means though. I'm sorry." He hung his head again.

Before either Blair or Miranda could say anything, Yoko levered herself up into a sitting position. "I'm willing ta swear that we were talking for at least an hour, but Jason told us later it wasn't but two or three minutes. Well, anyway, we agreed that Genie wasn't quite ready ta be Jason's partner yet. Hibiki and I have ta work with him a lot more before that can happen.

"She needs someone to help her too." She looked at directly at Miranda. "She has the same problem as Jason does, ya know. It's not as bad, but it's there. We promised ta help her find someone who can help her the way we're helping Jason. Since she's not as badly affected, she won't need ta be with twins. Just one man will be enough, if it's the right one."

Her smile was on the ragged side, but clearly sincere. "And Biki and I are gonna make sure it IS the right man."

She climbed to her feet, and wobbled her way to a chair. "After that all of us went over to the drain in the courtyard and puked up our guts. Genie had it worse, probably cause all three of us sort beat up on her inside her head. I guess the rest of us just maybe caught the fringes."

She stood and bowed slightly to their mothers. "Mama, we're wasted. Will ya ask for some sweetened tea for us. The taste in our mouths is vile."

Blair used a special bell pull that she ordinarly used only when the happenings in her office needed to be totally unnoticed by the regular staff. The person who appeared didn't show any signs of surprise when he entered the room, but rather stood quietly.

"Please bring up a large pot of sweetened tea."

He nodded, turned, and quietly closed the door.

Jason suddenly stood and looked extremely puzzled as he said, "I'm supposed to tell you that what we just did can't be duplicated. The only reason it worked was because there were three of us helping Genie to learn how, and because she was, is, in love with me. She says, 'those exact circumstances will never happen again, so don't even think of trying to do anything similar with your agents'."

He sat back down and apologized, "I'm very sorry. I don't know why I said that."

Blair stood and hugged him again. "Don't be sorry Jason. Manda and I know what it means. You did just fine."

He looked up at her. "I did?"

Seeing her nod, his face lit up with the first truly happy smile she'd seen. She gave him another quick hug then resumed her seat. "Well Manda, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Of course cousin, how could I not. This fixes the one hole in the plan; specifically how do the twins or Jason let us know if they spot Avi when none of them will be able to move from their positions.

"Genie can be on the ground floor with Hiroshi and tell him who and where. If a fight breaks out, it's highly unlikely that she'd be a target, but there's always a chance that she could accidently get in the way or be pulled in some other way. She has the best chance of keeping herself alive. Hiroshi says that she's learning the art faster than any of his other students in the past three years."

From the floor a walrus rasped, "He did? Really? That's great!"

That was followed immediately by, "OW! My head!!"

Four minutes later the 'servant' re-entered the room with a very large pot of tea, six cups, and a large container of honey.

Blair, Jason, and the twins did for themselves.

Miranda made up a cup for Genie then knelt on the floor and carefully lifted her into a semi-sitting position, after which she helped Genie hold the cup to her lips and drink.

Once each of the children had managed to down two cups of heavily sweetened tea, Miranda and Blair left the room, after giving the children instructions not to try to get up until after they got back. As they were going downstairs Blair had a nagging feeling that there was still a loose end that needed tying up. Even so, no matter how hard she pummeled her mind, she couldn't think of what it might be. What had just happened still had her partially stunned.

Fortunately, maybe, the loose end chose that moment to burst in through the front door...in a dignified, feminine way, or at least that's what Akane later convinced herself that she'd done. As the flustered maid was trying to calm down the incensed person in front of her, said person spied Blair and Miranda on the stairs.

"Just...what...are...you...doing with my son?! Did you really think that I'd swallow that flimsy excuse you sent about why he was here so late last night. And this morning too? What in the name of God is going on here?"

Blair recoiled in shock. She'd never imagined that Akane Fukui would ever, could ever, turn into such a firebrand. Miranda had had just a bit more sleep last night than Blair had, and a solution occured to her. She stepped forward and took Akane's hand. "Well come cousin. I'm glad you could make it on such short notice."

She looked around as if just now noticing that they were still in the entry hall. "But where are my manners. Let's go into the parlor."

She turned as if to go into the visitor's parlor, but then lightly bonked herself on the head with the heel of her hand. "Oh. Please forgive me. You're family. We should go to the family parlor."

While Akane was momentarily in shock, Blair, who had quickly recovered, took her left elbow. Miranda took her right, and the two of them practically carried Akane down the hall, into the parlor, and kicked the door shut behind them.

The staff, who had been recruited as much for their lack of curiosity as their skills, looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, then went back to what they'd been doing. Minor commotions like this were so common that even the few staff who were a bit, shall we say 'flighty', had long been inured to them.

Akane however was not. Also, her curiosity about the world was essentially boundless. If not, she could never have become a good historian. She rounded on Blair and demanded, "You WILL tell me what's going on, and you can start with why Miranda called me 'cousin'. That makes just as little sense as everything else!"

Blair smiled at her gently, working her own personal magic, "You're right. I really should explain things to you, and I'll start right now. So if you'll please be seated? We'll all be much more comfortable that way, and we," she pointed to Miranda and herself, "are exceedingly tired right now."

At that point Akane had calmed enough that she was able to look at her hosts, and what she saw was awful. Their hair was in disarray, their clothes were wrinkled, and they had big, dark circles under their eyes. It was almost as if they'd stayed up most of the night and were still wearing the clothes they'd had on the day before. Things were getting even more strange than she'd imagined, and, as we all know, she had a vivid imagination.

Once Blair had sat down and stretched again, she pointed to Miranda. "Your turn. You started it. You finish it."

Manda nodded, then turned to Akane. Not knowing her well, Akane was suddenly confused. When they'd met before Miranda had been a congenial, and friendly -- though not overly friendly -- companion at tea. This person was entirely different. For starters she felt as if Miranda's gaze was boring right through her.

Before she could follow that thought anywhere, Miranda started, "You know that Yoko and Hibiki worked out their family history and that it led back to Johann Kastner, and Duke Alphonse through his wife Lily. It seems that your Jason became interested in some of the "loose ends" as he called them, and pursued things further by prevailing on my Paolo to look for more records in the Little Cathedral.

"Novice priests are usually given some sort of boring, tedious, but necessary jobs in order to test whether or not they can stand a life that is less, um, boisterous than one someone their age would normally have in a busy city. Paolo's task was to organize and catalog the parts of the library in the Little Cathedral that had been neglected. In the process he found a set of diaries written by Baron Rinaldi, Duke Alphonse's personal butler and head of staff. After his death, they were continued by his son Peter, who served both Alphonse and Duchess Abigail."

She momentarily glanced away from Akane, as if to gather her thoughts. In reality she wanted to see Akane's expression when she thought she wasn't being observed. Hah! Hooked her. Dangle a diary from a little-known period in front of a historian, especially if that period was important, and they instantly go weak in the knees from the excitement.

She turned back and went on, "Paolo made the diaries available to Jason, with the stipulation that he index them, which, I've been told, he did quickly, accurately, and legibly. In the process Jason discovered something Yoko didn't, as no one had been aware of this particular source when they were working on their class project. The names of Lily's two daughters were Rosalie and Bernadette. Yoko had only identified Rosalie.

"Blair here," she nodded in her direction, "is descended from Rosalie. Another thing Jason discovered was the lineage of descendents from Bernadette. One of them, was Consuela Ingram. I imagine that the name is familiar to you?

"So to be short, Jason is also a direct descendent from Johann Kastner and Lily, which makes you Blair's cousin by marriage. The relationship is distant, but you are a cousin."

Akane's mouth had dropped open in surprise and shock. Being a lady, she'd covered it with her hand.

Miranda smirked at her as she said, "There's just one more item you might find interesting. Johann's other wife Raven had three sets of twins. The eldest were girls, Aradia and Carline. Their next set were boys, Alphonse and Guiseppe. I'd never made the connection, but then I'm not much interested in history." She shrugged her shoulders in apology.

"My maiden name was Kastner. It seems that my father Ignatius is descended from Raven and Johann's children. I use the word 'children' intentionally. One of Aradia's great-granddaughters married one of the great-grandsons of her younger brother Guiseppe."

By now Akane's shock was so great that she was no longer making an effort to be "ladylike." Both her hands had fallen to her lap and her mouth was hanging open wide enough to catch a small bird had one been handy.

Miranda wrapped things up with a succinct, "As you see, I had a good reason to call you 'cousin' cousin. My side has a 'double shot' of Kastner blood."

Akane looked at Blair, as if to confirm that Miranda hadn't just engaged in some sort of elaborate practical joke. Blair nodded encouragingly.

"Oh... My...."

There was near silence for a full minute. The only sound was a slight creaking from the furniture when someone changed position.

Suddenly Akane sat up, assumed a formal position with one hand clasping the other and her back rigid. "Miranda, when do you suppose that I might be able to discuss these diaries with your son?"

Miranda looked at Blair. Blair looked at Miranda. Both of them looked at Akane. Then Miranda folded herself double and Blair slid off the sofa, with her chest and left arm stretched out on the seat to support her. Both of them were roaring with laughter. Akane was frozen in place. She had no idea what was going on or why. Her confusion mounted when Blair and Miranda faced toward her, tears still running down their cheeks and gave her looks that clearly were intended as invitations to laugh with them.

There was enough aristocratic idiocy still in her that she, almost, gave in to indignation. Then her innate child, combined with the sudden recollection as to why she'd come today overrode, or perhaps it would be better to say "shattered" what was left of her old facade. The next thing she knew she was on her knees, doubled over like Miranda, and laughing her head off.

The thought that the indignant, protective mother had been pushed aside by the intense curiosity of the historian was hilariously funny. After a minute though, she realized that it really wasn't quite THAT funny no matter how you looked at it.

Her analytical mind shifted into gear even though she was still laughing. Blair and Miranda were also still laughing, but their laughter had just a hint of hysteria in it. They were using the opportunity to laugh at her behavior to unwind from...something. Something truly significant which was happening, or about to happen, and, whatever it was, they were in it up to their necks. The probabilities also favored Jason factoring into the equation somehow as well.

Since it was a Friday afternoon on the day before the Festa, she hadn't expected to see the younger children around. Her little one, Rebecca, was off playing with friends somewhere as well. Nevertheless, the older children should have made an appearance, even if just to say hello briefly, especially as they were in the family parlor.

She took a few deep breaths, pulled herself back onto her chair, fished a handkerchief out of her clutch, and carefully blotted her face. She didn't want to completely ruin her makeup. As it was, she'd probably have to fix her face before she left.

"Well cousins, I think I'm glad to be in the family. The two of you are much more interesting than I'd ever imagined, and I have quite an imagination. As a matter of fact, I used to imagine that you, Blair, might be a spy because you seem to, no, not 'seem', you DO know a great deal about a number of things that a banker's wife normally wouldn't. Or should I say 'shouldn't'?"

She raised an eyebrow as she asked the question. She didn't do it nearly as well as Miranda, but she hadn't had all that much practice either.

Blair raised her hand to prevent Akane from pursuing that particular topic. "No Akane, I'm not a spy."

(Remember class, she was the spymaster, not a spy herself anymore, so her statement was true -- as far as it went.)

"I can tell you though that I am working with Duchess Henrietta on a project that I'm not yet at liberty to discuss." She smiled broadly. "Besides, it's Miranda who's the spy."

If Miranda had had anything in her mouth, she would have produced a massive spit-take. As it was she still found herself having a coughing fit.

Akane looked back and forth from Miranda to Blair, several times. Then she smiled and began laughing again, though not nearly as hard as before. When she was able to speak she said, "Blair dear, I wish we'd become friends much sooner. Your sense of humor is so adorable! I really and truly believe that I might have been a nicer person to be around if I'd been able to laugh more."

At that point she blushed brightly. She'd finally acknowledged to herself, and the others, that she really had been, for quite a few years, what the children nowadays would call a "stuck-up bitch." It wasn't very pleasant to look at it, but there was a strong sense of relief as well. Maintaining a facade for so long had been exhausting.

"So, just between us cousins, what in Hades is going on that requires Jason's presence and also explains why you two look like you were dragged in the dust for several hours?"

Miranda and Blair looked at each other critically, for the first time that day noticing their appearance and were appalled.

Akane smiled at their expressions then quietly said, "When we're through talking, let me at least fix your hair for you. I'm rather good at it."

The other two exchanged a glance, then turned to Akane and smiled their thanks. They'd have to bathe and change before the banquet, but having their hair done ahead of time would be most helpful.

Blair stood, so the others did likewise. "Akane, I think it's best if you see the children first, before we talk about anything. Will you come with me please?"

"Of course. Lead on."