The Clocks

As expected, Miranda was more than a little displeased when they charged into her office. They'd missed dinner entirely, they hadn't knocked, and she was furious. She wanted an explanation immediately. She got exactly what she asked for, but what she heard astonished her and quenched her fury.

When they got to the part about Mimi telling them what to do, and that they were to do it NOW, or else, Miranda reluctantly relaxed. She summoned Sven, and they began hauling trunks out of storage. By the time they were finished, Ailin had arrived and was overseeing the sorting. Now that Miranda was no longer involved in the activities, she found herself becoming excited. This HAD to be something related to what Priss "saw."

When she became conscious of her surroundings again, she looked up and found herself alone with Sven, the others having blinked back to Metz. She didn't really need to do it immediately, but she was excited enough that, just this once, she would forget about the "proper order for such things."

She dashed out the door, in a dignified manner of course, and hurried herself over to see Blair. It was likely that Ailin hadn't had time to explain what was going on, so Miranda felt it was her duty to enlighten her.

As she was briskly walking along, she examined the thought. Yes, it should hold up under even a detailed examination of her motive, which, knowing Blair, certainly might happen. Unlike the twins -- who took great pleasure in telling stories -- she didn't want to explain things twice, and had sent Sven to the Fukui's to summon Akane. She'd definitely be interested in the goings-on. She almost rubbed her hands together in glee, but that wasn't appropriate for a public place, so she decided to forgo the pleasure.

Once both she and Akane were at the Macklin's, the three of them adjourned to Blair's office, where Miranda explained what she knew. Unlike the twins, she had already put these particular puzzle pieces together. They were too busy supervising the baths of the other children to turn their minds on yet.

Miranda had arrived at the only possible conclusion. She reminded the others that Priss had said that Mario and Genie were not to sell the extra 11 horses and to buy three more. Adding in the fact that, after subtracting the inkeepers twin granddaughters, there were 14 children who were orphaned or abandoned, the conclusion was self-evident. The City was about to acquire 14 new citizens.

Blair nodded her understanding. "Yes. Now let's see. It will probably take them about five or six weeks to arrive, assuming that at least some of the children are not experienced riders, nor are they likely to have any skill at 'camping out'. I expect that we'll find out the exact date once they're within a few days of arriving.

"Either way, there should be plenty of time to determine which of them will need to be housed together, which will be comfortable apart from the others, and to find them temporary quarters."

"Agreed Blair." Akane smiled at her. "There's no reason to begin even preliminary planning until Mimi or Ailin tell us what they're up to."

She held up her hand to restrain the others' responses. "Yes, I know we all pretend that we don't know, but those two are playing some very deep game beyond what they've let us see so far. It's likely that, after the immediate situation is resolved, both of them will be dropping several hints for you two to puzzle out. Once they do, I propose that we schedule an extended meeting, before the children arrive, to discuss just what each of you has figured out so far. It's likely that you each have some of the 'pieces of the puzzle' that the other doesn't."

She grinned at the surprise on both their faces, then did a dramatic facepalm while at the same time shaking her head. "You never compared notes, did you?"

Lifting her face, and seeing their stunned expressions as they looked at each other, Akane let go with a very unladylike belly-laugh. They were alone, so no one else was likely to hear. Sometimes you just had to let it out.

"Well, that's enough for today. I still have things to do before Rebecca goes to bed. You'll be contacting me tomorrow or the day after to fill me in on what you find out, yes?"

They nodded. She smiled again and headed home. This was going to be FUN!

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Stavros and Consulea were, as Miranda had expected, far to busy to think about anything other than that old saying about how hard it is to herd cats. They hadn't expected to find baths like those at home attached to the inn, but both the women's and men's sides could easily handle 20 people. Getting the other kids out of their clothes was itself quite a task, as almost none had ever been naked in front of anyone besides their family members before, and not at all for at least the past two years. Finally Stav and 'Suela separately came to the same conclusion and stripped to show the others how things were to be done. Eventually they had the others lined up on the various stools and benches and got started with washing hair. 'Suela was lucky in that two of the girls were near her age, one 12 and the other 14. The younger had shed her things with a great sigh of relief.

"I thought I'd never be able to stand up straight again!"

Seeing 'Suela's puzzled stare, she explained. "If you bend forward, you look shorter, and thus younger. Also nobody can notice that you have breasts. I didn't trust those people at Giles' place as far as I could throw them. Not that I'd try. Their stench was abominable."

The 14 year old just nodded slightly and got on with business.

'Suela noticed that the first girl was dealing with the little ones like an expert and said so.

The girl, who volunteered "Heidi" as her name smiled. "I'd originally wanted to be a teacher when I grew up."

She turned to 'Suela with hope and fear in her eyes, at the same time continuing with washing the hair of the little one in front of her. "Your Mimi said that we could go to school when we get to your city. Do you think that, maybe, I still might be able to after we get to where you live?"

'Suela nodded. "I can't see why not. My sister-in-law is the Librarian In Charge of the two largest libraries in The CIty. If anyone knows how to get you caught up with your education, she will."

Heidi smiled widely and turned back to the task at hand. Given the steam and water everywhere, only 'Suela and the older girl noticed the happy tears coursing down her cheeks. They too were still washing hair and turned toward each other. The older girl finally introduced herself, "I'm Brigid."

'Suela nodded. "Consuela, but call me 'Suela. All my friends do."

Brigid nodded back and resumed washing the hair of the girl in front of her. It looked as if Brigid wasn't ready to talk about anything yet, and 'Suela wasn't about to prod what might be a raw wound, or perhaps even several.

After they'd rinsed off the last of the little ones and sent them to soak for a few minutes, Brigid turned to 'Suela, "So, you sister-in-law is a librarian. What does your brother do?"

"Oh. He's a priest. My older sister is here at the inn with her husband. They're Eugenia and Mario. They're selling books and doing something at one of the banks here, though I don't know what exactly.

"Whatever it is, they're probably going to have changed their plans by morning since they're the ones who will be leading you back to The City."

'Suela had been washing Brigid's hair while they were talking. "There, all done. Lets get a good soak in, at least for a few minutes before we eat. It may not be as good as at home, as there's no healing spring water here, but it oughta feel pretty good anyway."

Brigid filed that last bit away for future consideration. She had no idea what a "healing spring" was, but from the way 'Suela talked about it, it seemed to be something that many people had access to. If so, then whoever ran this city of hers must not be all that power hungry. If they were, access to such a thing as a spring that heals would be heavily restricted.

Their new situation promised to be much better than what they had just left, but a great deal more information was needed before she could draw any solid conclusions. First-in scouts learned early on not to jump at the first answer that presented itself. If they did, it could be disastrous when the rest of the team arrived. There would be ample time to compare notes with the other four before making their report to Mattie. It would probably be a decade yet before she would able manifest her full personality, but nobody sends in their commander before the scouts have made their preliminary survey, so they'd be busy while they waited however many years it took for Mattie to grow up.

The village they'd chosen to be born in was about an hour off the main road, but reasonably prosperous. In other words, a good place to base out of as they got a feeling for the lay of the land. What they hadn't counted on, and could not have expected no matter how thorough their planning, was being raided by such a large group of bandits.

They'd killed all the adults and stolen everything of value. They left the children to cope as they would with the ruination of their lives. After a few days, Brigid and her team had managed to get the others to abandon the village and head toward Metz.

Once they arrived, they found nobody willing to help nine orphaned children. Even the churches turned them away, being too busy catering to the "pilgrims" and their relatively fat wallets. Settling in with Giles and the 12 kids already living there had been their only option, albeit one that was only slightly better than living on the streets.

She shivered at the memory. At least he'd never abused any of them in any way, other than verbally. For that she was grateful. She had no idea what they'd all have done if she'd had to kill him.

'Suela's voice roused her from her reverie, "Brigid, are you cold? You're shaking."

She turned to 'Suela and shook her head "no."

'Suela cocked her head to the side. "You don't talk much, do you? Don't mind about that. One of our friends has an older sister who rarely says more than 20 words in an entire day."

Seeing Brigid's surprise, 'Suela hastened to add, "It's absolutely true! How she manages to work as a doctor when she almost never talks is something I don't understand at all."

She frowned slightly as she thought about it. "Maybe it's because she's so good. I didn't hear all the details, but she healed Mario last summer when everyone thought he was going to die."

'Suela nodded to herself and stood. "Well enough of that. Let's get the others, and ourselves, dried, dressed, and then get something to eat."

She got out of the tub and turned to the rest. "All right everyone. Playtime is over so stop splashing. You need to get out, properly dried, and dressed before you can eat."

Putting her hands on her hips, she leaned forward. "You DO want to eat, don't you?"

Moments later the bath was empty and the ten girls were doing their best to dress -- and not having a great deal of luck. It seemed that clothing in The City was made a bit differently from what they were used to and they were finding it hard to put on.

'Suela hastened to help them before anyone tore out a seam from pulling too hard. She hoped that Stav was having better luck with his six. By long habit they didn't speak "twin" when they were bathing with others, feeling that it was somehow invading their privacy. It wasn't exactly rational behavior, but that's how they felt, so that's what they did.

-----------------------

The children sat relatively quietly at the long tables in the dining area. If they were disappointed at the small portions they were given, none said a word about it. It was more than they usually had, and it was hot rather than cold.

Madame Lefevre smiled at their expressions of disappointment. "Now don't you all get your knickers in a knot. I have no idea how well you've eaten in the past, or how much you're used to, and I don't want to overload your stomachs. So you eat what you have, slowly mind you. If it all stays down, you may have more after half an hour. If any of you start to feel sick to your stomachs, go out that door next to the kitchen. If you throw up in here, I'll be unhappy, and you don't want me unhappy. Trust me on that."

Her ferocious look morphed into a big smile. "Well, what are you waiting for? Dig in."

Genie and Mario appeared about half way through the meal. At first they paid no attention to the children. However they were only a few steps inside the inn when Genie pulled up short and grabbed Mario's sleeve.

Before he could speak, she hissed, "Mimi and Ailin are sitting with those children," after which she buried her face in Mario's chest and muttered, "I hate things like this. I don't do sudden changes very well. Tell me that there aren't 14 children there."

Mario did a quick count. "No Love, there are 16, not counting Stavros and Consela."

Genie shuddered. "They're here too? That's even worse.... Give me a moment."

She took several deep breaths, straightened, then turned around to face reality. She strode to Mimi and waited.

Mimi looked up and smiled, then turned to the children. "Be silent a moment, all of you."

Shortly there was no sound other than their breathing, though there was a hint of someone's being a bit ragged. Mimi shrugged. Probably just the acoustics.

"Children, these two are Mario and Eugenia Brown. They'll be escorting you to The City. You'll be leaving the day after tomorrow. We'll have to wait till then as they have business to wrap up tomorrow afternoon, and we'll also need time to buy some traveling clothes for the 14 of you who will be leaving with them."

Genie stared at Mimi who looked back, unblinking, with a neutral expression. After some time, Genie smiled. "All right. I give."

She turned her face to the room and raised her voice so as to be heard clearly, "As you have just heard. Mario and I, as well as two of our friends, will help you reach The City. We'll discuss the details with you starting in the morning, and then again after we finish our business in the afternoon."

She waved in the direction of the kitchen. "For now, we need to eat too. We'll check on you before we go to bed."