The Clocks

Thursday, October 26 in The Year 725 After the Founding

They rode away from the village around 7:30 a.m. It was still not all that light, but it was good enough for them to see where they were going. There was one small change in their plans though. Gertie and Feliz had decided that it would be more 'romantic' if they left with their heads held high rather than sneaking out of town. Besides, the few people who might recognize them as they left all worked at the inn and wouldn't be able to take breaks till lunchtime. It would be several hours before word reached the miller, and by then it would be far too late for him to interfere.

Just before they mounted, they turned as one and presented Laura with something. "For Mr. Roberts to remember us by since he liked it so much."

Laura's guffaws echoed off the walls of the inn as the group headed out.

Once they'd reached the road and had settled into their traveling pace, Genie slowed her horse and let the girls catch up with her. "All right. What happened when you left? In my entire life I've not heard someone laugh so hard."

The girls exchanged glances then Gertie spoke, "That Mr. Roberts told us over and over and over again about how he loved our long hair. It was a real pain to take care of since it was so long that we could almost sit on it. He wasn't our father, but we had to sort of go along with him to keep things peaceful."

They pulled back their hoods, revealing hair less than 10 cm long. "Brigid knows how, so we had her cut our hair last night."

Gertie smiled maliciously at Genie. "Since Mr. Roberts liked our hair so much, we asked Mrs. Fittipaldi to give it to him the next time she saw him."

Feliz added quietly, "We did it up nicely, with bows. Seeing as that bastard liked it so much, he can give it to his boys. They can sleep with it instead of us."

Genie's laughter woke everyone who was still on the drowsy side. When she rode to the front to rejoin Mario, there were tears streaming down her face and she was still chuckling. He'd get the story from her when they went to bed that night. For now, seeing that everyone was fully awake, Mario picked up the pace.

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The following seven days passed uneventfully. A pass Mario knew of that crossed the mountains between them and The City was still free of snow, which allowed them to shave two days off their trip.

That night, Genie confirmed their expected arrival time with the trio. They'd hook up with the northwest road about two hours outside The CIty and, unless something unforeseen happened, they'd arrive at the Donnetti home right about lunch time.

Yoko, of course, had shouldered her way in ahead of the others and informed Genie that a welcoming party was planned. Mostly it would consist of an outdoor buffet in the area between the two Donetti homes. With the high wall and trees encircling them blocking the view from the street, the children would be able to celebrate without being gawked at.

The other reason was that Anna and Miranda had assumed that the children would find it less stressful if they met those they'd be living with in a more casual manner.

Heidi had suggested that she, Stavros, and Consuela should be the ones who met them at the gate rather than unfamiliar adults.

Mimi, who had been up and about in only four days, thanks to the trio feeding her energy, had been bustling about making sure that things were just so for almost two days. Everyone had compared notes, and nobody had ever seen her so excited.

Truth be told, it was Anna who was the most excited of all. As she had only a single child, her son Alphonse, and then only after four miscarriages and one stillbirth, the prospect of having the house full of children had her almost ecstatic. Her pleasure was multiplied as Alphonse was only 10. With several of the children being close to him in age, Anna hoped that he would socialize more. It wasn't that he was reclusive or had a problem like Jason's. It was rather that he was usually so busy "designing" things, that he was rarely around other children. He wasn't going to be able to avoid 13 others who were bouncing around the house.

When told of the plans for the orphans, he complained about everyone being "packed together like pilgrims in a tiny inn."

It was true that it was the smaller of the Donneti's homes, But, after converting two large storerooms into bedrooms that could each sleep four comfortably, there was ample room for all 13 children.

Those who knew Alphonse well could see that, in spite of his protests, he was almost excited as his mother.

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When they arrived at The City, they were met at the north gate by Sergeant Rivers and two of her guardsmen. She walked along between Mario and Genie's horses while one guardsman took a position 10 meters ahead of the group and one of them followed five meters behind. Each carried an orange and blue pennant on a pole signifying that this group was authorized to be riding horses inside The City.

Upon first seeing the sergeant and the guards in their uniforms, a number of the children became nervous, wondering if somehow, after coming so far, they were going to be turned away. However, watching Sergeant Rivers chatting amicably with Mario and Genie soon resulted in them directing their nervous energy into craning their necks to take in all the sights. This City of The Bells was nothing at all like Metz. Every building was of stone, and most had a red tile roof.

Something one and all soon realized, and approved of, was the fact that The City didn't stink of dung.

It seemed but moments later that their procession stopped at a wide gate in a wall between two large houses. The wall must have been about two and a half meters tall and was itself overtopped by the branches of bushy trees planted inside the wall. Those whose views were blocked soon had their question as to why they had stopped answered when they heard Heidi's cheerful voice calling out, "What are you all waiting for? Get down off those horses, and come inside. There's lots of food someone needs to eat."

Saddles emptied so quickly it looked like the children had blinked off. Fortunately, Miranda had hired a number of hostlers to take the horses off to the Mule's Tale for temporary stabling once the staff had brought in everyone's packs. While the children had found riding interesting, and even fun at first, nearly six weeks in the saddle tends to dull your excitement. They were far more interested in eating, and meeting new people of course, but the meeting part was a distant, second thought for almost all of them.

Mattie and Brigid spent most of their time watching those around them while they pretended to be absorbed in their food. They focused especially on one boy who circulated through the crowd introducing himself. Every time he came to someone new, he said, "Hi. My name is Alphonse, but going by it here is a bit pretentious, so please just call me 'George'." If that weren't enough to remember him by, his clothes practically burned themselves into their memories.

What he was wearing was of a decent cut, and fit him extremely well. However, both girls were willing to swear that in addition to every color in the rainbow, he was wearing other colors that had never before been seen by man. The combination was most generously described as 'hideous'.

Mattie's bodyguards also did their best not to stare overly long, though they were far more obvious. The combination of them trying to look disinterested yet staring at everything and everyone served as an excellent distraction while Mattie and Brigid made their observations of their new surroundings.

Once they'd roughly sorted out who everyone was, their attention was drawn by a small group standing off to the side. It consisted of Mario, Genie, the woman who had been introduced to them as Sergeant Rivers, Mimi, and a boy whose name appeared to be Jacob or Jason. One of the younger kids had been shouting about something when they'd been introduced, and they'd only partially heard his name.

Seeing a group of people talking was hardly anything suspicious. However, seeing all four of the adults acting in such a deferential manner toward the boy, who seemed to be no older than Brigid, had drawn their attention.

When the adults finished speaking, the boy nodded, then his eyes went sorta fuzzy looking for a moment, after which he resumed talking to the others. While Mattie and Brigid were wondering what had just happened, two lovely young ladies, who also looked to be about Brigid's age, passed by, walked up to the Jason/Jacob person, and took his arms. This time all three of them got the same fuzzy look to their eyes for about 15 seconds, after which they turned to look at the wing with speculation in their eyes.

The trio then sauntered over to Mattie and Brigid and smiled. "I'm Jason Fukui, and these lovely ladies are Yoko - on my left - and Hibiki. We've been asked to talk to you two for a bit. It would be best if your shadows were out of earshot, though they may stay where they can watch, should you think it necessary."

Brigid pondered briefly. They hadn't been anywhere nearly so safe in over two years. She looked to Mattie, who nodded. Brigid made a small gesture with her hand, and the boys spread out, apparently to enjoy the offerings of food and the company.

Their acting was truly third-rate, but it was sufficient to fool anyone who wasn't watching very carefully, which almost nobody here was. It was, after all, primarily a celebration.

Yoko grinned up at Brigid, "Mimi tells us that you six are on some kind of 'mission' or something. I have no idea what she means, but it sounds like fun. So, will ya, maybe, tell us what it is ya need to do here, or who ya need ta meet or something like that?"

Mattie looked at Mimi who nodded seriously and then turned back to making sure that the rest of the children were at least somewhat orderly.

Mattie considered for a few moments, then nodded at Brigid, after which she sat on a nearby chair, then slowly and deliberately began to inhale an incredibly large cookie that she'd snagged somewhere.

Brigid sighed. Oh well, it wasn't like it was a secret any more, not if "Mimi" were here. She turned to the trio and was somewhat taken aback by their expressions. Yoko had 100% of her attention on Brigid and was leaning forward in anticipation. Jason was gazing at her with curious eyes and was rocking back and forth on his feet a little bit. Hibiki...well, yes. She hadn't truly looked at Hibiki when they were being introduced as Yoko had drawn all of Brigid's attention with her energetic speech.

This Hibiki was, well, "other" was the best way she could put it. She smiled gently at first, with mild curiosity, and then, just for a moment, her expression became somehow demanding and her eyes revealed a previously concealed ferocity. Brigid blinked and Hibiki looked just as she had at first, enough so that, had Brigid been a lesser being, she might have convinced herself that what she'd just seen was her imagination.

Things had gone from curious to curiouser. Her gaze flicked to Mattie, who looked back calmly while she continued nibbling at her cookie. Great, it was up to her.

"Um, let's see. The best way I can put it is that we're here for training in certain procedures involving being, well, I guess 'scouts' would be the best word. Frankly, none of us remember anything more than that, other than that Mattie will be in charge when she'd grown, and I'll be her coordinator."

Seeing blank looks she tried again, "Ah maybe you'd say it as her 'second-in-command' or maybe 'executive officer'?"

Seeing three nods, she motored on, "So other than finding this Master Hiroshi who taught Genie and Mario, and figuring out where to live and how, we don't have any plans in particular."

Suddenly all three of the trio's faces were strangely expressionless. Brigid ignored that, at least for now, and asked, "You obviously know Mario and Genie. It might be some time before either Mattie or I can get time alone with them. They didn't exactly explain, but it seems like they're going to be extremely busy the next few days, so, ah, might you also know their Master Hiroshi?"

Jason managed to keep his reaction to no more than a broad grin, but the girls were not nearly as restrained. They clapped their hands over their mouths to keep their laughter from drawing the attention of any of the others present. The resulting sound was something like a combination of a snorting, whistling, wheeze. Had it been any louder, it would have drawn far more attention than laughing. Fortunately they were able to control it to some extent.

Brigid was tired, irritated, hungry, and the inside of her thighs were a constant agony. She'd ridden around the area as the village messenger in years past, but not more than an hour or maybe two at most, and she hadn't ridden at all the previous two years. Unfortunately she was one of the people who never did become comfortable with riding for weeks on end, and she was moderately miserable at this point.

She was about to deliver some rather pointed comments about making fun of strangers in public when Jason's eyes suddenly widened. Then he put his hands on the twins' shoulders. They stiffened and their laughter stopped like it had been shut off with a switch. The two of them turned toward Genie, who turned to look back with a question in her eyes. Moments later it was replaced by surprise, shock, embarrassment, and, finally, determination, after which she turned and said something to Mimi.

Shortly thereafter Consuela materialized from out of the crowd. She strode over and stood next to Mattie. "I'll keep watch, you go with them Brigid."

The question of "Go with who?" flashed across Brigid's mind, but it was answered immediately by Yoko and Hibiki each taking one arm and pulling her along after Genie who was striding determinedly toward the side of the Donetti annex where Anna's family lived. She seemed to be heading directly at a blank wall, but, once they were within two meters, a door appeared that Brigid had somehow not seen previously.

Once inside Genie walked down the hall, dragging her fingers lightly on the left hand wall. She stopped suddenly, muttered, "Here it is," and opened a door.

Genie gave Brigid a look that was mostly embarrassed but also apologetic. "I'm SO SORRY that I didn't notice how uncomfortable you were with all the riding. I assumed that, since you knew how and helped out the little ones, you wouldn't get saddle sore.

"At any rate, we can fix that, and we're going to do it right now. Get inside. The spring here is several times as effective as the one in La Grande."

Brigid was even more puzzled. What did the fact that this reputed healing spring worked well have to do with this room in the basement?

Fortunately Yoko's and Biki's shoulders were touching and they felt her puzzlement.

"Oh. that. Well, it's like this, ya see. The law here says that water from the spring has ta be piped ta every single home in The City, whenever possible. Where it's not, the nearest bathhouse must have it available. So, If you're here..." Yoko waved her hand in an encompassing manner, "...there's spring water ta help what ails ya no matter where in The City ya are."

Biki and Yoko put their hands on Brigid's back and pushed gently. "So get yerself inside. You're walking like yer still riding."

Genie nodded as they passed her, then turned and headed back outside. She had a number of things to do before she and Mario would be free to get cleaned up.

Brigid was muzzy from everything that had happened the past few weeks, but she had enjoyed the baths at the Peddlar and at the inn in La Grande. The idea of soaking her aches sounded more than attractive, so she let herself be herded inside.

What she saw was a pool that could comfortably hold around 10 people without any crowding. She also saw two people already there whom she didn't know.

Yoko pointed to some shelves. "Your clothes go there, then sit on one of the stools. Biki will wash your hair. The only person I've ever met who can do it better than her is Jason, but I seriously doubt that you want a guy you've just met in here with you. Right?"

Brigid wasn't sure she wanted to be there with all these women either, so her response to Yoko consisted of vigorous nodding.

"Right then. Let's get you ready. Once we're in the bath, I'll introduce ya to the others.

While BIki was washing her hair, Brigid snuck an anxious peek at the two who were already in the bath. One was an older woman, approximately the same age as Genie's mother. The other was about two years older than Genie and appeared extremely nervous. Every few seconds her eyes drifted to her right to look at the older woman, then her gaze snapped back to straight ahead. In addition her posture stiffened from relaxed to completely upright each time.

Eventually the older woman smiled at both her companion and Brigid. "It's all right dears. You're doing just fine. I rarely get a chance to relax anywhere with congenial company who don't want something from me. Frankly, I consider being here with all of you a bit of a reward.

"I know that my reputation paints me a bit on the stern and unbending side, but, I promise you, I'm only that way with people who lie to me. Also, I've never, ever bitten someone when I was angry. You can ask Sergeant Rivers. She'll back me up."

"I'll back you up with what Your Grace?"

Brigid spun around to see that Sergeant Rivers had indeed entered the room and was looking at Duchess Henrietta with some asperity.

Henrietta waved a negligent hand in no particular direction. "Oh you know Sandy. I don't bite, and I'm not a frosty bitch to everyone. Things like that."

The Sergeant opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted when Brigid, who was about to enter the pool, suddenly shouted, "OH MY GOD!," after which she stood at rigid attention...or at least she tried to. As she had one foot on the first step in the pool, what she managed to do was slip and make a spectacular splashing entry, landing on her back.

She rose from the water, sputtering, and exclaimed, "I'm so sorry Your Grace. I didn't know you were you! Ah, I mean, I've never seen you or even heard you described, Please forgive me and..."

She was prevented from continuing by Henrietta standing and wrapping her arms about her. "Be at peace little one. I wasn't kidding about this being a reward. Formality here is strictly forbidden."

Turning to the sergeant she added, "There should be a law that says that it's illegal to be formal when in the bath. If there isn't, come up with something and I'll sign it."

Sandy gave a half bow. "Yes Your Grace. Of course Your Grace. And since that's the case Your Grace, quit acting like an idiot and tell the poor girl why you arranged to meet her here rather than in The Residence."

Looking Brigid up and down she said, "Besides, if you don't let her go, I'm afraid she's going to pass out. She hasn't been breathing for almost 20 seconds."

Henrietta disengaged herself and sat back down. "Sit yourself down girl. At least half the reason you made such an undignified entrance to the pool is because you're so stiff. You need to soak it out before it gets any worse."

She muttered under her breath, "It was a hoot watching it though."