The Clocks

Miranda was totally oblivious to what had just happened in her home, and to the world in general, truth be told. She was sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. Something.... Something important had happened at the bookstore and she hadn't a clue what it was.

Let's see.... She'd been leaning against the wall, half asleep, not thinking of anything at all. Something had happened that should have gotten her attention but hadn't.... Oh my GOD! The books. The sound of Patricia's voice reciting the total price reverberated in her memory. It has been almost 300 ducats! She'd intended to spend no more than 65. No wonder the children had been totally silent on the way home.

While that was indeed a shock, there was still something nagging at her. Whatever it was that was bothering her, the revelation of how much she'd just spent wasn't it.

Before she could track the idea down, there was a quiet knock on her door. Upon being granted permission, Mimi entered. For the first time ever, Miranda saw that Mimi was nervous. Not only did she look nervous, but she was also extremely frightened. Her arms were wrapped around something she was holding tightly to her chest. Without even invoking her mage sight, Miranda could see that whatever it was was radiating an incredible amount of energy. She wasn't sure what kind it was though. She'd never seen anything quite like this before.

"Madame. I need your help. As soon as possible, no, probably before that, I need you to arrange an escort of as many of your 'special' operatives as you can summon without there being so many around me on my way to the Cathedral of Whispers that people will notice them.

"They will need to be instructed that they must intercept anyone or anything that attempts to interfere with my passage, no matter what the means they must use. Also, blunt objects will not be effective should there be an attack. Only knives have a hope of stopping them should one or more of them appear.

"Once we arrive you will need to combine your powers with those of Archbishop Comfort in order to cast a masking spell upon what I am holding. She is already there. I shall be able to supress its emanations while we are in transit, but no longer than that. My powers in that area are much inferior to yours."

Miranda didn't bother trying to parse what she'd just heard. What she saw, as well as the person making the request impressed her with the urgency of whatever it was. She rang the bell on her desk and told the man who appeared, "abide a while."

She then hurriedly wrote out two notes. "Deliver one to Captain Murray and the other to Hiroshi Macklin. They are identical, so read one on your way and relay the information to whomever you think we can break free from what they're doing. Coordinate with the other two. All must be in readiness within 30 minutes."

Once he'd left, Miranda stood and approached Mimi. She extended her hand, very slowly, in a sense "tasting" the object Mimi was holding.

"Oh...my...."

When she was a meter away, she was able to discern an inverted egg-shaped energy field that entirely enclosed Mimi and the object. As best she could tell, the energy she had felt previously was only about a sixth of the total it was radiating.

"Mimi - when did...."

Mimi interrupted her, "It began to radiate when the twins recited its name to Ms. Sara and the Archbishop. I had not expected that they would have been able to.... For now that is not important. What is important is that saying its name, if you have certain abilities, will, in a sense, summon it. Once it arrives at the location where it was named, and you seal it, the energy level should drop back to barely more than that of an ordinary object.

"It is quite capable of going there by itself, but I felt that having thousands of people seeing an intensely glowing object flying across The City might not be a good idea. That is the reason why I restrained it. I am also unsure of exactly where the twins were when they named it, and I think that when it is revealed as what it is, it should be someplace very private indeed.

"In addition, should its energies reveal this 'verse to a certain being, it is highly likely that it would result in the instant obliteration of this planet. It is for that reason that the escort is needed and why they must be merciless should I be attacked."

For the first time in over a decade, Miranda was speechless. She nodded compliance, and they waited.

Once all was ready, Miranda led the way to the Cathedral, with Mimi following two steps behind as was proper for a maid. They were surrounded by an ever-shifting, surprisingly large number of defenders who, while not seeming to be anything other than ordinary people walking down the street, always had at least half their attention on the area around those they were secretly escorting.

Upon their arrival, Mimi marched directly into Sara's office with Miranda close behind. Immediately after carefully closing the door and erecting a silence about the room, Miranda spotted the argument that was still going on, along with the twins who were standing in the middle of the room and not moving. Rather, they were leaning forward, as if by so doing so they could somehow see or hear what was going on in front of them.

While Miranda was trying to sort out the combination of beings present, Mimi took her arm and pulled her across the room. When they got within two meters of the trio in front of them, sound returned. It was an opportune moment as Sara and Lucina were just taking deep breaths in preparation of continuing their rants.

"That will be quite enough of that. Quit acting like children and do something constructive."

Thus far they hadn't noticed Mimi or Miranda approaching. Mimi's voice, and the disgusted tone hit them like a wet dishtowel in the face.

"Lucina and Miranda. Come here. Each of you put one hand on either side of the book." Mimi held it out vertically in front of her. "Well, get on with it!"

Both of them were shocked. Normally a maid doesn't give orders to either an archbishop or her employer. Fortunately, the combination of their shock and the commanding tone of Mimi's voice had the desired result and they did as they'd been told.

"Very good. Now, do whatever it is you do to mask its power. Once that is done, it will be safe to let Stavros and Conseula touch it. That will shut down its need to seek those who spoke its name. After that you will have time to discuss what to do next."

She let go of the book which was now firmly supported by Miranda and Lucina's hands. Very good. They were beginning their spell and had all their attention on the book.

She pivoted toward Lady Blue and glowered at her. When she spoke, her voice carried overtones of glacial ice, scorn, and censure, "I am rather wroth with you. Your so-called sense of humor makes Hibiki's look normal. You're MUCH too full of yourself, and your behavior is completely unacceptable! Hopefully, you'll grow up, at least a little bit, in the near future. When you have, I expect you to think things through completely rather than causing so much trouble for those around you...as you have today by sneaking a copy of The Compact into what the children purchased. If your attitude does not improve, significantly, in the VERY near future, I shall inform your mother, and she will decide if you will be allowed to remain involved with this project. I WILL NOT allow your infantile antics to put the plan at risk."

Even though Mimi's back was to them, and they still couldn't hear anything, Stavros and Consuela recognized Lady Blue's expression. It was exactly the same as theirs when they'd been caught doing something both incredibly stupid AND dangerous. Whatever it was, the little blue person was in a great deal of trouble.

Blue came to exactly the same conclusion. For the first time she saw in Mimi a fully mature, angry, and powerful adult. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that Mimi couldn't carry out her threat if Blue opposed her. Blue's powers were many orders of magnitude greater than Mimi's. That knowledge was overwhelmed by Mimi's attitude of authority. For her species, Blue was still a child, and like any child who had gotten herself into deep trouble, her response to an angry adult who'd caught her acting like an irresponsible idiot was instinctive.

Blue brought herself to attention, bowed deeply, said, "Yes Ma'am!," and vanished.

A few seconds later Miranda and Lucina finished chanting. They were panting, but otherwise looked to be OK. Mimi gestured to the twins. "Come here and touch the book, both of you. Then we shall be as safe as we can be given the situation."

They didn't even glance at each other. They scurried over and did as they had been bidden. After seeing what Mimi had done to the blue person, they didn't want her attention on them for any longer than was necessary.

There was a slight tingle in their hands when they touched the book. Immediately afterwards a tension in the air that they'd not noticed previously became apparent due to it being dispelled.

Mimi turned to the twins and smiled broadly. "Well done children. I shall consider the events of today the next time you do something incredibly stupid. Perhaps, well, we'll see, won't we?"

Sara and Archbishop Comfort caught their breaths, then had a hurried, whispered conversation; after which Sara tucked the book under her arm and nonchalantly moseyed out of the room.

Lucina turned to the rest. "She'll be putting it in the most secure section of the protected stacks. We have a section there with shielding heavy enough that even most of the priests who are also mages don't remember that it exists."

Miranda exclaimed, "But..that doesn't make any sense! Sara doesn't have all that much power. If the spell is so strong that it keeps most of your mages out, she should forget where she's going when she's 20 meters away."

Lucina rolled her eyes. "Miranda, for someone who usually seems to be as smart as you do, and you must be or you wouldn't be working with Dot, you sometimes say the most incredibly stupid things.

"You ought to know that one of the first rules of magery is that one does not ever do an assessment of the powers of a relative or someone else one is close to. Sara fills both those positions."

Unlike earlier, when Mimi had her back to them, the twins could see their mother's face. That was the day they realized that it was possible for, "I'm a total idiot," "This is incredibly embarrassing," and "Please don't tell anyone else how stupid I just was," to be visible on someone's face all at the same time. They immediately, albeit slowly, turned and faced another direction. If they'd done it rapidly, their mother would have spotted them instantly. This way there was at least some chance that she wouldn't notice that they'd noticed. They weren't sure what the consequences would be if they'd been noticed noticing, but they absolutely did NOT want to find out either.

They heard Lucina's voice continue, "Sara has a rather unusual ability. Well, to be truthful, I've never heard of it before, but it certainly serves her well as Librarian. She can detect Avoidance spells, and can avoid them. Which means that, should she so desire, she could find and penetrate the most powerful protective spells used by the strongest mages in the world. In fact it would be easier for her as the stronger they are, the easier it is for her to spot them.

"Wipe that look off your face Miranda! She will NEVER use that ability except in her library work, so don't even begin to think of using her in the field. She's already found nearly 20 important texts that we thought had been lost forever as well as a number of lesser works that had weaker protections on them but still confounded those who needed them. Every other month she makes time to scan several shelves and often finds one or two."

Lucina assumed the mantle of Archbishop. "I forbid you from ever mentioning your desire to have her work for you. Leave her be to do the work she loves and to love her family. I care not what your abilities were in the past nor what they are now. Both of us know that, even though you're one of the most powerful mages of the past forty years, you're not nearly strong enough to best me. While I was training you, I learned ALL of your weaknesses. I doubt you have even the slightest appreciation of mine."

She smiled sweetly at Miranda. "I trust that we understand each other on this matter?"

"Yes. Yes. To be sure. I wasn't really considering.... Ah. Well. No. That is, 'yes' I understand your position and mine as well."

She turned toward the twins with an intent expression and found them turning around as well. They were holding hands and were themselves radiating some degree of power that she'd not 'seen' previously.

They bowed. "Mother. Be assured that we shall never mention this to any other being for as long as we live. Nor shall we even discuss it among ourselves. As of this moment, the past five minutes are as if they never existed."

Mimi walked up behind them and laid a hand on one of each of their shoulders. She smiled down at them lovingly then looked Miranda and Lucina directly in the eye. "They have spoken the truth. Our kind never betrays such a promise."

She brushed the front of her uniform so as to smooth it. "I shall take them home and see to it that they eat. It's a bit past their lunchtime, and children at this age tend to get irritable if they're not fed regularly."

She cocked her head to the side and continued in a soft voice, "I suspect that it has something to do with growth spurts or some such."

Shrugging her shoulders, she added, "Whatever the cause, it really isn't that important right now. We shall leave you to conclude your discussion. Come children, let us be on our way."

Using the hands on their shoulders to turn them, she guided them out the door, then softly closed it, leaving Lucina and Miranda alone.

"Manda, what the heck is going on? She's not just a maid. What in the world is she really?"

This time it was Miranda who shrugged. "Frankly, I have no idea. Every so often she gives me a hint. It's a game we've been playing for years. It's fascinating and a great deal of fun. I have hopes that someday I'll figure it out. When I do, we can start another game. Given what she's done so far, I expect that the next one she comes up with will be even more exciting."

"Miranda, you do realize, don't you, that she just as much as told us that, whatever she is, your twins are of the same nature."

Miranda shrugged again and this time had the expression of someone who had just witnessed a miracle. "I've known for some time that they're different from the rest of us, and that they may, perhaps, not be entirely human, at least as we understand the word.

"One thing I AM totally sure of is that I bore them just as I did my other two. Whatever their original nature may be, they are still my children and I love them just as much as the others."

She grinned widely. "Besides, they have enough mischief in them for five. It takes both of us, Mimi and I, to keep them from causing more chaos than they already do. If it were just one of us raising them.... I shudder to think of it."

For a moment she wasn't thinking of anything at all, just feeling the flow of all the different emotions that were floating past. That was when it finally hit her.

"THAT'S IT! That's what I was missing. When they were going all gaga over the books at Patricia's place, I was half-asleep at the counter. People were talking to her about all sorts of things, some of which were interesting and a few even useful.

"Tell me Master. Just how much of what happens in the libraries is Sara aware of?"

Lucina had no idea of what Miranda was talking about concerning "they" and who this Patricia was. However, at least for now, it didn't matter. She'd have a discussion with Manda later about properly organizing her thoughts before blurting things out. It seems she hadn't learned that lesson as well as she'd originally thought.

"Truth be told, she's probably aware of at least the general thrust of every single research project, whether large or small. Of all the things you and Blair taught her, the one that seems to have stuck the most is the idea that she ought to know at least something of everything that occurs in her 'territory'. She's organized her staff so that the gist of every request for research materials lands on her desk. She says that it's so she can schedule which requests for new purchases get priority and which books are shelved first when they're returned, 'to make sure that whatever is most requested is also most accessible'."

Miranda found herself rubbing her hands together and quickly stuck them behind her back. "Ah, would it be possible for that list of projects, and the names of whomever is doing them to be routed to me? Mostly it probably won't be important, but we might just tease out the beginnings of a plot here and there."

She bowed to Lucina. "Would that be permissible?"

Lucina glared at her then smiled. "You reprobate! You'd spy on your own grandmother if you thought you'd find out something useful."

Miranda nodded, then, with a completely straight face said, "That's right. What's your point?"

Lucina raised an eyebrow in a manner that revealed who Miranda had been trying to copy the past 20 years, then made a "What can you do with them when they're like this?" gesture.

"All right. I'll see what I can arrange. Since you've mentioned it, it might be a good idea to keep track of what my own staff are studying. Some of them tend to be on the confrontational side. I suspect that bastard Sixtus may be the one ultimately responsible. He dislikes women in general and female priests in particular.

If I know what they're doing, with Sara's help I can research their topics first and in greater depth. Then when they hit me with their not-so-subtle arguments to try to derail what I've told them to do, I can cut them off at the knees with my lordly 'The Archbishop knows everything.' reply."

They shared a friendly and comfortable smile of co-conspirators.

"Sound's good to me Master. I'll just take my leave now and let you get on with your plotting. I'll be looking forward to Sara regaling us at dinner some night in the future about how some uppity, parochial, Monsignor was put in his place when you proved that you know more than he does about the Church."

With a jaunty wave of her hand, Miranda let herself out and closed the door. From that point on, all of her rubbing her hands together in glee took place in her head. She was in public now, and such an activity was inappropriate there.

What she hadn't mentioned to Lucina was that the plan developing in her mind consisted of setting up information gathering procedures at all the bookstores and lesser libraries in The City. Not all those doing research before putting their various plots in motion would be using the great libraries. The most astute plotters might well avoid them as a matter of course, reasoning that bookstores or smaller libraries would be safer locations for obtaining needed information.

Given that the twins had specifically chosen Patricia's shop as the site of their first foray rather than heading to the closest bookstore, she suspected that they'd been rather busy checking out as many as possible before beginning. In that they were both like her. They hated doing things only part way.

First she'd let them tell her all about each owner, and their employees, if there were any. They'd probably be thrilled to learn that she was interested in what they were doing even when they weren't collecting information for her. It was likely that all she'd have to say to get them started was something like: "Did you visit any other shops besides Mrs. Garibaldi's before you went shopping, or were you just 'winging it' because I usually go there?" The implied insult, that they were sloppy and hadn't done any research before choosing a store, should be enough to get them talking. After that, all she'd need to do is smile and nod now and then.