Kaname sat at the table in her cabin, concentrating on 
the card she held in her hands, as the boat rocked around 
her.  The Bursar had tried to ram them, but she'd spotted 
the incoming attack and focused her will, powered by the 
Pattern, through her trump, and induced a shift in the 
currents which flowed through the battlefield.  Her ship 
had suddenly swung to the side faster than it could manage 
by its own power, and the other ship had found itself 
merely scraping the side of the Silver Dolphin, her 
flagship.  

	Kyoko's face appeared on the crystal ball on the table 
next to her.  "Captain Kana-chan!  Six Melnibonean Sharks 
have just joined the pirates!"

	"That's COMMODORE Kana-chan," Kaname shouted back.  
Why didn't I spot them, she asked herself.  She swung her 
scrying window around, and then she spotted the black iron 
vessels.  They were attacking the Dove, all at once.  She 
quickly tucked the card into her hair over her ear, then 
spread her fingers over the trumps on the table in front of 
her.  They all flared to life, and she wove them together 
into a single contact the way her father had taught her.  

	"Captains Blake, Miri, Harlock, and Dether, take your 
ships to the aid of the Dove.  Captain Andria, hold on and 
try to withdraw towards us.  The rest of you need to hold 
the pirates while we deal with the Melniboneans.  Captain 
Kyoko, bring the Silver Dolphin around 30 degrees to port.  
We're going after their flagship."

	"But the pirate flagship is 60 degrees to starboard, 
Ma'am," Kyoko said.

	"The MELNIBONEAN flagship."

	"How can you tell which one it is?" she asked.

	"Assuming our intelligence reports are correct, this 
is the Blue Reaver squadron, and so the ship with the two 
demons eating an Amberite on the nose is the flagship, 
Arioch's Revenge," Kaname replied.  "Does anyone have any 
questions?"

	"Why are the Melniboneans attacking us?  They haven't 
declared war on Rebma too, have they?" Captain Andria 
asked.

	"Well, we certainly didn't expect them in this sector, 
but we did sort of declare war in support of Amber a year 
ago," Kaname said.  She fought down the urge to ask for any 
not-stupid questions.  "Anything else?"

	"One of their ships is hailing us with magical 
communications.  Should I patch them through to your 
crystal ball?" Kyoko asked.

	"Make it so," Kaname said, feeling very professional.  
It soothed her nerves, given this was her first field 
battle as commander of an entire squadron.

	She then dropped the contacts so she could focus on 
the scrying.  Her view soon zoomed in on the massive black 
Melnibonean ship, Arioch's Revenge.  Her eyes widened.  A 
Trump-powered gun.  That hadn't been in the intelligence 
report.  She scanned the other five ships, and to her 
relief, they had magical armaments only.  

	A tall man with long blonde spikey hair gazed at her 
with his one human eye.  The other eye was purple with 
silvery streaks, and about one and half times the size of a 
normal eye.  He wore a huge horned black metal helmet, and 
his left arm was rather reptillian looking.  "So, you are 
Commodore Kaname," he said.

	"Yes, I am," she said proudly.  "Have you called to 
surrender?"

	The man stared at her blankly for a few seconds.  "I'm 
asking _you_ to surrender, Commodore.  It would be 
pointless to slay a beautiful woman such as yourself."

	"The Royal Fleet of Rebma never surrenders!  I am the 
Crown Princess of Rebma, and I bow to no man!"

	"Very well, I'll have to disable your ship and make 
you my concubine the hard way!" he said.  

	"Wait, who are you, anyway?" Kaname asked.

	"You may call me Captain Stalker."

	Kaname began to laugh.

	"What?  What?" Stalker demanded.

	"What a ridiculous name," Kaname said, trying to get 
herself under control.  

	"RIDICULOUS?  I will show YOU ridiculous!"  And then 
the communication cut off.

	Then she felt the wash of trump energy; someone on the 
other ship was trying to scry into the interior of her 
ship.  They'd likely try to trump on boarding parties.  
Taking the trump of her ship in one hand, she called up 
trump defense and wished she'd had time to advance her 
trump skills further.  She'd only learned a little past the 
mere basics of trump use; her naval studies and magical 
studies had eaten up too much time.

	To her relief, her will was stronger than theirs.  
They gave up on Trump and tried reaching out with Broken 
Pattern at her ship.  But the power of Pattern was hers.  
She tore their attempt to trap her ship in a current to 
rush it far away from the battle field into little pieces, 
then began to tweak the chance movements of electrical eels 
so that more and more of them began to swarm Arioch's 
Revenge.  The ships began to glide past each other, 
unleashing torpedoes and broadsides from their magical 
guns.  Thanks to her, most of the Arioch's Revenge's 
torpedoes misfired, while hers were suspiciously accurate.

	The two ships turned as the battle raged around them.  
And then she felt the stab of magic nearby and cursed.  
She'd been so busy fighting the other ship's Broken Pattern 
master that the Melnibonean ship's chief mage must have 
managed to get off a teleport while she was pre-occupied.  
She quickly twisted the ring on her right finger, and began 
to chant.  A glowing electrified field sprung up around 
her.  She then put a hand on her crystal ball.  "Kyoko-
chan.  We've been boarded.  Keep blowing the hell out of 
the Arioch's Revenge.  I'll deal with the boarding party."

	"But Admiral Kana-chan, the commanding officer isn't 
supposed to try to fight boarding marines all by herself!"

	"Commodore," Kaname said.  "The boarding party is on 
deck four, heading for the engine rooms.  Send marines."

	"Aye aye, Captain."

	Kaname sighed, then shouted out into the hallway.  
"William, Thomas, attend me."

	A thought struck her.  The trump gun.  They haven't 
used it...why not?  Maybe they're afraid I'll counter it, 
she thought.  Dammit.  Going to have to take out this 
boarding party quickly.

	William and Thomas ran into the room, swords drawn.  
They were her bodyguards.  "Take my hands," she said, 
quickly stuffing her needed trumps into pockets and pouches 
all over her uniform.  

	"Are we about to rush headlong into danger?" William 
asked excitedly.

	"Will King Miki kill us for this?" Thomas asked, 
sighing.

	"Yes and yes," she said, taking their hands.  There 
was a rainbow shimmer, and the trump in her left breast 
pocket activated.  They were now in the engine room.  
"We're about to be attacked," she shouted.  "Hopefully, our 
marines will get here first, but..."

	The chief engineer sighed.  "So much for those anti-
teleportation wards."

	Kaname frowned.  "Their mage must have picked the lock 
while I was fighting their Broken Pattern Master."

	"Okay, everyone arm themselves," the chief engineer, a 
grizzled old sailor, said.  "Except for skeleton crew B, 
which will monitor our ship's vital signs."

	The men rushed and grabbed swords off the wall; they 
could hear the tramp of booted feet approaching down the 
metal hallway.  Kaname quickly dressed their ranks, then 
used her engine room trump to scry into the hallway.  
Twenty Melnibonean marines, two sorceror-priests, one large 
and scary looking man in blue insectoid armor.  

	She called up the Sign of the Pattern, and instructed 
it to lurk to one side of the doorway.  The sorceror-
priests would likely try to hurl some hideous spell into 
the room as the first barrage, followed by the marines 
charging, she estimated.  

	Her estimate was proven correct; two Melniboneans 
moved into the doorway, and behind them, the sorceror-
priests chanted.  Hideous gouts of black acid leapt from 
their hands, only to have the Sign of the Pattern slide 
into place, blocking the attack as the magical acid 
dissolved away at the touch of the Sign.  

	Then she released her own spell.  Magical lightning 
crackled from her fingertips, striking and felling the lead 
Melnibonean, then jumping to his friend.  The sorcerors 
tried another spell, but each was struck by lightning and 
fell stunned, and then the lightning crackled off down the 
hallway, until it hit the blue-armored man and it snuffed 
out.

	"The man in blue armor has anti-magical defenses," she 
announced.  "I'll deal with him."

	The Melniboneans charged into the room, led by the 
blue-armored man.  He was in trump contact with someone, 
Kaname sensed.  Dammit, I've got to learn to block trumps, 
she thought.  She could hear running in the hallway; the 
Silver Dolphin's marines were coming.  

	She moved in to engage the blue-armored man, with her 
bodyguards struggling to stay in front of her and actually, 
well, bodyguard her.  The man was better than either, but 
the two of them together were more than he could handle.  
She circled to the left; a Melnibonean marine took a chest-
level swipe at her with his scimitar; she brought her leg 
up in a snap kick to his wrist and broke it, then spun and 
back-kicked him out of the way.  Then she hefted the marine 
and swung him around to strike the blue-armored Melnibonean 
in the back.  He turned rainbow-auraed and vanished, and 
she ended up smacking William and Thomas instead, sending 
them sprawling.  She felt trump power behind herself, and 
she back-kicked, hitting the blue-armored man in the chest, 
and knocking him down on his butt.

	She tossed her hand-held marine at him, then jumped 
onto the man as he dodged.  He tried to throw her off him, 
but found to his surprise that she was stronger.  William 
and Thomas got up and came over to point swords at his 
armor's eyeslits.  The man said, "I've wasted enough time 
here.  Goodbye, Princess."  And then he vanished.

	Once he was gone, she could feel a massive build-up of 
trump and then she realized.   He came here so he could be 
used as a remote window to try to use the trump gun to fire 
straight into our engine room!  Her Sign of the Pattern had 
dissolved from inattention, so she called up another one, 
and shoved it into the path of the shot, then prayed.  The 
energies built and built and built, and she fought back 
with the strength of her mind.

	"William," she said.  "Tell Captain Kyoko to ram the 
blue tube on the port side of Arioch's Revenge.  There's a 
trump in my right pouch."

	He fumbled and extracted it, then made the call as she 
fought desperately.  They must be funneling their engine 
into this.  Hopefully, she thought, they can't maneuver and 
try to fire it.  Or not maneuver enough.  

	Her gamble paid off.  Her ship shook, and then the 
trump energies faded.

	William reported, "Captain Kyoko says the Arioch's 
Revenge and the other Melnibonean ships are withdrawing.  
So are the pirates."

	"Good," she said.  "Trump, please."

	He passed it over to her.  She pulled out several 
others and began giving orders.  If the Melniboneans have a 
trump master good enough to build a trump gun like that, 
then Rebma is going to need one good enough to match him, 
she thought.  Well, besides Daddy, since he can hardly go 
to the front.  I'm going to have to see if he'll let me go 
study with Aunt Corrine or my sister.  

***********

	"You want me to study with WHO?" Kaname asked in 
disbelief.

	"His name is Millard Fillmore.  He's a complete loon, 
but also a long term friend of the family.  You can stay at 
our embassy in Chaos, or stay with Motoko if she would like 
to have you, or Mr. Fillmore has agreed to put you up if 
you want to stay at his house to simplify matters."

	"But...Why can't I go study with my sister?  You said 
you'd let me go visit her on my own eventually!"

	"I need you in this universe, in case there's an 
emergency.  And Corrine is too busy right now to do any 
special training.  And Mr. Fillmore is a good teacher, from 
what I understand."

	She sighed.  "Can I take Kyoko with me?"

	"Your bodyguards will be going, and I would be happy 
to send Kyoko with you too."

	That was a little better.  "Alright.  When do I 
leave?"

	"As soon as possible, given the training will likely 
take months, maybe years."

	Kaname groaned.  "I'll miss the entire war!"

	"Well, given no other Melnibonean ships have shown 
signs of heavy trump use, I suspect that probably this was 
something designed specifically against you."  Miki smiled 
a little.  "That you triumphed is a credit to you."

	She blushed.  "Thanks, Daddy."

	"But you also let yourself get wrapped up in hand-to-
hand combat when you were supposed to be acting as 
Commodore, not as a marine," Miki said more sternly.

	"But...I just...I mean, when I'm the toughest person 
on the ship, I can't just sit back and give orders," Kaname 
said.

	"One of Royal Blood is almost always the toughest 
person on the ship," Miki said.  "But when you are the 
Commodore, you shouldn't risk your life unless you have to.  
Let other people handle the hand-to-hand combat, unless you 
have no choice."

	She hung her head.  "Yes, Daddy."

	"Alright.  Enough of that.  Ready to come and get 
lunch with your mother and I?"

	She nodded.  "Yes, I am."

***********

Full Amber Panic
An F9R Campaign Fiction

By John Biles

***********

	Kaname came into the living room of the Amber Embassy 
and stretched.  "Thanks a lot for putting me up.  I 
probably should have stayed at our Embassy, but I've hardly 
gotten a chance to see any of you very much, and I wanted a 
chance to get to know you all better."

	Motoko smiled.  "It is a pleasure to host you.  I hope 
your ambassador won't feel insulted by this."

	"He spends half his time at House Jesby anyway.  He 
said he didn't mind."  Kaname stretched a bit more.  "Geez, 
what's taking Kyoko so long?"

	"Feeling stiff?" Mitsune asked.

	"I don't know if she...oh, you mean me," Kaname said.  
"Yes.  I missed my usual workout."

	"Well, we've got equipment," Moonshade said.  "You 
could come work out with me and Davros.  You gonna be a 
lazy butt, Mitsune?"

	"Mitsune and I need to go over the complaints from 
those Danaani traders," Motoko said.  "We'll be in the blue 
room if you need us."  She rose from her chair.  "I will 
see you at dinner, Kaname-chan."

	"I'll see you then, Aunt...Cousin...Niece?"  Kaname 
frowned.  "That just doesn't seem right."

	"You are my Aunt, yes," Motoko said.  "As is Kanna, 
though she always seemed a Cousin to me."

	"Well, I'll just call you Aunt, then," Kaname said.  

	"You can just call me Mitsune," Mitsune said.  "As 
we're only related by marriage."

	"Well, you all seem like aunts and uncles to me," she 
said.  "And marriage makes aunts and uncles too."  They 
seem much less sex-crazed than the stories I've heard, 
Kaname thought.  

	Kyoko bounded into the room in a blue sundress.  She 
whipped out her magical camera and snapped a photo of 
everyone.  "How do I look?"

	"Quite lovely," Motoko said.

	"Hotcha!" Mitsune said, whistling.

	"Like Mother-in-law," Moonshade said.

	"Hmm, I can see some resemblance," Davros said.  
"Although hairstyles are hardly genetic."

	"Want to come work out with us, Kyoko-chan?" Kaname 
asked.  

	"Okay," she replied, tagging along after Davros, 
Moonshade, and Kaname.

	An hour later, Kaname felt a lot less stiff.  "Much 
better," she said.

	"So you work out every other day?" Davros asked 
Kaname.

	"Yep, and then I usually practice my unarmed combat 
training."

	"She's REALLY great," Kyoko bragged.  "She can beat 
Princess Kozue!  And she can beat both of her parents at 
the same time!"

	"My goodness," Davros said.  "I hadn't realized you 
were that good, niece."

	Kaname blushed and laughed nervously.  "I'm not that 
great, though I'm better unarmed than I am with a sword.  
Mom and Naru taught me most of what I know.  And a little 
from Shinobu Major."

	"You should spar with her, Davros.  I wanna see her 
kick your butt," Moonshade said, grinning.  

	"That would be fun," Kaname said.  "I've heard you're 
kind of good."

	"Alright," Davros said.  "We have a sparring room next 
door."

	They went over to the sparring room.  Davros moved to 
the far side of it, Kaname headed out into the middle, and 
the others lurked near the door in to watch.  They bowed to 
each other, then Kaname charged.  Davros remained waiting.  
She feinted with a high punch, then went for a chest-level 
snap kick instead.  He grabbed her foot, rolled back, and 
flipped her over himself to slam into the ground.  

	She lay there for a second, then twisted out of his 
grasp and leaped to her feet.  He sprang back away from 
her, then began flipping about, keeping out of her reach, 
as she gradually grew more frustrated.  "Stay still!" she 
shouted.

	And then he landed, standing perfectly still, balanced 
on the toes of his left foot.  She charged at him, bluffed 
with a punch to the left, then tried to sweep his legs.  He 
jumped over the sweep and snap-kicked her in the face, 
sending her sprawling, though she blocked the worst of it.  
"Damn, I never heard you were this good," she mumbled as 
she got up.

	"When I was a Stylite, both our bodies and minds were 
strengthened by our disciplines.  While I now serve Pindin, 
I have continued my old exercises, for they have served me 
well," Davros said.  He moved into a ready stance.  "Shall 
we continue?"

	She nodded, getting up.  "I've only just begun to 
fight."

	"Kick his ass, Kaname-chan!" Moonshade shouted.  "You 
can do it!"

	"Go, go, Kaname-chan!" Kyoko shouted in turn.  "Give 
him your left hook!"

	She circled to the left, then dove right, trying to 
roll and get behind him.  She came up, and landed a solid 
punch on his back before he back-kicked her across the room 
and right into Moonshade's arms.  Moonshade helped her get 
her balance back and said, "Nice move, Kaname.  He's got a 
mean back-kick, though."

	"Uh huh."  

	Davros spun around and waited for her.  She moved 
forward, then waited just out of his reach, waiting to see 
if she could do better defending against his assaults.  He 
waited a few seconds, then charged at her right side.  She 
dodged and kicked him in the butt as he went past.  Then 
his arm caught her foot and pulled her off her feet.  She 
squealed in surprise as he then pivoted and tossed her.

	She landed hard and got mad, rushing at him, hoping to 
go for a grapple.  He didn't look too physically strong to 
her.  He waited, and to her surprise, let her get a hold on 
him.  Then he wiggled and somehow he was holding her, 
instead of her holding him.  He had both of her arms 
pinned, and his legs were twisting impossibly to pin hers.  
She struggled, then realized he had one of his hands on her 
right breast.  "PERVERT!" she shouted, and with a huge 
burst of strength, threw him off her.

	He blinked in surprise as he went flying into the 
wall, then fell to the ground.  "Oh dear, did I grab one of 
your breasts?"

	"YES!" she shouted.

	He sighed.  "It was an accident!  I'm sorry!  I'm 
sorry!  I'm so used to wrestling my wives, and it doesn't 
matter where I grab them and..."

	"Hmph, I'm going to go take a bath," she said, then 
stormed off with Kyoko trailing after her.  Damn, he really 
is a sex-freak, she thought.  He probably just wanted to 
spar with me to try and get my clothing off.  Maybe this 
was a mistake, she thought.  

************

	Kaname luxuriated in the warm water, relaxing.  Kyoko 
lay half-asleep next to her, staring at the ceiling.  
Kaname said, "I bet he'll walk in 'accidentally' on us 
too."

	"I think it really was an accident," Kyoko said.  "And 
if you're going to wrestle with a man, you have to expect 
hands will slip and stuff."

	"You're just happy because you got a photo of it," 
Kaname grumbled.

	"Oooh, you noticed?" she asked.

	Kaname sighed.

	The door opened, and Kaname reached for a bucket to 
hurl.  She stopped when she saw it was Motoko instead of 
Davros.  "Oh, hi, Aunt Motoko," she said.

	Motoko stripped off what clothing she still had on, 
and doused herself with water, then began getting herself 
clean.  "Good afternoon, Kaname-chan.  How are you?"

	"I'm fine," Kaname said.

	"She's pissed off at your husband," Kyoko said 
helpfully.

	"Kyoko!"

	Motoko worked on her arms, and said, "I understand he 
grabbed your breast while you were sparring."

	"He told you?" Kaname asked, surprised.

	"He's busy pacing about feeling guilty because he 
forgot who he was wrestling with and did something 
inappropriate," Motoko said.  "He's fretting almost as 
powerfully as Jacqui can."

	"It WAS inappropriate!" Kaname shouted.  "You can't 
just grab women like that!"

	Motoko began working on her hair now.  "I'm sure he 
won't do it again, although if you want to restrict 
yourself to sparring with Moonshade and Mitsune, I'll 
understand.  I believe he'll probably want to apologize 
some more to you once we're done in here.  And I apologize 
for this incident myself."

	"It's not your fault," Kaname said.  She felt a little 
better knowing she wasn't alone in her opinion that Davros 
shouldn't have done that.  "So he wrestles with all of you 
a lot?"

	"Davros and I usually do fists versus bokken, but he 
and Mitsune and Moonshade wrestle a lot.  He usually beats 
Mitsune, but he and Moonshade are pretty evenly matched."  
She finished off her hair, rinsed off, and came and got in 
the hot water.

	"Don't you...I mean...don't you get jealous?" Kaname 
asked.  "I couldn't imagine seeing my husband with other 
women without wanting to kill him."

	Motoko stared off across the room, carefully selecting 
her words.  "We have our times of getting jealous, but 
Davros is not the only one of them I love.  I love all 
three of my spouses."

	Kaname blinked, then blushed.  "So you really do..."

	"Yes," Motoko said softly.  "They make me complete."

	Kaname turned more red.  "I just..."

	"I know you are used to a very different kind of 
marriage, and I have great respect for your parents.  I 
would once have condemned my own marriage in no uncertain 
terms.  I cannot ask you to accept us as normal, when I 
sometimes cannot.  But I hope we will not embarrass you 
further during your stay.  If you wish to leave, I will 
understand."

	Kaname shook her head.  "I won't leave.  Not just for 
that.  I...I'm sure he didn't mean to do that."

	"Davros would never do that deliberately," Motoko said 
firmly.  "On the other hand, if Miroku comes around, he 
probably would do it deliberately.  We won't stop you if 
you have to pound him flat."

	Kyoko asked, "He's a love monk, right?"

	Motoko nodded.  "He is a priest of Kundali.  Very 
intelligent, and you can have very good discussions of all 
sorts of things with him.  But, he has a rather overactive 
desire for sex.  He doesn't give up easily, either."

	Kaname said, "Well, I'll give him whatfor if he tries 
anything."  

	Motoko sank a little deeper into the water.  "He's not 
a bad man, but he is too lecherous for his own good."

	"Like Uncle Saionji."

	Motoko made a face for just a moment.  "Something like 
that."

	Mitsune stuck her head in.  "Dinner is almost ready.  
You might want to clear out so Davros can take a bath and 
not be stinky while we eat."

	"Alright," Motoko said, rising.  "Tell him we'll be 
out soon."

	"Will do," Mitsune said, then closed the door.

	Once they'd dried off and gotten dressed and headed 
into the hallway, they found Davros, who bowed deeply 
before Kaname.  "I'm REALLY sorry," he said.

	"Don't do it again," she said a little more sharply 
than she intended.

	"I won't," he said.  

	"Only I get to touch Kaname's breasts," Kyoko said, 
grabbing both of them briefly.

	"Kyoko!"

	Davros stared in surprise, and smoke came out of his 
ears.  "I didn't realize it was like that.  We would have 
arranged for you two to share a bedroom."

	Kaname said, "We are not like that!  Kyoko is just 
trying to drive me insane."

	Kyoko began to giggle.

	I'd best keep Mitsune away from that girl, Motoko 
thought.  For the good of all our sanities.

************	
	
	Sousuke bowed to his father.  "Good day, Father."

	Melissa and Kurz bowed deeper.  "Good day, Lord 
Loewen."

	Loewen nodded back.  "Good day to all of you.  I have 
a new mission for you."

	"I live to serve," Sousuke said.

	"Princess Kaname of Rebma has come to study the trump 
arts with Mr. Fillmore.  He's somewhat worried about 
possible security issues, and Lady Mataka asked me to place 
some covert agents to watch for possible trouble, in 
addition to House Fillmore's own security.  I expect that 
probably nothing will actually happen, but I'm placing you 
three in charge of keeping an eye on her when she's outside 
Fillmore's house or the Amber Embassy.  She has three 
bodyguards as well."  He handed them pictures.  "The men 
are Rebman swordsmen, William and Thomas.  The woman is 
named Kyoko; she's a Captain in the Rebman navy.  Kaname 
holds the rank of Commodore as well as being a Princess." 

	"Damn, she's hot AND she must be some kind of genius 
to rise through the ranks so fast."

	"I'm afraid that some of that is due to Rebma losing 
most of its trained naval personnel, rather than pure 
merit," Lord Loewen said, "Though she is a fairly good 
naval commander.  I studied the report on her most recent 
victory.  She needs to learn not to try to rush out and 
beat her enemies with her fists when she's supposed to be 
acting as an officer."  He only half-looked at Sousuke.  
"Most of her victories have been well earned, and she 
practically built Rebma's Naval Mage Corps from scratch, 
based on her training in Amber."

	"I look forward to meeting her," Kurz said.  "She's 
hot."

	"You won't be meeting her for a while yet," Loewen 
said.  "You need to keep sufficiently concealed that she 
won't know you're there either."

	"You're not going to tell her about us?" Melissa 
asked.

	"Loose lips sink ships, as a Rebman would say," Loewen 
said.  "No one outside this room but Mataka will know.  
Should an actual enemy appear, I want them to have no clue 
of your existence."

	Melissa nodded.  "Well, we can all shapeshift to be 
unrecognizable, easily enough.  Different people each day, 
so we can move along the route without observers noticing."

	Loewen looked over at Sousuke, who blinked.  "Yes, 
Father?"

	"Do you have any thoughts on this?" he asked.

	"Do we know who might try something?" Sousuke asked.

	Loewen seemed pleased by the question.  "No, we do 
not.  It may well be that no one will actually try 
anything.  The most likely possible group, however, is 
House Darios, since they have an old grudge against Amber 
in general, and King Miki and his family in specific.  
While they may not try anything, best to be on alert.  They 
are dishonorable and heretical, but they do have a certain 
base cunning, and a knack for finding good proxies they can 
blackmail or bribe into serving their evil purposes."

	"They're not too fond of House Belgalad either," 
Melissa said.  "As we saw in 1352."

	"Certainly one of House Darios' more suicidally stupid 
moments in a long history of such," Loewen said.  "Although 
flooding the streets to enable them to use their fleets was 
a clever tactic.  Still, they should have known that the 
Bride would never stoop to use assassins."

	"And certainly not against children," Melissa said. 

	"I was thinking more in terms of her doing the killing 
herself, but yes," Loewen said.  He continued, "I expect 
King Miki will have some covert agents watching her; I will 
see what I can learn, so we don't end up with you and them 
fighting each other in the sort of comic misunderstanding 
followed by death which I despise."

	"That would be a waste of time," Sousuke said.

	"Oh, the heroes always fight before they team up," 
Kurz said.

	Melissa glanced over at him.  "That sounds like 
something Munchausen would say."

	Kurz sighed.  "Sorry."

	Loewen's face twitched.  "Yes, Munchausen.  He will 
probably land his gondola on Crown Princess Kaname or 
something.  Or try to marry her.  Try to keep him away from 
her."

	"Understood," Sousuke said.  

	"Alright.  Go scout out the land and make your 
preparations.  Hoji will supply you with anything you 
need."

	"Ale and whores coming up!" Kurz said.

	"Unless Kurz asks for it," Loewen said.

	"DAMN!"

*************

	Kaname looked at the small house, crammed into a 
backwater part of the Courts.  "Are you sure this is the 
right place?" she asked Mitsune, who'd offered to walk them 
over to Fillmore's place the first day.

	"Yes," Mitsune said, picking up one of the sleeping 
cats on the porch and petting him.  "You're a good boy, 
aren't you, Arizona?"  She banged on the door with her 
knee.

	Arizona yawned and purred, then climbed up onto 
Mitsune's shoulders.

	"He's not a vicious Abyss Kitty, is he?" Thomas asked 
warily.

	"He's just a calico," Mitsune said.

	An old man in a nice suit answered the door.  He was a 
bit on the stout side, and had a broad smile and short, 
neatly combed hair.  "Good day, good day!  Are you here to 
fix the toilet?" he asked.

	"I'm Crown Princess Kaname of Rebma," Kaname said.  
"Father sent me to train with you."

	"Ahh, good, good, it's nice to meet you," he said, 
shaking her hand.  He looked over at Mitsune.  "Having fun 
with Arizona?"

	Mitsune scratched Arizona's chin.  "Very much."

	"Well, come in everyone, and I'll get you some tea and 
we can discuss Kaname-chan's training."

	"I've got to be running along," Mitsune said.  "Just 
wanted to show them the way over here."

	"That's too bad," Mr. Fillmore said.  "Well, we all 
have to work.  See you later, Mitsune."

	"Be seeing you," she replied, then teleported away.

	He showed them into the house and took them to the 
living room, then yelled, "Andy, can you please bring us 
some tea?"

	Kaname settled down into a nice plush chair; the 
living room had some fairly nice furniture, but was 
otherwise rather simply decorated with a few paintings on 
the wall and simple floral wallpaper.  Rather a far cry 
from what she would have expected of a great trump master, 
though a second look showed her one of the paintings, which 
depicted a harbor full of sailing ships, was, in fact, a 
trump.  Her bodyguards moved to lurk by the doorways, and 
Kyoko plopped down on a green couch.

	An old man in leather workclothes soon came in, 
leaning on a cane with one hand and carrying a plate of 
cups of tea in the other.  Old and white haired, he wasn't 
very pretty, but he looked quite commanding and vital 
despite his age; oddly, he had another cane slung on his 
back in a quiver, along with gardening shears, a plunger, 
and several large wrenches.  He brought the tea around to 
everyone.

	Kaname smiled at him.  "Thank you, Mr. Andy."

	He smiled back.  "You're welcome, your highness."  He 
turned to Mr. Fillmore.  "Anything else?"

	"Best get back to fixing the toilet if you can."

	"Shoot it and get a new one, I'd say," Andy said to 
Mr. Fillmore.

	"Only if you have to," Mr. Fillmore said.  "I never 
liked shooting my property which once served me well."

	"I'll see what I can do."

	And then he ambled off as Kyoko snapped a shot of him.

	"So, tell me how far you've advanced in your studies 
of trumps," Mr. Fillmore said, as he sipped his tea.  "As 
I'll need to know where to start."

	"Well, I can make trumps pretty well.  I can sense 
their use, and use them to help defend my mind.  I can tell 
who is trying to contact me, and I can use a trump of a 
place to scry around a place without actually passing 
through it.  And I recently learned how to do conference 
calls."

	Fillmore nodded.  "So you've started to delve into 
some of the advanced arts, but you haven't gone very far."

	She nodded.  "I haven't even gotten into learning how 
to make trump traps or anything."

	"That's a good place to start, then," he said.  "Bring 
paints and paper tomorrow, and we'll get to work."

	"Alright," she said.  "I will."

*************
	
	Sousuke walked down the street, having shifted himself 
to be blue-skinned, three inches shorter, and a little 
stouter.  He trailed after the four people from about a 
hundred feet behind them, doing his best to gawk like a 
hopeless tourist.  He contacted his collar button with his 
mind and reported, 'They're stopping to buy ice cream.  
Could be poisoned.'

	He could feel Melissa using him as a conduit to scry 
out the ice cream with the Logrus.  'It's perfectly safe,' 
she announced.

	Kaname's head came up and she looked around, looking a 
little confused.  Sousuke walked up to the ice cream 
vendor, trying to remember what name he'd made up for 
himself.  "Hello, vendor.  I am Derken, a perfectly 
innocent tourist.  I would like some strawberry ice cream."

	He could feel the two bodyguards staring at him; they 
know their business, he thought.  The vendor just laughed.  
"A B'rikin?" he asked.

	"Yes, I am Derken the B'rikin from D'yrain."  He dug 
some coins out of his pocket.  He handed them over and took 
the ice cream, then asked Kaname, "Are you a tourist too?"

	She nodded.  "Yes.  I'm here from Rebma to study 
Trump."

	"I hear Rebma is very wet this time of year," Sousuke 
said, trying desperately to make conversation.

	Kaname laughed.  "It's always very wet."

	"Being underwater," Kyoko said.

	"Oh, really?  Bad flooding?" Sousuke asked.  I hate 
pretending to be stupid, Sousuke thought.  

	"..."

	William said, "It's home of the Water Pattern, so it's 
underwater."

	"I understand there's a lot of music too," Sousuke 
said.  "Some good marching songs."

	Kaname smiled.  "Every kind of music you can imagine.  
So what is D'yrain like?"  She paused to lick some of her 
chocolate ice cream.  "I'm not very familiar with the Chaos 
side of things."

	Sousuke racked his memory.  "It's very hot, full of 
endless jungle and cool lakes.  In the far blue quadrant, 
it rises into mountains, full of resorts where we go to 
enjoy the cool air.  And it rains constantly, so I suppose 
it would feel like home to you."

	Kyoko snapped a photo of Sousuke.  "Any big cities?"

	"We mostly live in small towns, except for Science 
City up in the mountains and C'rikk'tia, by the largest 
lake, our capital," he said.  "That's where I live."

	"You're here all by yourself?" Kyoko asked.

	"Yes, I am," he said.  "I am not yet part of a 
marriage pod."

	"Marriage pod?" Kaname asked.

	"Because my species have five genders and requires all 
five for successful mating, we form marriage pods, with one 
of each gender in it," Sousuke said, praying he was 
remembering correctly.

	'One for each of the elements.  You're a Water,' 
Melissa told him.

	"One of each of the elements.  Y...I'm a Water," he 
said.

	"I can hardly imagine being married to five people," 
Kaname said.  "Even four is brain-blowing."

	"You're all married, then?" Sousuke asked, looking at 
the quartet in a little confusion.  He didn't remember that 
from the briefing.

	"..."

	Kyoko glomped onto William and Kaname's arms.  "Oh, 
we're all so happy together!"

	Thomas stared.

	Kaname felt Kyoko's mind against hers.  'C'mon, play 
along, okay?' Kyoko asked.

	'You are evil,' Kaname replied to Kyoko.  "Yes, we're 
all married.  We're staying with another quartet to learn 
more about married life while I train in Trump."  I can't 
believe I'm playing along with this, she thought.

	Sousuke tried not to choke on his ice cream.  These 
Amberites are just insatiable, he thought.  "These are 
common in Rebma?"

	"Oh yes, everyone's doing it," Kyoko said.  "Right, 
Thomas?"

	"Yes, ma'am," he said, with a look of aggravation on 
his face.  "Kyoko likes to take pictures of it all."

	Kyoko nodded.  "They're very good for post love 
critiques."

	Sousuke fought to keep smoke from coming out of his 
ears.  "An interesting custom."

	Kaname said, "Well, we'd best be moving on.  I have to 
give Kyoko her beating before dinner."

	"Ooooh!" Kyoko said.  "Sounds fun!"

	Kaname bowed.  "Nice to meet you," she said.

	"Nice to meet you too," he said, bowing back.

	He stood and ate his ice cream for a while, watching 
them go and letting them take a lead.  Kaname was busy 
noogying Kyoko's head as they walked away.  Amberites can 
be very strange sometimes, Sousuke thought.

	'Nice job, Sousuke,' Melissa said. 

	'I think I really did fool them,' he replied.

	'Yes, you did,' she said.

	'They didn't mention the marriage in the briefing.'

	'I think Kyoko was teasing.'

	He blinked.  'Really?'

	'Couldn't you tell from Kaname and Thomas' faces?'

	'No.'

	She sighed.  'Well, I'm pretty sure they were just 
joking.'

	He finished his ice cream and started after them.  
'Well, no harm done.  So where is Kurz, anyway?'

	'Resting.  He's going to be watching the embassy 
tonight.'

	'By himself?'

	'I'll be monitoring him while you sleep,' she replied.

	'Right.  We'll have to be careful; it looks like 
Kaname can sense logrus use.'

	'Not too surprising given she's a Pattern Initiate and 
has a pretty strong mind,' Melissa said.  'Be careful.'

	'I will,' he said.  

*************
	
	The next day, they came to Mr. Fillmore's house.  
William knocked, and Mr. Fillmore shouted through the porch 
window, "Come on in!"

	William started to turn the knob and began to turn 
rainbow-colored.  "What the..."

	Kaname's eyes widened, and she whipped out William's 
trump, rushing forward.  It was too late; he was gone.  She 
stared at the doorknob, which was dripping with now fading 
trump energy.  A trump doorknob???  It looked the same as 
the day before, but as she studied it, she could now see 
the very subtle grooves cut into it, and feel the latent 
trump potential.  "Where's William?" she shouted.

	"Oops, forgot to turn off the wards," Mr. Fillmore 
said.  The door opened from inside.  "It's safe now."

	Kaname stormed in.  "Where is my bodyguard!  You knew 
we were...aaah!"  She felt the rush of trump against her 
mind, coming up through her shoes.  She looked down at the 
welcome mat.  Another trump trap!

	She tried to quickly call Pattern to mind, but before 
she could finish, the world vanished, and she found herself 
in a square room made of blue steel.  There were three 
doors.  Each glowed with trump energy when she studied 
them.  There was also a table with a trump turned face 
down.  She drew her sword and carefully flipped it over 
after finishing calling up the Pattern in her mind.  It was 
a trump of a piece of paper.  She activated the trump with 
a touch and called the note to herself.  

	The note read, "Hello, Princess.  This is your second 
exercise of the day.  (As if you're reading this, you 
failed the first one of spotting my trump traps.)  If you 
can't get out by lunch time, well, you'll miss lunch, I'm 
afraid, though I did put a lunch in the maze if you can 
find it.  Good luck.  --M. F. "

	She sighed.  Learn by doing, she thought.  Well, then, 
right.  She paused and released one of her spells from her 
rack (which happened to be her ACNA graduation ring), 
quickly filling in the lynchpins with several hand 
gestures.  A shimmering protective field formed around her.  
I wonder if I could teleport out of here.  I'm sure he's 
blocked trumps...oh, he'd think magical teleportation was 
cheating, probably, she thought.

	She studied the doors with her trump senses.  Two of 
them had etched trump worked cunningly into the 
woodworking, and one did not.  A thought struck her.  She 
reached out carefully with her mind, trying to not set off 
the doors, but instead to see if she could use them to scry 
the places they led to.  One seemed to lead to a huge 
underground lake, up on top of the dam which formed it, the 
second to a narrow walkway over flames.  

	She decided to go to the dam, and drew her sword, then 
touched it.  The world went rainbow colored and she found 
herself on top of the dam.  There was a two hundred foot 
drop to the river which flowed away from the dam; the 
spillgates were slightly open, letting some, but not a lot, 
of water through.  She could see a control building nearby, 
and dark tunnels leading off into other caves; bright 
phosphorescent lichens lit the underwater lake and the rest 
of the cave very well.  The lake itself was nearly a mile 
across, she thought, though distance was hard to judge.

	Hmm, time to see if item trumps are considered 
cheating, she thought.  She got out one of a pile of 
torches, and activated it, then took one.  Nothing zapped 
her, so she then cast a simple spell to light it, and 
headed over to explore the control building.  It would help 
if I knew what I was looking for, she thought. 

	Ahah, I'll have to see if I can manipulate 
probabilities to get me a map.  She began rooting about 
through the old, dusty control room, focusing on twisting 
things with the Pattern.  Her luck was good, and she pulled 
a map out of a tool box.  It proudly announced that this 
was 'The Great Underground Empire', and that she was in the 
control station for Dam #3.  

	There was, conveniently, a door on the map labeled 
'Exit to Surface'.  Less conviently, it appeared to be far 
away past nasty traps and monsters.  The lunchbox storage 
room was on the map, thankfully.  

	Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought.  But I guess I 
have to jump through the old whacko's hoops.

	She folded the map, salvaged several tools from 
various rusty toolkits in the room, found an unrusted 
toolkit, stashed them, and headed out, kit in one hand, 
torch in the other.

************

	Kaname carefully put down her toolkit and torch on the 
ledge, trying to be quiet.  A huge ugly troll was pacing 
back and forth with an axe through the rough-hewn cave.  It 
looked like a very nasty customer.  If this is supposed to 
be a test of my trump skills, why is this place full of 
nasty monsters and not full of trumps, she asked herself.  
Unless maybe I'm supposed to solve the problems by making 
trumps.  Or finding them.  She'd snagged three so far, each 
of which was an item trump of a nice, shiny treasure: a 
glowing ruby, a silver fox, and a jeweled sceptre.  Except 
for the ruby, they didn't seem useful for much other than 
being pretty, but...

	Ahh, I can try a trump sketch of the troll, then 
psychically attack him through it, she thought.  

	She quickly pulled out her charcoal and sketching pad, 
and quickly sketched out a trump of the troll; it was quick 
and shoddy, but she'd only need it to work once.  Then she 
touched it with her mind, and the troll appeared before 
her, staring in surprise.  She glared into his eyes, and 
felt his puny mind crumble before hers.  He brought the axe 
around desperately, and she managed to draw her sword and 
parry, though her sword flew out of her hands.  
Fortunately, his mind then collapsed, and she began to 
rifle through it, while recovering her sword.  

	He didn't know much, but he did know there was an 
angry metal bull down one of the corridors, and a painting 
gallery down another.  More trumps I bet, Kaname thought.  
She put him to sleep, scrambled down from the ledge, then 
took his axe with her when she left.

	The gallery was full of trumps as she expected.  She 
pursed her lips and tried to figure out if she was supposed 
to use them or if they would all be more traps.

	There were twenty or so paintings, ranging from grassy 
fields to dungeons deep to a beautiful sunrise over the 
mountains.  None of them had people in them, except for 
one, which showed a band of adventurers descending into a 
hill carved to resemble a skull.  She pursed her lips at 
that, then gently reached out with her brain to try to use 
it to scry its target without triggering it.

	Her brain spun as it tried to look at several places 
at once, and then one of the Trumps nearly yanked her away 
before she managed to fight it off by concentrating on her 
own Trump.  She sighed, then studied it more carefully.  
There was another trump, hidden behind the canvas of the 
first one.  She carefully focused on her own trump and 
turned the painting around, then extracted a trump tucked 
into the back of the frame.  It showed a golden key.  She 
activated it, took the key, which was itself a trump, 
carefully carven with key images, and pocketed it.  

	Fillmore put a lot of work into this place, she 
thought.  Alright, I have the key, now I just have to make 
it to the exit...

***********

	She stared at the giant chessboard and chess pieces 
which blocked her path to the exit.  Not this hoary old 
chestnut, she thought.  I'm not bad at chess, but...

	She sighed.  "King's Pawn to King's Pawn four."

	The pawn slid out across the floor.

	She played six games in a row and lost every time, 
becoming steadily more frustrated.  She'd eaten lunch 
already, and now it was time for dinner, and there was no 
food to be had.  She'd tried throwing a rock across the 
chess set, and saw it get zapped; flying with magic was 
out.  

	Hmm, maybe if I use the Sign of the Pattern to cover 
me, I can make it across, she thought.  Then an idea hit 
her.  I am a fool, she thought.  She got out her sketchpad, 
and quickly did a trump sketch of the room past the huge 
chessboard, then contacted it and stepped through to the 
other side.

	I just assumed he would have blocked the use of trumps 
to bypass it without even testing it, she thought.  She 
pulled out the key and unlocked the door.  It flashed with 
trump, and she let it take her to the living room.  Kyoko 
was asleep on the couch, and William and Thomas were dozing 
off.  Mr. Fillmore was sitting in a reclining chair with a 
cat on his shoulders, another on his lap, and one curled up 
to his left arm as it lay on the arm of the chair.

	He looked up from his book.  "Ahh, there you are," he 
said.  He consulted his watch.  "Took longer than I 
expected."

	"How late is it?" she asked.

	"Two AM," he said.

	Her stomach rumbled.  "I'd have come more prepared if 
I'd known about this!"

	"Sadly, one's enemies usually forget to schedule an 
appointment," he said, putting down the book and trying to 
get the cat out of his lap.  Alabama, a white Persian cat, 
finally roused and leaped down.  He stood up.  "We saved 
you dinner, if you'll come with me."

	William got up and stumbled after them, while Thomas 
yawned and tried to wake himself up.  Kaname trailed after 
Fillmore, down the hallway to the simple kitchen.  She 
could feel trump energy coming from the plate which sat on 
the counter, covered by a glass dome.  "Low-level heat," he 
said.  "Keeps the food warm."

	"Did I pass?" she asked.

	"I'll give you a critique tomorrow, once you get some 
sleep."  He yawned.  "Come back for lunch, okay?"

	"Alright," she said, removing the glass cover.  Mr. 
Fillmore gave her some silverware, and she went to work on 
the chicken and greenbeans and mashed potatoes.  

	After eating for a while, she asked, "Your daughter is 
that big pop star, right?"

	He smiled.  "Yes, she is.  Married to Lord Hoji of 
House Helgram.  They have a daughter, Melissa, who I'm very 
proud of."

	"So what's House Helgram like?"

	"Howling religious fanatics.  But good folk if they 
don't decide you need to die for the Serpent."

	She winced.  "That bad?"

	"Not all of them.  And they have softened towards 
Amber as a result of the events of the Herald Crisis.  And 
my daughter is now a member of their house by marriage."  
He looked thoughtful.  "Have you met Nanbara and Kanako 
yet?"

	"No, I haven't.  They're Aunt Motoko's...children by 
Lord Loewen, right?"

	Mr. Fillmore nodded.  "Yes.  From when she healed his 
injuries."

	Kaname wrinkled her nose.  "Does she...umm..."  She 
decided it would be too rude to ask.

	"I believe it's the only time she's done anything like 
that with anyone besides her spouses."

	Kaname nodded, then ate quietly for a while, yawning.  
Once she was done, she said, "I'll see you in the morning."

	He nodded.  "Come by for lunch.  I'm sorry this kept 
you so late.  My apologies."

	"Accepted," Kaname said.  "Let's go."

**************
	
	Kurz frowned.  Why was she staying so late?  'Still no 
sign of her' he reported.

	'He probably tossed her in the Great Underground 
Empire to test her skills,' Melissa said.  'He's done that 
to me a few times.'

	'Not that place. UGH.'  Kurz paused.  'Bad thought.'

	'Bad thought?' Melissa asked.

	'What if they trumped back to the embassy?  We could 
wait here all night.'

	'Logrus says they're inside.'

	He gave a sigh of relief.  'Good.'

	'Of course, Grandfather may be bored and yanking our 
chains for fun.'

	'Well, we can hardly look inside the embassy.'

	The door opened and Kaname and company staggered out 
into the night.  

	Kyoko said, "Can't we trump home?"

	"Haven't had time to make a trump yet."  Kaname 
yawned.  "But everyone get close, and I'll use a teleport."

	They linked hands and vanished.

	Kurz sighed.  'I hate it when people do that.'

	'Get a move on, Kurz.  We'll probably see nothing 
tonight, but we can't take any chances.'

	'I'm moving, I'm moving.'

**************
	
	The guards opened the door for Kaname and company on 
their arrival.  "Night on the town?" Guardsman Berco asked.

	"Late night studying," Kaname said, yawning.

	"You must be the Crown Princess of Rebma, Kaname," a 
woman said from the door out of the front guard chamber.  
She was a little shorter than Kaname; Kaname had seen 
trumps of Princess Kanako before, but they'd hardly ever 
really met face to face.  Not in years.

	"Yes, I am," Kaname said.  "And you must be Princess 
Kanako."  She pointed to her companions.  "This is Captain 
Kyoko, my friend and assistant, and these are my 
bodyguards, Sir William of Revel, and Sir Thomas of 
Nashfo."

	"I heard you were staying here," Kanako said.  "Coming 
home late, I see."

	"Many long hours of study," Kaname said.  "Hopefully 
this will prove an abberation, though."

	Kanako nodded.  "Study is good for you.  Good night, 
then."  And then logrus tendrils gathered round her and she 
vanished.

	"Strange woman," Kyoko said.

	"She's just making sure we're not some menace," Thomas 
said.  "I wouldn't want people able to just pop in and out 
of this place if it was mine to guard."

	"I suppose so," Kaname said.  "Let's go get some 
sleep."

**************
	
	Weeks of study followed, in which Kaname spent so much 
time drawing, she felt like her hands were going to fall 
off.  She also began working on learning engraving and 
woodburning.  Six days a week, she spent some ten to twelve 
hours a day; Fillmore pushed her hard.  The seventh day, 
she began spending with Kyoko, William, Thomas, and 
sometimes one of the various younger residents (or frequent 
visitors) of the embassy:  Kanako, Yomiko, and Miroku.  
Deirdre was off in the war that Kaname felt she ought to 
fighting in right now, much as she needed the training. 

	One such morning, at breakfast, Miroku showed up, and 
in the middle of munching on fried apples, he paused and 
asked, "Have you been to see the Chapel of the Serpent, 
Kaname?"

	"No, I haven't," she replied.  

	"Would you be interested in seeing it?  I understand 
the choir of Milithi, Serpent of Wisdom, will be singing 
today, around lunchtime."

	"Do they dance naked?" Kyoko asked.

	Motoko, Davros, and Miroku blinked in unison.  "Why 
would they dance naked?" Miroku asked.

	"The sacred dances of Kundali are sometimes naked, 
though often clothed," Yomiko said.  "As many Kundali 
priests believe a half-clothed body is often much more 
arousing than a naked one.  On the feast of Breaking, 
people sometimes rip off their old clothing as part of the 
worship rites.  And the feast of Shifting, many people go 
about mostly or entirely unclad in animal forms, as pillars 
of flame, and so on."  She took a bite out of her toast.  
"I'm missing one."

	"High Summer, of course, involves nudity in most 
variations, although the Divine Wedding rites of Helgram is 
usually, though not always, more symbolic than physical," 
Miroku answered.  "And some priests of Pindin go clad only 
in flames on Burning, right, Father?"

	"Yes, exactly," Davros said.  "I've done it myself, 
but it's only viable in places where nothing will burn.  
Still, there's not likely any nudity involved in Milithi's 
choir."

	"Ahh, we won't have to cover Kaname's eyes, then," 
Kyoko said.

	Kaname grumbled into her scrambled eggs, then said, 
"Yes, I would like to see the Chapel."

	Miroku glanced over at Kanako.  "Will you be joining 
us?"

	"I've heard enough sacred music for twelve lifetimes.  
No thank you, Miroku," Kanako said.

	"I think I'll come," Yomiko said.  "The last time we 
tried to go see that choir, it rained horribly, and I 
changed my mind."

	Miroku smiled.  "Good, good.  Anyone else want to 
come?"

	"I'm afraid I have to meet with the Coruscant 
ambassador," Motoko said.

	"And I as well," Mitsune said.

	"I've got to stand and look threatening," Moonshade 
said.

	"I'll come," Davros said.  "I haven't heard the choir 
in quite a while.  I thought they were touring the Black 
Zone."

	"The High Priest of Milithi just turned 312, I think," 
Miroku said.  "Anyway, it's his birthday."

	"Do you think they'll perform the Haenerid?" Davros 
asked with just a little bit of excitement.

	"Well, it's, what...four hours long?  With a full 
choir...wow."  Miroku smiled.  "We may finally get to 
actually see it."

	"And I'm going to miss it?" Mitsune said.  
"Damnation."

	"Umm, the what?" Kaname asked.

	"It's the story of the third high priest of Milithi," 
Miroku said.  "An amazing work of epic song by his 
successor, Paerias, who was one of Chaos' greatest 
songmasters.  Rarely performed because it's very long, 
requires a huge number of people, and requires a huge 
staging area.  Father's been trying to see it for decades, 
but something always goes wrong.  We did catch the last 
hour of it one time, and well...I have no idea what they're 
performing today, but it's well worth seeing."

	It sounded to Kaname like it would probably be about 
as interesting as watching paint dry, but she decided to 
give it a chance.  "So, is there a Serpent of Water?"

	"The Riverserpent," Miroku said.  "And Jormungandr, 
who girdles the world.  Mostly underwater.  Darios and 
Jesby praise all of the watery aspects of the Serpent."

	"I should visit them," Kaname said.  "Though I suppose 
Darios wouldn't be too welcoming."

	"You suppose rightly," Mitsune said.  "Best not to 
tempt them to revenge."

	Kaname sighed.  "I suppose not."

	Kyoko finished off her fruit.  "Well, I'm ready."

	"I'm not," Kaname said, working on her toast.  "But I 
should be, soon."

	"No huge rush," Miroku said.  "The music won't start 
for hours."

*************

	The Chapel struck Kaname with a little awe, even from 
a distance, and more as she approached.  Like the Chapel of 
the Narwhale, it was huge, towering over most neighboring 
buildings.  The Plaza of the Serpent before it bustled with 
life, for it was at the heart of the Courts.  The crowd 
tended to part for Davros and Miroku, Kaname nodded, 
feeling a little impressed.  Thomas and William looked 
around warily at the endless array of odd entities as they 
flanked Kyoko and Kaname.  

	Demonformed acolytes stood at the gates, wearing the 
green and blue robes of Milithi.  They bowed to Davros and 
Miroku.  "Adept of Pindin, Adept of Kundali, be welcome 
here with your guests."

	"We bring the Crown Princess of Rebma and her 
companions to hear the Choir of Milithi," Davros said.  "Do 
you know what they'll be performing?"

	"The Haenerid, I believe," the acolyte said. 

	"Very good," Davros said.

	The acolyte looked at him again.  "Do I know you?  You 
look vaguely familiar?"

	"Are you from House Nurgal?  You don't seem old 
enough, but perhaps you knew me in my youth?" Davros asked.  

	Then he spotted Davros' spikard.  "Wait...you must be 
Davros."

	"Yes, I am," Davros said.

	The acolytes all bowed deeply.  "You honor us with 
your presence," the acolyte said.  "I'm sure the 
Choirmaster will be overjoyed to hear you have come.  Will 
the Bride be joining us?"

	"She has to settle some piracy issues with Coruscant," 
Davros said.  "You can, umm, stop bowing."

	"If you so command."  They stopped bowing.  

	One of them said, "I will go and arrange proper 
seating for you all.  Six of you?"

	"Yes, six," Davros said.  "And really, there's no need 
to..."

	"I will make the arrangements at once."  He became a 
cheetah and sprinted off into the temple.

	Miroku said, "Rank has its privileges, eh, Dad?"

	"I wouldn't mind if this was a Pindin ceremony, but 
I'm hardly so important to Milithi's followers that..."

	"Oh, I don't think Kaname and Kyoko wanted to stand 
for four hours like we would have to, otherwise," Miroku 
said.

	"Hey, I can stand for hours, EASILY," Kaname said.  
"I'm not a wilting flower."

	"I am," Miroku said.  "If I was participating, I 
wouldn't mind, but no point in standing while just 
watching."

	The cheetah returned.  "Follow me."

	They followed him down the long entrance hallway, 
lined with pillars, each carven with depictions of a great 
holy day and its aspect of the Serpent.  Side chapels 
spread off away from the entrance hall every so often.  And 
then they entered into the vast open grand promenade which 
lead up to the main altar.  Chairs had been set up on one 
side for the Choir, and on the other side for part of the 
audience.  Ornately carven, it was vast in scale, and the 
art would take days to see it all, and weeks to understand.

	Several pieces of art drew Kaname's attention.  One 
was a huge painting on the ceiling which showed a dark-
skinned man riding the Serpent, high above the Courts and 
the Abyss.  Another showed a short woman who shone with 
bright light; at its fringes, the light was forming itself 
into people.  Her face could not be seen clearly.  A third 
showed a man in blue robes preaching to the ocean as it 
surged and raged during a storm.  A fourth depicted a 
priestess kneeling and praying before an altar as the 
Serpent glimmered above it.  All four had been executed by 
the same artist, she could tell, although the first one 
looked rather older.  She asked, "Can you tell me about 
those?" she pointed them out to Miroku and Davros.

	"Well, the first one shows Anno, the Keeper of the 
Logrus.  I don't think it's depicting any specific event," 
Miroku said.  He looked over at his father, who nodded.  
"The second one is a prophesied figure, the Well of Souls.  
She probably won't actually look like that at all, but..."  
He shrugged.

	"The Well of Souls?" she asked.

	"I haven't studied the prophesies surrounding her 
much, but she's supposed to break some ancient curse and 
liberate the dead.  Or something like that."  Miroku 
frowned.

	"She's in the Mitala Cycle and the Blue Book of Ouran, 
I believe," Davros said.  "She brings forth souls / from 
the pit of darkness / redeems the walking dead / and brings 
healing in her wake/.  Among other verses.  It would take a 
long time to explain the whole thing, but I'd be happy to, 
later."  He pointed to the third picture.  "That's Rerte of 
House Darios, who preached to the seas, and ended the 
attack of the Sahuagin many centuries ago,  by converting 
them to Serpent worship, though he lost his life in the 
process.  And the woman is Talasa of Naval, who wrote many 
famous devotional texts and founded an order of female 
mystics.  A heavy influence on Malin, who founded the 
Stylite Order."

	While the art was very different, and sometimes 
strange, the place felt much like the Cathedral of the 
Narwhale at home to Kaname, and she soon found herself 
growing comfortable with it.  People bustled everywhere as 
the preparations for the Choir's performance continued.  

	They sat down, getting front row seats; Kaname 
wondered who was going to show up and discover they'd lost 
their reservations.  She leaned back, and let the art take 
her away for a while.

***************

	Sousuke stared down at the preparations from above, 
hidden high up among the ceiling beams and wall buttresses.  
He'd shifted to the color of stone and grown sucker pads to 
help himself stick in place.  'Are you sure we can 
communicate securely?' he asked Melissa.  'There's a LOT of 
people here who might pick us up.'

	'Too much power use here for them to pick up the tiny 
amount of juice these use', Melissa said.  'Dr. Tomoe 
seemed confident no one will notice them unless they get 
close or they're really powerful and looking for us.'

	He looked around; the Celestory area seemed to be an 
ideal place for assassins to hide, but there weren't any 
here.  He had found a raven, but after grabbing it and 
studying its puny mind, he'd determined it was, in fact, 
just a raven.  Of course, a really good assassin could have 
replaced one of the sacred sculptures.  

	'I suppose there's too many people here for an 
assassin who isn't insane to want to try anything.  Unless 
they're really fanatical,' Sousuke said.  

	'Some are.  There's certainly some maniacs in Darios, 
Tremere, and Formorian who would probably stop at nothing 
to strike at Amber or Rebma, so long as they thought it 
would actually work,' Melissa told him.

	'I think they're about to start,' Sousuke said.

	'Alright.  Let's watch and listen and wait.'

*************
	Kaname found the Haenerid quite interesting; it was a 
well-written opera performed by some of the best singers 
she'd ever heard in her life.  A lot of things were hard to 
follow; it didn't help that Kyoko and Miroku kept 
whispering back and forth to each other as the show 
progressed.  In fact, they seemed to be holding hands.  She 
frowned.  How can he hit on her in the middle of a sacred 
opera, she asked herself.  He didn't seem so bad earlier, 
but...

	On the other hand, hardly anyone ever hit on Kyoko, so 
she wasn't sure if she should interfere.  Maybe he really 
did like her.  And it wasn't like he was actually trying to 
cop a feel or anything.  She frowned, then tried to focus 
on the show.

	Davros leaned over and whispered, "This next part is 
hard to hear unless you can shapeshift your ears to pick up 
on very subtle noises.  Do you want me to shift your ears 
appropriately?"

	She blinked.  "Is it very quiet?"

	"And very subtle.  Micromonics, it's called, I think."

	She felt rather nervous about letting him touch her.  
On the other hand, if it was necessary.  He glanced over 
and noticed Miroku stroking Kyoko's ears.  They were 
turning longer and pointed.  Kyoko was giggling with her 
hand over her mouth.  Dammit, I don't want to miss 
anything, she thought, but...

	"Alright," she said.  It's just my ears, she told 
herself.

	He touched one of her ears with his index finger, and 
then she felt her flesh tingle, and the touch of his mind.  
It was strong, one of the strongest she'd ever felt.  She 
felt both of her ears stretching, and suddenly, aspects of 
the music she hadn't even noticed could be heard.  There 
was a half-dozen instruments and a dozen voices she could 
make out she hadn't perceived before.  Her eyes widened.  
What else have I been missing?

	It then struck her that it had not been necessary for 
Davros to do what Miroku was doing to Kyoko's ears in order 
to adjust hers.  She frowned and pursed her lips.  

	Much of the choir now fell silent, and very soft, 
subtle music played, with much tinkling of bells and 
plucking of strings, along with a handful of people singing 
faintly, as they sang up the sunrise of the day of 
Deirfalls, a great battle.  Kaname settled in and let the 
music wash over her, trying to ignore Kyoko and Miroku 
carrying on.

************

	Sousuke struggled to restrain himself from shouting.  
What was going on down below was hideously inaccurate, as 
the battle of Deirfalls had involved phalanx tactics, but 
they were clearly using maniples, and had the armor wrong 
too.  This was a mockery, and only the knowledge that 
shouting at them would blow his cover enabled him to hold 
back.  It was hard to tell with just a small number of 
singers, but he was pretty sure they'd forgotten about the 
flanking movement upstream, too.  

	The opera reached its climax, and now High Priest 
Haene fought his battle against the Dark King-Priest 
Midkia.  It was quite clear that neither of them knew much 
more about swords besides where to hold it.  Sousuke wanted 
to cry, although he was a little impressed by their ability 
to hold the beat perfectly while sword-fighting.

	Haene felled Midkia, but the death throes were 
overblown and unconvincing.  Then Midkia's army broke up, 
though Sousuke knew they'd actually fought on for four more 
hours until House Helgram's forces had arrived and boxed 
them in for slaughter.  This was just a total travesty, he 
thought.  Someone needs to be fired.

***************
	
	Kaname listened to Haene's victory sermon, and while 
the theology of it didn't impress her, it was brilliant 
rhethoric, brilliantly sung.  The music was sweet 
perfection, reminding her of the operas of her homeland.  I 
have to see about having this performed in Rebma, she 
thought.  Some sort of goodwill tour.  They'd probably sing 
a million tickets.  She reached over and touched Davros' 
hand with a finger, and mind-spoke.  'Do you know if this 
is ever performed underwater?'

	'I'm sure it could be done, though it might hamper the 
micromonic parts,' he replied.  'Thinking of inviting them 
to Rebma?'

	She nodded.  'Yes.'

	'Well, we can go meet the Choirmaster after this, and 
you can ask him.'

	'Thank you, I'd appreciate that.'

	She glanced at her bodyguards.  Thomas looked half-
asleep; William seemed enraptured.  She smiled slightly, 
and turned back to the opera.

	It soon came to its conclusion; she applauded with the 
entire audience.  The choir bowed, then filed out, and the 
whole thing began to break up into a large 'people wander 
around and say hello to each other' session.  Davros got to 
his feet and lead them all through the mob to find the 
Choirmaster, who turned out to be a three-armed, green-
skinned man.  His name was Yertzal.  Davros bowed to him.  
"Good afternoon, Choirmaster.  May I have a minute of your 
time?"

	"I'm a very busy man," he said.  "So it had best be 
important."

	"This is Princess Kaname of Rebma.  She is interested 
in arranging a performance by your choir in Rebma."

	His eyes widened.  He turned and bowed.  "Good 
afternoon, Princess."

	She bowed back.  "A pleasure to meet you."

	Miroku elbowed Davros.  "So much for fame and glory, 
eh?"

	Davros said to him, "I have never sought either."

	"Or a harem."

	"I do _not_ have a harem," he said.  "I simply have 
multiple wives."

	Kaname continued her discussion with the choirmaster, 
trying to ignore them.

	"Uh huh."

	Yomiko said, "Well, technically, that's a harem."

	Davros twitched.  "We are not concubines."

	"Nothing wrong with harems," Miroku said.  "You taught 
me and Deirdre that pretty well."

	Davros stared up at the ceiling.  "We did not intend 
for you both to make finding a harem the central goal of 
your lives."

	"After seeing how happy you all are, how could we 
not?" Miroku said.  "And after all, your marriage is holy 
and blessed and destined, right?"

	"Right."

	"And we should all seek to do the Serpent's will, 
right?"

	"And then you're going to argue that since the Serpent 
wants everyone to be happy, etc.  We've been here before, 
son," Davros said.

	Miroku glanced about.  "Hmm, even though I should help 
my fellow priest, I think I'd better warn you that 
Matriarch Halari is coming."

	Davros quickly cut into Kaname and the Choirmaster's 
discussion.  "Kaname-chan, I'm afraid I have to run for my 
life now.  I'll see you at the embassy, later."

	Kaname said, "Hold on, I'm almost...for your life?"  
She looked around.  "Assassins?"

	High above them, Sousuke reported this to Melissa.  'I 
can make out this Matriarch, I think.  Green robes, yellow 
serpent sigil, beelining towards Davros.  Want me to drop 
her?'

	'I think shooting a major Kundali priestess would be a 
bad idea.'

	'He thinks she's a threat to his life.'

	'I think he's exaggerating,' Melissa said.  'But be 
ready.  I'm getting Kurz ready as backup if you need him.'

	'Roger,' he replied.

	Davros said, "Worse.  Recruiters."

	"...?"  Kaname stared at him in confusion.

	"Fifteen seconds to impact, Dad," Miroku said softly.  
"Want me to try and slow her down?"

	"Yes, please," he said.

	Miroku headed to intercept, dragging Kyoko along with 
him.  "Matriarch Halari!  Such a pleasure to meet you!"

	"A pleasure to see you as well, Miroku," she said.  

	"This is my friend, Captain Kyoko of the Rebman Navy."

	Kyoko bowed.  "A pleasure to meet you."

	"She wants to recruit me for her order," Davros said 
to Kaname.  "She is not very good at understanding the 
concept of 'no'."

	Kaname said, "Yes, some people are like that."  She 
sighed, turning to the Choirmaster.  "I will give you a 
trump call later, if it's alright."

	"That is acceptable," he said.  "Although I'm afraid I 
don't have any trumps of myself handy to give you."

	"Oh, I can make one myself," she said.

	"You don't have to go just because I'm running away," 
Davros said.

	"Family solidarity," Kaname said.  "It's only polite."

	Halari said to Kyoko, "And to meet you as well."  She 
turned to Miroku, "Sorry to be rude, but I must speak to 
your father."

	"I believe he's busy with the Crown Princess of 
Rebma."

	Said Crown Princess now linked hands with her two 
bodyguards, Davros, and Yomiko, and vanished in a flash of 
trump.

	Halari's eyes widened.  "Three men at once AND a 
woman.  I'm impressed."

	Kyoko giggled.  "Well, William and Thomas go 
EVERYWHERE with her, if you know what I mean."

	"They both looked quite yummy," she said.  "So I can 
see why."  She sighed.  "Everytime I try to approach him, 
something always seems to happen."

	"Well, it's bad luck to interrupt a tryst," Miroku 
said.  "But perhaps later."

	'Are all Amberites insatiable?' Sousuke mumbled.

	'I rather strongly doubt they're going off to have 
sex,' Melissa said.  'And given our parents conceived us 
through a sex rite, I don't think either of us is in much 
of a position to talk about such things.'  

	Sousuke asked, 'Gotten a fix on their position yet?'

	'They're outside the Embassy.  Looks like Davros is 
going inside while Yomiko and Kaname and her companions are 
heading out into town.'

	'Alright.  Time for me to head out, then.'

******************

	"You've been living with them for the last two 
decades?" Kaname asked in surprise.

	Yomiko laughed nervously.  "Well, I just sort of moved 
in, and now I'm sort of part of the family, I guess.  It 
was really nice when Violet was here too, back at the start 
of it.  I don't get to see her much these days."

	"She's a diplomat, right?"

	Yomiko nodded, yanking her briefcase up over a curb.  
"Yes.  Seems to run in the family, I guess, since Mom does 
diplomatic stuff sometimes, and Mitsune's the assistant 
Ambassador."

	"Not for you, though?"

	Yomiko blushed a little.  "I'm too shy.  I'm happy 
running the embassy library and doing research when 
everyone needs to know something."

	Kaname nodded.  "Well, you have to do what makes you 
happy."

	"It's a lot of fun here, and we get lots of visitors, 
and there's work to keep me busy."  Yomiko cocked her head 
slightly, then reached over and took Kaname's hand.

	Kaname blushed slightly as she suddenly wondered if 
Yomiko was hitting on her.  Mitsune certainly liked women, 
and she'd heard rumors about Violet and Lily.  Well, Lily's 
past.  Lily had been married to a man for decades, and 
seemed faithful to him.

	'We're being followed', Yomiko said.  'We have been 
for the last hour.'  

	'...'

	'Looks like a Lilbari.  They're vulnerable to high-
pitched sonics.  Unfortunately, I didn't rack any this 
morning, and now that I think about it, we've still got our 
ears shifted to be extra-sensitive.'

	'...'

	Yomiko now took William's hand as well.  'The lizard 
man behind us has...'

	'Been following us for a while,' he said.

	'Why didn't you say about it?' Kaname demanded.

	'Been trying to figure out if he was hostile or if 
perhaps it was just a coincidence.'

	'We're going to have to lure him into a trap.  Know 
any good alleyways for ambushes, Yomiko-chan?'

	Yomiko glanced around the street.  'Not really.  I 
don't ambush people very often.'

	'Turn left there,' William said, pointing.

 	They turned left at the alleyway, then William said, 
'Any chance of illusions of us we can send on down this 
while the rest of us hide?'

	Yomiko said, 'One Doppleganger Army coming right up."  
She extracted several slips of paper from her sleeve and 
drew runes on them, then hurled them into the air.  They 
spun about, transforming into duplicates of the four of 
them, which headed off down the alleyway, while everyone 
now took cover as best they could.

	The lizardman warily entered the alleyway, then paused 
before he reached them, and started to back up.  Yomiko now 
popped up, waving her arms about as she commanded dozens of 
slips of paper from her briefcase to form into a chain with 
handcuffs on the end which zoomed at the lizardman.  Kaname 
began casting a spell.  And William and Thomas simply 
charged at him. 

	He sprouted wings and took to the air, even as Kaname 
finished her spell.  He was going to try and reach the 
southern rooftop, then use logrus once he got out of sight, 
to flee out into shadow away from them, then probably come 
back in another form, she realized.  "Yomiko, grab his 
feet."

	The cuffs locked onto his feet, but he managed to hack 
the chain apart with his sword, then dodged crossbow bolts 
from Thomas and William.  "Ladder!" Kaname shouted.

	Yomiko made a ladder, and Kaname sprinted up it as the 
lizard man rose up over the rooftop.  By the time she 
reached the top, he'd vanished into shadow.  She sighed.  
"Dammit.  I'm going to have to rack some trap spells, as 
I'm sure he'll be back."

	"I don't think this is the first time," William said.  
"There's been several times I thought someone was following 
us, but they never did anything and usually eventually 
wandered off."

	Kaname frowned.  "Next time, tell me as soon as you 
begin to even suspect it."

	"Yes, Princess," he said.  "I will."

	"Well, we're close to a really great bookstore," 
Yomiko said.  "That'll get our mind off this."

	Kaname smiled.  "Alright.  Lead on."

**********

	"I still can't figure out why they spotted me today," 
Sousuke said.

	"Yomiko hasn't been training with your father for 
years for nothing," Melissa said.  "Although probably she 
realized you weren't quite walking right for a Lilbari.  Or 
it may have just been because they were in a particularly 
empty stretch of street."  She frowned.  "At least they 
didn't catch you."

	"I was very wary, as I couldn't see why they were 
suddenly cutting through the alleyway," he said.  "Although 
if they did catch me, Yomiko knows me, so at least I could 
prove what I was doing."

	"She'll probably tell Kanako, who will start stalking 
us.  I think we'd best tell her, just to be sure we don't 
have some complete disaster."

	Sousuke frowned.  "Father said to tell no one."

	"You don't really think Kanako would tell anyone else, 
do you?"

	He frowned deeper.  "No, she wouldn't, but..."

	"Alright, why don't we go talk to Lord Loewen, and ask 
him what he thinks we should do about Kanako?"

	Sousuke nodded.  "That seems reasonable to me."

	"Let's go, then."

	"Should we bring Kurz?"

	"He needs his beauty sleep, not that it does him much 
good."

	"I HEARD THAT," Kurz bellowed from the next room.

	Melissa grinned and they headed out.

***************
	
	Kaname frowned at the floating image.  "This is 
confusing," she said.

	"Well, you see, it's hard to map the Courts, because 
it's made of many small shadows knit together, which don't 
always line up well in three dimensions," Yomiko said.  She 
gestured and a blue line formed between the Embassy and Mr. 
Fillmore's house.  "Alright, let's zoom in."

	The image zoomed in on the route.  Kaname studied it.  
"Hmm, good ambush points here, here, here, here, there, and 
here," she said, pointing to a series of alleyways and 
narrow streets.  "Which do you think is better, Thomas?"

	"That one," Thomas said, pointing to a narrow street.  
"Do it on a late night return from Mr. Fillmore's.  Seed 
the street with those trump traps you've been learning to 
make, flight spells for everyone so that he can't just fly 
away."

	"Sign of the Pattern ready to try and stop him getting 
away with Logrus."  She frowned.  "Though I hear it hurts 
like hell if you hit Logrus tendrils with it."

	"Yes, it does," Yomiko said.  "I can spread seeds and 
try to make them grow up swiftly and catch him, but not if 
he gets too high."

	"Ahah!  Plant them on the roofs in advance.  When we 
do our ambush, you can make them grow up over the top of 
the street and form a sort of roof he can't fly up 
through."  Kaname smiled.  "I'll have to try to stop him 
using Logrus."

	"Who are you planning to kill?" Kanako asked.

	Kaname started.  "Oh, hi, Kanako.  We're after this 
guy who has been following me."

	"Do you beat up all your admirers?" Kanako asked.

	Kaname frowned.  "He's probably an agent of House 
Darios."

	Kanako's face darkened slightly.  "Them."

	"Want to help?" Yomiko asked.  "If you posed as 
Kaname, she and I could be already concealed at our ambush 
location so we could prepare it more effectively before 
springing our trap."

	"I don't suppose you've seen Kyoko, have you?" Kaname 
asked.  "We could use her help too."

	Kanako extended her hands in the style of prayer, 
except that they were horizontal instead of vertical.  "I 
believe she and Miroku are 'praying' upstairs."

	"My goodness," Yomiko said.  "I hadn't realized she 
was so pious."

	Kanako turned and just looked at Yomiko without saying 
anything.

	Kaname's hands clenched.  "They're...they're...they've 
barely met!"

	In an imitation of Miroku's voice, Kanako said, "Time 
is nookie."  Her voice returned to normal.  "As he told me 
once."

	She turned red.  "I'm going to put a stop to this!"

	Thomas said, "Well, I mean, isn't it Captain Kyoko's 
own business if she..."  He melted in the heat of the 
glare.

	"He's taking advantage of her!  I can't allow that!"  
Kaname stormed out of the room.

	Kanako said, "I didn't think they were lovers."

	Yomiko blinked.  "That who was lovers?"

	Thomas and William ran after Kaname.

	"Kaname and Kyoko."

	"Oh, they're just good friends," Yomiko said.  "I'm 
sure Miroku would have invited both of them if they were 
lovers."

	Kanako stared silently at Yomiko.

	"What?"

	"A prude, then."

	Yomiko blinked.  "What?"

	Kanako shook her head.  "Come on, this should be 
entertaining."  She took Yomiko's hand and dragged her 
along.

	When they got upstairs, they found Kaname pounding on 
Miroku's door.  "I know you're in there!  I can't let you 
do this to Kyoko!  Preying on the innocent and vulnerable!  
You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

	Kaname kept pounding, though she was starting to 
wonder how they could be so quiet.  She was pretty sure sex 
was noisy.  "Open up!"

	William began banging enthusiastically on the door, 
while Thomas stood and frowned, watching.

	Kaname gave the door a particularly enthusiastic kick 
and it ripped loose from its hinges, falling to the ground.  
"Ahah!  Now st..."

	The room was devoid of human life, although a totebag 
sat on the bed, with clothing spilling out of it.  Kaname 
blinked.  "No one is here."

	"If you had asked," Kanako said.  "I could have told 
you they're in the workout room."

	"..."

	"You did not," she concluded.

	Kaname sprinted down the hallway to bang on the door 
of the workout room.

	Yomiko said, "Shouldn't we just let them pray?"

	Kanako said, "Shhh.  This is a chance to see what my 
mother must have been like in her youth."

	The workout room had a little sign hanging from a hook 
on it.  It read 'In Use'.

	Kaname yanked the door open.  "Kyoko, don't be stu..."

	Moonshade looked up while lifting weights.  "Eh?"

	"I'm sorry," Kaname said.  "I thought..."

	"Oh, I chased Miroku and Kyoko out of here, since I 
wanted to work out, and they weren't exactly using the 
equipment," Moonshade said.  "I could use a spotter."

	Kaname said, "I..."

	"I'll spot you, while William spots Kaname," Thomas 
said firmly.  "Since she hasn't gotten in her workout today 
yet."

	"But, I need to..."

	"Do you really think Captain Kyoko doesn't know what 
she's doing?" Thomas asked her flatly.  "She's not some 
giggly teenager."

	"She's a giggly adult," William said helpfully.

	Kaname sighed.  "You're right.  And I could use a 
workout to relax.  Then we can work on our plan."

	"Plan?" Moonshade asked.

	"We're going to catch someone who has been following 
Kaname," Yomiko said.  "I should probably get in my workout 
for the day too."

	Moonshade grinned.  "I didn't think I'd start a tidal 
wave.  C'mon, Thomas.  Let's get to it."

***************

	"I'm kind of surprised you went after me, instead of 
Kaname," Kyoko said softly to Miroku as they lay in her 
bed.  

	"Because she's so pretty and powerful and a crown 
princess?"

	Kyoko nodded.

	"She also has a reputation for breaking men in half 
who hit on her.  Which does give her a certain allure, but 
she's not so pretty as to make me suicidal.  Today, anyway.  
And you're certainly pretty and intelligent, which is a 
very good combination."  

	Kyoko laughed.  "She has really high standards, I 
think."

	"Well, so do I."  He twined a lock of Kyoko's hair 
around his finger.  "So, now you know there's men who think 
you're as attractive as she is."

	Kyoko blushed.  "I can hardly believe I did this."

	"Well, I'll be happy to do it with you again, whenever 
you like," he said, kissing her forehead.  "Assuming 
Motoko-mom doesn't kill me."

	"She's hardly in a position to protest," Kyoko said.  
"Three spouses and all."

	"Never stopped her before," he said.  

	"Well, I'll tell her and Kaname off if I have to."  
She cuddled a little closer to him.  "So why was that 
priestess after your father, exactly?"

	"She wants him to join the monks of Kundali.  He's 
quite an inspiration to many of us."

	"Because he has three wives?"

	"He got to do something most of us can only DREAM of.  
I mean, bringing life to an entire world.  And he got Lord 
Loewen laid.  That alone would make him worth recruiting."

	"Lord Loewen doesn't like sex much?"

	"He didn't have sex for...well, decades and decades.  
Because of his injuries."

	"And then he had sex with your father?" Kyoko asked in 
disbelief.

	"..."

	"I take it I'm not getting something."

	"..."

	She shook him.  "Hello, Miroku?"

	"Aaargh, now I can't get that image out of my head," 
he said.  "No, but he and Mom and Motoko-mom and Isillome-
mom's love was strong enough to bring life to an entire 
universe, and to send everyone around them into a complete 
sexual frenzy.  That's how Lord Loewen and Lady Kodachi 
conceived Sousuke."

	"And you and Princess Deirdre were both born of that 
too, right?"

	He nodded.  "Yes.  There were six of us born of that 
day, maybe seven.  Princess Eowyn won't say who Asuka's 
father was, but I know she was there, so Asuka is likely a 
rites baby too."

	"You and Deirdre and Asuka and who else?"

	"Sousuke, heir to Helgram.  Melissa Fillmore.  Kurz, 
son of Cho.  And Allen von Munchausen."

	"Wow.  I bet you're all destined to do some great 
thing together."

	"Maybe," he said, smiling.  "The Mitala Cycle speaks 
of ten Knights. Ten of one birth / Children of the 
childless / Knights of the blood  / Born of rebirth / 
Called to battle / Against the night.  Which makes me 
wonder who the other three could be."

	"I'm sure they'll turn up when they're really needed," 
she said.  

	"Prophecies are like that.  It's often hard to figure 
out what they mean until it's too late.  Living gates and 
wings of flame and kin-slaying and parties and all."

	"There need to be more prophecies about parties," she 
said.  

	He laughed.  "I agree completely."

***************
	
	As Kyoko lay in the baths, later, Mitsune came in.  
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

	"I don't mind," she said.  "Is this the 'warning me 
away from your son' talk?"

	Mitsune laughed.  "You and Miroku can have sex until 
the cows come home for all I care."  She doused herself 
with water and started scrubbing herself down.  "You're 
both adults, there's no risk he'll get you pregnant, and 
while I know Motoko and Davros think otherwise, he doesn't 
just screw everything that moves.  I wouldn't count on 
marriage, though."

	"I'm not looking for marriage," Kyoko said.  

	"That's good," Mitsune said.  "I'm sure he'll settle 
down one day with his destiny harem," she laughed at that.  
"But not yet.  Just make sure you both understand what you 
think you're doing."

	She nodded.  "Okay."

	"And tell him I know he's in there, so he might as 
well surface."

	Miroku popped up.  "How'd you know I was in here?"

	"I knew you always like taking baths with your lovers 
after sex," Mitsune said.  "Your dad does it too."  She 
purred a little.  "I tend to like doing it IN the baths, 
myself."

	Kyoko blushed slightly.  "This happen often?"

	"Often as I can manage it," Mitsune said.  She 
finished scrubbing herself.  "Better turn female now, so I 
can get in there with you two, Miroku."

	Miroku turned into a short, curly-haired blonde woman 
who looked rather like his mother with slightly longer 
hair, and a more pronounced nose.  "I'm surprised you 
didn't bring Dad."

	"Oh, he'd never take a bath with anyone female he 
wasn't married to, unless I forced him," Mitsune said.  "Or 
tricked him."  She sank into the warm water and gave a 
happy sigh.  "Although Michelle's tried a few times."

	"Princess Michelle?" Kyoko asked in surprise.

	"I think she's been kicking herself that she never 
went and got him when she had the chance," Mitsune said.  
"You know how she is."

	"No, not really, though I've heard rumors," Kyoko 
said.

	"Well, she had her chance, and she muffed it," Mitsune 
said.  "He's all mine now."  She paused.  "All ours."

	Onna-Miroku laughed.  "Don't be greedy, Mom."

	She leaned back and folded her hands across her 
stomach.  "You know what I meant."

	"So, which one do you like best, hmm?" Kyoko asked.

	"That's like asking if I like my foot better than my 
hand," Mitsune said.  

	"Ask her about King Thoric," Miroku said, grinning.

	Mitsune said, "Whatever hallucinations you may have 
had about our trips to Arcadia, Miroku, I haven't had sex 
with Thoric since he dumped me decades ago.  We're both 
married, so nothing is going to happen."

	"Uh huh."

	Mitsune turned red.  "Having baths together is not 
sex!"

	Miroku said, "Woot!  I heard that, but I didn't think 
it was really true.  So, when do you move on to the next 
stage?"

	"There is no next stage!  All of us in the baths 
together is as far as any of it is going to go, ever.  And 
we don't even always do that."

	"Sometimes you have a more private bath."

	"Y...no!"  Mitsune was red as a beet.  "No matter 
how..."  She took a deep breath, then turned into Rimururu.  
"I am pure as freshly fallen snow.  And certainly not 
lusting after anyone."

	Onna-Miroku turned into Mutsumi.  "But his hair is the 
same green as the noble turtle!"

	Rimururu-Mitsune laughed, then turned back to normal.  
"Anyway, nothing is happening, nothing WILL happen."

	"Uh huh."

	"I'm going to have to kill you the next time you 'uh 
huh' at me, Miroku," Mitsune said.

	"Uh huh."  He grinned.

	"So, did Miroku show you a good time or did he 
collapse from exhaustion before he finished?" Mitsune asked 
Kyoko.

	"Oh, we finished," she said, a little embarrassed.  
"He was very gentle."

	"Good," she said.  More loudly, she said, "Whoever is 
lurking in the hallway and listening at the door might as 
well just come in and bathe with us!"

	Moonshade said through the door, "Is there anyone 
there Kaname will end up having to beat up?"

	"Hey!"

	"Does Miroku count?"

	"MIROKU IS IN THERE?" Kaname shouted.

	"Hey, I made him turn into a woman before I got in the 
tub," Mitsune shouted back.  

	"I'll just go, as I'm clean now," Onna-Miroku said.  
She kissed Kyoko on the cheek.  "See you at dinner."  Then 
she waved her arms about, and vanished in a spray of green 
light.

	"Okay, he's gone, come on in!" Mitsune shouted.

	Kaname and Moonshade came in.  "I can't believe you 
did that!" Kaname said.

	"It was all perfectly innocent," Kyoko said.

	"And I can't believe you had sex with him like that!" 
Kaname said to Kyoko.

	"I'm not frigid, like some people," Kyoko said to 
Kaname, a little irritated.  "I can sleep with who I want 
to."

	"I am not frigid!  I just have taste!" Kaname shouted.

	"And I don't?  Is that it?  Am I supposed to sit 
around on my butt until you get a boyfriend?  Because if I 
wait for that, it'll happen just before the Abyss swallows 
everything!"  Kyoko got up.  "Or maybe you're jealous he 
thought I was sexier than you!"

	Kaname turned red.  "I am NOT JEALOUS!"

	Moonshade said, "Whoah, whoah, calm down, let's not 
break the baths, okay?"

	Mitsune said, "I'm sure he'd be happy to sleep with 
you too, Kaname."

	Kaname twitched. 

	Moonshade grabbed her hands.  "No violence.  Just 
count to ten."

	Kaname counted to ten, then sighed.  "Kyoko, this is 
going to end up like all your other boyfriends."

	"At least I've HAD other boyfriends," she snapped 
back.

	"Okay, NEW topic," Moonshade said.   

	"Was the Haenrid good?" Mitsune asked.

	"Wonderful," Kaname said.  "Very impressive, and an 
entertaining story."  She sat down and started cleaning 
herself, as did Moonshade.

	"I could see Davros was being all floaty, but he's 
been wanting to see the whole thing forever and a day," 
Mitsune said.  "I wish I could have seen it myself."

	"How did the negotations go?" Kaname asked.

	"The Coruscant ambassador agreed to settle out of 
court.  Which is good, as it means Faye can actually visit 
home if she wants to now.  And has no more bounties on her 
head."

	"Faye?" Kyoko asked.

	"One of Grandmother's agents," Mitsune said.  "She and 
most of her team are from Coruscant.  Except for Edward, 
who I don't think anyone knows the origins of, including 
Edward."

	Kyoko got up.  "Well, I think I'm ready to go get 
dressed.  See you."

	"Later," Mitsune said.

	"See you at dinner," Kaname said.

	Kyoko laughed.

	"What's so funny?"

	"That's just what Miroku said," Kyoko said, then got a 
towel and headed out.

	Kaname sat in silence as she finished scrubbing down, 
then rinsed herself off and got into the water.

	"Don't worry about her and Miroku," Mitsune said.  "I 
doubt it'll last very long, but he'll show her a good time 
while it does."

	"And you're stronger than him, so if you really have 
to clobber him..."  Moonshade laughed, and got into the hot 
water.  She sat down next to Mitsune and put an arm around 
her.  Mitsune rested her head on Moonshade's shoulder.  "I 
wouldn't be surprised if you were stronger than your 
father, Kaname."

	Kaname laughed.  "A bit, yes."

	"Enjoying your stay so far?" Moonshade asked.

	"Yes," she said.  "Though I have to work very hard, 
but I'm learning a lot.  So, I take it you have a lot of 
long-term guests?"

	"Kanako and Yomiko pretty much live here permanently, 
and Miroku visits a lot.  Nanbara doesn't come home so 
often, and Deirdre's in the war right now.  We've had 
Violet and Shiori here too.  And Uotani-chan, when she gets 
sent on a mission to Chaos.  And Motoko's parents come down 
a lot.  And Mom and Dad and Lily when they can spare the 
time," Mitsune said.

	"Uotani-chan?" Kaname asked.

	"Sergeant Uotani of the Castle Guards.  She's Uncle 
Ramon's protegee," Moonshade said.  "He brings her down 
sometimes when he comes for a visit.  She's DAMN strong.  
Going to be a real powerhouse one day, I think.  And Nanami 
Minor too.  A powerhouse, that is."

	"Big beefy blonde," Mitsune said.  "And yeah, she's 
going to be scary."

	There was a knock on the door.  "Dinner is ready!  
Come and get it."

	With some grumbling, they got out and went.

***********

	"I think we will have to change methods," Loewen said.  
"We are lucky that Yomiko-san did not recognize Sousuke."

	"Maybe we should just openly offer to guard her," 
Sousuke said.  "As we have yet to spot any threats, and now 
she's probably going to try to ambush us again."

	Loewen looked thoughtful.  "I have an idea."

	Kurz asked, "This doesn't involve grape suits, does 
it?"

	"..."

	"Just checking."

	"No, the simple solution here is to give them a threat 
to target and remove.  At the same time, we can easily 
introduce Melissa to them, get her to help them remove the 
threat, and then she can travel with them, while the rest 
of you resume covert monitoring."

	Melissa said, "We could just explain to them what was 
really going on."

	"Well, if you don't mind your shame being trumpeted to 
the heavens..."

	"I spent years dancing on top of a pillar for 
screaming teenage girls.  You think I have any shame?" Kurz 
asked.

	Sousuke frowned.  "While I hate to be shamed, I also 
hate to lie to them."

	Melissa nodded.  "I agree."

	"Alright.  I suppose that if you couldn't fool them, 
you likely wouldn't fool any hostile agents, either."

	All three of them winced heavily at that.

	"I will see about planting other agents, while you 
three serve as bodyguards for her."

	Sousuke nodded.  "Yes, father."

	"And if you see Yomiko-san, congratulate her for me on 
spotting you."

	"Yes, father."

	"Very good.  You may go."

**************
	
	"This is my granddaughter, Lady Melissa, and her 
friends Lord Sousuke and Lord Kurz," Mr. Fillmore said to 
Kaname.  

	Melissa held out a hand, smiling.  "Nice to meet you."

	Kaname shook her hand.  "Nice to meet you too."

	"Woo, you're a looker," Kurz said to Kaname.  "You 
dating anyone?"

	Kaname said, "Not dating and not really looking."

	He just smiled confidently.

	Sousuke saluted Kaname.  "Greetings, Commodore."

	She grinned.  "What's your rank, Lord Sousuke?"

	"Daichek.  I'm not sure what that corresponds to in 
Rebman officer structures, but I believe you outrank me," 
Sousuke replied.

	"I believe that's equivalent to a lieutenant," Kurz 
said.  "Which means that yes, she outranks us quite a bit, 
and so does Captain Kyoko."

	"Though we're in different militaries, so it doesn't 
matter as much," Melissa pointed out.  

	"Well, Kana-chan is a brilliant commander, so I'm sure 
you'll enjoy serving under her," Kyoko said.  "Just don't 
mention sex or boyfriends or..."

	Kaname twitched.  "Kyoko-chan!"

	"Stiff as Sousuke, eh?" Kurz asked.

	"Does he try to break into people's rooms while 
they're having sex?" Kyoko asked.

	"KYOKO-CHAN!"

	Kurz's eyes widened.  "Hmm, more like me, then."

	"I do not try to..." Kaname began.

	"You most certainly tried to break in while Miroku and 
I were having sex," Kyoko said.  "Let's face it, you're 
very hentai, Kana-chan."

	Kaname turned beet red.  "I'm not the one who..."  She 
took a deep breath.  "Let's talk about something else."

	Melissa said, "So is he actually any good?  I've met a 
fair number of Kundali priests with big mouths and no 
skills."

	"VERY good," Kyoko said.  "Best sex I've ever had.  
And I got photos."

	Kurz boggled.  Melissa laughed.  Sousuke frowned.  

	"Hmm, I bet I could get Kana-chan to turn them into 
porn trumps."

	"There are no such thing as PORN TRUMPS!" Kaname 
shouted, then calmed herself.  "At least, I have never made 
any and _never_ will."  

	"Well, we'd best get to work on your lessons, Kaname.  
Melissa, I've got several sandtables set up if you and 
Sousuke want to play out a scenario or two while you wait."

	"And I set up an aquarium for naval battles," Kyoko 
said.  "If any of you feel like challenging me.  I think 
Thomas is tired of me taking him down."

	Kurz looked thoughtful.  "Alright, I'll give you a 
shot."

	They all went down to the workshop, where several 
miniatures battles were set up, along with the easels and 
other work materials for trumps, and a large modifiable 
aquarium.

	"I want you to do a trump of Sousuke," Mr. Fillmore 
said.

	She blinked.  "Umm, okay.  Why Sousuke?"

	"You may need it later," he said.

	"Uh, right."  She began studying him, trying to decide 
how he should be drawn.

	Kurz and Kyoko threw a jan-ken-po to determine who got 
to be which side of the battle of Espin; Kurz won by 
throwing rock to her scissors.  He began studying the setup 
and wishing he could remember anything at all from the book 
he'd read about this war.

	Melissa and Sousuke began their game, the battle of 
Pydna.  Melissa got the Thessalian Phalanxes; Sousuke had 
the Legions of Reme.  Kaname's brain began to drift from 
art to military strategy, studying the board to see what 
she would do; things didn't look too good right from the 
start for Reme's forces, in her opinion.  

	She forced herself to not try to anticipate them, and 
focus on her drawing.  Sousuke got to move first; he began 
sliding his units about, not even needing a ruler, moving 
methodically down his line.  She could see the tight 
discipline of his movements, not an inch wasted as he made 
his dispositions.  His body was tense, even when just 
playing this game, and he stood as straight as he could.

	Melissa, on the other hand, slouched on a stool and 
chugged periodically from a can of beer; she hardly looked 
a soldier at all, unless you noticed the sword at her hip.  
She grinned confidently as Sousuke frowned at his men.  
"C'mon, we don't have all day."

	He finished his dispositions, then began to roll dice 
to see how well his men did.  The Phalanxes threw back the 
assault, and Melissa grinned.  But then her cavalry 
collapsed on one flank, and her face fell.  "Dammit," she 
muttered.

	She began wheeling men to form an oblique flank 
defense, until Sousuke said, "You've got to make command 
rolls to get phalanxes to turn like that."

	She grumbled.  Her luck was fairly good, but some of 
her miniatures now wandered to the rear or got clumped 
together, and the line was ragged.  She pressed forward on 
her other flank, striking at and driving back the legions; 
her right flank cavalry did well as well.

	She needs to fall back and regroup her line, Kaname 
thought.  She's being too aggressive with her flank falling 
apart.  

	Sousuke committed some of his reserves to his 
threatened left wing, while still folding back more of 
Melissa's flank, while not reinforcing his left, which 
caused Melissa to blink.  

	By the book, Kaname thought.  She's going to push his 
flank into the hills, where her phalanxes can't keep in 
formation, which would actually benefit him.  But 
generally, tactics manuals don't advise letting the enemy 
force you back, so of course he's reinforcing that wing 
instead of letting her sabotage herself.  And she knows it.  
She could tell from Melissa's smile.  He's going to pin 
down his reserves on that side, enabling her to recover for 
a blow at the other flank.  

	She began to quickly sketch him, standing on a tower, 
looking down at a plain where armies marched.  She drew the 
tower to look just like a chess rook; he moves just like a 
rook, she thought.  In straight lines.  

	While Melissa is a knight.  She moves one way, then 
suddenly jumps another, catching you off guard, Kaname 
thought.  She laid the initial sketch of Sousuke aside, and 
began to sketch Melissa.  In the sketch, Melissa rode a 
horse, charging along a line of pikemen, instead of 
headlong into them, snagging their pikeheads with metal 
nets, to yank open a hole in the enemy line as her men 
charged forward.  

	"Aaah!  You sank my flagship!" Kurz shouted in 
frustration.

	Kyoko smiled.  "Well, you took down three of my 
frigates last turn.  Now, let's see about your left 
wing..."

	Melissa now threw her reserves into a left wing 
assault.  But the dice turned against her, and the attack 
quickly ground to a halt.

	Sousuke began pressing her forces back across the 
sandbox with a series of methodical assaults.  

	Kaname now went back to her first sketch, and put it 
on a light box, then began to trace a cleaner version onto 
fresh paper.  Quick, fluid strokes then inked and shaded 
that version, which she tacked up on a board.  Then she 
took a blank card and her paints, and began to paint.

	"No, magical backlash!" Kyoko cried out.  She rolled 
another die.  "My flagship just blew up."  She stared in 
shock.

	"Lady luck is pretty fickle," Kurz said.  "Never 
bothered to learn magic myself, as I assumed I'd probably 
blow up."

	Melissa stripped her cavalry off her right wing and 
sent it riding around behind Sousuke's army.

	He blinked.  "What is the point of that?"

	She smiled.

	He pulled some forces out of his center to intercept, 
and soon fought them to a standstill.

	Then Melissa threw the last of her reserves into her 
center, stripped her left, and broke the center of 
Sousuke's line.  Her forces spread out through the gap, 
beginning to roll up his left and right flanks.  "Gotcha," 
she said, crumpling her empty can and tossing it into a 
garbage can.  

	"But if you'd failed to break through, I would have 
crumpled your left wing," he said.  

	"If I failed to break through, you'd drive me into the 
hills in two more turns, and then my phalanxes couldn't 
fight worth a damn," she said.  "Good fight, though."  She 
held out her hand.

	He took her hand and shook it.  "A very good fight.  
You'll be a great general for Helgram one day, Melissa."

	"You too," she said.  "You've just got to think 
outside the box."

	"Box?  But we have to stay on the table, right?"

	She got off her stool.  "I'm going to get another 
beer.  Anyone want one?"

	"Get me a beer and a new set of sloops," Kurz said.

	"Soda for me," Kaname said.

	"Water," Sousuke said.  "With ice."

	"Wine," Kyoko said.  "Begman Red if there's any left."

	Melissa concentrated, and Logrus tendrils snaked away 
into Shadow from her.  "We'll have to see if there's 
anything similar handy in shadow, Kyoko," she said.  

	She soon pulled everyone a drink; Kyoko got stuck with 
Valencian Red, which wasn't quite what she wanted, but good 
enough.

	Melissa and Sousuke now came over to take a look at 
Kaname's work.  "You're very good," Sousuke said.  "An 
excellent likeness of me."

	"Thank you," Kaname replied.  "I'll do Melissa next, 
once I finish this off."

	"What about me?" Kurz shouted.

	"You don't want her to draw you while Kyoko's kicking 
your ass," Melissa said.

	"Hey!  She got lucky!"

	"Trying to take on a Rebman naval captain in naval 
combat is like trying to attack Lord Loewen in the form of 
a dog," Melissa said.  "Don't do it unless you have to."

	Kyoko smiled broadly.

	"You shouldn't have let her lure your left wing into 
the shallows where her sloops had the advantage, Kurz," 
Sousuke said.

	"Hey, how'd you notice that?" Kurz asked.

	"I could hear Captain Kyoko gloating," Sousuke said.

	Melissa laughed and slapped his back.  "There's hope 
for you yet, Sousuke."  She grabbed his arm.  "Let's go see 
if I can whoop you again.  You can even be the Blues."

	"We should throw for it," Sousuke said.  

	"Okay, we'll do that, then," she said.

	Mr. Fillmore studied Kaname's work.  "Good insight," 
he said.  "The better you understand your subject, the 
faster and better you can make a trump of them.  And the 
more you can do with it."

	She smiled.  "Thank you."  She glanced over at Melissa 
and Sousuke, then asked softly, "Are they..."

	Mr. Fillmore shook his head.  "I'd be happy to see 
them get together, but no.  They're just childhood friends.  
I expect, though, that Sousuke's father will probably 
arrange a marriage for him eventually.  I'm surprised he 
hasn't, really."

	"Well, we all live so long, it's really not a rush," 
Kaname said.  "He probably hopes Sousuke will find someone 
he loves."

	Mr. Fillmore said, "I wish I could believe that, but 
Lord Loewen is not much of a romantic.  Though more of one 
than once he was.  Although I suppose he may think someone 
is destined for Sousuke, and that it will be obvious who he 
should marry when the time comes."

	Kaname nodded.  "True."

	"People find love in the strangest places," Mr. 
Fillmore said.  "But it's beautiful when they do."

	"Do you know much about Miroku?" she asked softly, 
hoping Kyoko wouldn't hear.

	"He's a good boy.  Too much of a letch for his own 
good, like just about all Kundali priests, but he'll treat 
Kyoko well, I think.  He generally gets dumped when he 
tries to get his ladies to try something that goes past 
what they find acceptable, but he never forces anyone into 
anything."

	Kaname wrinkled her nose.  "Like what?"

	"Oh, like inviting them to Kundali rites.  With many 
people."

	Her eyes widened.  "Degenerate."

	"The Serpent commands us to many things which 
Amberites usually can't understand.  Kundali has his place.  
It is not, however, a place I visit often."

	"Since your wife died?" 
	
	He nodded.

	"I'm sorry," she said.  "How did she die?"

	"The Mole People killed her," Mr. Fillmore said.

	"..."

	"It was terribly tragic."

	"You said it was the Cone People last time," Melissa 
said loudly.

	"They were just being _used_ by the Mole People," Mr. 
Fillmore said.

	Kaname resolved to ask Melissa later.

***************

	Kaname paced about in a tight little circle, drawing 
on the Pattern's powers.  Gradually, the winds died down, 
and the clouds parted in one place, enough to let in more 
sunlight.  It was hard to see the distant mountain she'd 
been told to paint through the snow, and hard to try to 
paint with thickly gloved fingers, but she did her best.  
Sousuke had rigged up a sniper post at the end of the ledge 
which sloped down to the trail; Kurz knealt next to him.  
She could see Melissa clinging to the rocks above her, 
keeping watch.  Thomas and William paced back and forth, 
trying to stay warm.  Kyoko was huddled inside one of the 
tents.

	The red paint had frozen again.  Kaname sighed and 
applied another spell to it, gradually warming it up so it 
became liquid, but not so warm as to dry up.  She worked 
hard, hoping she'd finish before the next frost giant 
attack.  She'd progressed to what Mr. Fillmore called the 
'Painting under Stress' series.  Trying to make trumps of 
the landscape in Jotunheim certainly qualified.  Only 
twenty more to go.  

	Melissa shouted, "INCOMING!"

	Everyone peered down into the valley.  They could see 
six blue-skinned giants coming round a distant slope, 
pushing a huge cart.  A long, segmented Ice Wyrm inched 
along beside them.  Kaname took out her spyglass and stared 
down at them.  "Hmm, they may just be passing through," she 
said.

	"We have yet to see a single giant that didn't make a 
beeline and attack us," Melissa replied.

	Kyoko came out of her tent, and looked down with 
binoculars.  "They're hauling a load of boulders."

	"Must be special boulders," Kaname said.

	"Hmm, looking at them through the Logrus doesn't show 
me anything," Melissa said.

	"They're servants of Utgaard-Loki," Miroku said.

	Everyone jumped.  "When did you get here?" Kurz asked.

	"I slipped up the slope while you were all watching 
the giants," Miroku said.  "I finished my exegesis, so I 
thought I'd drop by and see what you all were up to."  He 
pulled his cloak shut.  "Is this an exercise in Extreme 
Painting?"

	"Something like that," Kaname said.  "So who is 
Utgaard-Loki?"

	"He's a giant king.  Rather powerful, and a clever 
sorceror and alchemist.  The rocks are filled with 
Chalcedonian Fire; they'll crack on impact and explode 
burning oil everywhere.  Nastier against the ice creatures 
than us, but still pretty hideous."

	"We'd best all go fire-resistant," Melissa said, her 
skin starting to turn leathery and darker.  

	"Easy for you to say," Thomas grumbled.

	Kyoko frowned.  "I didn't think to rack any fire-
resistance magics as I didn't think we'd be attacked by 
anything that threw fire."

	"We'll just have to shoot them out of the air so they 
don't REACH us," Kaname said.  

	"Shooting boulders out of the air is not an easy 
thing," William said.

	Kaname assessed the situation.  "Thomas, William, you 
both aim at the giants with your crossbows.  Melissa, 
Sousuke, Kurz, Miroku, call up Logrus tendrils and see if 
you can parry or catch the boulders at a distance.  I'm 
going to try and make a quick trump sketch of that ice wyrm 
so I can control it.  Kyoko, start dumping every nasty 
thing you can on them once the fighting starts."

	Logrus tendrils soon sprouted from the Helgram Trio.  
Kaname began drawing desperately quick, focusing her will 
and praying.  She finished the trump sketch even as the 
wagon got slowed down, trying to get through some loose 
snow.  Then the wagon suddenly surged forward once it got 
out of it, and made up the lost time.  Kyoko frowned and 
concentrated harder.  The snow suddenly glowed brightly 
with red lines which formed a damaged tracery.  It gave 
way, and the wagon's front end fell into a hidden sinkhole.  
"Yatta!"  She pumped her fist in the air.

	"Captain Kyoko, I think you just gave our presence 
away," Thomas said.

	"And I think they might, just maybe, have spotted all 
those black logrus tendrils floating about up here!"  She 
got a grip on herself.  "Better hurry, Kana-chan."

	She made the final stroke with a flourish of her 
pencil, then concentrated.  The Ice Wyrm had a potent body, 
but a puny mind.  It soon kneeled before her; she had it 
lunge at the boulders and bite into one of them.

	The explosions started.  Kurz, Melissa, Miroku, and 
Sousuke began grabbing and throwing anything large and 
handy they could with Logrus tendrils.  Thomas and William 
began firing as fast as they could.  Kyoko began casting a 
spell, having to take off her gloves to get the finger 
gestures right, and cursing the cold.  And Kaname guided 
her suicidal Ice Wyrm to keep smashing boulders.

	A streak of flame rained down from Kyoko's hands, 
striking the boulders.  They all went up in flames now, 
sending frost giants running for cover.  "Kurz, Sousuke, 
grab one and haul him up for interrogation.  Everyone else, 
keep up the pressure," Kaname said.  She tossed the trump 
sketch aside; the Ice Wyrm was dead.  She studied the 
landscape, then began to pace in a tight circle.  The far 
mountainside rumbled, and then an avalanche swept down 
towards the unfortunate Frost Giants.  They vanished under 
a pile of snow.

	The prisoner told them only what they knew already; 
the local giants hated humans, so they kept sending war 
parties to root them out.  Sooner or later, they were 
likely to send a full scale army.  Assuming her group stood 
still long enough.  She hoped she could finish the painting 
jobs for this valley and move on before hand, but...

	Miroku asked, "So you have to run around Jotunheim 
making trumps of various mountains?"

	Kaname nodded.  "Yes.  Although I think it's taught me 
a lot more about how to kill Frost Giants than how to do 
trumps."

	"Well, you'll be able to make trumps which send people 
here to be killed by Frost Giants, I suppose," Miroku said.  
He turned to Kyoko and kissed her on the cheek.  "How are 
you, honey?"

	"Tired," she said.  "Tired of frozen wasteland.  And 
constant SNOW."

	"Well, I do know something which would warm you up..."  
He smiled.

	"If you two have sex in the tent while I'm here trying 
to paint and freezing my ass off, I'll have William and 
Thomas throw you both down the mountain while you're 
naked," Kaname said.

	"I'll help too," Melissa said.

	"You people need to learn not to stand in the way of 
nookie," Kurz said.

	Miroku sighed.  "Alright, I can wait.  Really."  He 
looked around.  "How many more trumps of this valley?"

	"Once I finish this one, two more."

	"Hmm, the giants will probably be missed by the 
morning.  How fast can you draw them?"

	"Going to have to stop when the sun sets," Kaname 
said.  "As I can't draw in the dark.  So sometime tomorrow 
afternoon."

	"By which time they may send a very large party," 
Miroku said, frowning.

	"We could try and seal the pass they come through," 
Melissa said.

	"Or yank some really huge lamps out of shadow so she 
can draw all night," Kurz suggested.

	"I can seal the pass," Kyoko said confidently.  She 
gestured, and a glowing blue sigil full of holes appeared 
before her.  She stared through it.  "Okay, let's 
see...weak points there and there and there, so..."  Far 
across the valley, her sigil gleamed in several locations.  
"Hit those points with something hard."

	Sousuke, Miroku, Kurz, and Melissa began tossing 
boulders.  Two of Sousuke's struck accurately, and the far 
mountainside rumbled, dumping another avalanche down to 
seal that pass.

	"Nice work," Kurz said to Kyoko.

	"It's not as good as the real thing, but it's great 
for breaking stuff," Kyoko said.

	"Don't put yourself down," Miroku said.  "It was a 
worthy demonstration of your powers."

	Kyoko smiled broadly.  "Thanks, Miroku."

	Miroku said, "And as for light..."  He took his staff 
and jabbed a rock with it.  It slid into the rock, then 
stood in place; the two snake heads at the top began to 
glow brightly, and the glow spread down the slope, until 
finally, all the snow in the area was shining softly.

	"Now you can work through the night," Miroku said.

	"Thank you," Kaname said.

	"You're welcome," he replied.

***************
	
	Kaname tried to focus on her painting and ignore the 
'ooooh' coming from Kyoko and Miroku's tent.  It wasn't 
easy, and finally, she took the time to weave and cast a 
cone of silence around the tent, just to enable her to keep 
her sanity.

	Sousuke and William stood watch while Kurz, Thomas, 
and Melissa caught some sleep.  After a while, Kaname said 
to Sousuke, "Lord Loewen is your father, right?"

	"Yes, he is," Sousuke said.

	"What's he like?" Kaname asked.

	"Very brave and strong and full of faith and 
determination," Sousuke said.  "Once Father sets his mind 
on something, nothing can stop him.  I am proud to be his 
son."

	"He seems to have trained you very well," Kaname said.

	"Thank you, Princess," he replied.

	"You can call me Kaname," she said.  "Given how Chaos 
works, you're as much a Prince as I am."

	"Alright, Princess Kaname," he replied.

	"Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked.

	"No," he said.  "I've never had time, and I don't 
think anyone has ever been interested.  But I think there's 
someone out there for me, like there was for Father and 
Mother."

	"I don't think my parents were destined, but they've 
found happiness anyway," Kaname said.  "I miss them a lot."

	"I am impressed by you holding the rank of Commodore 
at such a young age."

	Kaname blushed slightly.  "Thank you.  I probably 
wouldn't if Rebma hadn't been hurt so badly during the 
Annadil and Herald Crises.  The city would be mostly empty 
if not for all the immigrants.  But I trained under the 
best teachers in Amber and under Aunt Kozue, and I had to 
build our Naval Mage corps practically from scratch."

	"Princess Kaname is a very brilliant commander," 
William said.  "And a very strong fighter."

	"Thank you, William," she said.  "You're a very good 
fighter too.  And you too, Sousuke."

	"You seem born to command," Sousuke said.

	"Well, I expect we both are, given our parentage," 
Kaname said.  She gazed out across the glowing landscape 
and tried to decide what shade of gray to use for some 
rocks.

	"I have been striving to prepare for the day I lead my 
house, but it seems there is always more to learn," Sousuke 
said.

	"I know.  Right now, I'm working on building all the 
skills I won't have time for once I'm Queen one day.  Since 
Queens don't have much time for studying."

	"Or Lords," Sousuke said.  

	Kaname glanced over at William.  "You're awfully 
silent."

	"Not much I can say about being a monarch," he 
observed.

	Kaname felt slightly embarrassed.  "I suppose not."

	"I'm just an humble bodyguard," he said.  "Not my 
place to criticize my superiors."

	"Unless they do something stupid," Kaname said.

	"Well, yes.  You don't do too many stupid things, 
though," William said.  "Besides turning down Count 
Dryden."

	"Count Dryden worships himself," Kaname said.

	"He seemed a fine enough fellow to me," William said.  
"No accounting for tastes, though."

	"So what do you like in a woman, hmm?" Kaname asked 
him.

	"I'd date Lady Melissa in an instant if she'd have me.  
Or Princess Asuka, though she'd probably just fold me in 
half if I even hinted."

	"You like some fire in your women?" Kaname asked.

	"Exactly.  Means I get burnt a lot, but..."

	"What about you, Sousuke?" Kaname asked.

	"I'm seeing something moving," he said.

	William peered down.  "More ice wyrms, I think."

	"I'll go check it out," Sousuke said, sprouting wings 
and dropping down into the valley.

	Kaname looked over at William.  "Rather smooth dodging 
of my question," she said.

	"I'm impressed, really," he replied.

	Better make sure those wyrms aren't being used as eyes 
by someone, Sousuke thought.

*************  
	 
	"Very good," Mr. Fillmore said, studying the trumps.  
"A few more years, and you'll be very impressive."

	Kaname twitched.  "Years?  The war will end by then!"

	"But the skills will stay with you forever," he said.  
"Of course, I can't make you stay.  But it takes time to 
learn all there is to learn of Trump."

	She sighed.  "I wouldn't mind if Rebma was at peace, 
but I hate running off when my nation is at war."

	"Well, I was going to suggest a little vacation, but 
if you would feel guilty going to the beach..."

	Her eyes widened.  "Ooh, the beach would be good."

	"I was thinking we could go to our family beach 
house."

	She smiled.  "That would be great."

	"Good.  I'll see about making sure it's livable, and 
we can go this weekend."

	"Great!"

*****************

	The beachhouse was tucked away in a quiet cove with 
beautiful forest rising gently to the east of it.  There 
was a dock with several sailboats, and the beachhouse 
itself was a fairly substantial three story affair with 
patios in front and back.  A volleyball net was already set 
up when they trumped in.  

	Once they all got settled in, they all changed into 
bathing suits and headed out to enjoy the beach, except for 
Mr. Fillmore, who simply sat down on the patio facing the 
beach with a book and a mug of lemonade and lost himself in 
it.  "We should play volleyball!" Kaname said.

	"Women versus men?" Kyoko suggested.

	"Not very fair with three women and five men," Melissa 
pointed out.

	"Oh, I can fix that," Miroku said.  "Just give me a 
second to change into something that isn't topless."

	Kaname's eyes bugged out for a moment, and then she 
said weakly, "Right."

	Miroku returned as a short, long-haired blonde woman 
in a green one-piece with the serpent coiled in gold in His 
aspect as Kundali printed across it.  She rather reminded 
Kaname of Nanami Minor; she was a little surprised Miroku 
was wearing something so modest; her own white bikini was 
more revealing.  

	"Oooh, nice suit," Kurz said.

	"Thanks," Onna-Miroku said.  "Let's play!"

	Things went poorly for the women's team from the 
start.  While Kaname and Melissa were very athletic, the 
four men were all better than Onna-Miroku and Kyoko.  
Kaname and Melissa did their best to cover them, but two 
against four was hardly a fair game.  The game ended with a 
score of eleven to four.  Two revenge matches both ended in 
disaster.

	Melissa sighed.  "Miroku, you suck.  I should have 
told Kurz to turn into a woman for us."

	"Hey, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Volleyball is hardly 
part of priestly training!" Onna-Miroku protested.

	"It's not part of Helgram Army training either. How 
can you show a woman a good time if you can't perform?"

	Onna-Miroku's face turned red.  "Can't PERFORM?"  She 
put her hands on her hips.  "I could outperform you ANY DAY 
OF THE WEEK."

	"Miroku's my little love machine!" Kyoko announced.

	Kaname could feel a disaster coming on.

	Melissa grinned and turned to the men.  "So, would you 
guys rather sleep with me or her, hmm?"

	Kaname turned red.

	"You," William said.

	"She looks too much like Nanami Minor for my tastes," 
Thomas said.  "So you."

	"Any time, Melissa," Kurz said, grinning.

	"And you, Sousuke?" Melissa asked.

	"Where are we sleeping?  Field bivouac?  Bed?  Is this 
is a covert mission?" Sousuke asked.

	Melissa slapped her forehead.  "You know what I mean."

	"Not really," he said.  "It was a very vague and 
general question."

	Kaname began to laugh.  "You're so funny, Sousuke."

	"I am?" he asked, blinking.

	"You're joking, right?" Kaname asked.

	"No, not really.  Anyway, would it be just two people?  
What's our objective?"

	Onna-Miroku began to laugh and laugh and laugh.

	Kaname said, "How about if we all go sailing now?  We 
could have a little race."

	"Ahh, yes, I'd like to race against a Rebman 
Commodore," Melissa said.  "Or not."

	"I'll command one boat, and Kana-chan can command the 
other.  That would be fair, right?" Kyoko suggested.

	Onna-Miroku glomped onto her arm.  Kyoko blushed 
slightly.  Onna-Miroku said, "I'll be on your team."

	Kaname said, "Alright.  I'll take William and Melissa 
and Sousuke.  You can have Thomas and Kurz."

	"Sounds good to me," Kyoko said.  She assembled her 
team and snapped a photo.  "On to VICTORY!"  She took off 
for one of the boats.

	"Ever gone sailing before?" Kaname asked Melissa and 
Sousuke.  

	"We've both done basic naval training, but Helgram is 
much more of a land power," Sousuke said.  "But Melissa and 
I both served with House Jesby for a year to get the basics 
down."

	"And Kurz too?"

	"That was when Kurz was in N'Stylite:  Generation 2," 
Melissa said.  "I think what he knows about boats is that 
you can get seasick on them."

	"The same for Miroku," Sousuke said.  "Although I 
suppose Kundali priests probably practice some aquatic 
rites."

	"..."

	Melissa looked suspiciously at Sousuke.  "You can't 
mean what I think you mean."

	Sousuke blinked.  "Their temple at Poseidenis is 
underwater, you know."

	"Right," Melissa said.  "I knew that."

	Sousuke looked over at Kaname.  "Did you understand 
what she meant?"

	"Thankfully, no."

	Soon the boats were underway.  "We head out to that 
island," Kaname said, pointing to an island a few miles off 
shore.  "Then back.  First round the island and back to the 
docks wins."

	"Let's go!" Kyoko said.

	Kyoko took an early lead; Kaname let her get ahead, 
hoping her crew would get tired out before the home 
stretch.  She carefully studied the currents and the winds, 
mapping out her own strategy, and shouting orders to her 
crew.

	As she came round the island, she began to pick up the 
pace, moving to cut Kyoko off by using her superior skill 
to cut in closer to the island.  And then, appearing from 
nowhere, she saw two dozen black sailing ships.  They were 
moving closer with unnatural speed.

	"Black Skull mercenary squadron!" Melissa shouted.  
"If I was to hazard a guess, they probably are working for 
House Darios!"

	Kyoko brought her ship in closer.  "Can you trump us 
out, Kana-chan?"

	"My trumps are all on the beach," Kaname said.  "I 
wasn't expecting this!"

	"Use Pattern, give them a bad current," Melissa said.  
"We'd best make for the beach, so we can get our gear."

	She, Kurz, Sousuke, and Onna-Miroku all went to 
demonform.  It was rather disquieting to the Rebmans.  
Catapult shots began to plunge into the water around them; 
the four Chaosians began trying to fend them off.  William 
and Thomas worked to keep the ships going smoothly.

	Kaname concentrated on manipulating the currents and 
wind; it was easy with the wind, and harder with the 
currents, which changed less often under their own power.  
Her and Kyoko's ship began to pull ahead of the 
mercenaries.  "Kyoko, give one of the ships a weakpoint.  
Miroku, see if you can smash it."

	"If I strike a Broken Pattern sigil with the Logrus, 
we'll both get zapped," Onna-Miroku shouted back.  

	"We go to Plan B, then," Kaname said.  "HANG ON 
TIGHT!"

	She began to hellride an arc through shadow, away from 
the one they were in, then back in, to deposit them at the 
docks while saving some time.  Unfortunately, her 
concentration was disrupted when Sousuke interpreted this 
to mean to grab onto her.  He had a firm grip, on various 
places she didn't want a firm grip.

	It is generally not wise to turn and slug someone when 
in the middle of hellriding.  The good part was that they 
lost the enemy fleet.  The bad news was that they did it by 
landing in the middle of a forest and wrecking their boats 
and being thrown about wildly.

	Sousuke rubbed his jaw.  "I don't quite understand 
what the point of all that was," he said.

	"You grabbed my breasts!" Kaname shouted.

	Kurz sat up.  "Sousuke grabbed a woman's breasts?  
Must be an evil doppleganger."

	Melissa leaped to her feet.  Logrus tendrils darted 
out into shadow from her, and she quickly handed everyone a 
sword.  "I think we can probably make it through shadow 
pretty quickly, back to the beach.  If Kaname doesn't 
decide to drop us in the ocean or something."

	"You'd have done that if he'd grabbed you, wouldn't 
you?"

	"I'd have been so utterly surprised that I probably 
would have just stood in shock," Melissa said.  

	Sousuke sighed.  "Let's get going."

	They quickly made their way to the edge of the woods 
and into the correct shadow.  They could see dozens of 
pirates swarming everywhere.  Some of them were holding Mr. 
Fillmore at swordpoint.  The rest were quickly fanning out.

	Melissa frowned.  "Damnation, they got Grandpa."

	"I'm surprised he didn't trump out," Sousuke said.

	"Probably didn't notice them.  You know how he gets 
with a good book," Kurz said.

	"Can you all grab our equipment from the house with 
logrus tendrils?" Kaname asked.

	"They'd likely spot the tendrils," Kurz said.  "We 
need a diversion."

	Onna-Miroku pursed her lips.  "I can think of one, but 
it depends on how professional they are."

	Melissa put her hands on her hips.  "Oh no, we are NOT 
doing that routine again."

	Kurz grinned.  "Blarney three years ago?"

	"Exactly."

	"No, no, no!  And if I do it, you're coming with me, 
Miroku!"

	Onna-Miroku reached into shadow with the Logrus.  "Let 
me find two suitable outfits."

	Kaname blinked.  "What is this?"

	Sousuke said, "I suggest we get into a better position 
for the infiltration, while Miroku obtains the disguises."

	Melissa twitched.  "I haven't said yes yet, you know."

	"Do you have a better idea?" Onna-Miroku asked.

	"No, dammit, but maybe something will come to me."

	 Kyoko blinked.  "This isn't, like...a striptease 
thing?"

	"You are wise in the ways of science," Onna-Miroku 
said.

	Kaname turned red.  Kyoko said, "I don't want a bunch 
of drooling idiots staring at my boyfriend's naked body!"

	"Well, it's that or you and Kaname doing it," Onna-
Miroku said.

	"..." 

	Kaname ripped a tree-branch off and whacked Onna-
Miroku with it.  "No way!"

	"Like I said.  We have the goods and the skills to 
flaunt it."

	"Mine are bigger than yours!" Kaname said.

	"But I know what to DO with them," Onna-Miroku 
replied.  "But if you want to join us..."

	"No!"

	"Well, then."  Two red dresses got plucked out of 
shadow, and lots of veils.  "Let's go get into position," 
Onna-Miroku said.  She took Melissa's hand.  "We'd best 
step over a shadow or two, so Kaname doesn't die from 
watching us change."  Then she looked at the outfits she 
was holding.  "Hmm, better make sure Motoko-mom doesn't see 
the pictures..."

	Soon, the group got into position, and Onna-Miroku and 
an irritated Melissa returned, clad in veils and moderately 
slinky red dresses.  "Okay, once you see us doing our 
little dance, get into the house," Onna-Miroku said.

	Kaname frowned.  "What if they try to rape you or 
something?"

	"Hopefully, we can outrun them," Onna-Miroku said.  
"If not, we're counting on you six to save us before it's 
too late."

	Kaname felt a weight settle onto her.  "You're putting 
a lot of trust in us."

	"I've known Sousuke and Melissa and Kurz since I was 
little.  And I know Kyoko won't abandon me, and you won't 
either, though you think I'm not much use," Onna-Miroku 
said.  "And I don't think you got to be a Commodore for 
nothing."

	Kaname said softly, "We won't let them have you.  
Either of you."

	"They'll be too busy boggling at Melissa's beautiful 
body to try anything," Kurz said.  "You'd better get 
going."

	Melissa said, "Just make it quick."  She and Miroku 
circled off through the woods, then emerged from another 
direction.  And then they began to dance, slowly removing 
their clothing, and drawing the attention of the pirates.

	Kaname gulped, then headed forward, crouching low and 
heading for a side window.  They managed to slip into the 
house, as the pirates on this side had run over to watch 
the show.  As they came up the stairs, four pirates came 
round to come down it.  For a moment, both groups stared at 
each other, then Sousuke and Kurz charged at them.  Kurz 
took a slash to the gut, then hefted one of the pirates and 
threw him into a wall and picked up his sword.    Sousuke 
dropped low under a slash and swept the legs of one of 
them, then grabbed his sword and stabbed him with it.  A 
third broke through to charge Kaname, who unleashed a 
flying kick on the man, knocking him down, then drove her 
foot into his throat.  William and Thomas then went to work 
on him.

	The fourth turned to run but Sousuke leaped down the 
hallway, tackled him, then bashed his head into the floor 
repeatedly.  "We'll have to be quick," he said.  "The noise 
may alert others."

	They quickly fanned out, grabbing their gear, then 
heading for an upperstory balcony to get a good look, as 
Kyoko and Kaname dumped protective spells on themselves.  
The pirates were wrapped up in the dancing, except for a 
couple of cranky officers running around, trying to get 
their men back in order.  

Melissa and Onna-Miroku were down to a few 
strategically placed veils.  Kaname stared at both of them, 
then realized everyone else on the balcony with her was 
staring too.  Especially Kurz and William.  "Kyoko, can you 
dump a fireball over there I can use as a diversion to 
trump our friends and pull them all to us?" she asked.

Kyoko snapped a photo of the dancing.

"No flash!" Sousuke said too late.

Several pirates looked up.  One of the officers 
shouted, "There she is!  Get her!"

Kaname cursed and whipped out the trumps she needed, 
then threaded her mind into a triple contact.  Fillmore was 
ready for her and quickly stepped through.  The arrows were 
flying by the time Onna-Miroku and Melissa accepted the 
call.  She yanked them both through; as fate would have it, 
she used a little too much force and ended up on the floor 
of the balcony with them both on top of her.  Kyoko snapped 
another picture, then dumped a fireball onto one of the 
pirate ships, right at a point she'd weakened with her 
Broken Pattern.  The fireball exploded into the armory, 
setting off the ship's magically explosive catapult rounds.  
The ship went up in a huge fireball, which hit other ships, 
setting them off.  Soon, the docks and the small squadron 
were all burning merrily.  

Onna-Miroku grabbed her staff, which Kyoko had thought 
to get for her.  "TASTE THE POWER OF KUNDALI!" she shouted.  
A huge glow flowed out of the staff and settled down over 
the field.  Soon, many of the pirates were flailing about 
and rolling around on the ground; oddly, they looked more 
happy than in pain.  

Kaname opened her mouth and decided not to ask.  "Hmm, 
right.  Okay, let's..."

	"Off the balcony!" Sousuke shouted.  They fled the 
balcony, just in time to avoid a flaming bucket of pitch 
which got shot off one of the boats which wasn't as badly 
hurt as the others.  He then efficiently sniped the 
catapult's crew with his repeating crossbow.  "We need to 
lure them into the woods, where they can't maneuver as 
well.  And pirates don't train to fight in forests."

	Melissa grinned.  "Good thinking," she said.

	They retreated into the woods.  The pirates gave 
chase.  One by one, and in small groups, they picked them 
off, until finally, the remaining ones fled off into the 
forest;  They let the pirates go, dragging a few back for 
interrogation.  

	Kurz quickly probed their brains; they'd been hired 
through a fixer in the courts, to stage an attack on this 
shadow, and especially to target Kaname.

	Sousuke frowned.  "Likely hired by House Darios," he 
said.

	Kaname frowned.  "Bastards.  Ruining my vacation over 
a stupid grudge!"

	"Well, hopefully, Father can take this information and 
track down whoever hired the fixer," Sousuke said.  "Don't 
worry, Princess, Father will make sure it's dealt with."

	Kaname frowned. "I'd like to deal with it myself."

	"As your father said..." Thomas began.

	She sighed.  "I know.  I know.  But when people strike 
at me, I want to strike back."

	Sousuke nodded.  "I know what you mean."

	Onna-Miroku said, "I still have one question."

	"What?" Kaname asked.

	"Well, you got to see us strut our stuff.  So which of 
us do you think is sexier now, hmm?"  Onna-Miroku asked.

	"You can't decide that yet," Mr. Fillmore said.

	"Why?" Kaname asked.

	"Because I haven't done MY dance yet!"  He started to 
dance.

	And we will now iris out to save your sanities...

The End