The Clocks

At Paolo's and Sara's homes, things proceeded with much less difficulty. Sara's younger sibs were obviously upset to see their beloved sister about to move away from home, but the eldest, Hibiki and Yoko, now budding 12 year olds, were more than pleased to be able to move into Sara's old room, as it was much larger than the one they had been using. Unlike their older sister, who could almost be a clone of their mother, they took after the Japanese side of the family. They were only 145 cm tall and had long, straight, black hair and eyes that were such a dark brown that they seemed black in dim light.

Blair had long known that the twins were unusually close, even for in The City, so giving them separate bedrooms was probably not a good idea. Besides, if she had, the one who ended up in the smaller room would have complained for years. They'd be able to move in within a week after the wedding.

At the Donetti's, one of the easiest things to accomplish, insofar as planning went, was converting Paolo's room into a joint study for the couple and furnishing a spare room on the third floor as their bedroom. That had required little time and was completed with several days to spare.

Then all that was left was the waiting.

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June 28 The Year 721 After the Founding

Time had passed, as it always does, both far too slowly and far too fast. As was traditional, the wedding was attended only by close family members. The bride was beautiful, the groom was nervous, and members of both families cried. The reception took place later, at a large hall that could hold all those who were more distant relatives and those who, while not family, it was expedient to invite.

The only thing that most guests remembered in the ensuing years was the amazing skills displayed by Sara and Eugenia during the dancing. Sara had discovered that Eugenia was taking dancing lessons shortly after she had begun. Soon thereafter she had joined in. At first, her primary reason was so she could have some congenial company where she didn't have to maintain the facade she presented at school. Shortly thereafter they'd both discovered that they absolutely loved dance. By the time of the wedding they'd been studying for six years.

Except for their impromptu exhibition of dance, the reception followed the usual course. The newlyweds were happy and were likely to forget most of what happened. Their parents were happy that the children were safely married well before Sara became pregnant.

(It should be noted that Sara was way ahead of the adults in that particular matter. She'd had a stock of medication to prevent pregnancy on hand for a good six months just in case.)

In the following weeks, there were several ugly rumors about the rushed planning of the wedding being due to Sara already being pregnant, but, as time passed and she showed no signs that she was expecting, those rumors disappeared and new rumors about other people took their place.

Most everyone at the reception did nothing more strenuous than enjoy the party atmosphere, the free food and drink, and chatting about not much of significance. In other words, they all had their guard down. Thus it was that only Hibiki and Yoko noticed it, and it was that which they discussed once they got home and began to change out of their wedding finery.

"Well, she seemed ta be trying, at least a little, not ta be noticed, but, I mean, really, it was so in your face." Yoko dropped her hands from behind her neck. "Biki, unbutton me, will ya? Then I'll do yours."

Hibiki walked over and did as requested while saying, "I know, I know. She was way too obvious. She was practically drooling over him. If she had done that anywhere else, about a dozen people would have smacked her down!"

Yoko drawled, "Sooo sister mine, what're we gonna do about it?"

"That is indeed the question is it not? Our best bet will probably be to sneak up on him. We do have a major advantage seeing as we are a 'we' not a singleton. On the minus side, she is going to have quite a few points with his parents what with getting admitted to Ingvold. It IS the most prestigious school in The City."

Hibiki tapped her cheek with her forefinger, in unconscious mimicry of Miranda with her fan. "Or at least his mother will be so predisposed. I do not have any information on his father." Hibiki began to fold her dress in preparation for putting it away.

"Oh, don't fold it, it'll wrinkle. Here, hold it up and I'll get a hanger for it." Yoko maneuvered the dress onto a hanger, and then put it on the hook on the inside of the door. "Right then, let's hang mine up too, then we can get back ta plotting."

Biki smiled. "I have sounded out father on the matter." Seeing Yoko start to frown she hurried to add, "Do not get your knickers in a knot. What I did was ask him about what it was like back in Japan 'in the old days'. That irritated him enough that he did not think much about why I had asked. I have been trawling for information for over a month now, but I have limited it to one or two questions each time.

"Lately I have been digging into the social structure of everyone involved. It seems that Jason's mother's family were some sort of aristocrats. Fortunately daddy's position at the most highly regarded bank in town is acceptable to them, not to mention that there was some sort of tie between the families in the old country.

"What may be a problem is Mother's family. Most of them have only been here for three generations on average, and they are from all over. What Father had told me has confirmed that it is as we thought. Jason's mother is all about status, and Mother's forebearers were ordinary people."

Yoko held up a hand. "Gimme me a sec. I may have an idea, but I'll have ta work on it for a while. I'll fill ya in after dinner. In the meantime, let's get changed and get our homework done. I don't want that hanging over us while we scheme."

"Scheme? Us?"

"Ya know a better word for it?"

Hibiki giggled. "Nope. It sounds about right."

That set both of them laughing loudly enough that the maid passing their door could easily hear them. As soon as she did, she hurried her pace. She'd learned by the time the girls were eight that there were some things a person was better off not knowing.

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Two weeks after the wedding, things finally calmed down enough that Miranda and Blair had caught up with the work they'd had to put aside while they prepared for the children to be married. This day they were doing nothing more than having tea, chatting, and enjoying the company of a good friend of a like mind.

Blair stretched and yawned. "You know Manda, I could really get used to this lazing about and not doing much of anything."

Miranda snorted at her. "Yeah, right. And within two weeks, no, make that one, you'd be climbing the walls and complaining that you had nothing to do."

She took a sip of her tea. "You know, this is a truly excellent blend. Where did you get it?"

"Oh, I'm told that it came from Japan, or possibly somewhere in China. The merchant wasn't quite sure, as it was something she'd bought on speculation. She said that if enough of her regulars like it she'll make an effort to pinpoint its origin and secure a steady supply, possibly as soon as next year."

She stretched again, then picked up her teacup and had another sip. "It's amazing that we're able to sit here and drink something that came from such an incredible distance. Can you imagine what it would be like if the Red Sea Straits weren't there? One would have to sail all the way around the Horn of Africa, or bring it overland. Either way would be incredibly dangerous, not to mention how long it would take.

"I suppose we should be grateful that that Chinese admiral, oh, what's his name? I always forget it.

"It was Zheng He if I recaly correctly Blair."

"Yes, yes, that's right. Zheng He. If Zheng He hadn't brought his fleet around to the Straits seventy years ago, we still might not be trading with the Orient like we are today. And his ships! My God! The reports say that they were as much as 120 meters long. Can you imagine something that big? I mean, isn't the biggest ship in the King's navy less than half that size?"

"Indeed Blair, it's mind-boggling. Still, I'm grateful that they met, and not solely for Chinese tea. It it weren't for him, Hiroshi's parents would never have brought him here, he wouldn't have married you, and I'd probably never have met my best friend."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for several minutes, then Miranda took a deep breath and sat up straight. Her change in posture caught Blair's attention immediately. Obviously something was up.

Seeing Blair's piercing look, Miranda hastened to reassure her, "No, no, it's not work related, fortunately. I've already told you all about what's going on in that arena. It's just....well, something, shall we say interesting has come up, or rather looks like it will come up in a year or two or three."

"Hmmm.... That sounds intriguing. Go on."

"It happened at the wedding reception. It's unlikely that you saw it since you were standing to my left, but your twins were behind one of the buffet tables off to my right. They looked somewhat bored since the exciting part was over and, as far as they were concerned, people were standing around doing nothing."

She grinned. "That's exactly the way I felt at that age when I was at receptions, though they were doing a much better job of concealing their feelings than I did."

Blair snickered then said, "From what I saw of you in your late teens, I suspect that you're understating your reaction, though I must admit that similar thoughts crossed my mind from time to time at receptions. But I'm sure that isn't what you were going to tell me."

"No, you're right. What got my attention was that something seemed to draw their full attention all of a sudden. It had to be significant, at least to them, because they stopped looking around to see if anyone was watching them. Then they moved so their heads were almost touching."

"Ah ha. Speaking 'twin'. Not normally good manners in public. I'll have to talk to them about that. Again."

"Actually Blair, you'd best not say anything, at least not immediately, given that the person who had their attention was Jason Fukui, or, to be more precise, the person talking to him."

Blair leaned forward. "You have that evil look in your eye Manda. Who was it who was talking to Jason?"

Miranda fanned herself. "What? Me? I never get an evil look. You're imagining things. Maybe there's something in the tea that's making you delusional." Miranda arched an eyebrow at Blair, who arched right back. Shortly thereafter both of them broke down laughing.

Once they'd had time to recover, Blair, who was still leaning forward and chortling a bit, waved a hand at Miranda. "All right, give. What girl was getting mental daggers hurled at her by Hibiki and Yoko?"

Miranda leaned back and tapped the now folded fan on her cheek. "I wonder what you'd say if I told you that it was Eugenia?"

"Oh no! Really? Well, well. Then I think you're spot on with your assessment. It looks like things are going to be interesting for the next few years."

Blair paused to gather her thoughts. "You know, I've not thought about things in that way for the twins yet. They are only 12. But since you brought it up....

"Knowing Jason and, especially, his mother, it may well be that the twins...."

Seeing Miranda's expression, Blair hastened to add, "Or Eugenia, might be the only women in The City capable of keeping up with him. That boy is special. The twins have told me enough about him that it's clear that he doesn't think like most other people."

"Really? I know that his mother's family came from Japan a generation before your Hiroshi's did and Jason's grandfather's about the same time, though not together with hers. But Jason himself? I don't have any information on him at all."

"What? There's something going on in The City that I know and you don't? You must be slipping girl!"

"I'll let that absurd comment slide, unless you want me to remind you of the intel Mario brought me about that sour trade deal in Venice that you hadn't heard about."

Blair had been in the midst of taking a sip of tea while holding an expression of superiority on her face, but Miranda's comment destroyed that, and Blair's sip turned into a sputter as the tea tried to go down the wrong way.

Miranda smiled at her. "Even?"

"Yes, even."

"So, what's the story on Jason?"

"Well Manda, it seems that he mostly thinks about numbers. Not simple things like ordinary arithmetic, but.... Frankly I'm not really sure. Yoko seems to understand, at least partially, but Hibiki's eyes glaze over when Yoko talks about it.

"It's probably because of their personalities. Yoko is about as fascinated with history as Jason's mother, and she's a full professor at Ingvold. Now Biki, she's happiest when she's around younger children, which is surprising given how much she takes after Hiroshi. Even though she's dedicated to her calligraphy and tea ceremony, she loves karate. In that she's much like Eugenia seems to be. What's really surprising is that, given Yoko's tendency to want to be active all the time, she adores children too and can sit patiently with them for an hour or more, at least occasionally, and if Biki is there too.

She took another sip of her tea, more carefully this time. "It's interesting that Jason also is learning karate. He's been taking classes from Hiroshi for two years now. His interest isn't nearly as intense as Hibiki's and Eugenia's, but he does seem to be serious.

"Bah, I'm rambling. I must be more tired than I thought. What's important is that Hibiki tells me that once in a while Jason will stop right in the middle of practice. When he does, he'll run over to his things, pull out a pencil and paper, and start writing. As I said, she doesn't understand the numbers, but he's told her that he's trying to figure out what he calls 'the forces involved' when people are spinning around, and balancing on one foot, and things like that."

Miranda took a sip of her tea. "I have no idea what that means either, but there's something my magery instructor told me. He said, 'You listen up girl and you listen well! When you've finished your training with me, don't go thinking that you know everything or that you'll EVER know everything there is to know about magic. Someday somebody who seems like nothing so much as an idiot dreamer will figure out something so important that it will change things forever. That goes for engineering too and even carpentry. And don't go asking me what those new things will be. If I knew, they wouldn't be new, now would they?'

"He really put me in my place, and he was right. So, who knows, maybe Jason is one of those dreamers who's going to come up with something extremely useful one of these days."

She stretched then scratched an annoying itch on her arm. "Hah! Look at me. He's only 11 years old and I'm talking about his future as if I knew something about it. If he heard me, my teacher would trot across town and kick my ass up between my ears."

"Mmmm. I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that Manda, but only if you teach me some of those foreign cuss words you use. I may need to spring something new on Hiroshi one of these days. I don't want him getting bored with me."

That brought on another mutual laughing spell, after which they moved on to other, seemingly more important topics.