The Clocks

Monday, November 16th in The Year 722 After the Founding

Blair and Miranda had finished their usual weekly business meeting and were, also as usual, destressing by having tea. What was not usual was the glint in Blair's eyes that told Miranda that she had something juicy to share and that in order to hear it Miranda was going to have to beg. It's not really a nice word, and not something you'd normally do to your best friend, but sometimes a mischievous spirit would rise up in Blair, and there it would be.

"All right Blair. I'm tired, and you're tired. Let's pretend that I've abased myself in front of the formidable personage before me and that you're going to relent and tell me whatever it is. OK?"

Blalr took an unladylike slurp of her tea. "Manda sometimes you take all the fun out of things. Do you know that?"

Miranda looked at her blandly and said nothing.

Finally Blair relented. "Oh, all right. You win...this time." She continued in a conspiratorial tone, "Besides, I'm just dying to share this with someone, and you're the only one safe to talk to about it."

Miranda's right eyebrow twitched. Though she'd never admit it, perhaps not even to herself, she loved a bit of juicy gossip now and then, as long as it was true, and this sounded promising.

Blair smiled inwardly. Ah ha, hooked her! Now to reel her in.

"Yesterday, after Hibiki's tea ceremony class, we went out to lunch with another of the students. It was for the third time."

She took a carefully measured sip of her tea. Shortly thereafter it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. The timing of these things was important.

Miranda drawled, "And this is pertinent why?"

Blair took one more sip then put the teacup down. It was time to stop fooling around and get down to brass tacks. She leaned forward and put both her hands on the table between them. "It's pertinent because the other student was Akane Fukui."

That caused both of Miranda's eyebrows to rise. She'd never have imagined, even in a nightmare, that Blair and Akane would ever speak to each other except in the icy tones of absolute formality. Going out to lunch together seemed like a dream, or possibly a nightmare. At that point, she wasn't entirely sure which.

She didn't pepper Blair with silly phrases like, "You're joking." or "You've got to be kidding." Both of them were far too busy, and much too intolerant of worthless words for her to say something like that. Instead Miranda responded, "Has Hell frozen over, or at least had a case of frostbite?"

Blair laughed. "That's so like you Manda. It's probably why I like you so much. You don't bother with social niceties unless it's absolutely necessary. You're just like Hiroshi says, 'She calls a spade a spade and doesn't hesitate to point out how much dirt is on it either'."

Miranda almost choked on her tea. "No! He didn't really say that did he?"

Blair looked smug and refused to answer.

When she realized that Blair really wasn't going to answer, Miranda went back to the previous topic. "All right, I give up. How is your having lunch with Akane pertinent? If you like, you can even skip the reason why you agreed to it in the first place. You could easily have avoided it without offending her. Heck, knowing you, you could have refused outright and made it seem like you were doing her a favor."

Blair began to tick things off on her fingers,

"Item number one: Her son Jason and my twins are in the same class at Chapman."

"Item number two: I'm told that the three of them sit with their desks together, in the back of the classroom mind you. All Day. Every Day."

"Codicil to item number two: They have the permission, not only of their homeroom teacher, but also the headmaster, Jillian Krait."

"Item number three: After talking with Akane, it has become crystal clear that she's changed quite a bit and definitely for the better...though I think that she doesn't realize it yet."

"Codicil to item number three: Said change is due to her ongoing interaction with the twins and their ongoing interactions with Jason."

"Item number four....

Before continuing Blair gave Miranda a truly sympathetic look.

"Item number four: It has become amply apparent that Eugenia's chances of getting together with Jason are effectively zero."

She smiled gently at Miranda. "I didn't mention before that the twins and Jason were also with us at lunch. He and the girls sat together, with one of them on either side of him. Each time he began to have trouble, one or the other of them somehow managed to help him stay in control. I was surprised to find out that he has some interesting things to say. He's not at all like the 'behavior problem' he was when they were in primary school.

"What's truly surprising about the whole thing is that their seating arrangement in class has...I guess 'evolved' is the word I want. The first week and a half the three of them sat normally, meaning with their desks in line with all the others and in different areas of the classroom. The second Thursday was when they all moved to the back. The girls also moved their desks so that they are up against Jason's. And that's not all. Their chairs are scooted over to where their upper arms are touching his."

She nodded at Miranda's wide-eyed expression of understanding. "Indeed. Almost the entire time they're in the classroom the three of them are in physical contact. It's exactly like those exceedingly rare situations where twins need to touch each other almost constantly, though in this case it's like they were triplets.

"I've talked to their homeroom teacher and to the headmaster, to make sure that there aren't going to be problems with the other students, their parents, or other teachers. I was nearly overwhelmed by their effusive reassurance that every single one of those involved or even mildly interested considers this one of those cases of "that's the way it is." After the third week of the term, not a single person has mentioned the arrangement to either of them other than with either pleasure or gratitude.

Her throat was getting a bit dry, so she took another sip of tea. "Akane told me at tea two weeks ago that starting about the end of the third week Jason's behaviors at home had become much more under his control, and he's much less likely to be so, let's say 'frank' when talking about other people.

"It may be premature to say this, what with the girls being 13 and Jason being 12, but, even so, I'm entirely certain that the only way you're ever going to be able to separate them is when they die."

Miranda dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, which prompted Blair to do likewise. She hadn't realized how emotional she'd become.

"An impeccable analysis Blair, but the situation may also be useful to us. Do you mind if I pass along the basic facts to Paolo and Sara? The past few months they've become rather passionate about making sure that twins in The City are 'properly supported'. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I suspect that hearing about this will help them with whatever it is they're working on."

Blair nodded approval. "Please do. It's fine that the children are accepted in their school, but that won't automatically translate into the community, even here. A little outside assistance, especially before a problem arises, would be welcome."

Miranda nodded back. "I'll see to it then."

After a few seconds, she continued, "I think it would be advantageous for me to become acquainted with Akane as well. She has contacts in the immigrant community as a whole that I don't. That could be useful."

Blair laughed. "That's my Manda. Always thinking about work."

"Hah! As if you're any different. I'd bet a hundred ducats that you would have brought it up if I hadn't."

Miranda found herself looking at Blair's stuck-out tongue. "Spoilsport. You're right of course. I would have. Besides, it might be nice to have tea with three instead of two, at least occasionally. Let's give it a go and see how things fall out."

Miranda nodded again, then they lapsed into the silence of their own thoughts. As usual life was becoming a bit more interesting...and more complicated.

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

Genie didn't remember going home, or even entering her room. Her shock was far too great for such mundane things to affect her consciousness. The only thing she remembered, which was repeating itself over and over in her mind, was Blair Macklin saying: "It has become amply apparent that Eugenia's chances of getting together with Jason are effectively zero."

She'd been practicing her "no see, no hear" skill by eavesdropping on her mother and Blair. If she'd been caught she'd have been in a world of hurt, though, had they been discussing something sensitive, she'd have left immediately. She had at least that much sense.

However what she did hear was more than enough. After stressing over it for an hour or so, she decided that the unverified word of the mother of her rivals, no matter who that mother was and how unlikely she was ever to lie, needed confirmation. Thus it was that the next day she went to school only long enough to plead a bad headache and ask permission to go home. As she was a diligent student, with no record of prevarication, she was granted permission to leave.

As promised, she did go home. There she told Ailin, the senior maid, that she was going to her room to sleep and not to disturb her. After giving things time to settle down, she invoked her ability and made her way to Chapman. It helped that she knew the physical layout of the school and the schedule intimately. She contrived to be outside the appropriate classroom for first-year students about four minutes before the next teacher would rotate in.

When he entered, so did she. She parked herself a meter or so inside the door and looked around carefully. Unfortunately, at least part of what Blair said was immediately confirmed. The three in question were at the back of the room, and they were indeed sitting with their desks together. It was also true that nobody was paying the least attention to them, not the other students and not the teacher.

The teacher cleared his throat and upon receiving the attention of the class, he began his lesson. That was when things got rather unpleasant for Genie. As soon as he began speaking, Yoko and Hibiki leaned toward Jason until their shoulders were touching. Occasionally when he started to act irritated or fidgety, one or the other of them would get his attention and whisper something to him. Each time he settled down, not always completely, but enough that he didn't interfere with class.

After 10 minutes she'd seen enough, but she had to wait until class was over and they broke for lunch before she could leave. Seeing a door open and close by itself would have resulted in questions that could only lead back to her. She didn't relish what Mrs. Macklin or her mother would do to her should that happen.

Once class ended, she left, went home, and then straight to bed. Now she really did have a headache. Somehow she'd ruined things again, just as she had before, by being too pushy about her feelings. As she drifted off to sleep the thought came to her, "Again?" What was that all about? Before she could pursue it she was asleep and, thankfully, dreaming of nothing at all.