The Clocks

Brigid settled herself in the pool and soon realized that she was relaxing far more than she'd thought would be possible given how sore she had been. In a few minutes she was nearly asleep. She was roused by the sound of footsteps near the door. Glancing in that direction she beheld Mattie and Consuela in the final stages of undressing.

She was about to ask where the boys were, but Mattie spoke first, "The others have been relieved for now. 'Suela consented to be my companion from the door to here. Your job right now is to relax. Gods know that you need it.

"Frankly I'm more than a bit worn myself, which is why I'm going to join you."

With that she put her clothes on a shelf and sat down to allow 'Suela to do her hair. Once she had, Mattie did not enter the pool but rather walked around the outside, stopping right behind Priscilla, who had watched her with some degree of trepidation.

Mattie patted Priss on the head, then put her palm on Henrietta's brow so as to be completely private. "There are some things we needs must discuss Ancient One, but it would be best if this little one in front of me were spared additional worry. She's wound as tight as a spring already."

Henrietta nodded and took Priss' hand. "Thank you for your help today dear, and for all the aid you've given us in the past as well. You look like you're getting overheated, so why don't you go on back to the Mule's Tale. If you 'see' anything else I need to know about, just have Alicia send a message, like always."

Priss smiled her gratitude and left a bit more briskly that would normally be proper, but, given who was in the room at that time, she could be forgiven for the rapidity of her departure.

Once she was gone, Mattie spoke to everyone who remained, "This is a most interesting room. There is some sort of spell here that partially lifts the constraints on our true personalities. Perhaps one day it would be worth investigating."

She shrugged her shoulders. "No matter, though it makes things easier for the nonce. If I read it correctly, we'll remember the general outline of what we decide here when we leave, though probably not any of the details relating to our various missions."

She looked to Henrietta. "If you have no objections Ancient One, may I begin?"

Henrietta waved a negligent hand, ignoring the reactions of the others in the room to Mattie's mode of address.

"My thanks. To put it simply, my wing and I are here to hone our skills in skulking, skulduggery, and surreptitious sneakiness. To be frank, we're a relatively new group. Two of us are barely 50 years old, and we need a lot of work yet.. Normally I wouldn't have allowed such youngsters to enlist, but it was their ability to keep secrets that convinced me. Learning to keep one's mouth shut is much harder than learning proper combat skills.

"It appears that this Master Hiroshi is the trainer we need for the latter. How we find him, and where we reside I shall leave in your hands. Whatever other skills and/or knowledge we must learn, will, I presume, present themselves as time passes."

She turned to Brigid. "Have I left anything out Second?"

Brigid shook her head "no."

Yoko spoke into the momentary silence, "Finding Master Hiroshi will be the easiest part, seeing as he's Biki's and my father."

She grinned at Mattie. "I imagine we can manage to track him down if ya want."

Before Mattie could respond Biki interrupted, "Ah, Mattie. How is it you can talk into the minds of everyone here at once?"

Henrietta raised a hand, stopping Mattie from answering. "It's an effect from the spell on the room. For now you have other, more important things to pursue."

Biki nodded her head in acquiescence. She didn't agree, but she was well aware of what the consequences would be if a child her age disagreed with a Duchess.

Henrietta gently clapped her hands together. "Now that that's settled, we need to deal with your housing. It should be somewhere you can easily walk to school from, and near Hiroshi Macklin's 'dojo'. An odd name that, but apparently it's what they call such training facilities in Japan.

"Not so surprisingly, the best location for all that is here, which is what has already been planned. Your host, Anna Donetti, is thrilled."

She leaned forward and spoke, as if sharing a secret. "She had four miscarriages, and a stillbirth before Alphonse was born, and she's still suffering from the loss. Having the 13 of you around will likely have her feeling as if those children have in some way come back to her.

"Besides, you won't find anywhere else in The City that can immediately meet all your requirements. With such a high wall around the buildings, and all the trees blocking the view from the neighbor's homes, you'll even have room to practice without prying eyes watching you."

Mattie nodded. "That should do nicely. She's a good soul. I could feel it when we were introduced."

She paused a few seconds then added, as if to herself, "Besides, with us living here, it'll be easier to get Alphonse to fall in love with me and not some flashy woman who momentarily catches his fancy."

She nodded. "Yes that would be best. I doubt that simply telling him that we're to be married when I'm grown would go down very well."

Brigid sprang to her feet, ignoring the protests of her thighs. "What! You and that popinjay peacock. Married! Are you out of your mind?!"

Mattie turned to Brigid and drawled, "Interesting. I don't recall that I asked for you opinion. Would you care to amend your comment Second?"

Brigid managed to make a few incoherent sounds before she clapped both her hands over her mouth, bowed, then sat down and stared at the surface of the water.

Mattie nodded. "I thought not. Besides, he's only acting like that out of loneliness. By the time we've been here for a few weeks, he won't be lonely any more. Not then, nor ever again."

She turned to Yoko and Hibiki. "Alphonse has exquisite design sense, but has no idea how to properly dress individuals. That's primarily because he's color blind. Your Jason is better at dressing someone well than anyone I've ever known, in any lifetime that I can remember. If the three of us can arrange for Alphonse and your Jason to open a shop together once they're grown, the profit is likely to be staggering."

At first the twins' response was stunned silence. That was quickly followed by expressions of calculation and, to be honest, greed.

Mattie turned to Henrietta and bowed, deeply. "I believe that we've covered the topics that needed to be addressed immediately. Is there anything else we should discuss Ancient One?"

Henrietta scowled at Mattie. "I'm getting really and seriously fed up with all the titles. First it was Sandy there 'Your Gracing' me till I thought I'd puke, and now you're going overboard with this 'Ancient One' crap. We're in the bath for crying out loud. Can't you just let it go and call me 'Dot', at least while we're private?"

Mattie and Sandy exchanged a glance. They didn't say anything, but there was a sudden twinkle in their eyes. They turned as one toward Henrietta, bowed, and intoned, "Not while we're on duty Your Graceful Ancient One."

There was not even the tiniest of snickers from the twins, Brigid, or Consuela. It might have been due to their incredible self-control, or perhaps it was because they had all accidentally lost their balance, which resulted in their heads slipping under the water. Said slipping was followed by large streams of bubbles rising to the surface from the general vicinity of their mouths.

Henrietta bestowed a thoroughly disgusted look on the room, then stalked to the dressing area, dried herself, and put on her clothes. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at the sergeant. "I'm going outside to mingle. When I'm finished you may escort me back to The Residence."

She turned away, then turned back and added, "And if you say a single word to your brother, in 'twin' or otherwise about what just happened, you'll regret it for a very long time. I don't care if he is my husband. There are some things that are NOT meant to be shared. Capice?"

Sandy nodded with a perfectly straight face. Not only that, she managed to restrain her laughter for a full 10 seconds after Henrietta had left.

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

When Brigid surfaced, she began to stand, only to find Mattie behind her leaning on her shoulders. "You are not to exit the bath until this Dr. Kaho we have heard about approves. I don't know about the others, but I saw how raw your thighs are when you fell into the water."

Mattie shook her head in disgust. "Temporarily neglecting an injury, when it won't compromise a mission in progress, is one thing. Neglecting your body where there is no such need is almost criminal, which is one of the reasons why you are my Second rather than in charge of your own wing."

Turning to the twins she asked, "How long will it be until your sister-in-law arrives? Do not worry if she is involved with something and we must wait for some time. It is not as if we have someplace we must immediately go."

Biki replied, "Not long at all. She was already here in case someone else was coming down with an illness such as Heidi had."

Her words were followed almost immediately by the door opening and an extraordinarily tall woman entering. She didn't bother to introduce herself but rather said only, "Which of you is my patient?"

She scanned the faces, and when her eyes landed on Bridig she said, "I see. Come out for a moment, and let me see your legs."

Brigid complied, Kaho pointed to a nearby stool, and Brigid sat, after which Kaho snorted in disgust, "I can't see your thighs if your knees are together. I care not how embarrassed you are. I can't treat what I can't see. Move."

Just before Brigid followed her directions, Kaho turned to the others and said, with some asperity, "The rest of you turn around. Just because I need to see doesn't mean that you should be so rude just to satisfy your curiosity."

Five flushed faces took up an intimate study of the wall on the other side of the room. Kaho nodded, pushed Brigid's knees a bit further apart and pursed her lips. "How in the world could you ride like that? Another two days, three at most, and you'd have had an infection in both of them.

"No matter. Back in the bath. Another half hour now, then thirty minutes twice a day. I'll check you again in four days. You are to tell Mimi if this worsens rather than improves. If you don't, I'll be upset. You don't want me upset, do you?"

Having a scowling giant looming over you is a most effective way of ensuring compliance. Brigid shook her head vigorously and hurriedly resumed her seat in the pool.

Kaho nodded, waved her arm at the room, then left.

When she'd somewhat recovered her composure, Brigid asked, "Is she always like that. So, ah...so...."

Yoko grinned and asked, "Scary?"

Brigid nodded. "Yes, that. Exactly."

Yoko chuckled. "Only if you've done something incredibly stupid and make her work harder than she needs to."

Then, with great seriousness, "She works much too hard as it is. If she didn't have a team to support her with the hard cases, she'd probably work herself to death before she's 30. This past year she's learned how to depend on others when she can't handle things by herself without getting worn out. Her preceptor, Dr. Kastner, says that she'll probably live her normal lifespan 'If she doesn't forget and behave like a first-year student' very often.'"

Brigid sat in stunned silence. She'd had no idea that a doctor could die of overwork. After a while she realized how silly such a thought was. People in other occupations did exactly that on a regular basis, especially farmers.

As she sat there, an idea began to percolate through her mind. This Dr. Kaho had healed Heidi of pneumonia, which, if it didn't kill you, usually meant weeks in bed. She'd also seemed to know exactly what was wrong with Brigid with just a glance. Every hand of six Wings needed a medic. Perhaps she might train for that position.

Her thoughts became less focused as she relaxed completely for the first time in almost three years.

Mattle nodded slightly. They'd only been in The City for a little less than two hours, yet things were well begun. She smiled at Brigid gently and closed her eyes. She was feeling more than worn herself. There would soon be a number of things to begin, and she'd need her strength, especially as most of her memories would again be shut down once they left the room. She shrugged her shoulders. She'd volunteered for this, as had they all. No matter how difficult the job, "Mattie" always pushed through till it was finished, which was why she had long ago earned her nickname: "The Adamant Missile."