The healers ward was quiet as a running Utena carried the
young man inside, Anthy and Nanami following close behind her. "Could
I have a healer examine him, please?" the pink haired Captain asked
crisply, her voice carrying it's usual command.
"Of course," the woman said to them softly. The brown haired
healer guided them over to one of the beds, and helped the dark haired
young man be laid out onto the sheets. "May I ask what happened?" she
looked up, smiling oddly at Utena.
"A sword duel and a bit of dark magic," Shiori spoke up,
coming in at Juri's side. The purple haired mage sighed as Utena
looked at her, "No luck tracing it back." She looked over at the
healer and frowned to herself thoughtfully.
"I see things are still exciting around you, Utena," the
healer murmured, her softly glowing hands just above the unconscious
Vaun.
Anthy blinked at the healer, then the Princess looked up at
Utena with her dark purple hair falling into her eyes, "Do you know
her?"
Utena looked at the kneeling healer, then her eyes widened,
"Hitomi?"
The former healer of Utena's mercenary troop chuckled softly.
"It took you long enough to recognize me," Hitomi chuckled. She stood
up, her short brown hair barely reaching her shoulders as she said,
"It seems your companion is unharmed, he just needs to rest."
Nanami puffed out a sigh, "I'm glad." She turned to Anthy and
bowed her head, "I wish to apologize again for his actions, Princess."
Anthy shook her head, "It wasn't his fault."
Nanami gave a more formal bow as the noble blonde said
quietly, "The Princess is too kind."
"The enchantment that was controlling him, it was carried in
the black rose?" Utena turned to ask Shiori crisply.
"Yes," Shiori nodded gravely, "though someone seems to have
tampered with his mind a bit before he even put the rose on."
"I see where you're going with this," Nanami smiled at Utena
wryly, "but roses are commonly worn in the capital. And with the
coronation in only a few days there'll be even more roses, as they are
the national symbol of Ohtori."
Utena smiled wryly, "Then could we have the guards keeping an
eye out for black roses?"
Anthy spoke up this time, "I'm afraid that won't help much.
The black roses are often worn in mourning for the fallen king.
There'll be a great deal of them, too."
Juri began to swear to herself softly. "This is not good," the
lieutenant scowled, her long orange hair falling back like a cape.
Utena nodded grimly, then she looked over at Shiori and asked,
"And you said that you had no luck tracing it back?"
"Sorry," Shiori sighed softly, "I followed the traces of magic
back to Vaun's bedroom, and felt a much stronger concentration of
enchantment in there. But other than that, I could find no traces of
whoever did it."
"They just.. appeared there?" Hitomi frowned.
Anthy sighed softly, "All this speculation is quite
interesting but... what do we do now?"
"I'll stay by your side," Utena said, "from what Vaun said,
the attack was more directed at getting to you." She looked at Juri
and Nanami, "I need you to keep an eye on the guards and our company,
make sure no black roses turn up there."
"They'll try again, of course," Juri agreed grimly.
Shiori nodded thoughtfully before looking over at Nanami.
"Does the castle have an archive of some kind? I might be able to find
out a bit more about our possible foe, the magician Mikage," she asked
with a slight smile.
"With the Princess's permission I'll take you there," Nanami
said crisply. Once she received Anthy's nod she looked over at Hitomi,
"Take good care of Vaun, please." With that, Juri, Shiori and her left
the ward together.
The halls were crowded, filled with councilors and guests,
nobles and peasants. Roses of all colors appeared on clothing,
including more than a few of the black ones. Whenever Nanami saw a
black rose she gazed at the wearer thoughtfully, looking for some sign
of the enemy's touch.
"This is going to be irritating," Juri murmured, also scanning
the crowd.
Shiori shook her head, "The enemy used Vaun to attack first.
What does that mean?"
Nanami looked at her, wondering what the girl might be
implying. "Could they be trying to sow discord in our ranks?" she
asked.
"Possibly," Juri nodded thoughtfully as they ducked to avoid a
work crew with a ladder. "Watch where you're going," she barked.
"Sorry," the young man blushed, his crew swiftly moving on.
Nanami smiled to herself slightly. "Or distract us enough for
a work crew to decapitate us," she drawled impishly.
Shiori chuckled softly, and Juri laughed. "A point," Juri
admitted.
It took them a few more minutes, walking down winding steps
into the cool, dry depths beneath the great castle itself until they
reached the archives themselves. The great wooden doors opened up
smoothly on oiled hinges, and they took a few steps inside only to
stop and gaze in wonder. Book shelves went off into the darkness,
carefully capped lamps generating light, the shelves themselves as
tall as three men, at least.
Shiori blinked a few times before softly murmuring, "I hope
this is better organized than most wizard's libraries, or we could be
down here a long time."
"Actually, It's surprisingly well organized," Miki came around
one of the book cases, a few books in hand. Wakaba followed close
behind him, more books in the brown haired girl's hands and a adoring
smile focused on the oblivious Miki.
"Miki," Juri looked at him in surprise, "what are you doing
here?"
The blue haired young courtier smiled slightly. "I was
researching the traditions of the coronation," Miki said, "But once I
heard about the attack I switched tracks."
"One step ahead," Shiori said admiringly. She shook her head,
"I suspect the military lost a great warrior when you left."
"Maybe," Miki blushed, unaware of the glare Wakaba was
directing at Shiori.
"I'll leave you four to it then," Nanami smiled. She paused at
the doorway, watching Miki explaining where he hadn't checked yet, and
shook her head with a smile.
The hallways were mobbed, but an single intense glare from
Nanami usually helped clear the way. She still had a fearsome
reputation from when she was a young noble, back when she had been a
bit of a bane to her poor father. But everyone grows up sometime, and
it had eventually happened to her, too. The reputation remained,
however, and even came in handy occasionally.
Passing the fountain Nanami slowed, then with a mild pang of
guilt she made her way in the courtyard. She stood there by it's side
for an unknown span of time, gazing into it's cool depths, until a
soft gasp brought her back to reality.
The young woman looked across the fountain, so very different
from Nanami's memory. Instead of twin plaits, a long braid flowed down
her back. The gentle softness once there was gone, replaced by a new
strength. Gowns exchanged for hunting leathers. But the face, the face
remained the very same as when they had parted at this fountain years
ago.
"Keiko," Nanami said softly, wondering what the woman thought
of the changes in her, too.
"Nanami," Keiko took a shaky breath, then she sighed softly.
"I guess it's time we did talk," she said to her softly.
"Love is a wonderful thing," Mikage could have been talking to
himself, as much as the beautiful boy laying on the bed reacted.
"Fragile, yet it pulls and twists us all, in so many ways," the
pinkish haired man smiled a bit sadly.
A rose lay, alone of a nearby table, and he picked it up to
sniff at it, the dark rose seeming to absorb the light all around it.
"And extremely useful to our purposes," he added coldly.
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