Colonel Une walked with the others into the colony, the majesty
of the great construct around them completely lost on her. Instead she
was entirely focused on her task, on the mission that lay before her.
She looked up, round glasses gleaming to see a brown haired woman
waiting for them and frowned, wondering where the young man she had
arranged to be here was.
"Welcome to the colony," the woman smiled a bit nervously. She
was dressed casually, holding a clipboard in her hands and a cowlick
disturbing her neat brown hair. "My name is Hilde," she introduced
herself, "and I'll be your guide."
"Nice to meet you," the dark brown haired ambassador introduced
himself, then said, "this is Colonel Une, by daughter and our guest
Arisugawa Juri."
Une noticed there was odd in Hilde's reaction when she heard
Juri's name but whatever she was thinking she hid well. "Welcome," Hilde
repeated with a smile. She tilted her head to the side and asked, "Would
you like to go to your hotel, or I could show you around?"
'This should work well,' Une thought as she jumped in to say
firmly, "Hotel, I think, we could use a rest." She looked over at the
ambassador and added casually, "And I don't believe you've eaten since
breakfast?"
"No, we haven't," the ambassador agreed.
"I think we can manage to avoid starvation for awhile," Juri
said with a smile, "personally, I'd like to look around."
Une kept her mouth shut, trying not to snap at the orange haired
young woman. It didn't help when Releena and her father both chimed in
their agreement, pretty much sealing the deal.
Hilde lead them over to a car, large enough to seat everyone,
then climbed in the driver's seat. "A restaurant first?" she asked.
"Sounds like a plan," Releena's father said.
Une turned to one of her assistants, coolly instructing him to
forward their gear to the hotel as planned. Then she climbed into the
front seat with Hilde, dropping her voice as she asked the girl,
"Where's the escort that I booked?"
"Sick," Hilde said simply, her fingers tightening on the wheel.
She gave Une a tense smile, "I was a last minute replacement.
"Of course," Une murmured thoughtfully, studying her..
As Hilde started up the car Une listened to the conversation in
the back seat, the ambassador quietly asking Juri, "Why did you do
that?"
"I'm not sure, she just seemed oddly insistent about it," Juri
shrugged. She sounded like she was smiling as she added, "And I liked
the idea of throwing off her schedule."
The ambassador chuckled softly. "Remind me not to annoy you," he
said.
"Juri," Releena added cheerfully, "I'm just glad that we're
taking the time to look around the colony." Her voice sounded a bit
scolding as the light brown haired girl added, "On the last trip I took
up here with my father we barely looked around at all."
Une sighed, fighting back a slight smile. She mentally took her
planned schedule, folded it all up and then tossed it right into the
garbage. 'Well,' she thought to herself wryly, 'they do say no plan ever
survives contact with the enemy.'
"So which restaurant are we going to?" Juri leaned forward to
ask Hilde.
Hilde smiled slightly as she talked about the place they were
going, and Une studied the woman thoughtfully. Barely more than a girl,
dressed in the casual clothing of the colonies, she drove with smooth
competence. 'So why don't I trust her?" Une mused.
They were in time for lunch, it turned out, with a mix of young
men and women in the cafe that Hilde had picked out. The food was good
if casual, dished up in generous portions on the large plates. Une tried
to eat formally, white gloves on and in proper military style, but even
she had to relent and relax just a bit.
Une casually took Releena in as they ate, studying the girl
intently. She was pretty, but there was something else about her,
something more compelling. She had a certain charisma, much like Mr.
Treise or Zechs, a sparkle that drew people in. Even with her awareness
of the girl's charm Une felt herself unwillingly being drawn in.
"I thought we could visit the university next," Hilde said
cheerfully as they ate, "the architecture is magnificent there."
"I went there once," the ambassador calmly agreed as he looked
towards Releena, "I suspect that you would enjoy it."
"I get away from school on Earth," Juri smiled impishly, "only
to get sent to one here."
Releena chuckled softly, Hilde smiled and even Une felt her lips
twitch up slightly. This Juri wasn't what she had been expecting either,
Une mused. The duelist had a oddly casual manner, the regal beauty
restraining her more predatory aspect. Still, the look she had given Une
when they first met made her well aware that the danger was hidden, not
gone.
Juri's eyes settled on Une's hand and she realized her signet
ring was visible, the blood red rose glowing in the artificial light.
Juri looked up to meet her eyes and casually say, "I guess you attended
Ohtori academy, once."
Une shook her head no, "It's a... symbol, a mark of a certain,
exclusive club." She met Juri's eyes, wondering what the girl might be
thinking about as she said, "It may have started at Ohtori, but it has
expanded far beyond the school."
Une pointedly looked down at the pale skin on Juri's finger
where once she had worn a matching signet, the young woman shifting a
bit uncomfortably. Juri frowned while Releena looked on in pure
confusion. The ambassador, on the other hand, looked like a man given
the last piece of a very complicated puzzle.
"What is she talking about?" Releena finally asked.
"I'm not fighting in the duels anymore," Juri said it with a
certain intensity, "I'm not playing in that sort of game anymore."
Une felt herself smiling, though she felt a flash of pity for
the younger woman. "Taking off the ring doesn't mean you're out of the
game," she answered mildly, "for that you'd need a miracle."
Juri closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them again
they seemed to carry with them a new determination. 'I may have
misplayed this,' Une found herself thinking, but she made herself meet
that intense gaze.
"I've seen miracles happen," Juri said slowly, as if each word
were difficult, "and while the one who pulled that off is gone, I'll do
what I have to."
"What is going on here?" Hilde finally demanded, the girl
looking between Une and Juri in pure bafflement.
"That what I want to know," Releena agreed.
"This really isn't good lunch time conversation," Releena's
father finally said, though from the look on his face he wanted to hear
more.
Une rose, pulling her while gloves back on smoothly, never
breaking gaze from Juri's eyes. "No, it's not," she finally said, "Juri
and I can always discuss this more later."
Juri reached up, grasping at something beneath her shirt, maybe
a necklace of some kind. "Later," she agreed, getting to her feet too.
Releena took Juri's arm, looking up at her in alarm. With that
Juri softened a bit and Une shook her head slightly. 'Yes, Releena
certainly has a gift,' she mused as they walked back to the waiting car,
'one that could be dangerous later.'
Hilde opened the car door for Une, the look on her face curious
but she didn't comment. As the others got in she asked, "So where to
next?"
"Back to the hotel," the ambassador firmly said from the back
seat, "I think it might be best if we all took a bit of a break."
"Indeed," Une calmly murmured.
The car pulled out into traffic, Hilde guiding it expertly
through the streets to the hotel. If the others talked any more in the
back seat, they did it so quietly that Une couldn't overhear it. Hilde
smoothly pulled in front of the building, getting out to open the doors
once again. "Can I help you get settled in?" Hilde offered.
"We should be fine," Releena's father started to say....
K-BOOM!
.... when he was cut off. The upper floor of the hotel was
engulfed in a fireball, stone and glass falling rapidly towards them.
'That wasn't mind,' Une thought dazedly when a hand grabbed her by the
arm and yanked her aside.
"Look out," Juri cried as she all but threw Une, Releena and
herself behind a nearby building even as Hilde and the ambassador ducked
behind another. Debris fell around them, secondary booms rattling their
ears until finally there was sweet silence.
"You saved my life," Une managed, looking at Juri in shock. She
couldn't believe she would do something like that, especially after she
had tried to bait Juri during lunch.
"Reflex," was Juri's short answer. She looked at Releena, whom
she had unconsciously wrapped in the safety of her arms and asked, "Are
you all right?"
"I think so," the fiercely blushing Releena answered.
They soon emerged from their shelter, looking up at the now
burning building, the sounds of sirens off in the distance. "It seems
someone doesn't like us," Releena's father finally said dryly.
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