§
“You mean, they’re arriving right away, Lady Lydia?” the princess asked in surprise.
“Lady Dilorè is preparing to bring Ceria as we speak,” I confirmed. “She must bring one at a time, so Melione and then your lovely knight will follow.”
It was easiest to meet Dilorè at an outdoor spot she already knew, here on the main island. Trying to explain the new annex, a dome containing Grandmother’s pond, would have been quite difficult. That’s why Amelia and I were having breakfast with our other guest on the lawn outside Tiana’s cottage, surrounded by elven anime maids.
To understand Tiana better, I have reviewed her memories of life as Robert. The maid uniforms of the day were blatant evidence that at least one of the others had done the same research, and then worked with Little Jia to recreate them. With a quick check, I determined that the culprit was Sirth, who has a wonderfully libidinous side which I may be the only one of us who truly appreciates. Well, I imagine Tiana’s Robert half gets her as well.
The Immortals call the portal in the air above what is now Mireia’s balcony to handle Tiana’s emergency during the attack on Narses a ‘temporary’ gate, but they have a very different concept of temporality. It might exist for another thousand years, if we don’t deliberately request to close it. Which is okay, because it’s not an open door. Nobody can pass through it without interfacing with the portal system and having authorization of Little Jia or the intervention of a great senior like Immortal Mother. Thus, it remains in place, ready to transport the occasional fairy knight apprentice who happens to carry a cat girl through it.
An event which we were, in fact, now witnessing. May I say, Dilorè flying in fairy knight regalia is a truly spectacular sight, especially in the daylight, with her wings and armor catching the light?
Tiana’s mother was the most beautiful fairy in the air at night. Her silver-and-white butterfly wings were a celestial vision in the moonlight. But the blue monarch wings of Dilorè and her grandmother Somirè easily rule the day.
For that reason, the scene of a beautiful fairy knight (apprentice) fluttering through the sky, with the sun glinting off her armor and setting her royal blue wings aglow, circling to line up on her landing spot while bearing the slightly petrified Ceria in a princess carry, possessed a mood that seemed straight out of the stories of gods and heroes that I adored during my lessons, while I was a young hetaira candidate.
I recall from Tiana’s memories that Ceria had an issue with heights before. It seemed she had yet to recover. Pasrue was teaching her flying skills, which should cure it eventually, but judging from her flat ears and wide eyes, the cure was still clearly future tense.
But upon landing, she quickly recovered. Although her legs seemed a bit wobbly at first, her ears and her back reverted to her normal confident posture. And as she had long since spotted me, she found my lap within mere seconds of her feet touching the ground.
Uncharacteristically, though, her greeting wasn’t the loud exclamation of “Lady!” that I was anticipating, given I was controlling Tiana’s body, but rather a long, deep breath as she stuck her nose into my hair.
“Lady Ceria?” I stammered, unsure why she would act this way.
She let out a long, satisfied sign and declared, “It’s really Lady!”
In many ways, this woman does indeed remind me of the cats who wandered around the dormitory house in Athens where I grew up. She truly does exhibit both the independence and the casual chaos of her feline relatives. As well as the inexplicable behavior.
<It’s the smell,> Fan Li judged. <Clearly, the olfactory dimension of the [Blood Effigy] still isn’t quite up to the task of fooling a beast-kin’s nose.>
I smiled at her and said, “You’re right that it’s her body, but you should know that I am Lydia.”
“But you’re Lady anyhow, right?” she contradicted
“Well, in a manner of speaking…”
She dove in for another deep breath, apparently determined to suck as much of my scent into her lungs as she could.
Lady Dilorè was standing back and watching with a mirthful smile. Clearly I could expect no rescue from that quarter.
“Lady Ceria,” I told her patiently, patting her back. “You were just with Her Grace. You came here directly from her. This may be her main body, but the Lady Tiana on the other side is the real thing. You have no reason to miss her at all.”
“That’s not it!” she retorted without removing her face from my hair. “That’s not it, Lady! If you send a copy instead of the real thing, how are we supposed to know that the real you is safe?”
I looked back at Dilorè with a wry smile.
“Also, we are in front of a most distinguished guest, My Lady,” Her Highness Amelia stated. She looked a bit embarrassed by Ceria’s behavior. “Please comport yourself.”
Ceria finally sat back, looking at me with pursed lips. I hoped for a moment she would act properly from that moment forward, but then she pounced, capturing my lips instead.
I’ve kissed quite a number of girls since assuming management of Tiana’s body, so I’ve become programmed to just accept it like she does at this point. I simply cooperate as a matter of habit. The Servants are clearly all hopeless cases, after all.
I had acquired Tiana’s ‘spiritual voice’ technique during my time here, so I focused on our guest and sent, <Your Majesty, I hope you can forgive her.>
<She clearly loves you, Esteemed Mother. Please don’t feel troubled.>
<How shall I introduce you now? She has really messed up the plan I had in mind.>
I heard the Fairy King’s low chuckle.
“Your people could never trouble me, Didinnedo,” he replied out loud. “And I am happy to hear the requests you make for the benefit of your beloved Elder Servants.”
Lady Ceria finally moderated her behavior a bit. At least, she sat up and behaved herself. Her eyes kept looking this way and that, as she couldn’t completely conceal her curiosity about the surreal place where Dilorè had quite suddenly brought her. After all, the flight from Narses Castle had been too short normally to bring her to such an extremely different location. She had flown off Mireia’s balcony and then she was here.
Dilorè had by this time taken a seat, leaving one empty seat remaining. The one that Ceria wasn’t using was still empty, because she was still sitting in my lap.
<Your Grace? It’s time to switch,> I informed Tiana. I felt our current Incarnation’s assent, then we performed the three-way exchange, with Tiana handing over her effigy to Fan Li, me handing over Tiana’s body to its proper owner, then finally, me taking in Tiana’s [Blood Effigy], pretending to do an uncharacteristically early soak in the Ducal Suite bathtub. The effigy had no real need to soak, but Tiana still does it as a pretense, since most people around her believe her to be the real, physical Duchess.
§
So Ceria finally was sitting in the lap of her beloved ‘Lady’ for real. While I rubbed her back, I tried not to giggle about the scene that I recalled from Lydia’s memory of a few moments earlier.
“Didinnedo,” Oberon stated, “Would it be possible to discuss the purpose of my visit? I’m very curious to learn it, you see.”
As he spoke, he glanced around at the maids attending us, who were, after all, tangentially the topic of our conversation. Except that they weren’t actually the subject.
I chuckled. Overnight, I used [Spiritual Voice] to send him an urgent request to join me in Sky Ocean for breakfast. I didn’t tell him why. I merely stated that it was time for him to do his penance for a misstep he made some time ago, regarding my maids.
“It’s quite simple, Lagan,” I stated. “I ask you to grant Lady Ceria your favor and spend time with her, with the intention of concubinage. Whether the two of you go through with it is your joint decision, of course. I merely insist you grant her the favor of your time and due consideration.”
Naturally, as I spoke, the Fairy King grew progressively more baffled. After all, this was truly out of left field, considering the reason I gave to get him to come.
Ceria’s eyes grew and she looked back and forth between me and the man I had yet to introduce to her.
“Um, Lady…”
“Lady Ceria, I am remiss in making a formal introduction, so please allow me to rectify that now,” I stated, deliberately ignoring the fact that this was an abnormal manner in which to speak to a girl sitting in your lap.
She gave me a puzzled look, but I continued without giving her a chance to respond.
“It’s my pleasure to introduce to you, His Majesty, Oberon, the Fairy King. If he has more epithets I should be including, I’m afraid that I don’t know them. Anyhow, Oberon happens to be my son from my first life. I’ll apologize in advance for acting like a meddling mother pushing her son onto you, but that’s what I’ve brought you here to do.”
Dilorè suppressed a giggle. Whether at Ceria’s gaping stare at me or my words to her, I don’t know.
Well, I don’t blame Ceria for being slightly gobsmacked. I only told her she would meet the perfect candidate. I never mentioned that he would be my son and the Fairy King.
“Hmm…”
“You have a concern?” I asked Dilorè, who was suddenly eyeing me with a speculative look.
My cousin smirked. “Grandmother told me that once a fairy gets pregnant, she starts trying to talk every woman she knows into having a baby. Is that what I’m witnessing? You’ve already got one Servant pregnant. Am I your next target?”
“I didn’t get Mireia pregnant!” I retorted. “She and Rod did that on their own!”
“Mm-hm?”
“Besides, she only needs to be pledged for concubinage. She doesn’t actually need to get pregnant right away!”
Dilorè let out a merry laugh.
Shaking my head, I returned my attention to Oberon.
Ignoring his perplexed look, I stated, “I was angry that you put these women into a difficult position by holding out the promise of concubinage in return for becoming my Servants. Do you recall that?”
He pressed his lips together and raised an eyebrow. “So my penance is to grant concubinage to another of your Servants? I’m not sure I follow the reasoning.”
I gave him a slightly wry smile. “No, your penance is to spend a few months with her, here in Sky Ocean, having to get to know her with the pressure of your mother’s expectations hanging over your head. I want her to convince you to grant her concubinage of her own free will.”
I added, tipping Ceria’s chin up with my finger to lecture her, “Which is why you are not allowed to do this unless you yourself agree that he is right for you, of your own free will, understand? This is about deciding upon the man of your life. Don’t do it for me. Take your time getting to know him, then make your own choice.”
Ceria was still looking a little dazed, but she nodded.
“A few months?” Oberon echoed. “Didinnedo, I need to get back to Tëan Tír and my duties!”
“I’m sure Lady Dilorè or my lovely maids have described the training hall to you, Lagan. They’re all taking advantage of it while here. You and Ceria will spend a three month couple’s vacation together in time compression, using two hours of time in the outside world. After that, I’m hoping you will bring your new Lady of the Royal Bedchamber back to Tëan Tír to introduce her to everyone.”
He frowned. “She’s sure to wind up fairy-touched after spending that long with me…”
“She won’t,” I told him with confidence. “Or rather, she can’t. We had our suspicions, so Fan Li asked Immortal Mother to evaluate it. She confirmed our hypothesis that being Fairy Touched or Vampire Charmed is an incomplete stage of Elder Servanthood. My Servants are immune to you, as they are already bonded to an Elder.”
Then I smirked at him and added, “Which means you’ll have to woo her with your own clever words. Your charm doesn’t work on her.”
He propped his cheek on his fist and stared at me for several seconds, but I ignored him and asked Ceria, “Are you willing to give him a try?”
She looked at him speculatively, then grinned at me. “You’re right that he’s pretty hunky, Lady. I’m willing if he is!”
Oberon sighed, clearly defeated. I knew he couldn’t say no to me.
