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| ===Chapter 1 - ???===
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| (under work)
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| "Morning Ma! Morning Pa!"
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| Stifling a mild yawn with his hand, Kaede strode into the modest kitchen-bar-dining room his family shared.
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| "Morning, Kaede. I was wondering if I might need to wake you up for once."
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| His mother offered a bright smile before turning back to face the kitchen counter. Her long ponytail swaying behind her as she chopped vegetables to prepare lunch at a quick beat.
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| Honoka was petite and light of build. At barely one-fifty centimeters (4'11"), she was shorter than even the average Japanese. Although technically she was of Ainu ethnicity, a fact that the more flatulent and xenophobic individuals amongst the locals reminded her of, even up in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.
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| "No practice this morning Ma," Kaede explained in Russian as he stepped up to the two pieces of jam-covered toast his mother set on the kitchen bar.
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| It was routine in the Suvorsky household to speak Russian when only family members were around. Kaede's parents had been afraid that his skills with the language would deteriorate after years of living in Japan. There was truth to that, as Kaede's writing skills already regressed. Reading, on the other hand, was kept up by an endless flow of articles shared by his father.
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| "Those dickwads still haven't given up," that same father swore from a dining chair as he finally put the tablet down, an electronic news article displayed across the screen.
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| "Language dear," the mother admonished, though her voice was more gentle than stern. "It amazes me to this day that Kaede didn't grow up with a foul mouth like yours."
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| "Perhaps I'm just too cultured for him," the youth grinned back, only to void his own statement as he stuffed an entire piece of toast down his mouth.
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| "Oh please! Who taught you all that--" his father spun around the chair as he began to retort, only to halt as the mother cleared her throat aloud. "--Well, at least half that culture?"
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| Kaede shrugged back, still grinning as stuffed cheeks grounded down the sweet breakfast with haste.
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| Konstantin was a Russian of mostly Komi ethnicity by birth, with bright, slate-gray eyes, sharp eyebrows, and a straight nose, all well-centered upon a somewhat rectangular face. The thin, golden-brown hair above his surprisingly-smooth forehead was graying steadily, which gave a respectable professor look alongside the large spectacles that adorned his image.
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| "Whaf--" Kaede shoved the remaining food to one side of his cheeks before gesturing at the tablet on the table: "--happened this time?"
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| "Damn Japanese government is pestering over the Kurils again," Konstantin half-snorted out.
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| "What's the point? Putin wouldn't pay one ruble over what the government here phinks," Kaede forced out before he resumed chewing.
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| "Political posturing for the elections, now that Nationalism is on the rise once more," the father spoke as he slowly stirred the hot bowl of Shchi cabbage soup he preferred in the morning. "Enough years have passed that the younger generation is daydreaming their glorious ''Dai Nippon Teikoku'' days again."
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| "Are you any different? Mister Russian Empire?" Honoka calmly noted from the kitchen, her posture never changing.
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| Konstantin couldn't help but snort again:
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| "True enough. Us, the Brits, the French. Hell, the Americans too! Even if they won't admit it and are still trotting the globe. Putin might be an ambitious bastard, but he's right about one thing: 'the US don't need allies, only vassals'. And to hell if Russia is going to be some satellite of the EU or US!"
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| "Kaede, you might want to take off before you father's rant makes you late for school," his mother turned to voice with another gentle smile, amusement dancing within her jet-black eyes.
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| "Got it Ma! See you Pa! Try not to argue with your fellow professors too much today!" Kaede called back as he rushed out, the remaining slice of toast soon dangling from his mouth.
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| ...
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| "Daichi! Kaede is already here! You're going to be late if you take any longer!"
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| Mrs. Ho called into the house before turning back to Kaede with a shallow but respectful bow:
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| "Thank you so much for coming here everyday Kaede."
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| "No not at all Aunty," Kaede rushed to reply with an even lower bow.
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| It always made him uncomfortable when people a generation above him showed that much courtesy.
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| "I'm coming I'm coming!" Daichi finally rushed into view, pulled on his shoes, and swirled right around his mother to dart out the door. "See ya later Mama!"
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| "Have a good day at school!" the elegant Mrs. Ho waved from the door as the two young men turned to leave.
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| Daichi was a high school boy with a classic athletic build. Round-headed with rather large eyes for an Asian, he paced at one-eighty centimeters (5'11") of height with a lean and confident stride. He might not be the best looking in their grade, but he was up there in popularity, and being the Kendo team captain certainly didn't hurt.
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| "Wish Sayuri was the one picking me up every mooooooorning," he expressed through a great yawn before looking at Kaede with drooping eyes still half-asleep.
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| ''Good thing I look nothing like your girlfriend,'' Kaede suddenly thought. Otherwise his spine might be shivering with discomfort right now.
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| "Don't confuse reality with that lame anime you watch," he retorted from besides Daichi as the two walked up the hill.
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| "Then how come you manage it every morning?"
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| "Because you're my oldest friend here and you live on my way to school," came the nonchalant reply. "Sayuri is on the wrong side of town."
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| "I wish I had a cuter childhood friend," Daichi mumbled out.
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| "Even if I were cuter I'm still a boy," Kaede smirked back before nudging the other's shoulder. "Think your parents might be aghast if you tried that."
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| "Ugh, no. No way! ''Hell no!''"
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| Daichi's eyes sprang wide, bulging with nightmarish alertness as his friend began to laugh out loud.
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| He wasn't exactly Kaede's 'childhood friend'. The two didn't meet until middle school, mere months after Kaede came to Japan. At a time when Kaede was still trying to fit in with his poor Japanese and mixed-blood appearance, he met the half-Chinese Daichi during the school's activities fair.
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| Kaede still remembered that moment when he walked by the Calligraphy Club's stall and heard the young boy remark: "look at those ''beautiful'' symbols! I wonder who they stole them from?"
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| Kaede couldn't resist from bursting into laughter, even after receiving several annoyed stares.
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| The two of them became best friends almost immediately. It certainly helped that they both showed an interest in archaic martial arts -- swords for Daichi and bows for Kaede; not to mention that Daichi was half-Chinese and therefore half-fascinated in history by blood.
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| "How come you know where Sayuri lives anyway?" Daichi returned to the topic once more.
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| "I'm the one who introduced her to you, in case you forgot," Kaede answered, his expression plain except for the tilted eyebrows.
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| "--I walked her and several other girls home once when they stayed late for a cultural fair project."
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| Daichi groaned aloud:
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| "I swear, you are just asking for the girls to friendzone you! No wonder why you're on such good terms with the girls yet still doesn't have a girlfriend!"
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| "Morning, Surusuke-kun!" a girl in class called out in greeting just as they rounded the corner.
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| "Morning!" Kaede waved back with friendly enthusiasm.
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| He had long grown used to everyone mispronouncing his surname.
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| "See!" Daichi cried out, his open palm gesturing between them. "This is what I'm talking about!"
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| "I don't know about you, but my parents taught me manners," Kaede shrugged it off with another smile. "Besides, what kind of a man would you be to ''not'' walk a group of stranded girls home?"
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| "That's not what I meant!" his best friend retorted, his tempo rising as he went:
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| "I meant your overt friendliness! You need to at least keep some distance with the girls so that when you do approach them it's ''exciting!'' That's what a budding relationship needs! Emotion! Thrill! ''Passion!''"
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| Daichi struck a cool pose as he laid one gesturing hand right beneath his smirking chin.
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| "I'll never let Sayuri see me and only think 'oh hey, it's Daichi'. I want her heart to skip a beat every time she rounds the corner and sees me!"
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| "She's not about to round that corner ahead, you know that right?"
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| Kaede joked it off to pull Daichi out of his silly posture before defending his own lifestyle:
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| "Besides, what's wrong with being friends with girls? I want a love that grows out of friendship anyways. Because in years from now, when that youthful spark of passion gradually wanes, its companionship and trust that keeps couples together and happy."
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| "There you go again, trying to be 'Mister Mature' and talking like some old salaryman..."
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| Daichi let loose a deep and exasperated sigh that essentially cried 'what is wrong with you?'
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| "Come on! You're eighteen! Enjoy life's youth and beauty while you can! Most girls our age aren't interested in some safe, platonic affair, you know?"
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| Kaede grimaced. Just barely, so light that his best friend never even noticed.
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| He didn't need a reminder. He still remembered ''that'' incident quite well.
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| "As you said, I'm still young. I have tons that I want to do, so I'm not in a rush for this either," Kaede declared. "If the girls we know aren't mature enough for a stable, long-term, and adult relationship, then I'm willing to wait until they are."
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| A distant corner of Kaede's mind wondered if those statements were really true, or if he was simply trying to avoid another hurtful experience.
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| "I swear, keep up this attitude and you'll be ''thirty'' before you find a good relationship..."
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| "Can we get off this topic?" Kaede objected as Daichi kept up the walking commentary. "We're clearly not seeing eye-to-eye here."
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| "Fine..." the other begrudgingly dropped it at last.
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| "So, in other 'Mister Mature' news, did you hear back from..."
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| "Tokyo U? Yes. I'm going," Kaede beamed back, all shadows chased from his sunlit smile within the second.
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| "Damn overachiever."
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| "Hey you could at least..."
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| "Congratulations."
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| Daichi expressed his sincere joy as he hooked his arm around Kaede's neck and pulled his friend in. The latter's chestnut-brown hair was soon a mess as two of them held a friendly wrestle in the middle of the sidewalk.
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| "But I still get to gripe about it, you damn overachiever."
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| ...
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| "Kaede!"
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| The young girl groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, still groggy from the pleasant afternoon nap.
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| The swaying of barren tree branches, the gentle sounds of waves washing ashore, the comforting feel of sinking into gelatinous coolness.
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| Her mind slowly returned to Hyperion, to Pascal's estate at Nordkreuz.
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| She had fallen asleep on top of Parzifal's tamed tofu while relaxing besides Cross Lake.
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| "Kaede!"
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| It hadn't been a dream so much as a memory -- an average morning just a week or two before she woke up in this fantasy realm.
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| Reaching up with her small hand, she brushed away the tears that pooled at the edge of her eyes.
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| It was inevitable to feel homesick, especially now that her campaign participation ended and she had time to relax again. Her weeks on Hyperion had broadened her view of the universe, tickled her thirst for knowledge, and excited her with opportunities to watch history unfold. But none of that, not even Pascal's growing familiarity, filled the hole created by the family and friends she left behind.
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| Sure, the gradual opening of distance came with every step to adulthood. Leaving for Tokyo to attend university, securing a career job, possibly even working abroad -- they all separated the individual from the loved ones they came to cherish.
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| But not so suddenly, and not so completely.
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| Kaede couldn't even communicate with her parents by snail mail. She didn't know if ''he'' had died or simply vanished in that other world. Was ''his'' parents grieving or worried? Did ''he'' receive a funeral or simply became yet another photo on those missing people reports?
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| She could feel her heart crumble as the image of her mother crying entered her thoughts. The only solace was that Kaede wasn't the only child; otherwise her parents would be crushed. ''He'' did have an energetic yet kind sister seven years older, already graduated and living a married life near Vladivostok.
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| "Kaede there you are. You could at least answer when called!"
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| Kaede suppressed a sigh as she pulled her thoughts out of the reverie. She really wasn't in the mood to talk right now, and while the Princess didn't rank the bottom of her conversation list, she wasn't near the top either.
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| ''Well look on the bright side,'' she tried to convince herself. ''It's at least healthier than brooding over facts you can't change.''
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| Deceptively rubbing her eyes with one hand, Kaede struggled to sit back up. This proved quite difficult as one supporting hand, then both, simply sank into the silken tofu-like white pudding. It didn't quite break 'skin' like it would with real tofu, but it still felt like she was wobbling on a giant mattress of jello.
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| "Sorry, Milady," Kaede faked a huge, open yawn as she finally wiggled her small butt into a reclining lounge. "Still waking up from a nap."
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| "It's the middle of the afternoon you sloth."
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| Sylviane crossed her thin arms below her small chest as she gazed down with a 'we-are-not-amused' look that would have made Queen Victoria proud.
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| The Princess wore her battledress of sky-blue to violet as usual, armor plates off once more. Her voluminous dark-plum hair billowed all around her in the lakeside breeze. While a dozen steps behind her stood the discrete Mari -- oriflamme armiger, lady's maid, and personal bodyguard to Her Royal Highness.
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| "Why are you sleeping outside instead of in your room?" she asked again, her eyes narrowing with concern. "You could catch a cold out here in this wind."
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| "I don't want to spend any more time in that Leaning Tower of Pisa than I have to, and its relaxing out here," Kaede shrugged it off. "Besides, I doubt if Samarans ''can'' catch a cold."
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| "I heard you can; you just recover overnight... or perhaps that's the flu. Also what's Pisa?" Sylviane thought aloud as she turned to glance at the tilted cylindrical shell keep that was Pascal's residence.
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| The overwhelming air raid on Nordkreuz had spared the Landgrave's estate due to its secluded location. But the Earthquake that followed must have shaken up its foundation, as the four-story stone structure now inclined at almost the same angle as the famous Italian tower.
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| Pascal had set up a network of runes to magically reinforce the structure before declaring it safe. But knowing and feeling secure were entirely different when one stood inside with its noticeably slanted floors. Fixing the structure's foundation would require a Geomancer with architectural expertise, and all available ones were currently busy with more pressing concerns in Nordkreuz.
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| Of course, the ''Runelord'' might have attempted it personally. But as the Lord of Nordkreuz, he was busy with disaster relief himself.
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| "City from my world. The tower is sort of a tourist wonder but certainly ''not safe'' to live in," Kaede stressed.
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| "Well, your world is also crippled by a lack of magic," Sylviane stated plainly, causing the familiar girl to twist her lips under a frown:
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| ''We're not 'crippled'. You're just spoiled.''
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| "Anyway," the Princess turned her gaze back upon Kaede. "Do you know where Pascal is? And why aren't you helping him right now?"
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| "He's in the middle of the city, still coordinating relief efforts. And I lost a lot of blood the last few days, so give me a break."
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| Kaede at least managed to keep her tone from being snappy, though the Princess still frowned in disapproval before glancing away.
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| She wasn't lying either, as the devastated city had been short on the precious 'fluid of life' as well. She had volunteered almost immediately after seeing the carnage -- it would save not only lives but also help the new lord's public opinion as well.
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| Though in exchange she also guilted Parzifal into lending her tofu for the day. Being anemic wasn't ''too'' bad when it felt like she was drifting on clouds.
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| Returning her attention to Sylviane, Kaede found the Princess looking away at the lake. Her wisteria eyes had softened with remorse, while her frown revealed an uneasy conscience. Her Highness then closed her eyes, a deep sigh filled with withheld frustration escaping her peachy-pale lips.
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| ''Yes, I have been helping. But what have 'you' been doing?'' Kaede silently took the moral high ground before pulling herself back down.
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| She wasn't being fair. Sylviane had just lost her remaining parent, killed in cold blood by another family member. Her country was in turmoil, torn by enemies front and center. Yet she was currently stuck in Weichsel, her own future uncertain.
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| She last time Kaede had been under that much stress, she had almost sent someone to the emergency room.
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| "Do you need to talk to Pascal?" the familiar girl proposed, uncertain.
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| "Yes," the reply came without any hesitance. In fact, Kaede could see Sylviane's gloved hand bundle into a fist.
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| "I need to ask just what we're doing here. I understand that he has a Duchy to run, but if that's the case then why do I need to come along? ''This is wasting my time!''"
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| Kaede waited not a second longer:
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| "<u>Pascal, where are you? Her Highness wants to ''talk''.</u>"
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| "<u>In the middle of everything,</u>" Pascal's rushed reply echoed in her thoughts. "<u>Ask her what she needs.</u>"
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| "<u>She wants to know why you're wasting her time.</u>"
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| Kaede could almost feel Pascal's exasperated sigh, as well as the concern that bubbled in alongside it.
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| The empathic rebound link wasn't that strong. In fact, Kaede had to focus on Pascal to sense it at all. But it was still weird to feel emotions that weren't her own float in.
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| It wasn't supposed to happen at all; or at least, Pascal had never heard of it. But his uncontrolled burst of rage during the 'Manteuffel Incident' had somehow washed open a new stream.
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| "<u>Tell her to meet me in the city center. I will be there within half an hour,</u>" Pascal voiced back, his stress level rising even as he spoke.
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| "<u>I will see you then.</u>"
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| As the 'master' drew an end to their conversation, Kaede proceeded to pass the word along.
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| "Please listen to what he has to say first," she added in her wispy voice. "Since Pascal asked you to stay for a few days, I'm sure he already has a plan in mind."
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| Sylviane raised her eyebrows, taken aback for a brief moment. Then, with a hint of amusement as she turned to climb the motte's grassy slope, she casually remarked:
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| "You really are a familiar."
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| Those simple words left Kaede speechless as a thousand thoughts simultaneously rushed her mental spotlight. The winner being the simplest 'I am a person!' before it was wrestled down from the podium by a dozen others.
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| "Comeon Kaede!" The Princess called down from atop the stone keep's earthen mound, just before her phoenix Hauteclaire spiraled down from the skies to land.
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| (see the city as soon as she cross over... before asking. may balance better)
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| "Uhhh, Milady... could you... help me get up?"
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| Kaede asked hesitantly just after they crossed the makeshift bridge onto one of the city's intact wall sections.
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| She was keenly aware of just how ''completely inappropriate'' her request to ''royalty'' felt. She had considered asking Mari, who was following the Princess from behind as always. But that would feel even weirder since they have never spoken to one another directly.
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| Meanwhile, Sylviane gave an audible sigh as she muttered 'seriously' under her breathe. Yet despite her shaking head and rolling eyes, she soon lent an arm to help Kaede off the giant white blob.
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| "Why don't you just ride the rest of the way?"
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| "I don't want to look like some noble brat's privileged mistress in a disaster zone," Kaede noted in a fading voice as she looked out into what was once the jewel of the continental north.
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| The haunting images of bombed out WWII cities had been brought to reality before her very eyes. Over eighty percent of Nordkreuz' buildings had been burned, destroyed, or outright collapsed by a combination of the aerial bombardment, the earthquake, and the countless fires that spread all over the city in the aftermath. They reduced the wooden structures to little more than charred rubble. Meanwhile many brick walls and stone columns stood alone, like headstones for the taverns and workshops that once stood.
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| ''Carpet bombing should be a war crime.''
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| The death toll stood at over six thousand, and still rising as relief efforts streamed in. The only reason it was that 'low' was because General von Falkenhausen had sent all residents to their cellars after anticipating the strike.
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| Kaede still felt regretful at missing out on several hours of comfort. But she also realized that it would be in poor taste to 'ride' tofu through such a shattered city. There was also how poorly it reflected upon not only her but Pascal as well.
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| With Sylviane's arm for support, the smaller girl managed to stand upright.
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| Since they were likely to spend the hours before dinner discussing plans with Pascal, she might as well return tofu to Parzifal where the giant blob of nutritious comfort might actually be useful.
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| She then turned to the white pudding that had served her as a mattress and bouncing lounge chair all day:
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| "Take me to your leader, I mean master."
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| ''Not that I would mind meeting a roaming pack of wild tofu, especially at a time like this,'' Kaede thought as she watched the white pudding bounce off.
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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