Part Two: Matrimonial Strife

Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery, Shinden, Allied Clan Worlds, 236/10/12.

‘We’re home,’ Melissa called out as she carried her overnight case in through the door of the house.

‘We’re in the lounge,’ Mitsuko called back.

Dumping her case, Melissa went through the door on her right and into the lounge, followed fairly closely by Courtney who was looking happier than she had in a while. Her boyfriend was happier, and staying on Shinden, so Courtney was happier.

‘Did you have a good time?’ Nava asked. She was lying on one of the sofas with her head in Mitsuko’s lap. She looked very comfortable.

‘I did,’ Melissa replied.

‘So did I,’ Courtney added. ‘It’s a lot easier to like the world when your boyfriend isn’t over a hundred and thirty light-years away.’

‘Wouldn’t know,’ Nava said. ‘Don’t have a boyfriend.’

‘You know what I mean. Show them the things, Mel.’

‘Things?’

Melissa produced a pair of cards, about ten centimetres by six, from the smaller bag she was carrying and stepped forward to hand them to Nava. Nava looked at them and then handed one to Mitsuko.

Mitsuko read briefly. ‘A party?’ The cards had embossed writing on them highlighted in silver. Hers invited her to a party at the Himura family estate. Presumably, Nava’s was similar.

‘The Himuras are holding a party,’ Courtney said, ‘and we’re all invited.’

‘It’s at the start of the autumn break,’ Melissa said, ‘so it shouldn’t be a problem attending. Naomi says he’ll arrange transport.’

‘Another armed tiltrotor?’ Nava asked.

‘I don’t think it’ll necessarily be armed.’

‘It’s further to the Himuras’ place than it is to ours,’ Mitsuko said. ‘They may send something a bit faster. I don’t see a reason not to go.’

‘Your parents have been invited.’

‘I see. So, this will be the first time you’ve met Naomi’s parents, Mel?’

Melissa grimaced. ‘Don’t remind me. Naomi had to do a lot of persuading, but Kyle’s invited too, so I’ll have a lot of support. I can do this. I bet Nava didn’t even have a moment’s worry over meeting your parents.’

‘I did,’ Nava said, ‘though that was more not being sure what they were like than over them being Suki’s parents. In the end, I discovered that I like them.’

‘Well, hopefully the same will be true of Tomoko and Haruki. That I’ll like them, I mean. And that they’ll like me. I haven’t saved their son’s life.’

Nava nodded slowly. ‘That may have been a factor. But you did help to save Kyle’s life. It’s not Naomi, but I think it demonstrates that you have it in you if it were needed.’

‘Well, do you think you could tell them that?’

‘If the Himuras are anything like the Trentons, they already know.’

236/10/19.

‘Are you ready for the wilds of Shinden, Cari?’ Mitsuko asked.

Carina grimaced. ‘No.’ It was the time of year when the first-year students were dispatched for a week of ‘survival training.’ It was more of a survival experience than training, and there was little chance of anyone not making it through the week, but for people used to very civilised conditions, survival week was not something to be enjoyed. ‘It’s getting cold. And wet. It’s getting cold and wet, and they’re sending me to tramp through a forest with wild animals and–’

‘There’s nothing wild about the forests on Shinden,’ Nava said. ‘There are no indigenous animals likely to hurt a human. Shinden is an entirely man-made environment.’ She gave a slight shrug. ‘So is Grimalkin, but the “men” were Harbingers and they did a more complete job.’

‘Oh. Well, it’s still cold.’

‘Only to someone used to a hot planet. You have Resist Cold.’

‘But it’s still wet.’

‘You can run Umbrella continuously.’

Pouting, Carina covered her pause to muster more arguments by eating some of her curry. It was not easy to chew and pout at the same time, but she was doing her best. ‘It’s going to suck,’ she finally said, ‘but suffering is to be expected in this time of great trials. I will battle through and emerge triumphant.’

‘Good recovery,’ Melissa said. ‘Is Trudy going with you?’

‘She’s looking forward to it. Of course, it doesn’t rain where she is. Or get cold.’

‘Actually, I have no idea whether it rains there,’ Nava said. ‘If it rains here, I’d imagine there must be some element of it which falls there. Not that it would be solid. You’re probably right about it not getting cold, though.’ Nava turned her head to fix Rochester with a look. ‘Given that I’ve only ever been there naked, I’d have noticed if it got cold.’

‘Am I ever going to be forgiven for that?’ Rochester asked in something of a whine.

‘It was a bit of an oversight,’ Hoshi said. ‘Something to put in the notes, perhaps.’

‘I wonder if you can have sex there,’ Mitsuko mused. Rochester’s cheeks went from a little pink to incandescent in under a second.

‘I don’t see why not,’ Nava said. ‘With someone who was there with you, obviously. You can’t even touch someone in this reality. It’s not even that good for voyeurism since the colours are all sort of muted.’

‘Trudy can use Telekinesis on things in this world,’ Carina said. ‘I bet you could improvise enough strength to do some naughty things across the barrier.’

‘Naughty things?’

‘It’s not like I’ve ever had a boyfriend. The only friend I had before coming here was Trudy and she’s not interested in that stuff. Uh, everyone else was scared off by the weight of doom hanging over me, obviously.’

‘Obviously.’

‘Well, you have friends now,’ Melissa said.

‘Yes,’ Carina agreed, ‘I have friends now. So why aren’t they stepping in to rescue me from the horrors of a week without a good bed?’

‘Fate calls upon you to suffer these trials of fortitude,’ Nava said. ‘Who are we to stand in the way of fate?’

‘That’s just evil.’

‘I do try.’

236/10/22.

‘I’m not pushing hard yet,’ Mitsuko said, ‘but I’d like to know how things are progressing with the Winter Ball.’ The student council was in session, briefly, at lunchtime. There was not a lot going on needing their attention. Next term it would get far busier but leading up to the autumn break there was nothing much happening.

‘The budget is fixed,’ Marie Royce said. ‘The same as last year, which should be viable considering the current economic stability.’

‘The Art Club hasn’t really started working on the sets yet,’ Francis said. ‘It’s in the “picking a concept” stage. If we have any input, now’s the time to put it forward.’

Mitsuko nodded. ‘Everyone give it some thought and we’ll try to get them any ideas by the start of break.’

‘I’ve thought,’ Nava said. ‘I have no ideas.’

‘Because it’s you, I’ll let that stand.’

‘What are the Drama Club doing this year? Is there any chance of being ambushed into another production?’

‘After last year,’ Francis said, ‘they were almost disbanded. We cut their budget, so I think they’re doing some sort of minimal thing. Very arty. Esoteric maybe. Frankly, I doubt they’ll have much of an audience.’

‘I feel somewhat sorry for some of them,’ Nava admitted. ‘It wasn’t the entire club who tried to scam me. Still, my anxiety is eased. I’ll sleep well knowing I won’t have to go through that again.’

‘There is no way you were anxious.’

‘I certainly was. I was worried about how I’d stop myself going on a killing spree if they asked me again.’

‘You’re the SSF captain this year,’ Mitsuko pointed out. ‘You’d have had the perfect excuse to say no.’

‘Well, true, but a killing spree would still have been very tempting.’

‘It was that bad last year?’ Marie asked.

‘Yes. Yes, it was.’

Idai na Kado Foothills, 236/10/23.

‘Why aren’t you cold?’ Yaeko Himura demanded. ‘You always complain about the cold. Just something you do to attract attention, I suppose.’

It was hardly warm, tramping through the foothills of one of Shinden’s rather unimpressive mountain ranges on the fourth day of their adventure. They were fairly far north, which meant the growing cool of a Shinden autumn was made worse by latitude and altitude. Not that there was much of the latter. Still, Carina was toasty warm inside her combat suit and the reason for that was obvious to anyone who thought about it for a couple of seconds.

‘I cast Resist Cold on myself,’ Carina said.

‘Oh.’ Yaeko was momentarily lost for a comeback. She figured she should probably have thought of that herself. Then again, she did not know anyone who had the spell memorised, except Carina of course. ‘That seems like a fairly worthless spell to have learned.’

‘Not when you come from a planet with a climate forty degrees warmer than the one you’re moving to. It has utility for combat situations in cold climates, and it will be very important when the icy Darkness falls upon us all.’ She should not have added that last part, but it was something of a compulsion for Carina.

‘Still harping on about that ridiculous delusion? You are not special, Carina Schwartz Malkin. There’s no secret society trying to– Ah!’ Not looking where you were putting your feet when walking up a slope was not the best of ideas. Yaeko discovered this as she stepped on a patch of loosened shale and her foot slipped, twisting as it deposited her ignominiously onto the ground. She did manage to catch herself with one hand, thus stopping her nose from impacting the thin soil, but that was about the best of it.

Yaeko’s two friends, Sommer Chevalier and Dove Harris, rushed over to her while Carina watched. She would have helped but she knew the two wingwomen would be in there like a shot and she did not really like Yaeko that much. They lifted Yaeko to her feet easily enough, and that was when the real problem revealed itself. When she put weight on her right foot, she let out a shriek of pain which attracted the attention of their instructor, Sienna Acker Fosse.

‘Is someone hurt?’ she called back from the front of the group. ‘Everyone take a rest while we sort this out.’

‘You scraped your hand too,’ Carina noted. ‘Of course you’re cold if you’re not wearing your gloves.’

‘Just… shut up,’ Yaeko snapped. ‘I think my ankle’s broken.’

‘Unlikely,’ Sienna said as she walked up to the group. ‘It may be strained. We’ll need to brace it and hope–’

‘Give me your hand,’ Carina said. She had pulled off one of her gloves and was holding her bare hand out to Yaeko.

‘Why?’ Yaeko asked. ‘What are you going to do?’

Carina rolled her eyes. ‘My dark destiny does not involve me being out here any longer than I have to be. With your foot in a brace we will have to move slower, so I’m going to heal you.’

‘O-oh.’ Yaeko took Carina’s hand and, a second later, she was enveloped in a soft, golden light. After only a second, she relaxed visibly. ‘Th-that’s much better.’ Sommer and Dove let go of her arms and she took her full weight on both feet without discomfort. Yaeko was a bully and had far too high an opinion of herself, but she was also a Himura Sonkei and manners had been drilled into her from a young age. She bowed to Carina. ‘Thank you, Carina Schwartz.’

Sienna nodded approval. ‘Good work, Carina Schwartz. I have no idea what your dark destiny is, but your healing magic is certainly up to requirements.’ Sienna was a big woman with the heart of a pit bull combined with a drill sergeant, but she gave credit where it was due.

‘Thank you, Captain,’ Carina replied.

‘I didn’t know you knew Heal Injury,’ Sommer said in something of an accusatory tone.

‘You’ve never asked. I know a lot of spells. I’m a Malkin.’

‘That probably explains everything about you,’ Dove said.

‘Well,’ Carina said, ‘not really…’

Shinden School of Sorcery, 236/10/27.

‘I figured a weekend of rest would mean you were over your walk in the mountains,’ Nava said.

Carina was picking at her lunch. She had skipped Flight Club on Sunday, claiming that she needed to rest after her survival week, but it appeared that she was still suffering. Appearances were, however, deceiving. ‘It’s not that. I got another message from home.’

‘Are they trying to get you to go back again?’ Melissa asked.

‘Felix is coming out to Shinden to try to persuade me. Well, it actually says “to bring me back.”’

‘What’s the point?’ Rochester asked. ‘You can’t marry him for at least a year. Why not let you stay here until then?’

‘Felix is a bit controlling.’

‘Does the message say when he’ll be arriving?’ Nava asked.

‘Not really. Soon. He’s making arrangements, whatever that means.’

‘If he causes trouble, he’ll be ejected from the school. As a visitor, he will be treated with due respect, until he demonstrates that he doesn’t deserve it.’

‘Oh. Well, with Felix that shouldn’t take too long.’

236/10/32.

‘Is everyone ready?’ Mitsuko called out. ‘We’re flying out in thirty minutes.’

‘We are going to get time to change when we get there, aren’t we?’ Melissa asked. Again.

‘We should be there in plenty of time.’

‘It should really be me who knows this. My boyfriend is the Himura.’

‘You’ve never been to their estate.’

Melissa grimaced. ‘There’s that word again. Estate. I have a boyfriend whose family has an estate.’

‘And now you know my pain,’ Nava said. As usual, she did not sound pained.

‘You didn’t grow up in clan society. You didn’t have the social order drilled into you from before you could talk.’

‘And do you think your relative status makes even the slightest difference to Naomi?’ Mitsuko asked.

‘Well, no, but that doesn’t mean his family won’t–’

‘Hush. They will accept you. The Himuras are more traditional than the Trentons, but not to the extent that they won’t accept whoever their son considers a worthy partner. Frankly, if they had a problem, they would have married him off to someone of high status by now.’

‘I hadn’t thought of that. Well, I’m ready.’

‘So am I,’ Courtney said, emerging from her room.

‘Then I suggest we go,’ Nava said. ‘I wonder what they’re sending to collect us.’

Himura Estate.

They had flown west aboard a vertol-capable private jet for just over two hours; the Himura estate was around twelve hundred kilometres from the school. In the last few minutes, the estate appeared below them as they came in for a landing. It was huge, much like the Trentons’ estate, but unlike the other clan stronghold Nava was used to, this one had a distinctly Japanese feel to it. There were more modern-looking buildings, but many appeared to be sprawling mansions in the traditional Japanese mould: largely single storey with inner gardens and quadrangles.

‘I wonder whether we’re going to the hotel or the house,’ Mitsuko mused as they descended.

‘They have a hotel?’ Melissa asked.

‘So do we. Well, it’s not a hotel, exactly. Call it a multi-bedroom guesthouse. You don’t think we put up all of our party guests in the mansion, do you? It’s the same with most of the major clans. We’re required to throw parties and entertain, but we aren’t required to put up with them all tramping through the house come morning. We only invite close friends to stay at the mansion.’ Mitsuko flashed a grin at Nava. ‘Uncle Spencer does not count as a close friend. He stays in the hotel until they pour him into a transport back to Alliance City.’

‘Colour me shocked,’ Nava said. ‘Such abuse of a familial parasite. So, if we end up at the house here, we can consider ourselves closer friends than if we arrive at some anonymous guesthouse.’

‘Basically, yes. That being said, the hotel here is nicer than ours. They based it on a traditional hotel in old Japan. It has a sento and everything. Ours is a full-service hotel, in essence, but theirs has more style.’

As they walked down the stairs from the cabin door, Nava was not really sure whether they had landed outside a house or a spa-hotel. The building was clearly modelled after a traditional Japanese house, a large one. There was something about the wooden post-and-lintel structure which did not look entirely right, but it appeared that the house was built of paper-thin walls attached to a wooden structure.

‘It’s the house,’ Mitsuko said, ‘and there are Naomi and Kyle.’

The two men, looking very stylish in their ASF uniforms, were standing at the side of the landing pad, but they started toward the women just as Mitsuko noticed them. Kyle was grinning broadly at the sight of Courtney walking down the steps. More surprisingly, Naomi was wearing at least a slight smile; the man could not match Nava for stoicism, but he was generally fairly unemotional and seeing him with a smile on his face was almost jarring.

‘Please allow us to take your bags,’ Naomi said.

‘I’m good,’ Nava said before anyone else could respond.

‘Well, you can take mine,’ Melissa said, ‘even if it’s not that heavy.’

‘I’ll keep mine,’ Mitsuko said as Courtney handed off her case to Kyle. ‘That way you gentlemen can escort your ladies to their rooms after you’ve shown us to ours.’

‘Given your and Nava’s self-reliance,’ Naomi said, ‘that is an acceptable arrangement, though if my parents see us, they’ll have a fit.’

‘I could make us all invisible,’ Nava suggested. ‘There might be a lot of bumping into each other, however.’

‘We will simply have to risk it. They’re busy with the final preparations anyway.’

‘We’ve got about an hour before things get going,’ Kyle said.

‘Though it will probably be another hour before all the guests arrive,’ Naomi added.

‘We can grab some food before the crush sets in. Well, after Mel’s been introduced to Naomi’s parents, of course.’

Mel cringed. ‘Did you have to say that?’

‘Well, yes.’

‘You’re mean. Naomi, challenge him to a duel or something.’

‘I’ll beat him up for you if Naomi won’t,’ Nava said.

‘I unreservedly apologise,’ Kyle said quickly. ‘I’ve seen Nava in battle.’

‘A pleasure I have not had,’ Naomi said.

‘Huh. I suppose it was a pleasure. I mean, she was saving my butt at the time…’

~~~

Dressing for this party was a little different to dressing for the ones Nava had attended at the Trentons’ mansion. Basically, the Himuras were a bit more traditional, so the party dresses were a little less risqué. A little.

Nava had bought something new for the night, though she rather liked it and planned to get as much use out of it as she could. It owed a little of its design to a cheongsam, if only a very little. Primarily, it had a high collar closed with a button and cord twisted into a flower-petal shape. After that, things diverged. It was sleeveless and had a large diamond shape cut into the front, showing off her breasts to good effect. There was also a vent in the back which would give Mitsuko the opportunity to touch skin when they danced. The skirt was straight and almost touched the floor with Nava in heels. That might have been quite proper if it were not for the fact that the sides were missing up to her hips, forming a loincloth-style design at front and back. It was made of black synthetic silk and fairly opaque, unless the light fell right and then you could see the shapes of her breasts through the fabric. The heels she had teamed it with were sandals with a wide ankle band which reminded her of cuffs and, she felt, gave a hint of a bondage theme which she rather liked.

Mitsuko seemed to like it too. ‘Can’t we just skip the party and move straight to the after party?’

‘No,’ Nava replied flatly. Her eyes scanned over her partner. ‘Tempting, but no.’

Mitsuko was the one who had said that the Himuras’ party would be less wild than the ones the Trentons hosted, and that a more sedate form of dress would be required. Nava was not sure what Mitsuko’s idea of less sedate was, but it presumably involved only wearing shoes. Mitsuko’s shoes were gold, strappy sandals to match her dress. The dress itself was a body-conforming tube held up on thin straps and falling to just above the knee. It hugged her body like it was in love, which was bad enough, but the fabric was a golden, metallic mesh which was technically opaque, unless the light fell on it the right way and then you could see just about everything, if in a hazy manner. The light seemed to fall on it that way quite a lot.

‘You look gorgeous,’ Nava said.

‘I think you look better, all dark and mysterious. But let’s not argue over it. We’ll just say we’re both better than anyone here deserves.’

‘My ego isn’t quite that big. I suppose we should be going.’

‘Then let us go.’

Nava slid the door open and discovered that Kyle’s reflexes were pretty good. He had been about to knock and managed to pull his hand away before he wrapped Nava on the forehead. Naomi, Melissa, and Courtney were standing in the hallway behind him. The men were in their ASF uniforms, now with the gold half-cloak which marked it as the dress uniform. Nava had issues with the ASF’s uniforms and the cloak was one of them, but at least the ASF did not expect anyone to fight in them.

Courtney had gone with an Asian theme for her outfit. It was a strapless, ankle-length gown with a wide slit to the hip up the front of the left leg. The basic material was some shade of red, but the skirt was decorated with pink and purple flowers. The top of the slit was decorated with three fake closures like short belts. She was also wearing red pumps with a moderate heel, not the sky-high things Nava and Mitsuko were wearing.

Then again, Melissa had gone entirely the other way. Her sandals had tall heels and a two-centimetre platform which actually made her taller than Nava. Of course, that still left her a lot shorter than Naomi, but it did make up some of the difference. Her dress was the shortest of the four, a red, one-shouldered, very tight mini which stopped above mid-thigh. The left sleeve was wide and lace-edged. A lace band capped off the top edge too.

‘I should have worn platforms,’ Nava said. ‘Or possibly stilts.’

‘You both look fantastic,’ Kyle said, ‘though I am required by law to state that Courtney looks better.’

‘Insanity,’ Naomi said. ‘Mel is clearly the most attractive.’ Melissa’s cheeks coloured, which was to be expected.

‘If it wasn’t for the fact that you’d kill me, I’d duel you over that.’

‘Since Suki is obviously the best,’ Nava said in her usual dry tones, ‘it would have to be a three-way duel.’

Naomi and Kyle looked at each other. ‘Mitsuko’s the best,’ they said in unison.

‘Cowardly,’ Courtney said, ‘and yet I cannot fault either of you. Shall we move on? I’m getting hungry, and I can’t wait to watch Mel being introduced to Naomi’s parents.’

Naomi offered Melissa his arm, which she took, and set off down the hallway. ‘My parents will not be an issue,’ he said. ‘They have already expressed to me that whomever I select as my partner, they will accept. Akari, however…’

‘Akari’s your sister, correct?’ Mitsuko asked.

‘Correct. She’s a year younger than Mel and I think she views no one as good enough for me.’

‘She’s not at SAS-squared,’ Nava noted.

‘She has enough talent to use magitech but that’s about it.’

‘Ah.’

‘My mother is the talented magician in the family. Her capacity is higher than mine. Father is not powerless. He attended SAS-squared, which is where he met Mother, but he was not an outstanding student.’

‘So, their marriage wasn’t arranged?’ Mitsuko asked.

‘It was not. They married for love. Which is one reason why they have left my choice of partner to me.’ He glanced down at Melissa. ‘Not that we’ve spoken about marriage yet.’

‘Melissa’s cheeks are cherry red, aren’t they?’

‘Yes. I’ll change the subject to allow her to regain her composure before we get to the reception line.’

‘That is not helping,’ Melissa grumbled.

‘You’re adorable when you blush, Mel,’ Mitsuko said.

‘And that’s not helping either.’

~~~

Haruki and Tomoko Himura were a handsome couple. They were younger than Mitsuko’s parents, but they carried the same sort of air of authority and power even if the Trentons were objectively of higher status given that Zackery was the current family head and Haruki was a little lower down the ranks. Or he was theoretically; Misaki Himura Sonkei was the family head and Secretary of the Clan Council, but Haruki and Tomoko did most of the familial organisation.

Haruki was tall and slim, unlike his son who was tall and built like a brick wall. His dark hair was short and carefully groomed, his eyes were almost black, and his features were finely crafted. He looked like he should be starring in big-budget vids about ancient Japan, probably with a pair of swords slung at his hip. He was dressed in a pristine, black suit which fitted him perfectly and suggested a fit physique, if not quite as muscular as Naomi’s.

Tomoko was not quite the china doll that was Yuzuki Trenton, but she was still something of a classical Japanese beauty. Her face featured carved cheekbones, quite large dark-brown eyes, and a petite nose. Her hair was jet black and flowing, falling to her behind in a long, straight sheet. Her bust was fairly large which possibly explained why she was not wearing a kimono, instead favouring a low-cut gown in icy white. Mitsuko had told Nava that, unless you wanted crushed breasts or to look like the kind of geisha who was not discussed in polite society, kimonos did not work well on the well-endowed. Tomoko was beautiful, reminding Nava somewhat of Yuki, the character she had played in The Ice Queen the year before, if with a far more animated face.

Both of Naomi’s parents greeted Melissa warmly. As Naomi had said, there seemed as though there would be no problem there. Melissa had zero status in clan society. Prior to her elevation to the Greylings, Nava had had less, but you could not get a lot lower than the Connelly Avorns. Despite this, Melissa was greeted as though she was equal to the Himuras. That, of course, made her blush profusely.

‘She’s adorable, Naomi,’ Tomoko said, smiling. ‘We must have a little chat later, Melissa. There are things you should know about my son which only a mother could tell you.’

‘That sounds like… fun,’ Melissa responded.

‘Oh, it will be. Naomi may want to have me assassinated afterward, but it will be fun.’

The queue to greet the party’s hosts was not that long at the moment, but it was growing. The Himuras were taking their time for now, though they could not keep everyone waiting for too long. Nava noticed that Tomoko took the lead much of the time with Haruki following. She did that with Mitsuko, stepping forward to catch Mitsuko’s arms and stretch up onto her toes to kiss Mitsuko’s cheek. Nava knew just how she felt.

‘Suki, my dear, it’s been an age,’ Tomoko said. ‘I swear I didn’t need a step ladder to see your eyes last time we met. That’s a beautiful dress you’ve had sprayed on.’

‘Thank you, Tomoko. I try. Let me introduce you both to Nava Greyling Sonkei, my girlfriend.’

Now Haruki stepped forward. ‘We’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Nava Greyling. We read the report on your last… adventure.’

Nava took his offered hand. ‘Suki was there too, as was Mel.’

‘Indeed.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Intercepting a rocket in mid-air was quite the feat. Our son does seem to have picked a capable woman. However, your actions put you in a league of your own.’

‘I thought I was quite powerful,’ Tomoko said. ‘You make me feel like an amateur.’

‘I believe that to be inaccurate, Tomoko Himura, but thank you for the compliment. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Naomi has been a good friend.’

‘Despite him nagging you to compete for the school?’ Haruki asked.

‘Even with that. I’m not a competitive person.’

Haruki blinked. ‘Well, no. With your power, you don’t really need to be.’

~~~

Misaki Himura Sonkei, Secretary General of the Clan Council, the top-ranking bureaucrat in the Clan Worlds, looked pleased with herself. There might have been many reasons for this. She did not have a harried assistant following her around, for example. She was dressed in a black mini-dress which looked more comfortable than the skirt-suit Nava had last seen her in, and her long hair was loose instead of wound into a bun. She was at a party, which she had not had to set up, rather than having just been to a budget meeting. Whatever, she was smiling when Mitsuko and Nava approached her, joining Naomi and an awed-looking Melissa.

‘Mitsuko, you’re looking as tall as ever,’ Misaki said, ‘and Nava, I hope life as a Greyling isn’t being too onerous. I heard you’ve been keeping busy demolishing armies and such.’

‘It was only a small army, and I only demolished a third of it,’ Nava replied.

‘Hm. And you’ve found yourself a handful, it seems, Naomi. Your companion seems to be very capable.’

‘I just–’ Melissa began. ‘Well, I s-suppose it was something. Thank you, Madam, uh, Masaki.’

Misaki smirked. ‘You’ll get there. I will not be put on a pedestal at a party. I’m wearing a short dress! Do I look like a Secretary General?’

‘Well, yes,’ Melissa replied flatly. ‘You do, but I’m w-willing to try to ignore that if that’s what you w-want.’

‘What I want is to know how you got Naomi to decide he needed a girlfriend. We were beginning to wonder whether he planned to become a monk.’

‘I t-told him he intimidated me.’

Misaki’s eyebrows rose. ‘That’s a novel approach.’

‘I found it intolerable,’ Naomi said, ‘and determined to change her opinion.’

‘And her expansive bust had nothing to do with it, I suppose.’

Naomi and Melissa blushed. Seeing the big man in such a state was likely to be the highlight of the entire evening. ‘I admit,’ Naomi said, ‘that that may have been a factor. Mel is quite beautiful.’

‘She’s going to self-ignite if you keep that up,’ Mitsuko said.

‘Nonsense,’ Misaki said. ‘She’s more resilient than she might first appear. She has to be running around after you and Nava.’

Nava gave a slow nod. ‘You may well have a valid point.’

~~~

Akari Himura fixed Melissa with a look that might have pierced sheet steel. ‘It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Melissa Connelly Avorn,’ she said, making it clear that it was not.

‘Manners, Akari,’ Naomi said. ‘Your tone makes your words empty. Kindly get to know Mel before rejecting her.’

Melissa was blushing, of course. ‘I-it’s okay, Naomi. I’m sure–’

‘It is not,’ Naomi said. ‘It is, perhaps, to be expected. You are the first female friend I have brought home.’

Melissa’s eyes widened. ‘I am?’

‘Because of this, Akari feels it her duty to feel affronted.’

‘I do not!’ Akari almost shrieked.

‘She has never had competition for my affections before.’

‘Brother, you’re being mean.’

‘It’s natural for her to react in this manner, but unacceptable.’

‘That is a bit mean, Naomi,’ Melissa said.

‘Right! He’s being mean, isn’t he?’ Akari shifted a little closer to Melissa, seeking solidarity.

‘Sometimes he doesn’t realise he’s being insensitive.’

‘Oh, tell me about it. The stories I could tell you about him.’

And that was the point where Melissa realised what Naomi had just done. He knew his sister very well, it seemed. Melissa affected as conspiratorial a tone as she could manage. ‘Now that sounds like something worth hearing.’

‘Don’t you dare, Akari,’ Naomi said.

‘Too late. You asked for this.’

Akari failed to notice the smile ghosting over Naomi’s lips as she turned to regale Melissa with tales of her brother. Melissa could only marvel at how sneaky Naomi could be when he put his mind to it.

~~~

It was easy enough to spot Zackery Trenton approaching. The man was tall enough that his head showed above most crowds. His wife was another matter: Yuzuki was shorter than Nava and vanished in those same crowds. She emerged, serene and smiling, as people parted before her. She was dressed in a white kimono with black cranes embroidered onto it and, as usual, her hair was pinned up into an elaborate updo. She looked beautiful and, beside her, Zackery looked a little plain in his black suit.

‘Good evening, daughter,’ Zackery said. ‘Good evening, Nava. I trust that you’re both well?’

‘Father, you sound like someone stuffed a rod up your behind,’ Mitsuko said. She turned to Nava. ‘He always gets like this when he visits the Himuras at home.’

‘I do not,’ Zackery said, rather defensively.

‘You do, dear,’ Yuzuki said. ‘It usually wears off after an hour or so.’

‘Hmpf.’

‘I’m well, Zackery,’ Nava said. ‘I hope that the same can be said for you and Yuzuki?’

Zackery flashed Nava a smile at her rather formal sentence. ‘Unless my wife has decided to hide some ailment from me, we are. I should probably get over sounding like a stiff before I talk to Misaki. She will undoubtedly make fun of me for it.’

‘That seems likely.’

‘That dress is beautiful, Nava,’ Yuzuki said. ‘I wonder if I could pull that look off.’

‘Yes please,’ Zackery said almost under his breath.

‘Just not where I can see it,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Seeing you in the same dress as my girlfriend would probably result in psychological harm. That being said, perhaps in white or a subtle grey, you could get away with it, I think.’

‘I’ll send you the information on where I got it,’ Nava said.

‘Thank you,’ Yuzuki said, smiling demurely. ‘Um, there is one thing… Are you wearing anything under it?’

‘Yes. We’re both wearing something the costume department at the Drama Club found for my Yuki costume last year. They’re, well, stick-on panties.’

‘I’m not looking forward to taking it off,’ Mitsuko said, ‘and I don’t think I’m comfortable discussing my underwear in front of my father.’

‘Nonsense,’ Zackery said. ‘Your father is now relieved to learn that his daughter is not wandering around with her nether regions on display. I can relax and consider the prospect of your mother in Nava’s dress.’

‘Psychological damage,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I’ve heard nothing to the contrary, so I assume my siblings are doing well?’

‘Ruben is in space,’ Zackery stated. ‘Somewhere near Mandalore, I believe. The Mendel clan has been having some piracy issues. Amédée is still on Garavain Prime, though I believe she’s due to return at some point soon.’

‘She’ll be here for the new year,’ Yuzuki said, ‘so, Nava, if you’re at the mansion for Alliance Day, you’ll finally meet the last of Suki’s siblings.’

‘Something to look forward to,’ Nava replied.

‘And Michiko continues to be Michiko. She wanted to come tonight when she heard that you two would be here.’

‘Of course,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I think she’s still a little young for this kind of thing, however.’

‘She’s twelve now,’ Nava pointed out. ‘Thirteen years on Earth. It won’t be long before she is old enough. She is a rather mature child.’

‘Still,’ Yuzuki said, ‘I think we’ll maintain the fiction of her childhood until she turns fourteen.’

‘No matter how much she pouts,’ Zackery added.

~~~

‘So, I could have you and Kyle Maynard on my security detail at some point in the future.’ Misaki was speaking with Naomi and Melissa. Melissa still looked a little awed to be chatting with the most highly placed bureaucrat in the Clan Worlds. Perhaps more so because Misaki refused to act like anyone important.

‘I think,’ Naomi said, ‘that someone straight out of training will be assigned to less important positions. Besides, I think someone like Mel would be of more use.’

‘M-me?’ Melissa squeaked.

‘You specialise in barrier magic. I can stand in front of an assassin to block their attacks. I can attempt to eliminate them before they get to their target. You can put walls of magic in their way. It’s both more effective and safer.’

‘Oh, well, when you put it like that… I’ve got the capacity to make class two Force Walls now. I’m training myself to use those. Then I’ll be able to create class two walls at rank one and class one walls at rank five. Currently, I only have class one at rank three memorised.’

‘If you’ll pardon my ignorance,’ Misaki said, ‘what’s the difference?’

‘Oh, that’s me assuming everyone’s been to SAS-squared. Class two walls are, um, twice as tough as class ones. They can stop more powerful attacks, and attacks that get through are less likely to bring them down. Then the rank is how big you can make the wall. It can be more useful to have a big, weak wall than a smaller, stronger one. Obviously, the ideal is to be able to make them big and strong, but that takes a lot of capacity. If I train hard, I may be able to conjure a class three wall at rank one or two before I leave school. And I hope to be able to make Force Domes by then too. If I got to the point of being able to cast class two Force Dome, I’d be a happy sorceress.’

‘You don’t stammer as much when you’re discussing magic, Mel,’ Misaki noted. She went on before Melissa could start stammering a reply. ‘I have been educated. I’ve seen these spells in use, of course, but I didn’t know what I was looking at. Thank you. What kind of Force Wall spells can Nava cast, I wonder?’

‘Any she wishes,’ Naomi said with a smile.

‘Oh, no,’ Melissa countered. ‘Class five, rank one Force Wall is four hundred and seventy Tammys. Nava’s capacity isn’t that high. Yet. I think she could manage a class four. And a small class three Force Dome. She has to improvise them. She doesn’t have any of them memorised.’

‘Yet?’ Misaki asked. ‘You think Nava will reach that level?’

‘Winter Glass Firmin had a four hundred and seventy capacity. I think Nava will exceed that level at some point.’ Melissa grinned. ‘Class five Force Dome is over a thousand Tammys. I bet I’ll see Nava cast one at some point in the future.’

‘That,’ Naomi said, ‘would make her something akin to a deity.’

‘Yes, and?’

‘Well, no, you’re probably right. I look forward to bowing before our new goddess of magic.’

~~~

Nava sneezed and rubbed at her nose. ‘Weird, something must’ve tickled my nose.’

‘They used to say that meant someone was talking about you,’ Akari said.

‘Hopefully not anything bad then.’

‘No one says bad things about a Greyling.’

‘Not to their face, perhaps.’ Nava was still wondering why she had been sought out by Naomi’s sister, but she had been. Apparently she wanted to meet the new Greyling, or that was what she had said.

Akari was a pretty girl with large brown eyes set in a youthful face. Her figure was trim, suggesting a lot of exercise. She was not much taller than Nava, so nowhere near as imposing as her brother, but then few people were. There was a definite hint of rebellion about her. Her hair was dyed blonde and cut into a short pixie cut, and she had elected to wear a black micro-mini and sky-high pumps. She was trying to avoid looking like a Himura and almost succeeding.

‘So, I’ve heard that you’re a really powerful sorceress. I’m… not.’

‘Naomi mentioned something like that,’ Nava replied. ‘Not everyone can be. I suppose I’m powerful, yes.’ It was unlikely that Akari had read the Greylings’ reports on Nava’s exploits, so Nava kept it vague. ‘There are people more powerful than me, though I’m young and my capacity will grow over time.’

‘Um, does that apply to everyone?’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.’

‘I mean, does everyone’s capacity grow over time?’

‘Ah.’ Nava considered her answer for a second. ‘Someone born without the ability to work magic cannot gain it, so far as we know. If you have it, your capacity will increase if you work at it. I understand you have some sorcerous capacity?’

Akari nodded, a bit glumly. ‘It’s pretty minimal. It’s never been measured. I can work an Umbrella cantrip.’

‘Can you do Scribe or Shade?’

‘Uh, no. I have Shade memorised. It’s about the only thing anyone thought was worth me learning.’

‘Hm, that is pretty minimal then. If you want it to grow, you should attempt to improvise spells as complex as you can manage. You should be able to try Analyse Magic. If you can, try Detect Poison. The schemas for both are widely available. Spend… thirty minutes every day just trying to cast those. Your capacity should grow, but…’

‘But it’s never going to be anywhere close to my brother’s level.’

‘No. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault I lost the genetic lottery and you hit the jackpot.’

Nava shook her head. ‘It might seem like it, but having this much power isn’t as much fun as it sounds. I’d have fewer problems if I was more typical of magicians my age. Though…’

‘Though?’

‘Though if I was more average it’s possible that Kyle, and several other people, would be dead now. I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth.’

‘But you wish there was less rough.’

‘I very certainly do.’

236/10/33.

‘So, how come there wasn’t an orgy in the sento tonight?’ Nava asked as she walked back to their room with Mitsuko.

‘The Himuras don’t do that kind of thing. And they don’t open their sentos to guests.’

‘Sentos? Plural?’

‘As far as I’m aware, there are three in this house alone. They like sentos. I think we’ll get to use one in the morning before we go back.’

‘Sounds nice. Are we going to get any sleep before then? It’s almost two in the morning as it is.’

Mitsuko’s face settled into a smirk. ‘Maybe an hour or two. It’s always better doing it in a novel environment. And the sento will wake us up in the morning.’

‘I don’t believe a word of that.’

‘Don’t you trust me?’ Mitsuko asked in as innocent a tone as she could muster.

‘No.’

~~~

Melissa found herself pressed up against the wall of the shower, legs spread, hardened nipples sliding over the tiles, and Naomi inside her. It felt a lot like heaven.

It had begun because she had wanted a shower before they finally turned in for the night and then things had happened. She had, she realised, expected things to happen. That she had wanted things to happen, just as she had wanted all the other things which had happened to make her want a shower. She had asked Naomi to be a little rough with her tonight, unsure of how he would react. He was normally really gentle, as though he was afraid he might break her. She had wanted him to let go. Oh boy, had he let go…

Her orgasm almost caught her by surprise, springing up from within her like a giant cat springing out upon prey. It had her in its teeth before she could do anything to hold it back; she heard it howling in her mind as it smothered her. Or had that been her…

‘I have something to ask you,’ Naomi said when he could speak again. Despite his own body’s recent exertions, he was holding her up and under the flow of steaming water.

‘What? You don’t want to go again, do you? I think I’ll have a heart attack if we do that again. Though you might be able to persuade–’

‘I don’t. Well, I do but a man has to know his limitations.’

Melissa giggled. ‘Okay, so what was it you wanted to ask?’

‘When we’re out of the shower.’

Melissa tried to frown, but she was still fighting off aftershocks from her recent orgasm and could not quite manage it. ‘Okay. Mysterious, but okay.’

He said nothing else until they were dry and back in the bedroom. ‘Please stand just here,’ he said, indicating a spot at the foot of the bed. Now looking quizzical, Melissa stood there, stark naked, where he had asked her to and watched as he went to the bedside cabinet and retrieved something. She could not quite tell what it was, but her heart started beating faster. Then he walked back to her and dropped onto one knee, holding up a case with a ring in it. Her eyes widened. ‘Melissa Connelly Avorn, will you do me the great honour of being my wife?’

Melissa stared at him for what felt like a decade.

Apparently, it was a little too long, however long it had really been. ‘Melissa?’

‘First, I am not saying no.’

‘That is not the answer I was hoping for.’ Despite saying this, he did not look unhappy. Naomi was not as taciturn as Nava, but he kept his emotions hidden quite well. Still, Melissa did not think he would be able to do that under these circumstances.

‘I want to know if you’ve really considered this.’

‘I have.’

‘I’m nobody, Naomi! The Avorn clan is so far down the scale of clans compared to the Sonkei that it’s not funny, and the Connellys aren’t an important family.’

‘I’m aware.’

‘I haven’t been trained to host parties like this one. I don’t really know how to behave in society. There’s every chance that you’ll be head of the family at some point in the future. You need a wife who can handle all this social stuff.’

‘I may need a wife who can do that, yes, but not for several decades. You’re an intelligent woman. You can adapt, should you wish to. That is, however, not relevant.’

‘Yes, it–’

‘No, it is not. The wife I want is you. Imperfect and rough around the edges. Compassionate. Willing to risk your life to help your friends.’ His lips twitched for such a brief instant that Melissa thought she might have imagined it. ‘Exceptional in bed and the shower.’

‘Okay, so I admit that you’ve thought about it.’ Generally, Melissa would have tried to hide her blush, but she was standing there naked in front of a naked man who was still kneeling and holding out an engagement ring.

‘I have thought about it a great deal,’ Naomi said. ‘I have thought of more reasonable objections. I don’t know of your plans for the future, but I have made an assumption that they include returning to Avorna. Marrying me would mean living on Shinden.’

‘Yeah! In a mansion. I– I don’t really have firm plans for after school.’ She shook her head. ‘If I married into the Himuras, a few tickets back to Avorna to visit my folks would not be a problem.’

‘Very true. Well, we own a yacht. There would be no need to buy tickets.’

‘Now I know how Nava felt when she hooked up with Suki.’

‘I don’t believe that Nava was ever overwhelmed by the relative wealth of the Trentons.’

‘Well, maybe not. What else do you have that should make me say no?’

‘We have been together for a relatively short time, and then only when our schedules permit. I am sure of my choice, but you may not feel the same way.’

‘That’s reasonable. But I said I wasn’t saying no. Still… Naomi, can I propose something?’

‘Of course.’

‘I won’t say no, but I think we should wait to make this something official. If we both think this is a good idea when I graduate, then we can arrange the wedding for the week after, if you like. Shortest official engagement in history. If we part ways before then, well, then it wasn’t meant to be and no one needs to know it was ever anything more.’

Naomi closed the box with the ring in it, but he did not lower it. ‘You take this and keep it until then.’

‘I can’t–’

‘You can and will. Call it a promise. I don’t believe I’ll change my mind before your graduation.’

Melissa took the case. ‘Okay, if that’s what you want. I don’t think I’ll change my mind either, but a lot can happen in four years.’

‘It can.’

‘Could one of those things be one more time before we go to sleep?’

Naomi rose to his feet and stepped closer. ‘I thought your heart would fail if we did it again tonight.’

‘Yes, but it survived that shock, so it’s obviously a lot tougher than I thought.’

~~~

Naomi slipped into the hot bath of the ‘natural’ sento with a sigh. It was the natural sento because it was styled after an outdoor bath in old Japan, apparently formed of a pool in a rock basin. In reality, the whole thing had been carefully sculpted and it was only outdoors if you ignored the massive windows which formed two of the walls.

Nava leaned closer to Melissa and whispered in her ear. ‘You let him put that inside you?’

‘Just as often as I can,’ Melissa replied. There was a slight pause, and then she added, ‘I was a little worried it wouldn’t fit the first time. Now… It’s like he completes me.’

‘That sounds serious.’

‘Well…’

‘What?’

‘I’ll tell you when we get back to school.’

Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery.

‘Wow,’ Courtney said. She, along with Nava and Mitsuko, was looking at the ring nestled in its case. ‘And congratulations.’

‘It won’t be official until after I graduate, so I won’t be wearing this until then,’ Melissa said.

‘Our lips are sealed,’ Nava said. ‘But congratulations on your impending, potential future engagement.’

‘I’d say something like “he’s quite the catch,”’ Mitsuko said, ‘but I’ve always thought that makes someone sound like a fish. Naomi is the least piscine man I know. Congratulations, Mel.’

‘I don’t think I quite believe it yet,’ Melissa said.

‘Believe it,’ Courtney said. ‘You’ve got a ring. We decided to skip that part, but we’re planning to have the wedding early next year. After my graduation, basically.’

‘All the best people wait for after graduation,’ Melissa said, grinning.

‘Obviously.’

‘And in the meantime, I plan to start learning how to be the wife of a possible future family head in one of the most influential clans in the Alliance.’

Mitsuko smiled. ‘I’m available for consultation. My rates are very reasonable.’

‘And yet,’ Melissa said, ‘I still probably can’t afford you.’

236/10/34.

Mitsuko curled up around Nava, spooning in preparation for sleep. She felt warm and happy and very comfortable, but her mind had been working over something all day since hearing Melissa’s news, and now she felt she had to say something.

‘Do you want to get married at some point, Nava?’

‘No,’ Nava said without a pause. She felt Mitsuko stiffen, but she was not finished and carried on as though nothing had happened. ‘Or, to be more precise, that would be impossible.’

‘Impossible?’

‘Alliance law mandates a genetic test for both partners in any marriage. Legally, the purpose of marriage is to legitimise children within the clan system. The test is designed to ensure that close family don’t marry. It’s variably enforced, but here on Shinden they take it quite seriously.’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘If someone were to test my genetics…’

‘Oh. Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.’

Nava nodded. ‘I suppose that, if it became common knowledge that I wasn’t human, then it would not matter. I would prefer to avoid that, however, and it means I can’t marry anyone, no matter how I might wish to. I’m sorry.’

‘No, I understand. It doesn’t really matter. So long as I have you, that’s all I need.’

‘Mm.’

Still, it took Mitsuko longer to get to sleep that night and she clung a little tighter than usual to Nava.

~~~

Paperwork was going to kill her. Of course, there was no actual paper involved, but going through all the documentation required to keep the SSF running was no different on a screen than it was with sheets of compressed wood pulp. Nava had known more or less what she was getting into when she stepped into Courtney’s shoes as captain of the SSF, but actually doing it was soul destroying. Maybe she needed a secretary. Unfortunately, Melissa was already taken in that regard. And in the other regard, actually.

Any form of break from the interminable stream of electronic documents was welcome. It was autumn holiday, but there were still some SSF members patrolling the school. In fact, they had to patrol more often since those students still at the school did not have classes to keep them occupied for most of the day. Every hour or so, a patrol would come in and Nava got to take a break while she heard their oral report. It was a report, but it was a different kind of report. Any difference was a good thing.

When Nava felt a Harbinger nearby, she at first assumed that Trudy was passing by on her way somewhere. Then the illusion Trudy used to communicate appeared in front of Nava’s desk in all its cute, multicoloured splendour, and the immediate communication Nava got was that Trudy was alarmed about something.

‘You have to help Cari!’ Trudy said.

‘What does she need help with?’ Nava replied. ‘If it’s metaphysics, I think you’d be a better–’

‘No, it’s a problem with a human male.’

‘I’m also not the best person to give relationship advice. I’ve never even dated a boy.’

‘No!’ Trudy was really good at mimicking human facial expressions when she used her Trudy illusion: the exasperation was quite clear. ‘She’s in the administrative building, in one of the visitor rooms. A human male requested that she attend him and he’s verbally abusing her. She said he was her cousin.’

‘Ah.’ Nava got to her feet and started for the door of the SSF HQ room. ‘So, he’s finally turned up. There may not be too much I can do to stop him, but we’ll see.’

~~~

The door to the visitor room was not locked, because you could not actually lock them. Privacy was assured, but not security for the very good reason that it provided security for the students. Each room was fitted with a number of panic buttons which could be triggered to summon a member of staff or someone from the SSF. Carina had not pressed one of those buttons, but that was not going to stop Nava. The door opened and Nava got the immediate impression that an intervention was needed.

‘You’ll return with me to Grimalkin,’ a male voice shouted, ‘or I will see to it that your life here becomes a living– What the fuck are you doing in here? Who the fuck are you?’ The last two sentences were addressed to Nava as she walked into the room without any outward sign of urgency.

‘My name is Nava Greyling Sonkei,’ Nava said calmly. She paused for a fraction of a second to see whether her family name changed his attitude. It did not. ‘I’m the captain of the School Security Force.’

‘Get out! You’re not needed here.’

‘Apparently I am. Carina Schwartz pressed the panic button.’ There was a brief flash of surprise on Carina’s face, but her cousin was not looking her way and did not notice. ‘And I heard what you said as I walked in,’ Nava added. ‘When you threaten a student of this school, it becomes an SSF matter.’

The room had two seats in it and a sofa, all of them fairly plush, and a low table on which drinks could be served. There were no drinks. Carina’s cousin rounded the furniture so that he could loom over Nava better. He certainly had the height for it, and the black clothes including a stylish leather jacket added to the effect. Nava estimated he was around a hundred and eighty-three centimetres, around the same height as Kyle and Naomi, but his build was more wiry than either of those two. There was muscle there, but he was less of a muscle man and more of an athlete, at least on the surface. He was fairly attractive, though Naomi and Kyle put him in the shade. His nose was a bit broad for his face and featured a rather high ridge, detracting from its overall shape. His lips were a bit on the thick side, which might have been fine, but it looked out of place compared to the rest of his features. Mid-brown hair was brushed up into a peak over his forehead and had been shaved back to a thin layer around the sides and back. His eyes were green with a faint ring of browner colouration around the pupil. He was used to being obeyed. He was used to intimidating people. He was having absolutely no luck with Nava and seemed to have failed to notice.

‘Get out,’ he said. ‘This is a family matter.’

‘So, you’re a Schwartz Malkin?’ Nava asked, knowing that he was not.

‘My name is Felix Adair Malkin.’ He seemed to think that should strike fear into her heart.

‘So, you’re not a member of Carina Schwartz’s family.’

‘She is my fiancé. I’m here to return her to Grimalkin for the wedding.’

‘She’s sixteen. She can’t marry you until she’s seventeen. At the very least, there is no point in her returning before the end of the year.’

‘I want–’

‘I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Felix Adair. Your behaviour contravenes the school’s ordinances on verbal and physical abuse. If you refuse to leave, I will arrest you and–’

Felix smirked. ‘I have diplomatic immunity.’

‘Really? Then I can’t arrest you.’ The smirk got broader. ‘I can, however, use necessary force to eject you from the school as a threat to the physical well-being of a student.’

The smirk vanished, replaced by narrowed eyes. ‘Just try it.’

Her eyes on Felix, Nava took her ketcom from where it was attached to her bodice and tapped the screen. ‘This is Captain Nava Greyling. I need four SSF officers in visitor room three in the administration building. Someone needs escorting to the station.’

‘I’ll leave,’ Felix said. Maybe he thought he could resist Nava – and Nava thought she would have to get too rough with him to persuade him otherwise – but not a squad of school cops. ‘You haven’t heard the last of this.’ He stalked past her and headed for the door.

Nava waited a few seconds for the door to close behind him and then turned off the record function on her ketcom.

‘Aren’t you going to call off the others?’ Carina asked.

‘I didn’t actually call anyone. Bullies will generally back down when threatened effectively.’

‘Oh. Thank you for coming but, uh, I didn’t press any panic button.’

‘Trudy came to get me. Is he likely to be a continuing problem?’

‘Yes,’ Carina said morosely. ‘Felix is the Master of the Black Flame. He doesn’t take no for an answer. I told him I couldn’t get married until next year at the earliest and he just said he wanted me on Grimalkin, getting ready.’

‘Hm. I suppose I’d better look into this diplomatic immunity thing then. It sounds suspicious.’

‘It’s probably genuine. The Adairs have that kind of power on Grimalkin.’

Nava nodded. ‘Perhaps, but here on Shinden, they’re not as powerful as Felix Adair seems to think they are. If you don’t go back, you may face some backlash from your own family.’

‘I know, but I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to ever go back, to be honest. I certainly don’t want to marry Felix.’

‘I’m afraid there’s not much I can do about that,’ Nava said. ‘But I can look into Felix Adair’s credentials. I may be able to solve the immediate problem.’

‘Well, that’s better than nothing…’

236/10/35.

‘I’ve received an application to form a battleball club,’ Francis Goretti announced.

‘Now that you mention it,’ Mitsuko said, ‘I’m a little surprised we don’t have one.’

‘We did,’ Darius Miller said.

‘Several, over the years,’ Francis added. ‘They last a while and then die out due to lack of interest.’

‘Oh,’ Mitsuko said.

‘What is battleball?’ Nava asked. Everyone looked at her, even Melissa. ‘Sheltered upbringing outside the Clan Worlds.’

‘Battleball is played outside the Clan Worlds,’ Darius said.

Nava gave a shrug. ‘I hadn’t even heard of MagiTag until I came to Shinden.’

‘Well, battleball was invented on Earth during the early years of sorcery. The idea was to popularise magic with the general public and foster good relations between magicians and non-magicians.’

‘And to cash in on magic,’ Francis said.

‘And that. The early teams were organised into a very theatrical league. The modern professional leagues have the same basis, but there are amateur leagues now without the extensive commercial sponsorship.’

‘It was based on American football,’ Francis continued. ‘Well, sort of. Each team has five players and two substitutes.’

‘The substitutes are needed,’ Melissa said. ‘Quite a lot.’

‘Mm. Of the five, two are magicians, one for defence, the other for offence. There are limitations on the spells you can use, of course, but the game is violent. All the players wear what amounts to combat armour. You can’t kick the ball at all. The objective is to put the ball in the opposition’s end zone by carrying it there and putting it down. Force Walls can be used to block, so the offensive magician’s main job is to take them down with Concussive Force.’

‘They allow magical enhancements like Might too,’ Melissa said. ‘The support stream isn’t bad training for a defensive sorcerer in battleball. It could foster some better relations between the streams if it got popular.’

‘So, why do the clubs keep failing?’ Nava asked.

‘The problem,’ Darius said, ‘is the three other players. There’s nothing to stop magicians playing in the non-magician roles but getting combat students here to not use magic when they could is a tough ask. No one likes playing the non-magician positions.’

‘On top of that,’ Francis said, ‘in the past it’s been hard to get support students to play because they get blamed whenever the opposing team scores a point. Still, I don’t see a reason to deny the application. They have finance sorted out through their family, apparently. The school just needs to supply space for them to play.’

‘Very well,’ Mitsuko said. ‘It’s your call anyway, but the council has no objection to the formation of a battleball club.’

‘I’ll pass the application to the administration then.’

‘And I’ll look into the policing requirements,’ Nava said. ‘If they wear combat armour to play, I’d imagine it could cause issues.’

Francis gave her a winsome sort of look. ‘It, um, can get a little heated at times.’

‘Well, if they get out of hand, I’ll just blast the entire field into oblivion.’

‘I hate it when you do that. I don’t think you’re serious, but there’s just that little hint of doubt… Anyway, the field is pretty big. You couldn’t really… blow the whole… You couldn’t, could you?’

‘Unfortunately, my answer is considered a family secret.’

‘That is not comforting.’

‘I’m aware.’

236/11/1.

‘This isn’t really my job,’ Fawn Tyrell said from the screen on Nava’s desk in SSF HQ, ‘but I’m your liaison, so I got it.’

‘Thank you for taking the time to brief me, First Lieutenant,’ Nava replied.

Fawn shrugged. ‘It is kind of educational. You may need to know this stuff at some point. Generally, you can’t arrest or prosecute someone with diplomatic immunity.’

‘I know that much. I also know that there are circumstances where I can use sufficient force to counter threats to life or one or two other things.’

‘Correct. From what you said, and after reviewing your recording, I can’t see any reason for you to worry over your treatment of Felix Adair. Not that you would be worrying, I’m sure. In this specific case, there may be even less to worry about. I passed the recording on to the Diplomatic Protection Unit for review and they say there’s reason to believe that Felix Adair’s credentials aren’t legitimate.’

‘Please explain.’

‘Well, he does have diplomatic immunity. It was issued on the basis that he would be working as a private protection officer for the Malkin clan representative. It’s clear from that recording that he isn’t really on Shinden for that purpose. The DPU have passed it on to the administration, who will look into revoking his diplomatic protections and probably look into how he got them in the first place.’

Nava nodded. ‘That sounds good. I’d imagine they will find that someone on Grimalkin wanted him to be able to do whatever he wanted when he got here. Unfortunately, it also sounds like it could take a long time.’

‘Probably weeks. Maybe months. Communications with Grimalkin are hardly swift.’

‘And, in the meantime, he’s free to make problems for Carina Schwartz and the school.’

‘Yeah. Sorry. Diplomatic immunity exists for good reasons, so it’s not easy to bypass it. It’s very infrequently abused, to be honest.’

‘I understand that it should be difficult to revoke. We have to work with what we have, First Lieutenant. I’ll find other ways to counter Felix Adair’s efforts. We can send him back to Grimalkin if he does something overtly criminal, can’t we?’

‘Yes, assuming the evidence is clear enough.’

‘Then I suppose I’ll have to hope he does something stupid.’

236/11/2.

‘So, the Harbingers must have figured out how to connect classical and quantum physics, right?’ Carina asked.

‘Well,’ Trudy replied, ‘I suppose.’

‘You suppose?’

‘Well… What’s the difference?’

Carina stared at the teenager with the brain of a multi-millennia-old alien. ‘You don’t know?’ She blinked. ‘Do I know? Um, classical physics is deterministic and quantum physics isn’t. So much. Classical physics is Newton and Einstein. General relativity. Metaphysics is based on quantum mechanics. Field theory and stuff. No one has ever come up with a satisfactory way of connecting the two.’

‘I guess we did. That was centuries before I was born. And I learned the practical stuff needed to work and improvise magic. Not that we called it magic. I don’t think you should call it magic. My understanding is that magic is something supernatural. It’s inexplicable.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s not like we can fully explain how it works.’

‘Oh. Well, neither can I, but I did know people who could.’

Carina giggled. ‘That makes sense. Most people don’t know how computers work, but they know someone who does.’

‘Precisely.’

‘I’ve forgotten where I was going with this question.’

Trudy affected something of a sarcastic smile. ‘I think you were going for trying to avoid doing your metaphysics homework.’

‘Oh yeah, you’re right.’ The sound of someone knocking on her apartment door gave Carina another excuse to prevaricate. Someone knocking on the door was hardly a common occurrence, but she got up to answer it anyway. Presumably, someone had a reason for not using their ketcom to contact her. Maybe a neighbour needed something.

At the door, Carina hit the button to open it and several things happened at once. First, she realised who was at the door: Felix. Second, she saw him raise a hand toward her. Third, she managed to say, ‘Felix, what–’ before the fourth thing happened: all the voluntary muscles in her body stopped responding to her commands and she crumpled to the floor, unable to move.

‘I said you’d hear from me again,’ Felix said, bending down to press a pressure syringe to Carina’s neck.

The last thing Carina heard before blacking out was Trudy. ‘I’ll get help.’

~~~

‘He hasn’t used the station,’ Nava said. Across the desk from her, Trudy was wringing her hands. ‘He must have private transport of some sort… His ketcom hasn’t registered on the network here and Cari’s is still in her apartment.’

‘There must be something you can do,’ Trudy said. ‘He took her, Nava. He picked her up and carried her out of her apartment. Drugged. He paralysed her and then he drugged her.’ The Harbinger was a little overwrought because she had gone looking for Nava at the house and had then had to rush back to the SSF office because that was where Nava was. It was early evening and the house had seemed like a good choice. The mistake had cost time.

‘Of course there is. You’re not thinking straight. Calm down.’ Nava focused her mind on a cantrip she knew and information entered her mind. ‘Carina is about thirty kilometres away in the direction of Alliance City. He didn’t even use Scryguard.’

‘That was stupid.’

‘No, it’s arrogant. I can possibly catch up to them, but it would probably be better to overtake them and have the ASF waiting when he gets there.’

‘What about that diplomatic immunity thing? Can the ASF do anything?’

‘They can take Carina off him. And I’ve been doing some reading. I may have a way to get around his diplomatic immunity.’

Trudy stared at Nava for a second. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘That,’ Nava said, ‘would be telling.’

Alliance City.

A contragravity car settled onto a parking spot outside one of the better hotels in the administrative district of Alliance City and was immediately surrounded by four armed ASF officers. Nava stood a little back, waiting for what she knew was about to play out. The ASF officers were not exactly expecting a satisfactory conclusion to this intervention.

It started when Felix swung the door of the car upward and stepped out holding up his ketcom. ‘What is the meaning of this? I have diplomatic immunity.’

‘We have a report that you have detained a student of the Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery against her will,’ the sergeant leading the squad stated. ‘We will be confirming your diplomatic status and taking Carina Schwartz Malkin into protective custody.’

‘Carina is not with me against her will. She’s sleeping peacefully in the car.’

‘She has a pressure syringe mark on the left side of her neck,’ Nava said.

Apparently, Felix had not even noticed she was there until this point. ‘You! What are you doing here? You’re school security.’

‘And the crime was committed on school property. However, I also hold the rank of second lieutenant in the ASF.’ Informally, but Felix did not need to know that. ‘This was stupid, Felix Adair. Kidnapping charges will be enough to have you shipped back to Grimalkin.’

Felix’s face darkened. He did not like being called stupid. Anything he might have said was stopped by one of the other officers who straightened up from where he had been checking Carina. ‘Second lieutenant is right, Sergeant. There’s an injection mark on her neck.’

‘So what,’ Felix said. ‘You can’t arrest me.’

The sergeant turned to Nava. ‘He’s right. All we can do is take the girl in and report back. They’ll probably ship him out on the first available ship for this, but there’s not much we can do.’

Nava nodded. ‘The important thing is that Carina Schwartz is safe. What happens to this worthless coward is not my immediate concern.’

The sergeant winced at Nava’s choice of words. Felix reacted with more anger. ‘What did you call me?’

‘A worthless coward. You kidnapped someone and didn’t even bother to obscure their location with Scryguard. That’s stupid, which makes you worthless. You came to Shinden specifically to take Carina Schwartz back to Grimalkin, by force if that was required, but you did not want to take any risks in doing so, so you arranged diplomatic protections before coming. That makes you a coward.’

There was a slight pause as Felix digested what she had said and then did what Nava had expected. ‘You’ll pay for those words. I demand satisfaction!’

Nava lifted her ketcom, ready at her side, and tapped at the screen. ‘There’s an arena in the city available at thirteen hundred tomorrow. Will that be suitable?’

‘To the death,’ Felix hissed. ‘I demand a duel to the death.’

‘Of course. A man should be willing to defend his honour with his life. Otherwise there is no point in entering an arena.’

‘Send me the details.’ Felix stalked away toward the hotel entrance, his shoulders hunched in anger.

‘You pushed him into that,’ the sergeant said.

‘I suppose I did,’ Nava replied. ‘He’s a bully and arrogant. It’s time someone took him down a peg. Not that he’ll live long enough to learn his lesson.’

‘You’re that confident?’

Nava regarded the officer for a second. ‘Well, yes. Yes, I am.’

~~~

‘You’re crazy,’ Carina said. She was still feeling a bit groggy from the drug, but she was with it enough to pass judgement on her opinion of Nava’s mental state.

The hiss of steam stopped conversation briefly. Nava had called Mitsuko to see whether she could borrow the Trentons’ city apartment for the night. She had had to explain why she needed it. That had resulted in Mitsuko, Melissa, and Courtney turning up not long after Nava had got a still-unconscious Carina to the apartment building. After Carina revived, the idea of a sauna to help her get over the drugs had come up, so now they were soaking in the steam and Carina was doing her absolute best not to look at Melissa.

‘He’s the Master of the Black Flame,’ Carina continued after the hissing had stopped. ‘He has a really bad spell he likes using in death duels.’

‘Mm,’ Nava said. ‘I reviewed his duelling history while you were sleeping. He’s fought seven duels since becoming an adult, six in the two years prior. All of his adult duels have been to the death and, obviously, he won. Two of his junior duels ended in the supposedly accidental death of his opponent.’

‘Supposedly?’ Mitsuko asked.

‘I reviewed the video. They may have accepted it as an accident, but he was aiming at the neck with Slice. In his adult duels, he uses something called Circle of the Black Flame. It’s an area-effect fire attack.’

‘Fire and raw magic,’ Carina said. ‘It’s a Malkin speciality. The Adairs are particular proponents of its effectiveness.’

‘That tells me much about your mother’s family. I find it hard to believe that someone like that would lose her life defending a child. I suppose it is another indication that you can’t make assumptions about an individual from the nature of a group.’

‘Well, they aren’t all bad…’

‘That aside, Felix is fast, but I’m faster. He won’t be walking away from that arena tomorrow.’

‘You don’t need to do this,’ Carina said. ‘Not for me.’

‘Of course I do. Am I not the Champion of Light?’

‘Yes, but–’

‘Besides, I’m doing this as much for me as for you. Your clan should back off if you no longer have an arranged marriage hanging over your head. That will make my life easier. I won’t have to deal with them coming to the school and causing trouble. Now, why won’t you even look in Mel’s direction?’

‘What? I’m not– I mean, um… I have a bit of a complex about big breasts.’ Melissa let out a squeak from where she was lying on one of the benches. ‘Well, I have a complex about not having bigger breasts. Mel has a really threatening chest.’

‘My boobs have never threatened anyone! They’re not that big. Plenty of people have breasts this size.’

‘You could probably smother someone in your cleavage, Mel,’ Mitsuko said.

‘I’d only do that if they asked very nicely. More to the point, Carina, you don’t have aching shoulders from carrying around the weight. Big boobs aren’t as great as you might think.’

‘That’s what people with big breasts always say,’ Carina replied.

‘She probably has you there, Mel,’ Courtney said. ‘Though I also think Mel’s probably right, Carina. What you need is something in the middle. We should both be jealous of Nava and Suki. Maybe Mel should be too.’

‘I think we should be happy with what we have,’ Nava said. ‘Obviously, I’m not simply referring to cup sizes.’

‘Humans have always wanted what they don’t have. If they didn’t, we probably wouldn’t need the ASF or the SSF.’

‘I’m not human,’ Nava said, ‘though I do admit to wanting something I don’t have.’

‘What’s that?’

‘A quiet life.’

236/11/3.

Unlike the last person Nava had duelled – who was also the only person she had ever duelled – Felix did not swagger out to the starting line in the arena at the last possible moment. This time it was Nava who was last out because she had had to jump through several legal hoops to be allowed to take part in a death duel with an adult as a young adult. One of those required an adult to attest to her competence, which was why Fawn was sitting beside the adjudicator as Nava’s second. The lieutenant was not too happy, but she was doing it. Felix had got someone from the Grimalkin diplomatic staff – another Adair – to be his second.

‘What the fuck are you wearing?’ Felix asked once Nava was on her mark, twenty metres from him.

Nava looked down at her dress, which was the one she had worn to the party at the Himura mansion. ‘I couldn’t duel you in my school uniform. I thought I’d dress up for the occasion.’ Mitsuko had been a little perplexed when Nava had asked her to bring the dress and shoes to the city. It was something of an outlandish outfit for a duel.

‘Funeral colours,’ Felix responded. ‘Appropriate.’

‘Do both parties attest that a duel to the death is the only way in which the honour of the aggrieved party can be upheld?’ the adjudicator said, his voice carried around the arena by speakers.

‘I do,’ Felix responded immediately.

‘Apparently so,’ Nava said.

‘Very well,’ the adjudicator continued. ‘Magicians, you are here to settle a matter of honour through a duel to the death. Fight honourably. Raise the barrier.’

The arena was not very different from the ones at the school: an area in the middle for the duel to take place with seating around it for the officials and spectators. There were not many spectators at this duel. Melissa had been persuaded to stay back at the apartment since she tended to feel faint at the sight of blood. Nava had said there would be plenty of blood. Mitsuko, Courtney, and Carina were there. So were a few other people from the Grimalkin mission. Now a military-grade wall of force appeared around the fighting area to prevent anyone in the stands being hurt.

‘Duellists, indicate you are ready,’ said the adjudicator. Here, the adjudicator was a government official rather than the captain of the SSF.

‘I, Felix Adair Malkin, stand ready to defend my honour.’

‘I, Nava Greyling Sonkei, am ready.’

‘On my word,’ the adjudicator said, ‘begin. Go!’

Felix raised his arm and a circular area around Nava some twelve metres wide exploded into a column of black flames. In the stand, Carina covered a shriek with both hands. ‘She said she was faster! She said–’

‘She is,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Look.’

Nava began walking toward Felix at a steady, measured pace. There was one obvious thing about what was happening.

‘She’s not burning,’ Carina said.

‘She cast Armour as her first spell. I think she uses rank fifteen now. I wonder if he has anything which can penetrate that.’

Felix was, apparently, wondering the same thing. Or he was coming to the conclusion that he needed to worry about the same thing. Nava was almost to the edge of his circle of flame, and she was not stopping. A bolt of black sprang from his hand, hitting Nava in the chest and exploding. Black fire enveloped Nava and the area around her, but when that evaporated, she was still walking toward him, entirely unscathed.

He raised his arm again. This time, Nava did the same, and she was faster. Felix’s hand exploded into a splash of blood and bone fragments. Nava kept walking.

‘Bitch!’ Felix spat through the pain. ‘You’ll pay for that.’ Nava emerged from the flames and continued walking calmly toward him. ‘I’ll see to it that–’

‘I think you’re forgetting,’ Nava said, ‘that you demanded a duel to the death.’ She raised her hand toward him. ‘You won’t be seeing to anything ever again.’

Felix’s eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen. That was convenient for Nava since it gave her a bigger target.

Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery.

‘Thank you for, um, inviting me to eat here,’ Carina said. ‘And other stuff. I guess I don’t have to worry about getting married young now.’

‘It was my duty,’ Nava said. ‘Don’t mention it.’

‘Your duty?’

‘As the captain of the SSF, your safety is my concern. And, obviously, as the Champion of Light, I couldn’t let the Master of the Black Flame have you.’

‘Oh. Right. Of course.’ Carina took the time to eat some of the food Mitsuko had prepared for their evening meal. It looked very Japanese, and she was not used to it. ‘I have to admit I was worried when he got Circle of Black Flame off before you seemed to do anything.’

Nava swallowed a portion of battered chicken and waved the comment away with her fork. ‘His defeat was a combination of a general failure among duellists, a family spell which is nowhere near as good as they think, and his own arrogance. I take almost no credit.’

‘You don’t think Circle of Black Flame is very good?’

‘Aha!’ Courtney said, grinning. ‘We’ve arrived at the tactical analysis portion of the evening.’

‘Circle of Black Flame is a terror weapon,’ Nava said. ‘It looks impressive and, against an unarmoured opponent, it would cause a lot of pain as they burn.’

‘But the raw magic effect corrodes armour,’ Carina countered.

‘Not effectively. Yes, if a lightly armoured target stands in it for long enough, they’ll burn, but who’s going to stand there and let it roast them? No, the problem here is that the Malkin clan are isolationist. They haven’t been involved in any conflict outside their own clan since they moved to Grimalkin. It’s like… like martial artists who only ever spar against others of their own style. The Malkins have developed spells which they think work in combat but would actually be ineffective against an opponent who doesn’t stand there and let them work.’

‘It might be more effective if the area was larger,’ Courtney said. ‘Much larger. Then the people caught in the middle might be dead before they could get out. But the ASF has Armageddon, which is a wide-area barrage spell that does a lot more direct damage over a longer period. It looked like Circle of Black Flame lasted about thirty seconds. Armageddon lasts for five minutes, and it basically blasts anything within its area with laser beams the whole time.’

‘Really?’ Nava asked. ‘I’ll have to get Fawn Tyrell to send me the schema.’

Mitsuko winced. ‘Don’t you think you have enough apocalyptic magic available at your fingertips?’

‘It never hurts to expand one’s horizons. Now, on to duellists in general. The general tactic in duelling is to win with the first spell. Those who make a habit of duelling rarely bother to learn effective defensive magic. They aim to get off a decisive spell before their opponent can do the same. The better ones will cast Armour or Shield as a second spell, just in case the first doesn’t do the job, but most of them will just spam attack spells until something gets through. To be fair, in first blow or blood duels, that is an effective tactic. In a duel to the death, however, it assumes that your opponent dies in one blow.’

‘You could have killed Felix Adair in one shot,’ Mitsuko said.

‘Probably. He, on the other hand, could not really be sure of doing the same to me. Importantly, he did believe he could be sure. His own arrogance would not allow him to consider the possibility of me surviving his first attack. I also knew from his duelling history that he would use Circle of Black Flame as that first attack. Also, by analysing the vids of his kills, I determined that that spell never kills instantly, suggesting that its output is actually fairly low. Someone caught in it without protection would be in a lot of pain and might not be able to move, but they would take time to die. Essentially, Felix Adair has been lucky that his opponents up to me have never killed him with their dying breath.’

‘But you cast Armour immediately,’ Carina said, ‘so you killed him without the dying part. And then you blew his hand off at almost twenty metres and–’

‘Could we not discuss exploding hands over dinner,’ Melissa said. She had watched the vid of the duel on the way back to school. Even that had made her turn green, and she had declared that Nava had been right to suggest she stay behind rather than attending the duel.

‘Oh, uh, sorry.’

‘If he’d bothered to cast Armour after the circle,’ Nava said, ‘I couldn’t have done that. Magic Bullet has terrible penetration.’

‘But then you’d just have used Magic Burst on him,’ Courtney said. ‘He’d still be dead. There’d just be less of him around to ship back to Grimalkin.’

‘Could we not discuss disintegrated corpses over dinner,’ Melissa said.

‘Sorry, Mel.’ Courtney was grinning. Her grin was a little mischievous too.

‘I was trying to avoid using Magic Burst,’ Nava said. ‘Anyway, now you don’t have to worry over impending marriage, Carina, but I can’t help but think your clan will not take this lying down.’

‘My family shipped me out to Shinden because they thought I was an embarrassment,’ Carina said. ‘They won’t want me back now that Felix is gone. Not unless I break my seals anyway. The rest of the clan… I’m not sure. They might be worried about me spilling clan secrets. I don’t think I really know any clan secrets, but my clan is…’

‘Isolationist, yes. They may want you back just in case or on principle. There may be some backlash from the Adairs, but I expect that to fall on me, not you.’

‘And if it does, you’ll just shoot it in the eye,’ Carina said, grinning.

‘Could we not discuss people being shot in the eye and their heads exploding like ripe watermelons over dinner,’ Melissa said.

‘I think you did more of that than Carina did, Mel,’ Nava replied.

Melissa sagged. ‘I know.’