"Oh dear." Hinagiku, Shaman of the Garden of Tarbes, whispered under her breath. "Oh dear, oh dear."
    Since the day that ALfheim had been transported to this strange new land, the Pixie Shaman had seen and done many things that she would never have thought possible. She had met beings and a not-Pixie and befriended them, and helped to fight an Archeopterror even though she was no Knight. She had spoken out against the Eldest Sister of her Garden and watched that same Sister… wilt away… from a Knight back into a Little Sister.
    She had traveled to the roots of Mother Yggdrasil Herself and had been left speechless as she looked up, and up at the vast trunk and branches that anchored the whole world. She had spoken with the Eldest Sister of all of the Gardens, each humbling her with their own wisdom. She had walked the streets of Arrun, the City that was revered as the 'Capital of the Skies', and she had spoken to the Faerie Lords, united for the first time in memory by a catastrophe beyond even the fabled power of the Faerie King and Queen.
    In all of her recollections, Hinagiku could not think of another Pixie, even another Eldest Sister, who had done as much as she and her own Sisters. But now, for all of that, she was at a loss.
    "Shiragiku, hold her down please!" Hinagiku instructed the Shaman from the Garden of the Forests of the Shores of Radgorian Lake as she let go of the struggling girl's wrists. The smaller Pixie was not very strong, even Hinagiku was able to restrain her, but she didn't want to exacerbate the girl's injuries. This was already going to be difficult enough.
    "Nnnn!" Her charge trembled, the girl's face flushing a livid red from fever. This wasn't good, she wasn't sweating which meant she was getting dehydrated despite drinking and eating greedily. They needed to get her into the water and cooled down or there would be complications soon.
    At least the Faeries had been cooperative. When Hinagiku had explained what was happening, they had immediately set aside a room and kept people out so that she and the other Shaman's could do their work.
    The Shaman bit her lip. The care of the Little Sisters was naturally part of her responsibility as a Shaman, and one that she took very seriously. Not only did the Little Ones need watching over from day to day, but some would eventually need further guidance as their bodies and minds began to change in the days and weeks before a blossoming. That too was her responsibility as the Eldest Sister of Tarbes Garden.
    The problem was that her current charge was a not a proper Sister of the Garden, and this was far from a normal blossoming. She was at a loss, as were the other Shamans.
    Hinagiku had first realized something was wrong when she had heard heated voices outside of the room that she and her Sisters had been sharing within the Governor's Mansion. It was fortunate that they had excepted Lady Sakuya's offer to remain a few more days so that the Eldest Sister could convene a meeting to decide what was to be done among the Gardens after this latest turn of events. If not for that, Hinagiku and her sisters would already have been returning to Tarbes to await word on the final decision from the Faerie Lords.
    She and Kigiku had been in the middle of studying the Flash Cards that had been provided to them as they worked to learn the written language of the Fae. Lady Sakuya had said that it was essential that they be able to read so that they could begin to understand the contracts and laws that they would be expected to obey without being tricked, and Hinagiku had committed herself to learning as quickly as possible.
    They had sat atop the bed, bigger in area than the entire ground floor of their nest in Tarbes Garden, challenging each other to match the written word drawn on the back of the cards to the pictures drawn on the front. Once they were done with this, they would move on to even more complicated words and the simple picture books that Lady Sakuya had lent to them, building up their knowledge in layers until they could decipher full sentences and the treaty itself. It would not be an easy task.
    The sounds outside had drawn the attention of all of the Shamans and Knights and even Shion and her sisters who had been given free reign to play in the flower boxes outside the window. It had not been long before Ajisai had flitted back inside, coming to settle in front of her Elder sisters to report that a Nav Pixie, one of the Tame Sisters kept by the Fae, had been badly hurt and the Fae healers didn't know what to do.
    Hinagiku had responded without so much as thinking about it. Of course she would help. Caring for Little Ones was who and what she was.
    Hinagiku had only seen the Tame Pixie Suisen on one other occasion in the company of one of the Faeries of the Wild, the Cait Syth named Argo. At that time, she'd met the girl with some curiosity and even trepidation. Suisen was everything that Sayuri had claimed she would be. Reserved, quiet, unsociable, and faultlessly obedient to the Faerie girl who she had bonded to and treated with the same reverence and respect that a Newborn would give her Eldest Sister.
    But Sayuri had been wrong as well. There had been much more to Suisen's relationship with her caretaker than simple blind devotion. Far from the harsh task master that Hinagiku had once imagined, Argo had proven as considerate as any Elder Sister, looking out for Suisen's best interests and protecting the young girl as best she could. It had been a very reassuring experience. Hinagiku thought that as long as Suisen and the other Tame Pixies had such reliable watchers, there would be no problems with them remaining with the Faeries if that was what they desired.
    Now, looking at her, Hinagiku wasn't so sure. If this was the result, then maybe it would be best if they were all taken to live in the Gardens.
    "Hot, it's too hot…" Suisen groaned as Shiragiku helped to undress her. The signs of her impending blossoming were as clear as day, limbs stretching spasmodically, swelling joints, dry skin pulled tght across her bare chest and back. She was already considerably bigger than she had been when she'd arrived, it wouldn't be long before the old skin started to separate prior to her new wings breaching.
    One of the Fae had brought a bowl of water as requested along with ice to keep it cold. Normally such extreme measures would be unnecessary, even dangerous, but the Faeries hadn't understood what they were seeing at first and Suisen's body temperature had been allowed to go through the roof as the changes accelerated almost unchecked. Thankfully, Hinagiku had seen something similar with Botan whose blossoming had likewise been jeopardized by an attack on the Garden of Tarbes.
    "Are you sure she'll be alright?" Shiragiku looked uncertainly to her fellow Shaman.
    "Un." Hingiku panted. "The cold will help to slow things down. Now we have to make sure her skin stays moist or it won't separate properly when she blossoms." That was another thing Hinagiku had learned from Botan. The formerly tiny Little Sister had been reborn as one of the biggest Knights in the Garden, easily taller and broader than Kigiku, and her skin had nearly split too early, before her new wings were fully formed. The pain if the old skin didn't separate properly would be excruciating.
    "Nnnn…" Suisen tossed and turned as Hinagiku and Shiragiku carefully lowered her into the water, shivering herself to near exhaustion. "Noise… make it stop… out of my head… Sister… help… Nee-chan!"
    "It's alright." Hinagiku shushed softly even as her heart ached. "It's alright, your Sisters are here for you. Don't worry Susien, it will all be alright."
    Hinagiku wished that she could really say that and know she was telling the truth. But she couldn't. Just looking at Suisen, it was obvious this wasn't a normal blossoming. Nor should she have expected it to be. The Nav Pixie had gone almost half way through her Blossoming unattended, and injured, how she hadn't starved to death, much less burned up, was a miracle. But it left its own question. By now, the distinct physical signs of a Little Sister Blossoming into a Shaman or a Knight should have been as clear as day, instead, Hinagiku was met with only confusion.
    "I can feel the wings now." Shiragiku said as she held her hands over Suisen's back. The other Shaman grimaced as she looked to Hinagiku. "They… don't feel right."
    "What?" Hinagiku asked breathlessly, coming to check for herself.
    The girl's skin crawled, rippling as muscle stretched and grew and the new wing stems began to form beneath her skin, two small, discolored bumps, like deep bruises, welled up beneath her slender white wings. The old wing stems were almost done for, twisted and twisted again. It wouldn't be much longer before they fell off.
    But that wasn't Hinagiku's biggest concern right now. At first she didn't want to believe it, but Shiragiku was right. "We should be able to feel both wing pairs if she was blossoming into a Knight."
    "And they'd be bigger by now if she was becoming a Shaman." Shiragiku agreed, looking over her shoulder at her own triangular wings.
    This wasn't good, not good at all! 'Should we do  that ?' Hinagiku wondered. Kigiku was standing back, near the corner of the table, behind the perimeter formed by the other whispering Shamans.
    The Vespid Knight gave her a small nod. Her sword was more than sharp enough, and their were candles that could be used to hold a flame so that they could sterilize the tip before hand. All they would need to do was lance the new wings now and they could spare Suisen all of this pain.
    It took a lot of bravery to look Kigiku in the eye. It took even more to shake her head. They couldn't do that. Not yet, not when they didn't know what it would do. They would just have to ride this out. As frightening as it was for them, it was much much worse for their Sister.
    Hinagiku continued to examine Suisen's back, despite the girl's delirious protests, hands feeling their way down the rapidly straining skin and painfully defined vertebrate to the just above the tail bone where she found another surprise, another bump swelling where their should be nothing.
    'Oh Dear'.

"What the hell is this!"
    The opening of the tall double doors was accompanied by a thundering echo that silenced everyone in the room as the Lady of the Sylphs entered, accompanied by four of her personal retainers and the Black Swordsman Kirito. The Captain of Mortimer's Guards was already reaching for her sword when she recognized who had just barged in and was left speechless. A mousy looking secretary and a surprised courier both stepped aside lest they be trampled in the Sylph woman's straight cut path to her objective.
    Sakuya considered herself to be an even tempered woman most of the time. But this was not most of the time, and anyways, she hadn't been feeling much herself these past few weeks. In all likeliness there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for Mortimer's behavior and the actions that Kirito and Argo had uncovered. But at the moment, Sakuya wasn't feeling charitable enough to spend much time entertaining those sort of thoughts.
    Prepared as ever, when Arrun had become the nerve center for the new Faerie Government, Mortimer had already had a headquarters picked out in the form of the Salamander Guild Hall and his hastily organized staff had wasted no time in settling in and arranging things to their Leader's liking. The place practically oozed Mortimer.
    Stark stone walls projected all the charm and warmth of an ancient fortress, halls decorated in red banners, cases displaying rare weapons and armor, and dozens of oil paintings depicting battles and military figures from throughout Earth history. Though she would never say it out loud, Sakuya recognized more of the paintings than she would ever be comfortable to admit.
     The Lion of the North and  The Battle of Trafalgar,  Sakuya noted the two facing the tall, paned windows. Perhaps most telling was the painting hung directly behind Mortimer, Sakuya didn't consider herself a fan of  Jacques  Louis David  but seeing  that  particular painting depicting  that particular man astride a horse didn't do much to improve her impression of the person sitting beneath it.
    Sitting behind a massive oak desk, the First Lord of Gaddan looked up from a pile of reports and frowned minutely. "Ah, Sakuya-chan, how lovely for you to visit without an appointment or invitation. No, let yourself in, I'll call for tea."
    "You've got a lot of nerve for someone keeping secrets." Sakuya hissed as she strode across the room. All she could think was that Mortimer must have have been compensating for  something with such an ostentatious waste of space, but she wasn't going to let it intimidate her.
    Frown deepening, the Salamander set down his pen. "Pardon?"
    Sakuya felt her anger boiling up inside. He must have known. Morgiana had told Kirito and Kirito had told her. But knowing the Spriggan Lord, she'd probably already given Mortimer fair warning of what was coming, if his spy hadn't already.
    Voice flat, Sakuya spoke two words. "Rip Jack."
    She suddenly wished she hadn't as Mortimer's bloody eyes narrowed. The Salamander Lord laced his hands before himself. "That isn't something I'm going to discuss while you have half of your staff in tow."
    Sakuya grimaced, so that was the way this was going to be. Looking over her shoulder, she gestured for the other Sylphs to wait outside. Mortimer did the same with his own confused subordinates until the only ones left in the room were Sakuya, Mortimer, and Kirito.
    Mortimer waited for the door to by shut by the Captain of his guard and the echoes to fade down the hall before speaking again. "Do you know how long it's been since I'd given that name a moment's thought?"
    Sakuya blinked. Now he decided to speak? "No. Tell me."
    "Two months, or rather, eight weeks. At the time I was putting a bounty on your head after I learned about the alliance that you and Alicia were planning. He took the job and went off on his merry way to try and plot out how to kill you when you poked your head out of your Faction Territory." Mortimer said without a hint of humor or mercy. "Of course, then I was approached by your former subordinate with details about your meeting with Alicia Rue and plans changed. Since then, I haven't heard a thing from or about him. Until today that is."
    "Which one told you?" Sakuya gathered her arms into the robes of her Yukata, refusing to back down from Mortimer's gaze.
    The Salamander remained as emotionless as ever as he answered. "Who told me about Rip Jack? Vakarian-san of course. He recognized the man that Miss Argo described and thought to report it directly to me. Though Morgiana did come to warn me that she'd told Kirito-san, I suppose her relationship with my Brother counts for something."
    "And you expect me to believe that?" Sakuya half asked and half wondered out loud. Did he really think she was this stupid? "That seems like a bit much from a man who put his own pet Cop on the investigation."
    Mortimer snorted derisively, eyes glancing to Kirito. "You mean the way that you assigned your own loyal Crow and Kitten to do the same? Or did you expect me to choose a person I  did not trust for such a sensitive matter?"
    "That isn't really a fair comparison, is it?" Kirito asked. Sakuya and Mortimer both turned their attention to the Spriggan youth who had remained silent until now.
    "I mean," Kirito continued absently, voicing his thoughts out loud, "It isn't suspicious that you knew the Assassin. And it isn't suspicious that Vakarian-san was chosen for the investigation." Pausing, the Spriggan seemed to realize that he was speaking out loud. "I'm sorry, it isn't my policy to doubt people," Kirito shook his head, "But Vakarian-san withheld important information from the rest of us. That alone makes him very suspicious." Kirito leveled his own eyes on the Lord of the Salamanders. "And by extension, it makes you a suspect as well Lord Mortimer."
    Better and more calmly put than Sakuya would have managed given the circumstances. She was surprised again that the boy, at least she thought he was as young as he looked, could manage so well. She'd seen the same calm in Thinker and Yulier, and in the Swordswoman Asuna. Just what had SAO done to them really?
    Sakuya nodded once to Mortimer. "You should speak honestly with us now, or this is going to keep looking worse. Why did Vakarian try to keep this from the investigation?"
    There was silence between the two Lords, the room falling so quiet that Sakuya could make out the faint sound of Mortimer and Kirito's breathing.
    "Tell me Sakuya. How many Sylphs are there?" The Salamander leaned back in his chair, blinking once. "Please answer up quickly, I know you have an exact number."
    Again an obtuse question, and yet Mortimer demanded a direct answer. "Eight thousand two hundred and thirteen." She answered impatiently and with complete confidence. That had been the tally of the latest and most accurate census.
    Mortimer nodded. "And there are eight thousand one hundred and seventy Salamanders. Together, we represent over a quarter of all of the Faeries in Tristain. Tell me Sakuya, what are the qualities of a Good Leader."
    "Hoping for pointers now?" Sakuya spat back.
    "Answer the question." Mortimer's eye twitched ever so faintly.
    Sakuya hesitated as she thought. She didn't know where this was going or what game Mortimer was playing, but she would play along for now. "Responsibility for the people beneath them." She said. "And a willingness to put others before themselves." Qualities that she'd never seen in Mortimer.
    "I thought you'd say something like that." He answered. "Then tell me, how would it look if it came out that I knew the man who had been terrorizing our streets and killing our people? Especially when those people are all high ranking members of the Sylphs and Cait Syth."
    Was this his answer? Sakuya began to tremble. "You're trying to protect your reputation?" She shouted. Three dead and two investigators nearly killed in their sleep and still Mortimer showed not one wit of emotion.
    'Say something you bastard!'
    "My reputation? No." Mortimer said. "The reputation of the Salamanders is much more important." Kirito stiffened faintly at Sakuya's side, leaving the Lady of the Sylphs briefly at a loss before Mortimer continued. "I imagine, the reason that you came here to speak to me rather than hanging me in public is the same reason that Vakarian and I agreed to not immediately divulge the suspected identity of the killer before we had time to prepare for the backlash." Sakuya almost recoiled at how clinically it was spoken.
    "Morgiana is in the same situation being the the Lady of the Spriggans." Mortimer nodded to Kirito. "How do you think people will feel knowing that our first murderer comes from your faction?"
    Kirito only stared back rather than voicing his answer. The boy's ashen skin looked ever so slightly paler than normal.
    The Salamander rose slowly from his desk, leaving his cane leaned against the side of the table. "This is a new world Sakuya. It doesn't matter who or what we were before. The only reputations we have are the ones we brought with us from ALfheim, and now even those are suspect. And I will not have the eight thousand one hundred and seventy Salamanders that I am responsible for ostracized because of a  coincidence ."
    "And you've done a fine job of it, haven't you?" Sakuya asked. "Look at where we are now." She waved to the room with its vaulted ceiling and polished marble floor. To the windows that looked out on the central plaza of the huge guild hall. And beyond to the City of Arrun, the breathing city that was being threatened in its infancy by a lone murderer.
    A faint widening of the eyes. That was all that Sakuya's outburst had netted her from Mortimer. And she wasn't certain if it was because of what she'd said, or how she'd said it. "How can you expect any of us to trust you?"
    Mortimer tilted his head, at last showing a hint that he was taking this seriously. "It doesn't matter if you trust me or not. I do not need your  trust  Sakuya." The words carried all the force of a slap to the face. "The only thing I need is your  faith that our interests align. What possible reason would I have to lie?"
    She could think of a dozen. 'But were any of them at all likely?' Maybe, perhaps, depending on just what sort of person Mortimer really was. They already had once lunatic loose, was it really so hard to believe she was looking at another?
    No, it didn't matter. So long as Mortimer chose to act like this, she couldn't invest any trust in him. She couldn't afford to. In ALfheim, her mistakes would get her thrown from office in a  game at worst. Now, they could cost lives.
    "I want your full cooperation and I want Vakarian-san taken off the investigation." Sakuya said suddenly. If they couldn't trust Mortimer, then they couldn't trust Mortimer's pet, not so long as he refused to cooperate.
    Mortimer's taciturn continence reasserted itself. "You do know that he is a member of the city watch, we agreed in the bylaws that we cannot interfere in an ongoing investigation."
    "Take him off." Sakuya repeated. "Or explain to him why he should dismiss himself. If you care so much, let Morgiana send one of her own people to replace him. The Spriggans have the greatest number of Illusion Masters and know Rip Jack better than anyone. We may not trust each other, but at least we can both trust Morgiana."
    At least, Sakuya hoped they could. The fact that the Spriggan Lord had been honest counted for a lot at the moment.
    "Trust isn't the matter. Rather, it's qualification." Mortimer said slowly. "Believe it or not, I've actually known Vakarian for quite along time in that other world and know for a fact that he really was a police detective. That's why he was the first person to come to mind when I heard of the murders."
    "Given his poor judgment, I'd call that a condemnation rather than an endorsement." Sakuya said. "This is going to go public Mortimer, I refuse to hide it, I can't. We need to start taking active measures immediately to hunt Rip Jak down before he kills again. Your faction has a great deal of good will thanks to your part in planning the Newcastle Evacuation. You can take the hit to your name and still weather this."
    Or at least, they were well liked among the more aggressive Fae who supported helping Tristain and rescuing their fellow Faeries from Albion.
    Rio had already convinced his own small base of idiotic supporters and sycophants that everything that the Faerie Lords did was wrong and that they should protest it. And even among the more moderate Fae, there were concerns of the way that the more combative Salamanders were dominating a much larger proportion of the defense forces.
    Sakuya shook her head. "But only if you start working with us. This is happening whether you want it to or not." Mortimer didn't say a word, she didn't expect him to. Pity, because she'd rather been hoping to see him squirm. "I've already sent word to the other Lords. You have until tonight, then we'll make the announcement. You don't need to send me your reply, just take whatever measures you think are suitable."
    Turning her head. "Kirito." The Spriggan looked to her. "Unless you have any questions for Lord Mortimer that are pertinent to the investigation. I think we shouldn't waste any more of the First Lord of Gaddan's time."
    Kirito nodded. "That's everything for now, I think." He looked past Sakuya. "But I might need to come back later depending on what the investigation turns up."
    "My door is always open, Kirito-kun." Mortimer said with only the slightest hint of mocking intent. "And Sakuya-san is right. If that is all, this defense proposal isn't going to write itself."
    That had been it, Sakuya had left without even a goodbye to her fellow Lord, doing her best to  glide rather than  storm from his office. Yes,  glide she thought, be graceful, be graceful like the wind. Sakuya had predicted that she'd feel like this, but not so strongly. But she'd faced worse turmoil in the past and she dealt with this the same way, pushing it down as deeply as she could and hoping that when its finally came back up it would be in one of the rare moments when nobody else was around. Then she would shout and rage and throw whatever happened to be in reach. But not now. For now, she was the serene Lady of the Sylphs.
    As they returned the way they had came, the Captain of the Guard escorting them out, Sakuya didn't speak to the Spriggan at her side until they were back on the street. "I hope this was instructive, Kirito-kun." Sakuya said with as much calm as she could muster. "Did you learn anything from this?"
    The Spriggan youth shrugged his shoulders faintly. Kirito possessed a poker face nearly as good as Mortimer's, a learned quality that manifested itself as a look of mild reluctance whenever he was confronted by any sort of question. The difference was that where it was infuriating in Mortimer, in Kirito, it was actually quite endearing.
    "One thing I can say." Kirito said quietly. "I don't think Mortimer was lying to us."
    "Oh?" Sakuya asked. "And why is that?"
    Kirito crossed his arms severely. "Because, like he said, no matter what his ambitions, our interests right now align. Nobody wants a murderer running around and Mortimer doesn't gain anything by hiding things from us."
    "Lady Sakuya?" A small voice asked. A Sylph girl named Nana, one of the four secretaries that had replaced Novair in his civil responsibilities, looked up anxiously. "This isn't going to start a fight between the Lords… is it?"
    Sakuya stopped in the midst of summoning her wings and looked at the girl. Lime green hair done up in tight little braids, eyes big and emerald clear. She looked young, too young, painfully young. And not in the way of simply having a young avatar. The way she acted, the way she emoted, she actually seemed to be close to her apparent age.
    "Ah I mean… We'll all support you no matter what!" The others nodded fervently. They all looked tired. None of them had been given much time to sleep the past half week as they struggled to pick up where Novair had left off.
    Sakuya wore the mask of her serene smile as she put a slender hand on Nana's shoulder. "Of course it won't come to that. I have every confidence that Mortimer will recognize his mistake. We're all doing our best and this is just a misunderstanding."
    The girl looked relieved as she summoned her own Wings and followed Sakuya in the short hop back to the Governor's mansion. All the while, Sakuya wondered if she had done the right thing by lying to her.
   Argo found herself standing in the center of white plane under a white sky bordered by a white horizon. To her left there was someone, vague, no more than shadows, to her right there was no one though she still thought that there was someone there, she could hear them, she could smell them.
     And to her front, there was…
     'No, I don't want to look!'
     But she had to. She'd committed herself to this course of action. She had to follow the truth to the bitter end. That was the hell she had made for herself.
     'I already know what's inside, I don't have to look.'
     But she did. And she would hate herself for it, she knew.
     'Are you ready Argo-san?' The distorted voice at her side asked, a mockery of Abigail's normally cheerful tones.
     'No don't open it!'
     'I'm opening it now!'
     She couldn't look away, she didn't have that power, or maybe she wasn't strong enough. The only thing in this world that wasn't blurred and indistinct now lay in front of her, body stripped like all of the others, ashen skin, black hair, and red red stained throat.
     'NO THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! HE'S TOO STRONG!' She screamed so loud that it echoed inside of her own head. She knew this was a nightmare. But knowing it didn't make it any less real.
     'Lacerations to the throat, the killer really went all out this time!' Abigail said with false cheer. 'It's kind of good though since I needed more data and Faerie decay rates. I'll take him to the bone farm once you're done.'
     'N-no! He… he needs to buried!' Argo stuttered. 'His family, they need…'
     'What family?' The blurred shadow of Abigail asked. 'There's no one left remember…'
     'I bet he went after him to stay safe in the future.' A calmer more masculine voice added. A tall mass of dark blue shadow spoke. 'Well, we better hurry on to the other ones.'
     'No, no!'
     'Ah, here they are!'
     Chestnut hair, sightless hazel eyes, hands still clutched in a death grip as if pulled from the hilt of a rapier.
     'We think she must have woken up when the first one was killed, but she didn't have time to quite reach a weapon, and…'
     'No, please no, stop!'
     'Probably decided to get rid of a watch officer while he was there.'
     A sylph, face twisted into an expression of horror, golden hair speckled with her own blood.
     'One more!'
     'Must have been a completionist.'
     And then another, small, too small, and too beautiful, so obviously her parents' child, eyes closed, blissfully unaware that she'd died.
     'That makes a whole set!'
     Argo barely heard it, she collapsed onto the ground beating her fists helplessly until the masculine voice spoke again, questioning.
     'What are you so sad about?'
     'I… I was supposed to keep them safe… I was supposed to keep them prepared… I was supposed to help them!'
     'Oh?' Abigail asked.
     'It doesn't look that way to me.' The male voice that she finally identified as Jensen said. 'All you've ever done is collect information. You don't have the courage to do anything with it yourself. You've just born witness to them dying. Have you really saved anyone? Or have you just shown them enough to get killed?'
     'I… No… You're wrong!' She'd never… she'd never done that! She'd always been careful, she'd always been sure people knew the risks. She'd isolated herself, insulated herself so that she only had to accept the pleasure of victory while defeat was simply the clients own fault.
     A hand rested on her shoulder, as transparent as shadow, as light as death. 'You know, it would have been faster if you'd just died.' The Shadow Jensen said in tandem with Abigail. 'So just die!'
     Head spinning around, the last thing Argo saw was a wide Cheshire's smile beneath the brim of a black hat, and wicked blade that went -snicker-snack-
   
    Argo didn't jump awake from the dream, she was too tired for that, and besides, she'd known it was a nightmare the whole time. But that hadn't made it any easier to swallow. A dream that you knew was a dream was probably the worst kind, because she couldn't ignore what you were really thinking, couldn't hide from yourself. So she wasn't surprised when she woke enough to feel the faint aching that spread across her cheeks from too much time spent crying.
    She'd known it was a nightmare, and she'd known she was asleep, so she didn't have to waste any time wondering where she was. A guest room of the Governor's Mansion where she had taken Suisen in hopes of finding a Pixie Shaman who could tell her what was wrong.
    The small Fae-kin had taken one look as Suisen and spirited her off. As much as Argo had wanted to stay at her side, the other Pixies had refused, even threatening violence as ridiculous as that was coming from girl's that would consider a pencil to be a jousting lance.
    She'd told herself that it was like taking a loved one to the hospital. Doctors didn't let family sit in the operating room during a procedure, and for good reason, so she couldn't really expect them to let her go inside. Instead, she'd tried to work, tried to get her mind back onto the investigation.
    She'd gone over her notes again, her list of all the features of the Assassin that had tried to kill her in her sleep and then gone over them yet again when Kirito and Caramella had returned to tell her what they had found out.
    It really was another Laughing Coffin. Argo had felt herself growing tired. She'd wanted to let her head sink to the table and just never wake up again.
    There only option now was going to be to stamp this out at the root before it could get going. They needed to find Rip Jack and neutralize him by whatever means were necessary. Even terminally, if need be. Lest he inspire others who were on the fence about killing.
    To do that, they would need the support of the Faerie Lords. Argo had been able to kill a little time reporting to Lady Sakuya and Alicia Rue, and then managed to stretch the diversion a bit further by feeding a recently arrived Netzel the approved story for dissemination in tomorrow's ALfheim Daily.
    That was all they could do for now, and besides, she couldn't stop thinking about Suisen.
    Eyes still closed, Argo hiccuped softly. It was funny, and also painful at the same time. Just a couple of month's ago,  Suisen had just been some randomly generated, semi-autonomous AI running in the background processes of her AMUsphere. Argo had barely given her a second thought save as a useful resource and sensing device.
    Then the transition had hit and everything had changed. Argo's first thoughts after waking up had not in fact been to check on Suisen's well being. But by the end of the first day she had become curious and begun to suspect. At first, Suisen had shown no changes, remaining quiet, obedient, and dutiful as ever. Never speaking unless spoken too, else staying hidden out of the way, always watching, always observing.
    The first time Suisen had shivered in the cold and crawled into the hood of her cloak for warmth had been her first hint of what had happened to the little Pixie Girl.
    The first time she hadn't been able to hide the hunger pangs and Argo had realized that in forgetting to feed herself, she'd also forgotten to feed Suisen whose tiny body was much less famine adapted. She'd realized then that she was responsible for another life now. For someone who had never bothered to even keep a pet goldfish, much less a dog or a cat, it was a terrifying new level of responsibility.
    Seeing the girl doze as she tried to stay up and help Argo through an all night research session. Argo had made a little bed for her out of a jewelry box and some handkerchiefs stuffed with down feathers and sewn together so that the Pixie could sleep comfortably while she continued to work by Ore Lamp.
    Bit by bit, Argo had grown closer to her small partner, and also fonder and in turn Suisen had begun to emulate her mannerisms. At this rate, maybe the Pixie would even develop a proper sense of humor. She'd even gotten her to start calling her Argo instead of Master.
    "Argo."
    Just like that. And now she'd blown it! What did that say if she couldn't protect a Pixie?
    "Argo"
    Something small and gently warm touched her cheek. Argo cracked her eyes open, dry lips pressing together. She'd fallen asleep at a writing desk. What she'd pay for a proper virtual keyboard and screen! The window beside her bed was dark now, at some point she must have run out of steam and dozed off. Her eyes felt sore from crying in her sleep and her nose was crusted in dried snot. There was a mirror on the table, but she didn't need to see her reflection to know she'd be an unflattering sight.
    But none of that mattered as she looked down.
    "Argo, you finally woke up."
    Golden Cait Syth eyes looked down and were met by a smaller red-brown gaze. Argo rubbed at her eyes trying to understand what she was looking at. It took her a few seconds to process it. That was okay. The tiny figure standing before her seemed perfectly content to wait.
    "Sui… sen?"
    "Un." The small head nodded before the girl slowly fell into a folded sitting position.
    It was Suisen for sure, awake, well, and apparently quite at ease. But something wasn't quite right. She looked ever so slightly bigger, not much taller, but enough that her old yellow dress wouldn't fit any longer. That was probably why was currently wearing a handkerchief that had been folded and secured with a sewing pin and a short length of string.
    And she wasn't just bigger, she looked, maybe a little older? No, definitely. Kirito had teased her once that Suisen looked like her miniature younger sibling. Well if that was the case, she'd really closed the age gap. The baby fat that had given the girl an expression like a chipmunk when she puffed up her cheeks was now all but gone, leaving her looking gaunter, more mature, a girl closer to womanhood than infancy. The same went for the rest of her, limbs, longer and slimmer, proportionally taller torso and narrower waist.
    She was so busy picking out the little details that Argo didn't quite see the biggest changes until she took a step back.
    It was her ears. There were still two, as there should be, and they were stil thankfully set atop her head. But now, well, Kirito and Caramella were going to have lots of new fodder for jokes.
    Big, round, delicate pinkish skin showing on the inner side while soft brown hairs grew up on the outside to cover them. And if that wasn't enough, the long, hairless pink tail that trailed from beneath her makeshift dress, flopping slightly as Suisen shifted to make herself more comfortable.
    Argo was left agape. She'd read about it, and listened to Yui's explanation. But to see the changes for herself…
    She noticed one other thing, the way that Suisen held one of her arms stiffly, a splint had been made from a few slivers of sanded wood tied tight with string.
    "Are you alright now, Suisen?" Argo whispered worriedly. It had been close, too close, but it was all alright now. "Should you be up like this? Your arm…"
    "It tis okay." Suisen looked down, flexing her hand experimentally. "Hinagiku-san says that Mister Raz did a really good job straightening the brake, so it mostly healed during my blossoming." She scrunched up her face as if thinking hard. "Do you think that has something to do with my… meh-tab-o-lis-m being accelerated?" She carefully pronounced the unfamiliar word that she'd only ever heard when faithfully memorizing Argo's notes.
    "That tis a good question, we should…"
    Wait… Did Suisen just articulate a question based a basic understanding of biology? Suisen had displayed real intelligence before, but it had been closer to that of a young child, simple curiosity and questions about how long something would take and if she could have a certain type of bread for dinner, she'd never asked anything like that before!
    Suisen tilted her head. "Hinagiku said I blossomed. I look different." Susien frowned in a way that she'd never done before. "I  feel different and…" She looked up at her caretaker.
    "W-what tis it sa?"
    "Argo, I'm hungry, and tired ba. Can we get some of Nishizumi's melon bread at the bakery before we go home chya?"
    Argo felt her eyes starting to burn again.
    "Argo?" Suisen asked again. "Argo chya?!" The second time coming a little bit more surprised than the first as Argo carefully pressed her small partner against her cheek, feeling the familiar warmth as Suisen hugged back.
    "I… I…" She wanted to say so much. But how did she explain it? And then, it turned out she didn't have to.
   "Tis okay." Suisen said softly. "Tis okay Nee-chan."