(from halfway down Grace Tower Archive III

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"Phew," Troix Aubede, formerly Troix Belikov, formerly Troix Dastier, lays her messenger bag on one of several long wooden tables in the classroom. Everyone else has gone. All the bishops have gone for the day; lessons have been over for an hour and a half, and she's waiting for Yue to pick her up. The succubus had contacted the school to inform Troix that he would be a little late-- an honest-to-god planet-eater had gotten loose and gone on a snacking spree, so he, Ting, DewAi (Troix finds this funny) and a few others had gone to stop it.

After a little while of sitting and waiting, idly playing with the reflecting-pool keyring attached to her bag, Troix hears the slip of soft-soled feet on the floor. She turns her head, cringing-- she's not really supposed to be here.

Especially not watching her favorite mother-figure, Yin, when she's on the floor with a pretty Wyvern. She quickly turns the pool off with a wave of her hand.

"Mme. Aubede, why are you still here?" the intruder asks.

Troix smiles a little. Okay. Safe. She looks into the slightly aged, cream-colored face of her most beloved teacher in this house of rigidities, a woman of average height, pleasant build, a warm set of brown eyes and big, pooching lips. She looks to be about thirty-six, with some gentle laughing lines around her eyes and a scratching of crow's feet, and dresses in a nice, respectable shirt with baggy-arabic pants and a nice green sash.

"My guardian said he would be a little late," Troix answers, smiling. Troix herself is an adult now, aged so fast from Millarca's tests. She is the spitting image of her mother, only with prismatic eyes, only two legs, and soft-looking butterfly wings folded against her back.

"I see. Well," the lady ponders in a pondering voice, "what shall we do in the mean time?"

Troix groans inside her mind. Mme. Sidarsis rarely asks about time-wasting unless she plans to waste time with work.

"Um, practice tarot reading?" Troix looks at Sidarsis, who smiles appreciatively.

"I was thinking exactly that. But first, I do believe I caught you spying on people again." Sidarsis holds out her hand. "Let me see, dear."

Troix coughs softly. "Could I maybe practice an extra hour instead?"

Sidarsis smiles.

"Of course not."

**

A moment later, Sidarsis and Troix are watching Yin and Revilier through a projector, shining the image on the wall.

"This is a little creepy," Troix admits.

"Nonsense," Sidarsis chuckles. "When you've been around a few millenia, watching people is the utmost form of entertainment."

**

"They do take their time, don't they," Sidarsis chuckles. Troix blushes a bit.

"He is so cute," she notes. "She's just reminding him how cute she is."

"Point, dear." Sidarsis kicks her feet up, pushes a blazing orange strand of hair out of her eyes.

**

"Well. It would seem they actually love each other. How quaint!" Sidarsis puts her feet down, looks into the projected reflecting pool. "Who are they?"

Troix blushes a bit brighter. Yue's sitting in the back of the room by now, leaning on his fists. How charming this is!

"Don't you remember Troix's faux mother figure, Sidarsis? The one who came here with her boyfriend during Tingnarok?" the succubus asks.

Sidarsis nods a little. "Oh. Oh! Them! I see. I..." she pauses. Her eyes narrow. "Is that a ring on her finger?"

Troix and Yue, now totally enthused, peer at the picture.

"It is!" they cry at once.

Yue sighs. He reaches into his hip purse, produces a twenty-credit bill -- some places actually do use paper money -- and hands it Troix. "You win."

Troix beams. "Yup!"

"Well. This is going to piss off some people. Do you think they really love each other?" Sidarsis inquires of both of them.

"They seemed to do alright," Yue answers. "Devoted to each other, anyway. It was almost funny when they couldn't figure out who needed to push the other out of the way and both took a bullet for each other at the same time."

Troix glares at him.

"What? They healed each other, it was fine."

Troix sticks out her tongue, flicks the little blue sensory organ underneath it at Yue.

"Why aren't you a lesbian again?" he asks.

Sidarsis smiles some. "Turn off the pool, Troix. i didn't want to have to do this, but we need to make sure they're actually in love."

Yue blinks. "Beg pardon?"

"The Astral dragons and Mercurial wyverns have had their eye on earth for a while. For some reason, they've decided to halt their fighting while peace exists between Earth dragons and wyverns." Sidarsis answers softly, back in teacher mode. "It's like a flagship planet for them. Yin and Revilier can't go into this halfheartedly. If they aren't ready to stand together through the storm that will come for them on earth-- and it will-- they don't need to go into it at all. Their union could very well provoke a war on earth."

Troix blinks. "How is that you didn't know who they were but know that much about them?"

"Honestly, I was looking at his butt until I saw the ring."

All three smirk. Yup.

"So what are you going to do?" Yue asks. "Nothing drastic, I hope?"

"Well," Sidarsis answers, "there's one of my kind in that tower right now. An attractive little flirt named Truce. We need to find a beautiful man who is Yin's type. Then we'll send them all to my palace on Ischreibe."

"That sounds pretty twisted," Yue points out. "How long have you been planning this?"

"A while. But it isn't the first time I have done it." She smiles. "I went through it myself with my late husband. So... find someone attractive."

Yue thinks about this. Smiles some. "I know just the blockhead for this." He pulls a phone from his bag-- a black phone with glowing faux horns on the top, of course-- and dials. He doesn't need to, but he *hates* telepathy these days.

"Yoru. Could you send Makyon to Ischreibe when you get a chance? We'll fill him in when he arrives. Thanks. Yes, I know! Tell him to wear something slutty. Yes, dear. Ciao."

The succubus beams. "Any time."