[Magic Knight Rayearth] Becomes as Coals (Clef/Presea)

[storypaint]

Title: Becomes as Coals
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Length: 7261 words
Prompt: n/a
Pairing: Clef/Presea primarily; background canon pairings
Other: Title from a quote by Bruce Lee. Spanning a period of time from precanon through post-MKR II, spoilers for all canon. I have elected to use English words for what I assume would be Cephiran equivalents (coffee, tea, etc).

Excerpt: Clef had always been there, Perdana said, the day that Presea first met him. Their meeting hadn't been much; Presea had been awed by Clef's presence, by the way he seemed haughty and tall and important, even though the second wasn't true.

Clef had always been there.

It was a concept she learned at the last Pharle's knee, one of the very first things she grasped. Her transition from child to apprentice had been very easy, because Presea loved to learn, and metal seemed to call to her. She trailed behind Perdana, eyes wide, and she soaked in all the wisdom that had accumulated around the anvil.

Clef had always been there, Perdana said, the day that Presea first met him. Their meeting hadn't been much; Presea had been awed by Clef's presence, by the way he seemed haughty and tall and important, even though the second wasn't true.

Later she asked Perdana, stumbling with the words and drawing breath against her nerves. Perdana smiled. She had a bright smile and callused hands, her face always slightly sunburnt.

"He is the Guru," she said. "He's been the Guru for as long as anyone can remember."

"Anyone?" Presea blinked.

Perdana nodded. "The Pharle before me said the same. Chances are you'll tell your apprentice the same thing."

She laughed and Presea thought about being old enough to have her own apprentice. She couldn't even lift a small sword by herself yet. She imagined it would be a very long time. She wondered how Clef felt, having to be the Guru for practically forever. Was he lonely without an apprentice?

Perdana ruffled her hair. "You're quite the thinker, aren't you?" she said fondly, before sending her to bed. "All these questions. As long as you learn how to forge Escudo, you'll be all right."

Presea nodded, determined, and her dreams that night were full of metal, the Guru forgotten.

*

She didn't search him out, or search out information about him, but she did learn more about Clef as the years passed. He mostly kept to himself, though sometimes she saw him walking through the Forest. The one time she had surprised him by stepping out of the underbrush (she'd been in pursuit of a certain fruit tree and hadn't noticed that there was someone nearby), she'd watched an expression of gentle calm evolve into an irritated twitch, and she'd almost fallen over herself to apologize. He lifted his staff and then thought better of it. He nodded gravely at her and walked on.

He visited again when Presea was thirteen and beginning to feel awkward in her skin, all elbows and knees and long legs from her growth spurt. It was the first time she was taller than him and she resisted the urge to lean down to his eye level because Perdana never did.

He drank the tea that Perdana offered, plain, and though he seemed totally comfortable with the lack of conversation, Presea stared into her cup and wondered how to break the stillness, which was making her itch. Eventually she couldn't stand it anymore, getting up from the table with the guise of taking her cup to the kitchen, but she slipped and fell against the sink, shattering it. Both adults came to check that she was all right, and Clef mended the small gash in her palm with hardly a word ("Stay still," he said, taking her hand in both of his).

Later Presea had asked if he had been angry at her, to be so abrupt, and Perdana had just smiled again. "He's just like that," she said. "He is a kind man, but he treasures quiet."

Presea brushed her fingers against the unscarred skin of her palm, and said nothing, nodding.

*

Perdana retired when Presea was sixteen. There was a twinge in her back that wouldn't go away, even with the care of the best healers, and her curls were more gray than brown now. She'd waited almost too long to take an apprentice comfortably.

She still had the cheerful outlook of her youth, however, and after she tied Presea's headband, she tapped the little round jewel and wrapped her former apprentice in a firm hug. It interrupted the ceremony a little, but Presea didn't mind.

During the party that ensued afterward, she received a lot of hugs, enough that she finally had to make her way outdoors for a break. The cool air was nice on her face and soothed her slight headache. She wasn't drinking any more wine, she decided, when she went back inside, even if someone proposed another toast.

She sighed and shut her eyes and leaned up against the wall, but a small chuckle made her pop them open again. Clef was here-- of course he was, this was an official function; but somehow she'd missed him among all the revelers.

"I also needed a break," he said, looking up at her. The moon was bright and gleamed off his ornamentation, bleaching him even paler than he normally was, but something about the light made him seem firmer, somehow, more real, than the shadowed forest. Presea blinked. Clef smiled, just a little.

"I think you are the quietest Pharle I've known," he said, which made her blush from the neck, because she wasn't that quiet, not really. She and Perdana had maintained a sort of easy banter, exchanging jokes around the clang of the anvil, and their house was rarely empty. That was something that was going to be weird about Perdana's retirement: being alone. Her teacher had taken her own cottage, away from the traditional residence of the Pharle and its glowing forge.

"I find that hard to believe," she answered, taken aback.

"Oh?" He tilted his head to the side. "Perhaps you will prove me wrong." He didn't seem concerned by this, however. He stepped closer to her and offered her his hand. She took it uncertainly and he shook her hand.

"I look forward to working with you," he said, and she opened her mouth to return the sentiment but then the door opened and several people spilled out into the yard, foremost being Alcyone, the Guru's apprentice. She wasn't much older than Presea, but taller, and sharper, somehow; her determination was a brick wall and Presea had heard it whispered that she had simply come to Clef and refused to leave until he agreed to be her teacher, but Presea doubted the truth of that. Clef wouldn't have bowed to pressure. He wouldn't have chosen her if he hadn't thought she would be appropriate for the position.

Because of this, Presea tried to be nice to Alcyone, who was pleasant enough in a distracted way, but Presea couldn't explain to herself why she had jumped apart from the Guru when the door opened, as if they'd been caught at something, even though nothing had been happening.

Alcyone gave her a strange look and Presea turned and went back into the house.

*

Now that Presea was the one delivering her work to the palace, she saw Clef quite often. Usually he was striding down the halls on one errand or another, but he always paused to acknowledge her politely.

He rarely came to the forge, but he managed to surprise her one day when she was arguing with her front door. She probably needed to replace the lock, but somehow she never quite found the time. She kicked the door, grumbling and threatening loudly to take it down and turn the whole door into kindling and melt the lock.

"Or I'll turn you into spoons! I'll turn you into spoons for very hot coffee! How would you like that, hmm? It would serve you right!" She tugged at it again, laughing devilishly, and that's when she heard the small cough behind her. She whirled around to see the Guru, who, if she wasn't mistaken, was smiling just a little.

"Can you believe that you're still the quietest Pharle I've met?" he said; and then, "Are you having trouble with it?"

She laughed a little, embarrassed, and said, "It's not a big deal. I probably just need to replace it."

"May I?" he asked, and after a moment's pause in continued surprise, she nodded and stepped out of the way. He ran his hands across the metal thoughtfully, and then nodded.

"I think I can fix it, if you'll let me," he said.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble!" she said, still a little embarrassed.

"It wouldn't be much trouble at all," he said, and then nodded as if he'd come to a decision. "I think I've just the thing at home. When would be a good time for me to come back? Is tomorrow all right?"

"Sure," she answered, since he seemed insistent, and she smiled brightly at him. "Thank you, Guru."

"Don't worry yourself about it," he said, and he did come back the next day. She watched in amazement as he did something magical to the lock-- she didn't quite know what, but when he was finished, he handed her a little silver key, and then a large round jewel-like object. It matched the deep orangey-red color of her Pharle circlet perfectly.

He glanced up at her briefly and said, almost to himself, "I thought it would."

She lost his next few words in sudden self-consciousness and pleasure that he'd thought about that, but then she found enough focus for him to demonstrate how it worked. No one would be able to get into her house without the key now; well, except Clef, but it was his magic after all.

She used her new key and a satisfied smile crossed his face when it worked properly.

"You could fasten it to your shoulder," he said, pointing to his own in demonstration. "There, in the space between your shoulder armor and your apron. Then you'd always have it with you."

"I'll make a clasp for it," she said with a smile. "Would you come in for tea?" When he hesitated, she continued, "it's the least I can do in return."

"I didn't do it to get something in return," he protested, but she convinced him to come in anyway.

It might have been another silent visit, like the one when she was thirteen, but she'd carelessly left a book she was reading on her coffeetable. Books tended to migrate out of her study with a certain regularity; sometimes if she was reading something good she would wander through the house with the book in one hand, doing chores with the other (which generally meant that little got done, honestly).

"Oh," Clef said, picking it up with interest, "I hadn't realized that there was a sequel."

"I didn't know there was a book before that!" she said, surprised. Well, of course Clef would have some sort of hobby, but she had no clue that he'd read the same sort of books that she did.

"Oh, yes," he said, setting it back down carefully so she didn't lose her bookmark. "It was quite good."

"Well, you should borrow that one," she said, and grinned at his look of surprise.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon enough. You can return it then," Presea continued.

Clef smiled back and they passed away the rest of the afternoon talking about the books they'd read, favorite authors and plot holes and other things of the nature. By the time it was beginning to get dark, Presea had learned who Clef's favorite author was, received thirteen different book recommendations, and realized that she really liked to make him laugh.

The afternoon had disappeared quickly in their discussion and Clef expressed his surprise at the lateness of the hour.

"I really must be going," he said. "I am sorry for taking up your time, Pharle."

He rose from his seat and she picked up her book and pressed it into his hands.

"Anytime you'd like," she said breathlessly, before she could talk herself out of it. "And thank you again, Guru, for your help."

He smiled. "It was no problem to help a friend," he said.

She watched him go and then spent some time organizing her books, sorting through for a few that she thought he'd like, and humming the whole time, buoyed by their afternoon. It wasn't that Presea didn't have any friends, but she was pretty sure that Clef wouldn't have used the word lightly.

And it was very nice to work with him, but even better to be his friend.

*

Clef was fond of routine, and it wasn't long until they'd established a new one. Once a week, he visited Presea, bringing with him whatever books he'd borrowed and often a book to lend her in return. They drank tea and talked about what they read, and about the country, and their work.

The change in Cephiro's climate came on gradually, and as the storms began to be more pervasive, Clef grew more quiet, and more troubled. Presea wasn't sure how to ask him what was going on, or even if she should, but she hated to see him like this.

He came one day with irritation boiling off of him. He didn't snap at her but she could feel him reining in his temper. He stared into his tea as if he found the sight offensive.

"Alcyone has left my service," he said finally. Presea gasped. She'd never even thought about that being possible-- nor could she imagine a reason for abandoning such an important job as Alcyone was being groomed for.

"Cephiro has a tough time ahead, I'm afraid," he said quietly, almost to himself. He looked up at her, then, for a long moment. "I may need your help in the future."

"Of course!" she answered immediately, clasping her hands together in her lap.

"Do your best to stay safe, Pharle," he said.

His visit was unusually short. He said nothing more about Alcyone, and he told her he hadn't had much time for reading that week. Still, by the time the tea was drank, Presea thought that he seemed a bit calmer.

"Will you be all right, Guru Clef?" she asked, standing at the door with him as he left.

"I hope Cephiro will be," he answered, which wasn't the question she was asking, but it was the only answer he gave.

*

The week after that, Clef didn't come at his usual time. Presea wasn't entirely surprised, but she had hoped... well, Clef had other concerns. Very valid ones! She thought about going up to the palace instead, but she figured that Clef had to be busy, so there was no point in interrupting him.

She sat down to read for a while, but couldn't concentrate very well, so she got up again and spent some time organizing her order paperwork, and then decided to step out to the forge and clean the place up a bit. When she opened the door, Clef was standing there, soaking wet, and the creature in his arms looked up at her and said, "Puu."

"Guru?!" Presea said, her first reaction; she'd never seen Clef in such disarray-- and he hardly seemed to care. He stepped heavily into her house, dripping onto the floor, and she looked outside behind him. The day was perfectly clear, so what had he been doing?

"Pharle," Clef said gruffly. "Presea."

He looked up at her through his bangs and she thought that his eyes were red-rimmed, as if he'd been crying, but it was really impossible to tell given how soaked he was. The idea of Clef crying pierced her sharply and she pressed her hands together in worry.

"Let me get you a towel!" she said, her voice squeaking, and she darted away before he could respond. The creature jumped out of his arms and followed after. It rested on the cabinet as she rummaged through for a clean towel.

"Puu," it said gravely. She patted it on the head, a little distracted, and returned to the other room. Clef took the towel from her and rubbed it over his head. When he emerged again from its fluffy whiteness, he seemed a little more like himself.

"I should have thought to change before I came," he said, almost sounding embarrassed. "How rude of me."

"Don't worry about it," she answered immediately. "But what's going on, Guru?"

"Mokona--" he said then, seeming to realize the absence of the creature. It bounded into the room with oddly bouncy steps and returned to Clef's side. He looked down at it, patted it, and then up at Presea, his eyes filled with determination.

"You must keep Mokona for me. The time has come. The Magic Knights have been summoned. When they come to you, please give them Mokona and forge their weapons."

"The Magic Knights are coming?"

Presea's eyes widened with shock. She'd known that Cephiro wasn't doing very well-- the weather and the monsters made that obvious-- but somehow she hadn't expected it to come to this. She knew how to work Escudo in an academic sense, but no one had seen the mineral in decades, perhaps centuries. And the Magic Knights-- they had seemed little more than a fairytale to her when she was young. Were there really heroes coming to save Cephiro from another world? How could they possibly?

Clef nodded. His hands tightened on her towel for just a moment before he handed it back.

"I can't stay-- I must prepare. When I find them, I will send them to you. You know what must be done." He nodded curtly, again, and turned to leave.

Presea looked down at Mokona and then dropped the towel. She had greater concerns. She followed Clef out the door, but he was already summoning a beast to take him back to the palace, so she just cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.

"Be careful, Guru!" she yelled. He spared her the smallest smile before he mounted and was gone. Reluctantly, she went back into the house, shutting the door and locking it carefully, and spending a short moment staring at the key before she returned it to its jewel.

"Well," she said to Mokona, in tones more cheerful than she felt, "what are we going to do while we wait?"

"Puu!" Mokona said, butting his head against her leg and then darting off down the hallway. She followed after, glad for the distraction.

*

At least, until that day stretched into the next, and no one came, though she was out in her forge at all hours waiting for visitors. Four days passed and Mokona began to be more of an annoyance than he had first seemed. She began constructing a cage to capture him, as a sort of exercise in her skills, and that took several hours, but still there was no one.

She was beginning to think about leaving and going to the palace, just to see what was happening, but she resisted the urge. Clef had told her to wait with Mokona, and so she would. So she set the cage and took a walk to calm her nerves.

It was a surprise to her when she came back and had three people captured in it. And here she'd been suspecting Mokona all this time! But when she finally figured out who they were, that surprised her too.

Magic Knights? They were little more than children! Sure, she'd taken up her post when she wasn't much older than they were, but they didn't act like adults. They were children, determined and scared, and they didn't understand much about Cephiro at all. But she would send them on their way, just as she promised. If anyone could make it through the Forest of Silence, they would.

And then they told her that they'd left Clef to face a monster, that he'd sent them on without giving them any choice, and if that wasn't just like him, she'd eat her anvil. But for a moment the blood pounded in her ears; she clutched her hands together and could not move. Hikaru seemed to take her shock as reluctance. Presea took a deep breath and settled herself into her job. It was all she could think of to do. She gave them directions and Mokona. They were children, but pure-hearted ones, and it was hard for her to send them into the Forest alone.

She whispered a prayer to Emeraude, and went to prepare herself for what came next. She couldn't worry about Clef, as much as it tore at her. She had to be focused to forge the legendary mineral.

If-- if he was gone (he'd always been there, Perdana whispered in her memory)-- then that was all the more reason to do this right.

*

Presea's journey through the forest to the fountain was oddly quiet. Perhaps the Knights had taken care of most of the creatures. She was competent with a sword, for when that was necessary, but she didn't have to lift her blade even once. Still, she was vigilant until she arrived. Every snapping twig made her look, just in case. It wouldn't do if the Knights had come all that way and their weaponmaker fell amongst the trees.

It wasn't until she'd forged the metal and sent them on their way before Presea allowed herself to slide to the ground again. She felt as if she hadn't slept in a week-- her eyes blurry, her legs wobbly-- but as much as she wanted to pause and rest, she couldn't. Clef would come to make sure that the Knights had made it to her, and if she wasn't there when he got to her house, he would probably assume the worst. She wouldn't blame him. Still, in the back of her mind, she wondered what she would do if he didn't come? She was in no state for a rescue mission. She'd put too much of herself into the weaponmaking, but couldn't regret that. Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu deserved every advantage they could get. Presea's heart was with them.

She rose to her feet, still unsteady, and stood a moment, leaning against a tree to regain some of her composure. When her breathing evened, she returned to the forest. She didn't remember much of the walk home, drifting in and out of conscious thought, her mind bleary. The vigilance of her earlier journey was abandoned; she simply couldn't maintain it. She just pressed onward, to home, to where Clef would be waiting.

She could see the clearing up ahead when something jumped out at her. She felt a momentary rush of fear staring into cold, slitted eyes, before she lifted her hand, realized her knife was in her forge clothes, tucked under her arm, and then she fell back onto the ground, defenseless.

The cold eyes shut as a heavy staff smacked the beast in the head. The creature made a displeased noise, and then was smacked again, two sharp raps about the head. It decided to seek dinner elsewhere. Presea shook her head, trying to clear her vision, but found she couldn't muster the strength to get up again.

"Pharle!"

And that was Clef's voice. She blinked in the direction of the sound, but before her eyes could focus he was there, taking his hand in hers in a way that made her remember all those years before when he'd healed her wound.

"You look exhausted," he said, almost scolding, and she smiled weakly.

"You're okay," she breathed, and after that, she didn't remember much.

*

When she woke up in her own bed, it was a familiar place but something felt off about it. She lay there, tangled in her blankets, and tried to remember what had happened before she'd fallen asleep.

The Knights! Guru Clef! She sat up quickly, and that was when the magician appeared in her doorway. He seemed pleased to find her awake, momentarily, but then he scowled and stomped into the room. He stood next to her bed, his staff hovering threateningly above her head.

"It was terribly dangerous to be traveling in your condition," he said to her. "What were you thinking?"

She shook her head. He waved his staff. "Perhaps I ought to string you up by your ankles," he said, his face softening a little. There was a cup of tea on her bedside table, and he turned his attention to it, using his magic to warm it again before handing it to her. She felt a moment of sudden embarrassment-- the Guru was here, in her bedroom-- but the tea smelled wonderful and she was drinking it as soon as she grasped the cup. It warmed her and made her feel stronger. She drank it, the entire thing, with Clef's gaze on her like an admonishment to finish. He'd probably put something in it for her health.

"You were asleep as soon as helped you in here," he said to her. "I don't know how you made it as far as you did from the Fountain. That was a very foolhardy thing to do, Pharle."

"Have I been asleep long?" she asked, looking at the window. The sun shone, but that told her little.

"Several days," he said. "You really should eat something. Can you walk?" He turned away toward the door.

She slid to the edge of the bed, but then paused. "And the Knights?" she said softly.

He hunched his shoulders up a little and his voice was flat when he responded, "They've gone home." He turned to look at Presea over his shoulder, his expression serious. "Princess Emeraude is dead; the Knights have killed her. It was her wish."

Emeraude had been the only Pillar Presea had ever known. To hear that she was gone was a blow as powerful as a kick to the stomach. She gasped, and Clef just looked at her sadly. She knew that whatever she was feeling, Clef was feeling ten times worse. He'd known Emeraude, after all: had been her teacher, her protector, her surrogate father. And he'd had to aid three strangers in her murder.

Presea had always thought of the Pillar system as being a good thing. The country was at peace and safe from all invaders. But if it had come to this--

And without a Pillar, what would happen to Cephiro?

"There is much to explain," Clef said. "I am afraid I was not totally honest with you. I hope you can accept my apology. Please, come and eat."

After a moment, Presea rose to follow him to the kitchen. Over a meal that tasted like nothing in her mouth, she listened to the whole story. It took quite a while.

"I had no idea where they'd gone," he said. "Zagato had hidden himself too well. By the time I found out, it was too late. She was not herself anymore... except at the last." His voice dropped. "She wanted to tell them she was sorry. I could hear her in my mind, clear as a bell."

He shook his head, and Presea was silent. She had no idea what to say to that. He sighed.

"In any case, they are gone; they disappeared with the princess, and now we have a country to rebuild. A new Pillar must be found as soon as possible. There is much work to do."

"I want to help," she said firmly. He looked at her and smiled a little.

"I think we will be needing your strong will," he answered. "You should sleep more; there are people I need to talk to."

He got up from his chair but she called after him, "Guru, wait!" He turned.

"Don't forget to take care of yourself too," she said. "There is only one Guru, after all."

"And but one Pharle," he answered. "Please, rest."

He let himself out. When the door clicked, Presea sighed. She wondered if he'd been here with her the entire time she'd slept. He certainly hadn't been far away when she'd woken. Perhaps he hadn't been able to bear the thought of being there and seeing Emeraude fall.

She got up to put the dishes in the sink, and then went to her study. There was no way she could go right back to sleep. She read until she drifted off, and her dreams that night were restless. When she woke in the morning, she began to sort through her things to find whatever was most necessary. Clef and Mokona showed up on her doorstep around noon, and if Clef's slightly-rumpled state was any indication (though she could see he'd tried to straighten his clothes), he hadn't slept at all.

"A castle," he said to her, his voice hoarse. "With room enough for everyone."

"All right," she said, nodding, letting them in and leading them toward her study, walking briskly as if with purpose.

And when the cage closed over Clef's head, she refused to let him out until he promised to sleep for a while.

"At least eight hours," she said to him. He scowled, waving his staff.

"I could just blow this up," he said to her, his tone suggesting that he'd like to try it. She crossed her arms and stared at him.

"And what about my study?" she answered. "All of these books--"

"Will be so much dust if we don't do something!"

"Puu," Mokona said. Clef gave the creature a dirty look.

"Why are you on her side?" he asked.

"Puu!" Mokona answered fervently, and Presea just stared. Finally Clef sighed.

"All right, all right," he said, waving his arms. "I promise."

"Cephiro needs you to be thoughtful, not sleep-deprived," Presea said to him, pulling the chain to lift the cage.

"I have no worry about your strength of will at all," he answered dryly as she herded him toward her bedroom. She knew that if he made it back to the palace, all promises aside, he would be caught up in planning and mundane details, and he'd never get any rest. So she changed the sheets and left him there.

She looked in only once; he was curled up in a little ball in the middle of her big bed, blankets twisted around him, his brow furrowed. The sight made her smile. She shut the door again, quietly, and let him sleep.

It was the last stolen peace that any of them would have for a while.

*

It was a great mental effort, building and stabilizing the castle that became the home of all of Cephiro. They all worked many late nights arranging mages and spells and strong-willed people. The people with the strongest wills were set up on maintenance shifts, their belief the only thing that Cephiro's scared citizens could trust. They watched as their world decayed, as the search for a Pillar went unanswered. Presea could feel the tension in the hallways, thick as the humidity on a hot summer's day.

It seemed like something must surely break-- either a Pillar had to be found, or the country was going to die. There were no other options. And then Clef stood up in the middle of an afternoon meeting and said, "They're here!"

He looked both angry and wondering, and Presea asked, "Who?"

Without answering, he grabbed his staff and rushed out onto the nearest balcony. With a roar of wind, he summoned Fyula and sent her away quickly. Then he turned back to the Pharle, who had followed.

"The Magic Knights have returned," he said.

"But how?" she sputtered.

Clef looked up at the dark sky, brooding. "I don't know," he admitted. "I suppose that means... there must be someone here with the strength of a Pillar."

The problem was, Presea knew, that they'd talked to all of Cephiro's people, young and old, male and female, and none of them had qualified. Surely-- surely their foreign invaders wouldn't have summoned the Knights?

Perhaps they expected the Knights to hurt Cephiro again, not understanding, she thought. Her heart broke for the girls.

"Fyula will bring them here. We can talk to them, at least. Tell them that this isn't their fight. As soon as we find a new Pillar, we'll send them home."

Presea nodded. "I must go prepare for their arrival," Clef continued. "Will you bring them?" She nodded again.

"Thank you," he said quietly, leaving her there on the balcony. He walked away with measured step, but she knew that he'd just taken on another burden-- the protection of the Knights.

She didn't have a chance to talk to him about it until much later. She came to tell him that the Knights had returned (safely, thank goodness) from another battle, and he took the opportunity to talk, actually talk to her, like he did sometimes when it was only the two of them. She listened to him as almost haltingly, he spoke about his students and the Pillar system. It was practically a speech for Clef, and one that couldn't have been easy for him; he cut off abruptly at Ferio's arrival. The prince had impeccable timing.

"They deserve happiness," Clef muttered to himself. He looked up at Presea from the corner of his eye and she tried to pretend she didn't notice. She was always with him these days, one step behind as was respectful, since he was as close to a leader as any of them were these days. But that made it difficult to hide her admiration for him. Sometimes she felt like a little girl with her first crush in that she just couldn't control her blushing. She was certain he knew, but wasn't saying anything to spare her feelings, and because they had, after all, much greater concerns.

The ground shook again, rocking under their feet, as another piece of Cephiro fell away. She could see Clef's pain. His dedication to Cephiro was absolute-- obviously, given all of his years of service and determination. It was one of the things she liked about him, his sense of commitment, but it also meant that he was taking each loss of their country like a blow to himself. Even if they could escape and seek refuge in Autozam or the other countries, he wouldn't be happy there. It was Cephiro he loved, even with its flaws.

"Might I see you in my quarters later, Pharle?" Clef said, interrupting her reverie. "If you have a bit of time." He smiled at her a little.

"Yes, of course," she answered, curious. Ferio looked from Clef to Presea and back, but whatever his conclusions were, they were interrupted by another advisor running to inform them of the state of the invading roads.

*

They didn't have a chance to speak that evening, however. Decisions were made, the entire country rearranged, and a new system established, one that wouldn't depend on the strength of one person alone, but all of them.

"And if we can create an entire castle," Clef said, after everything was explained, "then surely we can maintain our country." He looked as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. For the first time in a long time, Presea thought, he looked honestly happy-- not happy for a moment but happy all the way through.

"I'm sure of it," Hikaru said, beaming.

There was nearly as much to do after the Knights went home as there had been beforehand, at least for Clef. Presea helped to escort people home, back to their country, restored to its former glory. And then she went home, too, because although her apartment in the castle had been nice, there was no place like home. She unlocked the door and wandered through the rooms with wonder at the fact that nothing seemed different. Mokona, or the power of Cephiro, had restored everything just as it had been before Emeraude's death, right down to the books on her shelves and the dishes in her sink.

So she returned to being the Pharle. There was always something to craft, after all; even new Cephiro had monsters that Ascot couldn't befriend. No human being was perfect, and so their country wasn't. That was okay. There was plenty of room to learn and grow from the other countries around them. Presea could listen for hours to the stories that the Knights told of Earth, and all of the civilizations there. Sometimes she did. Besides being Pharle she found herself called to the palace quite frequently to greet visitors and help Clef (and since she continued to make him remember to take a break, her presence was highly encouraged). She'd nearly forgotten, in fact, their interrupted conversation from the day they'd all thought their world would end, or change beyond recognition.

Clef was still chief advisor, but now he had a whole committee to advise. Ferio was the prince, still, but the title was honorary, and had been from the start. The Pillar's relatives became members of the royal family, but no one had had any political power except the Pillar herself. Ferio's position was mostly ceremonial, which didn't stop him from offering his opinions in meetings.

But one afternoon, after a particularly lengthy meeting in which everyone ended up disagreeing, rather loudly but at least without any violence, Clef proposed an early adjournment.

"Go enjoy the nice weather," he said, "and we'll resume tomorrow." There was no disagreement.

"Perhaps you'll teach us about 'football' today, Hikaru?" Lantis asked. "You said it was a game for several."

"Brilliant idea!" the Knight said, clapping her hands together. "We'll just need a ball..."

"Oh, I can help you there!" Caldina said cheerfully, and they all began to file out, previous disagreements forgotten. Presea began to follow, but Clef called after her politely.

"A moment, Pharle?"

"Of course," she answered, pausing. He hesitated for a moment.

"In my office, if you wouldn't mind."

The crowd, who had paused instinctively when Clef spoke, shared several silent but meaningful looks. Someone in the middle giggled. Clef gave them all a look and they turned to leave, voices raised in cover-up. Clef shook his head and watched them go, perfectly dignified, before he and Presea went to his office.

Clef had a cottage now, close to the edges of the Forest. He'd mentioned once that it was not tradition, but necessity, that had prompted his move to the palace, so Presea had done a little digging in the library, with the help of the palace librarian, and they'd discovered that there was a tract of land willed to be the living place of the Guru. There was nothing there anymore, to show where Guru Eclat had lived, but Presea had gotten Ferio and the rest to present it to Clef, and he'd been quite pleased.

So instead of a living space in the palace, he had an office, piled high with paperwork and books. He claimed it was organized, or at least, that he knew how to find things, but sometimes Presea teased him about his unorthodox file system, which he bore with good grace.

It was neater than it usually was, she thought. He'd even thought to clean off the chair in front of his desk that he kept for visitors.

"Would you have a seat?" he asked, gesturing elegantly. She did, but he remained standing, shutting the door but then pausing there as if he wasn't sure what to do next.

"Yes?" she asked finally.

He smiled a little and looked down at the ground. "Presea," he said, "may I speak candidly?"

She nodded. He took a step closer to her, but then shut his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them again, he said, "I promised myself something selfish when the Pillar system began to crack. I promised that, if we were to die, that I would tell you something first. I would not make Emeraude's mistake; I would not wait too long. Sometimes I think I've waited too long already, but there were always other concerns."

Presea drew in a breath, but he pressed on, stepping closer to her and looking up into her eyes. "I care for you. Not just as the Pharle, or as a friend, though you are exceptional in both cases. But as more than that."

Presea's heart beat so loudly in her ears that she thought Clef might be able to hear it. She stared at him, disbelieving.

"And then we did not die, so I had to come up with another excuse. Mostly, I just wanted to tell you," he said, with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Perhaps it is inappropriate. I hope you will not think less of me."

She thought, perhaps, that her mouth had dropped open. He didn't take her silence in a positive direction, turning away toward the door again, but she reached out and when she could not catch his robe, she stumbled to her feet after him, catching his sleeve. He turned with a look of surprise on his face.

"I like you too, Clef," she said, swallowing her own nerves. "I've liked you... for a long time."

He began to smile and she leaned down on her knees and hugged him. His arms went around her neck, and she could feel his smile against her shoulder.

"I'm glad to hear that," he mumbled.

She pulled back enough to press their foreheads together, amused by the odd cold feeling of his headdress against hers. She was grinning, she knew, like an idiot, but she didn't care.

"I'm glad too," she said.

They remained there for a moment like that. Presea didn't want to let go, but finally her knees began to feel uncomfortable, so they separated, though Clef left a small, deliberate kiss on her cheek. She got to her feet and offered him her hand.

"What do you know about 'football'?" she asked, sounding the word out carefully.

"Nothing at all," the Guru answered. He opened the door and they left his office, hand in hand. The feel of his fingers in hers traveled through the rest of her, making her warm and cheerful.

"Me neither," she said. The crowd that would be on the lawn now felt very far away from the two of them.

"Of course, we could skip out on that entirely and go have some tea. Would you like to visit for a while?" he asked.

"I'd love to," she said, squeezing his hand. They exchanged a smile.

"Then it's a date," Clef said, as the two of them stepped out into the sunlight. They could hear the game occurring on the lawn, or rather, Hikaru's voice as she attempted to explain the rules, but without saying anything they decided to go the more private way on the shaded path along the building.

Tomorrow there would be another meeting, another weapon to smelt, another question to deal with, but today there was a warm afternoon sun and the promise of a quiet afternoon. It was more than enough to know that Clef had always been there, after all.