The Clocks

Later that evening, Eugenia positioned herself in her mother's study with her field wrapped around her. After her mother had sat down, then sprawled back in her chair, Eugenia dropped the field and waited.

Miranda's eyes instantly widened in surprise, then narrowed in suspicion as she remembered a number of times that things had seemingly disappeared from the kitchen or books that were not precisely appropriate for children had vanished from the library and then had reappeared without anyone being seen.

She opened her mouth to speak, but she was forestalled by Eugenia's outstretched palm. "Mother, you've been seeking someone this past week. It appears that the person you need is me."

Miranda winced then closed her eyes, apparently in pain. She opened her eyes again, and her expression was indecipherable. "Give me your hands."

Eugenia walked forward and stretched out her hands, after which Miranda gently took them in hers. Eugenia felt a tingling passing from her mother's hands into her body. Then it swept back again as Miranda gathered up...whatever it was.

She let go of Eugenia's hands then slumped back into her chair again. Not knowing what to do, Eugenia stood where she was and waited.

Finally Miranda chuckled. What she said both confused and shocked Eugenia. "Well, it finally makes sense. You're not going to be able to marry him for another seven or eight years give or take. This will keep you more than busy while you wait."

The reason for the shock was obvious. Her mother had noticed her noticing Jason, though she had no idea at all how she'd managed to do it. Eugenia couldn't think of anything at all that would connect the two things; Jason and this position -- whatever it was. Before she could come up with something sensible to say, Miranda forged ahead, "I see that you have some formidable talent with magery, given that you could sneak up on me like that. Should I take it that you unraveled my seeking completely, or only partially?"

Her mother had assumed the expression that had most disconcerted Eugenia throughout her childhood, that of an inquisitor. She fell into the appropriate posture, with her back straight and her arms stiffly down at her sides. She recited the specifications of the seeking as she had read them and then stopped. Her mother disliked, intensely, people who added useless words to what they said.

Miranda stared at her for several seconds then waved her arm toward a chair. "Sit child. Sit. I'm not going to bite. At least I'm not going to bite you. I may kick myself a few times for not noticing your ability, but that will only involve me. It's not your fault that I was an idiot."

She laced her fingers behind her head and leaned back once more. "Where to begin? Well, let's start here and see where it goes. You are of course aware that I collect information for your father, since we made sure from the time you were little that you knew that I was involved in things that are not generally considered womanly. We didn't want you, or your sibs, growing up thinking that your sex should automatically restrict your choices."

Eugenia nodded her agreement, and Miranda continued, "What you didn't know is that a great deal of the information I gather has nothing to do with finance. I won't swear you to silence...that's so cliched. I will however tell you that, by law, if you reveal anything at all of what I'm about to tell you to another living person without my permission, or Blair's, you'll spend the rest of your life in prison."

Miranda nodded at Eugenia's shocked look. "Yes, it's that important. Do you want me to continue? You don't have to do this you know. In many ways I'd prefer that you didn't. Even so I won't stand in your way if you want to see it through. You know what will be required of you, at least in general. Can you see it through? Do you have enough determination to do so?

"You won't be required to continue even once I tell you what's really happening. You'll be allowed to walk away, with the aforementioned stipulation regarding your silence. However, if you DO accept the position, you'll be bound to continue until a month before you marry.

"Operatives who are engaged are usually considered to be more of a liability than an asset, so they are often allowed to 'retire' unless a dire situation arises. (Though some few continue 'working' starting about a year after they're married.) In some cases they are recalled to active duty for the duration of whatever crisis is happening. Afterwards, if they survive, they return to their 'normal' lives.

"Does knowing that help any my dear?"

Eugenia closed her eyes and composed herself, then wrapped herself in silence, but not no-sight. Then she looked inside herself. What she saw was somewhat, though not entirely, surprising. She was scared. Who wouldn't be when their mother mentioned that a "job" that one was considering carried with it a risk of dying. On the other hand, she had especially studied history in school, and she was appalled by how the citizens of some other countries were treated. She'd do anything to keep that from happening here.

That was when she realized what so many others have come to understand over the centuries. If one wishes to maintain one's liberties, one must sometimes fight to keep them. She also reasoned that there was no way in the world that her mother would toss her immediately into a dangerous situation. Her mother was nothing if not thorough. She'd be given some sort of training first.

She dropped her silence and opened her eyes. "Yes Mother, I do believe that I am the person you need. Tell me what I need to do."

Miranda smiled gently at her with pride and some degree of sadness. Her daughter was going to be exposed to a world that most adults had no inkling of, much less children barely into puberty. "First of all we're going to talk to Blair. I'm in charge of gathering information for the Duchess, but Blair's the King's Spymaster. She'll be responsible for your training in your new duties, though I'll be the one working with you in honing your magery."

Miranda waved her hand at Eugenia's surprise, "Yes, I know. Everyone assumes that the King's Spymaster would obviously be with him in the capitol. There is one there, at least he thinks he's in charge. The reality is that he only deals with ferreting out gossip and passing it along. His "network" has as many holes in it as a pasta sieve. Blair has found it useful to drop disinformation through one of those holes now and then.

"Besides, who'd ever suspect that the center of espionage for the entire country would be in a smallish city far to the north? It's been a perfect cover for almost 300 years now. Our, oh, let's call them 'opponents' have never truly realized how rapidly a chain of twins can convey information."

She tapped her cheek with her fan. "Getting back to you, we've never had an agent who could make herself invisible and silent before. Teaching a normal person to, hopefully, move with a minimal chance being seen or heard usually takes a full year."

She grinned at Genie. "Of course that means you'll be working harder on more advanced subjects far sooner than usual. And speaking of subjects, you'll be transferring schools. As soon as spring break is over, meaning the day after tomorrow, you'll be attending Ingvold Academy."

Miranda took no little pleasure in seeing Eugenia spring to her feet and exclaim, "Me! At Ingvold? That school for ultra-smart types who want to be scholars? Why me? Why there?"

"The reasons are several my dear. All Crown Agents need to know as much as possible about every country and principality we have or may have contact with. That requires the study of history, and where better to learn it than at Ingvold? Also, the school is owned outright by Blair and Hiroshi, though nobody knows that, which will make it easier to fit your special classes in with your regular schedule."

Her eyes glittered with veiled amusement, "One of your first requirements will be that you learn enough to place somewhere between 40th and 50th when it's time for you to take your City Exams. Students at Ingvold are expected to do well. However you don't want to do well enough that you draw undue attention from the recruiters nor poorly enough that you are looked upon as not upholding the school's tradition of excellence."

Miranda took a great deal of pleasure in watching a host of emotions flit across Genie's face. Though she might deny it, vigorously, Genie was much like Paolo in that she had a tendency toward laziness. Not nearly as strong as his, but it was there. She was going to have to work harder than she'd ever imagined if she were to become a Crown Agent, and excelling at academics would be a good start at instilling the proper discipline.

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The next two weeks were extremely busy. As soon as spring break ended, Eugenia felt that she was flying through the days. Her parents and Blair Macklin handled the transfer to Ingvold Academy, but she'd had to say goodbye to all her friends and make up a plausible reason for her leaving her current school. Fortunately she had already shown an unusual interest in history, so there was no undue surprise at her leaving. What she hadn't expected were so many comments along the line of: "But don't you have to be smart to go there?"

Following her mother's advice, rather than beating the offenders senseless, she gritted her teeth and smiled at them.

As for the students at Ingvold, that was in some ways both easier and harder. The school had some transfer students at the beginning of every new year; that much was true. But it was also true that it was rare for said transfer student to come from within The City. They usually were from someplace exotic like Ireland or Scandinavia, especially the latter as the school was named after a Norse diety and several of the faculty were from the area

Due to her specialized program, Genie was going to require easy access to a large number of historical and political texts. As she learned almost immediately, hazing of the underclassmen was still ubiquitous, and the upperclassmen tended to monopolize those books, even when they didn't need them. Fortunately for her, there was a solution. As a trainee agent, copies of all of the most important texts were provided by the Crown and were already sitting on a bookshelf in her room. She was required to feign frustration at school, but she was easily able to keep up by referencing what was in her home along with some of the less prized texts at the school library.

Blair Macklin had been exquisitely clear about her duties when they had met, briefly, before one of the final fittings of Sara's gown. "You, child, are expected to do exactly two things right now. The first is to study as if your life depends on it. One day it may. Secondly, you are to find a way to fit in with as many people as possible at school. This is regardless of income, origin, or social class. We need to be honest young lady. You're smart and pretty, but you tend to be more than a bit lacking in tact when you feel compelled to point out others' mistakes.

"You are allowed some help in this. Talk to Sara. Even without our help, she has completely mastered that ability. Someone near your age will be a better teacher in this particular area. However! You may not tell her that this is an assignment."

Blair laughed. "Besides, she probably won't ask. She absolutely loves to help people with their problems. That's one of the reasons she'll make someone training to be a priest such a good wife.

"She'll not need any prompting from you to understand that you're scared and uneasy being in a new school and surrounded by people from different backgrounds than you're accustomed to. As a matter of fact, I recommend that you treat her as a reliable, older sister. She loves you as much as you do her, so that shouldn't require any effort from either of you, right?"

As she left the room, Eugenia found herself bemused. Paolo would be studying to be a priest? Him? Her lazy, good-for-nothing brother? If ever there were a lesson about the world not being like we imagine it to be, here it was.

And then there were their mothers. Her mother and Mrs. Macklin were incredibly different people. Miranda was almost excessively formal and tended to make suggestions that were thinly veiled commands, or outright commands (even though she'd managed to convince herself that she did no such thing). She never raised her voice, but rather overwhelmed any opposition with the force of her personality.

Blair approached things from an entirely different angle. She was all smiles and cuddles, but one somehow always found oneself doing exactly what she wanted. Perhaps it had to do with both her Scottish-Irish ancestry and Hiroshi's Japanese roots. The Irish part opened you up and drew you in, while the Japanese part found exactly the spot to knock you off balance without you knowing it. It was like that thing Mr. Macklin had demonstrated, to her utter fascination, that he called "karate."

Blair had kept Eugenia so busy that she had, as intended, forgotten to ask about who else at the school might be an agent trainee. It probably didn't matter. There were only 56 students in each year of the six year program, as compared to up to 90 at Chapman, so there couldn't be all that many. There couldn't be any younger than she was, could there?

Before she could follow those thoughts any further, Sara escaped from her fitting and pulled Genie along with her. Within moments they were out the door, arm in arm, heading toward the nearest Fukui Patisserie for a mid-afternoon snack and a hearty portion of gossip.

As they headed out, Blair closed the door as she entered the study she shared with her husband Hiroshi. "Well my dear, they're off. How long do you think we should give Genie before we begin her weapons training?"

Hiroshi looked up from the papers he'd been studying. The primary reason that he was only a minor partner in the bank was his need to spend most of his time on the King's business. "Hmmm. I'd say at least six months. Let's hone her social skills first. It's likely that we'll be using her almost exclusively for infiltration and observation, given her unusual talents as a mage. When it does finally come time for weapon's work, I think we should concentrate primarily on small, easily concealable ones, and those that can be disguised as part of her clothing or adornments."

He stretched until you'd almost think that his joints would crack. "But before that.... I think I'll start her on the unarmed techniques immediately. She was most attentive the one time she was present at one of my demonstrations, and it will be less difficult to ease her in by having her start with skills that she's already interested in.

"By the time I've finished with her, she'll be lethal no matter if she's in a formal gown or wearing nothing but her underwear. However, I suspect that it won't ever be necessary for her to put such skills into practice. If she's an apt pupil, she'll be able to accomplish her assignments without anyone, even someone in the same room, suspecting that it was she who was responsible."

Blair nodded. "That sounds good. Let's do it that way. Then after a year we can reassess her progress."

Hiroshi also nodded, then went back to perusing the map before him. He had to get an agent to intercept a messenger on the Rennsteig Trail within the next four weeks, and it was going to be very hard to get his instructions to the agent before then without attracting unwanted attention. One couldn't push one's horse at top speed to the center of the territories controlled by the Germanic princes and hope to be unnoticed. It took time, and substantial fineness. He also needed to get the forged message that the agent needed to exchange for the real one written and ready to go by morning.

He sighed. Such were the demands of his job. One must dispense lies, deceptions, veiled threats, and half-truths judiciously. Use them too much and they aroused suspicion or contempt. Too little and wars could break out. It was a tightrope that required exquisite timing and attention to detail. Fortunately he found nothing else nearly as fulfilling.

It was probably that which led him to organize his daily life according to a fairly rigid schedule. There certainly wasn't anything else he did that obeyed his commands. Knowing that part of one's life went according to plan kept him from total frustration..

(I'm sure that those of you who read the supplementary handouts for this class noticed that what Miranda told Eugenia about Blair wasn't the entire truth. While it was true that Blair was the King's Spymaster, her role involved only the spies within the confines of Italy. It was Hiroshi who was in charge of all operations elsewhere. Each controlled about the same number of agents and each constantly prayed for more. Unfortunately the number of potential candidates was limited. But it had always been that way and probably would be for hundreds of years in the future, so neither of them let it bother them unduly no matter how frustrating it was. For that matter, things are no different today.)