Pirlipat immediately rose from his chair.
"I don''t like this," he declared, narrowing his starry indigo eyes. "I don''t know why you''re here all of a sudden, but—"
He stopped when Layla, the girl, tugged at one of his billowing long white sleeves.
"But they''re like us, Pirli." Her eyes were wide, entreating.
His attention flicked back to her and his expression softened. Still, there was hostility that remained when he looked back to Sorrel. "Not all of them."
"We''re here to help." Sorrel glanced at Delphine, and thought of how the haughty young oracle had regarded her in the same way. "We promise."
Pirlipat pressed his lips together in a thin line, but said nothing as he sank back into his chair.
Layla beamed at them, and beckoned them forward to sit around them. "Don''t mind Pirli, he''s just a little cautious."
"Because you aren''t cautious enough." There was a flicker of a smile though playing at the corners of his lips and in his eyes. "I don''t know what game Katherine is playing, but she''s in over her head."
Sorrel decided to file that comment away for later. She certainly had questions for Katherine to ask when they were alone—just her, Gwynn, and Katherine. The original three girls from Hoffman.
"You''re like us though." Layla repeated the turn-of-phrase and leaned forward on folded arms. "I thought—well, I thought we were the only ones. With the stars in our eyes."
"You know, we all thought about the same thing until recently." Coppelius smiled warmly. "I, for one, am happy to discover that I was wrong."
Pirlipat did not seem so amused, the way that he looked at Coppelius and the rest of the party sidelong, with his hand clenched into a fist on the table.
"Yeah, it''s awesome that we''re all cousins, I mean I knew that there were others, but I never got to see them." Akira perched on one of the chairs awkwardly, throwing his arm along the back and drawing his knees to his chest.
Delphine tilted her head—the new Ondrinas had caught her attention. "How long have you been on Otso?"
"I was raised here." Pirlipat met her eyes—it was a challenging glare. But one that Delphine easily matched. "Layla was raised on Camrar. We didn''t meet up until sometime after the first century."
"How did that happen?" Sorrel wondered aloud. After all. . . no one else has managed to run into each other in a big solar system like this.
Pirlipat and Layla glanced at each other and shrugged.
"When I had managed to outlive my foster parents, I decided to leave Otso behind for a little while." Pirlipat let out a long sigh, drawing it out as a pause. There was something whirring behind his eyes, the clear calculation of the risks. "Camrar is one of the other most academically-accomplished planets within the Society of Worlds. If I were to leave Otso, I thought that to be the best place to go."
"I''d moved around the planet a little by that point, but I still had no idea what I was doing." Layla sighed, causing her bangs to flutter in her face. "We were both attending one of the universities in southern Camrar—" she looked reflexively to Pirlipat, a shadow of uncertainty crossing her face. "You know, I don''t remember which university it was, now that I think about it."
Pirlipat frowned, his expression softening once more when he turned to Layla. "Corinth. We were attending the University of Corinth."
"Makes sense." Layla nodded and smiled, clearly relieved. "Anyway, we met up there, and of course we realized right away—well, whatever we were, that we were the same. Thought it would be better to stick together ever since."
"And so we have." Pirlipat looked back to the group. "But the fact that other than Layla, I''ve never met another one of us, and that there''s no answers. . . I don''t like it."
"Look, neither do I, but times have changed." Delphine leaned forward. "Surely you know of the Spider-Queen?"
Pirlipat visibly stiffened, and even Layla''s bronze skin took on a silvery pallor at the mention.
"You''ve seen her too?" Layla whispered.
"We all have, even us." Sorrel pointed at herself and Gwynn. "And she''s on the move—you''ve heard about what happened to Perrault?"
"That was you?" Layla blinked, eyes wide.
Pirlipat''s eyes took on a hostility again. "Ah. Katherine told us."
He then leaned forward once more, folding his hands into a steeple above the table. "Forgive me, but I have no interest in whatever this is. Layla and I have managed just fine over the last few centuries on our own and we''ve managed not to get dragged into this business. I''d rather stay out of it if I can."
"I understand that." Coppelius slumped in his seat.
"No, no, we do not!" Delphine cried out haughtily, rising out of hers. "What I didn''t understand and what you should is that she''s not letting us stay out of it anymore. I wouldn''t be helping if I didn''t see I have to!"
Sorrel couldn''t help but glare at her.
"I think we''re done here." Pirlipat rose quickly from his chair, throwing it back. He scooped up his books in his arms and threw his satchel over his shoulder. "Come on, Layla, we should go."
"But we don''t even know what they''re doing, Pirli, maybe we could help them?" Layla looked up at him with entreating eyes.
Even with how he softened, there was still a coldness there like the mountains and fjords of Otso or the snows of home.
"Come on."
With that, he turned around, and Layla reluctantly rose from her chair.
"You don''t have to do just what he wants, you know." Sorrel couldn''t help herself from speaking.
"Oh, I know." Layla managed a smile, but there was a sadness to it. "But he''s all I have. Don''t worry—I bet I can convince him. Eventually."
She then grabbed up her own books and bags. She started after Pirlipat a few paces before she abruptly stopped and turned around.
"Good luck on your journey—with whatever you''re doing."
And with that, she was gone.
Sorrel looked to Coppelius. "Well, perhaps we should get going then. I don''t know when Katherine''s going to return, and we have a train to catch."
"That''s probably for the best." Coppelius sighed and rose from his chair. "I just wish I could have gotten to talk to them for longer."
The way he said it reminded Sorrel of what he had told her, when she''d come to his hotel room in Avalon, when she''d had the chance to walk away and she''d done the opposite.
"I don''t want to be alone anymore."Stolen story; please report.
She could see that same vulnerability in him now. So she took his hand as they began to walk out of the Royal Institute''s library so that he would know. He wasn''t alone anymore. Sorrel would make sure of that.
They didn''t get far. Not before a voice called out to Sorrel and Gwynn and the rest of the party in the hallways.
"Oh, where are you guys going?" Katherine Stahlbaum jogged to catch up to them.
"We''ve got to leave for our train, I''m sorry." Sorrel stopped beside her oldest friend. Something about her caught her eye in a new, unexpected way. She hadn''t really noticed it before in her excitement to see Katherine again.
It was in the confidence, the way she held her head up high. It was in the sparkle of her eye. Something had happened to Katherine during her time at the Royal Institute. Sorrel was certain of it.
"I don''t know what Katherine''s up to, but she''s in over her head."
What did Pirlipat know?
"Oh, you can''t leave yet!" Katherine placed a hand on Sorrel''s arm. "Have you seen the alert on the news?"
"No, what''s happened?"
"There''s been an increase in the snow and winds, they''ve delayed the trains for a little bit." Katherine tilted her head. "Why don''t you stay here for dinner? Hopefully the snow should clear by then."
Sorrel turned to Coppelius. The hesitation was clear on his face—along with the recognition that something was off. She could only hope that her eyes were telling him the same.
Then a voice answered—not her own or Coppelius.
"Yes, that sounds like a great idea." Gwynn stepped forward. "Will the staff let us stay?"
"Oh, I''m sure they will." Katherine clasped her hands together. "After all, Professor Drosselmire loves me."
"Professor Drosselmire?" Sorrel repeated.
"The head of the technological sciences department," Katherine explained, as she started to lead them back down the corridors of the Royal Institute. "He''s done a lot of the system''s leading research on automatons and artificial intelligence."
She then glanced over her shoulder and winked. "Now come on, it won''t be long before dinner''s ready!"
<hr>
Gwynn was grateful that the rest of the party followed her and Katherine into the great dining hall of the Royal Institute. It wasn''t that she disagreed that they should be on their way—but she wasn''t going to sit around in a train station waiting for them to start again.
Besides, she wasn''t stupid. Even she could see that Katherine had changed in her time away from Hoffman, from the little backwater world of Perrault. There was the touch of magic there, Gwynn could feel it, like calling to like, to that own spark that now ran like a live wire in her veins.
She wasn''t sure if Sorrel had realized it or not. Maybe she had, but her sister had become quite single-minded ever since Coppelius came crashing into their lives. It was the actions a heroine in the type of stories their father would tell them would take, anything for true love. All with single-minded devotion and nothing to truly stand in the way.
Why did Gwynn feel as if sometimes, she was the obstacle standing in her sister''s way?
She shook her head to make the thoughts go away, the fleeting impulses and imagery of fairytales.
There were greater stakes than whether or not Sorrel and Coppelius were each other''s true loves, or any of that sort of thing. World-ending stakes. She had to focus on those. Otherwise, she''d be stepping off a skyscraper, plunging into unknown territory.
The dining hall gave way to great wooden arches in the ceiling, decorated with streamers that looked like dried flowers and garlands, but were a little too saturated in color to be real. The artificial lights were laid in strips alongside the wooden beams, a mix of the modern and the technological that Gwynn was learning was typical for Otsoan architecture and interior design.
Most of the sleek modern tables were pushed against the wall, three or so long tables set up to stretch over the entire hall, creating the appearance of one impressively long table. A few students were sitting down, waiting for the dinner to come—but by the side door on the opposite end of where Katherine had led them in, what seemed like the entire faculty were gathered and were chattering amongst themselves.
"Well, this is the dining hall, we''re mostly sitting at one table right now since most of the students are away for the holidays." Katherine paused before the long banquet table, her hazel eyes searching for something. She blinked, and then nodded. She clasped her hands together. "There he is! Professor Drosselmire!"
Hanging around the fringes of the cluster was a tall, older gentleman with dark skin and graying hair in a dark blue coat trimmed with bronze details. He looked rather relieved to have a reason to leave the group socializing behind, and so extricated himself over to where Katherine was.
His eyes twinkled as he took in the group. "Ah, Miss Stahlbaum, my dear, I see you''ve brought in your guests, just as you''ve said?"
She knew we were coming.
Gwynn couldn''t be sure, of course. But she had the suspicion nonetheless, and she just somehow knew she wasn''t wrong.
"Yes, some of my old friends from Perrault," Katherine said. "This is Professor Drosselmire, head of the technological sciences."
"It''s lovely to get a chance to meet one of my brightest student''s old friends." Professor Drosselmire smiled warmly. "And it is quite kind of you, to come visit her during the holidays."
His smile faltered and he paused. "I was sorry to hear about what happened to Perrault. Truly a tragedy, an unprecedented event."
His smile resumed. "Well, I hope you are enjoying your visit to Otso and the Royal Institute. You''re not the only guest who came to visit."
"Who else is here?" Gwynn heard Sorrel ask.
Professor Drosselmire looked uncomfortable.
Before he could speak, the crowd parted to reveal an unearthly pale woman, shorter than Gwynn, with dark hair like a raven''s wing in immaculate curls and a dress that was barely whiter than she was. Her eyes glistened like sapphires, with a cold fire about them. On her wrist was a bracelet with diamonds that dripped from them like teardrops—but this was not the sort of woman who cried, Gwynn was certain.
Her lips were painted blood red, and they curled into the polite sort of smile, the kind that held back a thinly-veiled nastiness.
The woman was obviously Annwynese, with a layer of diamond-like freckles over her colorless cheeks and exposed arms.
And with the way her eyes locked onto first Coppelius, Akira, Delphine, and then flicked over to Layla and Pirlipat, Gwynn realized that she was there for them. The Annwynese woman was one of the mages who worked for the Spider-Queen.
"Ah, I see I am not the only guest here." Her voice was a beautiful, high-pitched sound like a flute, melodic in its rhythm.
The loveliness only put Gwynn more on-edge.
"Ah, yes, Katherine Stahlbaum brought some friends from. . .err, Perrault." The gentleman in green next to the woman coughed awkwardly. "Lady Isolde, perhaps we could take our seats then?"
"I suppose we shall." Isolde''s eyes lingered on Coppelius once more, and her blood-red smile curled up into a triumphant smirk.
As they sat down at the long table, Gwynn could not help but think of Versailles. She almost missed him.
<hr>
The dinner passed in near-tense silence. Katherine and Professor Drosselmire had attempted to make conversation on their section of the very-long banquet table, but Sorrel picked at her food. Her stomach turned too much to consider anything other than the steaming mug of cider.
And even that had a bitter taste, a reminder that it wasn''t her mother''s cider, that this wasn''t home, that this wasn''t the Bonfire Night festival. She realized, looking at Lady Isolde, that because of the Annwynese invasion that she wouldn''t get to experience Bonfire Night at home this year.
Maybe she never would again.
Sorrel forced herself to down more of the cider. It wasn''t this specific woman''s fault, after all. Not all the Annwynese should have to answer for the crimes of their empire, after all. But she didn''t like how the woman had looked at Coppelius. And she''d caught the diamond bracelet on her wrist.
Sorrel wondered if Coppelius had sensed it. She suspected he hadn''t, though, because otherwise he or Delphine might have protested more at staying here.
She''d have to ask him afterwards.
In order to dispel some of the awkwardness, Professor Drosselmire had excused himself to bring out one of his inventions. He''d brought in a mechanical ballerina, resting in an eternal tiptoe, arms reaching up to the sky.
The ballerina looked like an expensive doll, the type that the twins would receive on holidays from well-meaning distant relatives and that Sorrel would pass off to Gwynn when the adults weren''t looking, for Gwynn liked that sort of thing more. Her dress was dark blue, with silver stitching like stars and constellations in the layers of deep blue tulle.
The professor started her with a remote, and hurried back to his seat. As the ballerina began to move in startlingly-lifelike grace, Layla and Pirlipat came to attention. Pirlipat in particular was watching the ballerina carefully, a strange shadow crossing his face as he did so.
While the faculty murmured their admiration, Lady Isolde merely watched with folded hands, her gaze un-blinking.
"You know, my grandfather saw a perpetually-moving automaton once." Professor Drosselmire spoke in a low, conspiratorial tone as they watched the mechanical ballerina dance.
"Did he now?" Pirlipat raised an eyebrow as he raised the crystalline goblet to his lips.
"It was during the Open House when he was still a student at this very school." Professor Drosselmire reclined in his seat and folded his hands in his lap. "There was a young pair of inventors, cousins, I believe, and they made a pair of dancers, much like this one. Once they started the keys, they first danced with their automatons. Then for forty days and nights, long past the end of the Open House, the automatons danced together with no sign of tiring. I believe nearly everyone who visited the city saw it."
He frowned as he then regarded his own creation. The ballerina''s movements were starting to slow, to become less fluid and betray her mechanical origins.
"The most peculiar part was the inventors'' requirement for viewing their creation," Drosselmire added. "The inventors did not want their names recorded, nor did they want their creation photographed. After the end of their demonstration, both the invention and the inventors disappeared. No one knows where they went, or what happened to them."
Sorrel turned to share a glance with Coppelius, and he nodded, leaning his head ever-so-slightly toward where Pirlipat and Layla sat.
"I''m sure it was beautiful," Pirlipat murmured, something sorrowful about his gaze on the ballerina.
"I heard it was." Professor Drosselmire sighed as the mechanical ballerina halted to an abrupt stop, returning to her tiptoe resting position once more. "I had hoped she would finish her routine more gracefully. But nothing lasts forever, does it?"
"I guess not," Sorrel said, as she looked at Pirlipat.