《Parallel Lives》


 The Clinic

    Today is the day.


    Mom told me about the Symbiote a week ago, while handing me a text-chip on all the legal crap I''ll need to know for the rest of my life. A whole 3 Terabytes of solid text files worth of legal documents, contracts, laws, treaties, as well as moral codes that various countries or organizations have imposed on those of us who have symbiotes.


    Some things are obvious, like being legally responsible for any act performed by the symbiote. Some are not so obvious, like the requirement of most churches that the symbiotes must remain outside of the sanctuaries of their temples. The only exception to this is the Jewish Reform Synagogues, in which the symbiotes are encouraged, not mandated, to take active roles in the temple. Their belief is that because the symbiote is still the person, then they can divide their time between the temple, and their daily lives to better help their communities.


    There are also some basic general things, like the symbiote is a living body, and needs food just like the real one does, and although it is genetically engineered, it still has sweat glands, reproductive organs, and the like, its literally another body.


    About half a gigabyte worth of the documentations are the legal equivalent of ''cover your ass'' documents; stating that if something is found wrong with the symbiote medically, the organization who made it can only be liable if the end user can prove that the condition existed before it was activated.


    There were also several treaties that stated whenever heads of state met together, their symbiotes would be the ones in the same room rather than their actual bodies; for security purposes, of course.


    Reading that much information in the short amount of time before my visit to the hospital to activate the one designed for me, really gave me a headache. I am still seeing floating words in my dreams because of it.


    In a few hours time, when I am legally declared an adult, my symbiote will be activated; however I will be in surgery, getting the control chip implanted so that my brain waves will control it as well.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    [a few hours later]


    "Doctor, are you sure you lost it?"


    "Yes; because there wasn''t ever a connection between her, and her symbiote, she will be able to connect to a different one in due time; but her memory chips are reading that she connected to one, but there is no response to hers."


    "Doctor, the eyes are twitching, we have a response." a nurse behind me calls out.


    "What?" I turn around in time to see the symbiote next to my patient open her eyes, and I dash to her side. "Can you tell me your name?" I say quickly, while checking her pupil dilation response. She answers quickly, and all noise in the room stops with her response, the name is not the name of the patient in the bed next to her; but rather the one in the room next door.


    "Noel Jude Lavender."


    the nurse who noticed the eyes twitching ran out of the room and I saw her figure run through the hall toward the Lavender room. A few seconds later, she comes back, still running.


    "Sir, its confirmed; its a sym-switch. The first one in three hundred years."


    "Maggie, its worse than that." I look at her, then pull her outside the door, waiting for it to close. "its a lot worse than just a sym-switch. This is a first even among them. This is the first time that the switch occurred with people of differing genders, let alone social classes."


    "what does social class have to do with it?" Maggie obviously understood the first problem, but wasn''t told who the patient in my room was.


    "Maggie. That girl, she is the next Empress; the patient today was Natillia De Caledon." at saying the public name of the girl on the table, Maggie paled. Finally understanding just how bad this was.


    We now had two hours before the hosts woke up from the anesthesia; and no way to revert the signals. They were, now, permanently stuck with each other''s symbiotes.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    My mind had been awake for a while, the doctors had been doing tests on the sym, and had moved me and a girl into the same room. She was cute, but I couldn''t get over the idea that I had seen her before, but that would be impossible. I would never forget meeting someone like her.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    They showed her to my sym, and had me watch her bed being placed in the room with me, saying that they did it so that I wouldn''t be startled when my host body woke up. There was a curtain in the hallway blocking my view further down, and they told me that her sym was on the other side of the curtain, so that I wouldn''t try to peek.


    I was relegated to a wheel chair for the time being, and was taken to a room with a bunch of equipment, and the lady in the room started having me move the sym, and do simple exercises while still in the chair, I was then pushed back to the room, and put behind the curtain. I heard them rolling the other sym out, and twenty minutes later, they came back.


    About that time, the anesthesia wore off, and I began to stir. A minute or two later, I heard the blankets move across the room from me, and glanced up, the beauty was awake as well.


    "Good, you are both awake." a doctor''s voice boomed through the room before she could say whatever was obviously about to come out of her mouth. "there was a complication with your syms." the doctor started, we both looked at him. "there is no easy way to tell you two this, but your syms, the ones you paid for; didn''t connect to you, instead, they connected to the person across the room from you. We call this a sym-switch." as it looked like the girl was going to interrupt, his voice got louder, and his glare more pointed, as though he wouldn''t accept being interrupted right now. "as the connections were fully accepted by the symbiote, and full connectivity has been proven, we can not disconnect you from the sym you connected to without also reminding you that we will not be able to attempt to connect you to the sym you paid for." he took a huge breath, and huffed like it was a lot of work off of his shoulders saying that much.


    "now for the hard part." he started once again. "you two will need to learn a lot of things, especially about each other over the next two weeks, which is how long you two have to stay here, but if you read even half of the documents given to you, then you already knew that. the reason is;" he turned to her, "your sim is a male, and as such, things such as walking, and hygine issues, will be new experiences for you." he then turned to me, and following the conversation, I could gather what was about to come out of his mouth. "as for you, you will not only have to learn about the medical and hygine aspects of having a female sym, but also eittiquite, and dress. lucky for you, you have the perfect teacher." he said while gesturing to her. "now, I am not allowed to introduce the two of you to each other, as medical regulations prohibit me from doing so. so let me leave you two with this: this is the first sym-switch in three hundred years, and the first one ever where reversed genders were involved, worse yet, the myriad of issues that will come of the nature of this switch." he said while looking at her, I am guessing she knew what he was talking about with this, he finished what he was saying without looking away from her. "as mad as I know I would be in this situation, there isn''t anything we can do about it, except to tell you that you need to train this person, so that what he does, doesn''t come back on you, getting mad at him for things that aren''t his fault aren''t going to help him learn what he needs any faster; and your own embarassment of him knowing everything about the female body that was meant to look just like you, isn''t going to help either. she is just as much a part of him, as he is of you." and with that, he closed the door as he left the room. leaving the two of us alone, in silence.


    "Natillia, my friends call me Tia. since we are going to be spending a lot of time with each other, call me Tia." I could tell she was mad, but at least it didn''t seem like it was directed at me.


    "ah, I''m Noel." I looked over to the curtain, and wheeled out the sym that I knew I was connected to, and sitting in the chair was a perfect replica of her. it wasn''t a lie. I sat and watched as the sym my parents had gotten for me rolled out behind the other curtain.


    "At least you aren''t ugly." she said somberly. "okay. this is going to be exceptionally embarassing, unless we do something stupid, rash, and immediate." I looked at her, wondering what was going through her mind. her sym undid the straps on the wheel chair holding him in place, and then did the same for mine.


    helping me out of the chair, I felt the weight on my chest that must be part of the medical things I needed to learn about.


    "if you agree to this, there is no turning back." he said to me.


    "I have no idea what you are planning." I said through the sym, playing along with the game she seemed to be playing. as I said that, I watched the figure of myself, get down on one knee, and the girl across the room giggled at my surprise.


    "Take me as your wife." the girl said through her giggles.


    "Miss, I just met you, I have no idea who you are, and just the fact that you asked is exeptionally flattering."


    "so, thats a yes? if you say yes now, then it will be much easier. if you only say yes after figuring out who I am, then I''m afraid I will have to say, publicly, that this conversation never happend, as well as have you locked in a room for the rest of your life." something about the way she said it, made me think that she wouldn''t hesitate to do it, and at the same time, the prospect of doing just that was frighting to herself, but her resolve was set.


    "Fine. !''ll agree, on one condition." she looked like she was about to explode in anger. "you let me finish school. something about the way you said that tells me that unless I put my foot down about this, it won''t happen. I''ll commit myself, and my sym to you, for the rest of our lives, as long as I can finish school."


    "Deal." she smiled. "My legal name is Natillia Susan Rhodes." I knew that name, "the name I am most known by, however, is Natillia De Caledon."


    Shit.


    I watched as her sym; my form, walked out of the room, wearing no more than a hospital gown, so I had my sym follow him. he went to the nurse''s desk, stated that he wanted the parrents of both people in the room, to come back for a visit. Ten minutes later, there was an uproar in the hospital, as my parrents were told that I was engaged to the Empress-heir, and an even bigger one when her mother, Empress Matilda, brought in a catholic priest to marry us right then.


    They didn''t even care that the syms got switched, only that they got a cute daughter-in-law.

 House of Glass

    Its been two weeks since my sixteenth birthday. I have gotten used to controlling the female sym, and have almost completely stopped the social taboos that, as a guy, I didn''t have to worry about. Tia on the other hand, has been keeping my form as a super-formal butler. he barely even talks, where she has practically beat me into talking constantly through Ria, which is what we decided to call my Sym. Her butler, she just calls him Grey.


    There were a few things that took some getting used to; first, since Tia is my wife now, she insisted that she help me bathe, as well as teach me how to take care of Ria''s body. So instead of a private bath; we bathe together, and even though we are married, and have bathed together, seen every part of each other, we still haven''t done any ''adult'' things. its difficult to get in the mood when I have to deal with Tia, Ria, and Grey all in the bathroom at the same time.


    I had no idea how much crap women had to go through. first it was making sure that everything was clean, then, how to take care when going number two, so that the other part didn''t get infected; then the undergarments. my god, the undergarments.


    Bras, panties, corsettes, teddies, slips, shapewear, sleepwear, casual wear, skirts, dresses, formal gowns, those were just to start. Forcing me to learn dancing, for both me and Ria, just so I wouldn''t embarass the family, she got mad a few times, and I''d have to say that I deserved it every time.


    The first one, I definately deserved. Ria sat down at a table, while wearing a knee length skirt, like an athlete wearing shorts. Tia had chosen white panties for Ria just in case this happened, I got beat for a solid three minutes in the hospital cafeteria for that. Definately deserved. It was much easier to sit with the knees together with Ria, that it was with myself, the muscles didn''t hurt as much, and it wasn''t the most comfortable position, but I can''t call it uncomfortable either, so I was taught to place my feet to one side or the other of the chair when I sat with Ria. I haven''t made that mistake again.


    The exagerated mannerisms that come naturally to females is still a work in progress, and even Tia said that it will take a while. Their way of speech, their sing-song nature, it will take a lot longer.


    Today, though, is a unique day: its release day. Because its release day, that means the four of us will be leaving, through the front doors.


    The reporters, having already been told about our marrage, have been non-stop reporting on my past, and my lineage back six generations, for the past week and a half, it took four days for the information to leak, but once it did, the Empress was asked pointedly about it at a live press conference, since she wasn''t about to lie about it, its gotten quite embarassing. Of course, the fact of the sym-switch was also revealed, but that wasn''t released until yesterday.


    The family is basically playing it as though Tia and I were secretly dating for the past year, even fabricating photographs of us at places near my house. Whenever the question pops up about how we supposedly met, Mother, she insists I call her that, tells the reporters, that she didn''t think it appropriate to ask her daughter, nor would she ask. In other words, she gave us a week to come up with a story on our own.


    Basically, we decided on a story where she ditched her bodyguards, and got lost walking around the maze-like residential streets in my neighborhood, where I found her; led her to a street she recognized, where we exchanged numbers, and seperated. And, of course, when we told Mother about the story, she helped us polish up some details, such as me not realizing who Tia was until we got told about the sym-switch, which strangely is the only truthful part of the whole thing.


    "Noel." I hear Grey call. "You need to apply makeup to Ria before we leave."


    "Can''t Tia do it?" I say trying to get out of it.


    "Absolutely not!" she yells from the bathroom. "Because of my duties, I will not be able to be there and help you with every single thing about girls that you want to ignore. you have to learn how to do it on your own." I can tell she is concentrating putting her own makeup on, and isn''t done. "and, if you say that she can go without makeup, I will, honestly, yell at you about it again."


    yeah, that was the second time she got mad. I didn''t get hit by her, she had grey do it, but apparently going to the canteen wearing only pajamas, and the evening''s mud-mask was a bad idea. I know I deserved that one, because I only realized when Ria got back why all the guys were staring, those PJs were rather sheer, and honestly, her body is definately a good shape, at least to me.


    I look at myself in a mirror through Ria''s eyes, and start braiding my Walnut colored hair into a spiral, so that the waist length hair is currled into a flat bun, the brass hair comb that was sitting on Tia''s dresser made a nice addition, and held the end in place nicely.


    with the hair out of the way, I checked the undergarments in the top drawer for the right size, apparently, Ria''s size was slightly smaller than Tia''s so I had to find a Bra that had 34B instead of 34C on the tag. damn, why does a guy need to know this kind of crap. at least the other garments were the same, so I grabbed a violet sundress, and threw it on just as Tia came out of the bathroom.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Hair, approved, wear flats with that dress, and find a full slip to go under it." she corrected, then continued to get ready. "your sense is getting better, those first few days were horrible."


    I had just finished tying Grey''s bow-tie, and walked over to grab the slip for Ria when Tia came into my view, she had walked by Ria so fast that I hadn''t seen her. I stopped moving.


    "What?" she looked at me befuddled. "What''s wrong? do I have something on my face?" she quickly glanced in the mirror that Ria had used for her hair.


    "Quite the oppisite." I said honestly. the brown, and orange eye shadow she had chosen to wear made her emerald green eyes stand out all the more, her fair skin in contrast to the thick walnut hair she wore in a loose bun, it was like I was seeing Aphroditie herself, decend. "Natillia, you are beautiful." I said plainly.


    "Thats the first time you have called me by my name." she said, I felt Grey hit me on the back side of my head. "thats for lying to me." she said, but I knew she was kidding. After all, it wasn''t as hard as grey hit me for the Pajamas in the canteen incedent, yeah, that was bad. Ria should have worn a robe.


    I quickly helped Ria finish the leaving prep, and watched as Tia''s staff of maids decended upon the room, and cleared out all the personal effects for the four of us. I had to stop one as she almost ran off with my shoes as I was about to put them on. I did have to ask one to bring a pair of flats for Ria, because they had all disappeared.


    my parrents came in, as the last maid left, and dad handed me his cuff-links, the ones he wore every year at the family gathering.


    "Noel, these are yours now." he started. "my dad gave them to me after I married Christina," he shook mom''s shoulder. "now, that you are married, they are yours. and in our family, they mark you as the head of your house. so although, you married into the the matriachy, you are still the head of house."


    "Thanks Dad." I gave him a hug, and kissed mom on the cheek. Mom then approached Tia.


    "Natillia," mom held out a small wooden box that I recognized. it was mom''s bracelet that I had only ever seen her wear twice. at my older sister''s wedding, and at her funeral. "This may not be up to the standards you are used to. but it is a family tradition for the Lavender women to wear this for formal occasions." mom opened the case, and the purple stones that were the same color as our namesake glistened in the artifical light. A small pendant hung off of the chain, I had never gotten a close look at it, but I was told that it was something that only the women of the family needed to worry about.


    "Mom," she said refering to my mom, "has this always been in your family?" her eyes never left the bracelet.


    mom lifted the wooden insert that held the bracelet, and set it on the end-table, then took out a piece of paper, showing it to Tia. "This page gets each new name written on it. each name represents the generation that recieves it, there are 43 names on it. yours included."


    "Dear god." she said, tearing up. I quickly used Ria to grab a hankerchief, and dab her eyes so she didn''t ruin her makup, to which Tia giggled. "Do you have any idea what this is?" she said with a smile on her face.


    "its a family heirloom, one that has been passed to every Lavender male''s first wife."


    "its a relic, mom. there is no gift that could possibly be better to give. especially to a member of the royal family. with this, even if Noel brought nothing else to the marraige, this is a dowlry that I could never, even with a hundred years of double taxes, be able to repay."


    Tia took a small stone, that looked like polished quartz, and touched the pendant with it, and a small hologram formed inside the cyrstal.


    "This, is an invaluable relic of the kingdoms that existed before the empire. at the very least, your family is a descendant of a noble house of one of those kingdoms, and this is your proof of heritiage." Tia said to her. "once the geneology is confirmed with our records... " she seemed to think better of what she was about to say, then gave mom a hug, and kissed dad on the cheek. "no matter what else happens, I will let you know the results of the search." she commited as she put the bracelet on herself, Ria helped me with my cuff links, as I had seen mom help dad with them so often, I couldn''t figure out how to put them in myself.


    "Are we all ready?" Mother barges in, and in mock disappointment, continues, "and I was hoping to catch a partially indecent scene." to which she promptly grins.


    "Mom, if you are expecting grand-children already, you are in for more disappointment." Tia says through her embarassment, while holding the bracelet at eye level to get a closer look at the pendant.


    "Natillia Lavender," Mother starts, "Please tell me that bracelet isn''t what I think it is."


    "Its the proof of lineage for the Lavender family." she says.


    "I''ll never be able to prepare a comparable dowlry to that." Empress Matilda said with a pale face.


    "its worn by the first wife of the eldest male, and has been for at least 42 generations, Natillia, being 43rd." Dad says to her. "if its a question of dowlry, we still haven''t decided what would be suitable either. the bracelet became hers as soon as they married."


    "your name may be Lavender, but I recognize that bracelet. there was only one ever mentioned in the archives of the kingdoms. you are a noble house, hidden for all these generations. you are the lost house, the House of Glass."


    Tia stopped moving and looked at me as though seeing me for the first time. "The House of Glass, you mean the house that created... "


    "Enough!" Mother shouted at Tia. "you wearing that, means you are now a member. For the first time since the founding of the empire, the House of Glass has been found, I will have a terrible headache for the next month dealing with the reporters. For now, lets set that asside, we have to deal with the reporters for another reason, and a joyous one. So lets go conduct the Lavender''s public debut."


    As she said that, she turned to leave, a mannerism that Tia uses as well, to say that she will not accept an argument. Grey and Ria lead ahead of myself and Tia, with my parrents trailing behind. several questions seem to be on their faces, but even they aren''t willing to question the Empress at the moment.

 After the Debut

    Seriously? I married into the House of Glass. The famed house that led the rebellion against the empire''s founding, the ''Lost House''; the ''House of Arms'', the only noble house, of the sixty kingdoms that became the Empire, that was belived to be completely wiped out due to their fervency against the empire.


    But most importantly, the house that created the hyperdrive that led to the creation of the empire in the first place, not to mention the abundant amount of relic weapons in the palace''s vault, every one of them made by the House of Glass. I am now Nattilia Susan Lavender, publicly I am still Natilia De Caledon, however, even that name may change soon; to Natillia Ra Glass. GAH! Names are confusing. I''ll probably stress to the vultures to not use the Ra Glass name.


    Honestly, I fully expected Noel to reject the proposal, I mean we just met; but I would need to keep that sym close, as its my likeness, and I couldn''t afford the bad publicity that could come with her getting out.


    But who would have guessed that that, social clutz, was this generation''s patriarch. My data cyrstal pulled 130 names out of the family crest pendant, adding to the 43 names written on the paper in the box, that is 173 generations worth of matriarchs. figuring twenty years per generation as an average, thats 3460 years, take twenty years off because I just got the bracelet, that still puts this at least two hundred years older than the empire. A relic indeed.


    As we left the hospital, the vultures descended, so I am guessing the ones close enough got a photograph of the crest on the bracelet, and will be hunting down the source. Mom is going to have a lot to deal with, in additon, Noel has been going to an engineering school that is publicly funded. not even a private institution. With everything around him now, thats going to be difficult, especially since it was his one condition for marrying me. I have to let him continue school.


    Sitting in the Lev, on our way to a trusted resturant, so that we can be seen in public, I told mom that we had to let him finish his school, and mom quickly agreed. With his family in a second Lev, I was able to talk with her more freely about what all of this meant, and how we could fulfill my promise to him.


    Afterall, I took away his desicion to marry for love, and once this gets out, it will just increase the public''s view that this is a match for politics. We will have to curb this, luckily mom knows how to do it, and not offend many people.


    I did learn something new though, Noel has a six year old niece, I met her as Grey got into their Lev. Ria is with them too, as I said I needed to talk with mom privately about something. Apparently he had an older sister, but she passed away six years ago, from a problem with a heart valve, while giving birth to little Ashley. Her husband was stabbed the next day, leaving Ashley an orphan.


    when we got to the resturant, Noel had Ria carry Ashley in, the little blonde haired girl stood in stark contrast to the darker haired family. Noel''s blue-grey eyes seemed to pierce through me as his eyes swept past me, and Ria''s emerald eyes watched Ashley closely, almost like a sister would. The love in that family is abundant.


    All of this coming to light, and seeing him like this makes me wish I hadn''t trapped him with my words, but what is done, is done, and its all legal now, well except for the consumation, which niether of us were comfortable doing in the hospital.


    About half way through the meal, the first camera truck arrived at the resturant, and snapped pictures. I made sure to have my wrist where the pale lavender gemstones would show prominantly to the camera. Any reporter with brains will research the bracelet and pendant. The hard part is purposefully showing the bracelet, while making it look as though I am not concerned about it in the slightest.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Noel''s mom seemed to understand that this was a forced photo op on Mom''s part after a few times of me feeding Noel at the table, and Ria doing the same to Grey. I leaned in to whisper to Noel, and ended up kissing his cheek instead, but either way, the reporters got their shot.


    now, I am in the bathroom, alone. For the first time in two weeks, I am completely by myself; but the biggest issue, is that I am at Noel''s house. Noel came in, washed my back, and left, saying that he thought I would appreciate the privacy for a little while, and he would come in once I was done.


    In all this time, these past two weeks, I''ve done nothing more than beat him, use him, yell at him, and do my best to teach him how to not abuse my image with Ria; and he still does this. I pretty much forced him into all of this, and he still considers my feelings.


    I think I fell for my husband today.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Tia seemed exhausted after the day''s events, so I washed her back, and let her relax by herself in the bathroom. we all need some privacy some times. I feel Grey''s presence enter my room, and I see him through Ria''s eyes as she sits at the desk in my room.


    "Have the sleeping arrangements been decided?" he asks.


    "Mom said that Grey and Ria will have their own rooms in the basement, and I am to share this room with Tia." I told him.


    "Wouldn''t it be better if You and Tia took one of the rooms in the basement?" he asks.


    "No. Mom''s reasoning is that Ashley''s room is down there. If we were to make too much noise with, ''night activities'' as she put it, then she would have to answer questions from Ashley she doesn''t want to deal with. So Tia and I are in my old room."


    "Noel." Grey seemed uncomfortable, I could tell Tia was pushing herself for something. "are you mad at Tia for this?"


    "...Mad at you?" I looked at Grey''s face, my face, looking to see what expression Tia was using right now.


    "forcing you to marry Tia, taking away your chance at love, berating you every day, practically beating basic ettiquite into you."


    I chuckled at her question. "Grey, I know Tia is behind you, so I will just talk straight to her, even though its rude." I stood up, and looked myself in the eyes. "Tia, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. the last two weeks has been a roller coaster of crap. excitement about getting my own Sym; my parrents bought one for me before they even got one themselves, finding out I was in a sym-switch, realizing that my sym was a georgous girl based off of you, being taught how to dance by that girl, being taught things that I had never even thought of, dealing with a girl''s body, social norms I thought nothing of until all of this happend. all of it was possible because of you Tia. its all come to fruition and come to this point, because of my wife, Natillia Susan Lavender."


    using Ria, I gave Grey a hug, I still wasn''t comfortable hugging myself, even if it was Tia on the other side. Grey nodded a few times, a mannerism I had used frequently over the past two weeks, and then turned to leave.


    "I''ll ask Mom where my room is, and head to bed. Your next semester classes start Monday, I''ll let you get ready, I am almost done with the bath by the way, bring Ria in with you, so your back can get scrubbed well."


    I''ll be damned, she paid enough attention to know when my classes start back up.


    I did what she told me to, and made sure both of my backs were clean, had Ria shave her legs, while I shaved my face of what little hair I could grow, and soaked in the tub for a while. when I got out, I made sure to do a proper job of wrapping Ria with a towel, as well as fresh undergarments, and used Mom''s hair dryer to make sure the hair was completely dry before sending her downstairs for the night.


    when I walked into my room, Tia layed in my bed, wearing only a towel covering her hair. Of course I didn''t know that until I climbed under the blanket to go to sleep, but it wasn''t long before I did.


    before the sun rose, we offically became adults.

 Vultures

    It is Monday.


    I spent all of yesterday getting everything ready to go back to classes, as well as get Ria ready for school, simply because she has to come with me.


    As with most colleges, part time jobs are not allowed, and those of us with Syms must keep them in the classroom with us; as the school doesn''t want our attention divided. Since the particulars of my Sym was released to the public, there are certain cases that the school has told me that my Sym is to not be next to me. At first, I thought ''well that''s obvious'' but now that the first day of the new semester is here, I am in kind of a panic about it.


    Ria, being a female, still has to use the female restroom, which means that, although I am not going in there, as a male, I am still going into one of the three forbidden domains of women. I didn''t think about it much when Ria had to use the restroom at the resturant the other day, but girls from my college weren''t in there gossiping about the guys, which is kind of likely on my campus.


    Ria, is also required to use the girl''s locker rooms. I don''t think a married man needs to say anything more about this.


    and 3rd, Ria is required to attend the female-only health classes, while I am required to be in the male-only health classes. this one, I completely understand; but it is still embarassing.


    So, while they are obvious restrictions, they still can carry unforseen consequences and embarassments.


    Tia did help me get Ria ready today, as she said there would be a lot of reporters around the school''s entrance, trying to get images of me with Ria, so we made sure the uniform was completely within the school code, checking measurements twice, and that Ria had everything she needed for the health checkup that would take place immediately after class assignments today.


    there wasn''t a single reporter around my house at all. I was told that it was because Mother had put a ''no broadcast'' order out for anything within three blocks of the house, so that we could have some privacy. this didn''t stop reporters from coming down the street, or usng photos of the house that were taken before the order was made; but it did stop them from taking any further video or photos. if an agency was caught purchasing photos or video that was made after the order, they risk their whole channel being shut down. because of that, there is no market for scalpers, so those guys aren''t even here.


    the four of us piled into an old style carraige that was powered by steam, instead of the modern Levs, and made our way to my school. when we got there, the four of us got out, I was kissed on the cheek by Tia, while she corrected my tie as a show for the cameras, then corrected Ria''s neck-tab; that actually needed it, and Grey helped her back into the car, while I entered the school grounds with Ria.


    I was kind of suprised at how civilized the reporters were being; when we left the hospital, they weren''t being nearly as calm as this.


    The semester''s entrance ceremony was as bland as ever, the most notable point was only when we were told where our class assignments for the semester were located on campus. They were never put up, or released, until this line of the Dean''s speech was said, and it was the last line of his speech. This semester the schedules, for my name group, was located on the bulletin board next to the Dean''s office.


    People practically made way for Ria, while I was getting shoved out of the way. It was definately an odd feeling. having one body jostled, and pushed away from where I wanted to go; and the other having space open up around it like a decending angel had forced people out of their way. finally I got tired of it, and had Ria reach out and grab my arm, pulling me into the space around her, the space then shank, but not by much. I used her to check the schedule itself, while I hung back from the crowd a bit, she was able to check far faster than I had ever been able to.


    buildings on campus were given letters, each building had four floors, and each floor had thirty class rooms, the only exceptions were the administration building, the stadium, and the gymnasium which only housed four class rooms, two locker rooms, and two shower rooms. the stadium building, which housed several sports courts, for tennis, badmitten, vollyball, as well as two different game pitches; as well as two male, and two female locker rooms with combined shower rooms. one pair was on the side of the stadium that students rarely used, and was considered as use for the visiting teams we competed against. the admin building was only the offices, as well as the cafeteria, there were no restrooms in the admin building, so the school staff could almost always bee seen around campus. you never knew when the Dean was on a bathroom break, or he was going to speak to a teacher or student.


    the Stadium was Bulding A, the Gym building B, with the class room buildings being C, D, E, F, G, and H, and the administrative building, was building I, every time a new building is built, the admin building gets the new letter; so that its always the last letter used. this was done so that new students couldn''t be fooled into going to a building that didn''t exist.


    my classes were to be held in building D, floor 3, room 7. Which is in between the admin building, and the gym, where the guy''s health checks were going to be held; where Ria would have to walk across the campus to the stadium. We went into the room, and sat down, since my name was on two different seats, one behind the other, I had Ria sit in the seat in front of me. it looked like there were two other people in the class that had syms.


    "miss, that seat is reserved for Noel Lavender." a young man came in and told Ria. I didn''t recognize him, but he obviously recognized that she wasn''t me.


    "I am Noel." I said to him. "she is fine, I think you need to find your seat."


    he clicked his tounge and walked to the other side of the room, sitting down in a seat that the board had marked for a Barney Du Rose. marking him as a head of a noble house. so he should have recognized her, as well as me, without coming over here. ah, I get it. it was a ruse to get me to notice him, as well as to acertain wether or not Ria was Tia. decent ploy. I see why Tia was so relieved that I didn''t know who she was.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    a few minutes later, a balding man, appearing to be in his mid to late fourties, walked in.


    "Hello class." he said as he set the old style brown briefcase on his desk, he pulls out a thick stack of paper, and begins handing one to each student as he walked, skipping only the second student when two seats had the same name. "I am your teacher for the next four months. welcome to my class. you will find that it is not all sunshine and roses here, because I am going to test your mind, as well as your own crafting abilities with practical exams. in my class, its not enough to know and understand the process at an academic level, I want each of you to understand these processes by doing them, and completing the tasks I assign. here is the class sylabus, as well as what you will require to purchase for your own home, in terms of equipment, as well as the bare minimum supplies to pass my class. please note, I said ''pass my class'' not ''get a good grade.'' this materials list, if fully exhausted, only at the end of the semester will net you an overall score of a D- in my class." since Ria and I were on the front row, away from the door, we were the last two to get our sylabus, but it was obvious as to why he had put us there. "Mr. Lavender," he said looking at me, "I know the headmaster and the Dean have both duscussed with you your conduct reguarding your sym on campus, as I was just informed of the situation, I am unsure of what you discussed." I nodded, to which he went back up to the front of the class.


    he then had us do our self introductions, again, with myself and Ria being last.


    "I am Noel Lavender, I am an applied engineering student, in my second year. This is my Sym, please refer to her as Ria to distinguish between myself and her." at saying that, I had Ria stand, and give a proper curtsy to the class. "as with everyone else, are there any questions for me?"


    I got a few innocuous questions at first, the same stuff everyone else had been asked, like hobbies, any projects I was working on, what I thought I could get out of this class; then one of the girls stood up, and by the look on her face, I had a feeling I knew what was comming.


    "Noel, if Ria is your sym, where are you planning on changing clothes for gym class, or things like that?"


    I sighed at the question I knew was coming. "I have been told by the Dean that I am to use the male facilities, and she is to use the female facilities. if ''peeking'' is what you are worried about, I am married, and to the guys in the class, no I won''t help you get any information on the girls. at any rate, the girls locker room will have a curtained area in one of the corners for her to use, so as to alleviate any concerns to the girls of me attempting to ''sneak a peek.'' I have been told that it will be near the door, and the curtain extend so that I could enter and exit freely without being a bother."


    this seemed to satisfy her, but then the next person to stand up was a guy, and I could guess where this question was going too. "so if she is your sym, could you let us touch her?" the lewd look on his face told me it wasn''t a normal ''touch''.


    "one, absolutely not; two, even though the sym is female, she is still me. I feel every sensation she does, and quite honestly, I don''t know how I would feel having a guy touch me in the way you are talking about; nor do I wish to find out."


    another female stands, and asks a question I don''t expect. "What is your wife''s name?" she asks. I was told to give Tia''s public name if this question was asked.


    "Natillia Du Caledon" I looked at the teacher, as the class looked at me with strange looks, "is this enough of the questions?" I asked him.


    "you are the young man who married the Empress-heir?" the teacher asked me.


    "Yes." I told him, as I sat down.


    the guy from earlier had a smug look on his face. before anyone else could say anything, the bell for the lunch period rang, and everyone headed out to the admin building, where the cafeteria was located.


    "Don''t forget, after lunch, head directly to the health-check locations." the teacher called out over the noise of everyone moving.


    I noticed a few of the guys trying to corner Ria, and it looked like a few of the girls noticed too, and helped me keep that from happening.


    "that could have been bad." Ria said to the girl next to her.


    "at least you have enough sense as a girl to know that." the girl who helped me said to Ria.


    "I''m Ria," I smiled at her.


    "I get it. you try to keep the personalities seperate." she seems to contemplate something. "I am Emily." she says as we leave the building. "you mind if I stick with you and Noel?" she asks Ria, even though I am on the other side of her.


    "I don''t mind. I''ll need some help finding the room I need to go to for the health checks, as its my first time going that direction." Ria says to her.


    "yeah, it might be helpful to not mention that your host is a guy, at least for the time being."


    "My wife said the same thing." I say from her other side. "but the school''s policy is that I had to identify her as my Sym on the first day of classes. it doesn''t say that I will have to say anything about it tomorrow, only that I can''t lie directly. I can opt to just not answer after the day ends."


    "sounds like a good plan. since there won''t be a host next to her in the health checks, it shouldn''t raise too many questions with the other girls, at least not today." she responds.


    "I''ll leave you two alone then, so it doesn''t look like I am a third wheel." I tell her. as we entered the cafeteria. the smell of pasta thick in the air. "spagetti today it seems." I look back at Emily. "looks like its a salad day for Ria." I say as we split up in the cafeteria.


    the rest of the day pretty much goes without a hitch, health checks were normal on my side, and on the other side, the curtains being up wouldn''t have mattered, Emily forced Ria into the main room when I had intended to go into the curtained area. it seems that almost all the girls had brought large towels with them, and covered themselves with the towels to change.


    it was surprising to find that the few conversations that did occour, were just as awkward as they were on the guy''s side. seemed like nobody really wanted to change clothes and carry on a conversation at the same time.


    Ria weighed in at a light 131lbs, and was 5ft 8.5 inches. they checked a few other things, and sent her on her way. I was still 162lbs, and 6ft even. The girls were only slightly slower than the guys, however took much more time in the changing rooms. once dressed back in our uniforms, I had gone through the routine that Tia and I had worked out to make sure the uniform was within the bounds of the student code, and Emily walked back to the class room with Ria, where I was waiting.


    it was at this time that the tell tale white strobes began flashing in the windows. reporters had descended upon the campus.


    "Emily, I would sugest waiting until the two of us leave before you leave the classroom." I told her. she nodded in understanding as Ria and I collected our things, and left. doing our best to politely get through the throng of reporters who will do anything for a story.


    once back at the front gate, the steam carraige that had dropped me off was sitting off to the side, and pulled up to get me. I helped Ria in first, and then climbed in myself, all in plain view of the flashing cameras, some of which were only milimeters away from my body, trying to appear as though they weren''t purposely trying to get me to push the camera away just for an ''angry'' shot of me. I''m glad I had already been told about this tactic, otherwise I probably would have shoved it away.


    as soon as the carraige crossed the intersection three blocks from my house, all of the camera flashes stopped. the few reporter vehicles that did cross the intersection no longer attempted to get photographs, and quickly turned down side streets.


    the first day of classes was now officially over. it was only after I had entered the house that I realized the teacher never introduced himself.

 Mothers Interview

    Mom and Dad had recieved a call from Mother as I had come into the house, telling them that a live interview was about to be held, and she was certain they would ask about the bracelet.  Mother wanted all of us to watch the interview so that our stories would line up, as none of us had really discussed it.  Ashley sat on Tia''s lap, Grey and Ria were in our rooms completing homework from our respective schools, while the rest of the family was in the living room watching ''24/7 With Emiliy Roussou'';  one of four interview channels that had facilities with enough security that they could interview the Empress herself.


    "Good evening, viewers.  Tonight we have Empress Matilda Du Caledon for our only guest, its been a month since the last time Empress Matilda has been on our show, and in that time, a lot has happend.  Empress-heir Natillia has gotten married, for one.  the conflict with most of the neighboring regions has calmed down quite a bit, and a new Starcarrier has been commissioned and left dry-dock."


    the camera changed to one that showed the stage, Emily had been sitting at a desk to stage right, a pair of couches sat stage center, and slightly downstage from the desk, with a coffee table in between them, a pitcher of lemonaide sat in the center of the table, with clear glasses inverted on the tray around it.  there was a green circle in front of a stage opening that sat on stage left, with the green circle looking to be as far downstage as it could be.  the camera angle let the modern foot lights be seen, as the interviewer stood from her desk, and walked toward the couches, announcing the guest.


    "So, since so much has been going on, lets welcome our guest, Empress Matilda."  she said as Mother exited the stage left opening, and stood briefly on the green circle for a couple of seconds, then walked back upstage toward Emily, shaking her hand, before they sat on the couches facing each other.


    "Thanks, once again, for the invite."  Mother smiled as she said a line that was obviously overly rehersed.


    "We are always happy when you are able to take time out of your busy schedule for us."  Emily sounded forced as well, but a lot more relaxed and practiced.  "So, the first thing I want to ask you about is the new Starcarrier.  since the class of ships themselves are meant for defense only, is this style going to be a continued trend?"  it seemed this wasn''t the topic Emily really wanted to talk about, so she was getting it out of the way first.  a screen lifted on a pedistal behind the two, fully upstage, and began showing videos of an all-white star ship, with three openings in the center of the ship traversing port to starboard.


    "Well, this is the first carrier that we are attempting the perpendicular transfer bays.  This ship has been named "Lilly of the Stars", and at least for her first year in service, there is no plans of her leaving a defensive role in the fleet.  The ship designers of Allessia Shipyards did a really good job with the internal systems, to the point where, even the things I don''t fully understand, were easily determinable when I looked at the interface screens."


    "What do you mean?"  Emily asked seeming disintrested in the ship-talk.


    "Well, I know very little about space fairing engines.  its not a specialty of mine.  so when I tour most of the fleet, I have to rely on a specalist to travel with me, to inspect the ships, making sure that they are being maintained properly.  but when I was in the Lilly of the Stars'' engine room, even I understood the readouts, and was able to determine that the engines were running more efficiently than the engineers expected.  more efficient, means less fuel costs, which means less tax money spent on just keeping the ship running, so that money can be used for other useful things, like our public education system, rather than focusing solely on the defense budget."


    this comment seemed to peak the interviewer''s intrest, as the Empress herself mentioned the savings on fuel being spent on education.


    "so do you think that this engine system will replace the others in the fleet?"


    "Its hard to tell right now, it all depends on how the system performs over the next decade or so.  thats a desicion Natillia and Noel will have to make, once the system gets some age on it, and we can determine its actual long-term cost."


    Emily seemed to want to pounce on the Empress mentioning my name, but held back, and moved the conversation away from the new ship.


    "So do you think that the possible defensive threat this new ship represents is the reason why the majority of our agressive neighbors have become quiet over the last month?"


    "I can almost guarantee that this is not the case.  if anything, their lack of noise, and the lack of border skermishes that have been occouring, are rather quite worrisome to me.  Since I am not able to get much information about what is going on within a few of their borders, I can only suspect a possible alliance between a few of them, and a major offensive is coming.  but this is meerly an assumption based on the tactics that have been used in the past."


    "so we may see another offensive similar to Bendu, or Free?"


    "By all the dieties of the universe, I hope not.  in order to have an offensive that severe, then our estimates about their technology, and what they are capable of would have to be so far off the mark that we are aiming at the wrong target.  I won''t say its an impossiblity, and something along those scales would be a devistating blow to morale, as well as our defensive capabilites; but I really hope that I never have to experiance a defeat such as either of those battles."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "Okay, so I have to ask."  Emily''s excitement obviously rose as she spoke, as though she could finally ask the questions she was interested in.  "Who is this handsome young man?"  the screen behind her showed a picture of me.


    "This is Natillia''s husband, Noel Lavender."  Mother answered plainly.


    "So, there was no hint of Heir Natillia even seeing anyone, and then all of a sudden, we hear that she got married, to a young man that nobody has heard of.  so who is he really?"


    "Well, we have some ideas, and we are checking geneology records to be sure.  but this was a desicion that Natillia made on her own, and even as Empress, not something I have a say in."


    "The Royal family has always made it a point to publicly declare that the Empress-heir was to choose their own spouse, with no one in the family able to remark against it.  this wouldn''t be the first time that a noble married a commoner."


    "No, but some recent developments show that he may not be a commoner, we just have to confirm the lineage to prove it.  if what we suspect is true, then we are in for an interesting generation."


    "I am guessing you are referring to this?"  Emily asks, pointing to an image that shows only the Lavender bracelet as it hung off Tia''s wrist.


    "That is correct."  Mother smiled.  "This bracelet is an heirloom passed down to each generation''s matriarch of the Lavender family.  this was given to Natillia when she married Noel, marking her as the next matriarch of Lavender.  however, we are researching our archives because the pendant actually stored the names of several women, some of whom were fairly notable for their times, as bearers of the bracelet."


    "The symbol on the pendant seems to be quite unique."  Emily said, as the image changes, and its a blown up view of the pendant, showing only the six pointed star with a circle slightly smaller than the points of the star over top of it.  "in fact, our researchers have found that there is an old noble house from the Trendant Kingdom that this symbol matches perfectly with."


    "Thats correct."  Mother seems surprised, but only mildly.  "our researchers belive the same thing, however I can''t confirm it until the background is verified.  If, and I am not confirming anything, if our suspicions are correct, then this is the the symbol for ''The Lost House''."


    "So you are saying that this very well may be a relic of ''The House of Glass''?"


    "I can''t confirm, but we suspect it is."  Mother takes a deep breath, one that only those who know her would be able to tell is practiced.  "This bracelet is indeed a relic, and is a proof of heritage.  And, with Noel being an engineering student, which is in lines with what the historic house was capable of, we are in for some interesting times."


    "What do you mean?"  Emily seems to be quite shocked at the statement, and its not practiced.


    "Benny, can you put the page we found up on this screen?"  Mother says.  the image of the pendant disappears, and an image of a piece of paper with typed text appears.  its the old gramatical form, but anyone who could read the current language would be able to read this.  "this is the last formal declaration of the ''House of Glass'', before they officially joined the rebellion against the empire''s founding.  I''ll gloss over the details, but it is know that the house had a way to see specific future paths, its unknown how they did it, but every prediction made by the house at the time came true, without question, and without error."  Mother stood up, quickly followed by Emily, and walked up to the screen, and pointed at a line.  "We found this last night.  it basically says that a union between the Flower and the Path will result in the end of a dynasty; one we wish no part of."


    "I don''t get it?"  Emily said honestly.


    "Noel''s last name, and the current legal name of my daughter is Lavender.  but the name Natillia was born with, is Rhodes.  a flower, and a path."


    "so you think this prediction is valid, even now?" Emily asked, a serious look on her face, her mind obviously going over the implications it represents.


    "according to our records of the time, two weeks after this document was handed to the king of Trendant, the kingdom joined the Empire, with only the House of Glass being in oppisition.  at the time, this prophecy of theirs was belived to be in reference to what was going on at the time.  but, I know enough about history that I dare not disreguard a warning from ''The Lost House''."


    "Could this just be a reference to a change in how the Empire is ran, rather than outright war, as some may think?"


    "I have no idea.  but this find was serious enough that I told Noel''s family to watch this interview before I came on stage."


    Emily seemd stunned for a moment, then regained her composure.


    "So his family is finding out about this at the same time as the rest of us?"


    "yes.  until Natillia actually takes the throne, or I die, he is a regular citizen, and I can not divulge things like this to him seperately; niether am I allowed to tell Natillia about some of the things we are finding right now, in case it gets back to him."


    "So, everything that we have, states that Noel, and Natillia were dating for about a year before they wed in secret a few weeks ago.  why are you just now researching his past?"


    "The bracelet."  Mother answered matter of factly.  "just like everyone else who is associated directly with my family, we research back twelve generations.  until Natillia was handed the bracelet, we had no reason to dig any further.  once she recived it, and confirmed it as a proof of heritage, we were required to dig further; and some things have been comming up in that research that is quite startling; the house that we thought lost has been pretty active throughout our history, and has been helping the empire from the shadows, and the lineage that was stored in the bracelet shows that some of history''s most prominant inventors have been from this legendary house, and they, themselves had no idea, and thats assuming that we are able to prove this.  but what has been proven, is that Noel is from a long line of inventors, and engineers."


    "Thank you, Empress Matilda."  Emily looks toward the camera, and it zooms in on her.  "As is normal whenever we have the Empress as a guest, this concludes our program.  we hope that we can be graced with her presence again soon, thanks for watching 24/7"  the screen went to black, and comercials began playing.


    Dad shut off the screen, and nobody moved.  even Ashley was surprisingly still and quiet on Tia''s lap.  it felt like an hour before Mom actually started moving, and said she was going to get dinner ready.

 Womens Intuition

    I sat in the desk chair of the room I now shared with Noel. I was having Grey take a shower, and Ria was cleaning the room around me as I finished the homework from my own classes. I finished the last line of my literature report, took a drink of the bitter tea on the corner of the desk that had long since gotten cold.


    I decided a warmup would be needed, and left the room with the cup in hand, not saying anything to Ria. as I got to the kitchen, I could hear some strange sounds from the garage door where my in-laws kept their only Lev, the other half of the garage having been partitioned into a room some time before I had arrived. the smell of hot rubber, and aged plastics from the electronic systems retaining heat melded with the dampness in the air from the day''s rain.


    the sound continued, comming from the additonal room in the garage, much louder now that one of the doors wasn''t blocking it. I went to the second door, and opened it. although the walls were painted white, it was a dark room, and the far side, closest to the garage door hung a long light fixture emmiting a blindingly bright light that covered a work desk the same size as the one I had been working on upstairs. so bright was the light, that the person in front of the workstation appeared black to me. the only reason I knew it was Noel was because his father''s hair had been cut the day before.


    the smell of solder and burnt plastic continuously assaulted my nose, dust particles, and smoke wafted through the air of the room as though they had been airborne for a decade. I reached for the above light fixture, only to have Ria''s arm grab me, and shake her head back and forth. she pulled me out of the room that was coverd in multiple projects that had exposed & damaged wires, strangely bent componets, and a plethora of other malformations that made me belive they were eiether rejects, or salvage.


    Ria closed the door very silently behind her, I hadn''t even heard her come into the garage. my heart was still beating quickly from the surprise.


    "sorry for scaring you. but don''t go in there right now." Ria said to me. "any disturbance may make my current assignment a failure; I can''t even turn on the exhaust fans right now because of how tense I am, the noise of them alone will make my hands shake."


    "alright. should I bring him some tea?" I asked Ria; to which an honest smile appeared.


    "I appreciate the guesture, as does Noel. but not right now." she said, her smile withering as she spoke. "If he isn''t in bed by ten thirty, come down and check on him." she said, and went back inside the house ahead of me. Christina met me in the kitchen as I came through the door.


    "hey, Mom." I said as I closed the door behind myself. she smiled as she fixed a sink of water to hand wash the dishes. I glanced to the dishwasher next to her knee, then back to her.


    "Checking on your husband, I see." she passed a loving smile, we put the workshop out there so the smell wouldn''t get in the house. but I should probably let you know not to go out there before a quarter till ten." she says as she starts hand washing the dishes. I sit in one of the six wooden chairs around the oval table.


    "how do you do it?" I asked, not really understanding what I mean myself. she looks back to me, gives a light chuckle, and then sets a pan in the water to soak. she doesn''t give me an answer, just glances at the ceiling as she wipes her hands dry on a small towel hanging off the handle of an old style stove.


    with the towel still in hand, she sits down in the chair next to me, turning it to face me completely.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Tia, Ive been a mother for a long time, I am currently playing mother to my granddaughter, and even I don''t know sometimes." she sighs as she lays the towel in her lap, and grabs my hands, and leans into me. "every woman struggles with how to bring their house into order, how their husbands behavior can and does effect the unity of the home. in the end, we have to react to each other." she gets the look on her face that she had when I said my vows to Noel. "you haven''t known Noel for very long. Ive had the chance to watch him grow, and become the man he is; the man you chose to marry. all this crap about being of a noble line, we don''t care about that." her voice raised like the doctor''s did when I was about to object that being a decendant of the House of Glass wasn''t crap. "Tia, you are already my daughter-in-law. and you know Noel in ways that a mother will never know a son. but I can tell you this; if you want him pissed at you for weeks.. go back into that workshop before a quarter till ten. I love my son, and have battled wits end about his hobbies out there for years, and fought his anger, and his wrath about that workshop. but now, its more than a hobby. its his education in that room; and I, as his parent, have to agree that education takes priortiy."


    I nod at her understanding, and her words that obviously came from her heart. "so it wouldn''t be wise to take him a cup of tea?"


    when I asked, she laughed histarically for nearly half a minute.


    "its been a long standing rule, that neither Chuck, nor Noel will take any liquids into that room other than mineral oil." she patted my leg. "but, let me show you a trick." she got up dragging me by the wrist to the refrigerator, pulled out a pitcher of lemonaide, and set it on the counter, still holding my wrist, took down a glass, filled it with ice, finally releasing my wrist when she poured the drink into the glass. "Keep following." she grinned mischeviously, and walked deeper into the house. at spotting Ria folding the laundry in the living room, she set the glass down behind Ria, and then pulled me back into the kitchen. we sat back down in the chairs, and a few seconds later, Noel came into the kitchen, noisily guzzled down a glass of lemonaide, wiped his mouth, poured another glass, and sat at the table.


    "you thought I needed a break?" he asked his mom, the odor of lead, burnt plastic, and burnt copper permiated off of his clothes. as he sat there.


    "I wanted to see if you wanted to go out for a bite for dinner, and take Ashley with us, so Mom and Dad could have the house for a few hours tonight." I lied. Christina glanced my way for only a second, but figured out what I was doing.


    he cocked his head for a few seconds, then looked straight back at me.


    "You know, I haven''t ever taken Ash anywhere by myself before. and Mom and Dad haven''t had a night to themselves in a long time. I think its a great Idea. give me an hour to finish this stage up, and I''ll go get ready." he looks to Christina. "Mom, would you mind getting Ash ready? I know she takes a while, tell Ria when an hour has passed, I tend to loose track in there."


    "You two sure about this?" Mom asked shyly.


    "Think we should get a hotel room, instead of just staying out till nine?" he asks with a grin.


    "Boy, if you weren''t on the other end of the table I would slap you across it." she said with a red face, and despite her tone, her face betrayed that she was glad he asked.


    "Alright. I''ll have the Lev alert the house when we are 10 minutes from the house." he grins, downs the rest of the glass, and goes back to the garage.


    "That boy." Christina shakes her head while chuckling. "Are you sure about this? Ash can be a handful at times."


    "I think it would be a good experiance for Ashley, to go out with us. a ''Kids Night Out'' kind of thing."


    "Alright. if thats the case, I need to tell you some places that Ashley enjoys. the Lev is already programmed to avoid the area where Erick was killed, so as long as you don''t walk too far, you shouldn''t have many issues."


    "Erik was Ashley''s Father?" I asked hearing an unfamiliar name.


    "Yeah. she saw pictures of the scene last year when Chuck left them out on his desk. we had to answer a lot of hard questions that night. the authorities still don''t know who stabbed him. there were no prints or DNA other than Erik''s blood on the knife, and he was stabbed seven times." she sighed. "the trail went cold rather quickly." she said.


    "Alright.. time for happier thoughts." I said, noticing her mood sinking. "How can we make Ashley''s night?"

 Kids Night Out

    Grandpa picked me up from my Tea Club meeting after school today.  Usually Grandma does, but Grandpa said something was going on, and she couldn''t so he got me on the way home from work.


    this late in the year, the days are really short, so the street lamps are coming on as we take the car home.  Grandma had the Lev today.  I prefer riding in the car.  not many families have them anymore, and there is just something about how it feels to ride in one.  yeah, its a bit rougher than the Lev, but I can feel what is going on with the road, how grandpa steers, I can hear the rumble of the old engine''s exhaust, the ticking of the valves.


    the Lev is just a quiet box.  there is nothing interesting about it, no feeling other than the cusion under you.  and even the electric motors are so quiet you can''t even hear them hum.  I like the car better.


    we got home just before we normally have dinner; but grandma was helping Ria, Uncle Noel''s Sym, get dressed for something.  Aunt Tia was using the other bathroom, and Grey and Uncle Noel had gotten dressed in some fancy looking clothes.  when Uncle saw me, he came and picked me up, I was still in my Tea Dress from the club meeting today, it would need to be washed.  at least I didn''t spill any of the apple spice tea that we had today on it.


    "Hey, Pumpkin."  he grinned as he picked me up.  "how about going with Aunt Tia and I, tonight?  we thought you would like to see what a real Tea Club is like."  he said.  Grandma was just in my line of sight behind him, and she nodded a few times to me in a way that Ria wouldn''t be able to see.


    "I can really come with you and Auntie?"  I asked, hoping to hear him say that I could.  Aunt Tia came around the corner, wearing her hair up in a way that made it look like a smooth bee hive.  pins with little white pearls held the look in place, making it look like stars at dusk through her hair.


    "I would like it very much, if my cute little niece wanted to come with us."  Aunt Tia smiles at me, while tickling my side.  before I could seek refuge with Uncle Noel, she quit.  but I knew she wanted me to come, so I nodded.  Uncle Noel kissed me on the side of my head, as he passed me over to Aunt Tia, who took me into the bathroom she had been using, and fixed my hair.  the long curls draped over my shoulders, a small bundle of flowers were tied with a green ribbon, and then the curls tied back so they wouldn''t get in my face.  the tiny pink, blue, and yellow flowers could just barely be seen in the mirror in front of me, but I liked the way I looked.  some fine glitter was sprinkled on my face using a round pad that felt really fluffy.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Aunt Tia, Ria and I all looked beautiful.  Grey, and Uncle looked handsome in their matching sharkskin suits.  well, Grandpa called them sharkskin, but they looked like regular fabric to me.  Grey had a powder blue tie with a black shirt, and a white vest;  while Uncle wore a dark green tie that matched the checker pattern of his vest, with a white shirt.


    as I was starting to get hungry, we left in the car, Grey driving.  I think everyone knew I prefered the car.  it was a quick ride downtown, to a resturant that we went to the day Uncle got out of the hospital, and I met Auntie, Ria and Grey.  but this time everyone was dressed in really fancy clothes, last time, we were the only ones here.


    "Reservation for Lavender, party of five."  Grey said as he approached a man behind a tall box.  the noise in the resturant fell dramatically when Grey said that, and it looked like the man he said it to was going to pass out.  his face was so white.


    "Right this way."  he said, as he turned, he seemed super rigid in how he was walking, and moving.  I thought it was funny, and tried not to laugh, it still came out as a giggle though.  Ria who was holding my hand nudged my shoulder, reminding me to not laugh at the man, but I could tell she was trying hard not to as well.  her hair braided, and then wrapped in a circle on the back of her head reminded me of a cinimon roll, but it looked regal on her.  I guess even Uncle is learning about girl''s habits enough to mind how Ria''s hair looks.  the few pins that held Ria''s hair in place were evenly spaced, and looked like a six pointed star with small green cut glass pieces on the ends of the pins.  the color was just slightly lighter than her eyes.


    without ordering, food was brought to our table, along side drinks, and three little glass teapots.  all the food seemed like it would go well with the tea.  I had a lot of fun, but I don''t remember falling asleep.   I only remember waking up the next morning, in my pajamas, in my room.


    I am glad Auntie and Uncle took me with them on their evening out.  as the sun came in through the little window in my basement room, it struck me across the face, reminding me that it was the weekend, and I needed to finish my homework so I could have the rest of it to play.  I streached, got out of bed, walked into the batroom, where I found Ria crying.  there was red stuff in her pajamas.  I ran to get Aunt Tia.  She would know what to do.

 Doctors Visit

    Well, this was unexpected. Noel was out cold, I couldn''t wake him when Ashley came into the room to get me. She practically drug me downstairs where Ria was on the floor of the bathroom with blood coming out of her mouth, so much so that it dyed most of her pajamas red. I was able to wake her up, but her speech was incoherent babble, and she quickly went out again.


    Ria is almost a perfect match for me; so if this is a medical problem, I am able to be affected by it as well. I called my normal doctor, and told him I needed an emergency house call. He currently has Noel and Ria laying side by side on the living room floor. His mom is in tears, holding her hand over her mouth to try and keep sounds from escaping, and his dad has pretty much shut down, at least he is comforting Ashley, who found Ria this morning.


    "Well, I have good news, Natillia." Doc says to me. "Its not a genetic issue that you need to worry about."


    "So what is it?" I ask pointedly, making it clear that I didn''t think his attempt at a joke funny. "My husband can''t be woke, and his sym is bleeding from the mouth; thats not something I would call good news."


    "He was poisoned." he says flatly. "More precicely, she was poisioned, and the sensory overload is making him feel the effects as well."


    "Poisoned with what?" his mom pipes in.


    "Calipso." he says promptly, while rummaging through his bag.


    my legs loose all feeling, and I know I fell to the floor at hearing the word. My father was killed by Calipso poisioning at my eleventh birthday party, and now my husband has been poisioned by the same thing.


    "Natillia," Doc picks me back up. "its not like your father. She didn''t get such a high dose, and because she is a sym, there are safeguards designed in to help her fight it off. But Noel will probably be catatonic for a week or two."


    "He has a big exam coming up, will Ria at least be able to attend school for him?" I ask, fearing he would miss too many classes. at least this happened on a weekend, I selfishly thought.


    "The sym will be able to function normally tomorrow; it was able to purge most of the Calipso when it coughed up the blood. But, because of the way the drug works, the host will experiance the withdraw symptoms. His greatest danger for the next two weeks is dehydration. I have to recomend admitting him to a hospital you trust."


    "How did she get Calipso?" his mom asked.


    "Food." the doctor answered plainly. "something she ate between 6 and 10 pm last night contained it."


    "It was meant for me." I said aloud. "when our food came to the table last night, Ria and I switched plates because I wanted what she had ordered. I was the one who was supposed to eat the salad."


    "Then, this sym saved your life." the Doctor said. "Should I call an ambulance for Noel? So, he can be transported."


    "Yes." his father answered. he moved from behind Ashley, and grabbed me by my shoulders, and then hugged me. "I don''t think I would be able to handle loosing another child, Natillia. Please be glad that Ria was the one hurt, please, don''t beat yourself up about this." he whispered to me. I cried. I cried harder than when I stood next to my father''s casket. I wasn''t supposed to cry then, but now I didn''t have to hold back, I just cried into my father-in-law''s arms.


    I didn''t stop crying until after the paramedics had already taken my husband to the hospital.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    "Hey, Emily!" I say as I enter the classroom. Over the past few weeks her and I have kind of hit it off, well Ria and her anyway.


    "Hey Ria!" she calls out, then looks around, "Where is Noel?"


    "In the hospital." I answer plainly.


    "What?!" she calls out. "Why, what happend?" she asked quieter, noticing she had attracted the attention of most of the class. Since none of what happened was released to the public, I only needed to be partially honest.


    "He needed to be hospitalized for dehydration." I gave a half grin, letting her know that I wasn''t going to say more. I set the project case on the desk I usually had Ria sit at, and sat at the desk I put myself in; which is the school''s policy is if the Sym Host is unable to attend a class for some reason.


    "I think there is quite a bit more to that story." she says to me.


    "There is, but I can''t say more. How is your project coming?" I ask trying to change the subject. "You were trying to make a more efficient Lev motor right?"


    "Yeah!" she says seeming to remember her own project. She quickly opens the project case, and shows me the mess of wires attached to a modified can motor. "I have indexed the timing ring so I can tell when I am getting stronger or weaker torque responses; I lathed down the commontator so the brushes have a better contact patch with it, I cut angled slots in the brushes so that air could keep them cooled off, and the wires lead to the breadboard so that I can swap out capacitors and diodes." she says pointing out the methods she was trying to use.


    "Wouldn''t using brushless motors work better? I mean most Levs are using brushless motors already because of their lower drag coefficients?" I ask, wondering why she was even attempting to do this with a brushed system.


    "Brushless motors only need differentials programmed into a micro processor and some form of encoder to tell the arbor postition to increase efficiency, and replacing the magnets on the arbor can easily increase torque, changing the wind of the wire in the can can change performance, but its all, eventually, dependant on software. I wanted to see what I could do with an entirely analog system, relying less on simple programming, and more on the physical parts that make it easier for people to do their own maintinance."


    "I can see that, but brushed motors require a lot more maintinance than Brushless systems; our lev has only needed tires and the motor''s bearings to be reoiled since we bought it five years ago. I remember the brushed motors, the Lev we had as a kid, used. Dad was replacing brushes every two months, and those retainer springs weren''t the lightest thing to get set back into position, then setting the timing on the can whenever they got out of index was crazy; I mean we are talking a few hours with me, at eight and nine years old, with a voltmeter while the motors are running, and Dad turning the cap so we could get the best positions. it sucked."


    "I could just imagine your perfectly manacured fingernails under one of those older Levs" Emily smiled and laughed at me. for a moment it seemed like she had forgotten that this body was just a Sym. "So how long until Noel comes back?" she asks, seeming to remember what started our conversation.


    "Not sure, a few days at least." I said as the teacher walked into the room, followed by my wife.


    "Everyone, Take your seats." the teacher, who has still not introduced himself, but the school''s network for this class has him listed as Benjamin Overton. "As you all can see, we have a visitor today." he says and motions to Tia.


    "Hello, everyone. I am Natillia Lavender, Noel''s wife. I am here to let everyone know that he will not be able to attend classes in person for a few days, however Ria will be here. Because of the nature of his absence, there are some things we can not discuss, but suffice to say that he will return as soon as he is able, and my sym, or I, may drop in from time to time to check in with Ria, or let her know what is going on."


    "If you are letting Ria know what is going on, does that mean that its serious?" Emily asks aloud.


    "Noel is currently unconcious in the hospital. So some things I, or my sym, would need to talk to Ria about while the doctor is with him. Please don''t ask what happened, as I can''t answer those questions right now."


    "Alright, Class. the Dean, and Assistant Dean have approved Noel''s absences during this time, provided that Ria continues to attend classes, as well as our guest''s presence. The only reason why the Empress-heir is here, is to let everyone know that she will be coming on, and off, of the campus grounds for a while, and again, this has been aproved by the Dean. Now; that that is out of the way, Natilia, you may sit in Ria''s normal seat if you want. everyone else, open your project cases, and lets begin discussions of where you are at."