Archive of Our Own

Cliopher entered the imperial apartments at the third bell, set Lea down at his feet, and bowed into his morning obeisance. The exchange of Good Morning with his lord was just now becoming habit, but he still cherished the chance to smile and make eye contact at the start of their day together.

But this morning as he was gestured upright, before he could raise his head, a warm breeze pushed at his hair. Cliopher instinctively flicked his eyes over to find the source: the balcony doors open to the morning sunshine. He returned his gaze to his lord only to find he had noticed Cliopher's slip in attention, but before he could feel more than slightly abashed His Radiancy nodded at the doors.

"We are expecting Caliadne to arrive this morning."

"So soon, my lord?" Cliopher asked, gathering Lea and his writing kit back into his arms to move to his desk. "I thought she wasn't expected until late this evening. Was she rushed?"

"No, not intentionally. The winds were simply favorable for her return flight."

Cliopher mentally ran through the action items for the morning as he set up his work station. "If we're expecting an interruption soon, my lord, perhaps we should start with the small tasks first."

His Radiancy gazed out the open doors in silence for a long moment, and then hummed and blindly gestured his agreement towards Cliopher with the hand behind his back.

"Shall we start with the returning correspondence then?"

"Yes, let's. We saw the answering complaint from our local duchy…"

They occupied themselves with the small busy-work items: letters so rote that they could have a template if they weren't being sent to people with egos big enough to expect better, problems with obvious solutions that were only waiting on the imperial go-ahead, return mail confirming that a task had been completed to satisfaction, and the like. Cliopher usually saved this easy work for the penultimate part of their shift, when His Radiancy's attention tended to flag, as blasphemous as it was to identify it as such. It was a good choice for this morning - even without their impending interruption, Cliopher could feel that His Radiancy's attention was not fully in the room.

It didn't come as a surprise when His Radiancy stopped suddenly mid stride and turned to face the balcony doors. A moment later a rush of wind pushed them further open and the sound of landing carried through - Caliadne had arrived.

Cliopher's desk didn't afford him much of a view, but he could see the shadow of her shape along the floor as she folded in her wings and then stretched down from her perch on the railing. She padded in through the doors left open for her with enough unhurried grace to make a princess envious.

Cliopher had always admired her, but she had always been especially awe inspiring in direct sunlight. It glinted off her scales marvelously, enriching the living gold color. He's privately glad that the taboos have lessened enough for the imperial pair to be exposed to the sun just for the sight alone.

Caliadne moved across the room slowly but with confidence, a long distance runner winding down from a trek but not an exhausting one. His Radiancy stepped forward to greet her, holding out an open palm. "Caliadne. Welcome back."

"My Saavel," she replied. She closed the distance between them and accepted his open palm, pressing her snout into his hand. They both held perfectly still like that; Cliopher imaged them in silent communion, reconnecting after their time separated by such distance. Then, sooner than he'd expect, she pulled back, blinked her eyes open, and swiveled her head to turn to Cliopher.

"Ah good, I haven't missed you. Good morning, Cliopher, Lea."

"Good morning, my lady," he replied for the both of them, bowing his second greetings of the day.

It's still a little dizzying for them to be directly addressed by the Imperial Soul. By all accounts it's an honor Cliopher shouldn't be graced by, according to every etiquette manual he'd studied. But if his lady wished to speak to him that's entirely her prerogative. Who could scold her for it, besides perhaps His Radiancy himself?

Caliadne's basking bowl was promptly wheeled out by a pair of silent attendants from a side door, in all its gaudy glittering monstrous glory. It was easily three feet across, and Cliopher still wasn't sure if it was only gilded or truly solid gold. It wouldn't need to be solid to be valuable, surely the gems embedded in the sides alone would be enough to fund a small principality. But the vessel hardly seemed to matter in comparison to its contents - steaming hot sand, cleaned and heated through in preparation for her return this morning. Caliadne immediately climbed in, made one elegant turn to situate herself, and then settled down to bask in the heat with a contented rumble.

"You seem well," His Radiancy said, watching this display. "I trust the trip did not end on a disappointing note?"

"Not disappointing, no, but vexing," she replied, lifting her head from the sand to peer up at him. "The sphere of influence around the standing stones remains corrupted, but I have some new data…"

Cliopher had automatically readied his pen when he heard the tone in Caliadne's voice; sure enough, she proceeded to launch into a highly detailed and, to Cliopher, incomprehensible report on the specifics of the magical tangle she had traveled so far to inspect.

His Radiancy paced, listened, asked the occasional clarifying question, and demanded a justification on certain methods Caliadne chose or chose not to attempt, all of which she obliged him in answering. When Cliopher had his eyes on the paper in front of him, the conversation sounded for all the world like His Radiancy consulting with a trusted advisor or highly ranked servant to the throne. Cliopher did his best not to judge the relationship between the two of them - certainly it was not his place to judge anything about the imperial pair, let alone something so intimate, no matter what Lea murmured to him when they were alone. And besides which, such a dynamic may be entirely normal for a planetary mage.

It was well known that being a Lord Magus effected the bond between a person and their daemon. The magic of the world sustained them, and thus allowed the daemon to travel freely across the entire world without any of the strain on the bond a person would expect. Long distance work like what Caliadne just returned from was an expected part of the position, to the point where a visual shorthand for depicting a Lord Magus was as easy as not adding their daemon next to them.

Perhaps this calm professional relationship was a result of that dynamic, and every Lord Magus had something similar; Cliopher wasn't in a position to know.

Eventually Caliadne reached the end of her report, and the room fell into silence for long enough for His Radiancy to complete one final circuit. Cliopher used the break to set aside his notes and set up a new ream of paper while he listened to soothing sound of his lord's robes sweeping across the clean floor. He felt Lea's attention turn to the day's itinerary laid out on the desk next to her, in anticipation of the next topic.

"…very well. Thank you for your work, Caliadne. We will think on these problems and review your report more closely at a later time. Sayo Mdang, the next important item for today would be…?"

Cliopher taped his pen against the relevant line that Lea had already picked out, "The finalized review of Solaara's outlaying irrigation system, my lord."

"Of course."

Caliadne remained basking in her pot of warm sand as they continued, stretching out her wings to better enjoy the heat. She appeared to be dozing, but Lea kept a closer eye on her than Cliopher, and she reported that the Imperial Soul would often be watching the proceedings with mild interest. She rarely directly contributed anything to this kind of work, but she would listen and occasionally flick her tail or add a derisive snort to some particularly obnoxious bit of flattery.

She remained present through till the end of the morning shift. When His Radiancy thanked him for the day's work, she raised her head from the sand and added her own "Yes, thank you both," as well, which set Lea off preening. Cliopher hurriedly gathered Lea up in his arms to try to hide the display, took his writing kit in his spare hand, and made his departure.

Cliopher's pace slowly increased as he passed through the antechambers; by the time he exited the apartments he had hit his full stride. He always felt a second wave of energy after spending time with his lord - it was like there was a helpful current buoying him forwards out into the world again.

—

The rest of the workday went well, in the way that good days tended to go lately. He was kept productively busy.

The success of the Littleridge conference had infused the whole palace with new energy, the service not least of all. There was no less to do than before - frankly, there was much more, in order to reincorporate the world's principalities back under their Lord Emperor's direct purview. But for the first time since the Fall, there was forward momentum to the work. They weren't just fighting against an endless tide, they were rising with it. There was a goal in sight beyond survival.

Cliopher had been making use of the fresh-start energy to begin making structural changes within the service. The authority of his title as Hands had rapidly passed from being useful to fundamentally necessary. While the social climate of the service was finally starting to shift, the delight Cliopher got from getting to work with new elevated talent was regularly countered with the old guard coming to air their grievances and to try and claw their authority back.

Several of his scheduled meetings that day were to that end - unproductive in terms of concrete problems solved, but necessary. Navigating the changing currents of office politics was delicate work, and it needed to be done. The service wasn't ready for half their senior staff to quit in a huff over hurt egos.

Cliopher was not unsympathetic to some of them. One of his complainants that day was Lady Kseniya, an aging department minister. She spoke with typical levels of disdain for a new younger (and less titled) colleague, who was apparently giving her unnecessary difficulty when she didn't follow the updated universal guidelines for inter-departmental communications. Cliopher listened to her rant, and kept half an eye on her daemon, a mottled-colored rock dove. He kept puffing up and pacing back and forth along the arm of her chair anxiously, like he couldn't decide whether to venture further into the room or not. He made a few aborted movements in Lea's direction, but seemed to rethink the attempt at bluster when met with Lea's steady gaze.

Eventually Cliopher was able to convince Lady Kseniya both that she was not at risk of becoming irrelevant, and that cooperating with her young "rival" wouldn't undermine her authority - her real concerns. While she was not a pleasant woman, he could understand her underlying anxieties. She was at retirement age, but with nowhere to retire to. Her home had been lost. It made sense to try to cling to what social power she could, even if it was petty and ineffectual.

Others seemed to be obstinate for the sake of it. Captain Estienne came to his office, again, to huff about his men's precious time being spent on undignified work better suited to "common laborers", never mind that skilled strong labor was rare on the ground these days. No matter how often Cliopher reminded him that these project orders came from His Radiancy, Captain Estienne seemed to be under the impression that because Cliopher was the one who wrote them up and delivered them, Cliopher was the one who could see them changed. When he suggested that Captain Estienne file his complaints officially to His Radiancy himself, the captain seemed to take offense. He bristled and stood from his chair to loom over Cliopher's desk, and his dog daemon moved from sitting to standing puffed up and growling in the middle of the room, taking up as much space as she could.

Cliopher had been subject to enough of these displays at this point to know how to ride out the initial burst of adrenaline, and neither panic nor give in to a matching rage. He placed one protective hand over Lea but otherwise kept his seat and held calm eye contact with the sneering captain.

"If you think you can threaten me-"

"I have done no such thing," Cliopher interrupted. "We've discussed this before, sir, and I am unable to address your concerns, beyond directing you to the authority who can. If you would like to schedule an appointment with His Radiancy-"

"What I would like is for these humiliating orders to disappear-"

His dog began advancing to Cliopher's chair, still bristling, and Cliopher locked himself still. He could not back away to give her space, not without unwillingly conceding the argument. Just as he was drawing breath to reprimand his behavior, a bark came from the door to his office.

Both the captain and his daemon turned to the door to see Kiri entering with a small stack of files. Her daemon, also a dog, if a bit smaller and more pleasantly colored, bounded forwards and efficiently corralled the captain's daemon away from Cliopher's desk.

"So sorry for the interruption, sir," she said, managing a decent facsimile of actual polite regret, "But you did tell me to bring you the preliminary treasury inventory results as soon as they arrived…"

"Yes, thank you. I'm afraid these are confidential - can you please escort the captain out? And provide him with the template for the official imperial complaint forms." Cliopher turned back to the captain, who was visibly grinding his teeth. "I'm sorry I cannot be of any more assistance. I hope you can see your concerns properly addressed."

Captain Estienne shot him one last disgusted glare before he swept out ahead of Kiri, denying her escort.

"…Are those files genuine, or empty?"

"Oh, they're real enough," she said, handing him the stack. He laid them down open on the desk for Lea to start peering at, and kept his attention on Kiri. She watched the captain continue to stomp his way out, her dog daemon staying posted up at the door until he was out of sight. "What a piece of work he is. He can't have expected that bluster to actually work?"

"I imagine he didn't think he had much to lose. If he actually does as he's told, he'll be leading the team out to do those road repairs that were just authorized. He'll be away from the palace for some time - practically career suicide, as far as he's concerned."

"He's not looking forwards to being His Radiancy's representation to the people?" Kiri asked with wry humor.

Cliopher imagined the captain out there, seething with resentment, controlling a squad of strong young men, and how that would interact with the local and isolated populous, and winced. "…perhaps we do need to get him a new assignment."

Kiri's dog, satisfied that the intruder wasn't returning, trotted up to Cliopher's desk to wag his tail up at Lea. Lea offered her thanks for the assistance, and he barked once in reply before returning to Kiri's feet.

There were a lot of dogs among the palace staff, which had been one small bit of culture shock among everything else when they had first arrived to Astandalas. Dogs of any kind were vanishingly rare in the islands and here they were a statistical plurality. It was less stark in Solaraa than it used to be in the height of the empire, where it seemed like a requirement for any servant of merit, but the trend still existed. Cliopher didn't know his breeds that well, but he had become accustomed to their body language by necessity. Kiri's daemon guarding them both against rudeness still made him feel embarrassed, but when he had politely tried to tell her that it wasn't necessary she insisted that it was just part of her job.

Just as she had apparently decided that it was her job to make sure he ate and left the offices. They shared a working lunch together, as they usually did, and when evening fell she all but chased him out so she could lock up behind them. She invited him out to join her and some colleagues for dinner, but Cliopher could feel the dull restless ache in his muscles and the way his skin felt pulled too tight and transparent, and knew he wouldn't be much company that night. So he made his apologies, said his goodbyes, and they went their separate ways.

Sometimes when things got to this point, sitting outside was enough. Cliopher went with Lea to their usual spot in the gardens - cool, shaded, sheltered by tall walls but with a good view of the outside space. With the sun set most of the gardens were absent of people; there was only the buzz of evening insects and the echoing call of birds returning to their roosts along the cliff that dropped down to Solaara. He sat down on the bench with Lea held secure in his arms, closed his eyes, and tried to let that sense of hunted insecurity fade.

It didn't work. He tried it for another stubborn minute, but whatever relief he was able to summon wasn't enough. He felt Lea turn about within his arms, the restless ache building up again, and sighed. He had been half-hoping to get some work done in the archives, but it looked like those plans would have to be shelved. "Alright then. Let's go home."

It took longer than usual to cross to the end of the Alinor wing - between picking up dinner, and then two separate interruptions from colleagues in the service who had "just one question", Cliopher was aware that his shoulders were hunched up to his ears by the time they got to the last corridor. He nearly dropped his dinner while trying to juggle carrying Lea, his writing case, his food, and managing the keys to unlock their room, but they finally made it in. He kicked the door shut behind him and only felt a little guilt at the loud slam, and slumped against it, exhausted.

Their room was dominated visually and physically by the tank that ran the length of the wall next to his bed. It was easily over and again the most expensive item of his otherwise requisition-standard furniture. Magical regulators kept the temperature and salinity at the correct levels, the runes twinkling slightly in the dark of the room. Greenery swayed slightly in the artificial current, kept at bay by small herbaceous critters he had purchased and brought back from the coast. A cave riddled rock was dominant in the corner closest to the head of Cliopher's bed. He had been coaxing some living coral and anemones to take onto it, but it was still a work in progress.

Even seeing the tank was a balm. Cliopher could already feel his headache easing from the soothing light and soft sound of water moving. He used the relief to find the energy to get up from the door, cross the room, and place Lea next to the tank.

With a flash of red and gold scales, she leaped from her carrying bowl into her full sized tank.

Cliopher watched her as she immediately dove down into the waiting rock caves, and felt her mental sigh of relief through their bond. Here she was held and secure, here she could relax. He felt a sympathetic knot of tension ease from his shoulders.

Lea remained in her cave system as Cliopher started winding down with his evening reading. Today the palace had received some preliminary reports on the social climates in their more far flung principalities; nothing refined enough to cross the imperial desk, but useful information all the same. By the time he finished reading those and tucked away his rough notes, Lea had recovered enough to venture back out into the open and was reveling in the room, swimming back and forth along the length of her tank. Cliopher sat there and admired the flash of color she made as she moved, basking the feeling of contentment coming from her.

Eventually Lea rose up to the surface and peered at him. "You know Kip, comparing me to our lord is some new level of blasphemy."

"I am not!" Cliopher sputtered.

"Oh, sure. You're just sitting there, thinking I'm beautiful while I pace…"

"The comparison is incidental. And I didn't make it. Do you want to write letters or not."

"Yes please."

Cliopher took dictation while Lea swam in figure eights, putting her additions in next to his letters home - little bits of funny gossip she overheard, a teasing complaint about him that made him flick the glass of her tank in retaliation, and her own well wishes alongside his for all their relatives. She only ever contributed commentary, except in the letters to Basil - those were almost entirely her work, and Cliopher just dutifully copied them down and did his best to see them sent off safely.

By the time they were settling down to sleep, Lea's accent had slipped so thoroughly that she used whole phrases in Language mixed in with her Shaian as she mused on tomorrow's work. Cliopher was able to fall asleep to that soothing rhythm. He's so lucky, he thought, to have this companionship. It would be hard to go so many long years without hearing the sounds of home in another voice.

Caliadne was a genuine dragon daemon, and a golden one at that; a sign of imperial strength that the royal family hadn't managed to manifest for several generations previous. When her form was revealed along with Artoin Damara's name it caused quite the stir - Saya Dorn had to confirm that the dragon in the portrait she received was accurate and not an imperial embellishment. She stretched roughly three feet from nose to hind quarter, with an additional foot of tail afterwards. If it weren't for the tail and wings she'd be about the size of a large dog. Nothing about her was subtle, and she was possibly the most distinct creature alive on Zunidh. Her form was more representative of Emperor Artorin's rule than even the lion eyes - when paired with her new freedom as a Lord Magus' daemon, she could use this to great effect.

Cliopher still remembered those final days at Littleridge with all the strength of a sense memory. The work before had blended into a morass of exhaustion, frustration, and slowly growing hope. He remembered the rush of finally catching some wind when he started using the shared pride of empire to bind these people together, and the choking frustration when someone loudly doubted his credentials - would the emperor have really sent this man to them? But before he could swallow that rage and make his counter argument with poise, a weight settled heavily onto the chair behind him and a sharp hush fell over the group he was conferring with.

"This man speaks for Us."

It took every cumulative hour of his court training for Cliopher to keep his face calm and body still, like this was an expected event that happened all the time to him, as the soul of the emperor slowly swung her head over and past his shoulder. Everyone knew her by sight - if she was famous before the Fall, the well known image of the golden dragon protectively draped over her sleeping emperor had lifted her into myth. They fell to the ground in obeisances as her gaze swept over them.

Some part of Cliopher was screaming to get on the floor as well, but he didn't dare move a muscle lest he somehow unbalance her perch or, gods forbid, touch her. The back of his neck broke out into sweat, and his peripheral vision caught the flicking of her tail off to his side. She had nearly curled around him.

(Later on Cliopher had seen an image of that moment, drawn by someone in the crowd with some talent for art and even more talent for political propagandizing, clearly. They had made Cliopher look like he… the two of them together had looked… Well, Cliopher didn't study it for long before he put it away and worked at getting his blush under control.)

Once they had retired to a private tent, Caliadne gave an offhand apology for arriving so late and in such a surprising manner. "The moment seemed perfect for it, is all," she had explained. Cliopher had barely stammered through an attempt to acknowledge the incredible condescension of receiving an apology from the Imperial Soul before Caliadne blithely moved on, congratulating Cliopher for his success. When he tried to politely object - nothing was signed yet, everything could still fall apart at any moment - Caliadne cast him an unimpressed look. She explained how, until very recently, she hadn't been able to extend her range to this place. Something had already shifted in the magical fabric of the world that made Littleridge hers, its people aligned with her, even before she had arrived.

The dragon had peered up at him, eyes glittering with amusement, and purred, "So, well done Sayo Mdang."

Cliopher had no idea how much information His Radiancy got through his bond with Caliadne when they were long distance like that. Did His Radiancy know how close his soul had moved in Cliopher's space? Did he approve the maneuver beforehand? Cliopher had to believe he did. After he returned to report his success, after he had been named his lord's Hands, Caliadne continued to occasionally address him directly. His Radiancy never commented on it.

Cliopher was fighting off a particularly strong headache towards the end of his morning. He was fairly sure it was the same one he had before going to sleep the night prior, which felt unfair. Sleep hadn't fixed it, and while the morning work with His Radiancy was always invigorating, it wasn't helping either. But they were close to the end of the shift, so Cliopher was prepared to grit his teeth to get through it. He felt Lea trying burrow into nonexistent sand in her bowl next to him, and tried to push reassurance through to her. They were nearly done.

His Radiancy finished his last bit of dictation and paused in silence in the center of the room. When Cliopher looked up, he found that he was looking at him contemplatively, and Cliopher returned his gaze. He felt his headache throb behind his eyes, and fought to keep his expression attentive instead of wincing the way he wanted to.

"My lord?"

"…Perhaps an early lunch, today. If you would join Us?"

"Of course my lord. I would be honored."

His Radiancy nodded to an attendant to pass his desires along, and announced to the room at large that he had a small matter to attend to before eating, and that Cliopher should go ahead to the prepared dinning room while he waited. Cliopher was too relieved at the chance to take a break to bother trying to contemplate what the Sun-On-Earth could possibly need to attend to; he just bowed his thanks at his lord's retreating form.

By the time Cliopher finished packing up his writing kit and carried Lea through to the next room, the table for two had already been mostly assembled. A few lower servants were finishing the task, daemons tucked politely close to themselves, when Conju entered from a side door and promptly shooed them off. Once they left the room Petra, Conju's squirrel, scampered down from his shoulder and leapt onto the table, becoming a spot of warm red among the otherwise austere dinning set. She dashed about industriously making minute adjustments to the already perfectly laid out silverware.

Conju gave them a shallow bow, inviting Cliopher to sit. "Himself is in a mood today. Do try not to spend the whole meal talking about more work, would you?"

"I follow the Glorious One's lead in all things."

"Of course you do."

When Cliopher set Lea down on the table, Petra crossed the table to greet her, laying her small paws against the glass as Lea nosed up on the other side. Once Cliopher lifted the lid and clipped the mesh top open for her, Petra climbed up to chitter her Hello's.

Cliopher turned back to find Conju already pouring water into the waiting cups. "Shouldn't you be with His Radiancy?"

"Are you saying I don't know how to do my own job? Please. I'm on task." He cast a critical eye over Cliopher. "You look awful."

"Thank you Conju," he replied in his driest tones.

Conju huffed and placed a small glass bottle from his tray to a precise point next to Cliopher's elbow. "Take a headache tonic. Ridiculous man."

"…thank you Conju."

The medicine was as foul as Cliopher remembered, and he made rapid use of the water Conju had poured out for him. When he placed the cup back down, Conju gave him a pointed look until Cliopher made the appropriate adjustment and put the cup in the correct spot.

"By all accounts this is a casual luncheon invitation, but there's no need to be sloppy with your manners," Conju said when Cliopher rolled his eyes at him. "All practice is good practice! And frankly-" Conju cut himself off with a jolt, and Petra gave an aggrieved shout and dashed across the table back to him.

"Conju! She splashed me!"

"Really now, darling. What did you expect would happen." Even as he scolded her, Conju summoned a handkerchief from nowhere and wrapped his daemon up.

Cliopher turned to look at an unrepentant Lea, still gaping her mouth after Petra in a territorial display. "Was that really called for?"

"She scolded me for not sending you to bed! Like I'm your mother!"

Petra had perched herself on Conju's shoulder again, fluffy tail wrapped around herself in a sulk, and he had set to patting out the small drips of water left on the table. He glanced over at that, and then frowned at Cliopher. "How late were you up, last night?"

"Do you need any help cleaning up, Conju?"

"Only could that perhaps explain the headache-"

"We're both very sorry for the mess."

Conju didn't roll his eyes at them, but he did mutter under his breath words which Cliopher happily didn't try to listen to.

Petra's ears swiveled up a bare moment before the stamping of spears announced the arrival of the emperor, but that small cue was enough to send Conju fading backwards to the servant's door and out of the way.

His Radiancy swept in, now wearing slightly less formal robes. He was followed by his usual entourage of guards, but Cliopher was surprised to see Caliadne follow after as well. She hadn't been present for the morning work, so he had half assumed that she was out on business. But here she was now, climbing up onto an empty chair at the table and observing the servants bearing trays of food like a relaxed bird of prey.

Once the food was laid out in several small individual dishes, His Radiancy gestured the servants out of the room. Cliopher's dinning practice with Conju was paying off - he didn't have to follow His Radiancy's every move to know the order the foods were meant to be eaten in, now. He only had to glance at his hands every now and then, and less for guidance than for reassurance.

They ate together in silence for a few minutes before His Radiancy broached the conversation for the meal. "I was reading a report from the palace menagerie on the requirements for their aquatic specimens," he said.

Cliopher paused with his fork halfway raised and followed his lord's gaze to Lea making a turn within her bowl, and fought down the urge to place a protective hand over the mesh lid. He knew his lord was only expressing curiosity, in his usual round-about way. Not judgment. Surely not.

"The expected expense for upgrading even one of their tanks is grand indeed," His Radiancy continued. "One wonders if their staff has an accurate sense of the budget."

Cliopher recognized the out his lord was providing him, but he didn't need Conju's admonishments ringing in his ears to know he shouldn't take it. He didn't want to hide things from his lord. And he definitely didn't want his lord to think he was mistreating Lea.

"They are experts in their field, my lord, I trust their assessments. I consulted with them when commissioning the tank Lea uses in my room."

"Oh?" he asked, his tone painfully neutral.

"Yes. It's 300 liters."

His Radiancy raised his eyebrows. "…I suppose bringing a container of that size with you everywhere would be inconvenient."

"Yes my lord. The carrying bowl is a compromise for navigating the palace - any larger than this would be too cumbersome." Cliopher could theoretically use a larger container in a wagon pulled behind him - that was the set up they had used for the many long treks across open land they had to take on their journey home after the fall. But while there were elevators to use instead of the many stairs of the palace, they were reserved for those with actual need. And they both had doubts about how secure using something as large as a wagon would be in the more crowded hallways. He could easily imagine someone not looking and tripping over it… yanking the handle from his hand…

Caliadne spoke up for the first time, jolting Cliopher back from his thoughts, "How does the carrying bowl work? Why two degrees of cover?" A sharp scrape came from his lord as he dug his eating sticks into his plate a little too harshly, which made Caliadne flick her tail at the sound, but she otherwise ignored him.

"The solid lid is for transportation, my lady, to prevent spills, but we can only use it temporarily." Cliopher explained, glancing at his lord. But His Radiancy kept his expression mild and politely interested, so the rebuke couldn't have been that bad. So he followed Caliadne's lead and ignored it. "The water needs access to fresh air or it becomes stagnant. And it's more comfortable for Lea to hear and speak with others with the lid off."

"And the mesh?"

"As an additional precaution, my lady, in case an accident happens."

Lea could survive outside of water for some time, as they both well knew. The hunters in the Grey Mountains had made a game of testing exactly how long she could last tipped out onto the dry ground before they passed out. The mesh was less to prevent Lea from slipping out than it was more to prevent unwanted objects or pushy strangers from coming in to the bowl. The two tiered lid was something Cliopher had refined over his first few years in the palace, after suffering "mishaps" with their coworkers.

"This size is comfortable for you, then?" asked Caliadne, directly to Lea. Lea did a little tail flare to show excitement at being addressed. Cliopher bit down the flash of embarrassment at such an oblivious display of emotion, and consoled himself that it wasn't likely to be recognized.

"It's suitable for a workday, my lady," she replied, voice soft. Cliopher had the impression of everyone at the table, his lord included, leaning in slightly to better listen. "Returning to my full sized tank at the end of the day is always a relief, though. It's not just the space - there's coral, and greenery, and rock caves. Cliopher did an excellent job with it."

Cliopher could feel his neck getting red under the look the imperial pair gave him. "I just followed the advice from the menagerie."

"I'm surprised you needed their consultation for the tank," Caliadne said, "What did you do before you came to the palace?"

"We didn't need a tank in the islands, my lady. Gorjo City floats on docks, so it's possible for Lea to swim in open water under my feet. And many houses are equipped with piping that allows for her to swim inside and join me there. It's not as uncommon for people to have aquatic daemons in the islands. Some even live exclusively on boats, if the city is too crowded to navigate comfortably."

His Radiancy lightened slightly for the first time since Caliadne took over the conversation. "Yes - rather famously, like the Seafarer King and his whale." he said.

"Elonoa'a and Lawakua, yes my lord."

Cliopher struggled to keep his tone mild and open, but he could tell by the way his lord's expression closed off again that he had failed somehow, and tried not to despair. Normally he would be happy to discuss these stories, but the reminder of Lawakua so close to comparison to Lea…

When they were young and newly settled, and Cliopher was filled with purpose after his tana training, both of them had taken great pride in comparing themselves to those famous navigators. Having an aquatic daemon wasn't uncommon in the islands, it's true, but it was definitely old fashioned of them, especially in the city. They had spent many hours playing at being Elonoa'a and Lawakua while sailing around the bay with his cousins.

They both learned the hard way that there was a world of difference between a whale and a reef fish when sailing across open ocean.

Cliopher didn't know how closely he had still held those comparisons to his heart until those childhood dreams were thoroughly dashed by the typhoons. He did his best to keep that sense of loss from Lea - he knew she still felt a deep shame over having to be carried in bowl over their ocean, instead of swimming alongside their parahë like their ancestors did. She didn't need his own small-hearted disappointment on top of everything else.

Cliopher struggled to think of a way to regain the light tone of the conversation as the silence stretched on for just a beat too long, and tried not to feel too much relief when his lord deftly moved the topic back to the safer ground of the menagerie's budget concerns. Lea turned around in the bowl, excusing herself from participating.

Lea could swim under the boardwalks of Gorjo city. That's what they did in their youth - they didn't lie to their lord and lady. But it wasn't always their practice, these days.

When they first sailed their little Tui-tanata home, they had both been terrified of every possible worse case scenario. Even seeing that the city was still alive didn't soothe them. Lea wanted to be as close to him as possible, and being separated by the layer of dock was too much. Cliopher had automatically carried her in her little makeshift bowl, cradled close to his chest, the both of them ducking away from the calls of his extended relatives. It was safer that way - he didn't even question it.

It took a while for the extent of their damage to truly sink in. They were at some family social gathering - Cliopher couldn't even remember what it was for - when he was suddenly pieced through by a bolt of panic from Lea, and automatically responding by whipping around and slamming the lid down on her bowl. His relative's pelican daemon bounced backwards in shock and fell over with a loud squawk, and the conversation around them suddenly died.

"Really, Kip!"

"Sorry," he gasped, pulling a still frantic Lea close to him. "Sorry, I just have to-" and he made their escape.

Lea explained later that the pelican had been trying to talk to her, scolding Kip for making her stay in "that horrid thing," and was preparing to scoop her up and deposit her into open water.

"He wasn't going to hurt me," she apologized. "It's stupid, I should have known better. I made you overreact. And now Mama is going to be upset at us."

"It's not your fault. I should have kept better watch over you."

"…I'm not much of an islander daemon anymore, am I?"

Cliopher's throat closed over anything he could have said in response. He didn't want to be dismissive or give an empty platitude. But the silence where his answer could have gone stretched on, and they could both fill it easily enough.

"I could try, if you need me to." Lea eventually whispered. "I managed okay at the shores on all those islands where we rested. We could practice, I could get used to open water again…"

Cliopher could see the steps they could take easily enough - empty shoals for privacy, short walks for practice, trying to remember that having such close interactions with his relatives was a sign of safety, not a threat. But he could also feel the exhaustion coming from Lea at the very thought. "No," he said. "I'm not what they want either. If neither of us fit in here anymore, we don't have to stay."

So they left. They held their tongue through the screaming fight his mother kicked up at the treatment Lea was "suffering", they held their tongue through her Lament goodbye, and they returned to Solaara, where at least holding your tongue was expected.

Cliopher gave his morning bows to his lord and his lady - Caliadne was present today, perched on top of a plinth, looking for all the world like an oversized statue of a house cat. He gathered up Lea and his case, turned to his desk - and paused. The desk was already occupied.

On the surface sat a beautiful writing kit, wood gleaming with fresh polish, tidier in shape than his own. And next to it…

"A gift for you," His Radiancy said. "According to Our priest wizards, you have been in Our service for a year. We thought a new writing kit could commemorate the occasion."

"And the bowl, my lord?" Cliopher asked softly.

His Radiancy didn't answer. After a long moment, Caliadne gave a soft sigh and climbed down from her perch.

"You needn't use it if you decide it doesn't suit you," she said, crossing over to them and looking at Lea. "Although if there is some adjustment you would like to be made to it, I would be happy to oblige. We did our best with the information we had."

"I'm sure it's wonderful, my lady." Lea said.

"Well, you ought to try it first." Caliadne replied, audibly amused.

Cliopher set Lea's bowl down next to the new one, and opened the lids on both. The two were nearly identical in size and shape - Cliopher supposed there was only so much you improve on a glass bowl. But the hinges on the lids were already obviously a better quality - they moved easily and quietly under his hand. The new bowl was wrapped in a macrame net of sturdy plain colored cord, that could be lifted as handles or attached to a carrier.

Lea gathered herself up and then leapt from one bowl into the next. As she landed into the new water, a shiver ran down Cliopher's spine and he braced one hand against the desk to steady himself. Lea gave an audible "Oh!" as she spun about in the water and oriented herself.

"We hope the enchantments aren't too obtrusive."

"Enchantments, my lady?" Cliopher asked, a little weakly. Now he could recognize the feeling as similar to when he was acting as his lord's Hands in particularly intense rituals.

"Yes - for protection and preservation, mostly. Some to maintain the quality of the water, some to keep the rope or glass from breaking, some to prevent unwanted interference - you'll have to give open permission to those you trust to handle your bowl. But the main magic is in-"

Lea gave another turn about the bowl, and then vanished from sight.

Cliopher gasped and lurched forwards, grabbing the bowl like somehow she could have just slipped around a corner and a new angle would reveal her. But then she did reappear, speaking to him, "It's alright, it's alright, I'm right here, I didn't mean to startle you-"

"…yes, that." Caliadne said, somewhat abashed.

"How-?" Cliopher forced out.

"A tricky bit of spacial magic. It took a bit of doing to make sure it would be safe for you. There's more space in the bowl on the inside than there is on the outside, so you have more room to swim. It shouldn't stress your bond at all, you're not actually going anywhere. It's just a little more room."

"It's perfect," Lea gushed, and now that the rush was fading from Cliopher's ears he could hear just how happy she was. "The water is perfect, the extra space is perfect, it feels so…"

"Oh, good." Caliadne replied, visibly preening. She stood on her hind legs up against the desk and craned her head forwards to peer more closely into Lea's bowl. Cliopher automatically took a step back to maintain space, but Lea swam up to the side of the bowl to meet her. "Do let us know if there's anything you'd like changed or added. This is for your comfort, not our vanity."

"I can hardly think of any gift that could be better," Lea said, and Cliopher felt his ears heat with the sincerity in her voice. "Thank you."

Cliopher coughed slightly, then turned to His Radiancy, who had remained standing as still as he had been when Caliadne first climbed down off her perch. "Yes, thank you," he said, and gave the deepest bow of thanks he knew how to give, "For both these gifts, my lord. We will make good use of them."

"We are glad to see them so happily received." his lord said, gesturing him up. "Here's to many more years of work to come."

"Yes, my lord," Cliopher replied with a smile.

—

With their time in the imperial apartments so limited, Cliopher didn't have a chance to fully explore his half of their gift until later, in the privacy of his own office. He spent his lunch break happily going through his new writing kits' extensive collection of pockets, organizers, and filing space, already seeing how he could arrange his tools to his liking. He was peripherally aware of Lea moving in and out of the spacial magic in her bowl, testing the limits of how it worked, and felt her delight when she raced herself through the space and back again.

"You'll have to be careful not to disappear when we're with people, it may startle them," he said.

"Couldn't we do it just a little? It could throw someone off balance! It would be strategic!"

"You just want to show off."

"And what of it!"

Lea loved her new gift so much that it ended up nearly causing an argument between them at the end of the day. She didn't want to leave it and return to the bedroom tank, and sulked magnificently when Cliopher called her ridiculous.

"It will still be there for you tomorrow! Come on, let's bed down."

"I don't need to, not with this space. I can rest just as well in here as I can in the tank."

"The bowl doesn't have all these decorations I worked so hard to get for you, though." Lea was unimpressed at the attempt at a guilt trip, but she still sighed and then leapt from the bowl into the tank, and then promptly hid herself among the greenery at the bottom.

Cliopher felt her stubborn grumbling as he readied himself for bed, and tried not to radiate too much amusement, lest she get even more prickly at being laughed at. Eventually she quieted down, and Cliopher put his open hand into the water and waited, reading some letters from home with the other.

He got a few pages into his stack of correspondence before he felt Lea nudge up against his fingers, and he turned back to her and smiled, wiggling them so she could chase and play with them a little.

"I'm glad you love your gift, my dear."

"It's perfect. Oh Kip, I can't describe it- it feels like when we were small, and I was a chick, and got tucked under Mama's wing."

"Oh." Kip's vague initial sense of the magic in the bowl had already faded, he didn't realize… "I suppose you are being held in our lord's magic."

"Yes, almost sustained by it… I wonder if this is how they feel with their bond sustained by Zunidh."

"I hope so." That seemed like a pleasant way to think of the trifecta between a lord magus, their daemon, and their world. If you had to be so often separated by distance, there ought to be some comfort that came with it.

The two of them stayed like that for a while, Lea swimming around his hand and Cliopher carefully stroking her scales, enjoying their close company.

"We're very lucky," Lea whispered against his palm. "To have a lord who takes care of us so."

Cliopher swallowed against the lump in his throat. "Yes, we are."

"Not everyone is so lucky. It's not right that they would have to rely on luck, to know this."

"You're right." Cliopher's mind went to other forms of daemons they had seen on their long journey - creatures and people eminently suited to their home, but bound to remain there by the same token. Restricted because the world outside couldn't accommodate their size, or environmental requirements, or because other cultures would unfairly stereotype the shape of their soul.

"Perhaps we can do something about it."