Spotting something she wanted to change, she pointed it out to Sukata, who had been taking turns with Kendall to do the writing-out. Fallon watched the Kellian girl covertly, trying to spot any sign of change in the centuries-old Symbolic casting that made her so different. There had been no sign so far, but Duchess Surclere had not been able to rule out a slow unravelling.
"Has anyone ever sat on you?"
Fallon winced, but didn’t do more than glance at his Samarin-sister standing before the throne. One thing travelling with the disguised Emperor had taught them was that Yscaren Corusar was inclined to be amused rather than annoyed by impertinence.
~I have set it about that touching me involves instant, ugly death,~ replied the Emperor’s directionless, unemotional voice.
"But your armour isn’t at all cobwebby."
~A very, very long-handled duster.~
"Really?" Auri asked. "No, I don’t believe…really?"
~The energy running through the armour appears to prevent dust from settling,~ the Emperor said. ~Which is fortunate because grime is not something I planned for.~
"Can I—"
"It’s time, Aurienne," Duchess Surclere said, firmly.
Auri immediately ran across to the larger central circle, hopped neatly over the sigils, and lay down.
"How are you feeling?" she asked Fallon.
"The same," he said, and coughed. "Except horrified by the things you say."
"He likes it," Auri insisted. "The Dawnbringer knows it must be boring as spit to sit there all day and night doing Court business." She sighed luxuriantly. "I’m going to miss being him, though, especially being so strong and hearing conversations in the next room. I don’t see why—"
"Because this is complicated enough without fancy touches," Duchess Surclere said, as she bent to place the sphere they’d thought was Auri’s focus into the little circle that just intersected with her larger one. "Now, I want you both to look only at the ceiling, and to start counting together. That won’t contribute to the transfer, but I am hoping it will limit the impact of your thoughts and feelings on the casting."
Because, despite the involvement of two mages of enormous power and knowledge, there was a more than slight chance that everything would go wrong. The Duchess had to create a body for Auri, give it enough power to last for a reasonable lifespan, transfer Auri into it and—most complicated of all—untangle Auri’s existence from Fallon’s.
"One," Auri said eagerly, and Fallon joined her in at two, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think of all the things that could go wrong. There would be no going back, no second chances, from this casting.
"Three," he said, trying to ignore the inflow as the Duchess began to power the Sigillic. "Four."
At long last it would be over, whatever the result. And, though it had not been as straightforward as they had hoped, he had actually succeeded in what he’d set out to do. Won the Duchess' attention, gained her assistance. He hadn’t rushed ahead or done any wild casting, but he’d still found a way through.
And he’d witnessed such interesting magic! He had even met a fragment of one of the Elder Mages. Him! Slow-and-steady DeVries!
"Ten," he murmured, the ceiling wavering. Someone had put a brick on his chest.
Then his face hurt. A lot of him hurt, as if he’d gone through a wine-press, but the face was freshest, stinging.
"Fallon! Fallon, rot you, wake up! Don’t do this now!"
He stared up at his own face, red-eyed and furious. Did he feel so raw because his face had been peeled off and put on someone else?
"Prop him up," said Lieutenant Meniar’s voice.
It became a little easier to breathe. If only the person who’d stolen his face would stop shaking him…
"Auri?"
"Yes!"
He’d known that was how Auri would look, but it was so disconcerting. Even the voice was his own. He blinked and blinked again as Auri flung her arms around him and squeezed.
"Your heart stopped beating. I’m so glad!"
"That we were able to start it again, I presume," Duchess Surclere said. She was sitting by Fallon’s feet, looking tired and relieved. "I’m glad too," she said, smiling at him.
"Let him go for a little while," Lieutenant Meniar said, and gave Fallon a businesslike examination before casting a divination to confirm there was no major damage to his heart.
Duchess Surclere cast her own divinations, then said: "It looks like the separation worked. I can’t find any sign of the energy draw, at least."
Fallon let out a long breath. Finally! He thanked the Duchess, and then gazed up at his sister, who was studying her new body critically while she waited.
They had needed a template for Auri’s permanent body. The Emperor had said he could find a volunteer from his Court and Kendall had even—very reluctantly—said they could use her, but Auri had been firm on wanting to still be a DeVries, to be properly related to their father. So Fallon’s twin had become…Fallon’s twin.
"Hey!" Fallon shot to his feet, and then swayed as the room turned dramatically around him. He clutched Auri’s shoulder and stared…up into her eyes. "Why is she taller than me!?" He started to totter, but Sukata caught him before he fell, and scooped him effortlessly into her arms.
~Three years of energy draw is likely to have limited physical growth,~ the Emperor said.
Auri looked guilty, but failed to stifle a giggle. "Maybe you’ll catch up."
"I could strangle you Auri."
"What a waste that would be." Auri turned about, trying to look all over herself. "People will think I’m your older brother!"
"Great," Fallon sighed. "Just great."
"A cousin," Duchess Surclere said. "This is far too complicated to be publicly known."
"So long as I can explain to father, I don’t care about anyone else," Auri assured her.
"You have a month or so to decide whether you want to go through the physical changes we discussed," Lieutenant Meniar said. "It will take all of winter to complete a full shift. Altering only your face is quicker, of course, but still best done over several weeks."
"I’ll have to pick a name!" Auri said, and turned toward the Emperor. "Can I call myself Rhael? If I decide to stay a boy?"
~Be my guest.~
Auri strode abruptly toward him, and Fallon felt Sukata twitch, but his sister stopped well short of the throne, and then bowed deeply.
"Thank you," she said, in a very subdued voice for Auri. "I’ll have years to thank Fallon, and he’s my brother so he had to help me. You chose to just because."
~Primarily because very upset mages are unlikely to succeed with complicated Symbolic castings. But it was my pleasure.~
Captain Faille crossed to where a tall, warm-skinned young man lay forgotten in the central circle. Duchess Surclere followed him as he gently raised the unmoving figure and carried him through the door that led to the room behind the throne. No-one else had been permitted back there, and Fallon was tremendously curious, but not even mildly tempted to try to follow—even if he’d been on his own two feet.
Tired, he let his head drop to Sukata’s shoulder, and closed his eyes. He couldn’t exactly say he felt better physically, but the idea of sleeping without dreaming—or at least dreaming of something other than Auri—filled him with such vast and incalculable pleasure that all the dragging weariness meant nothing.
He’d won his race.
The Pest wasn’t doing it on purpose. In fact, Kendall was fairly certain he’d gone to sleep. But did he have to nuzzle into Sukata’s neck like that?