> “Shipping Wars XIII” is this year's most anticipated event at Fanolopolis, the biggest fan convention in the continent. No other event generates half as much hysteria from the fans.

>

> —Lilli Heick, The Kraej Times

Sariel

I wasn’t going to cry. It would ruin my image to start bawling like a three-year-old.

When Asteria folded her hands together and looked up at the sky, she floated upwards like an angel returning to her home, accompanied by a chorus of heavenly voices. I managed to watch dry-eyed even when her body started dissolving into golden light.

Magnus Kraej was crying, but he was little more than a boy. Kraej or not, he was only a few months older than Asteria.

My mistake was to look at Seraph. For the first time in all our years together, I saw tears running down his face. You’d think the perfect EL would have a single tear running down his cheek like something from a classic movie, but Seraph was ugly crying.

Uriel put his arms around Seraph and me. Suddenly, I saw that the big EL wasn’t holding back either. He was staring up at the sky with a look of awe on his face, crying.

“It’s alright,” said Uriel. “She’s doing what she wants to do.”

I had to turn away and wipe my eyes.

***

She wasn’t joking when she put me in charge of taking care of Uriel and Seraph. A few days later, a letter was delivered to my apartment. I showed the thick brown envelope to Uriel and Sariel. We were having lunch at my office. “Look at this!”

“What are those? More fan club letters?” asked Uriel. It looked like he’d recovered from his hangover.

Uriel and I had taken Seraph drinking last night. We drank so much liquor that even EL metabolism couldn’t cope. I couldn’t remember all the places where we’d gone while bar-hopping, but we’d ended up at Uriel’s apartment. His fiancée had covered us with blankets when we’d fallen asleep in his living room. She’d also presented us with a truly foul concoction which she claimed was a family hangover cure. It worked.

I took out a sheaf of papers and shook them at Seraph. “Your little angel gave me all these orders!”

Seraph took the papers from my hand and started reading them.

I turned to Uriel. “Can you believe how detailed her instructions are? She wrote down Seraph’s favorite food. And his favorite authors. And all of his favorite hair products. She even wrote down his preferred brand of toilet paper! I hope she doesn’t expect me to wipe his ass for him, too.”

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I turned back to my food. Asteria had even thought of this. She’d left orders to the staff in her apartment to have healthy packed lunches sent to our office every workday. The menu, created by a chef and nutritionist working together, was to be sent to us every week for approval.

“Seraph, don’t read that twice. Put that down and finish eating your food,” I said.

“I’m done,” said Seraph.

I pressed a button on my desk.

Gitte knocked on the door once then entered. “Commander?”

“Gitte, put it on the floor.” I pointed to a spot near Seraph. My secretary went back to out then came back with a weighing scale for ELs. “Write down Seraph’s weight for me.”

“Why?” asked Seraph.

“Orders.” I didn’t have to say whose. Seraph got on the scale. I waited until my secretary had written his weight down and left before continuing, “She said you’re not allowed to waste away just because she left for a short time.”

“She said that? She said ‘a short time’?” asked Uriel.

Seraph handed him the papers.

I pointed a fork at Seraph’s half-eaten lunch. “Eat.”

“Seraph, it looks like she was only planning to be gone for a short time,” said Uriel after leafing through the papers.

“I hope so,” said Seraph. He wasn’t exactly jumping for joy, but he did seem more cheerful after reading Asteria’s extremely detailed set of instructions for the care and feeding of one S-class EL.

“She really believes in being prepared,” said Uriel.

“Have you had time to look into her charity? She said we should help you,” I said.

“Sidse said she’d help me take care of it. Her mother and aunts are big names in the charity scene,” said Uriel.

“Lucky you,” I said.

“What did your little brother say?” Uriel asked Seraph. Magnus Kraej’s Lifers had sent word to Oren and his gang that Asteria had been in an accident. The fake body in the crystallized anima was being kept in a high-security hospital suite for Kraej Company VIPs.

“They’re going to find another Crimson Pearl Flower.’

“You should have gone with them,” I said. “Get some quality family bonding time with your sibling.”

Seraph ignored me. That wasn’t good since that troublesome little girl had asked me to help Seraph build a better relationship with his family.

“I can’t go out drinking again tonight,” said Uriel. “It’s date night with Sidse.”

“What’s that you say? The great womanizer has been tamed? Soon you’ll be driving a minivan and spending all your weekends buying organic produce in the farmers’ market,” I said.

“You’re just envious because you’re the only one of us who’s still single,” said Uriel.

“I’d rather stay home tonight,” said Seraph.

“Good. I’ll bring the food,” I said. Asteria had been very clear in her orders that I was to take good care of Seraph. I didn’t want to find out what the “or else” in her letter meant.

“You two have been spending a lot of time together in Seraph’s apartment. I can’t wait for the latest Seraph X Sariel gossip. They started selling your fan club merch near my place,” said Uriel.

“Be quiet or I’ll send your fiancée the video from the last Fanolopolis,” I said.

“The one where…?” Seraph looked scandalized.

“Yes, I have the video of the fan performance where the cosplayers dressed as Uriel and Seraph-”

“Don’t say it! I don’t want to know!” said Uriel.

Seraph shook his head at the weird goings-on at fan events. We spent the rest of lunch talking about everyday things. Seraph was upset that Asteria had left, but we were all cautiously optimistic that she’d be back soon.

In addition to that small problem, Uriel and I hadn’t known what to expect when Magnus admitted that the head of the EL Project had killed Seraph’s mother, but Seraph didn’t care. He told us that he had always suspected it, but hadn’t cared about it since Dr. Greve was supposedly dead by the time Seraph came of age. He said he was satisfied with the knowledge that Dr. Greve was dead, presumably after a none-too-gentle interrogation.

We were going to be alright. I just had to make sure Seraph didn’t sink into depression.

But I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be as easy as I hoped.