Four days later Miranda stormed into O'Malley's and, almost, slammed the book she was carrying on the counter. "You... You.... You, perfidious schemer! We were out of our minds with worry about how to protect the girls and deal with all the people who 'knew' that they were boys! And now, this! We realized this morning that not one single person has said a word about it.
"You did something, didn't you? You fiddled with the minds of everyone who knew them and made them remember Hannah and Tabitha as always having been girls. If you were going to do that, why in the world did you let Lucina and I worry so much?"
O'Malley picked up a teacup and took a slow, measured sip, after which they raised their eyebrows. "Really? It took you this long to notice. I'm rather disappointed. I'm also disappointed that you haven't realized what the lesson was."
"Lesson? There's a lesson in this mess?"
O'Malley looked toward the ceiling and sighed. "You're going to take longer than I'd thought."
Looking back at Miranda, they put down their tea. "Yes. Lesson. No matter how stressed you are, it's imperative to still pay attention to your surroundings. If you had, you'd have seen by no later than noon the next day what was going on.
"This time all you suffered was a bit of emotional stress. In other circumstances, it might cost you your life, or, even more importantly, the lives of those you care about."
Miranda fell back into the chair behind her and put her face in her hands. Every time she thought she'd taken a few steps forward, O'Malley pulled the rug out from under her feet again. It wasn't fair!
"No little one. It's not fair, but it IS necessary."
O'Malley laid a book on the counter. "Here's your next book. You may find it more useful than this copy of Applied Dressmaking that you've just returned. That is, unless you have truly understood the lessons in what you just read. At any rate, I'll see you again when you've finished the new one."
Miranda got up, walked to the counter, and stretched out her hand to pick up the book. She froze in place when she was close enough to read the title, which was: "Strategy and Strategems -- Situations for Their Use".
She lifted her head to see O'Malley once again sitting down and cradling their teacup. They winked at her then turned their attention back to their tea.
Miranda scooped up the book and headed back up the hill. This particular volume she planned to memorize as best she could. Then she'd share it with Blair, Akane, and Hiroshi...perhaps also Dot and Bobby. She might be slow on the uptake, but this particular hint was extraordinarily obvious. Something was coming and they'd need to be prepared for it.
O'Malley nodded to themself. Good girl. Miranda had understood and hadn't needed any mental prodding, though, of course, she had no way of realizing that the six of them weren't going to be needing the knowledge they gleaned from the book for several hundred years.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Overall, things were going moderately well. "Kaho" had played her role perfectly, not that O'Malley had ever had doubts about that one. She hadn't made a single mistake for, well, interesting.... O'Malley couldn't think of a single error she'd made since she was an adolescent. She well deserved her position.
Nodding again, they returned to savoring their tea. Herbal infusions were ubiquitous in the multiverses, but this particular planet produced some of the best.
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Epilogue
Professor Ptica coughed to get the attention of her students. "Well, that was a long session, but I'm sure you can see why it was scheduled for an entire day on a Friday instead of just an hour at a time, scattered through the week. If we'd split up the final part, you'd have forgotten half of it by today, and I would have had to express my displeasure in some form or another.
She glared at her students, who all laughed nervously. Even after three years, they weren't always sure when she was teasing them.
"Next semester will be the end of the Applied Sociology courses I teach that concern The City of The Bells. Should other courses open up that I think will be of benefit to you, I, or another faculty member, will contact you long enough before you graduate that you'll be able to fit them into your schedules, if you so desire."
She bowed to the class, totally shocking most of them. She smiled behind her dampener. She'd never tell them that she wasn't kidding this time and had meant it as a sign of respect. These children had interesting, and important, futures ahead of them.
"Well, go on. Get out there and enjoy your weekend. Final exams are next week, though I doubt that I needed to remind you. All of you look nervous enough already. Even so, fun is what I prescribe for the weekend. You can stress over things that you actually needn't worry about starting Monday."
"Goodbye for now. I'll see you in a month."
She fluttered off her perch and walked slowly out of the room. She realized that she'd miss this group once the year ended. They were more entertaining than most.
Oh well. She shrugged. Such was life. It was full of changes, both small and large. It's what had kept her from being bored with teaching these past 163 years.
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Addendum:
1) You are probably puzzled by the total lack of response by Robert and Miranda after Consuela and Stavros were attacked. The other four family members involved, having been warned by Mimi that Miranda had already experienced a severe, though unspecified shock, mutually agreed that it was probably safer not to tell her immediately as there had not been any serious consequences. As he was totally incapable of keeping secrets from Miranda, Robert was not told either.
Sara discussed the situation with the twins, and they agreed that keeping the matter secret for a time was likely the best course.
They'd all intended to tell Miranda eventually, but, as the months, and then years passed, they somehow never got around to it.
2) About the Bank of the Griffon. It is not a mis-spelling of "griffin." The bank was named after the Southern European Vulture, Gyps fulvus, which is often called the Griffon Vulture. It was explained to customers that, like a vulture, the bank would extract the last tiny bit of profit from anything which they pursued. Nothing would be wasted.
I know it sounds strange, but that's how one of their representatives explained it to me. She also mentioned that, after their first, shocked reaction to the explanation, most of those hearing it became customers.
3) Regarding the passwords exchanged by Lieutenant Garavani and Genie in La Grande:
The Little Cathedral doesn't have spires.
The Harvest Festival takes place during either the last week of October or the first week of November, not at the end of November.