“But the green version’s quite nice,” said Jay. “Like pale green apples…”

“It’s the yellow shade Fortuné’s not fond of,” Suzé whispered whilst Jo stared. “As an ‘unfortunate’ discovered at the unveiling.”

Jay winced while Jo took a napkin to his brow.

“Oh, he apologised,” Suzé continued. “Donated three of his latest pieces. Although-” she added, looking at a group over the way that may as well have been a floristry mural. “Fortuné said nothing about tonight being a celebration for the canvases.”

“Glad I’m not the only one who feels like I’ve missed out,” said Jo.

“There’s a blossom brooch across the road if you want to blend in,” said Jay.

Jo and Suzé both looked at him.

“Joke-joke,” said Jay, palms raised.

“Something else we should stay a country or two away from,” said Jo.

“Heads under the radar?” Suzé began. “Not going to cut it.”

“Do I look like I’m in stealth mode?” said Jay, standing up; spreading his arms and making Jo lean back in his chair.

“Take the bandana off and I’ll tell you,” Suzé replied.

“No fair,” said Jay, “I’m fine with ‘hush-hush’ being in the Void. Plus the triple payment.”

“Got a new wardrobe in mind,” Jo hummed.

“It might have escaped both of your sensors, but helping Mr Martens is more along the lines of what this - outfit - is about,” Suzé whispered, after a glance at a passing quartet. “Do you know that the council Phillens belongs to have agreed to give us a more than handsome reward for finding any of the devices? And the payment they sent for the item lodging in the safe is more like quadruple.”

“Not surprising considering the fix they’ve put us in,” said Jo. “Of having to find the only device that can locate the thing in the safe before Akane do.”

“But I thought they were only after the brooches,” said Jay.

“Not if Mr Orchardé is anything to go by, they aren’t.”

“It’s agreed, and it’s a challenge,” said Suzé. “A challenge you both can step up to.”

“We’ve only just started,” said Jo.

“Eight months ago,” said Suzé, putting down her glass. “A year if we count the accession.”

“We had a go on the Expanse,” Jay added.

“And ran off again when you saw a flock of parakeets.”

“They were char-” Suzé and Jo both gasped, “- no full - fluorescent.”

“Fluorescent?” a new voice said. “My kind of decoration.”

Spiced pear and floating freesia coursed up Jo’s nostrils, making him want to float across a glistening turquoise bay. A bay across which a lady strode; garments as dark as Suzé’s were pastel; yet with hair shaped, and the warm colours of a burning candelabra. And whilst the bay became the space of that part of the bar; the lady remained; face and ornate eyebrows familiar.

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“I don’t believe this,” Suzé began. “Have got to be seeing things.”

“Do you know her?” Jay asked, leaning back as if he were trying to take things in.

“Do I sound like I don’t?”

“My,” the lady said, slowing down, “this is a surprise.”

“I could say the same,” Suzé answered, standing up and moving a chair back. “My Lady.”

“Lady?” Jay repeated as Jo frowned at the face, so like a person who usually wore a sil-embroidered headscarf.

“Thought it might surprise you,” the lady chuckled, placing her glass of sparkling magenta on the table with one hand and concealing her hair in a headscarf with the other. “Does this ring any bells?”

“Y-you can’t be,” said Jay, standing up.

“I’m not seeing things,” Jo added, also standing up and making a bow. “My Lady-“

“Sis,” Jay bowed.

“Sisteron,” said Suzé, staring at Jay. “Full titles, remember?”

“Does have a ring to it,” the lady said, returning the scarf to a jet coat pocket. “Although, you should know by now that you don’t have to call me Sisteron, Suzé.”

Nevermind call her Lady Sisteron, Jo stared; she was a completely different Sisteron. Gowns, flowing robes with cranes, hills, leaping carp and brocade. Not a sharp-lined coat, matching trousers and an untucked shirt with an open waistcoat.

“Not…Maz…” Suzé whispered.

“Now that does take me back,” the lady chuckled. “Whatever in the district are you doing, Miss Mazariné? Where is your decorum like Miss Nonsuch?”

“She said that to me about you,” Suzé began, open-mouthed. “A Swan, Suzé-Ether; glide across the room like the swan that is Miss Mazariné.”

“That figures,” Lady Sisteron said as she alighted in a chair. “Miss Cryswith trying out some healthy competition. But really, Suzé, Io will be fine; and that goes for you two as well.”

“T-thank you,” Jay bowed, whilst Jo stared; at Jay; not Lady Sis — no — Lady Io.

“Not who you were expecting,” said Io as Jo and Jay returned to their seats.

“Last person in the Patchwork more like,” said Jo, still taking in the pear and freesia.

“I knew They were getting impatient. But I didn’t know who was going to represent,” Suzé added.

“Oh, I can guess who They are,” said Jo, shaking his head.

“One half having a spot of tea in Twilight Scarps. The other set at the start of an All-Nighter in Huntléfallows,” added Jay.

“To a tea,” said Io, sipping from her glass.

“But you’ve been coming in for the odd appointment since we started,” Jay continued. “And in all that time you looked nothing like this.”

“I was curious to see the latest additions to the Sixfold,” said Io. “As a patient, if it couldn’t be on the Expanse.”

“Only we weren’t the consultants,” said Jo, trying not to be carried away by that, fragrance.

“You could say that.”

“No wonder I felt like I was hitting a brick wall,” said Jay, more to himself than anyone else.

“Question would meet a question.”

“Whilst we gave all the answers,” Jo added. “Not only my favourite colour, but what would I do if it completely disappeared. What sort of question is that?”

“The answer speaks volumes,” Io replied. “‘Night’s Eternal Song’.”

It was as if a droplet of water had broken a surface. The surface of Jo’s very being. Even as he stared at the one who had been doing the analysis all this time.

“Is that a good idea, Io?” Suzé whispered.

“He needs to hear what they gave him on his investiture. At his very birth, Suzé-Ether. Those titles are not idle. They are parts of who you are. Growing just as you should be. Legacies that continue in you both.”

“I don’t like it,” Jo whispered, feeling his chest. “It shouldn’t be - here. On a stand. In a museum. Not in - here.”

“With titles come Arms,” said Io. “Arms and Responsibilities.”

“But its not even like Tarantula,” said Jay. “Made me dizzy the last time.”

Io looked at Suzé, then took a long sip of her glass of magenta. “The prologue is over. The first chapter is about to begin. Do you think you can stay in the office and avoid your responsibilities?”

“We tried,” said Jo, trying not to remember that shrieking swarm that looked as if it were about to devour them.

“They won’t let you. I won’t let you. We’ve already lost one pair. We can’t let it go to two; no matter how untried, foppish and sheltered the latest set.”

“We dressed up for this,” said Jay. “New boots, coat and a brocade bandanna. To be told that they should lock me up for crimes against fashion? I might as well go home.”

“Io didn’t say that, Jay,” said Suzé. “It’s more about you and Jo not being at the stage you should be after all this time.”

“Did they tell you how much we were the unwilling parties in all this, My Lady,” said Jo. “That they couldn’t believe it when we were picked either.”

“The picking was done the moment you were born, Kizaran,” Io said as Jo stared. “Words that also apply to you, Midsummer’s Eve Sonnet. Or should I say, Altan.”

“I don’t have to stand or sit for this,” said Jay, getting to his feet. “And I know what fop means.”

“Quite right,” Io exhaled while Suzé moved forward. “You can leave for the cover of the office. But the truth, title and arms remain. In your Houses. In yourself. And with them come duties, of which keeping an item in the Void, and finding the device that could flag it, is but a-”