There are Two Kinds of Fools 10
darthcourt10
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Yellowhammer
There are Two Kinds of Fools (Part X)...
Castle Moulbaix, Belgium
After a moment, Colombe swallowed and hugged Tonunotakai close to her. She whispered hoarsely, "thank you To-chan."
Toku smiled back and returned the hug, "You are welcome, Co-chan."
Colombe gave a weak smile. "We should not be found here. This place...."
Tokunotakai nodded as she placed her hand on Colombe's shoulder and squeezed gently. "It needs to be cleansed and purified, yes. The worst is over in here, but I would not wish anyone unprepared to enter."
Colombe nodded as she released Toku reluctantly. "Agreed. I'll seal Hippolyte's study back up. It will take some time to process this all."
Tokunotakai made a sound of agreement as they stood. "Hauntings normally do, yes. Especially a bad one such as what you experienced."
Colombe looked curiously at Toku as she locked the door and reactivated some of the wards. "You have experience with this sort of thing before?"
Toku nodded, "Hai. As a miko, I have been called on to intercede with the spirits often. Both those benevolent to ask for assistance from the kami, and at times to deal with the darker sort. Grudges that fester, possession by kitsune fox-spirits, those evildoers who cling to existence on this plane. I must confess that I wished that I had brought along some of my tools for such matters. It would have made matters in there significantly easier."
Colombe turned and looked at Tokunotakai, seeing the minute slump of the Masamune's shoulders. "After the tour, let's get cleaned up and then take a nap. This has been one hell of a morning."
"Agreed. So, what is next?" Toku asked curiously.
"Well this hall leads around the matching image of the rooms in the East wing. All these are closed up, though, since the family has...shrunk." Colombe's voice was quiet and sad as she walked down the hall.
Spoiler: Memories of Moulbaix
(incidentally, in a few decades, that exact piece will be played almost exactly that way by the du Chasteler-Potter family with Tony, Therese, and Amélie on Violin, Henriette and Giuseppe on Viola, Franz on Cello, Ludwig on Double Bass, Yoko on Koto (instead of the lute here), and Birthday Girl Johanna on her harpsichord body conducting)
Colombe stopped and rested her fingertips on a chipped hardwood door. "This was the nursery once. I.... My first memories of home are here." She bowed her head and rested her forehead against the wood as she whispered quietly.
Toku embraced Colombe from behind around the waist as she spoke equally quietly. "And one day it can be our daughter's first memories of her home. Norimune's... ahh..." The Masamune blushed pink, "exploits proved that we shall have a child of our own some day. Once we are ready."
Colombe hesitantly placed her hands over Tokunotakai's where they cradled her belly and gently squeezed them. "Oui, once we are ready."
After long moments, Colombe stirred. "There is very little to see here, or perhaps more accurately, it could take me a week to go through everything, and I would still have much to say. When Hippolyte... died... in 1899 the castle was placed in receivership since he died heirless, and I purchased the estate outright in 1900, although that nearly beggared me. Many of the furnishings were placed into storage during that time and I did not get around to moving back into the castle until 1919. I would have to search for some of the items I know are stored either here or in the attics that dominate the third and top floor."
Toku blinked as she parsed the sentence. "So, what did you do in the interim? I knew about a mess in Sarajevo in 1914...?"
Colombe shrugged as she led the way to a spiral staircase in the northwest tower. "I, incorrectly as it turned out, thought that Kasuyu had corrupted Hippolyte when I found Hippolyte's diaries in a search of his room. He had dealings with a fellow Dark Magician in the Congo, and Kasuyu was the enslaved go-between in a sense. So I elected to track down Kasuyu and finally ran Kasuyu's old master to ground in the Congo in 1902."
Colombe barked a laugh as they descended. "I was persona non grata in Belgium between my actions in the Congo in 1895 and then skewering my bâtard of a grandnephew. Who, true, was one of that whoreson King Leopold II's Councilors, not that I would ever swear allegiance to a man responsible for the Congo! Loyalty runs both ways." She shook her head and opened the door at the foot of the stairs. "So I decided to get too clever for my own good, sailed to South Africa from London and was going to enter the Congo from the south which turned into a mess and a half. I have my souvenirs from my trek from the Cape to the Equator in the billiard room we shall visit anon."
Colombe pointed at ornately carved wooden doors as they walked past them. "This is our private Catholic family chapel that Hippolyte closed down when the priest 'died of a fever' in 1870. I suspect that Father Pierre may have seen something and been silenced while I was fighting the Prussians."
Toku nodded, "So you are Catholic then?"
"I was baptized Catholic in the village chapel of Ath, four kilometers away along the road from Brussels to Lille. I...fear that I am not a good one. I tried, but I have the feeling that my path perhaps lies in a different direction?" Colombe spoke contemplatively.
Toku smiled and responded in a supportive voice, "I can relate. I am Shinto as you know, but my dear sister Fudo is Nichiren Buddhist. We have had many discussions about paths to enlightenment and truth. One thing that I have learned from them is there are many right paths, and some seekers are suited for different paths than other seekers."
Colombe opened the door at the end of the passage to reveal a dimly lit huge room. "A moment of your time please? Wait here until I call you?" She smirked, grinning smugly.
Spoiler: Colombe's Castle
Toku nodded and watched Colombe walk across the shadowed floor with the ease of someone who knew her home by heart and stop at the grand staircase with one foot on the bottom step. Muramasa steel gleamed with its own light as Colombe drew herself and raised her sword high. "Splendeur de ma jeunesse!"
A wave of magical energy flashed from her steel and hundreds of illusionary candles sprang to life around Colombe as she beckoned Toku to join her. Her clothing wavered and seemed to shift to knee-high black leather boots, buff breeches, and a ruffled white silk shirt under a crimson doublet. A pair of black dueling gloves were jammed in her swordbelt and her free hand held a floppy gray hat with an ostrich plume.
Enthralled, the Masamune walked across the black and white checkerboard of the floor, seeing images of lords and ladies out of the corner of her eyes. Ermine, cloth of gold, ballroom gowns in every color of the rainbow, silk, lace, and satin surrounded her in a ever-changing scene with each step she took.
Spoiler: The Entrance Hall
Suddenly Toku teared up as she saw a group of giggling young children chasing a shaggy dog weave through the ghosts of the past. The golden hair of the skinny girl dressed in boy's clothes and with a smudge of dirt on her cheek leading her brother and sister in mischief was instantly recognizable...
Toku took a step forward and the scene shifted. A teenage Colombe dressed in a sky-blue silk uniform was stifling tears as she entered. A young lady recognizable as Marie-Claire du Chasteler rushed to her side across the floor and hugged her; speaking comforting words as she patted her big sister's shoulder reassuringly...
A step and a Colombe visibly about 20 years old dressed in a jet black 18th Century dress wept uncontrollably as a group of pallbearers led by two priests carried a coffin from the chapel past her and her visibly older brothers and sister. Toku was close enough to the devastated young woman's face to read her lips. "I'm sorry Papa. I'll find my Father..."
Another step and a Colombe that looked slightly older entered. She was clad in mud-spattered rough peasant clothes, visibly injured, and exhausted as she carried a young boy with hair of du Chasteler gold protectively in her arms. An elderly man dressed in a scarlet dressing gown moved to support her as a nursemaid took the terrified child. Colombe shook her head and then wept on his shoulder as his own eyes teared up...
Another step and a group of Napoleonic-era officers in the cream white and scarlet sashes of the Austrian army surrounded her. One of them, with hair of du Chasteler gold turning to silver on his temples, sketched a salute to a smugly grinning Colombe who took his hand with the arm that was not in a bloodstained sling as they watched a bloodstained and shot-torn French battle flag get carried past them in triumph...
Another step and a Colombe, dressed in a man's traveling clothes and suntanned from her travels, hugged a short young woman with hair of du Chasteler gold and a visibly swollen belly visible through her loose dress alongside a man in wizard's robes with messy black hair. Suddenly the three ghosts broke down in laughter at the appearance of a young child with messy du Chasteler hair of gold and jam all over his face...
Another step and another Colombe. This one Toku knew, for this was the Colombe that she had first seen in 1864. Still visibly battered from her fight with Hachiman, she slumped in agonized defeat in front of the portrait at the head of the grand staircase. A short plump man in a frock coat and bowtie entered and gave her a piercing stare before walking to pat her back and speak to her encouragingly. Toku gasped as she recognized a younger Hippolyte...
Another step and a weakened Colombe leaning heavily on a cane spoke to Hippolyte as a group of workmen carried a disassembled piano into the castle past Toku...
Another step and the entrance doors boomed open. The Colombe that staggered inside was exhausted, rail-thin, and looked more dead then alive. But the blazing mad fury in her eyes gave her energy that crackled from her and put the lie to any concept of weakness as she drew her rapier and headed for the study where her treacherous nephew awaited...
Another step and a Colombe with haunted eyes dressed in the uniform of a First World War British soldier fell to her hands and knees in the middle of the empty hall after entering and cried in heaving sobs that shook her whole body...
Another step and a Colombe, dressed in the uniform of an American soldier from the Second World War entered with her sword drawn alongside a Delilah de Breuil with her revolver and wand out. Suddenly Colombe gave a happy relieved smile as Kasuyu appeared with his axe in his hand and ran to hug him...
Another step and this Colombe smirked as she stood next to the staircase below a floating "Happy Birthday!" banner speaking to Jacklyn and Delilah while a red-haired girl with green eyes chatted with an elderly witch. Claire played piano as Colombe's guests serenaded her, and everyone turned as Kasuyu entered with a tray of filled brandy snifters and a large cake shaped like a dumpster fire with 300 in icing on it...
A final step and the last Colombe entered the candlelit hall as a storm raged outside. Ehren descended the staircase with a candelabra raised high, then set it down to walk to her mother to welcome her home with a crushing hug....
The visions faded, leaving just the candles illuminating them as Colombe sheathed her sword and gave a courtly bow that Toku returned.
"Welcome to Castle Moulbaix, To-chan. Welcome to my home."
-------------------------------------
"And here are the kitchens, To-chan." Colombe turned to Toku and pushed the door open. The room beyond was a mix of old and new, with massive stone ovens and a dumbwaiter in one corner with a tray full of empty espresso glasses next to it. Right next to them was a modern refrigerator and microwave.
Tokunotakai nodded and looked curiously at the stainless steel computer controlled espresso machine with a taped sign 'Ehren's Kaffeeausgeburt' on the side.
Colombe smiled helplessly "Claire's doing there. I'll make us something to eat and we can eat here then take the stairs up to my room, To-chan. I trust you don't mind sharing a bed with me?" The rapier's breath caught on the last question.
Toku shook her head and responded gently, "Not at all Co-chan. As long as you wish for me to stay. A room near yours to meditate in and keep some clothes and other possessions would not be amiss though."
Colombe pulled out a loaf of French Bread and began to slice it. "Agreed, I'll get on that along with Kasuyu later. I don't lack for space. I was thinking...I can keep those poor Yokai we rescued here until they get their bearings and we can decide what to do with them. Aunt Chisuheri knows people in the JNHRO and I also need to talk to Delilah about them."
Spoiler: A Conversation Over Lunch
"Hai, hai. I would still wish to speak to the Jorogumo first." Toku gave a beaten-copper bracelet on the counter next to the dumbwaiter a look as Colombe fixed two sandwiches. "Where did the bracelet come from?" She idly rubbed it with a finger as she did so.
Colombe glanced over. "Oh, that's from the 1890s. Hippolyte got it from the Congo... well according to Kasuyu when I asked, it's from a nation south of his in the Congo basin. Maybe up near Kukuanaland. He wasn't sure and I never looked deeply into it with all the other crises demanding my attention back then."
The rapier shrugged and spoke thoughtfully. "Put the glasses in the dishwasher please? I normally have it on display in the Billiard Room down the hall from here along with my African hunting trophies like those elephant tusks you were impressed by. Hippolyte mentioned in his diaries that it was enchanted and at one point manifested a spirit like us, but he figured out how to drain it of energies and put whatever animated it into a coma."
Toku turned white as a sheet and spoke in a shocked voice, "That's horrible!"
"That was Hippolyte." Colombe spoke with considerable venom as she placed a sandwich on the counter for Toku, "Anyway, I used it as a directional scrying focus to track down Kasuyu back in 1902, then had it, Kasuyu, and myself shipped out of the Congo thanks to Reverend Shephard. I wouldn't leave a dead rat in the hands of those cannibals that Kasuyu was stuck with. Found it again after World War II as part of the general housecleaning Kasuyu and I did... maybe in '53? Whatever. Cleaned it up, put the usual maintenance charms on it and put it over by my Zulu knobkerries down in the Billiard Room. Under the lion head from that brute that went for me and Karl Potter in 1905 in North Africa now that I think about it."
Colombe smugged a bit as she took a bite of her roast beef sandwich. "Biggest mistake that lion ever made. Blew him off Karl with a spell then used a combat spell Circe taught me. Arrow of Artemis in fact, which is fitting since she was the Greek god of hunters. Dropped him in his tracks, and splinted up Karl's leg that he broke from where the horse threw him."
Toku listened with interest. "So how did you get the trophy out?"
Colombe shrugged, "Karl was no fool and was damn good at making Portkeys. He enchanted one for our campsite while I put my lion under a stasis spell -- never leave home on a hunting trip without one! -- then I used his Portkey to bring it and me to the German Potters' home, and dropped it off with Johann... their servant and Hunt Master Johann Potter. Good fellow, I wonder what came of him? He shipped it to Moulbaix after he mounted it while I Portkeyed back to Karl."
"Clever." Toku glanced at the bracelet as she said those words, then returned to her sandwich.
There are Two Kinds of Fools (Part X)...
Castle Moulbaix, Belgium
After a moment, Colombe swallowed and hugged Tonunotakai close to her. She whispered hoarsely, "thank you To-chan."
Toku smiled back and returned the hug, "You are welcome, Co-chan."
Colombe gave a weak smile. "We should not be found here. This place...."
Tokunotakai nodded as she placed her hand on Colombe's shoulder and squeezed gently. "It needs to be cleansed and purified, yes. The worst is over in here, but I would not wish anyone unprepared to enter."
Colombe nodded as she released Toku reluctantly. "Agreed. I'll seal Hippolyte's study back up. It will take some time to process this all."
Tokunotakai made a sound of agreement as they stood. "Hauntings normally do, yes. Especially a bad one such as what you experienced."
Colombe looked curiously at Toku as she locked the door and reactivated some of the wards. "You have experience with this sort of thing before?"
Toku nodded, "Hai. As a miko, I have been called on to intercede with the spirits often. Both those benevolent to ask for assistance from the kami, and at times to deal with the darker sort. Grudges that fester, possession by kitsune fox-spirits, those evildoers who cling to existence on this plane. I must confess that I wished that I had brought along some of my tools for such matters. It would have made matters in there significantly easier."
Colombe turned and looked at Tokunotakai, seeing the minute slump of the Masamune's shoulders. "After the tour, let's get cleaned up and then take a nap. This has been one hell of a morning."
"Agreed. So, what is next?" Toku asked curiously.
"Well this hall leads around the matching image of the rooms in the East wing. All these are closed up, though, since the family has...shrunk." Colombe's voice was quiet and sad as she walked down the hall.
Spoiler: Memories of Moulbaix
(incidentally, in a few decades, that exact piece will be played almost exactly that way by the du Chasteler-Potter family with Tony, Therese, and Amélie on Violin, Henriette and Giuseppe on Viola, Franz on Cello, Ludwig on Double Bass, Yoko on Koto (instead of the lute here), and Birthday Girl Johanna on her harpsichord body conducting)
Colombe stopped and rested her fingertips on a chipped hardwood door. "This was the nursery once. I.... My first memories of home are here." She bowed her head and rested her forehead against the wood as she whispered quietly.
Toku embraced Colombe from behind around the waist as she spoke equally quietly. "And one day it can be our daughter's first memories of her home. Norimune's... ahh..." The Masamune blushed pink, "exploits proved that we shall have a child of our own some day. Once we are ready."
Colombe hesitantly placed her hands over Tokunotakai's where they cradled her belly and gently squeezed them. "Oui, once we are ready."
After long moments, Colombe stirred. "There is very little to see here, or perhaps more accurately, it could take me a week to go through everything, and I would still have much to say. When Hippolyte... died... in 1899 the castle was placed in receivership since he died heirless, and I purchased the estate outright in 1900, although that nearly beggared me. Many of the furnishings were placed into storage during that time and I did not get around to moving back into the castle until 1919. I would have to search for some of the items I know are stored either here or in the attics that dominate the third and top floor."
Toku blinked as she parsed the sentence. "So, what did you do in the interim? I knew about a mess in Sarajevo in 1914...?"
Colombe shrugged as she led the way to a spiral staircase in the northwest tower. "I, incorrectly as it turned out, thought that Kasuyu had corrupted Hippolyte when I found Hippolyte's diaries in a search of his room. He had dealings with a fellow Dark Magician in the Congo, and Kasuyu was the enslaved go-between in a sense. So I elected to track down Kasuyu and finally ran Kasuyu's old master to ground in the Congo in 1902."
Colombe barked a laugh as they descended. "I was persona non grata in Belgium between my actions in the Congo in 1895 and then skewering my bâtard of a grandnephew. Who, true, was one of that whoreson King Leopold II's Councilors, not that I would ever swear allegiance to a man responsible for the Congo! Loyalty runs both ways." She shook her head and opened the door at the foot of the stairs. "So I decided to get too clever for my own good, sailed to South Africa from London and was going to enter the Congo from the south which turned into a mess and a half. I have my souvenirs from my trek from the Cape to the Equator in the billiard room we shall visit anon."
Colombe pointed at ornately carved wooden doors as they walked past them. "This is our private Catholic family chapel that Hippolyte closed down when the priest 'died of a fever' in 1870. I suspect that Father Pierre may have seen something and been silenced while I was fighting the Prussians."
Toku nodded, "So you are Catholic then?"
"I was baptized Catholic in the village chapel of Ath, four kilometers away along the road from Brussels to Lille. I...fear that I am not a good one. I tried, but I have the feeling that my path perhaps lies in a different direction?" Colombe spoke contemplatively.
Toku smiled and responded in a supportive voice, "I can relate. I am Shinto as you know, but my dear sister Fudo is Nichiren Buddhist. We have had many discussions about paths to enlightenment and truth. One thing that I have learned from them is there are many right paths, and some seekers are suited for different paths than other seekers."
Colombe opened the door at the end of the passage to reveal a dimly lit huge room. "A moment of your time please? Wait here until I call you?" She smirked, grinning smugly.
Spoiler: Colombe's Castle
Toku nodded and watched Colombe walk across the shadowed floor with the ease of someone who knew her home by heart and stop at the grand staircase with one foot on the bottom step. Muramasa steel gleamed with its own light as Colombe drew herself and raised her sword high. "Splendeur de ma jeunesse!"
A wave of magical energy flashed from her steel and hundreds of illusionary candles sprang to life around Colombe as she beckoned Toku to join her. Her clothing wavered and seemed to shift to knee-high black leather boots, buff breeches, and a ruffled white silk shirt under a crimson doublet. A pair of black dueling gloves were jammed in her swordbelt and her free hand held a floppy gray hat with an ostrich plume.
Enthralled, the Masamune walked across the black and white checkerboard of the floor, seeing images of lords and ladies out of the corner of her eyes. Ermine, cloth of gold, ballroom gowns in every color of the rainbow, silk, lace, and satin surrounded her in a ever-changing scene with each step she took.
Spoiler: The Entrance Hall
Suddenly Toku teared up as she saw a group of giggling young children chasing a shaggy dog weave through the ghosts of the past. The golden hair of the skinny girl dressed in boy's clothes and with a smudge of dirt on her cheek leading her brother and sister in mischief was instantly recognizable...
Toku took a step forward and the scene shifted. A teenage Colombe dressed in a sky-blue silk uniform was stifling tears as she entered. A young lady recognizable as Marie-Claire du Chasteler rushed to her side across the floor and hugged her; speaking comforting words as she patted her big sister's shoulder reassuringly...
A step and a Colombe visibly about 20 years old dressed in a jet black 18th Century dress wept uncontrollably as a group of pallbearers led by two priests carried a coffin from the chapel past her and her visibly older brothers and sister. Toku was close enough to the devastated young woman's face to read her lips. "I'm sorry Papa. I'll find my Father..."
Another step and a Colombe that looked slightly older entered. She was clad in mud-spattered rough peasant clothes, visibly injured, and exhausted as she carried a young boy with hair of du Chasteler gold protectively in her arms. An elderly man dressed in a scarlet dressing gown moved to support her as a nursemaid took the terrified child. Colombe shook her head and then wept on his shoulder as his own eyes teared up...
Another step and a group of Napoleonic-era officers in the cream white and scarlet sashes of the Austrian army surrounded her. One of them, with hair of du Chasteler gold turning to silver on his temples, sketched a salute to a smugly grinning Colombe who took his hand with the arm that was not in a bloodstained sling as they watched a bloodstained and shot-torn French battle flag get carried past them in triumph...
Another step and a Colombe, dressed in a man's traveling clothes and suntanned from her travels, hugged a short young woman with hair of du Chasteler gold and a visibly swollen belly visible through her loose dress alongside a man in wizard's robes with messy black hair. Suddenly the three ghosts broke down in laughter at the appearance of a young child with messy du Chasteler hair of gold and jam all over his face...
Another step and another Colombe. This one Toku knew, for this was the Colombe that she had first seen in 1864. Still visibly battered from her fight with Hachiman, she slumped in agonized defeat in front of the portrait at the head of the grand staircase. A short plump man in a frock coat and bowtie entered and gave her a piercing stare before walking to pat her back and speak to her encouragingly. Toku gasped as she recognized a younger Hippolyte...
Another step and a weakened Colombe leaning heavily on a cane spoke to Hippolyte as a group of workmen carried a disassembled piano into the castle past Toku...
Another step and the entrance doors boomed open. The Colombe that staggered inside was exhausted, rail-thin, and looked more dead then alive. But the blazing mad fury in her eyes gave her energy that crackled from her and put the lie to any concept of weakness as she drew her rapier and headed for the study where her treacherous nephew awaited...
Another step and a Colombe with haunted eyes dressed in the uniform of a First World War British soldier fell to her hands and knees in the middle of the empty hall after entering and cried in heaving sobs that shook her whole body...
Another step and a Colombe, dressed in the uniform of an American soldier from the Second World War entered with her sword drawn alongside a Delilah de Breuil with her revolver and wand out. Suddenly Colombe gave a happy relieved smile as Kasuyu appeared with his axe in his hand and ran to hug him...
Another step and this Colombe smirked as she stood next to the staircase below a floating "Happy Birthday!" banner speaking to Jacklyn and Delilah while a red-haired girl with green eyes chatted with an elderly witch. Claire played piano as Colombe's guests serenaded her, and everyone turned as Kasuyu entered with a tray of filled brandy snifters and a large cake shaped like a dumpster fire with 300 in icing on it...
A final step and the last Colombe entered the candlelit hall as a storm raged outside. Ehren descended the staircase with a candelabra raised high, then set it down to walk to her mother to welcome her home with a crushing hug....
The visions faded, leaving just the candles illuminating them as Colombe sheathed her sword and gave a courtly bow that Toku returned.
"Welcome to Castle Moulbaix, To-chan. Welcome to my home."
-------------------------------------
"And here are the kitchens, To-chan." Colombe turned to Toku and pushed the door open. The room beyond was a mix of old and new, with massive stone ovens and a dumbwaiter in one corner with a tray full of empty espresso glasses next to it. Right next to them was a modern refrigerator and microwave.
Tokunotakai nodded and looked curiously at the stainless steel computer controlled espresso machine with a taped sign 'Ehren's Kaffeeausgeburt' on the side.
Colombe smiled helplessly "Claire's doing there. I'll make us something to eat and we can eat here then take the stairs up to my room, To-chan. I trust you don't mind sharing a bed with me?" The rapier's breath caught on the last question.
Toku shook her head and responded gently, "Not at all Co-chan. As long as you wish for me to stay. A room near yours to meditate in and keep some clothes and other possessions would not be amiss though."
Colombe pulled out a loaf of French Bread and began to slice it. "Agreed, I'll get on that along with Kasuyu later. I don't lack for space. I was thinking...I can keep those poor Yokai we rescued here until they get their bearings and we can decide what to do with them. Aunt Chisuheri knows people in the JNHRO and I also need to talk to Delilah about them."
Spoiler: A Conversation Over Lunch
"Hai, hai. I would still wish to speak to the Jorogumo first." Toku gave a beaten-copper bracelet on the counter next to the dumbwaiter a look as Colombe fixed two sandwiches. "Where did the bracelet come from?" She idly rubbed it with a finger as she did so.
Colombe glanced over. "Oh, that's from the 1890s. Hippolyte got it from the Congo... well according to Kasuyu when I asked, it's from a nation south of his in the Congo basin. Maybe up near Kukuanaland. He wasn't sure and I never looked deeply into it with all the other crises demanding my attention back then."
The rapier shrugged and spoke thoughtfully. "Put the glasses in the dishwasher please? I normally have it on display in the Billiard Room down the hall from here along with my African hunting trophies like those elephant tusks you were impressed by. Hippolyte mentioned in his diaries that it was enchanted and at one point manifested a spirit like us, but he figured out how to drain it of energies and put whatever animated it into a coma."
Toku turned white as a sheet and spoke in a shocked voice, "That's horrible!"
"That was Hippolyte." Colombe spoke with considerable venom as she placed a sandwich on the counter for Toku, "Anyway, I used it as a directional scrying focus to track down Kasuyu back in 1902, then had it, Kasuyu, and myself shipped out of the Congo thanks to Reverend Shephard. I wouldn't leave a dead rat in the hands of those cannibals that Kasuyu was stuck with. Found it again after World War II as part of the general housecleaning Kasuyu and I did... maybe in '53? Whatever. Cleaned it up, put the usual maintenance charms on it and put it over by my Zulu knobkerries down in the Billiard Room. Under the lion head from that brute that went for me and Karl Potter in 1905 in North Africa now that I think about it."
Colombe smugged a bit as she took a bite of her roast beef sandwich. "Biggest mistake that lion ever made. Blew him off Karl with a spell then used a combat spell Circe taught me. Arrow of Artemis in fact, which is fitting since she was the Greek god of hunters. Dropped him in his tracks, and splinted up Karl's leg that he broke from where the horse threw him."
Toku listened with interest. "So how did you get the trophy out?"
Colombe shrugged, "Karl was no fool and was damn good at making Portkeys. He enchanted one for our campsite while I put my lion under a stasis spell -- never leave home on a hunting trip without one! -- then I used his Portkey to bring it and me to the German Potters' home, and dropped it off with Johann... their servant and Hunt Master Johann Potter. Good fellow, I wonder what came of him? He shipped it to Moulbaix after he mounted it while I Portkeyed back to Karl."
"Clever." Toku glanced at the bracelet as she said those words, then returned to her sandwich.