I feel a moment of disorientation-.
"…intervention of the Chinese army under General Wu in the Autumn of sixteen fifty seven, the war shifted decisively in favour of crown prince Shukoh Dara, so preventing…"
I open my eyes, reaching out across the bed. It's still instinctual, a triumph of hope over experience. No, a warm patch-.
I've seen myself doing this thousands of times, but this is only the second time I've actually
done it.
22nd October
06:14 GMT +8
I
come to full alertness immediately, jerking up into a sitting pos-.
"I don't know how you sleep through that."
Jade.
Jade, my Jade. She's-.
She's-.
She's looking at me with an air of concern. "Bad dream?"
I haven't… Spoken to her-. I haven't
been Orange Lantern, for-.
Do I lie and try to preserve the day, or-.
No. No.
"Sorry. Time travel." I wipe my eyes with my right hand. "This is my.. second time through.. today, and the first time… Didn't go very well."
Half a second, then she's already walking towards our bedroom's phone. "Do we need to notify anyone?"
"It's-. It should be dealt with. I'll-. I'll write up a report, submit it to Nabu-."
"Lord Nabu."
"No, it's-. I get elevated later today. Since it's part of my personal timeline, it's still valid. So I don't need to use his title every time."
She stops, taking a moment to absorb that. I.. gingerly get out of bed, standing on the floor. The carpet feels…
I wipe my eyes again.
Jade frowns. "How bad was-?"
I
transition across the room and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest and pressing my face into the side of her head.
After a
slight hesitation she hugs me back. I.. take a few moment, breathing in the… Damp towel that's wrapped around her hair. She's just gotten out of the shower, yes, I.. remember.
"Sorry." I relax my grip enough that we can look one another face to face. "I'll be.. fine once the shock has worn off. At the moment I'm.. still…"
"Controllers in the Imperial Security Agency
are taught how to handle operatives experiencing
battle fatigue." She takes a careful breath. "If you
have received the Mandate, you can simply inform Lord Fang that you are unable to attend."
"No, that-. It's too big a deal for Souma. I want the part where I receive the Mandate to happen in the same way. Nabu will probably have a few questions for me, but I should be able to defer them until afterwards."
I have observed many timelines where Nabu behaved in various ways. I'm confident I know enough to communicate to him that he should let me speak in my own time-.
I need to check whether Nylor Truggs ended up here. He
shouldn't have, but ironically the changes I made to the rules concerning time travel weren't retrospective.
Jade gives me a
serious look.
"Do
not offend Lord Fate."
"I can promise that I won't
leave him offended. Though I technically have seniority on him now."
A small frown. "Lord Fate is-. Oh."
"Yes. Incidentally, I completely agree with you about Jade, and the pie restaurant was-" She blinks. "-an
interesting choice."
"Pie..?"
"Jade decides we should celebrate my elevation by going to an 'English' restaurant. Oh, and she prefers it if you call her 'Jade' when we're on a date."
"How.. do you remember that?"
"
I broke and remade the universe to get you back.
There is nothing about our time together that I haven't played through my mind a thousand times in order to remind myself why I was doing it."
"
Oh."
"Sorry, I realise that this is quite a lot to drop on you." An
orange wave passes over me as I neaten myself up, then
filaments tag the clothes Jade selected for me… Last time. I smile as they appear on my body. "A red tunic with the blue trousers, indicating my relative inexperience and desire to grow. Technically a lie now, but it matches what I wore last time and no one complained." I pull away and give her a shallow bow. "Thank you for your good advice,
oh patron of my heart."
"What
other good advice did I give you that I don't remember?"
"That Intelligence would be perfectly happy to provide me with an early morning news summary. You were quite right about that, thank you."
She nods.
"And-. Ah, when I said that Jade would prefer you to use her first name when we're together-."
"I'm.. probably not going to be-."
"
Yes, yes, I'd forgotten that you thought that. Jade." I take her hands in mine. "I'm not trading up. I'm not moving to a relationship with a higher status partner. I don't care about that.
I love you, and while I know you find my lack of ambition strange and a little frustrating,
please accept that I'm telling the truth about it."
Her head turns a little to the right.
"Yes, I-."
"Jade."
She
looks me straight in the eyes. "I
know that."
"And how do you feel about
you dating Jade?"
"That's not usually how it-. You've had this conversation before. You know how I feel about whatever it is you're actually asking."
"I know how you responded to the idea. I know how it unfolded over the next two
very busy days. I said that I'd only consider it if all parties were equally involved, and you asked if it-."
"Was some sort of European homosexuality fetish."
My eyes
widen.
"Do you remember saying that?"
"No, it just occurred to me. If I remember my temporal mechanics lectures correctly I'm still almost the same woman as the one who mentioned it in the timeline you experienced. And… Jade… Liked the idea?"
"She was more than a little nervous about trying to have a relationship at all. She's found the awkwardness that comes with being mandated when her potential partner isn't makes it too awkward. So-."
She nods. "So it will be easier for her if I don't mention it at all. I.. think I can manage that. What
else do you already know?"