"Ah, we're finally off this flying barge!" a man groaned in French. "It's been so long since we left Dijon!"
"It's not over for me, I'm afraid," a woman replied in the same language, her words coated with a faint Japanese accent. An amused titter then escaped her as she added, "Much less my companions."
The blond Burgundian blinked as he took that in, and then he gazed in shock and mute sympathy at the purple-haired teenager in the white cape with the red Gothic crosses, that covering a black lady's business suit complete with ankle-length skirt. The gold-and-black tie she currently wore, it embossed with the image of a badger, identified both the school and the house she currently attended. "You mean to tell me, Madame Hirosaki, that you have to take another flight to get to where you're going?!" Piccolet Chardin II asked.
"Only as far as Sapporo," Hirosaki Chikage replied as she returned his look. "From there, it's a simple apparate spell to my real home."
The young scion of one of the Duchy of Burgundy's more prominent noble families nodded. He had known right off the bat that Chikage was a witch and a current student of the British Empire's famed Hogwarts Academy. The threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters had spilled over from the magical to the mundane world during the so-called "First War," long before either Chikage or Piccolet had been born. While his own special skills in Martial Arts Dining could be seen as magical in the eyes of some, Piccolet had never been invited to attend Catholic Europe's own special magical institute, the Beauxbatons Academy, near Marseilles in the Holy See of Avignon. "Why don't you teleport from here?" he then asked. "From what I understand of apparation, Sapporo is not a prohibitively long distance from this place."
He waved around him to indicate the arrival lounge of the Narita Imperial Tokyo Air Station, located far to the east of Japan's capital city. The two, along with Piccolet's teacher in his chosen Art, Madame Saint-Paul (Chikage hadn't learned the woman's given name), had just stepped off a Imperial American Pacific Airways passenger dirigible which had come direct from Vancouver. For Piccolet and the Madame, it was the final leg of their journey from Dijou (via Frankfurt, London and Toronto); thanks to a simmering cold war between the Dual Empires and the Russian Empire because of the former alliance's occupation of Siberia, no dirigibles were permitted to fly through Russian airspace to either Tokyo or Seoul. And a west-east dirigible trip that went around Russia -- via Tel Aviv, Bombay and Hong Kong -- took as long as a flight over North America. "It isn't," Chikage replied. "And yes, I could easily apparate straight home from here. But unfortunately..."
"Your Grace?"
Chikage turned as the dirigible's purser came up to her. "Yes, Mister Murdoch?" she asked in English.
"Your servants are being examined by Imperial Customs right now, Your Grace," the purser reported with a respectful bow; to the young Englishman, Chikage Hirosaki (who, like her elder sister, Sakuya Hana, was entitled to the title of "Princess" in Imperial Japan despite her having not been crowned as such yet by His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan), was the equal of a duke in the British peerage. "They'll be brought here right away. I've already spoken to the purser of the ship taking you to Sapporo. They'll have quarters ready for them."
Chikage nodded. "Thank you." She then indicated Piccolet Chardin and Madame Saint-Paul. "Oh, Monsieur Chardin and his companion have come to Tokyo on pressing business. Is it possible that someone can guide them to the limousine service counter so they can get into Tokyo as quickly as possible? Not to mention arrange for them to get a hotel suite in Shinjuku; they're going to Nerima."
The purser bowed again. "I'll personally see to it, Your Grace." He then faced the Burgundians. "Monsieur, Madame, please come with me," he invited them with him in nearly flawless French. "I'll have your bags brought to you right away."
"Merci, Monsieur," Piccolet thanked him with a nod, and then he gazed on Chikage. "I hope to see you again, Madame."
"Bon voyage," she called out in return as they headed off.
Once she was alone, the second granddaughter of Princess Nagaiwakai breathed out in relief. Personally, she wouldn't mind resorting to a good apparation spell to get her and her companions up to Rishiri-tou right away. Even if they were a sight better than the ocean liners which normally crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific between Europe, North America and Asia -- and a whole universe away from the few airplanes designed to carry passengers (they were too short-range, anyway)! -- dirigibles were just too damned confining to a woman who was used to levitation spells, magic flying carpets or brooms to move from point A to point B, even over intercontinental distances.
Yet unfortunately...
"Hirosaki-koosama?"
Chikage turned as a harried Imperial Airways officer -- no doubt, the purser of the airship she would take from Narita to Sapporo -- came up to her, he giving her a deep bow. Behind him were two Imperial Customs officers, they escorting two teenage women in plain kimonos. The neck chokers with the enamel Hana clan mon and the tattoos on the backs of their wrists spoke the tale about their legal status despite their both being British by birth. The dulled, downcast looks in their eyes also spoke of considerable levels of mental manipulation -- by both magical and mundane means -- to ensure they would behave themselves. "Was there any problems in processing them?" she asked.
"No, Kooshaku-sama," one of the customs officers replied as both bowed to her. "All the forms were correctly filled out, both by our officials in London and the British Ministry of Magical Affairs." He then gazed on the pretty girls who had been brought in by Chikage. "I must confess, Kooshaku-sama, as to being curious as to how two witches wound up being turned into slaves."
"Easily explained," Chikage replied. "This one..." Here, she indicated the black-haired girl; the other was a platinum blonde. "Was one of Tommy-Wommy's closer supporters." Hearing the sucked-in breath from all three Japanese officers -- yes, the infamy of one Tom Marvolo Riddle had even reached the Land of the Rising Sun -- Chikage then smirked. "Relax. She was more than willing to allow herself to be properly conditioned for service to me. It was either that or another vacation in Azkaban for her. As for this one..." Her eyes fell on the other girl. "Her late husband was another of Tommy-Wommy's close associates. She could've easily skipped clear of what happened to him, but then she agreed to his request to force their very own son, a good friend of mine, to join up with the Death Eaters."
"I see, then," the customs officer breathed out.
"In the meantime, gentlemen, it's been a long time since I was last in the bosom of my own family. So, if you all don't mind, can we get aboard the ship and get this finally over with?" Chikage then asked. "You might be used to dirigibles. I'm not."
"Right this way, Kooshaku-sama," the purser replied as he waved the sorceress and her companions with her, while we...
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:05)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.