The ring clearly was the home of an eternal—there could be no doubt about that. Only an eternal could possibly have the pull necessary to score such a lavish emerald, furnished with every conceivable nicety that could possibly make the eons of loneliness and servitude slightly less insufferable. The resident was sprawled out on a chaise longue upholstered in velvet, sipping a cocktail as she conversed with a guest who was there on business. The slim female appeared to be a human of European origin with straight black hair; although, given the mutability of most genies, appearances couldn’t always be trusted. “Pierre, you are approaching this situation from the wrong angle.”
Pierre had originally come from a culture where obesity was seen as a luxury for the rich and powerful, which explained why he had a body size that was almost laughable in its corpulence even though he could have just as weighed in hundreds of pounds lighter. He had been a close ally of the eternal ever since his first term on the Djinn Council nearly three thousand years previously. Now, however, his chubby fingers were massaging his eyebrows, which just so happened to be the only part of his lightly tanned head that had any hair. “I’m telling you, Nyalesh, with Kuramitsu on our side, we’ll finally have the wherewithal to get some of our proposals through.”
“You give the blonde too much credit.”
“The most intelligent politicians are the ones who can pass themselves off as idiots.”
“And idiots are also quite good at passing for idiots.”
“Well, if the Seniwan isn’t the mastermind, who is?”
Nyalesh raised an eyebrow in mild irritation. “First, Kuramitsu is not a Seniwan anymore, and she’s never going to be one again. Second, if you’re talking about the djinni responsible for getting that trio into the whole mess, her claim of relative innocence stands up perfectly if you’re willing to accept that she is indeed an airhead. And third, all this is beside the point, because I can already tell which one of them we truly need to watch out for.”
“Who?”
“The brunette—Tendo, I think her name was.”
“You’re certain?”
“Oh, she’s quite good at putting up a front of aloofness, I’ll grant you, but I can tell she’s the one manipulating the other two; Kuramitsu and Saotome simply don’t care about politics yet, which means that Tendo is going to essentially have three votes on the Council for a long time.”
“So, you’re saying that if one wants to form an alliance, one should do business with her?”
“Exactly.”
“Indeed…” The rotund genie rubbed his chin (the top one, anyway) in thought. “Well, I shall have to pay them a visit—”
“I would not recommend that, Pierre.”
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t know what Tendo is going to be like when she snaps.”
“Snaps? What do you mean?”
“I mean that she hasn’t accepted that she’s doomed to an eternity as a djinni. When reality crushes in on her, it’s not going to be pretty. She has a shrewdness about her that implies political danger, and I have no doubt that when she loses that foolish hope of returning to her former life, she will lash out at anyone and everyone whom she sees as a threat. And if my suspicions are correct (and after millions of years, they usually are), she will have already accumulated the political capital necessary to make her reaction devastating.”
“You’re certain she won’t simply accept it? The other two seem like they’ll be just fine.”
“Spoken like a true contracted genie, Pierre. You could never understand, nor should you want to, believe me. Even if Kuramitsu and Saotome haven’t lost hope yet, they’re still willing to admit the possibility of their permanence—in fact, the adorable redheaded naïf actually told me as much in a brief conversation we had. Tendo, on the other hand, refuses to even countenance the idea that her situation will not return to normal: denial is the only explanation for the confidence she exuded at the Council.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Simple—we find out who’s responsible, and at the appropriate moment, we tell her, thus earning her favor, and thus her vote and the votes of her companions.”
“But… but isn’t there an official inquiry going on?”
“Yes, there is—and no doubt several unofficial ones among those with the same idea I had.”
“So how do we make sure they don’t find the answer and tell Tendo before we do?”
Nyalesh looked askance at her political ally. “By making sure than none of them find the answer.”
“Okay, Saotome, I think I know what’s happening,” Nabiki said after some thought.
“Yeah? What?”
“Well, what exactly is it that triggers your curse?”
“Getting hit with water—well, an’ goin’ inta the bottle, too, I guess.”
“You guess, but you don’t know.”
“Huh? Whaddya mean? I was a guy out here, but when I’m in the bottle I’m a girl.”
“But was that because your curse was triggered, or because your genie magic has made ‘girl’ your default mode?”
“Ya ain’t makin’ no sense, Nabiki.”
“Maybe you aren’t cursed when you’re in the bottle, technically speaking, anyway. Maybe, since your curse is what’s in control outside, it can’t be affected by what goes on inside.”
“What?”
“Wow, Nabiki, that sounds really smart,” Mihoshi said in awe. “And her I just thought that Ranma just came out of the bottle in whatever form he had going in.”
“Now that makes sense,” Ranma said.
“That’s what I said!” Nabiki said in mild frustration.
“Could you guys keep it down?” Naru asked from her textbook-covered desk. “My history paper is difficult enough without you guys as a distraction.”
“Sorry.”
The redheaded student sighed. “It’s not your fault… at least I think it isn’t. I’m just nervous waiting for Umino, that’s all. I mean, you think he’d let me know—” Naru was interrupted as the phone on her nightstand began to ring. The teenaged girl nearly knocked her chair over as she scrambled across the room to pick it up. “Osaka residence, Naru speaking. — Oh, hi, Umino! How are you? — Really? — That… that’s great! How did it happen? — Just like that, no warning? — Uh, yeah, I guess that is kind of weird. But that doesn’t matter, right? You’re eyesight’s normal now! — Huh? — What do you mean? — Oh, come on, Umino, how could having good eyesight possibly make you a freak? If anything, people are less likely to call you names now. — What? — Superpowers?! Are you off your rocker? — Oh, you called me because you don’t know if you’re off your rocker — Sure, I’ll come right over. — Okay. See you then!”
Naru hung up the phone and turned with an irritated look towards the blonde genie in the corner. “Why does my boyfriend think he has superpowers?”
“Gee… I don’t know. Maybe he’s just not used to having good eyesight.”
“That could explain why he wants you over,” Nabiki said. “You know what’s normal already.”
“Good point. Okay, I’d better get ready. Um, can I trust you guys not to mess up my house while I’m gone?”
“Why not just take us with you?” Mihoshi asked.
“Well, you guys aren’t exactly going to blend in with those getups.”
“So? You can just take us along in our bottle.”
This got Ranma’s attention in a hurry. “What! No! Wait! Bad! Bottle not good!”
“Is something wrong with it?”
“Hell yeah there’s somethin’ wrong with it—if I go back in, I’ll be a girl again!”
“Oh, give it a rest, Saotome,” Nabiki said. “It’s not like she won’t let us out again. After all, she has two more wishes coming. Now open up that bottle and get your magical butt in there.”
“Alright,” Ranma drawled in a half-sigh as he unplugged the stopper. Within seconds, the genies had dissipated into the vessel, pulling the stopper closed behind them.
Naru took a deep breath—it seemed as though these genies were the real deal. She emptied out her backpack and put the bottle in; it was just big enough to fit. And so, slinging the backpack over her shoulder, she set out to the Gurio home to see her boyfriend and the “miraculous” recovery of his vision.
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(Posted Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:04)
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