Chapter 45

No terrible danger came to Hayden that day, despite an hour longer than they planned. But once she settled, she had to pose for a picture and meet the chef. Soon there was another frame on the wall, of her posed with her brother. She grinned for it anyway, and slipped a gold coin into her empty bowl on their way out despite the restaurant’s insistence that the meal was free.

No danger came against her that afternoon either, when Ilene teleported Julian and Hayden to an empty beach and they played for a few hours in the sand. Without the daily meditation in a shrine, or the ruthless instruction in Unity, his powers grew much slower than Hayden's ever had. But he did learn—he could already change into three different forms, and picked up a new one every week.

The only danger in their time together was losing track of time, or causing mischief somewhere in the illustrious Mew house.

It was his fault—Julian didn't seem to care if he broke things, or made messes others had to clean up. If it was fun, they did it. As it turned out, lots of things were fun.

Days passed, then weeks. She heard back from Lady Gracidea, in a letter so vacuous she wasn't even sure if the lady had written it herself. At least a generic expression of love and confirmation they would meet again at the Equinox Ball meant an absence of bad news, right?

Eleanor confirmed as much, reading over the letter for almost an hour before clambering back into Hayden's bedroom with it. She had added a ladder ascending the entire distance, entirely for Eleanor's benefit. Her sister could fly, but those transformations exhausted her. A rope ladder, not so much.

"She doesn't want to admit she was wrong," Eleanor declared, hopping into the hammock now hanging beside her desk. That was where she slept most nights, rather than the servant's quarters.

Rather, it was where she started most nights. Hayden usually found her sharing the bed by morning. "That's what this is. She dictated this, and one of our scribes wrote it."

"Is that… good?" Hayden looked up from what she'd been reading—one of her family's letters, complete with a dozen sketches of various outfits for the wardrobe she had commissioned. The next page weighed heavily with photographs, all black and white of course. The comparison between colored pencils and photos matched her imagination quite well.

"Kinda. It's not the worst. If you had come back from Johto in shame, that wouldn't just be losing her ambitions for trade—it would bring shame on the whole family. Without a strong heir to take her place, it might be the end of Shaymin House."

She trailed off, stretching down to look at the photos on Hayden's desk. Beside all the dresses, gowns, and jumpers was a family picture showing everyone together, grinning at the camera.

"And she'd take down anyone she hated before she hit the bottom," Hayden finished, touching two fingers up against the photo. Shaymin House was loved by the people of Sinnoh, though not the same way as Mew House in Johto. They were more of a cultural institution than a direct, intervening power in people's lives the way the mew acted.

But just because Shaymin didn't interfere didn't mean they couldn't. What were the lives of a tailor family, to get back at someone who deserved it?

"Good thing that didn't happen. She doesn't have any reason to be mad at me now, right? We got the contracts. Shaymin House is prospering! I… assume." The letter said nothing at all about that side, only confirming that Mew House had "made arrangements in accordance with the betrothal contract."

"From what I hear, more than prospering. The cats are investing heavily in Sinnoh. Decided to buy our iron instead of Unova’s, so there's new forges going up, new mines. They're in talks for a summer palace there, where you and your betrothed can spend time with the gracideas and wild enigma berries. Not sure where they'll build it, but… Shaymin House engineers will do all the work, paid way more than it's worth."

Hayden clenched one hand into a fist, crushing the paper in her fingers. "So why does she sound like this? I'm doing what she wanted!" She dropped down, lowering back into her seat. At her lowest, even gravity could return to harass her. "Is it because I like him? Does she want me to be miserable and hate the mew?"

"No! Probably? I think she'd get all smug and self-righteous if you said you did. But… no, it's not that." Eleanor slipped out of the hammock, flopping to the floor. The impact had a strange, hollow sound to it, not the painful thump a human was supposed to make. She didn't even try to correct herself. She felt so little pain, Hayden couldn't even sense it coming from her.

She was just up again, straightening her arm back into place as easily as someone else might brush their hair. "My noble mother is the leader of a great house. She didn't want to be—she's wearing that crown because all the other shaymin are too wild. We give up our humanity faster than any other house, sometimes without a guru even. I dunno how she stops it from happening to her. Responsibility. Nothing matters more than protecting the house.

"And staying in control of it. She can't ever let it look like you saved it. Otherwise, what happens after you're married? Maybe Johto decides to try what happened in Kanto all over again. The family is small, not ready to fight you if you want to rebuild the First Empire." 

She slipped one arm under Hayden's, then flattened the letter back out, before reaching into the folder marked with a little shaymin. "You aren't her daughter, you aren't a shaymin—but if you had one kitten who was, they'd have a claim. So she has to keep you at arm's length, make sure every drop of success that comes back feels like it was her doing, not yours. I bet she made a show of writing this, where half the household could see. Dramatically putting you in your place, then handing it off to a Mew messenger. All politics."

"Exhausting." Hayden leaned back in her seat. Without prompting, Liz joined her in her lap, where she could stroke her back. The regular, soothing motion always calmed them down—though Evelynn's espeon could do it better. And Cody's touch—that was better than either.

"You didn't show me those. New outfits?"

"Yep. A few for you too, by the way. Not… up to your usual standard, I'm sure. But the tailors are some of the best I know. Not to mention, they got your size last time you were there. Planned on taking you with me to pick it up tomorrow, if you wanted."

Eleanor stiffened, retreating from the desk. She glanced around the room, though Hayden couldn't guess what she was searching for. "How did I not notice you preparing? A big trip like that… tomorrow?"

She had the grace to look embarrassed, tucking her ears flat. It was mostly an act. "I thought it would be better if it was a surprise. That way you wouldn't have a long time to talk yourself out of going. I know you liked them."

Eleanor backed away another step. "I'm not talking about that—but what about the guard rotation? What about your wardrobe, your itinerary? Who do you think has to make all our arrangements? I'm your handmaid, Hayden! That's like… I'm your Ilene, but for you instead of the whole household. I need to know these things!"

"Oh, that?" She waved one dismissive hand. "Ilene's the reason I'm doing it this way. We're gonna teleport straight there. She'll bring us, then pick us up again with the boxes and whatever else. We hoped I would be ready to do it, but teleporting is… hard. I still can't move things without turning them inside-out."

"Without…" Eleanor shuddered, face turning green. "You didn't find that out with a person did you?"

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the question. "The whole point is to make the move so fast that nobody can react. Nobody knows, not even my guards. I've never even said it out loud until right now. Maybe I should've put it in your head instead…"

Too late for that now.

"Surprised Julian will let you go either. That kid is obsessed. And believe me I know, since I'm still not allowed to meet him. If you ever figure out why they're isolating him after he settled, you should let me know. Like… is he a secret ditto? If that's why you like him, you can just say."

“He's not,” Hayden thought, sending her exasperation along with her words. And for good measure, she picked a memory from the night before, when Julian had finally mastered azurill. Without Unity, his physical changes were far less dramatic than her own. The personality wasn't though, and she could show that part.

Eleanor gasped, dropping to one knee beside Hayden's desk. She wobbled, breathing heavily and barely holding herself upright. Strangest of all, her hair changed, pulsing from purple to light pink, and briefly losing the slimy look. Her ears settled atop her head into twins for Hayden's, then melted back down.

"That… was…" She flopped sideways, where she could rest against the desk. Each breath brought little changes, shrinking closer to Hayden's height, then back up again—long hair, then short. Blue eyes, then purple. At her feet, her daemon's changes were even more dramatic. Loch shrunk into a feline outline, then melted back out again, matching the pulses in his human.

"What did you do?"

Hayden dropped to one knee beside her, reaching out to give her sister support. For the first time, the ditto pulled away from her, sliding along the back wall. "I…" She trailed off, confused. "You wanted to see Julian, so I showed you. Lady Moonstone taught me—it's way quicker for this kinda stuff. And it makes lying way harder. Memory has so many layers, you'll never catch it all."

"I was you." As she said it, Eleanor's voice shifted—higher, losing her high-class accent. Her hair settled on pink—not the comfortable bun Hayden wore when she was relaxing, but the mew braid she used with Julian. "I made him try a commoner dessert with orange and ice, then changed until I felt like I would melt."

She did—high red ears for a plusle, then flat-chested and lean as a buizel. Waxy ridges appeared along her head instead of hair for the vaporeon. Again and again, until she settled back into a cat.

Back into a copy so perfect, Hayden could easily mistake her for a mirror. She even pulled Loch up into her lap and stroked his back with a few nervous fingers—stroked her, since Loch was Liz's perfect copy too.

"I picked the best spot near the pier to watch the sunset. I thought he would kiss me, but he wanted to show off his transformation instead. I was so proud I forgot why I…" She trailed off, along with the perfect imitation of Hayden's voice.

"I forget what happened next."

Eleanor was also too disoriented to keep retreating. Hayden squeezed into the space beside her, testing two fingers against her ears. Her copy of mew fur felt as perfect as it looked. "This doesn't happen when I show Julian things. Or when Lady Moonstone shows me stuff."

“Why do you look like me? Eleanor, please. I'm so confused… did I get poisoned again?”

Her appearance was so perfect a stranger might not be able to tell them apart. But her thoughts—she knew Eleanor, and could still feel her sister down there. Another might not, but they knew each other too well to miss it.

“No. I think I may've hurt you by mistake. I thought it would be fine… telepathy was never a problem. I don't understand.”

Hayden looked back at her sister's perfect imitation. Whatever difficulty she usually had in copying legendaries seemed gone. Loch even floated the way Liz usually did, hovering over her sister's lap. With every passing second, she grew braver, venturing further away.

Then the door opened. Ilene appeared there, expression concerned. Had she sensed Hayden’s distress from across the mansion?

“Ilene! Look! How do we change her back?" Hayden asked, frustrated. "I was just showing her a memory! Not… trying to clone myself."

Ilene shrugged. "The last time we caught a ditto using this technique, they were a spy. The house is not merciful to such intruders. In this case… perhaps I should inform the young master that you'll be late for dinner."

"What if…" Hayden leaned in closer, wrapping one arm around Eleanor's shoulder. That brought as many strange sensations for her—she'd never looked at herself from that angle before. "You didn't just forget the rest of your life, Eleanor. Try to remember! Every time I go to visit Julian, you're always so…"

"When you go…" Eleanor pushed back against her chest. "I'm the one who goes to see him. You're… me? What kind of illusion is this?"

Hayden pressed in closer. "You go? What about yesterday? What did you do with him in the treehouse? The day before, what did you have for dinner?"

Eleanor's face twisted into greater discomfort. "I… I… uh… I'm not…"

Her eyes lost focus, darkening from pale mew blue to purple. "Hayden?"

"Yeah! I'm Hayden. The one stupid enough to think I could just share memories with you. You're Eleanor, my sister. Your daemon is Xrilloch, the ditto. You didn't want to get stuck as just one thing, remember? You want to try everything, switch whenever you want. You think the way I transform is stupid because it changes my personality. You… probably think I'm stupid too. Guess you're right."

Eleanor's pink hair darkened. She melted in Hayden's arms, stretching back out into her more familiar shape—except perhaps that she had gone even more relaxed than usual, with her arms hanging limply past Hayden and her chest crushed by Hayden's hug in a way that bones should not allow.

Hayden didn't care, she clung tighter, and squeezed until her tears finally dried.

Her sister finally looked up, with a face as distorted as her bones. For a second, anyway—a thin line became real lips, and eyes regained their dimension. "You made me… you."

Hayden nodded weakly. "Yeah. I didn't… I won't do it again, promise."