Chapter 67

There were many trains leaving Unova in the days after the great Equinox Ball. Those of the most important houses left first, often whole engines with only a handful of armored cars and many soldiers following close behind.

But for each such train there were a dozen others for common servants and staff—laborers who arrived before a single member of the Great Families ever set foot in the gathering place, and who did not return to dismantle it until they were gone again.

These rode the same trains as everyone else, packed in as tight as common tickets could pack them in.

It was not easy to find a single laborer on a single train. In the end, the key came from one small mercy from her family—only one young woman leaving the ceremony had her own private sleeper quarters, when they could just as easily seat several.

Not a luxury room—most trains didn't even have them. That was good, because it would probably mean much harsher security for any servants going in or out. Maybe even enough to keep her from getting in.

It was just before evening, after dinner, when she finally found the room. She adjusted the little silver tray, straightened her serving dress, then unlatched the lock with a little telekinesis.

"Evening meal for the young mistress," she said, balancing the tray carefully under one arm. She had the better part of a day watching the other serving girls—long enough to know how they moved.

The bedroom was a mess. Expensive dresses of all sorts hung from anywhere a metal hook would stick. Other items fell right to the floor, piles of underwear by the window, and various skirts and blouses formed a tent on one bench.

The cabin's single occupant had dumped every suitcase and bag, leaving nothing where it belonged. Many of these priceless items would be wrinkled or torn severely as a result.

"That should've been…" groaned a voice, barely even coherent enough to form words. It didn't come from the bunk, but the open door to the private bathroom, with its miniscule tub. At first she thought the occupant might've been in the bath—but no. That wasn't water rising up to form a human outline. Her bare skin wasn't wet. That was just how she always looked. "Locked. I thought I locked it. No one should be in here."

Only at her worst did she let herself get so melted. Her face had only a pair of dots stuck into her skull, and a flat suggestion of a mouth. She didn't bother with hair, or the other specifics of human anatomy.

It was meant to terrify her. A serving girl who didn't understand Unity might've run screaming at the sight, thinking that someone had left a corpse to rot and it had somehow refused to die.

She pretended to look away from the bathroom, turning her back on it so fast that the ditto inside couldn't see her eyes. She kept her balance somehow, tray resting perfectly in one hand. "Young mistress," she said, projecting as much nervous embarrassment as she could. "I'm told you missed the evening meal. I brought something from the dining car for you."

Eleanor moved behind her, with sounds like pouring liquid and snapping elastic. She didn't turn, and lacked the senses to observe what she was doing.

"Mistress of nothing," the ditto finally said, no longer half-melted and wet. She shoved on her arm, snatching the tray free of her grip with little regard for her personal space. "Can't even be the handmaid to one little princess. I'm lucky they didn't make me walk home."

Eleanor heaved it down onto the narrow table a few seconds later, loud enough that the dishes and plates underneath jostled.

The servant remained there, eyes fixed stubbornly on the ground, and her little daemon not far from her slippers. They made servant uniforms for daemons too as it turned out, a little fox dress and fox boots and a bonnet for her fur.

Eleanor grunted, a little louder. "You can go now. I'll leave the tray outside when I'm finished."

She nodded weakly, turning to go. She shuffled her way to the door, and might've made it there, if Liz didn't step in a daemon.

In fairness to the fox, Loch crept up on her from below, sliding along the floor so subtly that even Hayden hadn't seen him moving. Her body suppressed her powers well enough that she couldn't sense him. Until he wrapped tendrils of slime around her hindlegs, and trapped her in place.

Eleanor dropped her fork. "This is blueberry pancakes. How did you know to bring me this?"

Hayden said nothing, eyes stubbornly fixed on the wall.

"Turn around. No, come on. You called me mistress, so do what I say."

She did, turning in place. She said nothing, acutely conscious of the ditto's attention on her now. Her simple imitation of the servant's accent would be a bit less convincing to a trained imitator.

"Under your bonnet. Those are ears, aren't they? And that skirt… is that a tail?"

She nodded, pulling the bonnet free with one hand. She shook out her head, relaxing visibly as she did so. Just because she could keep them trapped under her hair and pretend she didn't have much Unity didn't mean it was pleasant.

"I'm supposed to believe a common servant has this level of Unity?" She sniffed, and both eyes turned bright red, swelling underneath. "They searched all over for you. How'd you get onto this train?"

She pulled out the chair opposite her sister, then settled into it with a heavy thump. Liz tugged free of the ditto, losing two of the cloth boots in the process. But she was much stronger than an ordinary eevee ever could be. Strong enough to hop up into Hayden's lap, where she was out of reach of the slime.

"I waited for the search to end. It's easier when you can read it after the fact. Even the great families don't keep their security forces’ records locked up forever."

Eleanor tossed a spoon at her. Then a fork, then the knife. "Do you have any idea… what you put me through? What do you think happens to the handmaid of a mew who runs off with Celebi?"

Hayden winced. She did know, of course. It was in the same records she used to discover when the search would end. "If I told you—they would've found it in your head. Knowing would put you at risk."

She reached up to her own hair, straightening the disheveled mane of brown fluff until it turned pink and fell straight behind her. The uniform vanished, replaced with light fabric, a short skirt, and short sleeves. Like many other mew, Hayden no longer bothered with shoes most of the time. She didn't need them if she was just going to fly anyway.

"Why are you here?" she asked, folding both arms across her chest. "You think it's safe to defy the Great Families now?"

She reached across the narrow table, resting her hand on Eleanor's shoulder. "Not right now. But a few years ago, maybe. They can only chase me forwards, not backwards."

Others might just be more confused when she spoke like that. But Eleanor had still been raised in Shaymin House. She knew more than any handmaid. "You're still with him. Celebi is on this train, isn't he?"

She shook her head once. "Climb into a metal box? Not really her style. But taking a vacation somewhere that no one will be looking for us—she can do that." She squeezed Eleanor's shoulder, hard enough that the ditto deformed a little. "I'm here to rescue you, Eleanor. Not to be my handmaid—but how about my sister? You can talk to Ellie, she knows. I would never leave family behind."

Eleanor stood. She shifted through a half-dozen different colors, almost changing to one form, then another, then another. Some had ears, others just different eye colors. None remained stable for long enough to say exactly what she'd become.

Until she went back to purple, long strands of hair plastered against her skin. "And go where, Hayden? I'm a child of the Great Families, not the wilderness. I would rather be someone's servant than crouching naked in the grass, eating fruit from wild pokémon."

Wild pokémon are kinder than most people. Hayden glared back—but this wasn't an argument, she wasn't trying to change her sister's mind. Even if she wouldn't mind wandering wild through the trees for a few months, using her daemon's transformations to adapt to whatever dangers the natural world had for her. Even if the ditto was one of the few creatures who could probably keep up with her during that adventure, so long as there was somewhere safe for her to rest between transformations.

"It's good to know how to live like that. But that's not really what I meant. I was thinking more around… people." She gestured vaguely out the window; at the lights of whatever city they were passing. Which meant they were slowing, of course—it would be time to get off soon.

Hayden scanned the discarded clothes on the floor—her clothes, fitted for a variety of different forms. She hunted for one in particular, a dress made of fasteners and buttons and zippers, more versatile than anything made in the current age.

There, wrinkled under a dozen other things. She gestured, levitating it into the air in front of her. "I've got somewhere to be in… three months, I think. That's how the temporal math works out. Of course it gets a little fuzzy on the edges. More time, less time…" She shrugged. "As much as we want, really. But at the end, we've got to report to the Eldest. They're building a… place. For other kids who settle wrong, like I did. There's about to be a lot more of them, and I'm gonna be one of the first to end up there."

She snatched the dress out of the air, and nearly put it on—then held it out towards her sister instead. The ditto couldn't make clothes yet, not that she could see. Otherwise, she wouldn't be wearing that threadbare nightgown. "That's where we'll end up when we're ready. But before that, there's a whole world to see. A world that won't know we're missing—without the high walls, without the guards, without a family who doesn't think you're good enough. If you'd like to see it."

Eleanor took the dress from her outstretched hand. "With you. And Celebi?"

"Sometimes Celebi. Mostly me. Cody isn't very good about staying in one time for very long. But she wouldn't hurt you. Celebi are a lot like mew I guess. They're powerful, but mostly just people. I've known Cody as long as I've been with Shaymin House. She won't hurt you."

Eleanor held the dress up to her chest, considering. "What should I be?"

"Small." Hayden puffed up her chest, and her ears went from pink to light purple. The form she chose wasn't much older than her usual, just old enough to settle. She wanted to look plain, a rat's nest of tangled hair and flat features. Nothing that would get a second look from any guards outside the train. "Little sister. We're meeting her just outside the town. I think it's called… Opelucid. Yeah. She didn't want to come into the borders while they're still on alert for her here. But they won't be when we're going. We're mostly here to pick you up."

Eleanor slipped into the dress, then wrapped her arms around Hayden in a tight hug. Much more affectionate than she usually got from the ditto. Maybe more than she deserved, considering what Eleanor had been through over the last few weeks. "You didn't have to come back for me. I didn't think you would."

She hugged the ditto right back. "Yeah I did. If I was stronger I would've come back sooner. But I had to wait for everyone to be gone. I can't win a fight. But now that the fighting is over…" She released her, straightening her fake outfit. More illusion, a long, plain dress favored by merchants like her family. She had to have enough money to ride a train, but not enough to attract attention. If they started asking awkward questions about why she was riding that particular train, she might have to get violent.

"I think you'll like Cody. She taught me a lot. Just don't get weird about how close we are, please. We're…" She trailed off, releasing Eleanor's wrist. Was there even a name for their relationship? "Close."

"She's your girlfriend, you mean," Eleanor said, once the dress was in place. Perfect timing—the train jerked to a halt, and a message from the conductor about departing passengers echoed over the speakers. "I know how mythicals are. I grew up around you."

"I guess she is my girlfriend. I hope Julian won't mind. He can still be my betrothed, I think. So long as he's the one who gets kittens." She replaced her bonnet, flattening her ears back down. Her face wrinkled in discomfort—but it would pass. It only had to get her out of town with her sister. After that—she wouldn't have to pretend anymore.

She took Eleanor's wrist, protectively this time. Without invitation, she'd become an eevee, messy brown hair and slight frame and all. Exactly what they needed.

"Now, out of the city. Cody knows a place in the countryside, a few centuries back. There's someone there who promised to teach me teleportation."