(OOG: This post takes place directly after Azusa's last Mariko post, "Au Palais de Verre-- 2". Sorry it came so late...... ^^)

"Mariko?"

The child was frozen, staring at her like she had come face-to-face with Death himself. She seemed on the verge of flight, but just when Cyrene thought she would turn and run, Mariko pressed her lips together and bowed deeply, face red enough to rival the sunrise.

"I'm very, very sorry........ I didn't mean to come in here. I didn't know where I was --"

"Relax, child......" Cyrene raised a slender hand, trying to calm her down before she ran away with her explanation. "It isn't a crime to walk through the gardens, even my own." She held the folder containing Kaminoshi's report close to her side, already pushing it aside to analyze this new development. "But I do wonder -- why are you here?"

"I......" Mariko kept her eyes down, voice hardly audible. "I just needed some space."

"Understandable." The morning's prevailing breeze died down, and Cyrene brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. It was easy to get lost on the Palace grounds, she well knew - in her handmaiden days, she had been tricked any number of times by the senior maids, and ended up wandering about for hours trying to finish her errands. And it wasn't hard to imagine that this girl had just gone thorugh the same sort of episode...... thought it was a little early for her classmates to be up and teasing her.

She placed the folder on the table with a sigh, glancing at the remains of her breakfast without appetite. Even the tea, still rich and black despite the recent rationing act, held nothing attractive for her.

Mariko squirmed, shuffling her feet, and Cyrene looked up.

The girl's face was ashen, a mask of death, and her eyes were round enough to rival the teacup sitting at the center of the breakfast tray; her gaze was fastened to something on the table. Cyrene blinked in mild surprise at the sudden change, and followed the child's gaze.

Her eyes fell again on the folder labeled 'Kaminoshi'.

Interesting, that the name would illicit such a reaction from the child. It was worth noting; something about it rang a bell in her mind, but she still couldn't pinpoint its significance. It was so infuriating! She knew it had to be something simple, small...... yet she could not remember to save her life!

**This is all assuming she is looking at the folder in the first place - judging by her expression upon seeing me....... it could be anything......** Cyrene let her eyes trace the path from the folder to Mariko's face, and found the child looking at her, only small traces of her shock remaining.

She had to give the child credit; not many could hide their emotions so well at this age, and with that temperment. Was she hiding something? "Speak up, Mariko." When the girl looked blankly at her, Cyrene smiled reassuringly, and elaborated. "You were looking at the folder -- have you heard the name 'Kaminoshi' before?"

The girl stared. Some unidentifiable emotion sprang up behind her eyes, and she shifted silently from one foot to the other, again and again.

"I noticed you looking at the folder," Cyrene prompted when she didn't respond, watching her young guest intently. "Have you heard the name before?"

Mariko shrugged, turning her eyes to stare intently at the ground. "Do I...... Do I have to answer?"

Cyrene compressed her lips, wishing she had the gift of telepathy as some of her retainers did. What could be so disturbing to this child about Dr. Kaminoshi? Surely she couldn't know what had happened...... the event wasn't widely publicized. And even if she did know...... why on earth would she care?

**She would care...... if she were connected with him in some way.** The girl was still staring at the ground; Cyrene kept her gaze fixed on Mariko's face. Was it familiar? Or was she just imagining things?

She could be useful, and yes, very important as well, if she had any connections with Kaminoshi, or his family. They had all dropped out of sight after the incident with Solaris, but if she had access to even -one- of them, however remote......

"Is your aunt well?" Cyrene asked to break the silence, reaching down to grasp the handle of the teacup and bring it to her lips. It had grown cold, but she hardly noticed, so intent was she on her visitor. "Kaori is her name, isn't it?"

"Y-yes......" Mariko finally met her eyes again, keeping her voice soft. "She must be worried......"

Cyrene nodded, hiding a smile behind the teacup as she took another sip of the bitter liquid. **Seeking escape now......** "The medics have taken care of her? Healed her?" Mariko nodded, and Cyrene schooled her features to stillness, tilting her head a bit to the side. "I'm glad to hear that." A pause. "You should probably go back to her, before she sets the guards searching the palace."

The girl nodded, a bit of the tension leaving her frame. "I'll go back the way I came......"

"No." Cyrene gestured to the crystal doors that lead to her parlor, under a sweeping arch of vines. "Go through my chambers. The way is shorter, and I'm sure one of my aides would be happy to lead you back to the shelter."

Such an unusual turn of events...... Cyrene tapped her fingers against a glass of cold water, staring at the Nisan pendant she had placed on her desk.

It was an obsession of hers, she knew. She carried the thing around with her every day, swing it back and forth from her fingers to pass the time between appointments...... and clench it in her fist when she was frustrated, trying to channel some of her emotion away as though Sophia were there to catch it for her, to calm her.

And now...... the little girl with the Nisan cross around her neck. 'Mariko'. A mystery, just waiting to be solved. She seemed -so familiar-, yet so distant...... Cyrene had long ago stopped expecting to remember -- regardless of what the medics said about her condition, she was sure age was finally starting to catch up with her.

Why else would she fail time and again to catch this one, simple fragment of memory?

It was enough to drive anyone insane; and unfortunately, there were many things in her life that were threatening to drive her over the brink, or so it seemed to her. The girl was just another thing to be taken care of, in due course. If she could manage.

**Intriguing......** Her fingers reached out and grasped the pendant, turning it over endlessly between her hands as she contemplated the day's events. **Is it mere coincidence that I keep encountering her? Or is there something I should see, that I am ignoring in my efforts to focus on the past?**

No...... no, it -was- something about the past, something there that Cyrene needed to remember in order to resolve the matter in her mind. And she would take care of it -- if she didn't, it might well haunt her forever. And she couldn't run Shevat if it was persistently distracting her.

Cyrene flipped the communicator on, keying the codes she would need to leave a private message for Synclair.

As much as she hated to admit it at the moment, if anyone could help her...... it would be him. They needed each other -- she knew that.

She only wished that -he- wasn't so aware of it......

(Summary: Mariko sparks more suspicion in Cyrene's mind when news about Kaminoshi turns up, and Cyrene resolves to solve the mystery of the girl's origins.)