Title: Debt of gratitude
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 1000 words ish
Content notes: None
Author notes: Several years post-canon, Umi and Clef.
Summary: "Didn't we have this conversation, years ago? You were tiny, I was pretty short too, the entire world outside was falling apart - pretty sure that memory's real."


oOo

The midsummer ball was in full swing inside the Castle of Cephiro, as were the many dancers on the floor. Umi waved at her last partner and slithered between people to reach the bar at the back of the room, where she grabbed two drinks and then steeled herself to head back through the crowds, looking for her way out. It was busier than it had been even last year, and she needed a break.

Fortunately, she knew she had a good excuse, if she could just find him - ah, there, out on one of the balconies. Clef was staring out over the landscape, leaning over the balcony, standing mostly in the shadows and almost invisible from the room.

Wincing, Umi wormed around the last few people and headed over to him. If he was already in a maudlin mood, it was a good thing she'd decided she needed a break this early.

"Hey," she said, when she made it across and slid out into the relative quiet. "I got you a drink."

"Thank you." Clef smiled over at her and took it, inspecting the glass curiously before he took a sip. Everything out right now was fruit juices mixed in interesting fashions - the alcohol would be appearing as the night grew late.

"You're welcome. I needed something that would stop Caldina dragging me back out on the dance floor - or, worse, Tarta." She sighed, making the sound over-dramatic on purpose to win one of his amused smiles. "I think they're getting worse?"

"Well, they can't easily encourage Hikaru out onto the dancefloor when she's keeping Eagle company and Lantis is on duty, and-"

"And Fuu and Ferio are being all painfully sweet at each other in the corner by the bar, I know." Umi blew out a breath, this one not exaggerated for effect. "Calsina still doesn't need to spend the evening chasing me around like she can forcibly insist I have a good time."

"Possibly not, though it sounds as though she is making a good attempt?" Clef smiled at her - and then he looked back out over the starlit land, taking a sip of his drink.

Umi leaned on the railing beside him. The river that curved about the side of the Castle was glinting below, spilling away into the night. "I don't want to spend all evening making small talk with new people," she muttered. "I'm terrible at small talk."

There was a snort of suppressed laughter beside her, but aside from that a comfortable silence fell between them, and Umi felt some of the knots unwinding from her shoulders.

At least, she did until Clef spoke up again.

"I owe you a debt," he said out of nowhere, solemnly, and Umi shot upright, nearly spilling her drink with the force of the movement.

"No, you don't-"

"But I do," he insisted.

Umi shook her head, hard. "Didn't we have this conversation, years ago? You were tiny, I was pretty short too, the entire world outside was falling apart - pretty sure that memory's real."

"That's not what I-" Clef rolled his eyes at her, turning so she could see it properly. "Look. That wasn't personal, that was thanks because Cephiro owed you, and- well, I guess it was personal, too, but-"

"What did you mean then, a debt for the drink?" Umi stared at him, highly confused. "It's one glass, I grabbed it when I got mine, it's hardly what I would call a 'debt'. Anyway, you're my excuse for being out here when someone comes to drag me back in to the dancing, so if anything it was a payment-"

"Would you let me finish my thought at least once?" he asked, but he sounded almost as fond as exasperated. "No, Umi, I don't mean for the drink - though it is welcome. And I didn't mean for the general… circumstances of our first knowing each other. I meant I owe you for coming to force me to set the Guild accounts down and actually take a break almost every evening for a month. Which was a lot more than could be expected of a friend."

"I guess, maybe?" she started.

"And therefore, whatever you asked of me in return, I would be honour-bound to attempt to fulfill. As long as it was halfway reasonable." He looked at her, and then back at the room, and at her once more.

"…Clef, are you giving me permission to demand you come dance with me for the rest of the evening so Caldina can't push chatting with more people I don't know?"

"If I was," he said, thoughtfully, "I doubt I would say as such. But I am sure if you made such a request, I would consider it carefully."

Umi looked at him until his lips started twitching. But whether he was entirely serious or not, it was an offer she wasn't going to turn down. "Okay, then. Clef, once we finish these drinks, you have to dance with me."

"Very well," he said, and he smiled at her openly, before turning back to looking out over Cephiro.

Looking down at her glass, Umi hesitated, now unsure whether she should drink it fast enough they definetly wouldn't be interrupted out here, or whether to take as long as possibly in the hope of staying out of the crowds for as long as possible.

Slow drinking won. After all, there were hours left to go, and if Clef was going to suggest she monopolise his time all evening, there was no rush to shift from talking in here to trying to talk in there, in the crowds and the crush.

Of course, that would probably put her in his debt, at least for the evening.

She didn't mind.