Everyone Ages (XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN)

A Heylin Force

Pure panic had sped me out of the cabin. Instinct led me back. Now I lay panting on my bed, planning never to budge until we docked. Exhausted. My head rattled with ideas on how I could get caught.
Though I didn't mean to blink until Clay, Kimiko, and Raimundo were back, I dozed off and dreamed that I'd never left early and they found out our identities. A dream of evil.
Voices brought me to the surface. "Napping in the middle of the day?"

Kimiko was back, and with Raimundo and Clay.

I gathered myself up and did something with my hair. I had hardly slept. "But what about their side?" I said with my usual concern.
"weren't you guys terrified?"

"I never really payed attention to it," Said the provoking teen.

I was about to reply when we were interrupted. A commanding young voice came from the door.
"Anybody at home?"

We goggled at each other. Kimiko quivered.

"there's an invite from, Chase Young, man-in-waiting to the heylin crown.. He commands your company for tea this very afternoon!"

We gaped. Then we ran babbling into one another. Then we emerged from the room, all agog.
And there before us stood... Omi.
Omi!
He stood straight with an invitation in his hand. He looked disappointed  for what he happened to be doing.
"Omi," We demanded, "What are you saying, and why are you serving for Chase?"

He cringed. "I must. to conceal. Anyway, Chase Young wants you at four o'clock!"

But why in the world would Chase Young want us for tea? We asked this.

"I don't know." Said Omi, looking rather uncomfortable. Then he was gone.

We gazed at where he'd been.

"How can we go to tea like this? The masks barely conceal!" Kimiko said. She looked down at herself.

"It's worked all the other times," I pointed out.

"For short periods of time!" Kimiko said. "I doubt it. I doubt it seriously."
Provoking girl, but she had a point.

At four O'clock, probably, we were at Chase's quarters with our hearts in our mouths. Know-it-all Omi had led us up and up through the ship to this very grand deck. The carpet was thick. The brass work gleamed like gold.
The sounds of a string quartet echoed.
Still, we'd darted and scurried the whole way and hoped not to be noticed. After all, look at us.
There was Kimiko in an elegant skirt of Swiss cotton that she'd never wear, a handkerchief folded and tied over her hair to conceal it. And look at the boys in nice suits. And I in white linen with a crocheted pink border, which is right for my pale colouring. We looked nice, and unidentifiable.
Following Omi's small frame, we went in the large doors. On the other side in Chase's front hall stood a very small woman, hardly life-sized.

"What names?" She inquired.

"Alice, Kimmy, Ray, and Chris," Omi lied, trying to remember the fake names I'd attempted to make less than a few nights ago.

The undersized woman wrung her hands. "Oh, I shall never remember all that."

"I'll show them to the prince. Lead the way." Commanding Omi waved a hand.

How he got all this training in a single day I'll never know. He may have learned better away from school. A fire snapped and crackled in the nearby marble hearth. Before it, outlined in flame, Chase Young, Heylin prince, leaned upon the wall. Firelight burnished the crown on his head. The room was enormous.

"Alice, Kimmy, Ray, and Chris." Omi announced in a piping voice that crackled like the fire.

Kimiko and I curtsied as the boys bowed. Chase looked us over. He was sharp-eyed.

"What pretty skirts," he deigned to say, looking away.

Beside him on the brass fender of the hearth a tea was laid out; steaming cups and a variety of pastries; tea cake and crumpet and cucumber sandwich, on polished china plates. Squares of cheese, a creamy Bel Paese, tastefully arranged. We had son settled onto the mats, the fire warm on our faces. My skirt collapsed picturesquely around me. The undersized woman and two more like her moving around us, serving us our tea. It was excellent.
It took Chase no time at all to come to the point. "The purpose of this tea," he said, "We dare not tarry, as the servants will soon be back and time is running out. But then, time is always running out for the leagues, don't you find?"

We did.

Chase sat his cup aside. A small maid whisked it away. The other two were already clearing the plates. Good little workers all three of them, though I don't suppose they dusted.
Chase cleared his throat. "It has been brought to our attention that Asia has not had a good day at sea. We understand that you are all from the ancient areas of Japan, leaving you all, Jack, Katnappe, Wuya and I a team. How important these ocean voyages are when a league is thrown together. We must take steps. It is for the sake of family."

And that, of course, is a thing I've always believed. Chase was already walking across the carpet to a fine writing desk probably Chippendale. Firelight flowed in it's polish and winked on its brass drawer pulls. We followed.

"Now where is that guest list?" He wondered aloud. "I know Wuya was working o it this afternoon. Ah!"

He pulled a sheet of cream-laid paper his way. The names on it were written in a flowing script.

"You all will be invited to the wedding." He said smoothly.

We gasped and goggled. Chase grinned. He wrote an artistic hand. His letters had loopier tails than his own. But the names emerged, drying upon the page.

Alice
Kimmy
Ray
Chris
Jack
Katnappe

We were at last once more before the fire, shaking out our formal clothes. In the crackling quiet, music still welled up. Yet it was time to go. The whole business had taken a lot out on me, whom has social anxiety. I was sadly bent.

"I have done what I can. The rest is up to you." He stroked his chin. He dismissed us with a small nod. The fire-light caught in his crown. We dropped four numb little curtsies and bows, and turned to go.
And there stood... Omi. Right on the spot.

We supposed he had come for us, but he cleared his throat and tried to hide his glare. "Lord Jack Spicer!" He announced, stepping aside.
And there was the best-looking Spicer you ever laid your eyes on, walking past us in ignorance to Chase, where admiration shone in his eyes.

"Allow me to present these fine people. Alice."
I nodded my head, but his eyes were wide and on me.
He knew.
"Kimmy," said Chase
his eyes widened more.
"Chris, and Ray."
His eyes were bulging. He already knew about Omi. Hopefully he could keep everything a secret.

Hopefully.