Part One: Drifting Tides

Andri sat in his limo chewing his fingernails.

"Clematis...are there any appointments today? I...don't think I can do them, you know?"

The blond woman next to him shook her head, kohl-rimmed green eyes carefully focused on the laptop in front of her. Long, blue nails tapped delicately on the keys, but she had to flick the lace at her wrists out of the way.

Next to her calm silence, Andri was a trembling ball of nerves. He ruffled his long fingers through his stiff blond hair, tweaked at the silver hoops and bangles piercing his ears, and finally threw himself full-length across the seat. Head nearly in her lap, he gazed up at Clematis, twilit eyes pleading for her mercy.

"Just say it, love. Say, "No, Andri, you don't have to do anything but sit at home and drink all night long."! Say it!"

She smiled gracelessly, laid one slim hand on his carefully styled hair, and said precisely that, in a thin monotonal whisper. Andri breathed a heavy sigh of relief and rolled over.

"Thanks, Clem. I needed to know you cared."

She carefully smoothed a strand of icy blond hair out of her face, blinked down at him dispassionately, and said, "But you have a cocktail party waiting for you at home. Rave will be there wanting to know how your album is going. Of course, Mandarin will also be there, but..."

His eyes flared wildly. "You've got to be joking! Please, please, Clematis--I can't face Rave. You know how well my record is going--"

"It isn't."

"Exactly! How can I have a party at home, anyway? Isn't the place a--"

"Mess? No. The housekeeper came by at 4 yesterday, just as I asked her to. The decorations were prepared, food was catered, and I invited all the guests. It's a small party. They'll be arriving at approximately 7:15, which gives you enough time to change into your lounging clothing of choice."

"Oh, God...What would I do without you, Clem?"

"Starve."

The limo pulled into the covered garage with a dissonant grind. Andri was thrown to the floor, and the laptop landed on top of him with a crash. Clematis remained silent and still.

"I hate you, Clematis."

"And I you, Andri--and I you."

Later...

It was nine p.m., and the party was in full swing, with the smell of smoke drifting idly through the slim hallways of Andri's apartment. Men in tuxedos, and women in expensive little dresses, which bared every sculpted inch of décolletage available to them, stood in little clumps and scattered with the sound of fresh gossip. Booze was available in every corner, and each possible seat was filled with the corresponding ass of a rich man, hopeful woman, or hanger-on. The host of the party was flung across an artificially faded leather chaise lounge.

Andri was bored near tears, nervously smoking a rather expensive cigarette, and wondering where the Guest of Honor and his date were. It was rather unlike Rave, and especially unlike Mandarin, to be so much as twenty minutes late, to say nothing of two hours. His hair, currently bleached to a pale creamy white, stood out in a spiky mass of spines, touched with a crimson that matched his velvet coat and pants. As usual, a lace drooped over his long fingers with their newly filed and painted nails. The six-inch platform shoes rested at odd angles, combining with the rest of the image to form a picture of a man too young to be so disillusioned. The faint pink stain on his pale cheeks was the only indication that he was particularly drunk. He shifted first to the right, then the left, trying to watch the balcony, where Clematis had fled to escape the smoke, and the front door equally. A very drunk young starlet that he had once slept with stumbled across his field of vision on the arm of some member of his band. Somewhere, outside, a siren squealed, lonely testament to either a car burglary in progress or some human disaster.

For Andri, always a melancholic individual, this thought was the last straw. A tear formed and quietly dripped down his cheek. He called out to Clematis, his usually rich voice crackling with emotion.

"Clem...Clematis...I want to sleep...Please tell these people to go away. I want to rest..."

He waited a moment, allowing his lavender eyes to brim with tears of sadness, then called again.

"Clem...I need you..."

A sharp skittering of high, high heels across lacquered floor, and she was there, a tiny figure of snow and blood and the leaves of trees. Something about her slender figure lit his fancy, and he began to laugh.

"Oh, you look like a china doll, love. You are just a tiny thing with such tilty green eyes and such a mass of white--"

"Blonde. I am blonde."

"--of white hair, and white skin, and dressed in red and green. Like a Christmas present. Who can unwrap you, dare I ask?"

"Andri, you are very drunk."

She pulled from her pocket (had she a pocket? he wondered) a small pill packet, and handed it to him.

"Take one, Andri, and sleep. I'll wake you when Mandarin and Rave arrive."

"Thank you, Clematis. What would I do without you?"

"Die."

It was at the moment that he closed his eyes on the world and drifted off into a world of dreams and shivering that the doorbell clanged. Clematis smiled, faintly, and went to answer it, leaving Andri to his nightmares.

Later...

Andri woke to the sight of a scarlet and gold brocade dress and a wash of silken strands of midnight black hair. The faint scent of orange blossoms told him everything he needed to know. Ignoring his massive headache, he sat up too fast, and flung his arms around sanity.

"Mandarin! Cousin! You've arrived...oh..."

Sickness washed through his body, and he turned and vomited into the porcelain umbrella stand near his elbow. A gentle hand smoothed his hair and soothed his hurt pride. He could feel the four-inch long fingernails through his jacket.

"Now, now, my dear. You have been a busy boy, haven't you."

Smooth like honey, sharp like glass--that voice...

"Rave...I've...I've been working very hard..."

Blinking upwards, past his cousin's sparkling violet eyes, all the way to meet the tigerish gaze of the man now looming over him, he tried to look earnest and honest and not feel like a useless cow.

"But busy in all the wrong ways. Oh, Andri, Andri, whatever shall we--"

A crisp, masculine voice cut in.

"Oh, hush, Rave. Let the boy be. He's having a rough night. Let's just give him his present and sent him on his way. He looks like he rather more needs a nap than a lecture at the moment."

"I know, Mandy, sweet honey of my hive, I know. It just saddens me so to see such a brilliant musician reduced to such a terrible state, and so swiftly. But I think I may have the Key to his revival. Or, perhaps, his utter downfall. We shall see, shan't we."

The long fingernails tapped Andri's back once more.

"Come on, cousin, snap yourself into the world again, just for a moment. Collect the present that we've bought for you, pack a bag, and then don't worry for the next month or two. Come on, Andri."

He hefted himself to a sitting position, nearly cradled against the broad chest of his beautiful cousin, and glanced around, wondering. The guests had all left, and the open door had taken care of the smoke. Clematis was sitting on the soft violet couch, clashing dreadfully, but not caring. As usual, she was typing away on her laptop. Rave, dressed in a black suit, his hair mahogany brown, and his eyes, for the moment, amber, stood, arms crossed, looking smug. The apartment was more-or-less cleaned up. He briefly wondered whether it all had been a particularly vivid dream.

"What is this present?"

Rave laughed, a rich, frightening sound.

"Wise, lad. An excellent question, and one I'm not going to--"

A quiet voice from the couch interrupted him.

"Rave, stop being dramatic and tell Andri what he's won. You sound like a B-movie villain."

"Well-spoke, Clematis, well-spoke. Well, then. Andri, here is your present. You cannot understand how highly we think of you to give you a present of this nature. You cannot possibly grasp how--"

Mandarin held up a warning hand, and he smiled.

"Very well. This is your present."

Rave slipped a hand into the breast pocket of his suit, and curled his fingers around some object within. He held his hand out, closed, palm down.

"I am asking you to relinquish that which you have held in return for this, a new chance."

Clematis drew in her breath, a sharp inhalation that seemed very loud in the suddenly still air.

"...I...don't understand."

Mandarin leaned down and hissed in his ear, "Just hold your hand out, palm up, and say, "I relinquish and accept.". He's just being a prick."

Bewildered, Andri held out his hand, and said, "I relinquish and accept."

Rave dropped a glittering object into his hand, then closed Andri's fingers over it. He could feel cool metal, sharp edges, and a silken...cord?

"Pack your bag, Andri. You have just received a wonderful six-month vacation from the world. Take very little, for your every need will be provided for. When you come back, you will, I hope, be a different person."

He released Andri's hand, and the mystified boy looked into it. A small silver key twinkled happily, crowned with a twin-mooned symbol and a pair of crab claws. The tassel dangling from the end was turquoise and white. Mandarin glanced at it, and cooed happily, "Oh! The Cancer! Such a choice, Rave. Do you think they'll get along?"

The tiger-eyed man smirked.

"They'll have to. There is no other choice."

None of them saw the faint crystalline tear that flew down Clematis' downturned face. None of them heard her whisper, "I have lost."