Manipulator

A crimson light flashed, and Admiral of Stars Cattleya returned to her captain's cabin.

She gazed at the sun sinking westward beyond the window and the endless deep-blue sea. With a soft sigh, she picked up the pen and stationery on her desk. She set the nib against the paper but did not write.

If Mr. Fool didn't want me to pass this information to the Queen, He should have stopped me. So far, it seems He's tacitly allowed it... But there's another possibility. He may consider "never reveal any secrets" a rule that goes without saying, and His silence may mean it isn't allowed...

Her desire to help Queen Mystic tangled with the memory of her last punishment. After a moment, Cattleya bit her lower lip and moved her pen. A stroke trailed across the page before she quickly wrote:

"The two symbols you asked about mean 'hometown.' They refer to the final resting place of the heart and spirit."

The question had accompanied the three pages of the Emperor's diary the Queen had sent. After submitting the diary at the Tarot Club gathering, Cattleya had asked the Fool and received an answer.

The brief message should have ended there. A moment later, though, she put pen to paper again and added a sentence:

"What do you know about the 'Mirror Person' in Trier?"

Cattleya trusted that the Queen would understand what she meant from the slight change in wording.

She folded the letter and summoned Queen Mystic's messenger. After watching it take the letter and return to the Spirit World, she rose from her desk and walked to the window facing the sea.

Every ship in the Star Pirates was sailing at full speed in single file toward the site of the Pirate Conference.

*In a few more