"Sephiroth a Jenova, let down your hair." He started moving before Hojo-sensei had finished speaking; compelled into action by the sound of his name, Sephiroth picked up the basket he used to take the weight of his hair and moved to the unglazed window where he heaved it out to fall in a tangled mass to the ground. Hojo-sensei used Sephiroth's hair to scale the sorcerously smooth tower and climbed in through the window, moving past him to inspect one of the objects Sephiroth never managed to see clearly, no matter how he tried.

"Brush your hair out for me." It was going to be one of those visits then. Sephiroth shivered as he pulled the last of his hair back through the window.

"Yes Hojo-sensei." No need to try and repack it into the basket at once, and Sephiroth plucked his hair brush from the table as he settled on the window seat. "Should I braid it afterwards?" That would let him coil it up more easily, and into less space, without creating any more tangles, but he wasn't allowed to do more than wash and brush his hair without specific permission. Permission Hojo-sensei only ever granted on those visits.

"Yes, well thought my boy." Hojo-sensei had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, and Sephiroth kept his head bowed as he worked on the very end of his hair to hide whatever feelings were showing on his face. Did Hojo-sensei think he was an idiot? "Have you finished the kitsune tapestry?"

"Yes Hojo-sensei, it's in the empty room." Sephiroth hated going into it, but he always had to make sure the serving things had displayed his work properly - Hojo-sensei had been furious the one time he hadn't. He didn't want to think about that, so he focused on his hair, brushing the mud from the last foot before working slowly up to his scalp. When he glanced up for a moment Hojo-sensei had left the room, and he relaxed a bit before returning to brushing his hair, getting all the leaves and twigs caught in it out. Eventually he finished brushing his hair, and began braiding it, grateful that Hojo-sensei hadn't returned yet, and then he removed the hair from his brush, putting it aside to wash and spin later.

Hojo-sensei hadn't returned yet, but he'd left a pile of papers - probably Sephiroth's next project. He was curious, but he knew better than to look at anything Hojo-sensei left without explicit permission, so he picked up his current personal project, knowing that he'd likely have to put it aside soon. Hojo-sensei liked seeing him in clothes he'd embroidered himself so this dragon was destined to become the front of a tunic...and probably wouldn't be finished for a long time. So he might as well get some more done while he waited for Hojo-sensei's return, before he was given something new that he had to work on for his master.

"What are you working on now my boy?"

"Winged dragon." He parked his needle and lifted his embroidery, shaking it out to display it to Hojo-sensei. He was using raised knots for most of the dragon, to give the impression of scales, he hoped, with satin stitch for the wing membranes and the back ridge to imitate webbing.

"It's well done. Your own design?" Hojo-sensei lifted the fabric from Sephiroth's hands as he spoke, to examine it more closely.

"More or less Hojo-sensei." He'd taken inspiration from one of the pictures in the references Hojo-sensei had given him for an earlier tapestry, but he'd had to adapt it and drawn out that adaptation in case he was interrupted.

"I want you to weave some ribbons for me...the specifications are here, and the materials you'll need are waiting for you. Do you need anything for your own work?" He handed the embroidery back as he spoke, more careless of it than Sephiroth might have liked, but not enough to do any damage - for example by dislodging the needle.

"Not right now, Hojo-sensei." Sephiroth carefully put his work away, reaching for the papers he'd noticed earlier, now that Hojo-sensei had confirmed he was to work from them.

"You don't need to look through those now my boy. I'll give you time for that before I leave."

"You intend to stay overnight then Hojo-sensei?" Sephiroth glanced over to the window, judging that there was no more than three hours until dusk, maybe less.

"Yes, I do. Come, my boy." Sephiroth let Hojo-sensei help him to his feet, and followed him to his bedroom, unbraiding his hair and lying down for his master when commanded, grateful when Hojo-sensei had finished taking his pleasure and he could go to sleep.

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It was still dark when Sephiroth woke, but Hojo-sensei was still sleeping, and had hold of him, so he lay still, trying not to disturb his master's rest. He wondered how long Hojo-sensei intended to stay today, and hoped it would be long enough to answer any questions Sephiroth had about those ribbons he wanted, but knew that he would have no influence over that. At least he'd have someone to talk to until Hojo-sensei left, even if he never had any real control over what they spoke about.

"Are you awake, my boy?" His master's arm tightened possessively around Sephiroth as he spoke.

"Yes Hojo-sensei."

"Good. Shiroi!" With that command the magical light brightened at once, instead of waiting until dawn outside. "Brush your hair while I shower, then wash it." Hojo-sensei patted Sephiroth's hip as he got out of bed, and Sephiroth let himself stretch out fully before reaching for a brush to obey. It didn't take as long as it had yesterday; this time it was just tangled from a night in the same bed as his master, and the only thing caught in it was dried seed. Once Hojo-sensei had returned he went to wash his hair, wishing that his master would think to provide some way to make this less of a chore. Of course many of the things Hojo-sensei had done to reduce Sephiroth's chores replaced them with minor, and sometimes not so minor, torments - especially when Sephiroth had presumed to make such a request.

For instance the sorcerous creation that carried his hair for him while it was wet never could adapt to his pace; even though he was careful to move slowly and at a steady pace it kept falling back, and tugging at his hair, then scurrying forward until it almost draped against the floor between them. It was always a relief to reach his bedroom when his hair was wet, and with Hojo-sensei here he didn't have to go immediately to the device his master had created to dry his hair rapidly. Instead he knelt, bowing his head and letting the construct deal with keeping his hair from touching the floor as he waited for his master to acknowledge him.

"Sephiroth, come here my boy." He didn't need to reply, simply obeyed, coming to curl up by his master on the bed, submitting as Hojo-sensei pulled him against his body. Hojo-sensei pulled at his hair, doing something that Sephiroth couldn't see behind him - then he cut some of Sephiroth's hair off, letting the clippings fall to the floor. Sephiroth shut his eyes when Hojo-sensei began stroking his hair, enjoying the gentle touch that dried his hair, and wondering how much Hojo-sensei had cut off this time. Eventually Hojo-sensei released him and he knelt to collect the clippings before piling his hair into the basket and following his master to breakfast.

"You can read those while you're eating." The specifications for the ribbons Hojo-sensei wanted had been put on the table where Sephiroth would be sitting.

"Thank you Hojo-sensei." He served himself a bowl of porridge and fruit before picking up the first piece of paper; the one that summarised his master's requirements. He'd have to use a loom, and his master wanted a simple check woven into the ribbons, followed up with a series of runes embroidered in white on each ribbon - the patterns for those would be on subsequent pages. And Hojo-sensei had provided three shades of silk cocoons, which Sephiroth would have to reel, throw and maybe ply to make the thread to weave and embroider - he wanted it kept virgin, unbleached and undyed which explained why Sephiroth would have to do everything himself.

"If I might ask, Hojo-sensei?"

"Go ahead my boy."

"You haven't given me a time frame for these, does that mean I can take as long as I need to get it right?" Or did he just forget to write it down? The time limits had always been in the summary sheet before.

"I'll expect the first ribbon to be ready within ten days at the very most, but perfection is far more important than speed - and you cannot simply undo an error to correct it - I'll want you to discard the whole thing if you make the slightest mistake."

"I understand, but in that case it might take longer. I do not believe I can maintain such a state of concentration for extended periods." Hojo-sensei had been generous in the time allotted, but if he had to discard a ribbon due to a mistake in embroidering the runes...

"If it isn't ready when I ask for it I expect you to show me all the mistakes in your earlier efforts."

"Yes Hojo-sensei." He'd have to spend today reeling as much of the silk as he had racks for, then start throwing it tomorrow. At least he'd have time for his own work while the glue was dissolving and the silk was drying. "Ah...how much extra materials did you obtain?"

"Ten times what you should need for the darker shades, only eight times for the pure white." The more expensive shade, even if Sephiroth wasn't sure why he was certain of that. "Will you need more than that my boy?"

"I don't think so, Hojo-sensei." He'd be as careful as he knew how to be, and break as soon as he felt his concentration wavering.

"Good."

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Cloud still wasn't entirely convinced this was a good idea, that he'd even be able to find the source of the attacks by the silver demon, but he knew that no one else was willing to even search for it, and that he couldn't be everywhere. He'd dealt with more attacks than any of Zack's other knights - somehow he was often in the right place to face the silver demon and banish it soon enough after it manifested that there were survivors to question. The Earth Lady thought it had something to do with his affinity for the Star Lady, and Cloud wasn't going to argue with Aeris on that sort of thing - doing that was a fast track to being banished from the Court, or worse, being given accelerated training in the Arts and tied to the temples for months or years. Cloud liked being a knight-adept; he'd probably rather be a plain knight, but leaving potential untapped was a recipe for disaster, and he had more freedom as a knight-adept than he would if he became a knight-magus or a knight-wizard.

He shook his head, dismissing his wandering thoughts and looked around for somewhere to hide and keep a watch on the tower. This had to be the place that greasy sorcerer he'd heard about came to visit so regularly; there wasn't anywhere else around within two days walk, he was known in the area - the peasants called him Hojo-sensei, an almost aggressively foreign name, and most of the locals had seen him leaving towards the tower at some point. Cloud couldn't risk using magic to improve his hiding place, not when he was waiting for a sorcerer. But maybe it was worth the risk of using a minor spell to find a hiding place?

He took a deep breath and knelt, resting his hand on the soil and opening himself to the world around him. The impact of his Lady's feelings knocked him even from his relatively stable position, and he found himself collapsed to the ground trying to sort through it all when she retreated. He was in the right place, at least as far as the Star Lady was concerned, and there was someone or something precious to Her trapped in that tower. The...enemy? It was probably this Hojo-sensei, given that he'd gotten the feeling this man owned the tower and was holding this precious thing captive there, but there'd been a whole mass of confused and often conflicting emotions associated with him. Anyway, what was clear was that he'd sworn himself to the Star Queen, and Cloud could sense magic tasting of Her power flaring out from the tower, to almost saturate the atmosphere around it. And somehow he was sure that if he could find somewhere to hide close enough to the tower and invoked the Star Lady's aid and protection She would be able to reinforce his camouflage, and keep the sorcerer from detecting her influence in all of Jenova's power.

There was a walled garden around the tower; maybe Cloud could find some sort of nook he could hide in there? It was the best option he could see at the moment anyway, and the Star Lady had warned him not to use any power beyond calling on Her; his training would draw power more from Aeris, or her mother, the Earth Queen, than from Lucrecia, and it seemed that sort of power would be noticed no matter how little he used. He approached the wall slowly, using what little cover he could find to try and avoid being seen from the tower - even if he suspected it was futile, that anyone who was watching from the tower would be able to see him, he had reason to believe that no-one in the tower would betray him.

The walled garden wasn't locked, making things a little easier for Cloud, and he slipped in through a side door, to find himself in a small grove of fruit trees. Looking back Cloud could see that the door probably wasn't used very often, as the grass under his feet was thick and healthy, and the climber on the wall had started to grow over the frame, although it hadn't reached the door just yet. He found a hiding place among the trees and opened himself to the Star Lady before settling down to wait.

"Sephiroth a Jenova, lower your hair." A mass of tangled metallic silver hair fell down some four times the height of a man from the large window facing towards the main gate. Cloud watched as the ugly man - the sorcerer - with greasy black hair climbed up the tower using the hair as a rope. He didn't know enough about the sorcerer's skill or power level to risk facing him - especially not as it had to be pretty high to have saturated the area with the Star Queen's power as he had - so Cloud just watched and waited for the man to leave. When he did Cloud reminded himself of all the reasons he should wait before trying to get into the tower with that phrase, to counter the sense of urgency the Star Lady was pressing on him.

Best of all would be to wait for another day, or more, take the time to see what sort of pattern this Hojo-sensei had in his visits, but he didn't have time for that, even if the Star Lady hadn't been pushing for a rapid entry. He'd promised to contact Aeris sometime today, tomorrow or the day after, and if he didn't have anything to report he was afraid Zack might decide he'd had long enough to search and have Aeris convey an order to return given how reluctant he'd been to approve Cloud's suggestion.

Hojo-sensei wasn't as distant as Cloud would have liked, but there was a good chance that he wouldn't hear Cloud calling up even without the help the Star Lady was promising to mask his voice from anyone outside the tower. And with her urgency riding him, despite his efforts to close his mind to her, Cloud found that he couldn't really wait any longer, so he came out of his hiding place and approached the tower.

"Sephiroth a Jenova, lower your hair." The idea of actually climbing up someone's hair was rather disturbing, so Cloud distracted himself by musing on that name. Who would presume to name their daughter for the Star Queen? Or sleep with a woman who called herself Jenova for that matter? Starflame! How could any woman survive using that name, given the Star Queen's disdain for mere humans? He didn't really want to think about the other alternative; that this Sephiroth was old, the Star Queen's daughter from before she came into her full power.

The man standing near the window, letting Cloud climb up his hair, looked a lot like the silver demon. But the silver demon always had a look of blind fury on its face, and for all that it fought intelligently, it could often be diverted from its target long enough for the people to escape, and if you got it far enough away from the target it would just disappear even if you couldn't banish it. This man had a look of surprise and fear on his face, and the Star Lady's pleasure hummed along Cloud's bones.

"Did you take me from Hojo-sensei?"

"Take you?" Did that mean that this man was a slave?

"Hojo-sensei has never allowed anyone else to come here." The man began pulling his hair up from the window as he spoke, still watching Cloud with a wary tension. "I thought maybe you had killed him, transferring my ownership to you."

"I...no. Do you want me to?" Why had he said that? He didn't have the time to go on a quest to save this stranger, no matter how much he wanted to - and for no reason that he could see. Unless...he focused on his awareness of the Star Lady, lowering his defences to improve his perception, and found that she'd been subtly influencing him to feel positively towards and attracted to this man.

"I don't know." The man had hesitated before answering, so Cloud could pay attention to what he said, instead of being distracted by finding the Star Lady's influence. "You look like the saviour I've dreamed of - no, they were more than dreams, but I don't know how, and I just pray those dreams were prophecy, and the dreams of destroying villages with fire and sword something else." He'd managed to get all of his hair back inside as he finished speaking, and immediately began piling it into a basket.

"Tell me about the dreams of destroying villages. Please." He regretted his demand when he saw how the other man almost flinched, and he realised that he hadn't even bothered to introduce himself. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm on a mission to discover the source of some very real attacks - like the ones you mentioned dreaming about. I am Cloud e Lana, knight-adept of the court of Zack y Aeris, chosen consort of the Earth Lady. Might I ask your name?"

"But...you already know my name. You used it to compel your entrance." The man - Sephiroth was almost shaking, and Cloud just didn't know what to make of the expression on his face. "Please, don't repeat it. I'm geased to offer my hair as a climbing net whenever I hear my full name spoken."

"I won't then, but...you really claim the Star Queen as your mother?" He wasn't going to touch the whole female part - although Sephiroth was dressed more like a woman than a man, a woman or a concubine. And the Star Lady was projecting an angry denial into his mind as well as an odd sense of possession.

"The Star Queen? Who is she?" Sephiroth looked confused, confused and more than a little pleased.

"She's one of the goddesses, one who doesn't like humans very much. And the Star Lady, my patron goddess seems to be telling me that you aren't Jenova's child. Sephiroth, please, I need to know about those dreams."

"If that is what you wish. Can we sit down first though?"

"Of course." Cloud followed Sephiroth over to a pair of chairs, and listened as Sephiroth told him about nightmares where he was destroying villages for no reason, unable to think through an irrational rage, and sometimes facing a warrior of some sort - often one who looked like Cloud in his most recent dreams.

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