SUMMARY: In which Kate is troubled, and Chrono is Very Polite, as you tend to be when surrounded by demon exterminators, and you happen to be a demon.

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Loyalty

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As long as Sister Kate had known him, Chrono had worn his hair in a braid tied with a yellow ribbon. She couldn't imagine him without the braid any more than she could think of him wearing anything other than his oddly old fashioned clothes, and his long red coat that reminded her of the poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin. They seemed as much a part of him as the color of his hair and eyes, and the shape of his ears.

So, she was surprised to find him sitting outside the door to Rosette's room, hair unbound, and without his coat. Chrono sat crosslegged, with his back straight, eyes closed and expression serene. "Hello, Sister Kate," he said without opening his eyes.

"What are you doing here, at this time of night?" Sister Kate asked, disturbed. The demon had never been anything less than polite--in fact, his civility and amiability stood out in sharp contrast to Sister Rosette's more volatile temperament--but he was still a demon, and Kate was still an exorcist of the Madgalen Order.

"I was worried about Rosette," the demon said softly. In the half-light of the hall, his eyes gleamed like a cat's as he turned his head to look at her. "She's never been this sick before."

He seems so concerned, Sister Kate thought, then frowned. Ewan might trust the demon--both he and the Elder seemed to consider him a friend--but Sister Kate couldn't forget what he was. The demon who was killing one of her charges. Rosette's Contractor. "She'll be fine, Chrono," Sister Kate said, wanting to reassure the demon, despite her reservations about him. It was natural to want to offer comfort to a child, she told herself, even if the childlike appearance was an illusion.

"Will she?" Chrono asked. "Her lungs...Joshua coughed like that."

"Rosette has influenza," Kate said. "Joshua's illness was more...complicated. You should go to bed, instead of sitting out here in the hallway."

"I wanted to sit by her bed, the doctor wouldn't let me," Chrono said in a polite--but very firm--tone. "He said this was an acceptable compromise." The amiable, solemn child that Rosette teased into laughter and bullied with sometimes childish cruelty had been replaced by an adult with a child's face. A very stubborn and determined adult, Kate thought.

Kate realized she could probably force him to return to the Elder's work shed. If she really wanted to, she could have him forcibly removed from the hallway, but she also realized that if Rosette discovered it, she would not forgive, and this demon-child staring at her so calmly, would not forget. As disruptive as Rosette could be, Kate didn't want to think about what might happen if the child took it into her head to run away because of an insult to the demon she considered a friend. "You don't have to sit out here like this," she said, trying another tack.

"I'm not going to leave her," Chrono said softly in that same polite, firm voice.

"Very well," Kate said, feeling uncomfortable at having been defeated in a battle of wills with the demon. After a moment's hesitation she said "Good night, Chrono." and continued down the hallway to her own room. Chrono's murmured "Goodnight," was lost in Kate's train of thought.

Kate solved the mystery of the missing coat the next morning. Passing by the room she found the door open. She could hear someone--a boy--singing softly. The singer turned out to be Chrono, who stopped when she entered the room, and stood. His hair was still unbound, and his expression was blankly polite, and very reserved. "Hello Sister Kate," Rosette said sleepily, echoed by Chrono. Chrono's coat was spread out over Rosette's lap like a blanket. "Chrono was just visiting," she said, and her voice was somewhere between defensive and pleading. "I thought it would be okay for him to be here, if the door was open."

"I suppose that it is," Kate said reassuringly, and continued on down the hall.

Throughout Rosette's illness Chrono stayed outside Rosette's room at night, and sat with her during the day. According to the younger sisters and classmates who sat with her to keep her company, Chrono would read or sing to her, or would go on short errands, always returning to sit by Rosette's side. He seemed the very model of devotion, bullying Rosette into taking her cough medicine, getting her glasses of water, and bringing her meals.

From a distance, Kate noticed a certain warming trend in the younger sisters' attitude toward the demon, and also toward Rosette, something that worried her. On the one hand, Rosette needed form relationships within the Order, but on the other, Kate would greatly prefer that her other charges not become too comfortable with an apparently "tame" demon. Worried about this, she went to Father Ewan about the matter. "I understand your reservations, Sister," Ewan said after hearing her out. "And normally I'd agree with you. There must be a certain amount of emotional distance between an exorcist and the creatures she fights. Empathy and compassion for monsters is a dangerous thing, and could lead to the death of the exorcist."

"But not in this case? Why?"

Father Ewan looked away for a moment. "I think you'll find that Chrono and Rosette both actively discourage the line of thinking you're worried about."

"He's always so polite!" Kate said, and hated how disgruntled she sounded by that fact. "How is that discouragement? And Rosette dotes on him." When she isn't smacking him for some percieved slight, that is, Kate thought.

Ewan smiled. "I think if you spoke to him, you'd find that he doesn't care much for demons either. In fact, he's actually said that to one of the instructors here." Sister Kate nodded. She knew about the incident. One of the instructors had quite frankly been bullying Rosette to the point of tears about being under a Contract, and Chrono had stepped in. It had never approached the level of a brawl or something that she would have had to deal with, and the instructor wouldn't tell her what Chrono had said, but the instructor had stopped bullying Rosette. "As for being polite--I suspect he's trying to offset our Rosette's more aggressive demeanor."

Kate smiled at that, but the smile faded. "I realize that you...know him. But how much do you know?"

"He's very strong, dangerous, and ruthless toward his enemies," Ewan said. "He's also loyal and devoted to those he gives his loyalty to. I know that he cares a great deal for Rosette and Joshua." He paused. "I only wish I had known he had awakened. So much could have been prevented, if only I had been able to win Rosette's trust."

"You sound as if you like him," Sister Kate said carefully. It sounded as if he was saying that Chrono would have convinced Rosette to let Joshua go. Would he have?

"I was the closest thing he had to a Confessor," Ewan said. "I still am. I know he regrets the harm that he's caused, and would go to great lengths to make amends. I...understand him, and I understand Rosette. I brought them both into the Magdalen Order because letting them go off alone would have been murder twice over."

Ewan's words gave Kate a great deal to think about as she went about her duties, and read reports. Chrono's possible influence on the younger members of the Order still worried her, but she was somewhat reassured. For all that Rosette was a Contractor, and had a fiercely willful attitude toward authority, Kate didn't think that attitude was because of the demon she was bound by. If anything, as Ewan had reminded her, Chrono reined the girl in, and encouraged her to listen and obey her instructors. I think if you spoke to him, you would find that he doesn't care much for demons either.

Given the extent of her duties, she wasn't able to speak to Chrono until several days later. Rosette was feeling much better, and Kate found the demon helping her with her math homework in the abbey library. "The least common denominator is twelve, what's the next step?" Chrono was saying as Kate entered the library. Both Rosette and Chrono looked up as Kate approached, and Chrono stood. She noticed Chrono's hair was once again neatly braided, and he was wearing his long red coat. "Good morning, Sister Kate," Chrono said, echoed a half step behind by Rosette.

"Chrono, I'd like to speak with you," Kate said. The glance the two exchanged said something; Rosette's look asked, are we in trouble? And Chrono's seemed to reply, don't worry, everything will be fine. The demon followed her outside the library, and down the hall.

"What is it you wished to speak to me about, Sister Kate?" Chrono asked once they reached a public area between the men's half of the abbey and the women's half referred to by monks, priests, laiety and nuns alike as "The Parlor." There was a piano in one corner, a few old couches, a card table, and a radio with a built-in record player in its cabinet. The room was currently empty, except for themselves.

"Oddly enough, I'm not sure," Kate confessed. "I'm sure you realize that your situation--and Rosette's--is rather unusual." The demon nodded. He didn't say anything, but his smile contained volumes of irony. "Knowing that, you must understand that as Rosette's superior and one of those responsible for her emotional and spiritual well being, the state of her soul is of some concern to me. Speaking as Rosette's superior, I'd like to know more about your...relationship...with Rosette."

Chrono gave her an unreadable look. "She's my Contractor."

"And your friend?" Kate asked. Is your devotion feigned? Are you lying to her? To us? She wanted to ask those questions as well, but held them back.

"She decided she was," the demon said with an almost embarrassed smile. "Her and Joshua. I gave in to the inevitable."

"Why?"

"Joshua broke the seal to the tomb, and awakened me," Chrono said. "I thought of frightening them away, but when I tried, they refused to be frightened. They acted as if I were no different than they were, however strange we appeared to each other."

"They were children, how could they truly know what you were?" Kate asked, unable to keep the anger from her voice.

"I never lied to them, Sister Kate. I told them exactly what I was, and told them to go away," Chrono said, his voice calm, despite the brief flash of anger she saw in his eyes. "I wish sometimes they had gone away, but that wouldn't have stopped Aion from taking Joshua."

"It would have saved Rosette from becoming your Contractor," Kate couldn't help but point out.

"Perhaps, but could you guarantee that he wouldn't also have taken Rosette? Or that Rosette wouldn't be frozen with the rest of the children at Seventh Bell?"

"No," Kate admitted reluctantly.

"You also can't guarantee you wouldn't have had to deal with me anyway," the demon pointed out with grim amusement. "Father Remington would have awakened me, because I would be the only one who could give you reliable information about Aion."

Kate frowned, because while she hadn't thought of it before, she couldn't deny the truth of the demon's statement. Would it have been easier to deal with Chrono if it were Ewan who controlled him, or at least were allied with him? Kate didn't know, and didn't care to speculate too far along those lines. Taking Rosette out of the equation even in theory--felt wrong somehow. "You're probably right," Kate said. "Thank you for speaking to me, Chrono, you may return to the library," she said. The demon nodded, an inclination that was nearly a bow, and turned to leave.

Some imp of the perverse caused her to call his name, to ask one final question. Chrono stopped at the door, but didn't turn. "Chrono, was there some significance to leaving your hair unbraided while Rosette was sick?" She had never thought of demons having anything like customs--yet there had been something nearly ceremonial about the gesture.

Chrono turned half way around. "Rosette braids my hair. If she can't, I won't." He smiled. "It's not really a custom, it's just something between us."

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AN: Quote is of course from Alfred Noyes "The Highwayman."

Comments please. It's not only polite, it keeps The Writer from thinking she's playing to an empty room.