A/N: Chapter finally finished!

Sehun looked deeply into the eyes of the pale young man before him, taking his wrists, and squeezing them firmly.  “You have...lost someone...very close to you.”

The man nodded, “I have; my--”

“No, please, my good man, tell me nothing.  I don’t want to risk the voices from beyond being tainted.”

Swallowing nervously, the flaxen haired gentleman subsided.  

Closing his eyes, Sehun waited for a moment, feeling the man’s--Mr. Herbert Holmes’--pulse flutter beneath his thumbs.  Finally, he opened his eyes, fixed his dark gaze on Mr. Holmes. “Your elder brother, I believe?”

If possible, his client became even paler.  “By Jove,” he whispered, “How did you--”

Sehun held up a hand.  “Please, Mr. Holmes. No questions until the session is complete.”  Leaning forward to capture Mr. Holmes’ watery blue eyes with his own intense sloe-eyed gaze, he intoned, as if reading from Mr. Holmes’ face, “Your younger brother...William...died...within the last year...of a tragic automobile accident.”

The man’s mouth worked soundlessly as he stared at Sehun in awe.  

“You want to know...if he’s alright...if you two will see one another again...if he’s happy, and in a good place…”

Eyes gleaming with intensity, Mr. Holmes leaned forward, breathing, “Yes,” his blond moustache twitching in an effort to keep emotion at bay.  

Tilting his head, Sehun looked as if here were listening.  “He’s telling me something… Something about a...horrid governess…”

Laughing suddenly, Mr. Holmes, nodded.  “Frau Schluckebier! She was a terror! I don’t think a day went by without her rapping our knuckles for some modest infraction or another!”

“You used...to play pranks on the woman.”

“Yes, yes, we did!  I remember one time, we put a frog in her bed!  I’ve never heard anyone shriek so loudly! She woke the entire house!  Pater tanned our skins so roughly that we couldn’t sit for a week! He sent us to bed without our supper for days!”

“Yet...there was someone else...a beloved servant...older...female?”

“Yes, yes!  Mrs. Reilly, the housekeeper.  She could never stand to see us hungry, and would send up a plate of sweet rolls, cheese, and sausages after everyone else had gone to bed!  Pater couldn’t understand how--after the punishment was over--we were even fatter!”

Sehun smiled slightly, before tilting his head again, and frowning, silent as if listening once more.  “Yet...despite all this...you desire...forgiveness…?”

Mr. Holmes froze.

Sehun’s eyes grew distant, as if he were looking at something inside his own head.  “You feel a great guilt...before his death you had a falling out with your brother, over…” He tilted his head as if listening, “a young lady.”

Mr. Holmes was rapt, attentive to Sehun’s every word.  

His gaze sharpened, snapped back to the fairly trembling Englishman.  “William wants you to know… He wants to tell you…”

Mr. Holmes cried out as a sudden wind gusted through the room, snuffing out the candles, leaving the pair in darkness.  “Mr. Oh! Mr. Oh!” he called frantically.

The curtains snapped open, and a stocky, handsome man with wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose stalked inside.  “What seems to be the trouble?”

“He’s--he’s fainted!  He was giving me a reading, and there was this damnable wind--blew out all the bloody candles--and then he fell in a dead faint--as you see here!”

Striding over, the muscular man crouched before Sehun, lifting a hand to gently slap at the younger man’s thin, pale cheeks.  “Sehun! Sehunah! Oh Sehun!”

Eyelids fluttering, Sehun moaned.  

“Get him something to drink, damn you!” the man swore to Mr. Holmes, who fluttered out of the room, stumbled over to a nearby side table to pour a tumbler of scotch, before hurrying back in to find Sehun in shirtsleeves struggling to sit up as the older man loosened his cravat.  

“Will he be alright, Mr. Oh?” Mr. Holmes asked, leaning down to hadn the dark liquor to Junmyeon who carefully lifted the tumbler to Sehun’s pale mouth.

“My brother will be fine, Mr. Holmes,” said Oh Junmyeon, watching with satisfaction as colour once more began to suffuse his younger brother’s face.  “He’s used to these trifling occurrences. The spirits aren’t always...gentle…”

“Yes, I see,” Mr. Holmes murmured discomfitedly, before straightening.  “So...I don’t suppose,”

“I’m afraid that he will be unable to continue for the day.  Once something like this happens, he’s like any other man until he can rest and regain his vitality to once again walk amoungst those who have passed beyond the veil.” Junmyeon said, gently leading Mr. Holmes toward the opening in the curtains.  

“Ah, yes, of course!” Mr. Holmes agreed quickly, his head almost bobbing in his agitation.  “Only…”

“Please contact us again later this week to set up another appointment.  Suman will see you to the door.” Junmyeon said smoothly, passing Mr. Holmes to their mute servant, before turning to head back to look in on his brother.

“See here my good man, if I pay in advance, would that allow me to make an appointment now?”

Turning back, Junmyeon was silent as he thought for a moment, before sadly shaking his head.  “I’m afraid not, my good fellow,” he began kindly, “you see, the problem at hand is that we are almost booked, at the moment.  We would hate to disappoint any of the fine people who have standing engagements with us. You understand.” He bowed his head again, “Good day,” before turning once more.

“I’ll pay double!”

Turning his head, Junmyeon frowned.  “I’m afraid not, sir.”

“Triple!”

Turning completely to face Mr. Holmes, Junmyeon drew himself to his full height.  “Mr. Holmes, you forget yourself! My brother is a highly sought after and gifted medium, not some low-country charlatan or streetside mountebank!  What he does, he does not for money, but for the comfort of the people!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply--t-to make light of his work, I merely…” Mr. Holmes jaw snapped shut as he struggled to keep his composure.

After a moment of staring at the overcome young man, Junmyeon softened, came forward to clasp him warmly on the shoulder. “My good lad, if your grief is that great, then we will see what we can do.”  He sighed deeply. “I just hope that this doesn’t affect our clientele too greatly. We would hate to see them go...elsewhere...”

Understanding Junmyeon’s delicate question, Mr. Holmes decisively slapped his gloves into his palm.  “I will pay in advance. I’ll leave it with your man before I go.”

Inclining his head elegantly, Junmyeon smiled.  “Very good, sir. We look forward to seeing you again.”  Once Mr. Holmes had gone, Junmyeon walked back to check on his brother, coming into the room just in time to see Sehun, once more in his jacket, hamfistedly trying to put the finishing touches on his cravat.  

“One of these days, I hope that we can hire an actual valet.  These knots take entirely too much time to perfect.” Sehun grumbled.  

Smiling, Junmyeon walked forward to help his little brother.  “If you had your way, then you would be quite the fop.”

Sehun grinned down at him.  “Can I help it that I’m so handsome?”

“And yet, not a spot of modesty,” Junmyeon clucked, finishing the knot before curling his lip, and raising a hand in mock threat.  

“As if the idea of modesty ever crossed your mind, hyung,” Sehun teased.

Junmyeon easily shrugged.  “If one is brilliant, then being modest would only make one disingenous.”

“Aigoo,” Sehun breathed, shaking his head in fake reproach.  “I fear that the incredulity of the slack-jawed locals has gone to your head.”

“Rather, to our bank account, more like.”  Straightening his little brother’s jacket, and brushing off imaginary lint, Junmyeon smiled.  “There. You don’t have any more appointments for the day, so you can rest now.”

“Excellent,” Sehun rejoined, moving a curtain to expose a full-length mirror in which he examined himself with satisfaction before turning to leave the room.  “Ah, and hyung?”

“Yes?”

“Bully job on that wind. It was a nice touch.”

***

Sehun and Junmyeon were both brilliant in their own right.  

At an early age, Sehun realized that he could read people--their reactions, expressions, posture, pupil dilation, tone, as well as a host of other silent markers--to make eerily accurate statements about their lives, and thus, also, unusually prescient predictions of their future.  Honing this skill in the village, with first the other village children, and then the adults, he became known as a budding shaman but, after seeing how relatively poorly they lived, quickly rejected that path. Sehun had absolutely no desire to live in anything but the finest of comforts and, if possible, to become independent enough to help take good, not just adequate, care of his parents in their old age. 

Despite having eleven older brothers, he often found himself alone--as they were often all out following their individual pursuits--and he took the time, not just to play, but also to discover the limits of his body--to practice making sounds with no obvious movement, vocal imitation and ventriloquism.  

Meanwhile, Junmyeon was a natural born engineer.  He loved to tinker, to build, and spent his time taking things apart just to put them back together in new, and often more useful, ways.  Give him a problem, and he would work on it, sleepless, until it was solved, often in an utterly unique and creative way that no one had previously considered.  

Furthermore he was charming, disarming, often convincing people to share their secrets with him with only a smile and an easy turn of phrase.  People felt comforted by his presence--safe--and because of this, he was adept at investigation and research, often discovering deeply hidden secrets with only