Policeman and the cat

22 - Second lesson at the Guild

It was surprising how little and how much would change by taking a single extra step. Nelly was as close and personal as she had always been, but he was now at peace with it because it was exactly how it looked like. There was nothing to misunderstand.

The only thing that had changed in their routine, though, was that now they also made love at night, but only to a level where Ian's aether would be able to recover till morning. None of the dustbuns cared, which made them wonderful.

Paisley had become Ian's tutor, Ian asked how she was so knowledgeable and she didn't mind sharing that she used to be a mage once and spent centuries on studying.

All the help requests over the following four days were either misses (a good thing) or magical animals running wild. Kenneth's advice for always carrying spare clothes came to use on Wednesday - Ian and Brielle encountered a small pack of bird-like creatures using presence concealment.

They had huddled together giving an impression of a small air-alignment creature, but as Brielle entered their location, they scattered and tried to escape. Brielle captured four, but one slipped away. Nelly's arms transformed into paws and she captured the last one pinning it to the floor till Brielle came up to lock that one up too. Nelly's sleeves were torn, so she needed to replace the blouse, but there was no issue otherwise.

Ian had picked up the old lady in the house and carried her to another room as soon as there was noise, so she didn't see anything. She did want to see the 'birds' who had infested her library, but Brielle was a professional at this saying that the birds were an endangered species they couldn't use tranquilizers on so they had locked them up in the dark. 

For now, it was important to avoid stressing the animals so they could return them to nature in a spot where they wouldn't inconvenience humans.

Brielle always delivered smooth, convincing excuses, but she did add that the artifacts did most of the work - giving a sense of 'I can trust this person for sure.' That's why people seldom asked to elaborate on what species of animal or the like. The excuse was there so that the person could tell the tale to their neighbors if asked. If there was enough of a ruckus, they contacted their people in the media to make up a small article and maybe interview the people around for their testimonies. Covering stuff up took effort.

If it looked like something big enough that would need media coverage, they said the case was classified and they couldn't give details till a further investigation is made. Media folks were far better at thinking up believable excuses.

And so, Thursday evening rolled about and this time he wasn't borderline late. Lorelei was already there and waving at him. She was sitting somewhere in the middle right behind Terry and Emanuel and in front of Collin and Sydney. It looked like they assumed it was Nelly's natural spot to sit on his lap (it was), so that's how it rolled this time as well.

"I've been ordering Cappuccino from Purple every morning now," Lorelei replied to something Terry had asked before Ian came.

"I asked if the previous lesson came to use," Terry added.

"Yes for us as well. Nelly has been ordering us breakfast from him every morning," Ian added in.

"Hoh, at what cost?" Lorelei asked and was surprised to hear Nelly's answer of three-quarters of her spare aether.

Even Terry and Emanuel were surprised. 

"My mentor would approve," Emanuel said, then wondered how they recovered that much aether.

"We go hunt astrals each morning before work," Ian said and Nelly nodded. Ian asked how many snarlings it takes (avoiding to name it as 5 rompels) and Nelly said about seven of them. Amazing breakfast for ten to fifteen minutes of hunting - well worth it.