56- What Happens Tomorrow

Once Quayleigh had finished signing the contract, she placed it back into the envelope and held it on the table top.

"I work 3 to 11 Tuesday to Saturday. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"That would be appreciated," Harlowe said as he looked at his phone before pocketing it.

"And in return, once I hand this over, I'd appreciate it if you let us walk out of here without an issue."

Harlowe laughed, "That's good. Stay a little paranoid just like that. It'll keep you paying attention. Folsten was telling you the truth though. This really is just the best place around with an all-day breakfast, and the officers in here are part of the squad that joined us for our operation this morning. As for the irony of this being a coincidence, it's not lost on me. It's nearly noon though, so I better send them back to work." Standing up he turned around and raised his voice, "Lunch is over. I want to see all of you at the next location in twenty minutes!"

Grumbles and acknowledgements could be heard across the place, and as Harlowe sat back down, she watched as several tables and booths cleared and headed out.

"He was speaking honestly," Tau muttered in her ear.

"It never hurts to be cautious," she said as she passed the envelope across the table to Harlowe.

"I'm going to leave Folsten here with you and Mazurka. Kavak, you're with me," he issued his orders as he took the envelope and curled it up in his hand. "Folsten is going to explain how the next bit of this is going to work. If you have questions, ask her, because from this point going forward, she's your main contact. Folsten, when you're done, Mazurka will drive you."

"We won't be too long," Folsten replied as Kavak downed the last of his coffee.

"Quayleigh, Dylan, I'd like to stay and chat, but warrants don't execute themselves. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Quayleigh and Tau bowed their heads as Harlowe stood up and put on his jacket.

"It's nice to have meet another of Yechiel's friends," Kavak remarked as he slid his way out of the booth. "I hope we get a chance to do this again sometime."

"This has been enjoyable," Tau replied.

"See, expanding social circle, not such a bad idea," Mazurka piped in.

"Next time, expand it at your own place. We don't have room for two grown men to crash on our couch," Quayleigh remarked as she stared over at Yechiel, hoping he understood the friendly reminder of her cautious feelings towards him.

"You will have to tell me that story when next we meet."

"Come on, Kavak. It doesn't look good if the one barking orders is the one who turns up late to the investigation!" Harlowe bellowed as he moved towards the door, causing Kavak to quicken his pace in order to catch up before they left.

"Now that they're gone," Mazurka said as he moved around to the other side of the table. "Another round of coffee?"

Lydia, the waitress, refilled their mugs and cleared the rest of the dishes away, as Folsten began to explain to Quayleigh what would happen the following day.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll need you at the station at ten. Can you drive or do you need someone to pick you up?"

"A pickup would be helpful. While I do have my license, I prefer not to drive unless necessary. I am wondering though, why do you need me at the station?"

"Mostly because there is a bit more paperwork to go over and I would like for you to meet the rest of the team you may have contact with. Then at 10:30, we are expecting the liaison from the MET to arrive, and all three of us are going to be transported to the MET together. We're going to be given a tour, shown where to park, what entry way to use, where facilities are located, and where you're going to be working. Once the tour is over, we will be meeting with the Magister. Oh, let me clarify that. He's requested a meeting with you, and I think it best if we attend, and treat it as if it is an even greater honor than being let into the archives."

"Suck up to him, got it," Quayleigh replied, unamused by the sentiment.

"Precisely. As much as I think your involvement in this should only pertain to study, there is an element of politics that cannot be avoided. The MET and The Police have been at odds since the Tribunal Accord was established."

"Pardon my ignorance, but what is that?" Tau asked showing his usual curious nature.

"It was an agreement that gave the Tribunal of Magic Arts the autonomy to police itself and the practicing community. Thus, they became the Magic Enforcement Tribunal. Registered practitioners caught doing crimes are handed over to the Tribunal for trial and punishment, while unregistered, depending on the crime, face prosecution in both courts. It's a flawed system though and doesn't work, as I believe those who fought for its establishment, intended. Inevitably, the MET closed ranks to protect themselves and made plenty of claims that the police were unjustly prosecuting registered practitioners, even though, proof of registration, more often than not, wouldn't appear until months after the trials, or the practitioners themselves would admit to being unregistered only to retract their statements later on claiming illegal interrogation practices or coercion. That's when the higher ups at the MET forced a law through the courts mandating registration and involuntary magic removal; they have a specific term for it…"

"Ēvirātus, but most just say magical castration now," Quayleigh interjected.

"… for those caught practicing without a license," Folsten concluded.

"The MET is supposed to be a school for those who want to become practitioners, similar to the way Military academies are for future soldiers. But for those who can't afford to attend from the start the options are limited to hiring a MET certified teacher or taking the exams as early as twelve. And the earlier the better too. The exams are easier and there is less competition for more spots. The cut off for those seeking a spot is 16, but without an apprenticeship, you can't even get in the door. After that, there is no school to attend in hopes of improving. There are no exams to determine potential. There is only the licensing bar. Self-studied can go for registration at any time as young as seventeen, but failure sentences you to immediate ēvirātus, 'to ensure the safety of the entire community.' Passing, puts you behind closed doors for a lifetime of rigorous study, rules, and regulations. It's a prison disguised as freedom for practitioners. Only the greatly gifted or extremely wealthy have the privilege of seeing it any other way."

"Quayleigh," Tau whispered her name as he hugged her close and kissed her temple. "I won't let them keep you."

"I know," she replied as she rubbed at his arm.

"I understand your reservations, but I give you my word, we will make sure you aren't kept there against your will," Folsten stated.

"You really have nothing to worry about Quayleigh. My father is a high court judge, and if it comes down to it, I will take the contract to him, myself, to ensure its enforcement. We as the police may not have jurisdiction over the MET, but the High Court does."

"Your father is a judge, Mazurka?" Folsten asked as she looked at him with a raised brow.

"Yep. High Court Judge Hylas T. Mazurka, is my father. Suffice it to say, we do not get along. We don't actually even speak anymore. But I'd be willing to face him for this. Even he should be able to set aside our issues for the sake of upholding justice. It's his job after all."

"Either way, it's good to know that you're willing to go to bat for me if things go south. I honestly thought the contract was completely worthless, because let's face it, if the MET decides they don't want to adhere to it, what can any of us really do about it?"

"If you already knew, then why did you ask for it?" Folsten questioned as she turned to look at her.

"Easy, I wanted to see how desperate Harlowe was. I need to know if he could be trusted, and I wanted to see how the MET was going to respond."

"And your conclusions?"

"Extremely, juries still deliberating, and not what I was expecting. Guess we'll find out tomorrow how this is going to play out. Mind if I see your phone?" Folsten pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Quayleigh. "I don't have a cellphone," she explained as she created a new contact, entering her information, "but here is my house number and address."

"I'll call you when I arrive. Expect me about 9:30," Folsten replied as she took back her phone and looked over the information.

Finishing the last of their coffees, pleasantries were exchanged and Mazurka and Folsten parted company with Quayleigh and Tau in the parking lot.

"That went far better than I expected," Quayleigh said with a sigh of relief as they sat in Dylan's car.

"I'm not going to be able to come with you tomorrow, am I?"

"No, I'm afraid not," she replied as she reached over and took his hand. "I want you to stay as far away from this as possible right now. There's just too much that I don't know about the situation. That being said, is there any way that Uru could stay with me while not letting anyone else know that he's there?"

"He can. He was in there with us the entire time," Tau said, pointing back at the restaurant.

Quayleigh immediately turned around and looked into the back, "Uru?"

Shadows began to move along the back seat, rising up as faint trails of vapor, and swirling into a familiar form, albeit smaller than he had appeared in the apartment.

"I am here," he remarked as he swayed and leaned towards her. "Where my master goes, I am always close at hand."

"That's good to know, but can you be away from him to?"

"Yes, but if he calls to me, I am powerless to refuse. For I am his. I can hear his voice no matter the distance between."

"Then can I ask you a favor?"

"It is not I you should ask. Tauluthet is the one who will decide if I am to stay with you, when he has no need of me."

"I still want to know if you'd be alright spending time alone with me though."

"I have no qualms with this idea," Uroxuz remarked as he floated up between them.

"Then I agree," Tau said as he squeezed at her hand reassuringly. "Uroxuz will stay at your side when I can't be there. He won't be able to talk to you without revealing himself, but he can interact with things if you need his help."

"How is that possible for you to do that?"

"It simply is," Uru replied as he lowered his head onto the top of their hands.

"He will protect you, and he won't be seen," Tau said as Uroxuz vanished from the car the same way he had arrived.

"Can you tell where he is even if he isn't with you?"

"Yes. I can sense the direction he's in and how far away he is. So as long as he's with you, I'll know where you are too."

"That's oddly comforting," she replied as she started the car. "We have a couple of hours before I have to go to work, if you don't mind, I'd like to head back to your condo."

"I don't mind, but why do you want to go there?"

"Mostly to drop off the car. I'm afraid if we keep it at our place too much longer it's just going to get stolen or vandalized. It's better to keep it where it's secure, at least until you can learn how to drive it. A task for another day of course. But I also want to take another look around. Maybe find out more about who Dylan was and his relationships to his family. Bluffing about calling your father's attorney is one thing, knowing if I could follow through with the threat, is completely different."