66- Three Men with a Problem

Tau stepped out onto the balcony to allow Kyffin to work in peace, and after taking a moment to think, he scrolled through his contacts and pressed the call button on the one he had selected.

"Faucheuse, is there a problem with Quayleigh?" Cole's faintly panicked voice echoed through the phone.

"No," Tau replied as he stared at the screen. "How did she get this to work? You're so quiet. She even told me she turned up the volume."

"You have to put it up to your ear!" He heard Cole shout and grimaced that the obvious had evaded him.

"Right, sorry. I'm still not used to this thing," Tau said, speaking into the phone properly.

"Well, if this not be about cher, then to what do I owe the pleasure, mon amie?"

"I'm in need of a scorpion."

"A scorpion?"

"Yes. Probably more than one. Do you know where I could buy some near our home?"

"How soon you be needing them?" Cole asked sounding suspicious.

"Within the next couple of hours, if possible."

"I'm going to have to charge you extra for the delivery, but I know a source if you know what kind you be needing."

"Alive would be a necessity. That much I'm certain of."

"Perhaps it just be best if you tell me what you be needing them for."

"Oh, yes, it's for the ritual Quayleigh created. Normally she would just use cockroaches, but I'm in need of something more substantial, but still light weight. Scorpions were suggested."

"Are you messing with things you shouldn't be?"

"No, not at all. And I would also like to buy those books she asked you for."

"Now what you gone and got yourself into? You know they won't be no help to her with your situation."

"I know, but she wants them, and I may have done something to upset her. I had hoped the books would make her happy," Tau explained as he looked off into the distance, the sun barely hanging in the sky.

"You may be taking to being human far better than you think," Cole remarked with a laugh. "I be more than happy to sell them to you, and I'm not even going to charge for their delivery since they be a gift. Bit of advice for the future though. Gifts like these should be saved until you really mess up. If she expecting big things for small mistakes, really big mistakes going to take even larger gifts."

"I didn't think the books were that large."

"I'm not taking about their physical size. I'm talking of their value. This time it be the books, and next time, it be a new car."

"I would like to get her one of those too, but I didn't think that would be something you could help with."

"Now hold on with that for just a moment. That not be something you should just go ahead and do without speaking to her first. Trust me, that may be more trouble than you understand. A car isn't like a book. Books don't cost nothing to keep. And these two be more than enough to make up for whatever you could have done. Give me about an hour and have your credit card ready and waiting."

"Thank you, Cole."

"Not a problem, mon amie. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Hanging up the phone, Tau put it back into his pocket before going inside.

"The scorpions will be here in about an hour. Will that be enough time?"

"Probably not," Kyffin replied, briefly looking up from the book. "I'm going to try my best, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm not certain my magic is compatible with hers. I may not be able to alter this and still have it function. It's far more complicated than it seems, and I've never worked with unrefined magic like this before. It's one of the downsides of being raised in the MET," he complained as he removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves before refocusing on the notebook.

"I see. Can I get you anything else?"

"Tea, if you have it."

"We do. I'll let you know when it's ready."

About an hour later, tea long since made and drank, Tau answered the call he had been waiting for. Cole had arrived and was waiting downstairs. Buzzing him in, Tau unlocked the apartment door and opened it, so Cole knew to come inside.

"Is that the delivery?" Kyffin asked as he sat up and stretched.

"Yes, but please, don't let us disturb you."

"I need a short break as it is. The intricacies of her magic are starting to confound me."

"Hope you have that card… ready… mon amie," Cole remarked, his words lowering as he made his way into the apartment. "Didn't know you already be having company. A friend of cher's?"

"Actually, I'm Dylan's older brother, Kyffin," he introduced himself before Tau even had time to respond.

"Well then, it be nice to meet you. I'm Cole. A close, personal friend of our dear Quayleigh. I just come by to drop off some new friends to Dylan," he said as he lifted up the critter carrier that was shrouded in a black cloth.

"And we are grateful for your assistance in this," Kyffin remarked as he held out his hands to Cole. "Do you mind if I take a look at them?"

"Not at all," Cole replied as he handed the container to him. "All good businessmen know to inspect the merchandise before paying. And these little fellas did not come cheap."

Tau closed the door as Cole stepped further inside, and Kyffin carried the container over to the coffee table.

"Thank you for bringing them. Are those the books?"

"Ah, yes. These be them. Gift wrapped and ready for your apology note," Cole said as he handed a bag to Tau. "Best make it short and to the point; ten words or less."

"These will work nicely," Kyffin spoke up as he covered the scorpions back up. "I'm surprised you managed to find a place that sells bark scorpions in the city. Do you know when they were last fed?"

"They not be hard to find, if you know where to look. And they were fed last night, according to my supplier. He never tell me wrong before, so you need to feed them again in two nights, if you plan on keeping them around."

"Understood," Kyffin replied as he set the carrier aside and returned to his seat on the couch.

"So then, you care to tell me what all this be about?" Cole asked Tau as he followed him into the kitchen.

"He's going to help me find out what's happening with my real body."

"Ah, so, this be why she so upset." Cole shook his head and pulled out his phone.

"Yes. There was no point in hiding it from him. He knew the moment he looked at me that I wasn't his brother. So, I told him the truth, and he agreed to help me. Quayleigh was not pleased."

"I should charge you double for all this."

"Would serve me right for disappointing her."

"Yeah, well, I'm certain she be all about forgiving you when she sees these. Now where's your card?"

Tau handed Cole his wallet. "Use whatever you have too. Quayleigh hasn't taught me much about any of this yet and what I know is limited."

"You had best learn quickly then. Others won't hesitate to take advantage. You lucky we friends. Speaking of which," Cole began to look around, "it be only the three of us, right?"

"And the scorpions," Tau added with a smile.

Cole pulled a card from Dylan's wallet and ran it through a pay app on his phone. "If you would be so kind as to sign."

Tau took the phone from him and ran his finger over the screen before handing it back.

"Well look at that, approved," Cole remarked as he put the card back in the wallet and gave it back to Tau. "And with our business now concluded, we can get to more important things."

Taking off his coat he walked over to the couch and took a look over everything that had be set out on the table.

"So, you be the son of Anquiliria Laurentian," Cole said as he sat down.

"You are correct," Kyffin replied as he looked over at Cole.

Sitting on the floor at the end of the table, Tau curiously watched as Cole reached over and picked up the wooden box with the mosaic on the lid.

"She still has this," he spoke quietly as he ran his fingers over the surface of the lid before opening it up, examining the inside and inspecting the hinges and lock.

"You're the one who gave that to her?"

"Indeed I am."

"You're her teacher then?"

"Was, but that be a long time ago. She stopped taking lessons from me when she was sixteen. Saw no reason to take more."

"Then you're an unregistered also?" Kyffin questioned, as Cole closed the box and set it back onto the table.

"That not be something you need to be concerned with. We not going to have a problem here, are we?"

"Not at all. Despite what you may think, I was never given a choice in my membership. Do try not to hold it against me. I was more curious than anything, since it's possible that your familiarity to her magic could be useful to me. There is a motion to her work that I can't replicate. I've never had the privilege of working with anything like this before, and I'm struggling to translate it. Given enough time I'm certain I could work it out, but time is not something we have a great deal of. Had I realized the complexity of this task I wouldn't have asked Dylan to get me the scorpions so quickly."

"No need to be calling him by that name. We both in on this now," Cole admitted to Kyffin as he leaned over and picked up Quayleigh's mage book.

"I see," Kyffin said as he watched Cole look through the pages. "It's good to know. I much prefer to know who is and who isn't aware of what. Saves from unnecessary misunderstandings."

"Aside from the two of you, only Quayleigh and I know the truth," Tau told them. "And for the sake of full disclosure, there was a tattoo on my back that Cole removed yesterday afternoon."

"What connection it has to what Dylan did, I don't yet know. I haven't had the time to properly study it," Cole explained, his eyes not leaving the pages of her work.

"We can go over those details another time. For now, it is more important that I find a way to make this work," Kyffin said as he began to go over the notes he had already made.

"I need to see your book if you want me to be of any help," Cole remarked, his tone much more serious than before.

"It's the blue one. Help yourself," Kyffin replied, not looking away from the paper he was reading.

Cole set Quayleigh's book down and picked up Kyffin's taking a quick look through it, examining several of the pages with his fingers.

"It feels as if your magic's been cleaved limb from limb," Cole remarked, closing the book and setting it back on to the table.

"That would be the refining process I was subjected to. It's less painful the younger you are, and only traumatic if you ever come to understand what was done to you. The damage is also irreversible from what I can tell."

"I'm sorry." Kyffin looked up when Cole set his hand onto his shoulder. "It's barbaric what's been done to you, and it isn't right. The extent of the damage is profound, worse than I have ever seen, but magic… magic always remains pliable to an extent. And I truly hope that one day, you get the opportunity to start allowing yours to heal. Maybe even start repairing the damage that's been done, now that you know there's a way."

"I would have to find a way out of the MET first, and we both know the only way to do that is through death, or an existence that to most would be far worse."

"Aye, Quayleigh fear the same now, but there be ways" Cole replied as he dragged his hand over the top of her book. "You know, I forgotten how extraordinary her magic be. Been a long time since I last seen it."

"It is extraordinary. It breathes and moves in a way I never imagined possible."

"It sounds like you be admiring her."

"I am. The magic I use, and what I see, it's stagnant and sterile. It's air in a vacuum, instead of a life-giving breath, or cold polished steel instead of molten lava. Are you the one who gave her the name Blue Rose?"

"I was, and best you both be forgetting that. You think she upset with all this? Call her that and a castle not be enough to get back in her good graces," Cole said with a smirk and a chuckle as he turned his attention to the chest of components. "She be running low on a few things. You tell her I have an order ready for her this Saturday. You can swing by and pick it up whenever you like."

"I'll let her know," Tau replied as Cole closed up the chest and had him move it onto the floor and out of the way before heading over to his coat.

Opening up a hidden pocket disguised as a seam, Cole pulled out a large, puffed stack of papers, sewn together with a deep red yarn. The abuse the pages had sustained was evident in their tarnished hue and tattered edges. Heavy creases marked its face, and if the corners weren't dogeared, they were absent altogether.

"Now to find a solution to your problem," he said as he carried the handsewn book back towards the couch, Kyffin standing as he offered it out towards him. "You going to be needing this."

Kyffin's fingers appeared to shake, and the pages crinkled under their weight, even though he was barely touching them. "This is…"

"Yeah, it be mine," Cole answered before Kyffin could finish verbalizing his thoughts. "Only be a handful of souls ever lay their eyes upon this, but if you have any hope of making her magic work before the end of the year, you need my book too. After all, we all in this together now."

"We are," he replied as he carefully opened the cover, his eyes nearly doubling in size as he gazed at the first page before promptly bowing. "My apologies Magus. If I had known…"

"You would have acted like a fool. And I no longer use such a pompous title. I dropped that habit when the MET was born."

"Still, I made assumptions about you that were unfounded," Kyffin admitted as he straightened himself up. "Even if you no longer use the title, it doesn't change the fact that you are a Magus. Any aid you can provide would be most welcome, Mr. LeKing."

Cole scoffed and set his hand to his face before sweeping his hair back over his head. "Don't you be starting with any of that nonsense now, you hear me? It's just Cole to you."

Tau could tell by the forceful nature of his voice, that something had set Cole on edge. There was an air about the tone he took and the odd look of regret or maybe even guilt in his eyes that made Tau even more curious about the mysterious old scoundrel, but seeing the way Kyffin submitted to Cole's direction, sitting down the moment he was directed to, he opted not to push the subject further.

"Now, we have a lot of work ahead of us, so get comfortable," Cole said as he reached over and grabbed the notepad Kyffin had be working from.

Tearing a page from the back, he grabbed the pen from the table and jotted down a list of items handing it over to Tau.

"What is this for?" Tau asked as he read over the words on the paper.

"What you think mon amie? They be ingredients for our dinner. You don't think you can be having guests at this hour and not feed them? Especially when we be here for your sake. Now if you don't already have what's on the list here, you best be running out to go fetch it. I'll be leaving this task in your most capable hands."