111- From the Couch

"I'm stuffed," Quayleigh remarked, flopping down onto Cole's sofa. "That was way too good."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Cole commented from the kitchen where he and Tau were busy cleaning up.

"Are you sure you don't want my help with anything?"

"No. We've got this. You need to take it easy."

"Fine, and I won't even complain about it," she replied with a smile as she stretched out.

She had forgotten how something as simple as a dinner could make her feel relaxed and normal. She had barely closed her eyes when she felt a blanket being draped over her, and the weight of Tau's hand upon her shoulder.

"Something's happened. I have to go," Tau told her while running his hand over the top of her head and kissing her brow.

"What do you mean something's happened? With who?" she asked as a knock came to the wall by the front door and Uroxuz appeared.

"I'll explain when I return. I'll find you, no matter where you are," Tau hastily said before Uroxuz wrapped around him and they disappeared.

"Be careful…" She sighed and laid back down. "It's so weird. He's never done that before."

"He's never gone to work before?"

"Not when I've been aware of it. I think he's left a few times when I've been sleeping, and I know Uroxuz's goes off on his own, but I've never seen him runoff like that before. It must be something serious."

"Turn on the T.V. No doubt, something serious enough to pull him away, is something that would make the news."

Sitting up she searched around for the remote.

"Is there a reason half your library is stacked on the table?"

"I was trying to solve Tau's tattoo mystery."

"Oh? Did you make progress?" she questioned as she knelt down and looked under the couch.

"I have," he replied, joining her in the living room, carrying two mugs of tea.

"Ah, found it!" she exclaimed, pulling out the remote and a random book the size of her hand. "And a tiny book."

"I was wondering where that got to."

As she moved a couple of the books from the table to the stack on the floor, he placed down the mugs within reach of the sofa.

"Not surprised you lost it."

"Sorry I didn't have time to clean up before you came over, but this be the price of finding obscure answers," he replied, further stacking up the books and carried them over to the dining room table. "And this isn't even close to half of my library. This is barely half a shelf."

"Yeah, well, I'm not one to talk. You've seen my apartment. This is basically spotless in comparison. Tau's been really amazing about picking up after himself, but it's a tight space for two of us."

"You thinking about moving?"

"Ha! With what income? I can barely afford to stay where I am now, and losing two days of work over… well, you know, it's only going to make things tighter this month, and the cops aren't going to pay out a dime unless I get them something that resembles a reasonable answer. I'm grateful that Tau comes with money, but it also sort of feels like I'm stealing when we use it. It's so conflicting."

Cole chuckled as she grimaced.

"It's not funny," she remarked as he returned to the couch and sat down next to her. "I need to know if what that idiot did is reversible. Tell me you found something?"

Taking the remote from her, he turned on the TV, and lowered the volume until it was barely audible, while she patiently waited for his response. Putting the remote onto the table, he turned and took a hold of her hands.

"I'm sorry Quays, as far as I can tell, this isn't something that can be reversed. For better or worse, Dylan's body belongs to Tau; the tattoo guaranteed it. Dylan did his homework when he created that thing, but I say this with confidence, he had help. The central sigil, it's from a dead language. It looks like Rowda'meth's work, because he used it, in part, as a basis for his own."

"And Dylan couldn't have just stumbled onto that?"

"Doubtful. Only private collections and the MET's archives would have books and scrolls old enough to see the language in use. But learning and using it, that would require years of education and study. Something, that based on the notes he kept, he didn't have."

"So, if we can't reverse it, what options do we have?"

"Not many. I can try to create a new ritual to pull him from his body, but that could take months, if not years, even if we use this as a base, but there are so many unanswerable questions. Frankly, cher, I'll put in the time if you really want this, but I don't think it's worth the risks. I think you need to keep looking for a way to speak to Death, even if it's through one of his reaper friends. If anyone knows how to put a soul back where it belongs, it's going to be him."

"I'd rather speak to him directly, but aside from creating a natural disaster and hoping he shows up, I'm completely stumped," she replied, leaning back on the couch.

"I know your time at the MET has been different than you expected. Between finding out about your father, Phaedra, and now the magister's death, you haven't had much time with the books. There may still be something there for you to find. Was your eye of any help at all?"

"Actually, it was more help than I thought it would be," she replied, with a nefarious grin.

Shifting her body, she crawled towards Cole and set her chin upon his shoulder.

"But you already knew that," she whispered as he turned to look at her. "You knew it the moment you laid your eyes on mine that it was something special. How many years have you been waiting to get your hands on that book? Or have you just been waiting for someone who can read it?"

Cole hmphed and ran his hand over the top of his head as she sat back on her knees.

"Cher, I wasn't even certain they still had it."

"Well, they do," she replied, picking up her mug and taking a sip.

"And you certain you can read it?"

"No idea. Of the six books that looked different, five of them had been set as a trap. I suspect that someone with natural talents would have been able to sense there was something different about them, but there's no way they would have ever guessed what it was. However, the sixth book, being the Miéa Gorhän'dahl, it was like them, but different. I don't think anyone there knows what it really is. But all of this was Gerotherine's idea to 'test' me for something. For what? I don't know and don't really care. Either way, he forced Phaedra into doing it."

"Did Phaedra tell you that?"

"He did, and I admit it, I'm being bias. I'm well aware, but I still believe him. He cares too much about those books to have put them out of place without being ordered to do so," she replied, pulling her legs out from under her. "I only managed to get a bit of time with one of the books, and what I saw… There were things on those pages that no one else could have seen. And, even though the Miéa is different from the books they were aware of, it was similar enough to give me pause. I want to know what's on those pages, because honestly, what's the point in a book that no one is ever going to read?"

Cole gave her a knowing nod.

"You going to have to be even more careful if you go back in there now. It's too risky to install another sigil, and without it, you be as vulnerable as the rest of them."

"I'd pass anyways. Being threaded once was the experience of a lifetime that I'd care not to repeat. Besides, now with Gerotherine out of the way, I'm not certain there's anyone left that would bother trying to do anything against me. He seemed to be the only one even paying attention."

"Which leads me to ask, are you okay with what happened? With what Tau had Uru do to him?"

Quayleigh turned and leaned back against him.

"I have to be. Tau did what he thought was necessary to protect me, and I can't refute his effectiveness."

"But?"

"But there was a rage in the way he reacted. You should have seen Uru when he came back. He was such a mess. And I'd rather not ever have to clean up a mess like that again. A bit of blood I can handle, the solid bits were what got me. I did my best to try and hide how much it bothered me, but I'm pretty sure they could tell. This was the first time he's ever brought his work home with him and I was less than impressed. The only saving grace was that we were at Dylan's condo. He has this unbelievable system in his bathroom that controls literally every part of the room! Heated floors, toilet seat, mirror, water pressure from the multiple shower heads. It's fucking depressing to see how the rich live."

She could feel his entire body tremble as he held back his laughter.

"Ah cher," he said with a snort, "no need to be depressed! Everything of his, it now be yours."

"You only think that because you like that my boyfriend is rich enough, and gullible enough, to buy expensive things from you."

"It be a nice perk of your… unusual relationship."

"You truly are a scoundrel at heart."

"Says the woman laying on my sofa enjoying my generous hospitality."

"Well, you do make an amazing cup of tea," she replied as he lifted his arm up.

With a slight shimmy, Quayleigh lowered her head to his leg, miraculously not spilling her tea, as he placed his arm over her.

"I do have a slightly strange question for you though."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Tilting her head back she looked up him as he gazed down at her with a gentle smile.

"Why do you smell like chocolate covered gingerbread? I already know it isn't your soap or shampoo, unless you were hiding the good stuff from me. So, is it your laundry detergent? Some weird organic cologne you spritzed yourself with when I wasn't looking?"

"It really got to you that bad, hmm?"

"You have no freaking idea." She giggled, shaking her head. "Tau smells amazing, but even he never smelt that good. I desperately need to know what you're using."

"Oh cher, that be a trade secret even your reaper not be able to afford."

"Really?" she asked as she set her tea on the table and sat up. "That's your answer? Flat out, not going to tell me?"

"Sorry cher, no can do. You want to know, you going to have to figure it out on your own."

"Oh?" she quirked her brow and stood from the couch. "Is that an invitation to snoop?"

"That is not what I meant," he responded sitting forward, putting his mug next to hers, as she took a step back.

"Hmm, seems to me that you have something to hide," she replied taking another step back causing him to stand.

"I promise to tell you what you want to know if you sit back down!" he hollered as she ran around the end of the couch.

Stopping she turned around with a wide grin. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" she questioned as she walked up to him, and brazenly tapped the end his nose.

She couldn't help but smirk as he huffed, his eyes following her as she returned to her spot on the couch.

"Wait here," he remarked before walking away.

She giggled and stretched out, laying back down, pleased by the shallow victory that reminded her of the good times they once shared long ago. Things had been so different back then. Cole was the one human she adored. He was a light in the surrounding darkness; the escape from the choices she had made. Someone she could trust and rely on, who never asked for more than he gave, and who never once made her feel wrong. Reaching up towards the ceiling, her fingers stretched out, she watched the blue shimmer of her magic, before lowering her palm to her special eye, covering it over.

"So fucked up," she muttered before turning onto her side and grabbing the remote, clicking through several channels.

"Here," Cole said as he returned and set a pump bottle filled with a thick ivory hued cream onto the coffee table. "Not entirely sure why it smells as it does to you, but this be the cause."

"What is it?" she asked, lifting herself onto her elbow before reaching over and grabbing the bottle.

"Moisturizer," he replied sitting back down in his previous spot. "No one be looking this good at my age without some premium quality skin care."

"Or a deal with Time," she remarked, a snicker managing to escape as she pumped a tiny amount into her hand.

"Actually, this be one that come from Knowledge," he confessed as she laid back down against his leg and rubbed the lotion in.

"You make it or pay someone else?" she asked before sniffing at the back of her hand.

"Pay, but the formula be mine, and it be exclusive to me. That be from the latest batch. Yours to take if you want to let Tau give it a go."

She sniffed her hand once more, but unsatisfied she grabbed Cole's and sniffed it too.

"You're being weird, cher."

"Shush," she demanded his silence as she grabbed a bit more of the lotion and rubbed it onto the back of his hand. Taking another long sniff, she closed her eyes and hummed, before tilting her head back and looking up at him. "It's you. It's legitimately just you." Lifting her hand up, she held it out before his nose. "It smells completely different on me."

He was delicate as he set his hand beneath hers and pulled it closer, smelling it as if it were a rare flower before abruptly turning his head away.

"Okay, I get the chocolate note, but gingerbread? More like a marshmallow meringue."

"What are you talking about?" Pulling her hand back, she sniffed it once again. "Not even close. This smells way more like coconut."

"You figure it out yet?" he asked with a wink as she grabbed his hand once more.

"No, but I'm guessing it's going to smell different on Tau too."

He nodded and smiled as she looked up at him, saying, "I'm afraid so."

"No fair. So far it smells the best on you, but I'll let you know if that changes."

"You should try it on Uru too. I'd be curious to know how it reacts on him."

"Me too, now that you mention it," she replied as he grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"I think this be what we was waiting for," he said as a 'breaking news' banner faded from the screen.

Rolling to her side, Cole pulled the blanket over her as she snuggled down against his leg to watch the broadcast.

*"I'm standing here across the street from the Magic Enforcement Tribunal, where we can see representatives of the DCJ moving around outside, along with a number of armed MET agents. This all began around 12:30 when the Tribunal issued a city-wide recall of its nearly 350 registered practitioners that live and work within the city limits, followed by a mandatory lockdown of this, and it's two satellite, facilities. While the satellite facilities have been cleared of the lockdown, the main building remains tightly secured, with no end in sight. A press conference, which had been scheduled earlier in the day, is set to begin in a matter of minutes at the Wahlborn Grove branch of the DCJ, where it is expected that a representative of the MET will be speaking out about why they've taken these actions, what the cause was, and when the city may see an end to the lockdown. I'm Annaliese Gable, reporting live from the MET, back to you, Paxton."

"Annaliese, before you go, can you comment on the atmosphere surrounding the MET?"

"Yes. Currently things appear to be quite calm. We have seen a number of agents from both the DCJ and the MET, specifically their Enforcement agents, coming and going rather frequently but despite their presence, everyone seems to be in an at-ease state as opposed to the defensive posture we saw earlier in the day. However, we have been made aware that there is a rising number of concerned family members gathering at the Crowhurst Public Park located one block north, or behind, the MET building. As you can imagine they are probably as eager as the rest of us to find out what all of this is about, and how long it is expected to last."

"Thanks again. That was Annaliese Gable reporting live from the main MET building in Wahlborn Grove. For those of you just tuning in, around 12:30 this afternoon, the Tribunal also popularly referred to as the MET, issued a mandatory return of all registered Practitioners within the City, and shortly after entered into a full lockdown state, and remains so at this hour. According to our sources, the Department of Criminality and Justice or DCJ, arrived shortly after 3 and continues to remain on site working closely with the MET's privatized team of Enforcement agents," Paxton, the news anchor, explained before pausing and looking passed the camera. "Ah, we are now going to switch over to our news team at the Wahlborn Grove branch of the DCJ, where a press conference is about to begin."*

Cole immediately muted the T.V. with a heavy exhale.

"I know this wasn't what we was waiting for, but at least we know they be taking the Magister's death seriously."

"Yeah, but it still doesn't explain where Tau and Uru went or what's taking them so long to come back," she replied, tightening the blanket around her as Cole gave her arm a gentle squeeze.

"You don't need to be worried, cher. As long as they together, they be damn near invincible."

"I'd still feel better if I knew where they were."

"Yeah, me too," he admitted, turning the volume back up as a man, wearing a black and yellow DCJ jacket stepped up to the podium.

"If you don't want to watch this…"

"Leave it," she cut him off. "This is how we heard about his death. We watched the whole thing together, just as shocked and horrified by the news as everyone else."

"Of course, cher," he remarked as the man identified as Irwin Hamill, director of Turnage City DCJ, thanked everyone for coming to the press conference.

*"As you have all been made aware, at 1 pm the Magic Enforcement Tribunal entered a state of lockdown. It is with a heavy heart, that I must inform the public of the loss of Magister Inniken Adnan Gerotherine. At this time, we wish to extend our sympathies to his family and friends as they deal with this unexpected and tragic loss. It is also at this time, that we at the DCJ have agreed to pursue this as a criminal case in cooperation with the Tribunal and local law enforcement. As this is now an ongoing criminal investigation, I will not be speaking directly about the details, and I ask that all questions be kept tasteful and relevant. I now open the floor to questions."

"Director, Bonnie Dallas, NEWS 4; Does the magister's case have any connection to the recent string of unsolved murders plaguing our city?" a woman in the audience asked when pointed to.

"I'm unable to confirm any connection at this time, nor am I able to comment on the nature of any ongoing investigations," he responded, pointing to someone else.

"James Baldridge, Turnage City times; Any word on when the lockdown is due to end?"

"It will conclude upon the completion of our initial investigation. Currently, we are estimating that to be around midnight tonight, but we would like to assure the public that we do not believe there to be any imminent threat to anyone currently inside the MET or its satellite facilities. The lockdown is being used as a security device to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all the registered Practitioners within our City."

He pointed to another woman in the back.

"Do you have any suspects and if so, are they in custody?"

"I'm not at liberty to comment on that at this time." *

"That's a relief," Quayleigh remarked as Cole muted the TV once again.

"I doubt we going to learn much more from this," he said as she rolled onto her back and looked up at him.

"That's usually how it goes, isn't it?"

"Seems to be."

"I was hoping Tau would have returned by now, but I can't wait around any longer. I still need to go to the store and stop by the condo before heading back to the apartment."

"Well then, get yourself ready and I give you a ride."

"I'd say your being surprisingly generous, but you just want to check out Dylan's shower, don't you?"

Cole shrugged as she sat up.

"Can't it be both?"