The Knight of Seals

Strangeness. The world is really full of it. I would know, I’ve embraced that fact for many a moon. Turning on my coffeemaker, I walk out to my balcony in my robe to watch over the beach. Get the news of the day. My eyes dart from person to person around the beach below. I don’t bother trying to listen, I’m too far away for that. I just read body language and lips to get a general sense of what is happening in the tourist department. While tourists and their ilk technically mostly fall under the Purview of the House of the Chalice, knowing everything that is happening is important. It seems there is something of a pickpocket issue around the area. That might fall under our domain, assuming it poses any true issue beyond a few upset tourists. I’ll tell the King, and recommend we ask one of the lesser Seals to assign an eye. Two has several in the region.

More important to me, there is a family here on vacation, and they reek of the Veil. They will need to be watched. I’ll check in with Doctor Wrightly, have her and her House keep an eye out for magical disturbances. I hone in on the oldest member of the group, as those are generally in charge, and I watch as the invisible winds of the Glades whistle around him to my senses. I head back into my penthouse apartment, and pick up the pot of coffee, carefully pouring one cup into my mug, and the rest into a thermos for travelling. Taking the mug with me, I head back through my bedroom into my walk-in closet. Suits of various styles and formality line the walls, and while that will be important before meeting the not-so-good doctor, I first open up the top drawer of one of my dressers in the closet, revealing a foam display that holds twenty-eight flip phones. Well, twenty-four, but there are twenty eight slots in the foam. Running my fingers over them, my eyes glitter with a strange green glow as I pick the phone that speaks to me today. It’s a red one, somewhat bulky for a flip phone. Not a good sign for the fate of this day. Picking it up, I close the drawer and open the next drawer down for underwear. I dial from memory a number.

“Hot and Sticky Swamp Boat Tours, what can I do for you today?” a voice on the other end says. It’s young and bored, like most of the summer employees at the boat rental are.

“Oh, sorry,” I reply calmly, “I must have dialed the wrong number. I was trying to get back in touch with an old friend after a long trip.”

The kid sighs. “Right, please hold,” he says. The hold music plays for under a minute, but that is still more than enough time for me to pull on underpants and socks from the third and final drawer of this dresser.

A different voice, one I’m much more familiar with comes on. “Hello,” Raul Barros says, “How can we help you.”

“You can’t, Raul,” I reply with a smirk.

“Jonny,” he scolds, “You’re early.”

“Yes, but I wanted to warn you, the tourists are taking significant note of an uptick of pickpocketing along the beachfront promenades,” I tell him. “I assume it isn’t regulated.”

Raul sighs. “Of course not,” he adds. That exchange is mostly polite, as we both know that between the two of us information flows fairly freely, so I am well aware of what moves our allies are making. “What is your suggested course of action?”

“I would have our good Two of Seals assign an eye to it. She has them to spare,” I say the first half of the plan.

Raul chuckles on the other end of the line, immediately picking up on the second half. “And we can see if she has the understanding and capability for a promotion to the court.”

“After Aiden’s death, we do have two seats to refill,” I muse aloud.

He chuckles once more, then adds, “But we both know that isn’t why you are early.”

“It isn’t. I am going to need to have a visit and chat with another member of the Council, so I need to be ready. I find a nice combination of University Merch to look vaguely like someone from the college and pull it on.

“Which of your strange allies are you dealing with today?” he asks.

I shrug, then remember I am on the phone. “The King of the Staff,” I answer honestly.

“Do give the professor our best, one House to another.”

“Of course. And I would appreciate your evaluation of Two,” I reply.

“Have a good day,” the King of Seals tells me.

“You as well,” I reply. Flipping the phone closed, I finish off my mug of coffee. Putting on a backpack, more for the aesthetic than any use. Then, putting the mug into my sink, I pick up my thermos and head out of my apartment. Walking down the stairs, I head out to the promenade.

Tracking down the family is as easy as following the wind. The otherworldly wind that others cannot feel. Most others, at least. And no one in the city anymore. I write on a blank business card a simple message for these magicians. ‘Our City would appreciate you avoiding the use of magic unless strictly necessary.’ and rather than signing it, I simply sketch a small horse’s head, like the chess piece. Taking the business card, I walk by the elder of the Veil-tied family, lifting his wallet. Lennart Thorsen. Interesting. I slide the business card in, right in front of one of his credit cards, then I return the wallet on the second pass. He notices something happening on the second pass, and immediately checks for his wallet. He doesn’t pull it out, just makes sure it’s there. Must have heard about the pickpocket around. He scans the crowd, but it’s very difficult to notice me when I don’t want to be noticed. Eyes tend to pass over me, and in passing I look like every other college student around right now. He’ll notice it when he pays for brunch. And whether he follows the directions or not, it is on them now. I head into the city, to the University.

Breaking into Doctor Wrightly’s office would be incredibly difficult, if I cared about her mystic alarms going off. I’ve figured out a way to bypass most of them relatively easily, but I don’t choose to use those methods. After all, the Houses have been fairly solidly at peace since the formation of the council and the expulsion of the Aeon but one should always have contingencies when those of a magical persuasion are around. That was one lesson my childhood wanderings taught me quite quickly. I pass through the mundane locks on the window without trouble, trip her mystic alarm without tripping the university’s physical one, and walk down the stairs to her office. I knock on her door, and she opens it. “Knight,” she says coldly.

“King. The House of Seals wishes your House the best of fortunes.”

“What do you want?” she presses.

“Can’t I just visit my fellow councilor?” I reply coyly as I enter her office. She seems to have been in the middle of grading some papers.

“We can. And some of us even do. Not you though. We don’t even know where you live,” she counters.

“If you really wanted to know, the House of the Blade could use its resources to find me. Might take the Queen some time, but he could figure out the money trail,” I reply calmly.

“I repeat, what do you want?” she presses as she sits back down at her desk.

I sigh, seating myself on the couch in her office. “Well, Zoey, I was hoping you’d be a bit more pleasant to visit with, but on to business, I suppose.” With a stretch, I answer her. “There is a Thorsen family in town, who feel quite well in tune with the Veil. I figured you might want to have one of your wizardly underlings keep an eye out for unsanctioned magic. You know, assuming that’s still under your purview.”

She pauses for only a moment before she, too, sighs. “Fine. And I am sorry about the curtness, but these essays are rough.” She turns to her computer and starts typing. Probably an email to one of the wizards in her House. She notices I haven’t left yet. “Unless there’s anything else…” She says, trailing off and gesturing towards the door.

“Actually, there is. Finish your emails, and we can talk,” I reply.

As she’s typing one of her students comes in. “Professor Wrightly, I know it’s not office hours, but I was hoping to talk,” he says. I stay silent and he never even looks my way.

Zoey finishes the email, and looks up at her student. “Now is not a good time Derek,” she says, “I’m in the middle of grading.” She, too, notices that I haven’t made a noise, and he hasn’t noticed me, and chooses to play along.

“Yeah, of course, sorry, um, when do you think you’ll be done? It’s just I kinda need to talk to you today, so I can’t really wait for another week,” he stumbles through his, I guess technically his question.

She sighs. “I should be done by three. Then I’ll be moving on to my own personal work, but that does not have a deadline quite yet.”

“Okay, great, yeah, see you then,” he sputters as he turns and leaves.

Once the door closes behind him, I smirk at Zoey, “You know,” I begin.

She cuts me off. “Yeah, I know,” she states, then asks, “So, what is it you actually wanted to talk about?”

“I need permission to act on campus over the next week,” I say. She cocks an eyebrow, so I elaborate. “It’s under the purview of the House of Seals, but I understand that acting on campus might be a bit of a disruption of Staff business, so I’d like to ask permission first.”

“You mean give us the heads up. It’s not like I can say no.”

I continue to smirk. “You could. It just wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

She laughs. “Okay, but I’ll need some more details. Where and when, roughly speaking? I understand if you can’t go into too much depth on the topic, but if nothing else, I feel like I should know when to dismiss concerns of my fellow wizards.”

I nod. “Fair enough. A friend of a good friend, relatively new in town, is working his trade on your campus. No big deal, and not of concern, except I suspect this friend is secretly working against my good friend, for less than local forces. So I intend to spend this rather busy week watching his every move. And, if I deem it necessary, I shall invite this friend to take an indefinitely long trip out of town.”

She’s nodding along to most of it, until that last sentence hits her. “Not on campus you won’t,” she states.

I pause, frown, but nod. “I can wait for him to leave campus if it comes to that, I suppose. I’m hopeful that he is only problematic to my good friend in a way that he could prove useful to have around, though.”

“In that case, you have our permission to work on campus. And if my wizards feel any disturbance of your,” she pauses to find the right word before settling on, “Flavor on the University campus over the next week, we will ignore it.”

“You have my gratitude,” I say. I get up to leave, but stop at the door. “And, if this Mister Thorsen and his ilk do cause trouble, do get in touch. While you might not be able to hear anything from it, my mind is always open to your messages.”

She groans, shaking her head as I leave her office. Now to scope out campus and find where this new guy, Mark, would get in touch with his FBI handler before I start to stalk him over the weekend.