Hawks

So......InterPride was decorating for the holidays.

Which was...fine.

It was just bizarre and kitschy. Kovu had interned in big name law firms in London, which had been stuffy, requiring ties and suits every day. (He wasn't complaining about this, by the way, Kovu liked the structure.) There was maybe a bit of garland looped over the paralegal's desk but that was about as far as holiday cheer went.

At InterPride, apparently, they decorated for all the holidays: namely Hanukkah and Christmas. So, there were menorahs and stars of David and little snowmen in yamakas peppering certain surfaces along with tinsel, holly, and Christmas trees.

Kovu had been assigned to helping decorate the front entrance. Which--he didn't realize was something he was supposed to do, but here he was, setting down a box of ornaments that...looked handmade.

"Are these...some kind of family heirloom, you think?" Kovu asked, pulling it out of the box and looking at it like it might bite him.

"Probably should be super careful with them just in case. If we break one either someone will yell at us for something they made as a child or something their child made. Either way angry people."

She swallowed hard and nodded.

"Ah...th-thank you, James. I appreciate your assessment on the situation." As daunting as it may be. "If I may ask though. If you see any signs of things going in the wrong direction, could you please at least let the Queen know? I'd hate to be blindsided again or seasons forbid another death."

"Would you want to know as well? Or do you want to pull away from things like this?"

Maybe there was something else going on in her life, Atta considered. Something that she didn't know about. But then that just solidified the fear that all of this was going to repeat. Because Atta nor Clarion could ever know everything that was going on in all their subjects' lives, especially if they did not wish to speak. As Vidia didn't.

"Do you think it could happen again?" Atta asked gravely. "How do you even prevent something like this?"

"Honestly, I think it could. I think if the right things happen, if someone is vulnerable any one can take advantage. I don't even know if you can prevent it but just try to be there to give the space Vidia didn't take."

And Hattie Rose really wanted to go on this trip, so dammit he was going to have to swallow his embarrassment and act like all the other parents.

"Hello! Would you be interested in helping sponsor Swynlake Secondary School's orchestra's competition trip to Glasgow?"

As such he didn't blink when he heard someone's voice, just clued in the person asking was a fairy. (How couldn't he know the head of the dust talents)

"competition? For an orchestra?" Now that was a world he wasn't really in.

full of doubt about leading his new mission, gil turns to his team for their advice...

prior reading:

off the record weaving the web into the spider’s web… the tide comes in troubled waters ahead lifelines in too deep we cross our bridges hot intel

takes place: Late August

@crickey-itsjake @fi-fitz-flynn @jameshawks @labellerose-acheron @miss-holleyshiftwell (and Leo!)

tw: mentions of poaching and criminal activity

She was debating the question. Was she supposed to talk to strangers? Wasn't sure.

One way to weigh the situation was, of course, to see if he appreciated the fluffy moss. She held the handful up like it was a fuzzy green kitten, quite pleased with herself.

"Starling." She was still tackling speaking but her name, sure, she knew that one.

Zero was a few steps behind, catching up once she was distracted by James. "At least you're on the ground this time," he exhaled, earning a totally innocent grin from his sister.

"Hello Starling. That's very pretty are you looking for more?" James questioned his voice bright and airy as he glanced up spotting Zero and giving him a half wave.

It was disappointing, but not surprising -- James hadn't been born in Enchantra's Hollow, hadn't served as one of her scouts. Hadn't sworn himself into her service. He stayed in town, mostly. He didn't owe her loyalty, not when it clearly belonged somewhere else. To someone else.

It still made her fangs bite into the sides of her tongue, too long for her mouth. She saw threats everywhere now. If James couldn't trust her, then she wouldn't entirely trust him either.

"Then I appreciate you bringing this information to me," she said. "If you're able to give me a more specific location or address, I will send some scouts to search the area."

Steve gave her a Look now, though muted from how he'd looked at James. "We can not rely on the human authorities to search for us," she explained. "They've made their priorities clear. We must look out for our own interests now."

"I can get you that information. I'll drop it off later." This was the whole reason he approached, he wanted the fairies to take this, to give Tink back her home despite all the mistakes she had made. She deserved that. Her family did.

"A-ah, I apologize if I'm bringing up anything painful," she said quickly, wondering if she should have even brought this up at all. "It's just-- I tried talking to her about all this when it all started. I wanted to understand why she was doing what she did. And I thought I knew, but discovering she was part of this organization has turned everything flitty ditty. I just never thought a fairy like her would ever turn to something so...violent."

"Sometimes it's less about the person and more about the organization. I've heard of things like this all over. If you get someone at a low their stories can be spun, they can be taken advantage of so easily. She still has to take accountability for her actions but something like that organization. They take advantage of everything they can."

He had seen it then but he hadn't been able to get her to see it before.

"Somewhat friends, I wish we were closer because maybe I could have stopped it." James shrugged. "It was a lot of the reasons she spouted to everyone. Wanting better but I think she just got caught and twisted around."

But James being here was an unexpected opportunity. One she was fearful to take, but one she knew she wouldn't have again. She cleared her throat. "Actually, do you have some time? There's something I wanted to ask you," she said, gesturing backwards to invite him into the room.

"Yeah sure." I wasn't like he had anywhere better to be at the moment.

"Anything you needed?" James questioned walking into the room on her invite.

MAFIA had taken Tink. They had killed her, and then they had taken her far from her family, from her Hollow. Taken her to do who knows what with. For a moment, all Clarion could feel was rage.

Hadn't they done enough damage? They couldn't even leave them alone with their dead!

Then her mind processed the rest of James's words. Wait, if he was looking for Tink, he would have been able to confirm that her body was in Amsterdam. It sounded more like he'd found the MAFIA headquarters first and made that deduction.

Why did he refer to the headquarters in the past tense?

"And how were you able to discover the location of their headquarters?" Clarion asked.

It was part of the red tape and something he wasn't willing to talk about.

"It's more about who I've been able to make contacts with over the years before I got here. I can't say much more than that I'm already breaking some rules doing this."

She was working autonomously, like a Tinker-tool set to run magically. The knock had her out of her seat and over to the door, where--

"Ah!" She exclaimed in a bit of surprise. This was certainly the last fairy she was expecting to see. "James--hello!" She flustered a bit as she took the papers. "Is everything alright? Do you need something?"

He hadn't really considered if his presence would be a bother, if it would be an annoyance.

"Nope. I'm just running errands and well someone asked me to step in for your papers. Hopefully that's alright."

Their parents were taking a break, Zero having volunteered to look after his sister hadn't exactly panned out to the walk through Enchantra he'd envisioned. Starling was off like a bolt at any given instant with no guarantee she would remain on the ground.

Maybe she was going to end up a Scout like their mom at the rate things were going.

The little fairy was on a mission, one Zero didn't understand exactly as she chased a stubborn bit of fluffy tree moss that had been rattled free when she'd tried to grab it, entirely ignoring her brother.

"Starling, where are you?"

She giggled and grasped the fluffy in her hands, soft; it reminded her of the tiny fuzzy feathers of baby birds. She paused, looking up at the tree, then around, realizing she couldn't see Zero anymore. But she heard a sound! Footsteps! And ran that direction, certain she'd find her brother that way.

So he could walk Enchantra and feel good as if he was keeping an eye out for everything.

Maybe it would be the wild day that Vidia just showed up again and he could help her, convince her to get help. But that was just a whisper of a dream.

Instead he was met with a runaway toddler.

"Whoa hello. Who are you?" And where were your parents.

He knew Alana would automatically pick her sister's side, but Jake was still friends and coworkers with James. He was going to see if this had made things awkward between them or if he could continue hanging out with the other bloke.

"Don't think its weird. Just a little different." He gave a shrug as he sipped on his beer, "You two didn't end on bad terms or anything did you?"

"The work would always get between us and I can't say I would ever stop not when we've done so much good." How many times had he stepped in and helped people directly connected to her.

It wouldn't make a difference because ever time he walked away there would be a risk.

"Way to ease into it, mate," Steve said dryly, though he sounded a little dazed himself.

"Hush," Clarion said distractedly, waving Steve off as her attention stayed on James. "Come inside, please. And Aster, close the door."

Aster did as she asked and soon the three were alone in Clarion's office. She motioned for James to follow her to the sitting table where she usually took tea, or spoke with whatever fairies came to her for help. Steve trailed after them, taking his usual post near the windows behind what was usually the Queen's chair. Clarion didn't sit herself, instead standing on the woven spidersilk rug with her hands resting on her hips. The sunlight coming through the windows made the scene look much cozier than it felt, with a hum of tension in the air.

"First thing's first, where is Tink buried according to your research?" she asked. She could get to the rest of his baffling statement after, but that was the most important thing. The implication that the police and Agent Hughes either had lost the body or never had it in the first place was one that Clarion would have to process on her own later.

"Amsterdam, It's where the MAFIA headquarters were and I think that's where they took her." Which if Clarion had figured out about Vidia, he assumed she had the same suspicions about Tink.

Him confirming it, hinting at it, well who knew where he would stand after all this when he had the information for so long.

Chief waved his hand towards James and shook his head. Yeah he recognized him enough - pretty sure he was dating or is dating the Triton girl on the board. Plus town hall was busy enough with people and he was always good with a face. "Sorry mate!" Chief winced as he tried to sneak up on houdini who seemed to find a nice planter of flowers as a spot for a snack! "Looks like my bloody lifestock wanted a field trip to town!" But like clockwork - just as Chiefs boots fell behind the little black and white goat he sprung into action and pranced straight for James! "Bloody hell! Could you grab him would ya!"

But he did try to hold out his arms to prevent the goat from getting around him. At least if he couldn't grab him he could stop him from running away.