#zeleraska

           As the arrester shook her head and went back to her pacing, light glimmered momentarily on a blade as the shadow moved rapidly, but it made not a single sound. The arrester continued her steady rhythm; the shadow slipped behind her in her momentary pause and stood in the shadow of the great, high doorway. Above it was a complex sigil encompassed by a circle, surrounded by ten others. Before the arrester had completed her turn at the end, the door had opened and shut again.

           Within the chamber of the Living Guildpact, there was a now very quiet argument going on. “That is not how this data should be interpreted,” the Guildpact himself was muttering, almost underneath his breath, at his companion. His cloak was flung across the back of his chair, and he had slightly loosened the compressive shirt beneath. A high flush on his cheekbones suggested he was overly warm or perhaps overly irritated, but his cheekbones stood out sharply, and there were dark circles under his eyes.

           “Honestly, Beleren,” drawled his companion, running a hand through his messy, white-streaked hair. “Anyone would think you had never seen a manaflow calculation before.”

           “This is not a standard manaflow calculation!” Jace objected, voice rising, before he cut himself off and glanced nervously at the door. Inside, the shadow slipped towards the two companions, but neither seemed to notice. “It requires a different approach,” Jace continued, slightly more quietly.

           As Ral Zarek opened his mouth, presumably to object once again, the shadow made itself known, rising angrily between the two of them, her hair twitching restlessly. “Ral, what the hell?” she demanded.

           “Oh,” said Ral, glancing up from the long, scribbled line of calculations. “Hello, Vraska.”

           Jace blinked up as well. “Um,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

           “It is past seven,” Vraska hissed, her statement underlined by the soft susurration of her hair. “Jace, you have not left your office in ten and a half hours, and I happen to know that you haven’t eaten anything since this morning either.”

           “Is it really that late?” Jace asked.

           “Oh,” Ral said again, rather guiltily. “Oops?”

           “That’s why I sent you to fetch him,” Vraska said, “or don’t you recall?” She smacked Ral in the back of the head.

           “Well, he was looking at something interesting,” Ral whined.

           “You realize that it’s not easy to avoid the Living Guildpact’s staff, yes? You realize that’s why I sent you, because they won’t shoot you on sight, yes?”

           Jace looked back and forth from one to the other. “I am hungry,” he said, with some surprise.

           “Yessss. You are,” Vraska told him. “I can’t believe you can’t do one simple thing,” she snarled at Ral, who scowled back and opened his mouth to retort.

           Jace held up his hands. “You know, dinner sounds lovely!” he said brightly. “Also, maybe in future you could just send me a note, rather than all of this cloak and dagger.” He glanced pointedly at Vraska’s side, and she made a sudden, surprised face, and then frowned and looked away.

           Ral’s lips twitched slightly. “I’m sorry for getting sidetracked,” he said, raising an eyebrow at Vraska. “But you know that’s a risk you run if you send me when Jace is actually doing something interesting.”

           “How am I supposed to know when he’s doing something interesting?” Vraska sniped petulantly.

           “Note,” Jace said patiently.

           “And watch you ignore it?” Vraska grumbled at him. She ruffled his hair. “Oh, very well, next time we can start with a note.”

           “Excellent.” Jace pushed back his chair and stood up, leaning sideways to kiss Vraska gently on the cheek. She blinked and covered her face to hide her blush. Ral grinned, getting up as well.

           “Surely you’re not embarrassed,” he mused. “Also, we’re not eating with the Golgari this time. I’m done with nutrient supplements and bugs.”

           “Ral, you eat nothing but nutrient supplements if you’re left alone,” Jace pointed out. “I eat better than you do.”

           “That is highly debatable,” Ral shot back, and Vraska rolled her eyes.

           “No bugs, no nutrient supplements, fine, what will suit your oh-so-picky palates?” she groused.

           “Street food?” Jace said hopefully, and the look on his face was so bright that neither Ral nor Vraska managed a sharp retort; instead, both of them put an arm around his waist and hugged him close between them, both of them going slightly red.

           “Sure,” Ral offered. “I think our favorite piroshki vendor should still have set up shop near Nivix. That sound good?”

           “He shortchanged me last time,” Vraska objected.

           “Trust you to remember that,” Jace mumbled under his breath, then smiled innocently at her. “All right, look, why don’t we just wander around a bit? I haven’t really had much chance to just—be in Ravnica for a long time.”

           “Fine,” Ral sighed. “My experiments aren’t behaving anyway, I might as well take a night off.”

           Vraska was looking at both of them with a peculiar smile on her face. “Yes, um, that sounds nice,” she agreed slowly. “A break.”

           Jace nodded, and his arms tightened around them both. “A break from everything,” he murmured.