Headmaster Pierce sits in a large, leather armchair, tapping his fingers absently on his desk as Patrick, Aidan, and Farid sit across from him, awaiting further instructions.

Concerned about having to send the first team out on their mission, Headmaster Pierce hesitates, then after a beat, slides three large manilla folders before each of them.

"What are these," Farid asks, reaching for his file.

"They're your mission briefs," Headmaster Pierce replies.

Aidan chuckles. "Too old-school for emails?" he teases.

"What can I say?" Headmaster Pierce shrugs, trying to keep the mood as light as possible for as long as possible. "I'm a traditionalist."

He watches while the boys open their folders and scan through the content inside: maps, photographs, and detailed instructions for their mission.

"I wanted to make sure you read everything very carefully," Headmaster Pierce remarks. "And studies show that we process information better reading it off paper than we do off of screens."

"Really?" Aidan quirks a brow. "And just how old are these studies?" he asks playfully.

Headmaster Pierce tucks in his chin and levels a gaze at Aidan. But instead of chastising him, his lips quirk up ever so slightly. "Sometime this century, I believe." He represses a smile. "Now, may I continue?"

"But of course!" Aidan responds with glee as if he were in control of the meeting.

"Alright, then, let's get to work. " Headmaster Pierce says, faking a sense of enthusiasm. He clears his throat. "So, for this particular mission, you'll be staying with the Kikatuwa tribe for three days under the auspices of Chief Qa'watil. Their compound is about six hours north of here."

Still leafing through his folder, Patrick grunts.

"Patrick?" Headmaster Pierce inquires. "Is there an issue?"

"Not necessarily. But they're a wolf tribe..." Patrick's voice trails off.

"Yes, indeed," Headmaster Pierce confirms. "Normally, I would have sent Jake on this mission, but, of course..." He spreads his hands, acknowledging the obvious. "Anyhow..." he continues. "I'm sure you'll do fine representing the Shifter portion of our delegation. I'm not worried."

Patrick looks dubious. "Well, it definitely would have been better if Jake could go, but I'll certainly do my best," he assures Headmaster Pierce. "You realize, though, that they're one of the tribes who are adamantly opposed to integration?"

Farid turns to Patrick. "Otherworlder integration?"

"Well, yeah, that and any sort of integration, really," Patrick acknowledges. "They're even opposed to integration among Shifter tribes." Patrick straightens in his chair. "Take my tribe for example, the Si'ahl Tribe. It's one of only three tribes to have members from all Shifter species. Most Shifter tribes are single-species and keep to their own. I'd heard that the Kikatuwa tribe made a big stink when our tribe was initially formed--lots of political bickering and inter-tribal intrigue. My father said it was a nightmare. I doubt they'll be our biggest fans."

"Yes, yes, that's all true," Headmaster Pierce confirms. "But Chief Qa'watil is actually quite supportive—he's very progressive in that regard. It's more the people around him that I'm concerned about."

"You think they might cause a lot of trouble?" Farid asks, a hint of worry in his voice.

Headmaster Pierce's brows crinkle. "I'll be honest. I'm not sure," he says. "Even though you'll be there as Ambassadors, and I would expect the receiving delegation to be cordial, I wouldn't bank on an entirely warm welcome. There may be some folks there who will try to make your time difficult. Nothing dangerous, but I should warn you I am concerned about Chief Qa'watil's right-hand man, Minuk. He's been behind some of the more contentious entanglements with other tribes in the area."

The boys exchange disconcerted glances.

Headmaster Pierce sighs, worried about the maelstrom he might be throwing these boys into. "Regardless," he says, "please be alert and stay vigilant." He leans back in his chair. "As far as locating the tablet fragment, unfortunately, we don't have very good intelligence on that. So, your strategy should be to do what you can to get a full tour of the compound. And remember what Master Achebe taught you..." Headmaster Pierce taps his desk. "Look for the tablet fragment in the tribe's most sacred spaces first, and then work your way out from there. If you just lay low and keep the purpose of the mission in mind, you'll do fine." He pauses for a moment and adds, "And for the love of the gods, boys, please, please don't stir up any trouble."

*****

Jake's eyes flutter open as he wakes up in the infirmary to the sound of a soft, soothing voice--a voice he doesn't recognize, but one he wouldn't mind waking up to every day.

Feeling the presence of someone in the room, Jake slowly turns his head and squints, trying to determine who's sitting in the chair next to his bed.

And when he sees it's Inez--sitting in the armchair with her feet tucked beneath her and her head resting sideways on her fist--he cracks a slow smile.

She's reading to him from a book she has nestled in her lap. He doesn't recognize the story, but honestly, who cares?! That's not important. What's important is she's here with him... or better yet, for him! Sweet!

And even though his head is pounding and his body aches like a mofo, he's going to engage with her, one way or another, because she made the effort to come visit him. He's been kind of frustrated for a while now because they haven't had a moment alone, not one, since they both arrived at the school.

"Hey, there," Jake murmurs, trying to play it cool, but his throat is so parched he ends up sounding like a lovesick bullfrog.

Inez looks up, surprised to see he's finally awake. "Well, hello there!" she coos, and then immediately gets up and walks over to the cart at the end of Jake's bed, returning with a cup of water and a radiant smile.

Jake thanks her as he takes the cup, and despite the bolt of pain shooting through his torso, he nudges himself into a sitting position so he's not staring up at her the entire time lying flat on his back.

"How long have you been here?" he asks. And while he waits for a reply, he chugs down every last bit of water she brought him and rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

Inez tilts her head and thinks about it. "Hmm..." she says. "How long have I been here? I don't know," she murmurs. "I don't think I've been here all that long to be honest. Maybe an hour or two?" She guesses, then she looks at the time on her phone, and crinkles her nose. "Um... scratch that," she says, "make that more like three," her voice fading as she realizes... Wow! She's really been here that long? That's a long time to be reading to someone you don't know well, who can't even hear you because they're catatonic most of the time.

She blushes, convinced that the optics of her gesture are now making her look just a little bit thirsty.

Settling in to spend some quality time with his guest, Jake pulls his blanket up over himself, practically up to his chin. Sure, it's kind of an unusual gesture, but he's doing it partly because he's feeling a bit chilly--which is unusual for him--and partly to cover up his bare chest.

Shifters don't usually sleep with a lot of clothes on, if any, because their bodies tend to run hot. So to get a good night's sleep, no matter the weather, if you're a Shifter, you usually sleep in the buff.

But Jake got lucky and dodged a bullet this time by leaving his pajama pants on, which is good; otherwise, this little visit of hers would be super awkward.

Plus, with Inez being an Enchanted, he's feeling kind of self-conscious just being partially naked in front of her because he doesn't know her culture or her customs, and he doesn't want to offend her or make her feel uncomfortable in any way.

For a while, they sit in prolonged silence until, out of the blue, Jake gives Inez a quizzical look and says, "So I'm having a bit of déjà vu here. Does this mean you've come by before?"

"I have!" Inez straightens in her chair and adjusts her glasses. "Let's see... I came by yesterday afternoon with the rest of the gang. And then I came by again later that evening after dinner, but you were out like a light." She chuckles softly. "Then, I stopped by this morning, on my way to class, just to see if..." Suddenly, a disturbing thought occurs to her, and she gasps.

"Oh, gosh! Oh, golly! I'm so sorry!" Inez jumps out of her chair. "I'm coming by too much, aren't I? Because you need sleep, and I'm disturbing you!" Mortified, she swipes up her book and shoves it into her book bag.

"I'm so, so sorry, Jake," Inez mutters, hoisting her book bag over her shoulder. "I didn't mean to bother you. Dang it!" she mutters, scrunching up her nose as if she's about to sneeze, something she does whenever she's anxious or nervous.

She starts to back up, headed for the door. "Again, I apologize," she says. "My papa used to read to me whenever I was sick and it always made me feel better. But I'm gonna go now," She jerks her thumb over her shoulder towards the hallway, but not paying attention, accidentally bumps into the door. "Crap!" She mutters. "Yeah, okay," she says, slipping much more gracefully around the door this time. "I won't be bothering you anymore. I promise, it won't happen again." She begins to spill out into the hallway.

"Wait, Inez! Wait!" Jake calls out, reaching for her as if he had a magic cord that could physically pull her back into the room. He winces in pain from the sudden movement, but manages to calm his tone. "Please don't go," he pleads.

Inez stops short in the hall, right outside Jake's door and looks at him intently. "Are you sure?" she asks.

"Yeah, totally!" Jake asserts. Then realizing he's coming on a bit too strong, he clears his throat and in a calmer voice says, "Um... yeah. It's actually nice to have someone read to you. And I... uh... I..." he swallows hard and blurts out, "I really like your voice!"

Inez blinks, staring at him without saying a word.

And sensing he might have crossed a line, Jake quickly adds, in a panic... "I'm sorry. No. What I meant to say was that you've got a very lovely reading voice. So... uh... I'm sure you could do it professionally if, for some reason, that's something you wanted to do with your life," he finishes weakly.

And then he winces, but this time not from physical pain, but more from the mental pain he suffers as he hears himself blather on like an idiot.

Wow! This is getting awkward! He gives Inez a goofy crooked smile.

And instead of edging back into the hallway, Inez makes her way back to the chair. She sets her bag down on the floor and pulls out the book she'd been reading to pick up where she'd left off.

But before she can begin, Jake interrupts her and asks, "What exactly are you reading to me? I'm sorry. The past day or so has been kinda fuzzy and you have a book cover on it, so I can't..." he squints "... I can't really tell."

"Oh, this!" Inez pulls off the book cover, holds it up, and beams. "It's Harry Potter! Have you read it before?" she asks earnestly.

Jake grimaces and shakes his head. Sure, he's heard of the book before, who hasn't? But isn't it a book for children? Why is she reading that to him?

"Uh... no," Jake stammers. "I don't really think it's my kind of story."

Inez dips her chin and peers at Jake over her glasses. "Harry Potter is everyone's kind of story," she declares, giving him her best stern teacher look.

And for a second, Jake panics, thinking he's insulted her and gotten himself in trouble again.

But when Inez can no longer hold back a laugh, Jake, relieved, joins in with her. As his chuckle fades, he asks, "Don't you guys find that book offensive?"

"Why would we?" Inez responds, puzzled.

"I don't know." Jake shrugs. "Because it's essentially about how humans think magic should work and makes a bunch of presumptions about witches and wizards."

"Oh, that doesn't bother me at all!" Inez asserts. "I think it's fascinating to get a sense of humans' biases and perspectives on us. And they do get a few things right sometimes. But, yeah," she admits, "more often than not, they totally miss the mark. I mean, wands... really... c'mon!" She snickers and rolls her eyes.

"But what someone thinks about you," she continues, "often says more about them than it does about you. But I'm more than happy to read something else."

She hums as she digs around in her bag and then, a bit frustrated remarks, "Oh, shoot! I only have two other books with me at the moment, and I'm not sure you'd be keen on either of them. They are The Nature of Recovery and Healing Magic and..."

She pulls out the other book.

"This one!" She beams as she holds up copy of Twilight.

At first, Jake's eyes go wide, and then they narrow. "Wait a minute," he says, "Isn't that a vampire romance?"

"Yep! It is" Inez chirps proudly.

"Oh, no... no, no, no..." Jake shakes his head vigorously. "I don't think I'm ready for that. Um... Harry Potter  is fine. Thanks." He smiles good-naturedly.

Inez puts her copy of Twilight back in her bag, and then tucks her feet beneath her again and begins reading where she left off.

And since Inez isn't looking, Jake gives himself license to stare at her a little bit longer than is necessary and take in as much of her as he can. He doesn't want to creep her out or anything, but can't help himself. Everything about her is a wonder to him.

Yep! He leans back in the bed and quietly sighs. Despite all the fear and pain he's suffered, he'd do it all over again. Seriously! He'd let that demon knock him around all day and all night if it wanted, as long as he survived and ended up right here, alone, with her.

*****

A/N - Okay, I'm very tired, so I'll just say whew! The boys got their mission briefing and it'll definitely be... interesting (also exciting and funny, but I might bit biased.) 😁

Also, Jake and Inez (readers seem to favor #Janez) got their painfully awkward but completely adorable relationship off to an "eventually" successful start. 

I'm totally knackered, so that's it for me. See you next week! 😊

~ Paula ❤️