#anywhere

"Aye. But the wizard - he values rules and tradition, they are a house of scholars and hierarchy. He acknowledges that I was invited, and am a guest."

"How badly are you going to sulk if I fight this?"

"Are you not enjoying yourself? You had a good talk with the others at dinner..."

"I wish for you to have fun, my love."

"I am actually having fun. " he confesses "i've avoided Elijah, but the others are born dreamers... and I'm learning with them? Musing with them?"

"Elijah, aye. The danger."

"The others? They are, if not wizards to be, certainly dreamers."

"mm fine. Yes I'm loving the beauty and more.. however, you haven't kept up on your part of the bargain" he smiles and nuzzles

"Ohhh, we can do that. Under the Himalayan stars, you think?"

He flips her over under him and looks down at her, her own hair falling a bit into her face, "What do you think I think?"

She answers him with an enthusiastic kiss on the lips.

(And fade to stars...)

As Zara lays there next to her lover on the cold roof using him and a blanket for heat...

She curls her toes and looks at the sky. Oh, today was a good day!

Zara feels..something.. magic? There's a working below

She squirms away and leaves Earl with a kiss on his forehead... going to go peek!

She might want to get clothes back on to do that

POINT.

Top and leggings, but she doesn't bother with shoes.

Easier to scramble with her toes free, anyhow.

and scramble down she does, and slips along.

Following the sense of power, she peers inside.

The drugged man is on his bed while the other mages work together to work their influence on his mind.

Ah! The cold spy seems to be in a corner now.

"When you report to your superiors... you will tell them the truth. That nothing of interest happened. THat we were at best fluff headed art hippies, at worse, low level scam artists. This is the truth" Cricket says

"Truth" the man mutters in return

Zara can see Cricket is putting fingers on pressure points as she works.

Interesting. And merciful... smart mercy. Him going missing could draw more attention. Cricket gains another notch of respect.

And they leave him, making sure they have no clues left behind.

Zara will need to be mindful not to cross the Akashic.

She climbs back to curl up with the sleeping Earl.

To say the rest of the week is magical is to put it both literally and otherwise. Earl gets exposed to Buddhist culture, and so many other styles hands on. He thrives and is rather selfishly happy!

For Zara, it's a dangerous game! Get caught in the library, she could get in trouble.And yet..there's so much to learn. Books on prodigalsthat some would give eyeteeth for

Worth it!

She does also wander off by foot - she did promise Bronte some books, after all.

Yes. There's talk of that odd hermit, but she doubts he sells books. TO her sadness, the first place she ifnds with books is clearly meant as a tourist trap with slaphdash travel guides, hollywood takes on history and myth here

Not quite what she's looking for - Zara wants old things, bits of history, even if they're harder to access.

She DOES bring flowers back to Earl from the tourist trap, wreathing him in perfume.

He rolls his eyes, and then smiles and tells her of a merchant who comes by, and when he'll arrive so she can beat his time and inquire. Turns out he's been making goodfriends with the Nigerian guy

"I would have told you sooner but I thought you'd want to hunt around first"

A gentle bap.

A chuckle

"I must needs meet my promises to Bronte, after all."

"Of course" A kiss

And so, Zara also gets her lotka-paper book.

...or five...

And so she does. The Merchant is an odd man, a bit of a dreamer himself, "No no... you are special.. you want special book, not just any book. "

"You understand, aye! Special ones, old ones.. it is alright if they are damaged, they have stories.."

"I show you want.. festival every year about it, but many do not know the story... what good is holiday without knowing the why ? Mmm? "

"Oh?" Sparkle, interested. "Yes, I would like that."