As I was getting dressed the next morning I felt a surge of Anima approaching. A moment later a translucent snowy owl flew in through the wall and flapped to a halt in front of me. Immediately, it changed into an equally translucent image of my mom standing and smiling at me.

"Hello, honey," she said, her voice so perfectly reproduced that she might have actually been standing in the room with me. "I was very glad to hear that you're getting settled in okay. Congratulations on your new familiars. Artemis is simply magnificent, and Athena is a darling. She looks so much like you, you must have poured a tremendous amount of energy into the spell. She is unmistakably your familiar. I'm very proud."

Athena had moved to stand beside me, staring at the magical reproduction of my mother in utter fascination. Now she blushed and purred at my mom's words, pleased - and, I could tell, a little bit relieved - that my mother approved of her.

"Let me know if you need anything," Mom went on, "And I'll try to send it along to you. I asked the High Druid about the prophecy that they mentioned was related to you, but he refused to tell me anything about it. Mind you, he didn't just go tight-lipped on me...he actually told me outright that he wasn't going to tell me anything about it and that I should never ask about it again. Can you imagine the nerve?"

She shook her head and sighed. "Let me know if you have any more dreams like that. Dreams can sometimes be more than they appear to be, and more than just your subconscious mind purging the events of the day. Right now, I can't make heads or tails out of this one. But I'm glad that Athena was there to wake you up too."

Mom's image sighed. "I guess that's all for now. Come home soon so I can meet the girls in person. I love you."

She lifted her hand in farewell, and the image faded away to nothing.

"Sendings are so cool," Athena said quietly.

> Artemis said, padding up beside me. >

I reached down and ruffled her ears. "You see the world differently than we do, pet. Keep right on doing so."

She purred happily and lifted into my petting for a moment. > she asked, rather pointedly.

"Excellent idea. Come on."

As we walked toward the dining room, I felt Athena's hand slip into mine. "Do you think she'll like me?" She asked quietly.

I blinked in surprise. "Who, my mom? Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't she?" I still wasn't used to Athena's shifts from total confidence to shy uncertainty. The change seemed to revolve around dealing with people. I supposed it would pass as she got used to her new form.

"Well...she commented on how much I look like you," she said cautiously. "I was just worried that she might be offended..."

"I doubt it," I said with a laugh. "The worst thing that might happen is she might decide that I have a twin sister now."

Athena looked confused. "You mean me?"

I nodded. "I'm teasing, pet. She'll love you."

"I hope so," she whispered.

I stopped walking and touched her shoulder gently, turning her to look at me. "Why all this uncertainty, pet?"

Athena shook her head. "I'm not sure, Mistress. I just feel..." She trailed off and looked frustrated. "I can't find the right words for it."

"Still feeling a bit unsettled?" I asked, sensing the confusion in her.

She nodded. "Yes, Mistress. I almost feel like I'm a stranger in my own body...but not really."

I smiled gently and gave her a hug. "It'll pass in a few days, I'm sure. It's probably just a lingering after effect of your Elevation. Is it as strong a feeling as it was two days ago?"

She shook her head again, smiling a little now. "No, Mistress. It's faded a bit."

"Then it'll pass," I reassured her. "Give it a couple more days, and let me know if it gets any worse."

"Of course, Mistress."

> Artemis fired teasingly into the conversation. >

I blinked in surprise - I honestly hadn't expected the more feline of my familiars to come out with such an intellectual joke - then burst out laughing.

Athena shook her head. "I'll get you for that, sister..." She mock-lunged at Artemis, who artfully slipped aside, looking smug.

> Before she could finish another shot at her sister, Athena laughingly swatted Artemis's flank, then chased her sister down the hall towards the kitchen.

Ellister...Hollis, rather, joined us a few minutes after we'd settled in to breakfast. Athena was endlessly fascinated by what she still referred to as 'people food,' and was nibbling on a piece of bacon with intense concentration as he sat down. "Good morning, ladies!"

I smiled. "Good morning."

"I sensed a Sending earlier. Your mother?" He asked.

I nodded. "Letting me know she's okay and passing along some information."

"Did she know anything about your dream?" He asked shrewdly.

"How did you...never mind," I shook my head. I'd spoken with him about it, so it was a safe assumption that I'd mentioned it to my mother too. "No, she didn't know anything. The Éire Druid Council wasn't willing to tell her anything, and she couldn't make heads or tails out of it. She just told me to let her know if I have any more dreams like that."

"Do you think the dream was prophetic, then?" he asked as he spread strawberry preserves onto his toast.

I shrugged and poked at my pancakes. "I really don't know. I've never had prophetic dreams before, but it was so much more vivid than a normal dream, and it's stuck with me in almost perfect detail."

"Something a normal dream wouldn't be likely to do," he agreed. "Would you mind telling me about it again later? I'd like to get the details straight, and I might be able to find something out for you."

"No, I suppose not," I said slowly. "I mean, it was probably just a dream."

"Indeed," he said with a reassuring smile. "Be that as it may, I have an errand for you to run for me this morning."

"Oh?" I asked curiously. No time like the present to get started.

"Yes. I have a package arriving down at the docks this morning. I'll give you the name of the ship and her captain...I'm sure you can figure out what to do," he finished with another smile.

I nodded. "Pick it up, I assume."

"See that? You're already head and shoulders above my last assistant. When I sent him on an errand like that, he came back empty-handed." He made a face. "First he couldn't find the ship. When he found the ship, he couldn't speak with the captain. And nobody else knew anything about the package. So he came back."

"I'm guessing he didn't last long," I said, my sense of humor recovering from the disquiet my dream had caused.

"About a week," Hollis confirmed. "It's a quick and simple job. While you're out, I'm going to try to line up some training for you and Athena."

I smiled. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome," he returned my smile warmly.

Twenty minutes later, Athena, Artemis and I were on our way towards the docks. It was only a few blocks away, so I decided to walk. The day was sunny and a bit cooler than usual for early October, but it was still pleasant and much nicer than high summer. There are, in my opinion, few things worse than a blisteringly hot day in a city.

From five blocks away we could already hear the rising noise of the busy docks. It was before nine in the morning, but even early on a Saturday or Sunday the docks were usually bustling and crowded.

As we got closer, Artemis moved closer to my side, to the point where she accidentally brushed up against my leg a couple of times. I glanced down at her and saw the tension in her muscles, felt the nervousness in her emotions. "What's bothering you, pet?"

> she mumbled. >

Athena nodded. "Artemis and I were down here on the docks for more than a month, Mistress," she said quietly. "I don't like it here any more than she does."

It hadn't occurred to me, but we'd likely be near to or even passing where I purchased them. Well, it couldn't be helped. "I'm sorry, girls. But work is work...we'll make it as quick as possible."

Athena smiled gratefully and Artemis purred an appreciative sound.

As we walked along the docks, I glanced at the note Hollis had given me. It contained the name of the airship I was looking for - the S.S. Miser's Fancy - and of its captain, Keith Tanner.

Up ahead I caught sight of the gilded letters spelling out the ship's name. It turned out to be an inelegant and somewhat ugly cargo ship, blocky and without any of the graceful lines and swooping hull that had made up the Icarus I'd come over from Éire on. It was a working ship, designed for function rather than form, and rather reminded me of an oversized barge.

Inwardly, I suspected it was a tougher ship than the Icarus.

As I walked up to its boarding ramp and stopped at the bottom, Athena and Artemis both fell back a step. Their ears were perked alertly, tails lashing slowly back and forth as their eyes roamed around.

"Ho, Miser's Fancy," I called up the ramp. "I'm here to pick up some cargo from Captain Tanner on behalf of my employer!"

"And who's your employer, young lady?" A voice called back from further down the ship. I looked over and saw an older man with a weathered face and bright eyes. He wore a blue and gold captain's cap and had a thick but neatly trimmed gray beard.

"Wizard Hollis Ellister, sir. Are you Captain Tanner?"

"I am indeed, and I have his cargo," he replied with a nod, heading for the ramp. "Give me a moment and I'll bring it down to you. It's not large."

"Thank you!" I felt a twinge of nervous tension that wasn't my own and glanced at my familiars. They were standing on either side of me, a step back from where I stood and facing away from the ship. Artemis was crouched as if ready to pounce. Athena's eyes were narrowed and roaming around, most of her weight resting on the balls of her feet as her tail balanced her. She was as ready to move as her sister.

> I asked.

> Artemis replied. >

> Athena added. >

I sniffed, and could smell nothing but fish, tar and the various spicy scents of food being cooked nearby. > I said honestly. >

> Artemis said.

> Athena added.

> I said with more calm than I felt. >

But my own senses were starting to twinge now as well. Most spellcasters develop a certain amount of short-term precognition. Rarely more than a minute's worth, and not specific - precise precognition has an unfortunate tendency to drive its practitioners insane - but enough to warn us of impending danger. Really, it's a sense anyone can develop with enough practice and attention. Calling it precognition is giving it way too much credit.

I was starting to feel that crawling sensation on the back of my neck that told me I was being watched. Crap.

Captain Tanner strode down the ramp to meet me with a package tucked under his left arm, extending his right hand as he reached me. "Captain Keith Tanner. And you are?"

I shook his hand. "Mage Alys Kinnear, sir." I handed him the second note Hollis had given me, containing his sigil and a brief note saying that I was acting in his stead.

"Huh," he said, glancing it over quickly, then returning his eyes to me. "Haven't seen you before. You look more competent than the last idiot Ellister hired."

I smiled. "Yes, sir. He said as much himself."

Captain Tanner chuckled. "Don't doubt it. That boy drove him mad. Well, this is the package he asked me to pick up for him..."

He was interrupted by a series of ratcheting clicks and the unmistakable *clack-clack* of a shotgun being closed and cocked. Athena and Artemis both hissed and moved a bit closer to me.

I turned in time to see three men step out of the alley across from the ship. The center one wore an old-fashioned frock coat and bowler hat, both of which had seen better days, and had an eye patch over his left eye. His upper lip was twisted on the left side by a scar that descended from beneath the eye patch.

He was flanked by two men of burly build. One carried the double-barreled shotgun we'd heard being loaded. The other had a pair of large and unfamiliar revolvers. Not that I knew enough about firearms to identify them anyway. They just looked big.

Glancing left and right, I saw four more men approaching, two from either direction, coming up and down the dock towards the ramp. Three of them were carrying blades - two short swords and a long-bladed weapon I wasn't familiar with, its blade double-curved on one side and attached to a wooden haft on the other. It ran most of the length of the haft, with a grip at its base and another half-way up the blade. It looked dangerous.

Worst of all, in my opinion, the fourth carried an ornate and old-fashioned looking pistol that at first glance I'd mistaken for an antique gilded flintlock. It was a Magearm pistol, a weapon that allowed someone with a small or moderate amount of magical talent to fire one or two combat spells with the power of a trained Mage...usually bolts of fire or lightning, which might explain the smoke and ozone smells my familiars had mentioned.

Eyepatch spread his hands and smiled. It made his lip twist and curl at the scar, turning his smile into a grimacing sneer. "Let's not have a fuss," he said in a thick Cockney accent. "Give us the package and nobody gets hurt."

Seriously, that may have been the single most clichéd thing I'd ever had said to me, and by a criminal stereotype no less. Accent, scar, eye patch and all. Good grief. If there weren't weapons aimed at us, I'd have assumed it was some sort of bad joke.

I glanced around. The early morning crowd had scattered, scurrying into doorways and side-streets, clearing the dock all around us. And, of course, there wasn't a cop in sight.

I swore under my breath.

> I said to Artemis and Athena, >

> Athena said.

> Artemis said with certainty. >

> I said. >

> they replied together.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," I said politely. "That package is the property of my employer. He'll be very upset if it isn't delivered."

"Not our problem, girly. You're a pretty young thing," Eyepatch said with another twisted sneer of a smile, "Don't make us hurt you."

He gestured to his men, and the ones flanking us on either side started to move in.

I heard Captain Tanner back up a couple of steps. Artemis took the opportunity to bound back to stand between him and the rest of us as Athena bolted off to the left towards the two men approaching from that direction.

I turned my attention to the man with the Magearm pistol. As far as I was concerned, he was the biggest threat. And I was right.

His pistol snapped up and with a sharp crackling pop unleashed a bolt of lightning straight towards me. I caught it on a blue-white shield of translucent energy, dissipating most of its power and sliding me back a couple of inches as the rest pushed against me as kinetic force.

Then I twirled my right index and middle fingers in the air above my head, gathering crackling electricity around them. I brought them down and thrust them towards the Magearm-wielding thug, returning his lightning with obviously superior control and accuracy. It was a spell I was very familiar with…so familiar that I no longer bothered with a verbal focus for it.

Lightning is generally the wise Mage's weapon of choice for urban fighting. It's easy to regulate how much power is in it - once you know how - making it effective at incapacitating as well as killing. Just as importantly, carefully controlled lightning won't do a lot of property damage to stone and metal, except at the upper end of the power scale. Fire can be as dangerous to the caster in close quarters as to the target, and kinetic force is too easily countered and avoided. Water magic isn't really effective in combat unless you're very good at mixing ice and force, which I wasn't.

This man obviously wasn't a spellcaster. Just a thug with enough Anima to make the Magearm pistol work. My bolt of lightning licked across the gun and up his arm, making him convulse and literally knocking him out of his shoes and onto his back. The pistol was jolted out of his hand and went rattling away, over the edge of the dock and into the water with a splash. He lay there, twitching and grunting, out of the fight.

His partner roared and charged me, pulling a dagger to go with his short sword. This part I was not sure how to handle under the circumstances. I was unarmed - I didn't have my satchel with me, which is where I left my staff (of course - why the hell did I leave those behind?), and had no other weapons to begin with. So I raised a shield.

His first two blows skittered off the translucent blue disk of energy. Before he could get in a third, there was a loud feline yowl and a black and white blur slammed into him.

The thud of impact was followed quickly by the crunch of breaking bones and an odd whistling sound that ended as his head left his shoulders and bounced down the dock. Athena stood there before me, the other man's large wavy-bladed weapon held in her hands like a two-handed sword, breathing heavily and turning to stand between me and the remaining three men.

Eyepatch looked shocked. Glancing to the left, I saw that Athena had taken out her two targets rather more violently than I had. They'd never be moving again. In less than ten seconds, Athena and I had eliminated four of his men.

"Kill the bitches," Eyepatch snapped, gesturing towards us.

On behalf of myself and my familiars, I was offended. None of us were canines.

I reached over Athena's left shoulder just as the shotgun boomed. I caught the spreading pellets on another shield, deflecting most of them into the ground in front of us and the rest harmlessly off to either side. Then I thrust my right fist over her other shoulder and opened it, sending a wave of force across the dock towards the alley.

The ripple in the air that marked the otherwise invisible wall of force slammed into the three men. Eyepatch was blown back into the alley, while his companions slammed into the buildings on either side.

It was, of course, at that point that the police arrived. Three officers in dark blue uniforms came running down the dock, blowing whistles and demanding we stay where we were.

When I looked back at the alley, Eyepatch was gone. The thug with the shotgun was just getting up, breaking it open to reload it.

A blue-white glowing net landed on him and sparked violently, leaving him twitching and spasming on the ground like my lightning bolt had done to his friend. One of the policemen knelt down beside him and disarmed him, then began gathering up the enchanted net while one of his partners handcuffed the unconscious man with revolvers.

The third policeman approached us cautiously. "Ma'am," he said politely to me, "Please ask your familiar to stand down."

I side-stepped a little and rested my right hand on Athena's left shoulder. She glanced at me, then straightened out of her tense posture and lowered the large weapon to her side, letting it dangle from one hand.

"Thank you," the officer said with a nod. "Those men assaulted you, obviously," he said dryly. "She took that blade off one of the men?" He gestured to the weird sword which Athena still held by her side.

"They did," Captain Tanner said, moving to stand beside me, Artemis still hovering protectively beside him. "And she did. They were after the package she's here to pick up for her employer. They were defending me and it."

The police officer looked thoughtful, then glanced at the corpses and back to me. "Miss..."

"Kinnear," I said. "Mage Alys Kinnear."

He nodded. "Mage Kinnear, I suggest you invest in some non-lethal training for your familiar. Considering they came at you armed when you obviously aren't, I'll let it go this time...but try to keep them alive in the future."

I blinked in surprise. "I...I will. We just arrived in town a couple of days ago."

"Hmm," he pursed his lips. "Well, be that as it may. We'll take the survivors into custody and make sure they don't see the light of day for a while. Be about your business."

"Yes, sir," I said with a nod.

He returned my nod and turned to give instructions to his partners.

I looked back at Captain Tanner, who smiled slightly. "I'm well known on the docks," he said quietly. "I have more than a little pull with the local police, and they know me well. They won't question this or you. But you'd better take this and get home. I'd suggest you not show your face around the docks for a week or two, just in case."

He handed me the box as he spoke. It was about the size of a shoe box, heavily wrapped in brown paper. "Thank you," I said, still confused.

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Hell of a way to welcome you to London. I suggest you have your pet clean off that blade and hang onto it - she's hell on wheels with it." He dug in his back pocket and tossed Athena a ragged cloth. "Wipe that off, girl, and toss the rag in the river."

Athena blinked, just as bewildered as I was, and quickly wiped the blood stains from the blade. They came off with surprising ease, leaving the blade spotlessly clean. Following his instructions, she tossed the cloth into the river, where it seemed to melt away.

One of the policemen paused in passing and pressed the blade's scabbard into her free hand. It was a leather affair, open on one side with snap-shut straps to hold the blade in place and a shoulder strap to wear it across the back.

Athena shared a confused look with me, then sheathed the blade and slung it across her back. With a quick movement, she tightened the shoulder strap until it was comfortable.

I looked up at Captain Tanner. "What...?"

"Ask your employer, girl. Go on, now." He smiled. "Nice meeting you. Hope next time won't be quite as violent."

A moment later, Athena, Artemis and I were alone on the dock except for the police, who paid no attention to us at all.

I glanced at each of my familiars in turn, then shook my head and tucked the box under my arm. "Come on. We'll sort this out at home."