The three of them dressed in some of their non-magi clothing which, for Gregory, had him back in the suit he’d worn in Buldoun. Jenn and Yukiko had the sleeker kimonos they’d worn in the past, helping them blend in more.
“We should get you some other clothing before we leave,” Mindie said, “but keep the suit.”
“Yes, keep that one,” Jenn agreed, her eyes scanning up and down his body.
“We can make a plan for it after we handle the robbery,” Yukiko said. “Mindie, you’ll be needed at the other incident. There are injuries we know of there.”
“A couple of deep gashes,” Gregory said. “Nothing life-threatening, but if you’re close to it, it’ll mean they won’t be stopped from being able to continue on with their patrols.”
Mindie sighed. “Okay. I was wondering why you asked me to put my normal kimono on.”
“Having a magi visible should help the public feel safer,” Yukiko said.
“You’re all going right now?”
“We want to warn the shopkeeper,” Gregory nodded. “It’ll also let us set up well ahead of the event.”
“I was thinking,” Yukiko said slowly, “if it is a planned robbery, they might leave someone outside as a lookout.”
“Good point. One of us should stay outside and be on the lookout for anyone who might be keeping an eye on the building,” Jenn said.
“I can do that,” Gregory said. “I’ll bring a book, take a seat on one of the benches in the park, and when it gets close to time, let my foresight run. This way, if you two stepping in causes someone to spook, I might see enough to stop them.”
“You should have Jenn with you in the park, then,” Yukiko said. “A courting picnic would be better cover.”
“She has a good point,” Mindie nodded, “especially with you dressed in that suit. It’d look like a Buldoun native courting a local woman.”
“Oh, I like it,” Jenn grinned.
“Of course you do. You get a date with him,” Yukiko snickered. “Just remember to keep your mind on work.”
“We will,” Gregory chuckled. “Public displays of affection are frowned upon. For a couple courting, it would be even more so.”
Jenn sighed. “Yeah, but it’ll still be a nice date until they rob the place.”
“I’d like kisses before you go, at least,” Mindie cut in.
The other three surrounded her, peppering her with kisses, making her laugh and squirm.
Yukiko left right away, as she needed to speak with the owner of Bright Gold. Gregory and Jenn had to wait while Flopsy put together a romantic picnic basket for them. Mindie was fine with that, as she got cuddles in their room before they finally had to go.
~*~*~
Gregory walked with the basket in hand. Jenn was beside him, guiding them to the garden park. “How has Ella been as an advisor?”
“Good. I’m sure she was being strict at the start, thinking she’d have to push me. After the first few days, it was clear that she was loosening up. The last couple of months, she’s mostly focused on marching drills.”
“Kind of like Willof, then,” Gregory said. “I’m curious how much weight is going to be given to those marches during the tournament? I’m fairly certain that the counterpoint weapon exchange isn’t normal for us to learn.”
“Agreed, but when the men had the cross march down, she wanted to do more.”
“I’m sure Ben did the same with Yuki’s unit.”
“I’m glad we get this time together,” Jenn murmured. “A few weeks here, then the month of travel and tournament…” Her lips dipped. “Then, a year with only a couple of brief dreams. That’ll be even tougher than this year was.”
“Agreed. These next two weeks were a nice surprise. I’m sure Egil will collect a few spars from us in thanks.”
“Oh no, we’ll have to hone ourselves more. What a burden,” Jenn said sarcastically, then giggled. “Mindie told me you’ve sparred against him with a wakizashi?”
“I was thinking a shorter blade might be handy at times. If I do carry one, I want to be competent with it. Now that you and Yuki are here, I can spar with you two.”
“I’m sure we’ll have some time for that, between our vigorous physical conditioning.”
Gregory shook his head, grinning. “That’s terrible.”
“Oh, it’s anything but terrible,” Jenn snickered.
Reaching the park, Gregory slowed further. He wanted to sell the role of courting Jenn, so he made sure they took the time to smell the flowers. The grass closer to Bright Gold allowed them to lay out the blanket for their picnic.
The sun climbed into the sky as they sampled the food that’d been prepared for them. Simple sandwiches and other finger foods helped make it informal, and Gregory was glad the cooks had used some aether-infused meats. They had a bottle of rosem wine to share; the glasses were made from clear crystal, helping show them as a well-off couple.
“Should be soon,” Gregory said as he sat back. He scanned the area while sipping his wine.
“I’ve noticed two men who’ve walked through the area a few times,” Jenn murmured.
“Simple work clothes, one a little taller than the other? The shorter one has a mole on his cheek?”
“Yes. They’ve paused to speak to each other, too,” Jenn whispered before she scooted a little closer to Gregory. “Looking more like its planned, than it being a robbery of opportunity.”
“Indeed.” Gregory smiled at her, his hand covering hers on the blanket. “They’re behind me, aren’t they?”
Jenn smiled back, her head dipping in a small nod. “I think it’ll be soon.”
The clock struck the eleventh hour. The moment it did, the two men quickly started walking away.
“Whistles soon,” Gregory murmured.
“They left,” Jenn muttered. “Why leave so suddenly?”
As if to answer her question, whistles started up just far enough away that the faint sound barely reached the couple once the bells stopped chiming. More whistles came and two guards went running through the area, heading toward the commotion.
“So they wouldn’t be seen by the guards leaving,” Gregory said. “I’ll be pushing foresight for a moment.”
Jenn squeezed his hand, letting some concern show on her face. She figured anyone on a date would be worried over the guards rushing off.
Resonance and foresight let Gregory find what he wanted. With a nod, he let go of both feelings before a bit of lethargy hit him. “Four men go in, and the two come back to stand watch,” he whispered. “The shorter man ends up in the alley next to the bakery. The other I’ll get, but since they’re split up, it’d be best to sell us going separate ways.”
“How?”
“Slap me, then storm off toward the baker. Either affronted anger or tears.”
“Okay, but what causes me to do that?”
Gregory smiled at her, his eyes going past her as he saw four large men head toward Bright Gold. “Oh, I think this.” He leaned in, kissing her. It was a chaste kiss, but clearly outside polite society.
Jenn almost leaned into it before she jerked back. Her hand met his cheek, echoing in the air and causing anyone nearby to look their way. “How dare you!” she spat as she scrambled to her feet.
Gregory blinked; she hadn’t pulled her slap at all, so a bright red handprint flamed on his face. As she hurried away, he sat there in shock before he stood abruptly. Snatching up the blanket, he wrapped it around the empty glasses, stuffed them into the basket, and stormed off in the opposite direction.
Murmurs and accusing gazes followed Gregory, who walked stiffly away. He held his head high as if he couldn’t hear the whispers. Gregory was closing in on his target, who was sniggering.
Gregory let foresight trigger again as he got within arm’s distance of the man. His magic spun out and he didn’t see any problems, so as he came even with the lookout, he struck.
Gagging as the breath was driven out of him, the lookout dropped to his knees. Gregory’s fist had hit him perfectly, followed up with a chokehold that rendered him unconscious.
“Hey, what are you doing?!” someone shouted at Gregory.
Gregory turned to see someone rushing his way. Yanking his medallion out of his shirt, Gregory let his aether exude. “Arresting a criminal lookout. It’s okay, guardsman. Good reaction, though.”
“Magi…? But…!”
“You’ll hear about it later. Actually, since you’re here, take this one to jail for me. My wives are getting the others.”
“Uh… yes, sir,” the off-duty guardsman said quickly when he felt the pressure Gregory let drift out.
Gregory started jogging for Bright Gold. Yukiko had four men to deal with; he knew she could handle it, but she’d need help with escorting them to jail.
~*~*~
“How did your day go?” Egil asked as everyone took seats at the table before dinner.
“All the men managed to patrol as directed. No one deviated from their route,” Davis said.
“Commander Fillion was happy to have the six men who tried to rob Bright Gold,” Gregory said. “Seems they’d all been marked as servants before. He had Mindie make them slaves since, clearly, they hadn’t learned from being servants.”
“The diversion was a bar fight with a dozen people involved,” Max Pellant said. “The three men who started it joined the others as slaves. We had three wounded, but Mindie was there quickly to heal them. They were back on patrol with minimal time lost.”
“Foresight can do some wondrous things,” Ben chuckled. “How much did they steal in the other future you saw, Gregory?”
“A lot. They also seriously injured the shopkeeper, but didn’t kill her,” Gregory said. “Yuki can tell you about how she pulled off her side of things.”
“The four only had clubs, so I had the shadows bind them until I could choke them out,” Yukiko shrugged. “The commander promised to ship them out so their allies won’t know what happened other than that they failed.”
“So a planned robbery was stopped,” Egil nodded. “This will be noted for your files. What do you expect the ramifications to be?”
“They only tried it because they knew we were taking over patrols,” Jenn said. “The man I caught was cursing the whole time about it. The people behind the whole thing will either lay low until we leave or they’ll try one more time, thinking it was a fluke.”
“They might try to attack our men, but as they’ll be resting after their shift and not going out, I don’t think it’s likely,” Yukiko added.
“I’ll be running foresight every morning,” Gregory jumped in. “We should be good, but I agree with Jenn and Yuki. I’m leaning toward them having had plans past today. The only thing I’m not sure about is what they might be.”
“Very well,” Egil smiled, then tugged on the rope behind his seat. “Let’s have dinner, and then you can relax until tomorrow.”
