Chapter 96 The Intermission

“So, what’s next?” Evernya inquired.

“Since we are already here, I want to take care of all the registration stuff we have to do for you two. We need to have both your bloodlines registered, update both of your IDs, and I think it would be best to register your mana bound artifact.”

“I thought you said to keep it secret until I fully activate it?” Evernya questioned as Aya latched herself onto Evernya’s left arm, warily peeking through her hair at Meira.

While smiling friendly at the shy Kitsune, Meira explained her reasoning, “I did, but since the cat is out of the bag on your bloodline, we may as well register your MBA (mana bound artifact). If you don’t register it and get caught using an artifact in a city, you could open yourself to more charges. However, similar to bloodlines, you can opt out of having your MBA tested as long as you prove it exists. I doubt you will need it in a city, especially with its limited functionality, but you never know I would rather cover our bases with how they showed their willingness to grasp at straws to get charges to stick.”

“I would rather avoid going through an interrogation like that again. I still don’t understand why they felt the need to chain me to that chair to the point I could barely breathe. Though I don’t need oxygen, it was still uncomfortable.” Evernya commented, causing Aya to tighten her grip on Evernya’s left arm.

Meira scowled at her kitten’s treatment but explained anyway. “ninety percent of alphas are big muscular males, so even restrained with silver, they could destroy the chair with enough leverage. However, immobilizing a shifter to the point they can’t move at all minimizes this risk. I still find it ridiculous they implemented their alpha shifter restraining protocol on you. Sure, you are an alpha, but physically, you are nowhere near as strong as those monstrous shifters. Unfortunately, humans are so intimidated by shifters in close quarters they go overboard on immobilizing them. It doesn’t help that typically the interrogator is a wizard or witch, leaving them vulnerable in close quarters. Though I think the real reason, they restrain shifters is the psychological aspect of forcing an alpha into a submissive position.”

“I am getting so sick of dealing with humans treating me like some wild animal. If they would have spoken to me like a normal person without all the restraints and shocking, they would have gotten just as much out of me if not more because I wouldn’t be as on guard.” Evernya fumed with Aya cutely, mimicking her annoyed expression.

“Unfortunately, humans won’t ever change. They will always discriminate or fear those different from them.” Meira stated, earning a nod from Aya.

“Yeah, when the detective finally released me, she mentioned some things they did to Aya, causing me to explode a little. I think I nearly caused her to pee her pants despite the fact she easily blocked my explosion and was around awakened nine.” Evernya said, downplaying her momentary rage attack.

“Sounds about right, which is ridiculous. You look and feel about as harmless as a shifter can get. Even Aya here leaks mana, giving away her mana grade, though it is subtler than it should be. It’s not like it matters for her. Those fluffy tails of hers give her away.” Meira commented.

At the mention of her tails, Aya hugged them while giving Meira a stink eye. “I take it back. A cute little Kitsune like her wouldn’t intimidate anyone.” Meira corrected upon seeing Aya’s reaction, causing Aya to pout.

“I enjoy staying under the radar. Plus, the reactions of people are all the sweeter. At least they will be once I become stronger.” Evernya stated with a malicious grin.

“But how will Aya protect Nya when no one takes Aya seriously?” Aya sent telepathically, still pouting.

“We will protect each other. I’m sure you could scare them with some illusions or fireballs if you had to. Just because you look cute doesn’t mean you can’t be deadly too.” Evernya replied with an encouraging smile.

“But Aya wants to scare them away before it comes to that,” Aya argued.

Evernya turned toward her mate, looking directly into her eyes as she said, “Neither of us will scare anyone away by appearance alone. We are about as harmless looking as it gets. Most humans are even bigger than us. Don’t force yourself to look like something you are not. You don’t have to look intimidating for me. Just be who you want to be.”

“Fine, if Nya says, Aya will listen.” Aya agreed with an affirmative nod.

Evernya used her free right hand to lift Aya’s chin, staring intently into Aya’s ruby red eyes. “Do it for yourself, not me. You are no one’s slave.”

“Aya understands,” Aya replied, averting her eyes shyly, blushing heavily.

Before Evernya could reply to her mate’s reaction, Meira interrupted, “You two are having a telepathic conversation again, aren’t you?”

While looking sheepishly at Meira, Evernya apologized, “Sorry, Aya seems more comfortable communicating telepathically.”

“No problem. I’m glad she is doing so well so soon. Besides, I can follow the conversation from Aya’s expressions,” Meira revealed, causing Aya’s face to redden further.

Embarrassed, Aya tried to hide behind Evernya again, but as she released Evernya’s arm, Evernya dodged out of the way, leaving the shy girl exposed.

“You don’t have to hide every time you feel uncomfortable. I’m fine with you using me as a barrier anytime you want, but I am a bit too small to hide those fluffy tails of yours. If you want to have people take you seriously, hiding won’t help. Try to resist the urge to hide for me.” Evernya advised as she dodged a fluffy appendage.

Aya’s tails returned to the resting place, floating behind their owner as Aya put on a serious expression as she announced, “Aya will try her best.”

Worried about the swiftness of her mate’s reply, Evernya added, “That’s all I ask, but don’t push yourself past your limit just because I asked you to.”

“Aya understands,” Aya replied instantly.

Evernya gave up on her overly agreeable mate, turning toward Meira to ask, with a hint of fang poking out from under her upper lips, “do you have anything for us to eat or drink? I’m starving!”

Meira frowned, glancing at her kitten’s slave band peeking out from under the silver collar before replying, “Can you last until we leave? Unlike your fancy new dimensional storage device, mine can’t work inside a spatial lock.”

“We are inside a spatial lock? I thought you said storage devices never work inside one?” Evernya questioned before suddenly remembering the spatial magic skill she unlocked with her bloodline. Similar to mana sensing, a new sense activates, allowing her to detect the spatial lock in the form of denser, harder to manipulate space.

After a few seconds of observing the surrounding space, Evernya found several weak points. Meira interrupted her observations as she descended into a childish, whining fit. “They shouldn’t, but yours does! It’s so unfair! I was looking forward to making you the best storage device I could, but there’s no way I could beat a spatial lock resistant device!”

“Won’t this get us in trouble?” Evernya questioned as Aya took advantage of her mate’s distraction, re-latching herself on Evernya’s left arm.

Meira glared at the bands adhered to her tailed adoptees’ necks with envy as she said, “Probably, but they can’t do anything about it even if they found out. Your mother doesn’t seem to think too far ahead. If she had just left your collars on, none of this would’ve happened.”

“So now I have an illegal storage device, wonderful. What will happen when I have to have it scanned?” Evernya grumbled.

Uncertain, herself, Meira replied, “I wouldn’t call it illegal, since there is no law against it. However, I don’t know what will happen if it gets scanned, probably the same thing it is doing now, which is bypassing the spatial lock. I doubt most scanners will even pick it up, but if they do as long as you have nothing illegal inside it or use it with witnesses inside a spatial lock, you should be fine.”

“I’m really getting sick of having to hide everything!” Evernya fumed.

“Everyone has their secrets. You just have happened to have more than most,” Meira stated.

After a deep breath and a single tail hug from Aya, Evernya sighed. “Well, I can’t do anything about it, so I’ll just have to live with it.”

Still envious, Meira commented, “I don’t understand why you aren’t ecstatic about this gift. You’ve been asking about a storage device since you first saw mine.”

Appearing exhausted, Evernya explained, “Well, after dealing with an interrogation, having more secrets to conceal is giving me a headache. Especially When she asked if I knowingly falsified my race. I nearly blurted everything out under the effects of the truth spell harness.”

Meira’s expression turned to pity as she rambled in shock. “Damn, how did they get their hands on one of those!? They pulled out all the stops. I’m sorry you had to go through a truth enhancer.” Suddenly Meira stopped as she questioned with a confused expression, “how did avoid answering? If I am right about them using a truth enhancer, there is no way you could avoid spilling the truth.”

“I resisted it long enough to ask for clarification,” Evernya replied, shivering just remembering the fear and panic.

Meira whistled, exclaiming, “Wow, your mental defenses are stronger than I thought! That nasty device overpowers even the strongest Psionics.”

“Oh, it overpowered my defenses. If she had asked the same question again or took a second longer to respond, I would have spilled my guts.” Evernya revealed.

“Still, that is impressive. So what did she want to know?” Meira inquired curiously.

“Apparently Kitsune is now part of my collection of races,” Evernya replied with a helpless expression.

“Kin,” Aya confirmed out loud from her position partially behind Evernya, attached to her left arm.

“You can tell?” Evernya questioned in surprise.

“All Kitsune can sense one of their own,” Aya replied, as if it was obvious.

Used to the duo’s silent conversations, Meira commented, “I suppose this is what your mother meant by making you two more physically compatible. Hopefully, her changes didn’t cause any issues. I suppose we can perform another full evaluation at DIOM later.”

After taking a quick stock of her body, Evernya said, “Besides a bit of weakness, I don’t feel any different. I hope you have a ton of food prepared because I’m starving.”

“If Aya is up for it, we can go back to Sullivan’s for lunch.” Meira offered, causing a hungry expression to form on her kitten’s face as she imagined devouring the mountain of meat again.

“Aya can handle it as long as Nya is with Aya,” Aya stated telepathically, upon feeling Evernya’s desire

“You can barely show yourself to Meira. Are you sure you can handle going out in public? Last time I was there, I was the star of a viral video.” Evernya warned.

“Aya is hungry too,” Aya admitted, while transmitting her hunger through their connection.

Suddenly Evernya felt a foreign hunger causing her head to swivel toward her mate, “How did you do that?”

“Nya doesn’t know how to transmit feelings?” Aya questioned in confusion.

“No, this is all new to me. How do you know how to do all of this?” Evernya inquired.

“All Kitsune receive training from childhood on all aspects of being bonded to someone. Kitsune can’t procreate unless bonded to someone, so all Kitsune bond before they turn fifty. Aya’s fate was to be bonded off on her 18th birthday, but that never happened.” Aya explained while staring into her mate’s eyes with adoration.

With a saddened expression, Evernya said, “That sounds sad having to go through a soul bond with someone against her will. Forced marriage is one thing, but to go through a permanent soul binding to someone against your will is just heartbreaking. I’m sorry you had no say in being bonded to me.”

“Aya is happy with Nya!” Aya proclaimed out loud, tightening her grasp on Evernya’s arm to painful levels to emphasize her point.

While trying to conceal a wince, Evernya questioned, “But is that because we are mates? You barely know me.”

Aya stared directly into her mate’s eyes as she proclaimed, “Aya doesn’t care! Aya feels comfortable near Nya.”

“I feel the same, but that is probably because we are soul bonded mates,” Evernya stated, causing a sad expression to form on Aya’s face, which she hid with her hair.

Unaware of her mate’s sadness, Evernya turned toward Meira to ask, “So, how will we do this registration thing? Do we have to wait in line like when I first got my ID?”

Meira glanced apologetically at the Kitsune, doing her best to hide her tears behind her long white hair before responding, “no, they will test you in a slightly bigger but similar room than here. The Minea Mage’s council brought in an expert from Buran to do it. It’s a big deal when a possibly newly discovered bloodline shows up.”

“They brought in an expert? What if I decided to wait?” Evernya questioned.

With a scowl, Meira theorized, “Well, I think their original plan was to find you guilty on more serious charges, forcing you into the service of the mages council then have the expert scrutinize your bloodline.”

Evernya shivered at the thought of that happening, causing Aya to hug her arm tighter while wrapping a few of her tails around Evernya’s torso. “Let’s just get this over with before they find a reason to stick more bogus charges,” Evernya said, scared to put it off any longer.

After receiving a nod from Meira, Evernya stuffed the contents of the box in her pockets before following Meira out the door with a nervous Kitsune latched tightly onto her left arm.