An elderly woman was riding silently in a limousine. Kevalia was tired. Despite being ready for retirement, she kept on working. It was that little rascal Bernard's fault. If only that old mage was good at politics. Last time she tried to get him to help, he made more problems than he solved. Speaking of problems, her business attire was really uncomfortable. Her assistant picked it out, and the old woman questioned the girl's common sense. The old dwarf couldn't wait to get home. She had been staying in hotels for the last two and a half months.

Zeph Malston, the boy she missed meeting, arrived at the estate three days after she had left. Kevalia prepared a nice lecture for Bernard. That old fool never once mentioned he had a grandson. She knew he was full of secrets. His checkered past demanded it. The little boy she knew was gone, and in his place was an aged and powerful mage. Leaning her head back, Kevalia sighed.

"Is something wrong Mrs. Mead?" Semara was sorting out next month's schedule when she heard her boss sigh. The wolf-kin shifter was Councilwoman Mead's bodyguard and secretary for seven years now. Her friend Bianca recommended her for the job. She was excited to see her foxy friend when they finally arrived at the Malston Mansion.

"I was just thinking about how uncomfortable this pantsuit is." Kevalia was used to a plain black business skirt. "It feels constricting." Semara finally got her to try wearing a pantsuit for the first time today. The old dwarven woman was not impressed.

Semara stopped scrolling through appointment listings on her tablet. "I'm sorry. Did I pick out the wrong size?" She looked up the order she placed for the outfit. "No, it says right here that it's your size. Maybe I should file a complaint and see if we can return it."

"No need to bother with it, my dear. How soon until we arrive?" Kevalia changed the subject. The outfit was fine. Food from all the banquets and conventions were the reason it was such a tight fit.

"We'll be arriving in less than five minutes." Semara's tail was wagging.

"I bet you're excited to see Bianca. It has been a while since you had a girl's night out." Kevalia smiled at her secretary. We have a spare room if you'd like to spend more time with your best friend."

"If it wouldn't be an inconvenience, I'd really like that." The secretary tried not to look too excited. Unfortunately, the tail gave her away. Semara blushed when she realized it was wagging hard enough to thump against the seat. She always hated how the thing had a mind of its own

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Zeph was lying on his bed petting Rin. There was a floating screen of text hovering above him. Bernard gave him an e-book on beginner enchanting. It cleared up a lot of questions the boy had about magic items. One of them was about the protection charm necklace he received from Bernard. If his gun needed so much space to engrave a spell diagram, how did a protective spell get inscribed on this little necklace? The answer was pretty interesting. When magic circulated through a spell diagram, it could cause damage to the surrounding material. This wear and tear could distort the magic script and cause the diagram to be rendered useless.

This could be counteracted by using larger sized inscriptions. The book compared it to water going through a pipe versus a tunnel. Magic needed to flow through the inscription. If it was too small there would be more resistance. Either the magic would activate very slowly, or the inscription would burst. When an inscription burst, the item usually burst along with it.

Inscriptions size differed from inscription complexity. It was the size of the magic text or symbols used when writing a spell diagram. Complexity represents how many characters it takes to make a working enchantment. High complexity increased the burden on an enchanted item, while high inscription size decreased it. Items could also be enchanted with a spell to increase their durability. This, however, took up space that could be used for the primary enchantment. The more he read, the more complicated inscription seemed to get.

Zeph stopped reading looked at his necklace. The enchantment was highly complex and used small inscription size. That guaranteed it would break a few moments after the spell inside activated. Bernard said that it was a protective barrier. It would activate against an attack beyond the first rank, and guard against damage up to the fourth rank. Attacks, physical and magical, are categorized by the damage they could do. The rank of an attack does similar damage a spell of the same tier.

Rin interrupted Zeph's train of thought by tapping his face with her paw. ~Bored~

"Hmm. Okay, how about we go play in the yard. It stopped raining for the moment, and I'm feeling a little cabin fever." The boy held the kitten as he rose from the bed. When passing by the mirror, Zeph paused for a moment to look at himself. Zeph sighed. He didn't mind being a kid, it helped cover for his naivety and lack of common sense. However, there were times when he wished he could take an adult form.

He tried turning into a grown-up version of himself, but it ended up looking weird. It looked like someone hit him with a growth ray, and he was just a large sized child. Even though he could mimic functioning ears and a tail, Zeph couldn't replicate the aging process. When he asked Bernard what the problem was, the old man spent an entire day trying to find the reason.

Zeph was able to mimic living tissue that he had come in contact with before. The reason he could mimic dwarves, elves, and shifters is because he made physical contact with a member of that species. After coming in contact with their genetic material, the aether used them as an example when it restructured itself to Zeph's desired form. In fact, his cat features just copied his fox features. He only changed the way they looked. Until Zeph figured out how to replicate the aging process, there was no artificial growing up that he could do.

Instead of trying to age, Zeph decided it was better to change his features to look aged. That was proving to be more difficult than he expected. He realized it would take some time until he was a master shapeshifter. His identity was already set, so there was no need to rush his progress. Zeph decided to practice his shapeshifting every day. Another sigh escaped his lips. There were so many things he needed to work on and improve. Feeling Rin's restlessness, the boy finally left his room.

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When Kevalia's limousine entered the edges of the Malston estate, Alex felt the barrier alert him. A large smile spread across his face. His wife was home. The years seemed irrelevant, as he still felt the same excitement every time he saw her after a long absence. Before he knew, the old dwarf was speed walking through the mansion. He arrived in the front yard and saw that he got there before his wife's vehicle.

Rays of light passed through the clouds, and the flowers glistened from the rain. It was one of the few times rain wasn't falling. A part of Alex smiled as he had a childish thought. 'The rain must have stopped so we could have a beautiful reunion.' A child's laughter pulled him from his delusions. He looked toward the source and saw Zeph playing with the kitten.

Rin was chasing a large blue butterfly, as it flew slowly through the air. She would leap and use wind magic to increase her height and slow her fall. Zeph smiled. Alex had taught him this particular cantrip. It was a simple illusion, and it drove Rin wild. The thing about this spell is it encouraged the kitten to use wind magic. Hopefully, she'll figure out how to fly in order to chase her favorite cat toy.

While watching her glide through the air, Zeph noticed Alex at the entrance to the mansion. He decided to go meet him. Rin was so focused on the butterfly. She didn't notice Zeph until she floated into his arms. The boy could feel her frustration through their bond. If she could talk, he was sure Rin would say "I almost had it!" while shaking her fist.

"Hi Alex!" The boy walked onto the porch. "Is Kevalia coming?" Zeph could see a huge smile on the dwarf's face.

"Yes, she's almost home." Alex's looked like he was waiting for a parade.

"Awesome, do you know if she's bringing her bodyguard?" Alex nodded, keeping his focus on the driveway. An image appeared in front of Zeph. It was an app being projected by his pendant. He sent a short message to Bianca and waited for a response.

The flashing image caught Alex's attention. "What was that?"

"Yesterday Bianca told me she wanted to play a prank on her best friend since we knew they were coming this week."

"What kind of prank?" Alex saw Zeph beckon him closer. Then the boy whispered the fox girl's plan in his ear. The old dwarf let out a short laugh. "That's pretty good. I'm sure it will surprise Keva too." A few moments later, Bianca came running out the front door.

"Am I too late?" She looked around the yard.

"Nope, they're not here yet." Zeph shapeshifted into his fox kin form and walked toward Bianca.

She ushered the boy behind her. "Good now stay hidden, we'll wait until Alex and Keva are done with their reunion."

"Got it." Zeph tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

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Kevalia watched as the limousine pulled up to the front of the mansion. Her hand was already on the door handle. As soon as it stopped, the door flung open and she ran outside. Alex, the love of her life, was waiting with open arms.

"Alex!" She ran to him.

"Keva!" He ran to her.

Zeph could swear he heard a romantic song crescendo when they finally embraced. He quickly hid back behind Bianca after watching the two dwarves with a smile. Bianca also watched happily. She let out an inaudible sigh. 'I wish I had what those two have.' Then she saw her best friend leave the limousine and speak a few words to the driver.

"Thank you Ra'ul. You may have the rest of the week off. I'll call you in advance if we need you to drive us anywhere else." Semara heard a muffled reply from the front of the vehicle. Then she walked up to her best friend. "Bianca, it's been a long time." They hugged.

"Yes it has. I'm so glad to see you. Actually, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to." Bianca put her hand behind her back and gestured for Zeph.

Semara watched as Bianca, her best friend for over a decade, brought a child out from behind her. He had fox ears and a tail. The boy's hair and eye color were the same as Bianca's. She was surprised. Who was this boy?

Zeph was trying not to laugh at the shocked look on Semara's face. Instead, he tried to look extra adorable. "Are you my mommy's friend?" He said shyly.

The wolf woman's brain froze. His question echoed in her mind. She looked at Bianca, then at the boy, then back at Bianca. Her finger pointed at them, and she struggled to speak. "Wha...when......how...who...but he's so.....you never.." Unable to take it anymore, Semara fainted.

Before she could fall onto the floor, Bianca rushed forward and caught her. "Semmy, are you okay." She patted her cheeks. The wolf-kin was down for the count. "I think that might have been too much for her. Bianca looked at everyone else. Suddenly they all started laughing.

Kevalia was only momentarily surprised. She quickly remembered that Zeph was part changeling, and she was familiar with Bianca's antics. The fox girl had a mischievous streak. After the laughter subsided, she looked at the boy. "Hello Zeph, I'm Kevalia. You can call me Keva."

"Hi Keva, it's a pleasure to meet you." Zeph shook her hand.