Whispers From My Muse: A Family Matter

The "we're not really here, ignore us" spell around Kalindra and I vanished the moment I knocked on the window of the staff car, the one keeping Ms. Winkel and her tape recorder hidden made her vanish from our sight since we no longer existed in the same hidden state.  I hoped she managed to get her story published, I had no reason to doubt that the next few minutes were going to be rather interesting.

Even as the window started to slide down into the door, the troops that had surrounded my Uncles house started to notice our presense and their weapons swung our direction.  Kalindra took care of that with a low snarl as she released the spell she'd been holding in check.  Almost too fast for the eye to follow, the bubble of magic she'd held in her paws expanded outwards to about a five mile radius and every weapon it touched as it grew simply vanished.  She'd had more than enough guns pointed at her lately and I hadn't said a word when she'd told me what she intended.  To say all hell broke loose amoungst the troups surrounding the house wouldn't do justice to the scene.  Those people that had been holding weapons went through a few seconds of confusion as their brains tried to make sense of what their eyes and hands were now telling them, everybody else was slowly noticing we'd appeared out of nowhere right next to their commanding officer as they started to scramble to locate weapons that weren't where they'd left them.

Weapons or not, several started heading our direction only to slide to an abrupt halt as the violet magelight that hovered next to Kal's head intensified and then snapped out as a brilliant pencil thin beam at the feet of anybody who got closer than Kalindra wanted them to.  The smoking hole left in the ice and asphalt underneath made it clear what would happen if they became the target instead.

"Well, I believe you wanted to talk to me?" I said to the face that appeared as the smoked glass retracted.  "I would suggest though that you make it clear to the people you brought with you that my mate is not in the best of moods currently, since you've intruded into a family matter, and it would be healthier for them if they did not annoy her."

There were two people in the back of the car, the one in the army uniform spoke up first.  "Now look here Mr. Antoine, I'm ..."

"Major John Stevens" I completed for him, "and your friend here, Mr. David Stern, from the NSA, is about to try and claim he's really from the INS."  I glanced at the Major as my words started to sink in and then glared at the NSA agent, daring him to say anything.  "Since this is the first time we've met, I'll give you a free hint.  Lying to a Mage is both pointless and dangerous."  Still staring at the NSA agent, I added, "and threatening one is suicidal, so you might want to avoid reaching for that item in your jacket pocket."

"Now though, I suggest you order your men to keep their distance and then you can tell me why half of Fairchild has decided to camp out around my Uncle's house."

The Major and the agent exchanged looks for a moment and I didn't have to be a telepath to know they were not happy, this whole encounter wasn't going the way they'd planned.  "Sargent!"

"Sir!" came the reply from one of the men closest to the line Kalindra had drawn.

"Have your troops keep their distance."

"Yes Sir!" he replied, and while he didn't sound happy about it, he passed the order on.

"OK Mr. Antoine," said the Major as his attention returned to me.  "There has been a misunderstanding here, but we can clear it up rather easily.  We've been sent here to escort you and your family to a safe location.  If you'd simply ask everybody to come out of the house, we can all calm down and avoid any further misunderstandings."

I almost laughed, "Thanks, but my family and I don't need your help."

"Mr. Antoine, I'm afraid I must insist," and the Major started trying to open the door, only to discover the handle wasn't there.  A second later the agent noticed his was missing also.

I looked over at where I thought Ms. Winkel was probably standing and sighed.  "Major Stevens, I'd rather not do this the hard way, but if you don't start listening I'm going to have to do something you'll regret.  The Nas Kan do not want or need your protection and your presense here is interfering in a private family discussion.  If this were Velar, my original warning would have been enough to have cleared this area rather quickly, but this isn't Velar, so I'll try this one more time.  My family is not to be interfered with or threatened, period.  The Meenzai were suicidal enough to do it and you may have noticed what happened to them."

Closing my eyes for a moment, I formed the idea in my mind of what I wanted and then pushed the magic at it.  A second later the engine of every military vehicle in the area came to life.  "Tell your men to get back in their trucks and return to the base, then you can tell your commanding officer that the Nas Kan have declined your invitation to be questioned."  Stepping back from the car, I held my hand out at waist level and with my palm up, raised it into the air.  As I did so, the window on the car rolled itself up in spite of the Major pushing the button on the inside.

"Having fun dear?" I asked Kalindra over my shoulder as I stepped back further from the car.

"Does it count as a bar fight if we are not in a bar?"

I had to laugh, "No, it doesn't."

"I was afraid of that," she told me, trying to sound sad.

It took about a minute, but the radios on the trucks around us crackled to life with the Majors voice and he ordered his troops to mount up and head back to Fairchild.  That had been an interesting minute inside the car, the NSA agent had actually tried to argue for trying to capture us in spite of Kalindra's little demonstration.  The Major had more or less told him to shut the hell up, he wasn't going to risk his men against an unknown enemy who, and he stumbled over the thought, could work magic.

As the trucks and the sedan formed up and headed away, I glanced over at the various news crews which had been kept at a distance also.  Kalindra had picked Ms. Winkel as our witness, they were going to have to learn what had been said  the same as everybody else did, when her story was published.  I hoped the Inlander appreciated what they were going to be handed.

"Penny, it's time to take off, quit teasing the reporters."

Spinning on her axis she flipped over and flew to where Kal and I were standing in the snow.  "Boss, you can expect to be hearing from a number of lawyers, those clowns didn't appreciate their equipment vanishing like that."

"They can be damn glad it was only the equipment that vanished," I muttered as I stepped behind Kalindra and put my arms around her.  The snow around us flattened out slightly as the flight field formed, Penny let her hologram fade as she powered up her flight systems.  "Penny, a little music if you please."

One of my favorite flight tunes began to play from her direction as I hugged Kalindra close and jumped into the sky above us.