Father and son, cut from the same cloth and raised in similar fashion.

At some point, one bows to the inevitable.

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While Tristan ate his noodles, I washed the pan and cleaned up the stove. It took less time to clean up than it did for him to eat, and when he was done, his bowl and fork were a matter of little effort. “So how do you intend to have me prove that I can protect my own, Da? Planning to throw a few things at me and see how I react?”

I dried the bowl and shook my head. “No, that’s how my mentor would have done it.” He who taught me wasn’t overwhelmingly kind. He wasn’t evil, not by a long shot, considering that he was a Catholic Priest, but he had an odd disconnect between being the warm and open Father of a parish and the stern guide and sometimes father figure of a youth who had entirely too much magic at his beck and call. It left me somewhat torn over a great many aspects of my abilities. “Have you been officially classed?”

My son turned to pull a bottle of water out of the refrigerator for himself before he spoke. “Class B overall. Class D thoughtmage, B for Air, and a whopping top-class A for the most useless magic I’ve ever heard of: Psychometry. Not only can I read an object’s history, but I can repair an object by making it remember how it had been before, which has to be the biggest load ever.” Tristan opened the bottle and rolled his eyes at the latter, and I looked at him, askance.

“Tristan, psychometry can be a very valuable skill if used properly. Especially in the fields of forensics and archaeology….” Forensics. I turned and looked to my son in exasperation. “Tristan, forensics.” He could tell if a node had been used by the demon simply by putting his hand to it. And judging by the slow smile that was creeping across his face, he knew it and probably had known all along.

“See, Da. Told you that you’d want me along for the ride on this one,” the smug little asshat said before taking a drink. Anything I might have said in reply was interrupted by a ringing of the doorbell; the delivery people had arrived. Tristan moved out of my way and went to put the bowl away while I got the door.

Forty minutes and a great deal of complaining from Tristan later, the bedroom furniture was installed. Emmy Cooper was fussing with a clear glass cube filled with what appeared to be white marbles on the clear glass surface of the set of drawers acting as a dresser. She’d already deposited a large glass… something on the floor in the corner next to the dresser and stuck what looked like a white birch branch into it. It had all aesthetics of someone having randomly stuck a tree branch in a large vase, and I told her so as I poked at it.

“Just because you have all the decorating sense of an accountant doesn’t mean that it isn’t aesthetically appealing, Mister Shestin,” Emmy said, moving to shoo me away from the branch and re-seat it. “If you have to have all of your décor in white, I have to add texture to make it interesting.” She frowned, pulled up the branch again, and then stuck it back into the vase. That time, she seemed pleased with it and nodded to herself.

It still looked like a random stick of wood stuck in a glass vase. I moved to the glass cube, spotting a white cloth between it and the glass surface. Turning the cube this way and that, I mused on the marbles. “Well, I suppose that Tristan can have a good but boring game of marbles if he’s truly at a loss.” I heard him snort in amusement as Emmy bustled over and swatted my hands out of the marbles. Of course, I was doing it as a source of harmless amusement, and she knew it.

“They aren’t for game; they’re not perfectly round. Any efforts to shoot a straight line would result in frustration. Besides, there’s no shooter size, so you’d be wasting your time.” Emmy set the cube back on the cloth after turning the points to right angles of each other.

As she spoke, I moved on to the bed, turning down the comforter to see that yes, indeed, the sheets were white on white stripes. “At least you didn’t try to sneak any color in this time, Emmy. I appreciate that.” Tristan wordlessly pointed to the stick of wood, and I grinned as he walked over to investigate it. Of course he moved it. He’s my son. I expected no less of him.

“Hotel sheets it is, Mister Shestin,” She moved three inches before she caught on and looked to me with exasperation. “Oh, he’s as bad as you are!” Her hand went to her glasses, and she straightened them before brushing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I don’t know why I bother.” She turned to the paperwork that included a large manila envelope and picked it up to offer it to me. “My invoice is within, if everything meets your approval.”

I grinned, glancing at Tristan, who had an equally amused expression on his face. “Everything is quite satisfactory, Emmy. Thank you.” The offered envelope was taken, and I would review the amounts against the furniture costs before I sent her payment. That was another part of the game, after all. “I’ll be certain to call you in a month or so. The dining room is starting to feel a little dated. And I may need to update the living room accents. A young lady declared that it looked too Ikea for me to be straight.”

Emmy’s attempt at schooling her expression was priceless, and I laughed as I walked her to the door and then followed her down the stairs to the front door. As I moved to open it, she paused. “As always, Mister Shestin, it has been an… experience.” It wasn’t said with malice, and she offered her hand for a handshake.

I don’t shake women’s hands. I lifted her hand in mine, kissed her knuckles and gave her my best grin as she rolled her eyes and pulled free with a hint of pink on her cheeks. “Honestly, Emmy, it was a pleasure. Take care, and I’ll send the check along in the next couple of days.” I closed the door behind her with a chuckle and turned to see Tristan standing halfway down the steps, bemused. “What?”

“Do you do that with all your assistants? Tease, torment, and flirt?” He finished descending the stairs and stopped at the bottom, his hands at his hips. “Because if you do, I’m dead positive there’s another sibling running around this planet. There’d have to be.” Now he was having me on, and I could tell.

I smirked at him and shook his head. “I flirt and tease, yes. But no, there aren’t any younger siblings, Tristan. I live a fairly solitary life. One or two people I might consider friends, but that’s it.” I wouldn’t tell him that the one woman I would want to consider being more than friends with was so far off the option that the polar ice caps would melt fully before I’d entertain it. He didn’t need to know about Suzu and I.

“Now, the Gate is at Charlotte and Washington, in the old Shipyard.” I moved into the living room and pointed at my makeshift map. Tristan followed, and I moved my finger to point slightly to the South and East of the shipyard. “And the first node is quite literally across the way at the aquarium. Now, it isn’t the strongest, so we’ll leave that for last. The strongest node near the Shipyard is over here… in Marion Square.” It didn’t surprise me that a garden greenspace had grown up over the convergence node of two powerful ley lines.

Tristan pulled out an iPhone and started poking at it, handing it to me with the map application running. He’d centered it on Marion Square, and I nodded at him. “Right. Bit better than my hand-drawn atrocity. But this would be my first choice for investigation. The node here is powerful and aligned with Earth… same as the Gate. Our guy would have a boost for his attempt to claim the Gate as his own if he worked here.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“We going now, then?” Tristan asked, moving to take the electronic device away and manipulate the map on the screen. “I don’t see any fences or gates. Then again, the app isn’t precisely… accurate.” I glanced at him, and he motioned to the device. “Are there fences? Gates? I don’t mean magical ones. Mundane things that we might have to deal with if we go after dark. I don’t know about you, but I can pop over one with ease.” Right. He and his Class B in Air.

“That’s one trait we share, I’d say.” I wouldn’t tell him that my Air was more of an uncontrolled Class C, and the only reason I wasn’t ranked higher overall. “But we’ll pay a visit to the park in the daylight, see what you can sense. Then we’ll decide what to do depending on what information you can gather.” I still intended to go after this guy on my own, without Tristan underfoot. I’m pretty sure he knew it, too. “Get your shoes on and let’s go.” To be fair, I wouldn’t make him ride pillion on the motorcycle.

I pulled the rental out into traffic and did my best to ignore Tristan’s commentary on my choice of vehicles. That was, until he made the passing observation that it could have been worse; I could be driving a Prius. “What’s wrong with a Prius? It’s a hybrid, and small enough to do well in the Downtown environment.” It wasn’t on my list of cars to consider any more than a Smart car was, but I wanted to know what he had against them.

“Da… don’t tell me you’ve not seen…” Tristan looked at me in dismay. Lifting his hand, he made a little turning motion and intoned “I’m gay,” in a strange singsong that was designed to resemble the zooming sound of a car. While it was vaguely amusing, I had no earthly idea what he was on about, or why a Prius would be considered ‘gay.’

He repeated the gesture and comment in a different tone, and I turned onto Meeting Street, shaking my head. “I can’t say as I follow you, Tristan, and if that’s some reference to popular culture, it’s beyond me.” I ignored his stare and concentrated on driving up Meeting, heading towards Calhoun. I’d turn, and then go down St, Phillip, where I could park at George Street. It wasn’t too far for walking back up to the park, and it would allow Tristan to see a bit of the area.

He seemed to be reading my mind. “Parking’s a bit of a premium down here, isn’t it? Is that why you rent? Because there aren’t a lot of places to put the things when you get where you want to go?” He was actively looking out of the passenger side window, taking in the buildings, and he pointed at the park as we drove past it. “Hey… isn’t that it?”

“That’s it, but parking is a bit off. I turned onto King Street and pointed to the parking garage on the left. “See, there’s the parking garage. It’s just right across the street. And you’re right that parking is a premium, but that’s not why I have a rental. My own car was stolen and stripped. I haven’t decided if I’m going to replace it yet.” I’d intended to turn in the rental sooner than I had and switch to the cycle for a while, but Tristan’s presence had changed all of that.

“Stolen,” Tristan echoed, turning back to look at me as I turned into the parking garage and flipped the headlights on to make it easier. “Your car was stolen? What were you driving, Da? A Mercedes or something?” He watched as I put my window down and punched the button for a parking ticket. Technically I could have badged my way out of the garage without paying as I was on semi-official work, but it didn’t seem fair to not pay my share of the local fees. I did, after all, live in the area.

“Nothing fancy about a Honda Civic that was so old it still had a tape player,” I grumbled as I pulled into a parking spot. “But I guess it looked like it had parts that were worth something, so off it went. The cop whose little sister is missing was who found it stripped. And until I decide what to do about transportation, the rental stays with me.” I made a mental note to call and extend the contract for another week and cut the engine. “All right, let’s go see what your talents can reveal. If we’re lucky, this will be the node.”

Getting out of the car and crossing the street to the park was easy. Precisely pinpointing the node was an entirely different matter. Contrary to what you might think, the crossed footpaths didn’t follow the ley lines. It took us nearly half an hour of walking and Tristan randomly touching things to discover that the node was in the earth below a particularly wild-looking tree in the northeast area of the park. Specifically, that the tree was growing in the node, and was therefore a good part of the reason that the node was Earthbound.

“Christ, Da. This is incredible. I can’t imagine what this would feel like if it was an Air node. Can’t you feel it?” Tristan had his hand on the tree, and he looked at me with his eyes glittering with magic. “But I’m sorry to say that there’s no twisting, no sense of anything being worked here. I don’t think the node would allow it. It’s very strong, but… I dunno, passive? Is that the right word?”

I reached out and put my hand on the tree, seeing what I could sense. The node was strong, the touch of magic flowing around me in an intangible dance that I couldn’t quite grasp. There was a moment of touch and recoil, and then a young lady walked up to use with a curious expression on her face. “Why are you touching that tree?” Her voice was soft, and I moved my hand as I replied, waving her concern off.

“No, no… nothing bad. We aren’t here to cut it down. It’s a lovely tree. Particularly wild, I’d say. The branches have an interesting pattern.” She moved to look up along the tree trunk, resting her dark-skinned hand against the bark. I moved to point to a crooked branch that was home to a bird’s nest. “There’s a nest up there, too. Wouldn’t do to harm this tree at all. Those birds rely on it for shelter.”

Tristan’s hand was still on the tree trunk, and he looked at me meaningfully. I glanced back at the young woman and then back to him, and he nodded once before lowering his hand from the tree. “We don’t mean it harm, love. We’re only admiring it.” Naturally, my son had charm. I’d have expected no less.

“You came to see what that thing did. But he didn’t do anything. I wouldn’t let him.” Those dark brown eyes turned to me, and I knew then that she was the tree’s keeper, a dryad. “You won’t do anything either. But then, I don’t think you would. You’re bound,” she turned away from me and looked to Tristan. “And your soul is good. What do you plan to do?” The question was aimed at both of us, but she was watching Tristan.

“We’re going to stop him,” I replied, my voice low and steady. She’d rattled me a bit by being able to tell that I was bound, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. “He’s taken a woman, and I intend to get her back, stop his plans, and put an end to him if I have to. I’d rather solve it peacefully, but I think the three of us know the odds of a peaceful resolution with a demonkin.”

That dark gaze swung back to me and her lips curled slowly. “Yes, I can see. Bound you are, but there is goodness in you yet. You are right; he had a woman with him. But she is not what he seeks, and he grows angry. The lines speak of fury building in the south. What you seek is the power, and he will find it first.” Her eyes glittered at me for a moment, and a leafy twig fell into my hair. I reached up to pluck it free as Tristan and I watched her melt into the tree. “Chasing only ensures you stay behind. The patience of the oak is the only way to grow true.” And then she was gone.

“Dryads,” Tristan began with amusement, “are notoriously difficult to please. She must have seen something in you, Da. Maybe your longstanding charm and wit.” I ignored him, looking at the twig that had fallen into my hair. The leaves seemed to glow with a magic that I couldn’t trace, and when I experimentally poked at one of the leaves it didn’t come free like a normal leaf would. “Looks like a gift to me. What do you think you should do with it?”

I had no idea. “Any clue how dryads propagate? Should I plant this somewhere? Keep it for a rainy day? She said something about patience and chasing.” I had a suspicion, but I didn’t want Tristan to get the idea. Then I truly wouldn’t get rid of him. “At any rate, I don’t think I can plant this properly; there’s fire in my blood. No blood rites to help it grow.”

Tristan considered, and then reached a single finger out to touch the little green-fringed growth. “I dunno, Da. It feels a bit… fluid, you know? Like a tiny bit of chaos.” He brushed a leaf as he moved his hand away, and I could have sworn the twig rippled in a giggle. I shook my head and looked to Tristan to see if he’d noticed it. “Well, there’s nothing here, Da. Where is the next node?” He hadn’t seen it.

“I’m not sure that’s the right way to go about it. You heard what she said. Let’s go back to the townhouse and regroup.” I was fairly certain that I was supposed to wait at the Gate, and that the twig with which I’d been gifted had a role of some sort to play. The fact that the Gate was an Earthbound Gate and the dryad who had given me the twig lived in an Earthbound node had not escaped me. I wasn’t sure that Tristan remembered the Gate’s elemental affiliation.

“All right. Back to the car then. Have you got a cupholder to tuck that thing in for the trip? I don’t think you should put it in your pocket,” Tristan said as he turned back towards the parking garage. I looked at the twig in my hand for a moment, and then shrugged. It had landed in my hair, so I reached up and tucked it back into my unruly mop. It wasn’t as if it was hurting anything there.