"Yes," Hollis said, folding his hands and resting his chin on them, his elbows on his desk. "I did expect something like this."

Hollis's study was a beautiful room, decorated much like the rest of his house in an odd mixture of Victorian and Renaissance styles. His desk was a huge, ornately carved and gilt-edged wooden thing made of what appeared to be teak. It was covered with all sorts of things, from a writing blotter and pen set to a stack of books precariously perched on one edge of the desk. There were several devices whose purpose I couldn't make heads or tails of, including one that looked like an old-fashioned astrolabe and one which was a circle of copper on an upright base, with what appeared to be a cloud floating in the middle of the copper circle.

The walls were lined with bookcases, and while they held plenty of books (several shelves were packed to bursting) they also held a wild variety of knickknacks and magical tools. I had spotted a picture of him and Master Tremane when they were much younger on one shelf, and there was a huge landscape painting of what I thought was Mount Fuji in Nippon on the wall behind his desk.

The box I had picked up for him sat before him on his blotter, with Athena and I in chairs across from him. Artemis sat beside my chair, watching him as intently as her sister and I.

"Which is why," he went on with a sigh, "I asked those policemen to follow you. I also asked them not to interfere unless they felt you were in danger." He smiled slightly. "Clearly, you were not."

"Why not tell us?" I asked, both frustrated and a little unsettled.

"Partly because I needed to see what you were capable of when caught unawares," he said simply. "Which is why I was magically watching the whole event from a distance. I must say, that was a quick piece of spellcasting you did over Athena's shoulders. I also approve of your choice of lightning and force, rather than fire. Fire magic is rather frowned on in London, for obvious reasons. I'm also pleased that you used no verbal foci during your spellcasting…that shows focus and practice both, though I suspect you still need them with more complex spells, or ones you're not as familiar with."

After I nodded, his brows drew down into a gentle frown. "However, you displayed a distinct lack of melee skills. Have you had no training in that direction?"

"Staff fighting and some fencing," I answered. “Very little hand-to-hand.”

"Mmm," he nodded a little. "Jonathan always did favor armed combat over unarmed. I think we'll have to get you some training towards that end." He looked at Athena. "Both of you," he added dryly.

I felt a rush of frustrated embarrassment from Athena as she lowered her eyes.

"Oh, stop," he said with a soft laugh. "Don't be ashamed of your instincts or your abilities, Athena. You fought marvelously, and believe me when I say that the death of those thugs is nothing more than a strain taken off the local police. They likely would have had to kill those men themselves, sooner or later. But," he sighed again, "We really must teach you how to disarm and disable rather than kill outright. Tell me, do you like the feel of that very unusual blade you took?"

She reached out and lightly touched the hilt of the blade where it leaned against his desk in front of her, still in its scabbard. "I do," she said quietly, looking from it to him. "When I grabbed it, it felt right in my hands."

He nodded. "That happens with familiars sometimes. They find a weapon that suits them unusually well. We'll look into having a better one made for you," he said, turning his attention to me. "Do you agree?"

I nodded my agreement. "Definitely. She handled that weird sword like she was born with it in her hand."

Athena looked pleased and purred softly.

Hollis chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure she did." He looked at us for a long moment, then nodded. "That's all for now, I think. Why don't you go get some lunch? You've had quite a busy morning."

I blinked and exchanged a look of mixed confusion and curiosity with Athena. "Hollis," I said slowly, "Do we get to find out what's in the package?"

“That is the other reason I had the police on hand.” He smiled mysteriously. "Suffice it to say for now that one of my primary lines of work involves the collection and handling of certain artifacts. Artifacts that others - occasionally - desire to obtain. You prevented that from happening."

Athena sighed and I made a face. "All right."

He laughed softly. "Good. Go and eat, we'll talk more later."

As we sat at the table a little while later, I saw Athena curiously examining the forks, spoons and knives laid out at her place. It made me realize that she really had no idea how to behave at table - or perhaps even what etiquette was, for that matter.

She saw me watching and smiled shyly. "Mistress," she said softly, "Perhaps you could explain each of these to me?"

<> Artemis said smugly from where she was munching on a bowl of meat by the table.

Athena shot her a teasingly nasty look. "Jealous."

<> Artemis said contentedly. <>

I laughed. "Come on, girls, don't fight about it.”

<> Artemis said, padding over and resting her chin on Athena's thigh.

Athena smiled and gently stroked her ears. "I love you too, Artemis."

I watched them for a moment, smiling fondly. I couldn't believe how quickly I'd grown to love them. Part of that, I knew, was a side-effect of having taken them as familiars. You can't have a familiar without being fond of it - it's part of the magic that binds them to you.

But I really loved them. They were a part of me: I needed them, wanted them near me at all times, and found even their less-than-perfect personality traits charming.

Gods, I was getting mushy.

"So, silverware," I said to Athena, drawing her attention.

"Yes, Mistress. Why are there two forks?" She asked.

"Be thankful it's not a formal dinner," I said dryly. "Then there might be as many as four. What you have there is a dinner fork, the one with the long tines, and a salad fork with shorter ones."

"There might be more?" Athena asked, incredulous and amused at the same time.

"Oh yes," I said. "You might have an appetizer fork, which would be much smaller, and a dessert fork, which would probably identical to the salad fork, but set above the plate rather than beside it."

Athena stared at me for a long moment, and I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not I was pulling her leg. Finally, she decided to simply accept it and said, "All right. Two spoons?"

"The larger one is a soup spoon. The smaller is a tea spoon."

"But...we're not having either tea or soup," Athena said, her eyebrows furrowed in confused concentration.

I smiled. "True. They're there more out of tradition than anything else."

"Ah," she said wisely. "Tradition seems to be the explanation for a lot of things."

"Can't argue with that," I said with a smile. "Usually things that don't make any sense."

"So these strange eating utensil rules made sense at some point?" Athena asked incredulously.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. She was right, after all. "I didn't say that, love. But a long time ago they must have to someone."

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"Well," I said slowly, "I imagine a lot of it had to do with how food was prepared and what things were safe to eat together. Sort of like the laws that some devout Hebrews still follow...not mixing meat and milk products, or something to that effect."

"Oh," she said, and I could see the blank incomprehension on her face.

I laughed softly. "Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to me either. It's one of those things about humans that just needs to be accepted."

Stolen story; please report.

"Fair enough," she said. "Two knives?"

"Butter knife and cutting knife," I said.

"Two glasses?" She was starting to sound a little desperate as she looked for some element of it that made sense to her.

"One for wine and one for water," I replied.

"Ah!" She looked relieved. "That one makes sense, at least."

<> Artemis muttered. <>

I laughed again. I couldn't help it. "That's probably truer than I want to admit, pet."

Artemis made a distinctly smug noise and returned to her meal as Athena looked over her utensils again. "So," she said tentatively, "Should I be using a knife and a fork for this?"

We were having sandwiches. This was going to be amusing.

"No," I said with a smile. "With sandwiches, it's okay to eat with your hands."

"Then why even have the utensils on the..." Athena trailed off rather than finishing her question and looked at me for a long time, trying to tell if I was toying with her. Finally, she shook her head. "Artemis is right, people don't make sense."

I smiled, reached over and patted her hand. "No, we don't. Look at it this way: now you're ready for dinner tonight."

She laughed and purred. "True. Thank you, Mistress."

All three of us looked up as Hollis came in with a pensive expression on his face. He sat down and murmured his thanks as Elsie seemed to materialize out of thin air, scurried over with his lunch, and disappeared into the kitchen again.

"Hollis?" I asked cautiously, still not conversant with his moods.

He looked up and smiled faintly. "Oh, it's nothing serious. I've just been presented with a request for aid from someone in the community, and I don't know if I can fit it into my day. It's not exactly urgent or life-threatening, but it's something they're disturbed by and want taken care of."

I felt like a fish staring up at a baited hook, and knew he was trying to entice me into asking if it was something I could take care of.

Of course, he WAS paying me a salary of some sort. One of my jobs for him would no doubt be taking up tasks that needed to get done and which he didn't have time for. "Is it something I might be able to take care of?"

He smiled a bit more genuinely. "Actually, you might be able to. Have you ever dealt with any hauntings?"

I groaned inwardly.

"I helped Master Tremane deal with three or four during my apprenticeship," I admitted. "And I saw one particularly unusual exorcism while I was studying with a group of Tantric mages for a couple of months."

Hollis snorted understanding amusement. "Yes, I'll bet you did. Which methods did Jonathan show you?" He poked uninterested at the salad Elsie had put in front of him, then sighed. "I appreciate Elsie trying to keep me healthy, but this sucks."

I blinked in surprise.

He laughed softly. "I was young once too, girl. I still remember the slang, and it hasn't changed all that much. Now, which methods did he show you?"

"Um," I thought hard for a moment. "He demonstrated crystal-trapping, gentle persuasion, energy elimination, and ritual purification of a site or object."

There are a lot of different ways of clearing a building or object of a ghost, depending a lot on what type of ghost it is. Residual hauntings, for example, aren't intelligent spirits and one can simply perform an energy elimination or ritual purification to clear the site of the lingering stain left by whatever trauma caused the haunting.

An intelligent haunting is more complex, and potentially more dangerous. Mainly because until you're well into the process of clearing the site, you don't know precisely what type of entity (or entities) is being dealt with. What appears to be a simple lost soul can turn out to be a poltergeist or - even worse - a demonic presence of some sort.

As I'd said, I saw a demonic exorcism during my time with the Tantric mages. It was, perhaps inevitably, a succubus. That had been a wild night. One which I had no intention of discussing with anybody. Frankly, I think I'd need to be extremely drunk to be able to talk about it without dying of embarrassment.

At any rate, with an intelligent haunting, depending on the nature and personality of the spirit, you might be able to very gently encourage them to finally pass on to whatever waits on the other side of that final veil. I saw two like that with Master Tremane. It's a sad and somehow enlightening experience all at once.

If the spirit isn't friendly...trap it in a crystal and get it out of the house, then banish or bury it at your leisure. And hope it's not powerful enough to affect the physical world around it.

"Mmm," he said thoughtfully as he chewed on a mouthful of lettuce and tomatoes. "Good, all four of those are excellent. I'm partial to gentle persuasion when I can manage it. What was the exorcism like?"

I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. "It was unique," I said succinctly.

Hollis laughed heartily. "With Tantric mages, I don't doubt it. What were they exorcising?"

I cleared my throat. "Can I not answer that?"

He grinned. "Of course. It's a shame, mind you...I sense a spectacular story. But with Tantric mages, it's probably an embarrassing one for you."

I nodded weakly. "Extremely."

He chuckled. "Then don't worry about it. It's enough to know that you've been trained in different methods of dealing with hauntings. Do you feel up to tackling one on your own?"

"How serious is it?" I asked.

"It didn't sound very serious," he replied thoughtfully, still poking at his salad. "It sounds like a residual - always follows a set pattern, doesn't respond to attempts to communicate, that sort of thing. But you never know for sure."

I glanced at Athena, who was listening to everything intently, then looked back at Hollis. "I think that with Athena's help I should be able to handle something like that."

"Excellent!" Hollis said enthusiastically. "If you can deal with that this afternoon and tonight, I'll have enough time to see if I can find a tutor or two for you and Athena."

I had been played a bit. His busy schedule was finding tutors for us. But that was all right...I had shown a willingness to take on whatever tasks he needed me to do for him, which had likely been the point of the conversation. I smiled. "That sounds good. Thank you."

Athena nodded eagerly. "Those sorts of lessons sound like they'll make more sense than table etiquette."

Hollis laughed. "Tried to explain place settings to you, did she?" He gestured to me with his fork as he said it.

Athena nodded and smiled sheepishly. "It doesn't make much sense to me."

"Doesn't make much sense to me either," he agreed with a smile. "I doubt it makes much sense to your mistress, for that matter."

I shook my head. "Little to none, really," I agreed. "But then, I grew up surrounded by Druids. Table settings were mostly wooden, except for a cutting knife, and kept to a minimum."

Hollis chuckled. "It is a simpler way of life. Which do you prefer?" He asked curiously.

"Honestly?" I asked. When he nodded, I shrugged a little. "I've seen the benefits of both ways of life. The city offers a wider variety of experiences and opportunities to learn. But the quiet, natural life of a Druid community is..." I tried to find the right word, finally settling on, "Refreshing."

Hollis nodded. "Yes, that sounds right. I spent six months in a Druid community during my apprenticeship, and it was a rewarding experience."

I must have looked surprised, because he smiled. "Oh, they haven't always had those insular laws about not allowing Hermetic Mages to live in their communities. It only started about twenty years ago, after a rather unpleasant incident."

"Really?"

He nodded again. "Really. Didn't mention that when they gave you the boot, eh?"

"No," I shook my head. "Neither did my mother."

"Well, it's one of those things that a lot of people don't know much about," he admitted. "I was on the periphery of the last of the incidents, so I can tell you about it sometime."

"I'd like that," I said.

He smiled. "Well, after lunch I'll give you the address you'll be going to. It's only a few blocks from here. And you can draw what supplies you think you might need from my stores. I'm sure I have everything you might need."

"Thank you," I replied.

After lunch, I grabbed my bottomless bag and followed Elsie to Hollis' storeroom. As I picked up things I might need, I explained each one to Athena and Artemis.

A fair-sized jar of sea salt went into one of my bag's outside pockets, even though the mouth of the pocket was much too small for it. "Sea salt is a purifying agent," I explained to Athena, who listened attentively. "It can be used in ritual magic for cleansing an object or location, and can be used to create a barrier that doesn't require constant powering by encircling something in a line of it. It can also be used to seal a house against intrusion by malevolent entities by drawing lines of it across windowsills and doorways, though it takes an awful lot of salt to do that."

I picked out three likely looking quartz crystals: two fist-sized pieces of raw, milky-white quartz, and one polished piece cut into a flat, round, faceted shape. "Quartz crystal has a lot of different uses," I explained. "It can store and channel energy, which is what the prepared ones are usually used for, like the faceted one." I held it up so it caught the light for a moment before tucking it into another outside pocket of my bag. "The rough-cut ones make good physical components in binding and banishing rituals, or as the focus for a long-lasting light spell. Done properly, a fist-sized chunk of raw quartz can contain even a nasty poltergeist." They followed their faceted cousin into the pocket.

After some deliberation, I chose one of a surprisingly large number of palm-sized, cabochon-cut precious and semi-precious gems that Hollis had loose in a box. In this case, a ruby. "A prepared ruby," I explained to Athena and Artemis, "Can be used to bind and store more powerful entities, including most lesser demons."

"Really?" She asked, holding it up to the light and looking at it curiously. "Something this small?"

I nodded as she handed it back to me and put it in the same pocket with the quartz crystals. "Something about its metaphysical nature makes it ideally suited for the purpose. I'm sure Master Tremane explained why to me at great length, but it didn't stick."

A small, well-sealed jar of olive oil went into an interior pocket of my bag. "Olive oil is another good general-purpose purifying agent," I explained. "Better than chalk for quickly preparing a ritual circle but harder to clean up afterwards, and it can be a real mess on carpeting. So you have to pick the time and place carefully. Speaking of chalk, I only have a few pieces left..."

I found a huge supply of chalk in different sizes and colors and took a variety. "White for general purpose, blue for defense, orange and red for projecting energy, green for purification and yellow for binding."

"Why those colors for those purposes?" Athena asked.

I shrugged. "That's just the way I was taught. I suppose any color could be used for any purpose, but if you associate a color with a specific use it's more effective."

<> Artemis said with a yawn.

Athena giggled and I laughed. "True enough," I agreed. "But that's how it works. Magic is as much about association and belief that something will work the way it does as it is about rules and methods. Having those rules and standards just makes it easier to do."

<> Artemis pointed out.

I hadn't thought of it that way, but she was right. "That's very true. Good point."

<> Artemis suggested.

That set me back on my heels for a moment. "That's...actually, that's not a bad idea," I said thoughtfully. "I'll have to give that some thought."

Artemis groomed one of her paws in a distinctly smug sort of way.

Finally, I grabbed two small bottles of Holy Water for good measure and closed up my bag. I took my staff out of its outside pocket - it would look more professional if I arrived with it out - and checked myself over. Well, maybe my wardrobe could stand to be upgraded a bit for city life. But my soft leather trousers, blouse, boots and coat would just have to do for now.