Copyright Disclaimer
The following is a work of fanfiction: there is no intent of this author to violate, transgress, profit from or infringe upon the Copyright and Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the parent Copyright or IP holders of characters, events or locations belonging to the same which may be contained within this work. To reiterate; this is a Derivative Work meant to be used under Fair Use as described in 17 U.S.C. § 101 and § 107.
All language is either through Google Translate, or the site 'Bits'n'Bob-stones'
The Sons of Efrafa
.
What… the Hell?
Who put that tharn nyalto in front of the camera?
Where was the media relations officer?
Hraka, the whole city will have heard that m'vaire methrah. Let's hope City Hall is on their game and gets on top of this; the polis needs to know this is an aberration, not what the common mammal feels.
Chapter 9
In the days following the press conference with Officer Hopps, Jacob concluded that City Hall was in fact, not on the ball. As cases of so-called 'spontaneous primal reversion' began to increase, so too did incidents of targeted violence against the carnivore and omnivore population of the city. During an Antlerson Cooper interview, one TV pundit made a comment about shock collars and, '…the sense of stability and safety felt during the Tannerman Era…'. After that, many of the older Foxborough natives began asking if the tunnels on Lower Canal St., which had been used to smuggle mammals out of the city during that era, were still intact. Amidst the chaos, life, in all its little absurdities, continued.
…
The night after the press conference, the Rauthas were hosting the Aksoys, when dinner was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Jacob rose and headed to the door, ruffling Ata's head fur as he passed. Glancing through the peep-hole, he saw a hare and a fox in austere black suits. He addressed the pair without opening the door. "Can I help you?"
The hare responded, "We represent Tanuyama Chisame sama, the head of the Ko-Yamato Business Council. Is Jacob san available?"
Jacob considered for a moment, then stepped out, closing the door behind him. "I'm Jacob."
The fox spoke this time. "You visited one of Tanuyama sama's businesses recently. He is deeply shamed by how you were treated and wishes to extend his apologies for this disgrace. Rest assured, such shameful actions will not happen again." Both bowed deeply at the waist, while the hare handed Jacob a business card. "As a token of his respect and thanks, Tanuyama sama extends this invitation to you and your family to dine at Shiki."
"Uh, thank you!" Jacob stuttered as he took the card. It was simple white-card stock with what looked like a hand-painted calligraphic word. He had heard of the restaurant; one of the rooftop establishments at The Palms in Sahara Square. If Jacob saved two weeks of pay he could probably eat there himself, as long as he didn't order any wine.
The two business mammals bowed again, the hare speaking once more. "We hope you will continue to patronize the Ko-Yamato businesses. Have a pleasant evening." With that, they departed.
"Who was that?" Jacob's mother asked upon his return.
Jacob handed her the card as he sat down. "The Ko-Yamato Business Council; we have an open invite to eat at Shiki."
Both Katarin and Naz gasped at this. "What did you do for them?!"
"Just chased off some ruffians who were harassing a shopkeeper and his granddaughter." He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I made an impression."
…
A week after the visit by the representatives from the Ko-Yamato Business Council, Jacob met with DuPrey at Fang's Garden, a Qinese noodle shop that specialized in Buddhist dishes.
"Seriously, Jean; this is the best little noodle joint in the city!" Glancing around the shop, he noticed Kitsuko, the vixen from the sword engravers shop, leaving with a parasol and a take-out bag. "See, even the Yamatonese like this place."
The catamount crossed his arms and looked at Jacob skeptically. "Really? Then why didn't you order any noodles?"
"I just like their pan-fried tofu; it's the only way I can eat the stuff."
DuPrey cocked his head in confusion. "There's like, a hundred different ways to make it: Tofu dogs, Tofurkey, Tofish…"
Jacob wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I respect that you don't eat meat; please respect that, aside from fried in peanut oil, I don't eat fake meat."
Whatever response DuPrey might have made was cut off by distressed yelping from outside.
Jacob leapt from his seat and bolted for the door. "That's Matilda!"
DuPrey was only a few steps behind him. "How can you know that?"
"I've heard that cry before, and these ears aren't just for show; come on!"
Jean-Pierre was calling into the station when the coyote calls were replaced by deer bleating. When they rounded the corner onto Upper Canal heading towards Abram Square, they saw a crowd a block away. A mule deer buck from either the Meadowlands or Savannah Central based on his attire, was surrounded by a flock of Eweden Yenta's. A group of Eweden were bustling off towards the Synagogue with a pair of canids in tow. As they drew closer, the distressed bleating crescendoed when the muzzle and limbs of a second deer arced over the flock, followed by a bright yellow skirt and petticoats; the deer arced over again before slamming into the sidewalk. Another deer briefly tried to crawl out of the flock on the other side before suddenly being dragged back in. Above all that, they could hear the flock berating the lone standing buck, who was now openly weeping in distress.
DuPrey turned to Jacob when he slowed to a stop next to a fallen bag of 'Fang's Garden' take-out, about 10 feet from the flock.
"Come on, we need to help!"
"I'm not getting in the middle of that; besides, they seem to have the matter well in hoof."
"We have to do something!"
Jacob thought for a moment. "You're right. Mrs. Rabinova?" A dowdy brown ewe from the crowd turned to face Jacob and DuPrey. "We heard Matilda cry out. The police are on their way; do you need anything."
"Bless your heart Jacob, no." The matronly sheep shook her head. "We have these, these brutes…" this was punctuated by her swinging her purse at the despondent buck, "…well in hoof. We have Marta, Rebekah, and that lovely vixen from down the road to keep this lot in line until their mothers or the police arrive. Pray it is the police first! Imagine, four young bucks' ganging up on poor Matilda, and saying such awful things. You should be ashamed…" The Yentas renewed their harangue as Jacob turned to go to the Synagogue.
"Wait, where are you going? We need to stay and file a report with the police!" Jean-Pierre demanded with some panic at the thought of being left alone with the irate flock.
"No, you need to stay as you called it in. I didn't actually see what happened, so all I have is hear-say. I'm going to check on Matilda." Jacob continued walking.
Jacob arrived at the Synagogue to find Matilda, her mother Maria Suarez, and their Eweden escort rapidly conversing with a frantic looking badger in a prayer shawl and Yamulka. It took a moment for him to recognize Iosef Yasser as the scrawny teenager who regularly hung out with Francesca Bagnoli's brother Abboti while discussing religion and philosophy. It seemed as if both mammals had followed their callings to the cloth. The last Jacob had heard, Abboti was a Supplicant working in the library at Polis Vatican.
Jacob lowered his ears and put on one of the guest caps near the door and stepped inside. "Pardon my intrusion, but I wanted to check up on Matilda, and let you know the police were called. EMT's are also on the way; do you need a doctor, Matti?"
The group turned to Jacob as one; Maria spoke up. "Thank you, Jacob; we're only a little shaken up. Who called the police?" There was a hint of fear in her voice, as the whole community was concerned with the current anti-predator sentiment pervading the city.
Jacob smiled easily. "Officer DuPrey made the call. We were at Fang's when the ruckus started, and it was pretty much done by the time we got there. If you're all right, I'll head out and make sure nobody's tying the bucks to a raft to dispatch down river. It might be best to meet the police when they arrive."
When everyone went outside, it looked as if half the town was out by the canal. The police and EMTs were already on site, with Chief Winterhorn towering over the assembly. Jean-Pierre and a wolf Jacob had seen at the station house spoke to the Eweden while patrol mammals tried to calm the growing crowd. It sounded as if the Yenta's were trying to take all the credit for dealing with the ruffians, and with it, all the blame. That made sense to Jacob, since if the Marta mentioned by them earlier was Matilda's mother-in-law, Marta Alvaredo, AKA La Rayo Roja, the Red Lightning of Bullivian Lupadora fame, he could easily see the bucks making claims of a savage attack by the maned wolf. Thankfully, with Rebekah Daveed in the fight, any claims of injuries could be directed her way; Jacob didn't know her personally, but the few members of the LoNF whom Jacob had met that came from the Judean Army were excellent fighters.
Winterhorn took notice when Alejandro rushed over to his wife Matilda.
"Raibert." Her voice carried over the din of the crowd. "I would dearly love to have an explanation for what went on here."
"I'd be delighted to give you one, Chief; and if I had been here for any of it I'd give you one."
"DuPrey?" The chief turned to her subordinate.
"Sorry, ma-am, I arrived slightly behind Jacob. All I saw was the crowd, and a mass of limbs and yellow petticoats."
One of the Patrol Mammals, a boar of Mediterranean descent, piped up. "Were they yellow like a lemon, or like a banana?"
"Zuckerman!" The Chief barked out. The Patrol Mammal ducked his head and returned to his duties. Snorting in frustration, she turned back to Jacob and Jean-Pierre. "You expect me to believe that they…" she gestured to the assembled flock, "…did that?!" She then gestured to three bucks being treated by the EMT's; one was moaning while being loaded onto a backboard with a neck brace, another was being limply secured to a stretcher with a tiny trickle of blood coming from his snout, while a combination of officers and EMT's tried to untangle a third bucks' pedal hooves from his own rack without dislocating any more of his joints. "I want the truth, not excuses or jokes."
Jacob paused for a moment, then turned to the assembled mammals. "You know DuPrey; he trusts Chief Winterhorn." Jacob noticed the mountain lion flinch slightly at that. "You know me; I trust them both. I ask that you do the same."
There were a few seconds of quiet murmuring, then three mammals stepped out of the crowd; an intense Aegean Ibex in her early forties, a middle-aged Maned Wolf in a bowler hat, bright yellow dress and shawl, and a young red Vixen in traditional Yamatonese Kimono and obi carrying a parasol. The Ibex spoke for the group.
"I'm Rebekah Daveed. This is Marta Alvaredo," she nodded to the Maned Wolf, "… and, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name miss?"
The Chief spoke up. "Inaba Kitsuko, we've met." She waited patiently.
Rebekah gave a curt nod. She motioned to the gathered Eweden, "We were leaving Temple when we noticed Matilda being followed out of her job by these four mammals." She pointed to the ambulances that were leaving, and to the fourth deer who was openly sobbing about how terrible a mammal he was. She then nodded to one of the ewes in the crowd. "Harriet called Maria and Marta to let them know what we were seeing; apparently they were going to meet Matti for dinner at Fang's Garden. That was about when the deer accosted her. I won't bother repeating what they said, but several of us heard it."
"I recorded it!" piped up a roe deer doe from the flock. She moved to the edge of the crowd and handed her phone to one of the officers.
"Thank you. Please continue." The Chief urged.
"Right. They pushed her to the ground and began threatening her. That was when we moved to, intervene; that was also when Marta, Maria, and Miss Kitsuko arrived. I can't speak for what the others did, but I know I used appropriate force, given the situation."
The Chief arched an eyebrow. "Tying him in a pretzel knot was your idea of appropriate force?"
"It was that or tear his leg off and kick his ass with his own hoof." Rebekah snorted in disgust.
Winterhorn took the phone and watched the amateur video while rubbing her jaw. Once she was finished, she looked up at Rebekah. "I'll need you three, as well as Mrs. Suarez and Mrs. Matilda Alvaredo to come down to the station to fill proper reports, as well as file formal charges, if you so choose. I would ask anyone who witnessed the altercation to do the same. As far as I am concerned this was a case of civic and self-defense. The rest of you, I would suggest going home."
As the crowd dispersed, Mrs. Daveed pulled Jacob aside.
"You say you trust DuPrey?"
"Yes." Jacob was slightly alarmed at a relative stranger coming to him like this, as the Daveed's had moved to The Meadows while Jacob was abroad.
"How well do you know him?"
Jacob considered the ibex carefully. "I know he's a vegetarian, and that he served honorably in the Aragonese Foreign Legion. He has retained dual citizenship; DuPrey's not his birth name, and I doubt he'd have kept it if he wasn't still considered Aragont, or if he wanted his old life back. I know he is from somewhere in the Delta region of the Louisiana Territory, and that is likely where he knows ADA Deaux from. Lastly, I know he is oath-sworn as an officer of the law, and if he has any secret, Jeanette trusts him enough not to report him. In the end, I trust him because I choose to do so, as I choose to trust you. How well I know him, or you, has little bearing on that."
She considered Jacob, then seemed to come to a decision. "Very well, I'll put my faith in him, and in your assessment of him. That was, quite well argued. Do you debate often?"
"Only when Taquitos and Tequila shots are on the line."
…
The attack on Matilda and the community's response got Jacob to thinking. When his brother Joseph said that some of his classmates were talking about banding together, 'for protection', both he and his mother became very alarmed; this was precisely how gangs formed, and organized crime began to take hold of a neighborhood. However, Jacob started to get an idea.
"I've already nearly lost one son going down that path, I'll not risk you on some foolish notion…"
"He's not entirely wrong, Marli-fa." Jacob interjected.
Before Joseph could take advantage of the turn in conversation, Katarin sternly rounded on Jacob. "You cannot be serious! After everything you have been through, you will blithely advocate a new gang?!"
"I said that he was not entirely wrong, not that I agreed with the idea." Jacob stated calmly. "Matilda wasn't saved by a single person or a gang, but by the community. We lucked out that Chief Winterhorn is sympathetic to our situation."
Constantin sat forward and stared at Jacob. "What are you proposing then, if not a gang?"
"A community watch, or civic defense force; I don't know yet, but it has to be everyone, not just a small group. Look, Joseph, you, Annelise, Cynthia and Michael have been learning from Con-ni-fa and Owsla Demirci, right? Not just how to bust heads, but the Efrafan philosophy as well?" When his siblings nodded, he continued. "I think Foxborough has a tremendous pool of knowledge, and a desire to protect our own. If we all participated, we would be the stronger for it; the vigorous and impassioned youth…" he nodded to his siblings, "…would bear the burden of defense, the learned elders…" he looked to his grandfather, "…would teach us the best way to do so, and the wise of the community…" he looked at his mother, "… would guide our hands to the path of righteousness, not just to wrath."
"You wish to start an Efrafan school?" his grandfather asked.
Jacob shook his head. "Not just Efrafan; Aegean-Reman Wrestling, the Yamatonese fighting arts; hell, we could have the police participate in giving self-defense courses as well as lessons on legally permissible force. We get everyone involved…"
"Like the Pot-Luck dinners!" Jacobs littlest sister Annelise chirped excitedly.
Katarin smiled ruefully at her children. "Frith-rah knows you fight enough at the dinner table as it is, at least this way there will be referees."
…
Jacob discussed the basics of his idea with his mother and grandfather through the rest of the evening. It was agreed that any plan had to include the police, so Jacob would go to Winterhorn in the morning while Katarin and Constantin pitched the idea to the community. The next day after breakfast Jacob was once again sitting in Winterhorn's office. He left that meeting re-invigorated. The Chief not only approved of the plan, she had several ideas to contribute; she had been trying for some time to coordinate with community leaders to set up Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes, and the Foxborough Civil Defense Council (FCDC) would be the perfect venue. She didn't want to train civilians in police combat techniques, but she agreed that talks on legally permissible force and citizen's arrest would be a must. Once there was a set schedule, she could start a rotation sign-up sheet for officers to volunteer as speakers or instructors.
Jacob turned his cell-phone back on as he was leaving the precinct house and found more than a dozen messages waiting for him. Word had traveled fast in the short time he had been in the meeting, and now he had six people offering to teach, three venue options including the Reman Catholic school gymnasium, several messages praising his efforts, and one message which could either be an offer of support or a marriage proposal; Google Translate and AutoCorrect were never meant to work on the same problem at the same time.
By the end of the week, the FCDC advisory board was formed. Jacob had bowed out of the process, as he would be heading to the academy soon. By the end of the next week, they had a syllabus and schedule with two meetings on weeknights, and one meeting Sunday afternoon to give everyone a chance to participate. The first official FCDC session at the end of the month was attended by nearly 300 people. Jacob looked on with pride at what the community was able to do.
…
Six weeks after the FCDC's inaugural session, Jacob received a certified letter from the office of the Mayor of Zootopia.
"I don't know," Amelia said while peering at the letter over Jacob's shoulder, "…seems fishy to me. There's no reason for Mayor Bellwether to be calling you personally. Are you sure it isn't a scam?"
Jacob nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Not sure, but I have a week till the meeting. I'll call the City Hall front desk and confirm the appointment; otherwise, I'll just see how it goes."
The public relations office at city hall confirmed the appointment, and so, once again in his court suit, Jacob made his way to meet Mayor Bellwether. He was shown to an office that was obviously sized for a larger mammal, probably ex-Mayor Lionheart. A massive red oak desk in front of a glass wall dominated the center of the austere office. Tucked into one darkened corner were several posters bearing Judy Hopps' likeness.
"Jacob, it's so good to meet you!" An ewe about a head shorter than him came up and shook his paw. "Wow, you're taller than I thought. Come, let's sit somewhere more comfortable." She quickly made her way to a pair of low chairs in the back corner of the office and took her seat, gesturing for Jacob to do the same. As he was climbing into the chair, Jacob noticed a framed copy of the Zootopian Gazette cover proclaiming Lionheart's arrest, right next to the one proclaiming Bellwether as mayor. Both were mounted on a display table against the office wall, along with several awards and diplomas. Once seated, he saw Dawn looking at him; her lips were turned up in a smile, but her eyes were filled with a cold light that instantly put Jacob on edge.
"Shalom, madam Mayor." Jacob saw her flinch slightly at that. "To what do I owe the honor of this summons?"
Jacob watched as Bellwether took a moment to recompose herself. She pushed herself back into the chair and assumed an almost imperious air once she looked up again.
"I invited you here to discuss your future, and that of Zootopia." The ewe projected a wounded air. "When your application for the academy came across my desk, I knew you were something special. I would like you to be the public face of the ZPD; after you graduate, of course."
Jacob furrowed his brow. "Wouldn't an established officer be more appropriate? I've seen Judy Hopps on the news a lot recently. She seems quite photogenic."
Jacob saw Dawn glance almost involuntarily towards the posters in the corner before snapping back.
"Well, we had considered her, but…" the mayor looked down for a moment and steepled her manual hooves and sighed, "… she had to take an emergency leave of absence and head home to Bunnyburrow."
Jacob's features hardened; there were too many coincidences lining up for him to be comfortable. His work with the SID during Operation Noble Garden in Anatolia had allowed him to witness dozens of interrogations, some of which had led to the creation of double agents. This conversation felt alarmingly similar. By comparison to those sessions however, Bellwether's efforts seemed amateurish and ham-fisted. Her demeanor, however, was nearly identical to a service member he had arrested and questioned for murdering his spouse and child. Now, he wanted nothing more than for the interview to be over.
Jacob stood from his chair and assumed a military 'At-Ease' posture. "I will take what you've said into consideration. I still have a couple of months before the next academy inlet cycle, so let's see what happens between now and then. Thank you, madam Mayor."
With that, Jacob turned on his heel and left while she was still getting out of her seat. Once he had closed the door to the office, he began to relax; his ears, which had subconsciously begun laying back in preparation for a fight, finally came up. As he stepped away from the door he faintly heard, "Damn!" from inside the office.
Jacob had felt nervous anticipation on his ride into city center; now on the return trip, he felt nauseous and concerned, as if he had just brushed against something truly malign. Glancing around the subway car, he saw fear in the faces and heard tension in the voices of the mammals around him. A business goat across from him read a paper whose cover proclaimed, 'An epidemic of Terror!' with new reports of savage predators. The low droning of animals whispering to one another, as well as the dull glow of sodium lamps combined with the rhythm of the train-tracks to create a hypnotic atmosphere. As the car entered a tunnel, Jacob's senses blurred; a black shield, bordered in gold with the upraised blood red manual paw of a carnivore was illuminated by firelight. He heard a multitude of voices chanting, "Wir sind Jaegern!", but not loud enough to drown out the terrified bleating. His nose was assaulted with the bitter scent of Cigdem incense. Above it all, was a sense of foreboding and abject terror.
The train came out of the tunnel, and Jacob was startled by daylight reflecting off a nearby hi-rise. Glancing around the cab again, he saw nothing out of place. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his senses of the imagery, but it was as persistent as the rustling of the paper in front of him. He pulled out his smart phone, opened the note and art apps, and recorded what he had experienced; it was a habit he had gotten into since his time in Anatolia. Though he might not understand the language, he knew enough Austro-Hungarian expatriates to know Germanic when he heard it. A quick trip to the translation program netted the phrase, 'We are Hunters.' Jacob decided he would have to talk to his grandfather, to see if this meant anything.
That evening, Jacob accompanied Constantin to his workshop in the building basement and told him about his experiences.
"My father fought against the Huns during the Austro-Hungarian War," Constantin looked thoughtfully at the drawing of the shield, "…helped chase those mongrel wolves out of Poland. He never said what they found there, but it haunted him. He had a banner he brought back from the war that bore this symbol."
Jacob took his phone back. "Did he ever say what it meant?"
"No, only that it represented an unspeakable evil." Constantin picked up and began polishing a stone serving set he had been working on. "I imagine some of the Eweden flock might know. They and their families lived through that nightmare; but in this case, I would council against bringing it up. As a people, they have suffered greatly; best to tread lightly on their grief."
Jacob refrained from sighing in frustration. "So, what should I do then."
"Tell all of this to your mother; she is the keeper of our family's record of Hyaontil Veheere. She has a record of every vision in our family since the days of Campion and Ephraim, so future generations may have the path westward illuminated; be aware of your veheer and be ready for events to unfold, but do not let it consume you. Wiser mammals than you, I, or your mother even, have driven themselves mad trying to interpret Veheer. As for Bellwether," Constantin began setting a new river stone on the turning lathe, "…let it go. You have enough to worry about with the FCDC and your impending entry into the Police Academy; she won't be your superior on the force, so she doesn't matter."
…
As it turned out, Bellwether was even less of an issue than Constantin thought. Two weeks after Jacob's meeting with the Mayor, Judy Hopps leapt into the forefront of the media scene again; this time to expose Dawn as the architect of the so called 'Night-Howler Conspiracy'. Jacob could only shake his head in wonder; why was the Cigdem flower at the center of every evil in recent times.
Despite his personal introspection, the family was in a good mood; the city was no longer gripped in fear, Amelia was going to start her internship with the Seventh District Attorney's office in two weeks, and Jacob had received his letter of appointment to the academy with a start date the week after his enlistment officially ended at the end of the next month. There was a celebratory air about the whole neighborhood; the latest FCDC meeting had been little more than a block party. As for the Rauthas, they knew exactly how they planned to ring in the new era.
The family was quite the sight to see as they arrived at Shiki that night. Constantin wore his second best royal blue silk pantaloons and waistcoat over a white linen shirt, with a red satin sash and red fez, while Jacob wore a charcoal silk vest and red satin sash over a white linen mandarin collar shirt and a charcoal utilikilt. Amelia was trying out her LBD: a long-sleeved, knee-length, V-neck pencil dress with a red dickie. Kadir was in his grey silk Nehru Jacket and trousers with a red silk cravat, while Katarin wore a black hijab style dress and red silk ear scarf. The Hrair-roo, all being 14, ran the gamut of all the present styles.
When they stepped up to the Hostess station, a pretty sika deer greeted them.
"Welcome to Shiki. Do you have a reservation?"
Jacob presented the card he had been given, and the family was immediately ushered in, much to the shock of several of the waiting mammals who had been looking at the Rauthas' with disdain.
They were seated in a semi-private alcove with a panoramic view of the city. The family was stunned by the opulence; they had one waiter to take their before dinner drinks, another for their meal, a third for their desert and one just for serving wine. The head chef, a boisterous Yamatonese raccoon dog name Hiro, came out and personally offered samples of a new recipe he was trying out. Jacob took a chance and asked if there were any traditional fish or fowl dishes he would recommend for a hare's palate; the look on Hiro's muzzle was one of pure joy. He assured the family he had just the dish in mind. What they were brought was a platter of delicately seared Ahi Tuna with crispy sesame green beans.
As their entrée was being brought out, the grumblings started again, this time from the alcove across from them.
"Jeez, I thought Shiki had standards! I come here to get away from immigrants. How could they let them order meat by mistake? What's next, they going to use the potted plants for the bathroom?"
The Rauthas bristled, while the staff looked absolutely horrified. Jacob thought there was going to be a real scene when he heard one of their neighbor's getting up. There was some murmuring from that corner.
"Come on boss, no need to go over and stare."
Their servers drew themselves up as the mammal approach. Jacob was at his wits end and was pointedly ignoring the individual lest he start a fight.
"Raibert, is that you?"
Jacob's head snapped around and he came muzzle to muzzle with a face he hadn't seen in more than two years.
"Horace!" Jacob all but leapt out of his seat to shake his former comrade's hoof. "It's good to see you mammal. How've you been?"
The bull moose beamed at his friend. "Fantastic, all thing considered. This your family you were always talking about?" Horace turned his head to the assembled hares.
Jacob beamed at the group. "This is my Marli-fa, Katarin Rautha and her émarthae Ilkin Kadir Demirci, my sister Amelia, the hrair-roo: Joseph, Michael, Annalise and Cynthia," Jacob then turned with pride to his grandfather. "…and this is my Grandfather, Owsla-fa Constantin Abelard Rautha. All that I am, I owe to them." Jacob gestured to the towering ungulate next to him. "M'rusasitha, laye Horace Hornblower Desthile." (My family, this is Horace Hornblower the Third.)
Horace inclined his head to the family. "A pleasure to meet you all. Jacob spoke of you often, and your care packages were much coveted treats for everyone." He turned to Jacob. "So, what brings you here tonight?"
Jacob settled back into his seat. "Celebration; Amelia's starting with the DA's office next week on an internship, I received my letter of acceptance to the Zootopian Police Academy (ZPA); let's see, what else? Oh yeah, we're on our third Mayor in as many months! Hopefully this one keeps the corruption to something mundane; embezzling, or a good old-fashioned affair. So, what about you? What brings the scion of the Hornblower dynasty to the top of the world?"
"Much the same." He waved someone over. "One of our interns just finished her one-year probation and was picked up full time. I'd introduce her, but that would be a little redundant."
Horace stepped aside and revealed a brown European hare jill in a very flattering two-piece black pantsuit. Jacob shot back to his pedal paws, jostling the table in his haste. "Valerie!"
Everyone at the table stared at Jacob with varying degrees of knowing happiness.
Katarin's ears rose in polite interest. "Well Jacob, are you going to introduce us?"
Jacob jolted from his shock and repeated the introductions. "Everyone, this is Valerie Esperanza Coneja."
Katarin and Amelia stood. The Rautha matriarch smiled at the Lapino Jill. "Frithaes, marli Coneja. A mi bralant u Methrah des hrudao. I bralvaont, hralmi franoa." (Truly a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Coneja. I remember your news cast from three years ago. You were quite brave, rushing out to face the chaos.)
Valerie beamed at hearing her native tongue and responded in the more formal Efrafan tongue. "Methrah methant, mi rooliti franent." (I simply reported what was happening; it was your son who was in the thick of it.)
The family smiled backat the Jillfor her gesture of speaking in Efrafan. Amelia stepped forward, a smirk on her face and her manual paw extended. "Hi, Marli-fa keeps the embarrassing leverette pictures safe, but I have all the awkward teenage stories."
Valerie got an almost wicked grin on her face as she took Amelia's paw while handing her a business card. "Really? Care to give me an exclusive?"
Jacob stared daggers at his littermate. "Oi! That's privileged information!"
Amelia sat down while pocketing the card. "I know, but your going to be gone for six months and we have to keep her interested somehow."
Constantin waved to his two oldest grandchildren. "Now now, marli-roo stop torturing the boy. This is the first respectable Jill he's introduced us to. Ms. Coneja was it?" When she nodded, he turned to his daughter. "Didn't Isabelle Nevaja say she had cousins back in Castille-Leone named Coneja?"
Katarin broke out in a happy smile. "That's right? It shouldn't take more than a week to track down your Marli-fa. I would simply love to learn more about the young Marli who has caught our little Owsla-fa's interest."
At that, Valerie's ears began to flag. Flirting and teasing were a fine way to get to know someone, but if the family matrons got involved she'd never hear the end of it.
Horace cleared his throat. "While I would love to get to know all of you better, the staff are giving me the stink-eye. We'll let you get back to your meal. It was a pleasure meeting you all." With that, both he and Valerie returned to their table, but not before Valerie gave Jacob one of her business cards.
From there the dinner continued in a more jovial vein, with Jacob receiving well meaning teasing from everyone. He thought back to how the family had responded to his ex-jillfriend, Eva, with either disdain or outright refusal to acknowledge her. Valerie's speaking to the family in the proper tongue was a sight better than Eva's casual informality. He hoped that meant they approved, as he did like the fiery Lapino jill.
As they were all preparing to leave, Horace called Jacob over to his table. "Jacob, Valerie had an idea and I want to discuss it with you. Could you come by the Bullero Tower tomorrow, say around 11 o'clock?"
"Is this going to be a suit and tie type thing? Mine's gotten a lot of mileage recently and needs a cleaning."
A woodchuck near the back of the table was about ready to say something, when Horace directed a look her way that promised demotion or unemployment if she spoke.
"Nah, just a working lunch; my treat."
"All right, I'll be there."
He was there at 11 o'clock as promised, though the beige utilikilt and loose linen button up shirt with sleeve garters did draw some attention.
The sow at the front desk looked askance at him.
"Can I help you ma'am?"
"It's sir, and no. I'm waiting for someone."
She raised her manual trotters in a placating gesture. "I'm not judging."
Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, you are. You see me in something other than trousers and make assumptions." He stopped her before she could interject. "You don't have fur, so let me explain; having any woven fabric dragged against the lay of my fur is very irritating and having it against my fur all day as I move causes it to pull on my fur, which is painful. This," Jacob motioned to his attire, "…does neither of those things."
Jacob nodded at her dawning look of understanding. Just then, one of the elevator doors opened.
"Larue!"
Jacob smirked at the gobsmacked look on the receptionist. "Just for that Turret, I'm ordering the most expensive thing for lunch."
Valerie was following close behind. "As long as you two don't blow anything up, we should be fine. Are we ready to go?"
They headed to a corner café and settled into a private booth. Once everybody ordered, Horace settled into business.
"Emanuel, the MII is in danger of being struck."
"What!? Why?"
Valerie leaned forward. "Politics; the last two mammals who were directly involved are now in jail."
Horace steepled his hooves. "Yeah, put there by the only mammal to benefit from the program to date, and Hopps isn't exactly a fairytale story. They're trying to spin-doctor the whole thing as some kind of sting, but people aren't buying it, what with her press conference and all."
Jacob screwed his face up. "Yeah, what was that about? You know they never should have put her on the podium, much less let her talk to the press without a script and prompting from the media relations officer. I'd like to think Bogo's smarter than that."
Everyone paused when their lunch was brought out, then Valerie continued.
"Sources say Bellwether played on his ego to get the conference set up that way."
"What ego? The entire force got shown up by a rook on her third day!"
"Exactly!" Horace commented around his watercress salad. "He was appointed chief as a compromise with the Green Party after Lionheart was elected; they feared having 'predator' heavy leadership of the city, so he's always been very image conscious. Word is, Bellwether had dirt on his conduct towards Hopps and threatened to out him if he didn't play ball."
Jacob's eyes went wide. "Jeez, I knew something was wrong with that ewe but, this is a special kind of hateful."
Valerie leaned in. "Yeah, we'd heard she called you in for an interview; what was that like?"
"Like tunnel clearing on the Purrsian/Assyrian border, but without the comfort of a machinegun. So, the MII is political rabies now because of her?"
Horace sipped his tea. "Pretty much. There are some city Aldermen stumping to get a bill passed to repeal the program entirely. That's where you and Valerie's idea comes in." Horace motioned to the jill.
"We need to get public support on our side; focus on the need for the program, not how it came to be or what it's resulted in. We want you to do an interview on the O'Mauley Report: talk up the program, how it could benefit the city. Talk about your FCDC, and how it works with the police to fill gaps in coverage. Do a fluff piece, win hearts and minds and all that. What do you say?"
Jacob said yes, and two weeks later, found himself back at the Bullero Tower, sitting across from TV talk show wolf, Thomas O'Mauley.
"Thank you Zootopia and welcome back to the O'Mauley Report, live. It's been almost a month since the arrest of former Mayor Dawn Bellwether, and the city is still in turmoil." Screens behind them showed stock footage of the protests and rallies following Bellwether's arrest. "Some in City Hall are beginning to question the wisdom of continuing the policies of not one, but two disgraced former mayors; specifically, the controversial Mammal Inclusion Initiative, or MII championed by former Mayor Lionheart. With me today is one of the programs beneficiaries and Happytown native, Jack Raibert. Welcome to the show, Jack."
Jacob tried his best to not grit his teeth at the condescending red wolf.
"Thanks for having me, Mr. O'Mauley."
"Please, call me Tom. So, you were accepted into the ZPA under the MII, is that correct?"
"Well, I'd like to think my own merit weighted the decision to accept my application, but it was the MII which allowed me to apply in the first place."
O'Mauley leaned forward in his chair. "How does the program enable you to apply? I mean this is Zootopia: anyone can be anything! And what did you mean by 'your own merit'?" Jacob was somewhat unsettled by the look in the wolf's eyes. He almost felt like he was back in Bellwether's office.
Shuffling a little straighter in his chair, Jacob locked eyes with Tom.
"Well, as for the MII and associated programs, they allow for more merit-based hiring practices in fields which have traditionally had fixed size requirements, such as the Fire Department, EMT's and the Police; as certain species could never achieve those size requirements, any applications from members of species such as hares, rabbits, foxes or raccoons were automatically disqualified. Under the MII, those applications receive the same weight in consideration as their larger compatriots."
"But shouldn't those requirements be considered? If you're trapped in a burning building, or on the wrong side of a shootout, shouldn't we want the biggest animals we can get?"
"For those tasks requiring brute strength, absolutely. But with drive by wire rigs, you don't need an elephant to drive or operate a fire truck, and that frees up the elephant for those tasks requiring strength. As far as police work is concerned, 90% of it is evidence collection and investigation. You don't need to be a lion or a reindeer to do those things. As long as an individual demonstrates the necessary skills, and can complete the tasks assigned to them, then species, and with it, size, shouldn't matter."
Jacob's ears started to lay back when O'Mauley licked his chops before asking the next question. "But surely there have to be limitations; I mean, could you see a mouse in the fire department?"
"A friend of mine is just that. He flew ornicopters for the LoN in Anatolia, now he does the same for the Alpine Fire Jumpers in the Sierra Madres."
"That's right, we have some footage of that." O'Mauley looked over Jacob's shoulder. "Can we roll that LoN footage?"
Jacob's ears snapped straight back as the screen next to them lit up, showing the attack on the Incirlik gate. The studio was filled with the peculiar droning of LoN MQ-12 gunships and the chattering of small arms fire. The noise suddenly died down, but Jacob could still hear the echoes of weapons fire and screaming mammals, could still smell cordite and fear. He remembered Nizari-Ismaili and Nasiri fannatics butchering whole communities, either for being carnivores, or simply not being hateful enough to carnivores. He remembered two years of operations on the Asyrian border; tunnel clearing, house to house running firefights, and the devastation war brings with it.
He saw motion near him; the wolf was still asking questions, something about the operation. That's classified! The wolf wanted classified information! Jacob needed to get out. The wolf was asking about troop deployments and numbers; the wolf cannot know this, it's classified! Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape; Jacob was alive and unrestrained, the wolf was unarmed. Jacob had to escape!
There was new sound, new motion; the wolf was leaving. A new mammal was there, holding his face and trying to block out all other stimuli. They're repeating a word, over and over: his honor name, Emanuel. Who knows his honor name here? He focused and saw a brown hare he thought he knew. She asked him his name.
"Jacob Emanuel Raibert."
She paused for a moment to breathe.
"Layi thum, Emanuel. Layi yao?" (That's good, Emanuel. Where are you?)
That seemed a silly question; he was… not sure. This place was familiar, but he didn't know it well.
"Layi yao?"
A skunk in a paisley skirt started crying. What unit is she with, why is she out of uniform?
"Emanuel, layi yao?"
Jacob thought, and then remembered; he was in Zootopia. When did the fighting reach Zootopia? It didn't, that was Anatolia, the fighting ended last year. He was home. He looked into Valerie's tear-filled eyes and wrapped her in a desperate hug.
"Hlienesi, hlienesi!" (I'm home, I'm home!)
"That's right. It's over, you're home." She gently petted his ears, laying them down along his back as he took breath after shuddering breath until he was calm again.
The reverie was broken when they heard Horace bellowing from the producer's room.
"Then don't you ever, EVER go off script AGAIN!"
Valerie looked at Jacob. "Do you think you could continue the interview."
Jacob clenched his paws. "You put that mammal in front of me again, and I can guarantee the studio a serious ratings hike; violence sells after all."
Valerie shook her head. "No, I'll be finishing the interview."
Jacob hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Valerie looked over his shoulder, gave a thumbs-up, then settled into the interviewer's chair.
"Welcome back to the O'Mauley Report. I'm Valerie Coneja, standing in for Thomas O'Mauley. Tom had a family emergency; we send our hopes to him. We're here today with ZPD hopeful Jacob Emanuel Raibert from Foxburough, discussing the embattled MII. You mentioned a comrade of yours who parlayed his piloting experience into a career as a fire spotter, is that correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"You had also mentioned being accepted into the ZPA on your own merit. Could you elaborate on that a little more, please, and how this polis might benefit from a broader spectrum of mammals in the workforce?"
…
After the interview, Horace came to apologize, but Jacob waved the matter off; he could see that Horace was just as affected, if not as deeply, as Jacob had been. There seemed no need to belabor the matter; Horace would discipline his own. Jacob just wanted to go home. Valerie told him to call her if he needed anything. He paused before leaving.
"Actually, if you could, I'd like you to research something while I'm at the academy." Jacob texted his notes on his waking dream. "It's not much, just the symbol and the phrase, but it's been bugging me for awhile. I know it might not make sense, but…" Valerie silenced him by kissing him on the cheek.
"Owslai; veheeri (You are Owsla; you are one who has the gift of second sight). I'll see what I can dig up."
As he was riding back to VT Commons, he received a call from Kitsuko, telling him that his grandfather's sword was ready. When he arrived at the shop, he was greeted by Kitsuko, Master Inaba, and another white hare around Kitsuko's age whom he assumed to be the masters apprentice.
No words were spoken as the kneeling mammals bowed and reverently passed the sword to Jacob. He noted the new inscription on the blade; the script was precise and clear, with no blemishes or marring. Jacob lovingly re-wrapped the blade, bowed to his hosts, and made his way home.