SO CAME BRUIN the Bear over the many miles which bade to be crossed as to reach the fox at his Castle of Maleperduys, which stoodeth by the high mountains and beside the clear lake. The Fox had many a dwelling-place, but none so best and fast as Maleperduys, and was where he came whenever he was in any dread or fear.
Now came Bruin to the gate which he found shut, and sat upon his tail and called: "Reynart, be ye at home? I am Bruin, Captain of the King's Guard. The King hath sent me for that you should come to Court and plead your cause. He hath sworn there by God that should you not comen it shall cost ye your life. He shall hang you or set you on the rack. Reynart, do by my counsel, and come to the Court."
Reynard the Fox lay close by in the warmth of the sun outside as he oft did on days warm as this. When he heard Bruin's call, he drew quickly from his sleep and the fox made quickly inward into his hole. For Maleperduys was fool of holes, here one hole and there another, narrow, crooked and long, with secret rooms and doors and exits which he could open and shut when he had need, forto he had many times ran to his secret chambers when chased by enemies that sought him tho as they could not find him as he did to do now so to have time to think for his reply.
Tho in time he came tofor the gate and opened it, and the light of the sun shone down upon his rich russet coat and sparked a gleam in his sharp green eyes as he said: "My dear friend Bruin, ye be most welcome. This is a great wonder that ye should come to see one so lowly as I, for next to the King ye be the most gentle and richest of levies and of land and I prey you forgive me for keeping you waiting without the gate - I heard thee call, but I was in mine Evensong."
"Reynart, you call me friend at an ill time. The King and his subjects are upon you and have many complaints to make. He has it that you would come now to his Court where you can face judgment and trial. Your flattering words will find me not moved, for I shall naught be discouraged nor distracted from bringing you this instant to the King's Court therefor."
"Dear Eme*, be this all you came to me to say? It is shameful of the King to send you over this long hill for such a slight purpose, for I see ye be weary that the sweat runneth down your cheeks and I con the King no thanks that he could not have found a lesser messenger but to send for you. I had full intent to comen to the Court and would well go there with you now, but I fear that I shall not be able to go so far as Bunnyburrow for all the fresh food I have eatern. And because the meet was so sweet I ate all the more."
"Reynart, what was this food which maketh you so full?"
"It was but simple food. A poor man is no lord, that ye may know. We poor folk must eat oftentimes such we would gladly not eat if we had better. They were but simple honeycombs; but have made my belly so great I can nowhere endure."
"Alas, Reynart, what say ye! Set ye so little by honey? Me ought to prize and love it above all meat. Eme Reynart, do to me a great dead and help me comen by this honey and I shall be a true friend to you as long as I live."
"Nay, friend," spoke Reynard joviously, "ye surely jape with me."
"So help me God, Reynart, I do not. I should not gladly jape with you. It is earnest that I love honey so well. Had I all the honey that is between we and Portugal I could eat it all alone!"
Upon the long muzzle of the fox, a large smile started to form. "Then let us go at a good pace, and ye shall follow and shall eat so much honey as shall be the death of ye." And when the honey leaves you in death, thought the fox, who then shall the King send to fetch me? And by what tricks will I deceive and misdo thence?
*Pronounced 'em' like 'them', the word 'Eme' means cousin and is an honorific used by Reynard to create a false sense of familiarity and closeness with Bruin.
Ashly and Barton's tailory was only a short walk from Julia's house; and Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps had decided to walk the distance - both to enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze of the day, and to help clear out the lingering feeling of tightness and stagnant air in their chest - breathing the cool air as they walked.
"How're you feeling now," Hopps said, turning the corner to the next street as they walked.
"Just fine, Carrots," he said, brightly. "The sun's shining, the birds are sinning... and the company is second to none."
"You know what I mean," she said, smiling. "How's your breathing?"
"Oh, fine Hopps. You?"
"I feel better now we're out and walking - I felt like just collapsing and sleeping in the garden before. That'd be heaven right about now, actually - the warm sun, the soft grass..."
"Hopefully now we've given them grounds to suspect an actual murder here, the Chief will have his officers take another look into Harry's death. After that, we'll let the PD take over the investigation; we can make a start on that holiday of ours."
"It's been a while since we've been to see my parents," Judy mentioned a few moments later. "Do you think a week or two over at the farm would be okay?"
"Hmm. A sea of bunnies to wade through, long days of hard labor, early starts, out working in all weather, dozen of kids trying to pull my tail, no space for any intimacy between us-"
"Warm evenings spent looking at the stars?" Hopps added, looking up towards him fondly. "Long walks through fields of swaying wheat? A few weeks spent living a simpler life then in the city?"
"Bonnie's cooking," he added, slyly.
Hopps snorted. "If that's what does it for you, fine. We'll forget about the romantic evenings out in the fields; you can spend your nights in the company of a box of blueberries instead."
"If you wanna give your fox a real treat," he said, leaning down to her ear conspiratorially, "why not take me own to the blueberry patch one night and make out with me among the shrubs; let me gorge myself on sweet bunny and juicy blueberries at the same time."
Judy turned with a grin towards the smirking fox and shoved him sharply in the chest, overbalancing him just a little as she picked up speed and jogged towards the entrance of Ashly and Barton's Tailory.
The rabbit reached the door and rose a paw to knock, holding back a few moments while she waited for her foxey-friend to catch up, adjust his tie, and slid into a casual stance.
She knocked clearly on the small wooden door (it was still oversized for Judy, but looked to be the right height for a wolf-sized mammal rather than something too large), and it was pulled open a few moments later by a somewhat elderly badger, who peered up at the rabbit, brightly.
"Good morning," she said, politely, her voice slow and carefully considered. "You must be Mrs Andrew's friends. Do come in."
"Thank you," said Judy, following the slightly hunched figure as she turned slowly and made back inside. "And you are?"
"Jenifer Barton, co-founder of Ashly and Barton's."
"You started up this place?"
"Oh, I was a younger girl back then," she said, making through the front area to a back room. "I started it up with Bethany Ashly donkey's years ago now. When she died she left it to her son, Michel, who now runs the business with me."
"And when did you first hire Harry Andrews?"
The beaver paused behind a blanket hung over a door frame to act as a door, sighing softly to herself as she turned towards them. "Oh, many years ago now: that's when Ashly and Barton's really started getting noticed, my dear. Oh, what an eye - what an eye that fellow had! Art in motion, my dear girl. Art in motion were his suits and dresses and shirts... but alas, dust to dust, it is no more. So comes to all of us, in time."
The rabbit glanced up to her fiancé at these words as Barton reached out an arm and pushed aside the material covering the door frame. From behind it was reviled the sight of a red-furred vixen, who stood upright in the center of the room, looking out with a raised brow towards the trio as they stepped inside.
The fox kept his expression neutral for a few moments, but then a warm smile spread across his muzzle. Her raised brow softening to a slight smile of her own, she nodded her head towards the fox in greeting, before lowering her gaze and saying: "Been keeping an eye on Nicky, Miss Hopps?"
"I've been doing my best," she said, openly. "Give me credit, It takes a lot of work to keep him in check."
Julianna chuckled lightly as she lowered herself into one of the old, wooden chairs with faded padding and stiff backs, curling her tail around her legs which were exposed beneath a dark dress which went to just below her knee as she sat.
"So, did the two of you find anything?"
Nick drew his gaze back from looking at her tail. "Yeah, I'll say. I'm not sure really how to tell ya this, but it's looking kinda like you might be right."
"The curse?"
"No, not that..." he said, almost spitting the words, "it's looking like Harry's death might not have been accidental."
"Well I've been telling you that from the start. But if it's enough to convince you and the police, there must be more to it than that. What've you found?"
As Nick made his run-down of their activities and misadventures with gas, Jennifer came quietly up beside the rabbit and nudged her lightly with the corner of a tray. "Cup of tea, my dear?"
"Oh, erm-"
"Or coffee?"
"Yes, thank you."
The slightly hunched figure of the badger poured a cup from her green, sixties kettle and poured it into an equally sixties cup which she held out towards the rabbit.
"Take a seat, my dear. What will your friend be wanting?"
"Tea. Erm, if you wouldn't mind."
"Not at all. Does he have it strong?"
"Urh... think 'adding a drop of tea to a cup of milk'~"
The badger chuckled lightly as she poured. "My husband never liked his tea strong either."
Judy nodded to herself as she looked up at the fox, blowing on her drink which was not only too hot to drink but which was scolding her paw just a little through the mug... but being far too polite to want to put it down. Her blowing motion stopped, her brow furrowed and her ear raised, and she looked back to the beaver with a questioning expression. "How did you ~"
The badger chuckled, softly. "Not everyone finds the idea of cross-species relationships so alien that they cannot make a simple assumption when two such mammals are wearing matching rings, you know. My husband," she added, nodding meaningfully.
"What species was he?" she said, her voice dropping to a near-whisper.
The badger's only reply was a wry wink in her direction, as she quietly swapped her tea tray with a box of threads and needles and pieces of assorted material, settling down into a low, straight-backed chair as she took out a needle and thread and started to work her magic on the unassuming pieces of material.
"Now, as it turns out, even the gas in the fire itself was suspect. It didn't smell of anything, and Bogo said it must've been switched from the mains supply to something else."
Julia nodded, her emeralds gazing down at the floor by Nick's feet as he stood. "Interesting," she said, at length. "Sabotaged dials, a self-activating fire, an alternative source of gas... an unusual state of affairs indeed."
"Yeah, but it gives us something to go on, at least. Did either you or Harry have any work done on the house within the past few weeks? Months?"
The vixen raised an intelligent brow. "Why?"
"Well, as Hopps pointed out, it would've taken someone more then a little time and equipment to install a gas canister in your house and rig it up to the fire. We were wondering if anyone had come telling you - say - that they were with the boiler company and were doing services on the local area, or something."
The vixen opened her mouth to reply, but then she paused with her mouth slightly open and her gaze flitting left and right as she searched interiorly for the memory. "There... yes, there was. They - it was - one day, our house lost all its heating and hot water. We phoned up the water company; they had us do some checks over the phone, and told us it looked like a problem with our boiler, as we did still have water.
"A day or two before, a leaflet had been put through our door advertising gas, oil and coal repairs with fast call-outs for sudden boiler failure." She sighed, softly. "It sounds suspicious now I say it in context, but at the time we didn't give it a thought; and besides, neither of us had long before we needed to go out to work, so Harry just used the first number to hand and called them. I can't remember much about the ~"
"A brown bear, by the name of Thomas," Barton said, not glancing up from her needlework as she sewed. "You mentioned him to me about two weeks ago now - can't remember a name, though. The company, I mean."
"That was it: Miller, Thomas Miller, and he was representing... it was... Gasway, that was it: Gasway."
"So your boiler stops working," Judy confirmed as she took down notes, "you phone Gasway, Thomas Miller comes and you... go out to work?"
"Yes, we both had appointments to keep. It's stupid: we both trusted him simply because he had a business card." Her head slowly lowered to her hands as the realization of her mistakes began to fully dawn on her. "If I had just thought to check of Gasway was a real business; not just a name printed on some leaflet they put through our door."
"You're saying they're not?" Nick said.
"I haven't checked, but what's to say they're not?"
Nick nodded. "Well, it's something we can look into. Hopefully they are a real company or something - if this 'Thomas' was the murderer and left just a fake company name, he's probably changed phone numbers by now, changed e-mail addresses and Thomas probably wasn't his real name. That doesn't leave us with a lot of info to find him with. If Gasway is a real company, they at least will have some kind of intel on what happened."
Julia nodded, standing. "I'll get back home and-"
"Please, don't trouble yourself, Julia," Hopps said. "If you kept the Gasway leaflet, just tell us where you found it and we'll send a message over to the ZPD."
"It's horrible. I never thought, just..."
Standing swiftly, the rabbit paced softly over to the vixen and placed a small paw on her shoulder. "We're here for you - Nick is here for you - and we will both do all we possibly can to help you get through this; not only now, but after the investigation as well."
Gazing down at the floor, her eyes stinging with the threat of the tears of grief, the red fox raised a paw, and put it softly upon Judy's. "Thank you," she said, quietly. "I'm beginning to see why Nick likes you - he always did like caring and affectionate people, even when he was little."
"And the hot water could've been turned off in the night. If whoever set this up knows enough about home maintenance they can install a gas canister without leaving any traces, I'm sure they could have managed finding the stopcock, even if it meant sneaking in."
"Gasway," Nick said, reading from his phone, "established in nineteen eighty-two. They have over a hundred engineers, proven credentials, founded by Bob Betts and Graham Swift, erh... now managed by Ian Letts. There's a phone number. Want me to make a call?"
Hopps shook her head, slowly. "We'll get Bogo to call them. As much as Phoenix is respected and known nowadays, the busy manager of a large business would still probably rather save himself the time and not speak to us. He can't exactly refuse to speak with the Chief of Police himself, though."
"Good point. Alright," he said, finishing his drink, "should we head back there?"
"We don't both have to go," the rabbit said, nodding towards Julia subtitley. "I could walk back there on my own; you could 'stay here', if you wanted."
"I, erh... well," he said, glancing to Julia and back.
"Let's make things simple," the fox said, rising from her chair smoothly and setting down her cup. "I'll come back to my place with the two of you now."
"Great," Hopps said. "If you're done here, I mean - we can wait if we need to?"
"We're all finished up for now," the beaver said, glancing towards the rabbit with a smile, pulling out a final piece of thread and cutting it with her teeth.
"Well, thanks Mrs Barton," Nick said. "It was nice meeting you."
"You to, Mister Wilde. I wish the both of you the best of luck in this investigation, and..." she added softly, her gaze turning fondly to the rabbit... "any in anything else the two of you do."
Judy smiled at the beaver as she made her farewell to the female of the two foxes. She followed the two of them, beside Judy, after they left the room,
"I put it off for far too long - we were both too caught up in our work, and by the time we realized how quickly our lives were passing us by it was too late. Please, please my dear, don't make the same mistake with yours."
"The mistake? Putting off what?"
Reaching out, the beaver put her paw upon the rabbit's shirt. "Children." Her voice was a quiet whisper in her ear. She pulled her paw back, and revealed the small, red flower she had just finished making - now made into a badge which sat upon the rabbit's shirt.
Judy turned out towards the red fox watching her with a smile. He wouldn't have heard what Barton had said; he wouldn't have even known she had whispered in her ear. A smile grew on the rabbit's own face as she took in his expression - but she also made note of what the beaver had said; how fast the last year had gone; how easily years could pass.
She followed the elderly mammal as she made her slow way outside to follow the two foxes. They joined them in the warmth out the sun, stood on the cream-colored pavement, and shared a last, quick goodbye.
Barton turned back inside with a final wave towards them, and Judy, Nick and Julia made their ways back towards the Andrews' family residence - though the number of residence counted only one and she was, at heart, a Wilde.