Dear friends,

Here we are, back again with the newest update! :)

Hope your back-to-school experience is going well, for those concerned. It can be a tricky time, particularly for those changing schools. Keep your chin up and remember that everyone feels the same as you, even if they hide it well, and that things will look up within a couple of weeks.

In other news, our Zootopia fanfiction/fanart contest has closed for entry admission! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and sent in their lovely work! Now, what comes next? (dum dum DUUUMM)

Well, the jury – as in, myself and my dear friend and beta – will go in deliberation and select

the winner, who will be announced very soon! This is quite a tough decision, as we have gotten a lot of great entries. But a choice will have to be made, one way or another. Stay tuned to hear the results! (Coming up with the next update!)

And now, on to the chapter! :)

"Despite many reverses, freedom has won battles."

-Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom.

Heaving a deep sigh, Judy put the last of the cleaned and dried plates away in the kitchen cupboard with a quiet 'clink!' and closed the cupboard door.

"Why the long face Carrots?" Nick asked, looking up from the magazine he was flicking through. "I mean, long without even taking into account your ears," he added cheerily, as if further precisions were required. The fox proceeded to chuckle at his own simple joke, rocking back and forth on his perch on the sofa's armrest.

Judy gave a faint smile in acknowledgement of her friend's attempt at humor; in truth she had hardly followed what he was saying.

"It's this story, about Savage," she started, folding the towel she had used for the dishes and laying it down on the countertop. Nick had helped her with doing the dishes and clearing everything away once their guests had left, but she had insisted on putting away the cutlery and dishes herself once they were cleaned and dried. Nick was prone to mix up what went where, ostentatiously because he had not yet memorized the little kitchenette's organization and (more truthfully, in Judy's mind) to play jokes on his friend, that she could not find this or that when she needed it.

"Not more about that rabbit," Nick groaned, and Judy glanced at him, surprised.

She had reason to be surprised, for no one had mentioned 'that' rabbit following the scene we had previously described. After finishing their story recounting (as closely as they knew it themselves) the history of Savage and the somewhat mysterious Miss Skye, FruFru and Finnick had both left the topic alone. Dessert had been a slightly strained affair, following the gloomy tale, but when the decaf and evening infusions were served, the conversation bounced back to a more natural and upbeat rhythm. Tiny JuJu was largely to thank for this, for the toddler had upset a tiny platter of cake crumbs in her enthusiasm for more sweets, causing her mother to chatter and apologize profusely, and the larger animals to laugh at the two shrews running one after the other, JuJu clutching the minuscule morsels she had managed to salvage protectively.

Talk had then circled back to Judy and Nick's affairs regarding their hefty loan and matters surrounding their real estate escapade, as well as their plans to sit for the State Examinations.

So far as the debt went, both FruFru and Finnick seemed optimistic. Finnick had (much to Judy's pleasant surprise) gotten some animals interested in coming over and viewing the various flats available, in view of signing a lease and moving in. He would take care of things there, put some ads in the papers if necessary, he assured them (for a bit of a commission in return, to be sure, but that was only to be expected, as he took that much work of the two friends' paws.)

FruFru was ready, in turn, to proceed full steam ahead on the hair salon idea. A couple of shrews she knew and a field mouse were willing to help out for free till they made a profit, and as far as hair clips, extensions and other accessories went, not to mention hairstyle ideas, the young Mrs Grande was more than well stocked. She'd invest some of her own savings into buying the couple of hair dryers and other apparatus they might need, but then, she told Judy earnestly, it was just a short-term investment in a long-term business plan. Judy hoped fervently that this was true; she was comforted by the fact that shrew-size hair salon appliances cost that much less than their equivalent for larger mammals.

The icing on the cake, so to speak, was the fact that FruFru told Judy and Nick most decisively that, if matters got out of paw, she'd talk to her father eye to eye and see how the two friends could wriggle their way out of the fix they were in. If the worst got to the worst, she explained, and Nick noted grimly that he would do his best that it did not. Daddy, FruFru told them, would be reasonable with them, as he esteemed the two animals very much, since they'd saved his only daughter.

Which was all very nice, Nick had told Judy, when the two animals had been out of earshot in the kitchen corner, him putting away the empty ice cream containers and her refilling the kettle. But he, Nick, just hoped that Mr Big would have no difficulty remembering that Judy had once saved FruFru from being smashed by a giant donut when his shady financial interests were part of the equation.

"Daddy won't be hard on you two," FruFru had asserted firmly, "He asked you to help him out, to gather some information, to be sure. But he'll let you have more time to pay him back if necessary. And I am sure that, whoever Mister Savage is working for now, it just can't be Daddy! Daddy would never extend a paw to him after… after that unfortunate story."

And, not taking into account that one remark, nothing else had been said on the subject of Savage and Skye, which was why Judy raised her eyebrows questioningly at Nick's reaction now.

"More about him?" she repeated. "We haven't mentioned him since FruFru told us what had happened."

"And that's already mentioning him too much for my taste," Nick said, grimacing at some thought of his own.

Disregarding what her friend had just said, Judy pressed on, lest she should lose the thread of her thought.

"It's such a heartbreaking story," she commented, perching on the countertop with a deft little hop, and turning to look out the little side window. The days were getting longer all the time given the season, but it was rather late byt the time FruFru and Finnick had gone off, so the night was inky black and blue outside. An old moon yellow as a slice of cheese winked merrily in the sky, overlooking the many blinking lights of the various signs and neon lamps way down below.

"Heartbreaking is the word," Nick muttered, passing his magazine from paw to paw absently.

"Do you think that it's true Nick, and not just some hugely inflated tale that got crazier and crazier each time a mammal told it?" Judy inquired. "Do you think it's true that they had feelings for each other, Savage and this… Skye?"

"Who knows," Nick blew the air out of his lungs with a hefty 'whoosh'. "We aren't acquainted with the animals Carrots; you can't really call our slim run-ins with Savage an acquaintance after all," he rubbed his brow wearily before continuing. "One thing is sure though: if what FruFru told us is even half-true, then Savage'll have a hard time finding animals who'd want to work with him now. Even on the other side of the law, if you get my drift."

"Soaked in prejudice," Judy said musingly. "That's what our society is. Just… soaked. Think animals will ever change Nick?"

The fox smiled at her from across the room.

"One big-eyed dream-filled rabbit at a time partner," he replied, waving the rolled-up magazine at her dramatically. Then, glancing at his phone for the time, he stretched and jumped up lightly. "Better hit the hay and get some shut eye Carrots. No one gave us a rain check from work tomorrow you know. Oh and Carrots; enough brooding over Savage and that whole story, got it? Better leave well enough alone and keep our nose out of it, it's over and done with and buried under twenty feet of your parents' finest compost. "

"Roger that," Judy agreed, turning to head off to her room. "Night!"

"Pleasant dreams," her friend called back before shutting his bedroom door.

'Pleasant' is a term given to little scope of interpretation. It just means 'enjoyable', 'agreeable' to the one concerned after all. Nothing complex.

Yet it would have been hard for Judy to say honestly the following day whether her dreams had been pleasant after all or not. They were tangled and somehow muddled all night through. She dreamt she went to various areas downtown and saw a fox and a rabbit walking paw in paw in the distance, but whether it was Savage and Skye she could not see because the sun got in her eyes, or someone would walk in front of her and block the view. As she was hanging over the railing of the very same bridge under which she had once found Nicholas following their argument, trying to see the elusive pair that had just disappeared under it, Savage materialized suddenly by her side. He leaned his elbows on the railing heavily and said, not looking at Judy in particular but just straight ahead,

"We just can't be free the way we'd like to be. It is not possible, Madam – not in our day and time as of yet at least."

He sounded so forlorn that Judy was actually reaching a paw out to lay it comfortingly on his arm, when she was brought back to her senses by the shrill sound of her alarm clock, to blink confusedly at the sunlight spilling in through her blinds. Another day had begun.

Another day had begun, but it would have been a lie to state that Judy had followed the piece of advice Nick had given her the previous evening and had ceased to mull over what they had heard from FruFru. The night's rest had proved inadequate in putting it out of her mind so far and so had work; though goodness knew that with the latter they could hardly have complained that they were lacking.

The ZPD, to use a Nordic term on this early summer day, was quite snowed in under all of the mid-year reports they had to fill in, all the phone calls they received (often sparked by college and high school graduates' end of year pranks) and their usual work, be it petty theft or complex tax evasion schemes (some of the very recent red-furred recruits proved incredibly handy in helping figure out the latter though, surprisingly enough in the eyes of Chief Bogo.)

And yet, every time she took a break, even the tiniest of breaks – a short pause to sip some jasmine tea here and a minute breather out in Rainforest on the way back from patrol there – it seemed to Judy that last night's conversation just kept coming back to her in waves. It was strange, Judy reflected as she turned the police car into the ZPD parking lot and parked neatly in her spot. Just a short time ago she was so preoccupied with her own problems, the loan from Mister Big, trying to get out of debt, managing the building, work, trying out for the State Exams. And now it was as if all her own issues had taken a gentle but firm step back in view of this discovery.

Savage had fallen for a fox, an arctic fox, this Skye. Judy marveled at the fact for what felt like the twentieth time that day, making her way back to her office, pausing to have a quick and cheerful word with Clawhauser. The cheetah was showing her tha latest update he had downloaded for his Gazelle app, which he had not managed to demonstrate that morning (Chief Bogo being very much present and breathing down their necks.)

"They've added more dancing circuits, see?" Benjamin was saying happily, tapping away at his phone. "You can choose the song and the setting – this last one is the one Gazelle will be using for her fall concert – and then you—"

Judy only half listened, her eyes glazed over, her mind going over the Savage/Skye affair. What had she looked like? She was an arctic fox, white furred. She had had children, Finnick had said so, several of them. Had Savage been hired to kill her really? Was he an assassin? This Judy could believe, she decided wryly, after remembering the cold precise fury in his eyes when he'd finally cornered her at the talk show. Yes, she could believe that more readily than she could picture a Jack Savage in love, especially with someone of another species. What had he felt like when he'd realized the way his feelings were leaning? Had he had a friend, someone in whom he could confide? Had he been amazed at himself? Had he gone ahead and let Skye know? What kind of face had the fox made upon learning this incredible piece of news?

Judy became dimly aware that Benjamin had suddenly put his phone away and was giving her a furtive 'watch out!' look, all the while addressing someone behind her back.

"Sure thing Chief, we'll get a visitor badge all signed and ready right away, no problem!" Clawhauser was saying vigorously, pushing his ever-present box of donuts out of the way to riffle in the drawers behind his desk.

"Shouldn't you be on duty Hopps?" Bogo's voice was saying sternly behind Judy's back, and the rabbit willed herself to make her face carefully blank and chase the pesky thoughts away before turning on her heel and saying smartly, "Affirmative Chief, just been checking in with Clawhauser here after getting back in from that two-twenty sweep—"

Judy didn't get much further in her explanations though, as, as soon as she had turned to face Bogo, her eyes fell on the animal accompanying him, the one who had been needing the visitor's badge. The rabbit stared; she wondered whether she had not gone mildly crazy from dwelling too much on the events of the previous night, because here surely was the elusive Miss Skye, standing by Bogo, her clear eyes shining.

And then the bright summery sunshine pouring into the ZPD shifted a bit, the visitor blinked and smiled a slightly mocking, familiar grin, and it turned out that her eyes were grey after all and not blue, her face and expression were familiar, and she was wearing a strict black trouser suit and carrying a briefcase. It was Margaret Frost, the reporter.

"I start my insider's report on the ZPD today," the vixen said to Judy by way of greeting. "Isn't this fun?"

"Relax Carrots, have a biscuit," was how Nicholas Piberius addressed his partner once she'd joined him on the bench in the little park not far from the ZPD HQ, the two animals each bearing their packed lunch in their paws.

"Easy for you to say," Judy answered, plunking herself down on the bench dejectedly and tearing the paper bag that contained her bell pepper-avocado-cilantro-hummus-cucumber wrap open. The sun was beating down on the city of Zootropolis, the mounting temperatures indicating clearly that summer really had arrived and was in full swing. Judy chewed on her wrap thoughtfully a while, watching a mother pig pushing e pram that contained three little baby piggies along a gravel path.

"So old Frosty Foxy shows up and starts sniffing around HQ," Nick shrugged. "So what?"

"Yeah, I know it's what she's supposed to do, in a way," Judy nodded, chewing away vigorously. "But I just can't help getting a gut feeling around her…" the rabbit officer glanced over her shoulder as if fearing the arctic vixen to pop up in their vicinity at any moment.

Nick opened a coke can with a deft movement of his paws and a raspy 'hissss' sound.

"I'll eat my tail if she really does turn out to be 'just a journalist who's 'doing her job'," he commented sardonically, once he'd taken a sip. "It's a bit of a stretch, if you ask me, trying to believe that it was mere coincidence, Savage popping up on her talk show midway through your interview."

"That's right," Judy's ears perked up at the memory. "She must have had a paw in setting the whole thing up!"

"Maybe," Nick shrugged. "But, even so, like I said, relax. Even if she's involved in some kind of criminal masterminded super-plot, you'll just go off your appetite if you worry about her all the time."

"It's hardly all the time," Judy pointed out reasonably. "It was just that it was kind of a jolt, seeing her saunter into HQ like that."

"Mmm-hmm," Nick mumbled noncommittally. "Well, keep your eyes peeled and your big ears open. If she's up to something fishy, we'll pick up on it sooner or later. And," the fox went to fish inside his own paper bag for his dessert, which he proceeded to wave accusingly at Judy to emphasize his statement. "Double if not treble that vigilance where Savage is concerned Officer Fluff."

"That Miss Frost seems to me to be more dangerous than Savage," Judy said darkly.

"You haven't got the scope of that rabbit yet then, Carrots," Nick replied shaking his head.

"Or," Judy said suddenly, remembering that the would-be perished Miss Skye was also an arctic fox, "They're both more dangerous than we can imagine if they're working together."

"Together?" Nick raised an eyebrow at her.

"It makes total sense," Judy said excitedly. "Margaret Frost could veen be this Skye in disguise—"

"Bit of a poor disguise that one, Carrots, vixen as a vixen," Nick commented dryly.

"It could be," Judy persisted heatedly. "We only have some mammals' word that she died, no one actually – Nick, what is that?"

"What is what Carrots? You almost gave me a seizure," Nick replied, paw theatrically on chest. "Oh what – this?"

The fox held up the chocolate bar he had in his paws for Judy to see, his expression innocent. The rabbit blinked, stared – there was no doubt about it!

"That's one of the chocolate figurines Savage made!" she gasped. "The ones in the form of animals he was keeping at Gideon's, seeing as how he's parading around as a would-be hare/chocolatier! Nick, why do you have that for cream frosting's sake?"

"Nicked it," her friend replied laconically. "Pun intended. Don't look at me like that Carrots, I took it that time I went to see him and give him back the boxes. Keep your fur on, I just wanted to take one, see if they were really everything he'd cracked them up to be!"

"This one seems to be a rabbit," Judy commented, taking a closer look. Nick held it tight in his paws apparently to avoid giving Judy any opportunity of grabbing it from him.

"You bet your furry ears it's a rabbit," he replied, "It's one of the one's Savage made after himself from what I can see. I just had to get one, to try it and – well, to have an opportunity of biting his head off. Fox's instinct, there's nothing a fellow can do about it," he added meekly upon seeing Judy's scowl.

"Just cause you were annoyed at the guy," Judy answered, shaking her head and trying not to smile.

"Madam, that animal should thank me, if anything," Nick countered, putting on a mock-offended air. "Here I am, testing his products for free, making sure they're good before they actually hit the marketplace and he has to deal with consumers' opinions, not to mention their wrath."

"Why assume it'd be wrath at once?" Judy shrugged. "Maybe it's really good."

"Only one way to know," Nick chuckled. He preferred the candy to Judy. "Care to do the honors Officer Carrots?"

Judy sighed, resigned. She rather supposed that it was way too late to return the chocolate in any case, and Savage probably had more urgent matters on his mind than to follow and track the disappearance of every last chocolate figurine. They might as well eat this one, since Nick already had it in his paws, but—

"Why don't you eat the top Nick?" she proposed. "Go on, it's not like I feel up to it."

The fox's eyes gleamed in amusement.

"You have something against munching down on a chocolate comrade's ears and head?" he laughed, before biting into the candy. "I'll let you have the rest – hello, it's hollow inside. Cheepo, he could have made them solid, it just goes to show—"

Officer Wilde was rather forced to stop talking at that point as it seemed that something that he had just bitten down on was not agreeing with him.

"Nick?" Judy asked, putting down the carrot-and-beetroot juice box from which she had been taking a generous swig. "You OK?"

"This stuff's is as hard as a rock!" the fox gasped, incredulous. "How can that rabbit expect to sell—"

"There's something inside!" Judy said sharply, diving to recuperate the chocolate figurine Nick had abandoned. "Look!"

As the violet and green eyes looked on, amazement mirrored in each pair, Judy overturned the hollow chocolate bunny and gave it a hearty shake holding her open palm underneath. Something had indeed been hidden, cooked inside the chocolate, and the items fell out onto Judy's paw; several little diamonds winked and glittered in the dazzling sun.

The young ZPD officers stared at the jewels, dumbfounded, then turned to look at each other in unison.

"Diamonds," Judy said in hushed tones;

"Or the other kind. You know," Nick added, equally quietly. "The what's-it technical term Mister Walrus-Mustache had used."

"Of course," Judy closed her paw over the precious stones, her heart beating fast. "That walrus, Mister Big sent us to check him out, to see whether he was smuggling diamonds from Tundra –"

"And bam! Here we are with Mister Undercover-Double-Agent-Bunny-With-A-Dark-And-Murky-Past who just happens to come waltzing into our life, trying to corner us every step of the way—"

"He's working for the walrus," Judy finished in triumph. "That's his secret contractor. And Mister Big is on the other side, the walrus is Savage's employer and Big's adversary! It all makes sense!"

To her slight frustration, Nick seemed slower than her on the take-up.

"Don't jump to conclusions," he cautioned. "It definitely seems that there is a connection between those three, but what it is exactly, it's just too early to say."

"Fair enough," Judy sighed, after a moment's reflection. "First question after all is always the same – what's the motive? We can't really see one."

"I'd suppose money'd be motive enough as far as a mammal like Savage were concerned," Nick said, looking thoughtfully at the remaining hollow bit of chocolate he still held in his paws.

"Maybe," Judy replied, carefully pouring the diamonds into a little transparent plastic bag with a ziplock, the kind she always carried on her person in case they had to collect some evidence or other. "But I don't really think so somehow… since FruFru told that story, I just think there's more to.. well-"

"You're letting that evening reminiscence session get into your head Carrots," Nick clicked his tongue accusingly at her. "Better leave such subjects well enough and alone and old skeletons in the closet, like they say."

"I don't think Savage would get involved in something so complicated as this story seems to be for money alone," Judy finished doggedly in a quiet voice. "Call it rabbit's instinct if you will."

"Here's a bit of fox instinct for you Carrots," Nick said suddenly, his ears perking up, his stance suddenly alert. "Look sharp."

Judy blinked at him and opened her mouth, about to ask what he was on about, when a long-nosed shadow fell across her lap and a silky cold voice said in a would-be kind manner,

"There you are Officers," and Miss Frost was looming over them, her pointy white teeth flashing in a wide grin that somehow did not reach her eyes.

"Chief Bogo so kindly said I could follow you two around to get me started on my report, get straight to the nails and thumbtacks of what a police officer's daily routine looks like," she said, giving a rippling silvery laugh at the end of her phrase.

Judy worked her mouth into a faint smile with difficulty, her paw clasped tight over the pocket in which she'd stored the little bag of diamonds moments ago.

Had Miss Frost been lurking there for a long time? Had she seen the contents of the chocolate figurine that Judy had now hidden on her person? The rabbit could only clench her fists tight and hope for the best, all the while wondering how on earth Miss Frost had managed to sneak up on them without her bunny ears picking up the sound of the vixen's footfalls.

There were entirely too many mysterious personages debarking into their life nowadays, Judy thought fervently, as the officers dragged themselves to their feet to accompany a seemingly gratified Margaret Frost back to the ZPD HQ.

This vixen, Judy observed irritably a mere hour later, had a definite talent for getting on her nerves. How did the animal accomplish it?

On the surface, she seemed to be all charm and courtesy. It was the veiled insult behind her words – or was Judy only imagining things?

'Do tell me Officer Hopps, as a rabbit who has joined the Force for the first time ever..' 'I see Officer.. and how to your Senior colleagues treat similar cases?' 'On the whole Officer Hopps, would you really agree that the Mammal Inclusion Program should continue and be developed? Or would you say it had been more of a political ploy on the part of our previous Mayor?'

"Hopps can't really answer that one, can she," Nick said easily from his chair, once Margaret had shot this last interrogation at the rabbit. Both Judy and Margaret looked over at him at that; the bunny cop had been firmly seated at her desk, going over some papers, as Miss Frost sat in the visitor's chair in front of her, shooting off questions at random.

"Hopps is really a bit too close to the question to respond," Nick clarified, waving an airy paw. "Given that she's the first ever mammal who actually followed the Mammal Inclusion Program."

"Not to mention we're not really supposed to give official statements to reporters about political issues," Judy added, Nick's intervention allowing her a bit of time to gather her ruffled nerves. "Even for a special insider's look TV show. Sorry," she added, smiling as sweetly as she could at the journalist. Nick gave his partner a tiny wink at that.

Nick was very good at staying calm when he wanted to, Judy thought. She could learn a thing or two from him on that scale. And the vixen seemed to get to him much less than she did to her. Why this was, Judy had no idea, but the reporter just did get to her, was all. Nick had whispered to her that she could easily find a pretext that would allow her to escape for a bit of a breather and that he'd handle the 'TV persona'. Judy understandably felt as if the little bag of diamonds was burning a hole in her pocket and could not wait to transfer it to a safer location, to be carefully studied later and compared, if possible, with the specimen they had recuperated from the walrus businessman.

And yet, some sort of jealous feeling of protectiveness made her want to avoid leaving Nick in a one-on-one situation with Margaret Frost.

Thus, the unlikely trio persisted as they were, stuck in the small office, awkward questions running back and forth, the reporter taking notes in her smart shiny little notebook. By the time evening rolled around and the vixen finally left the two friends and exited the office, shutting the door behind her with a smart 'clink', Judy was completely exhausted. The rabbit officer slumped wearily in her chair, wondering how she was supposed to get through the several weeks (or months? Please please please, not months!) that the reporter would be present at the ZPD.

"Suck it up," Judy ordered herself bleakly, heaving a sigh,

The rabbit officer's spirits rose somewhat as she exited her office. It was hard, after all, not to feel a tad more upbeat, despite the prospect of having an annoying reporter hanging around in the days to come, because it had been a while since Judy'd quit work when it was still daylight.

"Summer is really here!" she exclaimed happily, giving a small and happy hop to her step as she hurried towards the heavy doors of the ZPD HQ, eager to be outside.

She gave a guilty start and immediately stopped skipping and jumping as her sharp ears caught a step behind her, lest it be Bogo, but she need not have feared – the much lighter and easier footfalls belonged only to her best friend, partner and housemate, aka Junior Officer Wilde. There was little to no chance that he'd be reprimanding her for being a little bouncy.

Though he could, of course, tease her about it.

"Oh, don't mind me Officer Fluff," he said lightly, waving a paw at her. "Just go on jumping up, down and out into the parking lot. You looked like you were ready to bump your head on the ceiling at that last move."

"Can a body be pleased about the mellow sunshine?" Judy grumbled, jokingly giving Nick's arm a punch.

"Yes, a body can," Nick agreed seriously, rubbing the spot she'd punched. "Particularly Miss Muscle Rabbit. You don't know your own strength, do you? I'll take no more risks and contradict you no further."

"You are the limit, Nicholas Wilde," Judy replied, raising her eyes to the heavens in exasperation with an 'I give up' helpless sort of paw gesture.

"Precisely what my mother always told me," Nick chuckled. "Or maybe she meant my father? Or both of us were the limit, who knows. Anyway," he added, carefully casting a look around them as the two young animals finally found themselves outside and out of potential earshot of their many colleagues, "have you managed, amid your jumping, to secret away the you-know-whats we found in that chocolate bar?"

"You bet," Judy's stomach gave a nervous little flip at the thought of the plastic bag stowed safely in her pocket, the diamonds hard and cold and small. "I have it with me. I had no idea what to do with them so I just brought the lot along. Maybe I should have put them in the safe where we keep all the evidence we gather, but one of the officers could poke their nose in there and –"

"And start asking questions about what the dickens they are and where they come from," Nick nodded, sliding his hands in his trouser pockets and falling in step with Judy as the two made their way homewards unhurriedly. "Yes, a dozen or so diamonds do have a curious tendency of provoking animals into asking a whole series of unnecessary and very tiring questions."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Judy gave a brief half-smile. "If not about the diamonds than at least about the question-asking. Is that what it was like for you, slipping through all of your tax-evasion schemes?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Carrots," Nick answered innocently, his expression carefully blank with that poker face he donned so effortlessly. "I am not about to provide any information that might potentially incriminate me to a police officer in uniform."

"In uniform but already off-duty," Judy said with satisfaction, glad that the long day was finally over, stretching her arms in content.

"Mm-hum," the fox agreed. "So that means this isn't the best moment to bring up these paper forms?"

"Oh, you remembered,!" Judy exclaimed, giving a start at the sight of the pages Nick was waving in the air. She reached out wildly to grab them from him and see, causing her friend to laugh and go 'easy does it Carrots', an elderly porcupine lady who narrowly missed running into them on the sidewalk to bristle her needles indignantly, mutter 'really', and deliberately walk around the pair, her very step demonstrating how displeased she was.

Oblivious to all of this, Judy was poring intently over the forms Nick had finally relinquished. For here were the very forms the two had to fill in if they wanted to apply for the State Examinations; more accurately, here was the very first step they would have to take. Handing in these forms, correctly filled in and of course approved by Bogo, would allow them to sit for the first stage of the Exam, the preliminary selection tests that would take place before the summer was out. If they succeeded (as Judy felt confident they would, given sufficient preparation) they would then have obtained the right to follow the intensive preparation courses that would take place in the fall, to imminently and finally take the full Examinations at the end of the year.

This was the long and perilous journey, full of revision and studying after work and on week-ends, that our two heroes were willingly embarking on (more or less willingly in some cases, one must add), and yet Judy Hopps looked anything but unhappy as she read the forms over twice.

"OK, so this is just general information we are supposed to provide and such," she said. "Then we hand this over to Bogo and wait until we received the official confirmation with the date of the preliminary exam. And we can start preparing in the meantime," she added, already going into a mental itinerary of the books she had at home, left behind from Military Academy, and the ones she would have to purchase or take out, to get back on track so far as subjects such as strategy, team management and criminal investigations went, not to mention brushing up on procedure and nomenclature.

"You look very pleased at the prospect of spending your summer sweating over course books instead of chilling like some normal animal," Nick observed peevishly.

"At least I won't be alone!" Judy replied, in a mock-coy voice, pretending to bat her eyelashes at her friend. She rather expected him to reply with some form of their usual banter; she was rather surprised to see that his actual reaction was more one of a confused mutter of 'whatever', as he snatched his own form back and continued to stride along, avoiding her eye.

"Moody much?" Judy asked in amusement, hurrying to catch up with her partner, her heart still light, the setting sun casting its last cheerful rays on her retreating back.

Miss Margaret Frost had not been, it soon transpired, sent over all by herself to navigate and investigate the foreign territory of the ZPD. Perhaps it was (so Judy suspected) to give her a certain air of importance, or perhaps it was merely a norm at the ZNN network, but it seemed that a reporter of the fox's standard was to be accompanied by a personal assistant on such a project as this one was. Well, personal assistant or whatever the young tigress who appeared at the ZPD headquarters on day two was supposed to be exactly. The young mammal did not seem much perturbed by finding herself among officers in uniform though. It soon became apparent why that was.

"No way!" Judy exclaimed, smiling warmly at the tigress, whose name was Tabitha. "You're Taggart's cousin?"

"Third cousin," Tabitha shrugged, acknowledging her relation to Judy and Nick's colleague, the senior tiger officer who had been there from the first day of Judy's arrival. "I'm quite used to seeing my cuz when I drop by at uncle and auntie's, so the sight of a ZPD uniform'll hardly disconcert me at this point I guess," with that, the tigress deftly opened a duffel bag she'd been carrying and started unloading its contents of tapes, Dictaphones and folders onto a portion of Judy's desk the rabbit had freed for her.

Judy nodded, feeling increasingly friendly towards the girl, if not immediately for reasons more far-fetched than that the rabbit cop had been agreeably surprised to find out, upon arriving at the office that morning, that Miss Frost would be absent at least during the morning hours, leaving her junior assistant to manage things at the ZPD. What a blessing it was, Judy reflected gratefully, to be spared Margaret Frost's presence at least for some time.

"So you'll be taking over for Miss Frost from time to time, so long as she's doing this insider's report thing?" she asked Tabitha carefully, just to be clear.

"That's the idea," the tigress nodded, flicking her tail and fussing over a Dictaphone. "I'm supposed to gain as much experience as I can in the next months, working sometimes side by side with Margaret and sometimes on my own."

"Are you in training then? To be a reporter?" Judy asked curiously, looking up from her steaming mug of mint tea.

"Internship," Tabitha nodded, straightening up. "I'm all but done with my studies now and just have a few exams left to take, plus the internship to validate."

"And then?" Judy raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"And then the great outdoors," Nick suggested, catching the last phrase Judy had spoken as he came in through the office door, carrying two small paper cups of coffee, one of which he offered to Tabitha (Judy almost never took coffee, preferring tea in almost every instance). "The best for our guest," the fox said gravely, offering Tabitha the simple beverage with a flourish worthy of the poshiest cocktail ever served in a crystal tumbler. Tabitha giggled, accepting the coffee, and Judy reflected with inconsequent satisfaction that Nick had not bothered to fetch any hot drinks for Miss Frost the previous day.

"The great outdoors would be great," Tabitha said with feeling, after taking a hearty swig from her paper cup. "I sure would love to get to travel a bit and to film some discovery-type shows from exotic places."

"That sounds awesome," Judy beamed encouragingly at the youngster. "It sure seems like an exciting career path."

Tabitha shrugged self-consciously, twirling a cable around and around in her paws, having put her coffee down on an edge of Judy's desk.

"What I'd really like one day would be a show of my own," she more or less blurted out, apparently overcome by a wish to confide in these two kindly animals. "But you know," she scuffed her toe on a corner of the desk and let out a whoosh-ey sigh. "That's quite the venture, with a lot of financial risk attached to it. One never knows if this kind of thing will wind up successful or not until it's actually launched."

"Don't I know it," Judy gave a tiny shiver at the thought of her own 'huge financial venture', before trying to block out the thought of the ginormous figure her and Nick's bottom line debt to Mister Big represented. It was, one is afraid to report, very much at the order of a couple million dollars. Fighting down this piece of information that she most specifically did not want to dwell on at the present time, Judy focused again on the topic at paw. "I am sure you'd be successful, Tabitha," she said, glancing up at the tigress earnestly. "If you concentrate on your training and learning the skills of the trade, there's no reason…"

"It's not like most other jobs Officer, I'm afraid," Tabitha gave a would-be philosophical shrug. "That's the whole irony of it. You see animals busting their tails off, working so hard, learning everything they can about anchoring and news reporting and camera action, and then boom! There's this whole factor that one just can't take into account, this lottery wheel turn: what's actually the buzz at a given moment? What will the audience like? And what kind of animal would they be willing to watch?"

"Excuse me?" Judy raised an eyebrow incredulously. "But surely you – I mean, it has been quite some time since tigers – one often sees on the evening news…" she trailed off delicately.

"There have already been quite a few tigers who have worked as TV reporters, yes," Tabitha confirmed matter-of-factly. "And that's just the very thing: viewers want someone original now."

"It's the reverse specie-ism effect," Nick put in dryly. "They have to put animals that have been under privileged up till now on the front page to show that they're all open and equal-rights-ist."

"That's just -!" Judy started angrily.

"That's marketing, is what it is Carrots," Nick told her with a sort of 'what can you do?' gesture of his shoulders.

"I guess," Tabitha agreed dejectedly. "It goes along with what you said Officer Wilde in any case. I mean, take Margaret! Her career just up and sky rocketed after.. Well, after…" she motioned a paw in Nick's general direction vaguely.

"After I beat the path clear for foxes everywhere," Nick supplied, ridding her of the necessity to put her thought into words. "You can say it Miss, no need to beat around the bush with us."

"Well, that is it," Tabitha nodded in affirmation. "There was this huge vogue for foxes after you entered the Force Officer Wilde. Margaret was just supposed to be a back-up usher on one of the evening regulars, and then before you knew it she'd whipped up to one of the main interviewer's seats on the Sunday night special, although another animal had already been scheduled to take it and all.. I shouldn't be going on like this, I've been blabbing," she added, catching herself.

"Not at all," Judy replied, her long ears perked up as they had been these last few minutes, carefully taking in the information Tabitha was letting slip, her police training and instincts fully alert. "Miss Frost must have been grateful to get the job in any case."

Tabitha snorted.

"I'm not sure grateful is the word," she said. "She certainly felt entitled to it in any case. Heaven knew she didn't feel like staying on some second rate off-screen position. There aren't that many arctic foxes in the city, and the ones you do meet here are all from the same big-shot family it seems, at least that's what she was always saying and dang if she'd let us forget it."

"Is that so," Judy bristled indignantly. "Well, let me tell you something Tabitha. Whatever Miss Frost may or may not say, or believe about her family connections, let me just remind you that here, in the city of Zootropolis, where animals are dedicated to equal opportunities for all and –"

"Geezers creepers, here we go again," Nick muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes expressively and turning his attention to his computer monitor.

"So if you want to become an ace reporter and host your own show, you go ahead and become one."

"There was a time when she gave out fake badge stickers with these speeches," Nick told Tabitha soberly. "She's less naïve now though."

The tigress laughed heartily before trailing off as she frowned and flipped through her multiple folders.

"I've left the scenario binders back in the van," the reporter-in-training pronounced finally. "I'll be back in a tick. Thanks for the coffee!"

"Ta," Judy replied, as the door clicked softly behind Tabitha's back.

Nick cocked an eyebrow at his partner.

"You look lost in thought Officer Carrots and Fluff," he said cheerfully.

"Kind of," Judy admitted, her gaze far away, her mind going over what Tabitha had just said as well as the many happenings of the last few days and weeks. Nick opened his mouth to say something jokey and interrupt Judy's train of musings, then thought better of it and returned to clicking through the emails and memos of the day, patiently letting his partner arrive at whatever mental conclusion she wanted to arrive at.

"Yes?" he said finally, as Judy looked up again, clearly preparing to speak.

"Nick you know," the rabbit started, pulling one of her own long ears thoughtfully. "Jack Savage—"

"Oh for the love of!.." Nick threw his paws up in exasperation.

"Now let me finish!" Judy fired up.

"Fiiine," the fox drawled in resignation.

"As I was saying, Jack Savage – you know how he told me, or threatened me, one can say, that he'd be getting back to me no matter what, that he was just giving me time to think over his proposition of working together? Well, I think he's dead serious and that he won't leave us alone. I've just been waiting for him to pop up."

"Affirmative partner," Nick winced. "You can be sure that Mister Bunny Spy will be hopping back into the picture at any given moment."

"So I decided that…" Judy continued doggedly. "That it would be useless, and well, cowardly, to just try running away from him endlessly."

"And?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"And that's why I've decided to just go ahead and take the upper paw," Judy said decisively. "As soon as he drops in to check on me again, I 'll propose to him that we meet up and speak openly. I'll try and get out of him the truth of what he's about and who he's working for. I have a feeling, well, that I'll be able to get him to talk or… or at least I will have tried. The best source of information about this whole story – diamonds cooked in chocolate and suspicious arctic foxes included – is the rabbit himself."

"Great. Just great Carrots," Nick said ironically. "And where are you planning to talk to him to? Invite him for a friendly chat in a crowded café, why don't you?"

"Not in a café," Judy replied patiently, ignoring her friend's sarcastic tone. "I was actually going to invite him... you know, home. To Zootopia."

A short stunned silence greeted her words, before Nick finally snapped out of it and said in slightly choked tones,

"You know, I'd heard you bunnies had a tendency to be suicidal, and now I actually have proof-"

"I didn't mean to actually invite him to our place, like, the penthouse," Judy put in hurriedly. "But to the building as it were. Maybe when FruFru has opened her salon and at least a couple of tenants have moved in, wait until there are some animals out and about around there, and we could see him in one of those empty flats or rooms and.. have it out."

"We?"the fox asked, spreading his arms.

"You're not going to leave me with this guy?" Judy pressed.

"I don't see why we have to both die young Carrots; I can appreciate your being bored of living, I was planning to hang around a bit longer myself-"

"Oh Nick! Be serious!"Judy stamped a foot on the floor the way she did when impatient with something. "He will get to me, one way or another, you know that! He means to find out about the Night Howlers' case, creamy soufflé knows why, but there you have it! And I'd rather have the talk out and done with on our turf, you see, than in some dodgy corner he chases me into on our cat-and-mouse game and -"

"You think the rabbit can be trusted Carrots, you've had this morbid curiosity in him ever since Finn and the shrew mother told you that tale about how he was involved with Miss Mysterious White Foxface-"

"That's not true!" Judy argued heatedly, perhaps a bit too heatedly to fight down a small voice piping up from her conscience that affirmed that it was maybe at least a little true. Curiosity had killed the cat, but it hardly meant it would kill the rabbit too, she figured. "Nick, I am going to do it and you can either help me like a real partner or..." she trailed off, huffing a bit, searching for a suitable counter for her last phrase.

Nick looked at her dubiously. He had known his best friend and partner long enough by now to recognize the decided look on her face that meant there was no way she was backing down on her latest hare-brained scheme. Officer Wilde sighed heavily in resignation and held up a paw for silence.

"Omitting the part about how this is all because you are young, emotionally unstable and have just been influenced by the even more young and emotionally unstable tigress," he pronounced. "Let's say... that we'll do it. One condition."

"Yes?" Judy clenched her fists tight, on tenterhooks.

Mister Wilde stared grimly at her, although the tips of his mouth that were quivering to hide a smile gave him away slightly.

"On the condition that we offer Mister Jack Savage a 'bunnies ARE cute' set of PJs as a gift to our first guest invited for a business meeting at the building."

And then he laughed at Judy's spluttered reaction at his mention of the forbidden 'C-word.'

Yikes! There we go, Savage is popping up again! Crikey what's going to happen now?

We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? ;)

Thanks all for reading, as usual, leave your thoughts and comments in the Reviews section or send them via PM!

Question up for discussion, one often repeated one, but the answer to which might have changed by now: what do you think of Savage now? And what about Judy's idea of taking the first step and trying to have a heart to heart with him? Do you think she's making a good bet or taking a foolish step?

We'll soon know :) More precisely, we will know more on November the 18th ;) , when a new chapter rolls by :) And we will be celebrating our contest winner on this occasion! I am so excited for the lucky guy or gal who gets the prize :) We'll wait and see who it is :)

Fresh sketch up on irina-bourry DOT deviantart DOT com and irina-bourry DOT tumblr DOT com as always :) Judy this time, in a princess dress :)

Have a good rest f the week everyone, ta!