Bax Hench silently opened the door. The office he stepped into was one of a Healer; a large room with shelfs full of medical remedies and tools, along two walls, and two walls covered by roof-to-ceiling windows, through which one could admire the low skyline of downtown Galway. A desk, a spinning office chair, and filing cabinets stood along one of those windows, allowing the owner to stare at the old rows of buildings that spread out below, whenever their eyes needed a break from tedious work.
A teenager was sitting at the desk. He had his back turned to Hench, was fiddling with some sort of glassen, fist-sized orb. Hench assumed, the sphere had something to do with magical medicine. However, that was all he could tell about it; it was not a weapon.
Hench smirked and sneaked up on the boy. He was sixteen but looked younger; a friendly, slightly pudgdy face; dark, slanted, almond-shaped eyes; stubby nose; black, short hair. Generally, he was a very innocent-looking boy. Plus, he was distracted, working on the orb.
In summary, he was the perfect target to sneak up on.
Hench kept moving towards the boy, kept the magic coursing through his body, let it flow beneath his skin, making him perfectly see-through. Invisible, undetectable...
"Bax," Charlie mumbled, too focused to truly sound annoyed, "would you mind? I'm trying to work here."
Hench smiled proudly, dampened his magic, and rendered himself visible. He bridged the last steps up to Charlie's chair and laid his hands on his shoulders, massaging them.
"I taught you well," Hench said smugly.
"Mhm..." Charlie made absently.
"How's my little genius coming along?"
Charlie sighed, apparently realizing that he was not going to be able to focus, and carefully set the sphere down on the desk. "Pretty well. I'm starting to think, the technological side of Healing might be my favorite."
"Specialization is good," Hench approved.
"Doctor Pseudomonas says, if I keep going this fast in this direction, I'll have to find a new mentor soon."
"Well, where we are going, I'm sure you'll find plenty of qualified teachers," Hench promised contently and let go off his shoulders.
Charlie turned around his chair to face him and went from examining the orb to examining Hench. "By your good mood, I gather, everything's going to plan?"
"Perfectly," he smirked.
"You mean, except for Yamabella."
The smirk disappeared in a heartbeat. "Let me worry about that."
"That's what you said last time," Charlie replied unimpressively. "Now, I don't even have a phone number."
Hench sighed and let his body sag a bit. He laid his hands on Charlie's shoulders again, this time from the front, and looked into his indignant eyes. "Look, I know that part hasn't worked out so well for us, and I'm sorry that you're getting caught in the crossfire. But I'm not going to forget about Yamabella. With Pleasant and Cain involved so early, this might not go down, exactly, the way I planned. But it will go down."
"It better," Charlie said coolly and turned around with a forceful twist of his office chair, pulling his shoulders from Hench's grip. "Or I'll never forgive you for this."
He picked up the sphere again, an angry edge to his movements. Hench stood there for a moment, feeling his stomach drop deeper and deeper. His first instinct was to hug Charlie, but he knew him well enough to realize that he was better off letting him focus on his studies. Take his mind off things.
"I know, brother," Hench said quietly before he walked away.