I'haach and Dauhieh weaved among the traffic of Banhofstrasse. As they walked they spoke with each other of the many things going on around them recently.

"Well, it's weird enough that the entire multiverse was nearly destroyed, and that during that time a few species had their choice, and not to mention that most of us lost our wizardly abilities for a day or so, but I mean, you couldn't even save me a piece of pastrami from New York!"

"Hey, it was a busy time," I'haach defended. "Besides, were you really expecting me to hold off Sihm, Siffhah, and Arhu from a piece of pastrami?"

Dauhieh seemed to think about it as they walked, then said, "Yes, I was."

I'haach stopped to hiss in annoyance. Suddenly, he felt a massive, overpowering feeling of disorientation at the base of his neck down to the center of his spine. He stopped for a moment and his hiss came out louder and more prolonged for a moment. Then, the man who had stepped on him took another step, and continued walking. Well, not really stepped on him, it was more like through him.

"I hate being stepped on while I'm sidled," he informed Dauhieh once he'd ran to catch up with her.

"That's why you should look where you're walking," she said innocently, then added, "Besides, you should've gotten used to it by now. How many lives have you been a wizard for again? Seven?"

I'haach smiled ruefully as he thought of that. She did have a point. This was his eighth life, and he'd been a wizard in all of his previous seven lives. Also, in every one, he'd lead a gating team, so that now, though the most senior gates he'd ever worked were in Montreal, the powers considered him a senior of sorts, and an expert of sorts on all small service gates. He'd also kept virtually the same physical appearance throughout. And it doesn't make life any easier that I have to keep working with my old teams under new leaders who look at me as a jumped up kitten, while the others see me as the exact same cat they used to know, down to the hair, every time. He unconsciously licked the large white scar which wound its way down from a half-torn off left ear, down to a hair length away from the top of his eye, and his whiskers went forward slightly. Well, I guess I have changed a bit.

"It doesn't make getting stepped on any easier, though," he finally said.

"I'll give you that," she responded.

They continued on for a long while. Finally, Dauhieh broke the silence. "Where did Zach said he was meeting us?"

"Apparently right on this corner," he said, then began reaching for his mental connection to his fellow wizard. "Just let me check."

"No need, kitten."

A large, fully black cat emerged from the shadows of an alley a meter or so from the corner. He was obviously at a mid to young age, but not young enough for his body and everything about him to suggest pure physical power and, to an attentive onlooker, a strange roving quality in his deep blue eyes. The first thought that came to mind when someone saw him was a graceful, if compact, panther.

"Hunt's luck, Zach," I'haach greeted him.

"Luck, kitten," Zach said. The two breathed breaths, and they smirked at each other. "You ate well at the butcher's this morning."

"And from what I can tell, you faired just as well with the dumpster. What is that, exactly?"

Zach paused to breathe with Dauhieh, before turning back to him and saying, "Leftover calamari rings from that nice place on Richtigstrasse. They throw out the best stuff there!"

"Apparently so," Dauhieh said. Though she tried to make it sound dismissive, the envy in her voice was evident. Dauhieh had a particular weakness for seafood. The rest of the team always joked that it had to do with her being such a 'water cat'.

"So, what are we doing today?" Zach asked as he turned his attention back to I'haach, "kitten?"

I'haach just sighed. As each life came and went, he was recruited for leadership earlier and earlier, so that in this life he'd been assigned to the Zurich gating team at the age of a couple of weeks. No matter what one might think, that did not make leadership any easier, especially with Zach, the former only tom cat on the team who also happened to be four years older than him, and just entering his physical prime, when I'haach was appointed leader. Tom cats entering their physical prime do not take well to being ordered around by a literal kitten. Thus, Zach had taken to calling I'haach by 'kitten' as a means of asserting his authority, and in hopes it would put I'haach in his place.

Quite the contrary. As I'haach had become a younger leader in each life, he'd gotten used to having to prove himself, and also extremely good at it. Truly, in the first month of their time together, I'haach had managed to prove himself as not only a skilled and mature leader, but very good in a tight spot. His scar was a testament to that rite. He'd earned it putting up both a magical shield for the group, and a physical one after the magical one fell while they were fighting errant dinosaurs in Grand Central Station in New York. Yes, Grand Central Station in New York. Ever since, Zach had started calling him kitten as a kind of affectionate term one would give to a younger sibling.

"Much to Dauhieh's ecstasy, we're doing diagnostics."

"Jubilations," Zach said, and meant it. I'haach rolled his eyes. They had really missed their wizardry.

"Well," I'haach said, "Sihm said she would meet us at the station, so why don't we just teleport there now?"

"Aw, but my little leader," Zach scolded in a slightly mocking tone, "I thought you wanted us to conserve as much energy as possible at all times."

"That I did, and that order still stands," I'haach told him. "But, seeing as you two won't shut up about magic until we get there and start getting some work done, why not do some now?"

"I call construction!" Dauhieh said quickly.

"I call power source!" Zach said, equally quickly.

"I call a free ride," I'haach muttered under his breath, watching the two of them start working in a flurry of activity to create the magic circle and add the coordinates. And they think I'm the juvenile? he asked Her, wherever She was.

"I'haach, come check your name!" Dauhieh yelled over to him.

He ran over and checked it. Everything seemed fine, except…

"What's that?" he asked Dauhieh. She came over to him and gazed over his shoulder at the figure in the Speech. "I don't remember that in my name!"

"It's in your name, check it with Her."

He did, and it was right. Still…

"I've never seen that one before, anywhere."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter," Zach yelled over. "We can check it with the linguist later. Let's go."

I'haach sighed, then ran over to his place in the circle.

"Everyone ready?" Dauhieh asked.

"Born ready."

"That is so cliché, and I am also ready."

"Alright," she said, and then her voice took on an echoing quality and everything else went quiet as she began reading. Everything leaned in, and I'haach felt a moment of extreme pressure, and then a loud crack filled the air.