Judy wasn't sure how she had managed to find her way back to the barracks, but it didn't seem to matter. Her thoughts raced too wildly to focus on anything around her, and she couldn't remember any of the journey. It all kept coming back to that little shrew, because Judy had the awful feeling she knew exactly who Nick had been speaking to. How could she not? The arrest of the crime lord Big had happened only days before she had graduated from the academy, and it had been all anyone in her class could talk about. Captain General Bogo's introduction before giving the commencement address had mentioned his latest and greatest triumph, but he hadn't, instead speaking only on the importance of the City Guard as a whole. Judy had admired his humility, but she would have been lying if she said she hadn't imagined being in his place. What would she have done, if she had been the one clever and dedicated enough to finally capture one of the city's worst criminals? Would she have been able to capture Big's daughter Fernanda?
It had been almost an afterthought in the coverage of the story, that Big had managed to get his daughter to safety before his own arrest. Judy, however, had every word the papers had run just about burned into her memory. If Nick was trying to help the daughter of Zootopia's most notorious crime lord, why was he doing it? Did it have anything to do with the attempt on the princess's life?
Judy stared up at the ceiling above the cot in the officer's quarters, willing things to make sense. The officer's quarters were silent and deathly still, the thick stone of the walls isolating her completely from the enlisted soldiers in their cavernous shared bunk room. The silence gave the very air a sort of suffocating weight to it as Judy considered the possibilities, her thoughts consuming her. She could practically see it play out across the dull stone ceiling above her, an image of the little shrew messenger—who she desperately tried to think of being anyone but Fernanda—springing her father from jail with some kind of alchemical weapon Nick had made her before they went on to overthrow the queen. It was crazy, she told herself. Nick wasn't the sort of mammal who would do something like that, and it was ridiculous to think that she had simply stumbled upon a vast criminal conspiracy by dumb luck. It was crazy, Judy told herself again, letting out a deep breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
Judy rolled over onto her side, the firm cot barely yielding at all, and stared at the wall, which was just as uninteresting as the ceiling. Her eyes stole to the little table she had set the sabre Nick had given her. The officer's quarters were almost too dark for her to see it, but it glittered faintly in the light coming through the one high and narrow window, and Judy remembered how he had given it up. There had to be a perfectly rational explanation for what she had seen in the market. Yes, it was true that Cencerro had held not even slightly concealed contempt for Nick. And yes, it was true that Nick had told her basically nothing about his past or how he came to be an alchemist. And most of all, it was undeniable that Nick had given something to a shrew who perfectly matched the description of Big's daughter. There had to be a reasonable explanation, one in which Nick wasn't some criminal mastermind.
And yet, as she rolled over onto her back again, Judy just couldn't see it.
"What's got your ears down, Carrots?" Nick asked, "Did Cencerro make you scrub the floors with a toothbrush?"
Judy tried, and almost certainly failed, to look more cheerful, and she smiled weakly at his little joke. Nick certainly looked to be in a better mood than she was; he had the same self-satisfied expression as ever, and he had dressed himself much more dramatically than he had at any point on their trip together. His bottle-green coat had been replaced by a set of robes in a slightly different shade of green, with arcane symbols embroidered on it in gold. If it weren't for his species, and the lack of an ouroboros symbol on his torc, he really would look exactly the part for an alchemist in a way he never had before. Nick had in fact set up a booth in the market, exactly as promised, although his was far less gaudy than the one for the other alchemist Judy had seen the previous day. Instead of an elaborate castle-like tent of gold, Nick simply had a block of a stone table engraved with a single word—ALCHEMIST—and absolutely nothing on top of it. It was at first glance completely unimpressive, but on closer inspection it was the most perfect table Judy had ever seen, all of its sides completely level and unblemished and its corners looking as sharp as razors. Even if Judy hadn't traveled with Nick it would have been obvious that he completely lacked the strength to transport such a thing, and she supposed that he must have created it from the ground of the market square.
The reminder of his skill with alchemy brought up, unbidden, the memory of the glowing contents of the little bag he had given Fernanda. No, Judy told herself firmly, the shrew. Until she was positive that Nick was guilty of a crime, it was her sworn duty as a member of the City Guard not to act as though he was. He might even be her friend. Unless, of course, he was some kind of conspirator.
At the thought, Judy looked at Nick more closely, but he appeared completely guileless. He certainly didn't look like he was laboring under the burden of being a key player in some kind of scheme to topple the monarchy or bring a crime lord back to power. He was just a fox—Oztoyehuatl had been just a fox a voice that sounded a lot like her father's murmured in the back of her head—tall and slender for his species, a mildly concerned expression beginning to cloud his face. Judy realized she had taken far too long to respond to his little joke and hastily waved one dismissive paw, nearly losing her grip on her spear as she did so. She had decided, before leaving the barracks without so much as a word to anyone else, lest of all Cencerro, that she would come to the market in her full City Guard uniform with all her equipment. Just in case.
"No, no, nothing like that!" Judy said, and her voice sounded unnaturally high and hearty to her ears, "I just—I didn't sleep well."
It was, after all, the truth; Judy didn't think she had gotten more than an hour's sleep the entire night. "Ah," Nick said, nodding sympathetically, "It can be hard, sleeping someplace new."
Nick was making it incredibly difficult for Judy to suspect him of some kind of treachery. As he had been on the road, he was friendly and cheerful, but if he was conspiring to help a criminal attack the royal family—whether for revenge or power or any of the other dozens of awful possibilities she had thought up—wasn't that exactly what he would want his escort to think? But that was just thinking that he was suspicious because he wasn't acting suspicious, and if she went down that path where would it end?
Judy tightened her grip on her spear, willing herself to stay calm. She just had to give Nick a fair chance, that was all. She just needed to figure out if he really was a criminal and then she could put the whole nightmare her first official assignment had become behind her. "You're certainly here early," Nick continued, and if he had any inkling of her inner turmoil he certainly didn't show it, "Just in time to watch me put the finishing touches on my booth."
Nick hummed slightly to himself as he unrolled a piece of cloth with a complicated pattern of circles and triangles that made the one he had wrapped the sabre in look simple and set his alchemical focuses at intersection points. He was just about to touch his paws to either side of the cloth atop the smooth stone of his table when Judy spoke almost without realizing it. "Have you been doing this long?" she asked, and Nick looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.
"Setting up an alchemy booth? Oh, I've been at it for a while," Nick said, rolling one paw in a vague gesture.
"Even though Phoenix already has an alchemist?" Judy pressed, and Nick chuckled.
"You've heard of Master Rogelio, then. Some of us don't need fancy booths to get customers," Nick said, and he seemed to be pointedly directing his words over her shoulder.
Judy spun in place and saw the same squirrel apprentice she had seen the previous night, his cheeks puffed out with exertion as he pushed a cart significantly larger than he was and piled high with what looked like sheets of gold foil so fine that they'd be invisible if seen edge-on. Next to him, and making absolutely no effort to help, was the single gaudiest mammal Judy had ever seen.
The porcupine, who Judy assumed to be Master Rogelio, put those few alchemists she had seen in the heart of Zootopia to shame; not only were his blue robes so heavily embroidered with gold thread that almost no blue was visible, but all of his quills had been gilded. His gold-covered quills gleamed brilliantly in the light of the rising sun, revealing that most of them were delicately engraved with words and symbols Judy couldn't understand, but the quills closest to the top of his head were even more elaborately decorated. There, the porcupine had set delicate gems, no bigger than grains of sand, that glowed with their own internal light. At his neck, the porcupine wore what would have been the single largest torc decoration Judy had ever seen if she had never seen an elephant; it was a monstrous ouroboros symbol that looked larger than some actual snakes. The level of detail and the gems set into it made the ouroboros his apprentice wore appear almost understated, and when the porcupine scowled at Nick Judy was half-surprised that his teeth weren't similarly encrusted with jewels.
The porcupine certainly seemed to have a face made for scowling, a well-worn crease crossing his forehead as he drew himself up to his full height. "I thought you would have given up by now," he said, and his voice held the poshest accent Judy had ever heard, so much so that it almost sounded like a parody of a noble.
He did not, Judy noticed, have the platinum torc that would have marked him as a member of society's upper echelon, and Nick didn't seem to respect him like one. "Oh, unless your proposal goes through, there's plenty of room in the market for the both of us. Wouldn't you agree, Master Rogelio?"
Nick's words sounded perfectly sincere, and yet somehow completely lacked respect; perhaps it was because Nick had casually leaned over his table and spread his paws wide to take in the market. It was true that there was plenty of room, as it seemed as though most mammals hadn't begun setting up yet; there were perhaps one or two dozen booths, scattered around like a pawful of grain on a windy day, that only emphasized how large the square was by how empty it was. A few mammals were beginning to mill about, but none were paying them any mind.
Rogelio's scowl somehow managed to intensify. "Your days of selling trinkets and novelties are numbered, fox," he said, "Mark my words, you will regret the day you ever thought to profane the art of alchemy with your filthy—"
"Excuse me, sir," Judy interrupted, as sweetly as she could, "Are you making a threat? You could be arrested for that."
Whether or not Nick was a criminal, her conscience simply wouldn't let her stand aside as a civilian tried bullying him. Rogelio's attention turned to her, as though he was noticing her for the first time, and his lips thinned as he looked her up and down. "You must not be from Phoenix, ensign," he said at last, and he pointed at Nick with one finger, revealing a rather thick and ugly ring, "But you still ought to know better than to... linger around a fox."
The words stung more than they should have. It certainly wasn't just because Nick was a fox that she was beginning to be suspicious of him; even if he had been another bunny she was sure she would have been just as diligent in doing her job. "The City Guard has a duty to look into suspicious mammals," Nick said, and Judy's heart began to speed up.
He had spoken the words blandly enough, but did he know that she was trying to prod more deeply into his motives? Or was it just a coincidence of him needling his fellow alchemist? "Take care then, Nicholas," Rogelio said, and he turned to Judy again, "Certainly, ensign, it was not my intent for my words to be misconstrued."
"They've been clear as glass," Nick said cheerfully, "You have a good day now. You too, Santiago."
Santiago, the squirrel apprentice, had been silent the entire time, but considering the cart he had been pushing that might have been exhaustion as much as it was respect for his master; he had spent the entire conversation puffing and wheezing as he caught his breath. Judy felt as though the squirrel almost said something in response, but at a quick look from his master he simply gave a grunt of effort as he pushed the heavy cart back into motion.
"What was that about?" Judy asked, and Nick's only response at first was a shrug.
When she fixed him with a level stare, however, Nick sighed. "It's all politics," he said, "I try to stay out of it, you know."
Again, Judy couldn't help but wonder if his words had some deeper meaning. Was he mocking her, thinking she wasn't aware of his scheme? "See, some mammals—puffed up members of the Alchemist Guild like Master Rogelio there, mostly—want to make it illegal to practice alchemy without being in the guild," Nick said.
"Why?" Judy asked, and despite herself she was interested in the answer although it didn't seem likely to have much relevance to the dilemma she was facing.
"Why do you think?" Nick asked, a thin smile crossing his face, "Less competition means they can charge more. They say it's about safety and accountability and so on, of course."
"But..." Judy began, pausing to think her words out, "Why haven't they already done that? The Alchemist Guild is the most powerful—"
"Let me let you in on a little secret," Nick interrupted in a low voice, leaning forward and gesturing Judy toward him in a conspiratorial manner, "You saw Santiago there, didn't you?"
"Yes," Judy said, leaning in, although she was completely confused as to what kind of point Nick was getting at.
"What do you think his chances are of becoming a master alchemist like Rogelio?"
"They have to be pretty good, right?"
"No, no they don't," Nick said, "The nasty little secret of the Alchemist Guild is that maybe one in every ten apprentices becomes a master. Those other nine apprentices never learn the secret of making a true philosopher's stone, but that doesn't mean they can't do any alchemy. So there's a sort of agreement. Those failed apprentices do the simple work the masters can't be bothered with, and the masters do the complex work that no one else can. Mammals like Rogelio who want the whole pie don't have the sway to change things, and there's plenty of work for everyone."
"But you were never an apprentice, were you?" Judy asked suddenly.
For a moment, she would have sworn she saw a flicker of surprise on Nick's face, and she plowed forward, "You never made that agreement."
She thought she saw what might be the largest part of why Rogelio didn't like Nick; presumably a job like purifying Phoenix's wells was supposed to be something that the Alchemist Guild would have no competition for, and as such could charge whatever they wanted. With Nick involved, though, Judy supposed that even if Rogelio won the bid he wouldn't make nearly as much profit, and considering the way he dressed she guessed he didn't care for much else.
"Very clever, Ensign Carrots," Nick said approvingly, "That's right. Rogelio doesn't like that, you can be sure of it."
"How did you learn alchemy, then?" Judy asked; it was a question that seemed to be at the heart of the enigma that he was.
"Oh, you know," Nick said vaguely, "Here and there. I told you, it's a long and boring story."
"I want to hear it, though," Judy said.
"Maybe later, then," Nick said, "For now, though..."
Before Judy could even begin to protest his latest deflection, Nick set his paws on either side of the cloth still on top of his stone table and Judy felt the increasingly familiar power of alchemy. Her fur stood on end, the air suddenly sharp, and symbols began appearing on the table, so dark that they seemed like infinite voids. With a sudden flash of light, the symbols became grooves, but the light didn't end; the symbols began to glow with their own pale light. It was, Judy had to admit, a far simpler display of alchemical power than Rogelio's tent, but no less clear; even an illiterate mammal would have no trouble figuring out that the booth belonged to an alchemist.
"Well, that's all set," Nick said, rolling up his cloth as he nodded approvingly at his work, "So how about we see if we can pick up that book I want? It is a bit of a walk."
"What about your booth?" Judy asked, although it was more an attempt to buy more time to figure out what Nick was up to rather than an honest interest in what happened in the market.
Nick chuckled. "It's literally part of the ground. It's not going anywhere until I want it to."
Without any further arguments to pose, Judy reluctantly followed Nick, but just as they were leaving the market decided to go for broke. "I saw you speaking to a shrew last night," she began, keeping a careful eye on Nick's face.
Author's Notes:
The version of Alfonso's arrest that Judy read about doesn't really match up with how Bogo remembers it happening, but of course both the papers and Bogo have their own biases. This chapter also reveals that the one time Judy mentions having seen Bogo was at her graduation. I did, I admit, plot things out so that neither one actually personally knows the other, but have wildly different opinions. Judy respects Bogo by his reputation and what she has seen of him. Bogo only knows of Judy and most definitely does not respect her.
I think it also says something about each character that Bogo consistently refers to the crime lord by his actual name, Alfonso, while Judy knows him by one of his chosen names, Big.
Master Rogelio's rather tacky sense of style was, I thought, rather appropriate considering how he sets up his booth with what's essentially a golden castle. His clothes are at least as richly embroidered as what the court alchemist, Tomas, is described to wear, and I thought quill gilding worked as something both fashion-conscious and practical. I would imagine that life for porcupines in the world of Zootopia has to be somewhat difficult, what with the risk of accidentally stabbing someone with your quills. In this particular setting, that's an even worse risk, since in most of the city-state your torc is going to give you an injury identical to that of your victim. Coating quills with metal could also serve to give them a blunt end without having to cut off the barbs. Whether that looks better or worse is, of course, entirely a matter of personal taste, but Rogelio's tastes seem pretty clear.
This chapter fleshes out the organization of the Alchemist Guild a bit more, and I figure that this also helps explain why complete philosopher's stones are so rare and expensive in this setting. The number of master alchemists is very low, and thus their services are expensive.
Nick previously claimed, in chapter 3, that the story of how he learned alchemy is long and boring, and he makes the same claim in this chapter. Whether or not you believe that is, I suppose, entirely up to you.
As always, thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought if you're so inclined as to leave a comment.