A/N: In which there is missing equipment, a verity circle, and confirmation of a dinner appointment. Which is definitely not a date.

Chapter Nine

The trip back to Ravnica was rough but short, and they landed with a bump on the rough cobblestones of the lower Tenth. Ral breathed a long sigh of relief as the familiar sights and smells crowded into his consciousness. The stink of rotting garbage wafting upward from one of the grates that connected to the Undercity was oddly comforting, and the buzz of noise even in the semi-deserted alleyway was music to his ears. He turned slowly to his companion. "Krokt, it's good to be home," he sighed, and Jace nodded with a smile. "Where are you off to now? I'd better see you back to make sure no one else tries to take a pot-shot at you."

"I'd better get back to my office," Jace said tiredly. "I just hope my absence hasn't resulted in an interguild incident."

"I hope mine hasn't resulted in an irate dragon," muttered Ral, but he took a moment to gauge the quickest route to New Prahv, which was sufficiently close to the Guildpact's office to be a useful point of reference. "Okay then, let's go. Are you good to walk?"

Jace nodded hesitantly. "I'm still very tired," he said. "But I've been resting—it was mostly the, well, the poison that was stopping me from planeswalking, I think."

Ral paused for a moment before he held out an arm. "Lean on me, if you want," he said, concealing a sudden flash of nervousness to the best of his ability.

"Thanks," said Jace, and took the proffered arm with a tired sigh.

Jace tried to enjoy being back on Ravnica, but, to tell the truth, he was more tired than he had let on to Ral. Which, he thought guiltily, might mean he was falling right back into the habit of not telling people things they needed to know. On the other hand, they would be back soon, and this was hardly the same level as the poisoning.

Still… "Ral," he said.

"Hm?" The Izzet mage turned toward him, and Jace was caught off-guard by the half smile on his face. He suddenly realized that he'd agreed to take Ral out to dinner, which might, under other circumstances, be construed as a d—

A sudden bolt of blue-white light made him jump backwards, and a corona of force blossomed around his companion. "Living Guildpact!" someone called. Jace turned in a daze to see Lavinia, flanked by three other Azorius arresters, hurrying into the alleyway. "Jace," she said, grasping his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm—" Jace almost said fine, then remembered the still slightly raw wounds on his chest and compromised with, "—I'll be fine."

Without another word, Lavinia turned from him to Ral's form, frozen inside the shimmering detention sphere. "Ral Zarek, Izzet guildmage," she said. "You are under arrest on suspicion of kidnapping and assault on a government body."

"Did Guildmage Zarek injure you in any way?"

"No, he didn't," Jace said in exasperation for what felt like the hundredth time. He was standing inside a verity circle, in the center of a group of Azorius arresters. "I have told you again and again that Guildmage Zarek rescued me from an assassination attempt. I apologize for disappearing, but I had no choice."

"Where did you go?"

Jace shut his mouth and shook his head. "It's not safe for me to answer that," he said. "Somewhere I would be safe."

The Azorius arrester frowned, but nodded. "Of course, Guildpact. You are under no obligation to answer any of these questions."

"Well, I'll answer as many as possible, until you let Ral go," Jace said in frustration. "He was not responsible for the attack."

"To your knowledge, that's certainly clear," said the arrester, but she smiled at Jace. "You've made it very evident what you believe, Living Guildpact, and you certainly don't appear to be under an enchantment or other spell. Thank you for putting up with all of these questions."

Jace shook his head in irritation. "I understand you're doing your best, Arrester Flavia," he said. "Where is Lavinia?"

"She's interrogating Zarek," replied Flavia. "He's in a verity circle. If his story matches your own, I believe he'll be free to go."

Jace nodded, stepping carefully out of the verity circle. "I think I'd like to go lie down, if you don't mind," he said.

"Of course, Guildpact," responded Flavia.

Ral Zarek was in a foul mood. He had spent the last six hours in a verity circle, not to mention being stone for an indeterminate amount of time before that. And now he had returned to his lab to find that half his equipment had been confiscated by the Azorius as part of their 'investigation.' He was just sitting down at his eviscerated lab table to try and salvage something, when there was a knock on the door.

Snarling something like 'gragh,' Ral flung himself back to his feet and stomped over to the door, yanking it open. The man standing on the other side was sufficiently high in the Izzet hierarchy for Ral to spend half a second wondering whether it was worth it to insult him. He compromised with, "What do you want, Andon?" deliberately dropping the other's title.

Bori Andon raised an eyebrow. "I merely came by to help you out, Zarek."

"Really."

"Yes. May I come in?" Ral stepped back just enough that the other mage had to pass uncomfortably close to him to enter the room. Andon gave him a tight smile and slid in, sucking in his rather expansive gut to get past. "I heard you had lost some equipment to the Azorius. Quite an extensive loss, I see?"

Ral growled. "Did you come here to gloat?"

"On the contrary," smiled the other man. "I came to offer you the use of some of my own equipment."

The lightning mage frowned, somewhat set back. While there was no particular rivalry between him and Andon, there was no particular friendship either. "That would be astonishingly kind of you," he said finally.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Andon said cheerfully. "Well, that's settled then. I'll send my weird up to drop it off shortly." He clapped Ral on the back jovially, apparently ignoring the displeased flinch the lightning mage responded with, and headed for the door. As he pulled the door shut behind him, Ral heard the tinkling of a tiny bell.

He stood staring at the closed door for a little while before turning back to his desk. He worked in frustration at what little he had left for several minutes, until he heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in!" he shouted, then, as it started to open, "Did Andon happen to send any manalines, because I'm going to need a lot of them."

"Uh," said the voice of the Living Guildpact.

Ral swiveled slowly around in his seat. "What do you want?" he demanded. "I don't want to see anyone. Why don't you just put me out of my misery? Go tell Niv-Mizzet I'm a planeswalker. When I get taken to pieces for his pleasure at least I might see some high-quality equipment again."

"I came to apologize," Jace said. "And to thank you for saving my life. I think I'll be able to convince Lavinia to release your equipment as well. There may just be—a slight delay."

"How long a delay?"

Jace winced. "Up to two weeks," he said heavily. "I'm sorry. It was the best I could do. Lavinia is up to her ears in paperwork. It turns out when the living incarnation of all law and order goes missing after an attempt on his life, a lot of paperwork is generated."

Ral growled something incomprehensible even to himself. "At least I'll see it again at some point in the distant future," he conceded. "Well, thanks for coming by to tell me in person. I take it they're not going to arrest me again for having you set foot in my office?"

"I certainly hope not," Jace said darkly. "I may be the Living Guildpact, but I had better be allowed to have a personal life."

"A personal life?" drawled Ral. "Coming by to apologize is truly personal, Beleren."

"Well." Jace coughed, stalled, and then spoke again. "I actually also came around to arrange the repayment of my debt and set up that dinner appointment."

"Ah, right, that." Ral waved a hand. "Consider the debt repaid. I've got a lot to do to get my lab back in shape, and I'm incredibly behind on my work."

He turned away, waiting for Jace to leave, but the Guildpact stood silently for a moment before speaking again. "I couldn't possibly do that," he said, calmly. "What kind of incarnation of law would I be if I didn't repay my debts?"

"Look, Beleren—"

"Besides, I'd like to take you out to dinner."

Ral's head shot up again. That—was unexpected. "Would you," he said flatly.

"I am grateful to you, Ral, but I also—" Jace paused and swallowed. "Your cat friend was right. We speak the same language. We—well, we understand one another."

"If you say so," grunted Ral.

"I'm not asking you on a date," Jace said, possibly a little too quickly. "Just dinner. Just to—get to know one another. Spend time together when we're not fighting for one or other of our lives."

"If I say yes, will you leave?"

"For now."

"Ugh. Fine. Whatever you want. If you come back before seven, I'll probably electrocute you."

"Then I'll see you at seven." Jace gave him a smile before turning around and heading out of the room. For some reason, Ral found his gaze drawn down along the Guildpact's back, but all he could see was the straight line of Jace's cloak. Well, what else had he been looking for?