"We should come up with a name for our quest," Henry suggested as he and Fang ate at Granny's diner.
Henry had taken Fang back into town and over to Granny's diner so that she could recharge on her energy.
"Our quest?"
"Yeah. You invited me to come along, and so I will. I wanna help you get your friend back, and hopefully keep you from getting punished just for wanting to save him. What happened to him anyway?"
"We were out on an assignment, training a new Illustrator, when we met this wizard. He seemed to have a temporary resistance to our abilities, and managed to capture my partner in this gem he had. After that, he began to use my partner's power for himself. Because I still had an Illustrator by my side, even if they were an amateur, we managed to escape capture as well. If that wizard had caught both a Writer and an Illustrator, the power he would have had would've been immeasurable. It was odd, as though he'd been prepared and knew all about us. No mere wizard should've been able to counteract the power of us Creators."
"Creators?"
"The general term for Writers and Illustrators. Like the words "boy" and "girl" are "genders." That sort of thing. Anyway, apparently Rumpelstiltskin defeated this wizard long ago and liberated the stone in which my colleague is currently contained within. He attempted to use it to find a way to his son, but the wizard had made it so that only he could use the power, and even old Rumpel couldn't crack it. After the Evil Queen - Regina's - curse, it was brought to this town along with all of Rumpel's odd and fancy collector's items he's acquired over the years. According to him, he threw it in the well in anger when it still didn't work for him."
"Which was where we were headed."
"Yes."
"Who were Alek and Aloja? How do you know each other?"
"We work in the same division and we're from the same village. We've been friends for ages. I know Alek's just looking out for me, but he could be less of a jerk about it. He's always been trying to outdo me in the Writer category, and he's always arguing with my Illustrator. Aloja is a nice guy, if a bit quiet sometimes. He's from our village too, and he, Alek and I have known each other since childhood. We stayed friends throughout our training and work, along with my Illustrator who joined our little group of friends. Alek didn't seem to like him, still doesn't, really. Despite the constant quarrels between Alek and my partner, we're all good friends, but now it's like they don't care about my Illustrator at all. More afraid of stepping out of line than helping a friend."
"We can get my moms to help out, and my grandparents. Everyone in Storybrooke would be willing to help you, and you don't have to control them for that."
"Thanks, Henry, but the less people I get involved with, the better. The only reason you're allowed to be staying with me and I'm telling you all this is because you're an Author. At the moment, I could disappear and they'd never know I was here, but if I bring them into more important events in my life, it'll be harder and harder to wipe everything clean again once I'm gone, and even when I get my Illustrator back, he can't help me with something like this. It's a rule of us Creators, and of you Authors, that we aren't to meddle with the affairs of the worlds we look after, not without certain conditions. That's why an Illustrator without a Writer by their side to warn them of what they can and can't do can be dangerous. My Illustrator once went out on his own, nearly messing something up and getting fired if it weren't for me."
"What's his name? Your Illustrator."
"Ken Sai of the Hui clan from the Village of Yama, Twelfth Oracle to the Mizu line," She recited on auto-pilot. She'd heard him repeat his introductory lines a million times. He'd drilled it into her head, and though it was sometimes annoying, she ended up learning it herself, so she supposed it had been effective. "He goes by Sai."
"What exactly does that title mean?"
"Ken Sai is his name, he's from the Hui clan of the Village of Yama. The villages that we're from are conglomerations of numerous clans. Technically, the short version of his name would actually be Yama Hui Ken Sai, but the thing that I told you was his official greeting, and what his name actually stands for. Within each village, there are varying numbers of lines, thirteen oracles of each gender per line. Alek and I are the Thirteenth Oracles of the Utakata line. Sai is the male Twelfth Oracle of the Mizu line from the Village of Yama. It's not really important for you to understand, so don't be ashamed if it's a bit too complicated for you."
"So Alek is your partner Oracle-wise?"
"Yes. The two of us had hope that we'd be partners, Writer and Illustrator, long ago, but we both ended up Writers. Still, we stayed friends, and Aloja ended up being Alek's Illustrator. Even when Sai joined up, we all remained a tight-knit group. At least until now, I suppose."
She stared at her hamburger, her appetite fading.
"I'm sure he's still your friend," Henry said. "He only wants to make sure you don't get into trouble."
"If he wanted that, he wouldn't have confronted me. After the first encounter, HQ will know that he didn't try his hardest to bring me in. We need to avoid each other until we're able to locate Sai. The less encounters it takes for me to come in willingly, the better the chance that Sai's recovery will make up for my unauthorized leave. Alek should know this, or else he wouldn't have run off when he did. The big question is why he took that book from me. He should want to avoid me until I find Sai. If he was ordered to bring me in, and when he first found me I just happened to have saved Sai by that point, things would've gone so smoothly. Sometimes I wonder if Alek wants me to forget about Sai. Wants me to fail in saving him. He always seemed to hold some kind of grudge against him ever since he became my Illustrator."
"Maybe he's just looking out for you. Like a big brother."
"Sai's a good guy. I wish he'd understand that. Aloja liked Sai, though Aloja likes everyone. He's quiet, but he's like that adorable little brother that you'd do anything for. He must be heartbroken that Alek and I are fighting while Sai is missing. He always hates it when Alek picks a fight with Sai, and he's probably the only reason those two don't tear each other apart."
She picked at the fries in front of her, beginning to get lost in her depressing thoughts.
"Well, what should we call our operation?" Henry asked, changing the subject. "I tend to try and make them after animals."
"Animals, huh?"
She stared out the window in thought, sitting back in the booth they were in and crossing her arms.
"I've never really taken a favorite animal before."
"Mistress?" A small voice asked from beneath the table.
A little boy that couldn't have been older than seven popped out from under the table. The first thing Henry noticed about the child were the black cat ears peaking out of his mop of dark, ebony hair.
"Minx!" Fang exclaimed. "What are you doing here? You're too young to go out on your own. I don't sense anyone with you."
"I snuck out," Minx said quietly, his ears drooping in shame.
Unable to stand seeing Minx so sad, knowing that he was still afraid that she'd scold him for the simplest things, Fang sighed and gently petted his head.
"It's okay, Minxy. I just worry about you."
"Who's this?" Henry asked.
Minx's ears suddenly straightened in surprise at Henry's voice before he slipped under the table once more.
"It's okay, Minx," Fang said. "He's not gonna hurt you. This is Minx, a neko. He's a young Illustrator in training. Remember how I told you that Sai and I were training an Illustrator before he got captured? This was the one."
"I thought all of you guys would be human."
"Oh, heavens no. We have people of all species. Sometimes we have to disguise them as humans in order to stay hidden and less conspicuous, but we're far from all human. Even if we are human, most of us have other qualities as well, such as my Oracle status. Minx, this is Henry, an Author."
Minx slowly peeked his head up from under the table, and Henry saw he had eyes the color of emeralds. Minx's eyes then darted to the food on the table and then to Fang.
"Here, have some fish."
She put a plate of half-eaten fish in front of the small neko. He hesitated for a moment before his small hand darted out and snatched it up. Then, quick as a cat, Minx slipped under the table and ate it quickly.
Fang sighed. Minx was a rescue, a little boy who'd been treated like a slave because of his Illustrator abilities. Though it had been a couple years since Fang and Sai had stumbled upon him and rescued him, he still had a habit of eating as though he was afraid his meal would be taken at any moment. He was shy about asking for things, he was terrified he'd be punished for even the smallest mishaps, and he rarely ever spoke up when he was in pain of some kind, whether it was small discomforts or being sick.
When Minx popped his head up again, he took a napkin and wiped his hands, his claws retracting to normal nails.
"So, you're an Illustrator?" Henry asked.
Minx nodded shyly, sitting close to Fang with his hands in his lap, looking down at them.
"He's the only reason that I wasn't captured by that wizard that took Sai," Fang explained. "The first thing he learned how to create was a fish, and consequently, when he panicked, he drew a multiplying symbol and literally made it rain fish, and live ones at that."
Henry laughed at the image in his head of the sky just raining tons and tons of little fish.
"You laugh now, but it was terrifying. Some of the fish were pretty big, and they kept on jumping around on the ground. I wasn't sure whether I was running from the wizard or the flopping fish falling from the sky."
She managed a weak smile before it seemed to wear off.
"You should get home, Minx. The board won't let you come out again if they find out you ran off without supervision."
"But…I wanna find Master Sai," He said in a cute, small voice.
Fang would've argued, but you try saying no to that cute little neko pouty face!
"I…suppose having an Illustrator with us might be useful. I can't teach you much since I'm not Sai, but I could try. This might be a good chance for you to gain some experience."
"Yay!" Minx exclaimed happily.
"Well I think we have a name for our operation," Henry declared.
The pair looked to him in confusion.
"Operation Minx."