There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation.

~James Nathan Muller

Judy was once more on her cubicle, as now she was working on a few points of the ongoing investigation regarding the events of the mall. These days had been slow, as she and Nick had been assign to help the enforcers with their work, and the investigation was progressing, according to the enforcers, but it was not progressing on the style and speed that Judy would like.

The enforcers were still full of secrets, but they were still open enough to inform them of meaningful changes, and they were still keeping them on par of the information that were needed to be known by them during this new cooperation. However, they still seemed like they were doing things on their own, and this often meant that Judy and Nick had to go on different lines to help gather information.

However, for non-mages like them to gather information regarding mages proved to be a challenge.

As they already figured out long ago, mages kept to themselves and stayed clear from the public eye, and this made it difficult to gather information about them on the traditional means. Judy even considered reaching out for Mr. Big to ask if he could help them get more information, but Nick talked her out of it, once he had already told her some times that if she asked Big for favors, sooner or later he would start asking for her help in return for these favors.

This ended up convincing her not to reach for the crime boss for help. However, as of right now, Judy had been starting to reconsider it.

The investigation that she has been doing lately proved not to be leading her anywhere. Nick was still talking with his contacts, but it seemed that most of them either didn't knew anything about the mages or had theories that were far too crazy to be taken seriously. He was even trying to use Honey's help, but apparently, she was too busy investigating information on the Bellwether family, based on the information that the enforcers had given her about their authority over the city.

These last days had not been very advantageous on getting information, as it seemed that they had already found out as much as they could on the first days, and now they could not find anything new.

This frustrated the bunny cop.

Still, Judy felt glad that internal affairs seemed to have left her and Nick alone. They had not bothered them in any other moment since the interview three days ago, and it seemed that the answers that she and Nick gave were enough to satisfy them, at least for the time being. Of course, no one had said to them that the investigations were over and that they were off the hook, however, they had not asked for any further questioning of the two cops either.

Judy was glad for this, once it was frustrating enough not to be able to find new information on her investigation without feeling like the mammals of internal affairs would be breathing on her neck.

Judy grunted as she crunched yet another piece of paper and threw it into the basket, as she once more found herself with no meaningful information on the subject of the event of the mall.

She tried to look deeper into Marble Trading, the company that transported and held the craters where the golems supposedly where, and on the mysterious "K.T." to whom the warehouse belonged. However, this proved to get her nowhere, as all of her advances were deny by the company, and she just could not get any information regarding K.T. anywhere. Apparently, the mammal had enough connections to keep his identity in absolute secret.

She even tried to get other information regarding the "Black Vipers", to see if there was any mention of them anywhere, but she found no useful results. She found no information nor rumors of any new gang that went by this name. At least not in Zootopia.

She even tried to look into the two mages that she had met three days prior: Legoshi Ogami and Melon.

She was pretty sure that "Melon" was not the gazelle's real name, and this was something that she added on her own personal notes on the two. She made sure to remember it, though, as it was an important clue on his identity, and it was something that could ring some bells when she shared this information with the enforcers.

However, they both proved not to be able to give her information, once neither of them ever heard of freelancers with these names.

Marceli even made a commentary on the wolf and on his surname.

"You know, there actually is a wolf named Ogami." The black tod said to Judy, "He is from Nippon, and he often did some jobs in conjunction with the enforcers, but he always worked alone. Also, I heard that he is somewhere in China right now."

"Maybe this wolf is related to him?" Judy asked, and the tod looked back at her.

"Well, I'm not sure about that. Ogami was never the kind who strike me as having a family. But, you never know. It could be."

Judy took in all that they said, however, they still didn't said anything about the two that could be truly meaningful.

They also couldn't confront these two themselves, once they only remained in their custody for less than an hour, as a butler from the Manechester family came to bail them out and to drive them back to the mansion. No one could do a single thing about that, and Judy was pretty sure that the gazelle had a smirk under that mask that covered his muzzle as he and his shy wolf friend walked out of Precinct 1.

It was one of these moments where Judy felt impotent in the face of something.

Since the enforcers could not truly help with his subject, she tried reaching for the Manechester mansion, once these two would be staying in there. However, she was not able to really contact anyone, once the one who answered the phone seemed not to be willing to put the Manechesters into the phone, once they were "very busy". Judy even tried going in there with Nick (with the fox trying to dissuade her) and she was not allow entry by the butler who was at the door.

Once they returned, Bogo called her to his office and told her very clearly that she should stop, for this would only bring herself and the ZPD problems, and they already had enough of these with "recent events", as the buffalo himself put it.

It turned out that Bogo was right. The fact that they had warned them at the hidden camera did not granted them to become more helpful towards the ZPD. In fact, apparently they already had found out the hidden camera before the ZPD informed them, and already took care of it. They were a bit grateful for them calling to tell, according to what Bogo said, but they still were not willing to give any help to the ZPD.

Apparently, these "recent events" caused some serious strain between that family and the ZPD. Precinct 1, in particular.

So, this meant that Judy could not go and ask for information to the family directly. However, this did not stopped the bunny of looking into that family, and she did found out a bunch of information.

The Manechester family is a family of horses that has been part of Zootopia for around two hundred and fifty years, as the first of them moved to the new land along with the colonizers, and in there he made a home. Apparently, he took two female natives as his slaves (slavery was still a thing back then), and one of them bore a foal that he took as his heir. That was the start of the lineage of the Manechester in Zootopia.

The family had a long history, one that seemed to say that they didn't did well with predators, once the family seems to have, at some point, been in favor of segregation.

They were also a family with great savings, taken as an aristocratic family of the city, who had a lot of business and lands back on the day. However, it seems that their fortune was greatly affect by the crisis of the Roaring Twenties. They went bankrupt, like many other companies and families of Zootopia at the time. Things got so bad that the family was force to leave the city. After that, they disappeared from the records for a while.

However, they reappeared once a certain horse came into the city. This was Yahya Manechester, and he was the one who brought back the fortune of the family by opening his own business: a private police, investigation and security company, named Beastar Corps.

The name was a bit cheesy, on Judy's opinion, but there was no denying that, already in the first year of its creation, around fifty years ago, the company already showed that it was competent, reliable and successful.

Not only they got a great deal of satisfaction from their clients and made a name for themselves, but it seems that, in their first decade of activity, they were actually able to reduce the crime incidence in Zootopia, which was, at the time, growing at an alarming rate. That company helped the ZPD control the crime and have the criminality within the city to reduce more than seventy percent in the span of a few years. That was no small thing.

All of that made Judy felt an admiration for that company, as well as for the horse that commanded it, once it seemed that it was his command over his employees, ingenuity, and resolve to search for justice that helped them achieve such a feat.

However, things had started to take a strange turn.

As she looked more about Yahya and the Beastar Corps online, she soon started to find some strange postings. Most of it seemed to be about rumors of some kind regarding the horse and the ones who worked for him...

Most of it was broken information, and Judy actually had a hard time making heads and tails about it. But, it seemed to suggest that Yahya Manechester could not be as much of a correct mammal as he made everyone believe...

The bunny's ears twitched as she caught the sound of footfalls on a familiar manner, and she was soon able to figure out who it was.

"Hey, Nick." She said, turning to him and looking at the incoming fox, how looked back at her.

"One of these days I'll finally be able to sneak on you." Nick said to her, and she smiled back at him, before she sighed and placed her attention back on her notes, trying to work on more lines of investigation that maybe they could follow.

"So, still no new clues?"

"None." Judy said, and Nick looked back at her, as the bunny continued:

"Nearly three days without anything new on the investigation. It is so frustrating. It kind of feels like everything leads to a dead end."

"Yeah, trying to find more about that wolf and gazelle didn't worked, huh?" Nick asked, and Judy sighed.

"No, it didn't." Judy said, and she looked at Nick, "Maybe they don't even have anything to do with this, but I had to try to look at it too, because you never know, right?"

Nick looked at her, and simply smiled and nodded, not truly wanting to contradict his partner in a moment like that.

"And, in the meantime, I learned a lot of things about the Manechester and their company."

"Oh, yeah." Nick said, looking at her, "Everyone knows about the Beastar Cops and their work on Zootopia."

"I've never heard of them before." Judy admitted to him, and Nick only shrugged.

"Well, they are the kind of organization that prefers to act a little under the radar. They are famous for being discreet." Nick said to her. "Besides, from what I could hear, it seems that they are not the kind that makes business with the ZPD. Especially not in the last five years. It seems that they prefer to avoid it if possible."

"But why?" Judy asked, looking at him, "I mean; I don't really get it. It seems that a while ago they were on good terms. I mean, it didn't seemed that they were keen on cooperating, but there was no animosity between the two agencies." She said, as she remembered the commentaries and news reports online, not to mention the files on the digital archives of cases in which the ZPD and the Beastar Corps worked together.

"Then all of sudden the two started really being at odds." She said, and looked at Nick, "What, did something happen? Did one of them interfered in some investigation the other was doing?"

This was what Judy could think. That maybe the actions of a worker of the Beastar Corps could have interfered with some important case of the ZPD. Or even that a newbie officer of the ZPD could have gotten in the way of some investigation that the Beastar Corps was conducting. This seemed like a good explanation to why all of sudden the two would be at odds.

"But, if that was the case then there would have been reports or even news about it, and I found nothing." She said, looking at Nick. It was clear that she wanted to know if he knew something and, for a long moment, the fox only looked back at her.

It seemed that he was debating if he should or should not tell her.

"Nick..." Judy said, looking at him, as she seemed to have realized that he knew something about it.

She had learned to read him in this time they had been friends, and was one of the few mammals that could actually do it. Nick looked back at her, and he sighed.

"Carrots." He said, looking at her, "Rich people are used to do what they want, and that is because they have money and power to get others to go along with their wills. This is truth for the Manechester family."

She looked at him, and the fox continued:

"Indeed, the ZPD and the Beastar guys never truly loved each other, but they even did got along. But, around five years ago, something happened. Something serious." Nick said, and he looked at her. "Now, I can't tell you details, but is mostly because I don't know these details myself. When it happened, it was a scandal, and the Manechester guys did what rich families usually do: they used their money and influence to sweep it under the rugs. That is why you can't find any news or reports on it."

Judy looked at him, as she was getting what he was saying.

"Okay, I got it." She said to him, "So, what was it? Did the Beastar Corps interfered with some investigation of the ZPD? Where they target of some investigation?" She asked, remembering of the strange and broken rumors that she found online about the Beastar Corps and about Yahya Manechester.

Nick looked at her, and he hesitated before answering:

"Actually... It was not really the BC the problem." Nick said, looking at her, "The problem was actually... a bit more personal than that."

Judy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You see, around five years ago, before you moved to Zootopia, there was an election to mayor." Nick explained to her, "Among the candidates was that fancy lion, Lionheart, with our beloved psychotic ewe as his vice. One of the other candidates was no other than Adrian Manechester."

Judy looked at him, surprised.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Nick said to her, "I knew the guy was a jerk the moment I heard his first speech. He had a lot of promises that would 'increase safety on the city', including tightening a few regulations and extra powers to the police forces."

Judy looked at him, and it seemed that he didn't really liked the speech that Adrian Manechester used to run for mayor. She wondered what it could mean "extra powers"...

"The guy was a douche, but he knew how to convince the people. He got that from his father, some say." Nick spoke, "Back then there was a real chance that he could actually win and become the new mayor. But, it all came crashing down."

Judy looked at him.

"Crashing down how?" Judy asked, looking back at her partner, and he looked back at her.

"Like I told you, I don't know details. They prevented it from getting on the news and prevented any report from being fill. I basically heard it all mostly through rumors and gossip." Nick said to her, "But, apparently, one of Manechester's children got drunk at a restaurant and assaulted no one other than the police Chief of Precinct 1."

Judy's eyes widened as she heard that.

"They assaulted Chief Bogo!?" Judy exclaimed, and her partner nodded at her.

"That's right, Carrots." He said, "With a broken wine bottle. Or so I was told."

"It happened in some really fancy place. The kind where the rich go to eat and meet other rich guys so they can congratulate each other for being masters of the universe." He said to her, "According to some, the Manechester in question was drinking their fill and had a little over too many. Chief Bogo just happened to be in there and he and that Manechester got into an argument, and this escalated until the mammal lost their cool and swung a broken bottle at Buffalo Butt's face. They say that there was a lot of blood, and that our dear Chief was lucky that he didn't lost an eye in that."

"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy said in astonishment, and Nick nodded at her.

"Yeah, a lot of the mammals in there who saw that thought the same thing." Nick said to her, "Some say it was a luck that there was another police officer in there to subdue the horse and force them to leave, because the mammal looked ready to lunge at the Chief again."

Nick looked at her, and he explained:

"After that, Adrian Manechester started doing all that he could to suffocate the case. He paid some mammals in there to keep quiet. He used his connections to the owners of important newspapers to make them leave this out of the headlines, some say that he even used some of his power to 'convince' Bogo not to press any charges." Nick explained to her, "But, even when you are rich, your money and power can only take you so far. By the time that he managed to suffocate the story, rumors had already spread, and the damage was already done."

Judy looked at him, taking in what the fox said.

"His image was affected by that." Judy said, and nick nodded.

"A guy whose platform was based in his complete support to the police forces and to law and order having his own child assault Chief Bogo? A public figure with a long history with the ZPD and with a great deal of public approval ever since he became the Chief? And the horse who assaulted him was left off the hook with a slap to the wrist?" Nick looked at her as he spoke that, "Of course that would not bode well. Even to the guy's supporters."

"This greatly affected his image with the public of Zootopia, and this even affected the Beastar Corps in a way. After all, the company is owned by the Manechester family." Nick explained to her, "The guy lost a lot of his popularity with the people, and even some of the groups that supported him backed out. In the end, Adrian Manechester lost to Lionheart. He has been trying to rebuild his reputation ever since."

Judy stood in silence, as she processed all that she just heard.

This all didn't bode well, for it sounded as if Adrian Manechester had used all of his influence to get his child out of problem. She already learned that this was part of life, but she still got really bother by this.

Also, she could not believe that Bogo had allowed himself to be bribed. She could believe that other mammals would accept it, and that the newspapers could keep something off the news if their owners were talk into it. But she knew Bogo well enough to know that he was the last mammal in all of Zootopia who would accept any kind of bribery.

"I don't believe Chief Bogo could be convinced by them not to press charges." Judy said, looking at Nick. "I mean, he is so correct, there is no way that they could have bribed him."

"Bribing is not the only way of 'convincing' someone to do something, Carrots." Nick said, looking back at his partner, "Anyway, I'm just saying what I heard. Ever since then, the relations between the Manechester and the ZPD had been awkward and, consequently, the relationship of the Beastar Corps with the ZPD as well."

That much Judy could understand. However, something else came to her mind.

"Ben seems to get really well along with Chandler Manechester." Judy said to him, and Nick looked back at her, before he shrugged.

"Yeah, that caught me by surprise to." Nick said, and he looked back at her. "Anyway, they say that young Chandler is kind of a black sheep among his family. Instead of wanting to continue their business he decided to become the king of confections. The rest of his family didn't believed this could work, it seems. Well, guess he proved them all wrong. Him being friends with a cop actually ain't that much of a big deal, in my opinion."

Judy could agree with that, as she remembered how well along Ben and the horse got. They really seemed like they were great friends.

"After all, if a fox and a bunny can be great friends, why cannot a horse and a cheetah?" Nick said, looking back at her, and she looked back at him, and smiled.

"Now that is what I like to see." Nick said as he looked at her, "You look way better when you smile, Carrots."

Judy felt her cheeks heating and her nose starting to twitch as Nick said that to her. She had no idea why, and she hoped that Nick didn't noticed either of these things.

"Well, Mom says that it is a family thing." Judy said, looking away and pretending to focus on her notes for a while. "She says that all of us don't look good when we frown, but that we look much better when we are smiling."

"I'll take your word in that." Nick said, looking at his partner. "Speaking about your family, how are they doing?" He asked, and Judy looked back at him.

"Still in Zootopia. They are determined to stay in here to support mom until the enforcers say that she can go back home. Especially dad." The bunny spoke to her partner, "But, they say that Cotton will be going back tomorrow or the day after. Her parents are really worried with her after the mall, and they would like to have her back home."

"So, they will be in here for a while?" Nick said, looking at her, "Well, this will give them a chance to see the city a bit more. There are plenty of places around here that bunnies could visit." He had a smile as he said that.

When Nick spoke of the "plenty of places to visit", he certainly was not counting with the place that those bunnies were currently visiting:

His mother's house.

Sophie herself had been a bit surprised when the number of Hopps kids have decided to pass in there to visit. She had not expected some bunnies to come to her door; among them was little Cotton, who was take for a stroll along with her uncles and aunties.

Of course, since Sophie was not one to slam the door on the face of a visit, she allowed them all to enter, and soon she was serving them all pie and tea. The bunnies gladly accepted, and they all loved the pie that she was offering them.

"This is delicious, Mrs. Wilde!" Cotton said with a mouthful of pie, her face stain with the blueberry filling, which one of her aunties soon was cleaning with a handkerchief. Meanwhile, the other bunnies complimented the pie as well.

"Seriously, you did this yourself?" Jason asked, as he ate the pie leaning on his chair and with his paws over the table. "This one is even better than the one that Gray makes. Seriously, you could drive him out of business if all of your pies are like that."

"Well, thank you for the compliment." Sophie said, looking at the bunny. "But, could you please remove your feet from the table?"

Immediately after, one of the females smacked his feet out of the table, nearly causing the bunny to fall to the ground, but he was able to keep his balance, and also didn't let his pie fall, a rather impressive feat. This caused some of the dozen or so bunnies to chuckle at this.

Each one of these bunnies had a piece of pie with them, and this meant that it was the end of the freshly baked pie that Sophie thought that would last for an entire day. Well, she would have more time to do it lately, now that her job was considering giving her an advance retirement...

Anyway, Sophie felt glad for receiving visits in there, and she saw that the Hoppses in general seemed to be quite comfortable around her. Of course, she noticed that some of them still had a nervousness around her, with the way that their noses twitched and the way that they seemed to shy away from her touch. Still, most of the dozen bunnies in there, including young Cotton, seemed to be quite receptive of her, not showing any kind of apprehension or fear.

Sophie felt glad that they didn't seemed to fear her.

"Okay then." Jason said, eating the last forkful of pie. "Now, back to the questions, there is some kind of spell that can make you stronger?" he asked, and Sophie looked at her.

"Oh, yes." Sophie explained to them, "It is called reinforcement, and it is something really basic among mages."

All of the bunnies looked at her as she was saying this, and the vixen continued:

"It works by picking up a certain part of your body and using magical energy to improve their properties."

"So, basically you become stronger and tougher, right?" Jason asked, and it looked like he had some interest in it.

"It is not just that." Sophie said to them, "It works by using magical energy to increase the qualities of a certain part of your body, and it is not limiting to making stronger. For instance, by sending magical energy to your eyes, you can see better. By sending it to your ears, you can hear better. It works by picking up a specific concept and amplifying it. The more common use of this is to reinforce one's own muscles, in order to augment physical strength and resilience. I did that back on the mall."

"Oh, yeah!" Cotton said, "When you kicked tail!"

"Yeah, when I kicked tail." Sophie said, and everyone around looked at her. "Actually, reinforcement is hardly even considered a spell, since all that you are doing is sending magical energy to a specific part of your body. It is just one of the most basic things that mages learn."

The Hoppses have been asking her questions about her past and about magecraft during the time they were in there. Actually, Sophie had the impression that they had come to her in hopes that she would actually answer to questions that they had regarding magecraft, for apparently their mother doesn't wanted to talk of such subject.

"She says that the least we know the better." Cotton said, looking at the vixen, and Sophie, despite not saying it to the bunnies, felt like she could somehow understand Bonnie's hesitation to share information with them. After all, she knew that, as a Höhle, the bunny surely had a hard time growing.

She heard enough stories about what it was like to grow up as a necromancer of the Höhle clan to feel very glad that she was born in the Wilde clan instead.

"So, if I was a mage and could reinforce my fists, I would be able to punch harder?"

"Your bones would become harder and your muscles stronger, so yes." Sophie said to Jason, "The same way, you could be able to run faster and jump farther by reinforcing your legs, as well as being able to kick harder.

Jason looked at her, and he smiled.

"Nice."

Sophie looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and then little Cotton asked a question:

"Mrs. Wilde. How did you dressed when you were still a mage?"

Sophie looked at the small bunny.

"Well, I guess that much like I dress today. Why?"

"Because I want to dress like a mage for Halloween." The little bunny said, and she sounded so sincere and innocent with this that Sophie could not help but find it really endearing.

"Well, I guess I can give you a few tips." Sophie said, and this made the young bunny quite happy.

"Yay! I'm going to get a lot of candy when I go trick-or-treating." She said, and she looked at the vixen once more. "Did you went trick-or-treating when you were a kit, Mrs. Wilde?"

Sophie looked at the innocent eyes of the bunny that asked her that.

"Well, I did once. But it was a special occasion." Sophie admitted, "You see, mages don't really go around playing trick-or-treat during Halloween."

"They don't?" Cotton asked, looking up at the vixen, "Then what mages do during Halloween? Oh, do you make a big party as if it was New Year?"

Sophie looked at the young bunny, once more taking in just how endearing the little bunny was.

"They probably use the day to make spells." Jason said, looking at her, "I mean, Halloween is kind of based in an old thing that witches did, right? Something about it being a special day when energies are right, the alignment being okay and all that stuff. They probably use this day to make their best rituals."

Sophie looked at him, and she said:

"Well, you are not entirely wrong, you know." She said, and the bunny looked back at her, "Mages often are too focused on their studies and researches, and many times they focus on this more on holidays." She said to them, "On Halloween I usually spend the night studying, and sometimes I practiced some high level rituals on my own. That's basically what mages are expected to do with the time they have."

"Boring." Jason said, and some looked at him with a reproving glare.

"I think it is really interesting." Harry said. The dark bunny had been the one who asked the most questions and paid the most attention to all that Sophie had said. It was obvious that the subject was one that truly interested him.

Not a surprise for the other bunnies, who knew how much of a geek the bunny was, and how much he loved this fantasy and magic stuff.

"Yeah, magecraft can be really interesting, even though it can come with a great burden." Sophie admitted, and Harry nodded.

"Yes, I understand it." Harry said, "I'm glad that you told us so much about magecraft. It's really nice of you, Mrs. Wilde."

"Please, call me Sophie." The vixen said, and the bunny nodded.

"Okay, Sophie." Harry said, and looked at her. "And... well... I know that this might sound inconvenient, but... well, it this would not bother you..."

Sophie looked at him, as the bunny stammered.

"W-well... I'd like to know if you could... demonstrate magecraft to us."

Sophie looked at him, raising an eyebrow, and so did some of the ones who were around.

"I-Is just... I'd really like to see it in action." Harry said. "I mean, we kind of saw it from the video online but... I kind of what to see it in person."

Sophie continued to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What, do you want her to pull her magic flashcards and create one of these butterflies that Judy spoke about?" Jason said, looking at his brother, and so were the others on the table. Harry was starting to get uncomfortable with all of the attention that he was suddenly getting. However, most of his own attention was still focus into the vixen, who now was looking away.

"I-I'm sorry." Harry said, looking at Sophie. "I guess you can't go asking an ex-mage to do magecraft for you, right? The whole point is actually you leaving magecraft behind, right?"

"No." Sophie said, looking at him. "It's okay."

Harry looked around, and he looked like he wanted to continue to apologize, but Sophie looked at him.

"I can demonstrate a spell to you."

Harry blinked and looked at her, and so did other bunnies on the table.

"Hey, I still have some skills." Sophie said, looking at them, "Also, you have been so nice to come make me company, that I guess that I could very well show you something."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, barely believing it. "This is so cool! Thank you!"

"Don't mention it." Sophie said, and now she started to think. Just what kind of spell she could show them. Well, it had to be something truly simple. Something that would not cause any problem. It also had to be something safe.

All of sudden, she got the idea, and she knew what spell she could show them.

"Okay, you sit back." She said, and she started to focus.

The bunnies around the table looked at her as she closed her eyes and focused. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again.

"Aspiro." She said, and she took a breath, before she started to blow.

However, this was not your regular blowing, as she was blowing with enough force to create a breeze.

More than a breeze. The wind that she was creating by blowing was enough to huff the clothes and ears of the bunnies. It was strong enough to make a few of them to nearly lose their balance.

She blew like that for a few seconds, before she finished, and the bunnies looked back at her.

"That was it?" Jason asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Awesome!" Cotton said, seeming that she had found it a lot more impressive than Jason did, and some of the other siblings agreed with the little bunny.

"Oh, come on." Jason said, leaning back. "She only blew a little breeze. Big deal." He said, and Sophie looked at him.

"Aspiro." She said gain, and now she blew in direction to Jason. Immediately, the bunny lost his balance, this caused him to fall on his back, and this prompted a round of laughter from his siblings.

"Hey!" Jason said as he got up, and Sophie herself chuckled.

"As you can see, even a simple spell can be very effective if done correctly." Sophie said to them, "This spell is one of the simplest there is, and it is considered the most basic of the spells of wind elemental magecraft." She spoke to the bunnies.

"It seems like little, but if a skilled mage uses it, they are able to produce enough wind to send other mammals flying." She said, and the bunnies looked at her with even more amazement.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Harry said, now sounding as if he was on the same age as Cotton. "So, this means that you have the wind element?" He said, and Sophie looked back at him.

"I mean, everyone heard that mages have elements, for Zillah Ferron explained that during the interview." He said, and she looked at him. "So, do you have wind as your elemental affinity?"

Sophie looked at him for a few moments, and she then smiled.

"Yes. I have wind as my elemental affinity." Sophie said, "And fire, and water, and earth, and ether."

Harry and the others looked at her as she continued to smile.

"I am an average one."

They looked at her for a few moments, and they then looked at Harry.

"Ferron also spoke about that on the interview." Harry said to his siblings and niece. "Remember? The average ones are those who are born with all five elements as their affinity. They are the rarest kind and they can use all types of spells."

"Ohhhhhh." The bunnies all said, and Sophie nodded.

"And you seem to have a really good understanding of what it means to be an average one." Sophie said, looking at the bunny, and he shrugged.

"Well, I paid attention as she explained that." The bunny said to her, "And they say that I am good at getting the gist of things."

"That's how he learned how to do carpentry after three lessons." Jason said, looking at his brother.

"But, as an average one you must have been a really good mage. I mean, speaking in the terms of potential." Harry said, he looked at the vixen, and she looked back at him with a smile.

"Yes... I was." Sophie said, looking at him. "And that was why my family got so disappointed when I decided to renounce magecraft and abandon everything."

The mood visibly dampened after this. For a moment, the bunnies didn't knew what to say, as they all remained in silence. It took a few moments for Harry to say something.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." Sophie said to him. "I am just not used to thinking about my past again after so long away from it."

None of them really knew what to say, as they all had enough tact to know when it was a good idea not to delve on something.

Well... most of them had.

"So, were you really a good mage?" Jason asked, as he seemed like he truly wanted to hear about that, and Sophie looked at him. She didn't looked bothered that he asked.

"Yes, I was." Sophie said, and she smiled at him, "Not wanting to sound arrogant or anything but, according to some, I was a top notch mage. They said I had everything to one day become an Archmage myself."

"The more powerful mages of the planet?" Jason said, "For real?"

"You can bet." Sophie said, "Every one of my teachers within the Association spoke how smart I was and how I had a bright future ahead of me."

"Wow." Harry said, "So, you could have become a mage on the same level as the members of the Mage Council?" He asked, and she looked back at him, still smiling.

"To be honest." She said to him, "One of my goals on the long run was to one day become a member of the Council."

The bunnies really got interested at it.

"It was a plan that my family backed up." Sophie said to them, and she continued to explain:

"I studied, got stronger, worked hard. I even went to Liondon to learn from the Lords and from the Council members themselves. All so one day I could become the new member of the Council. The greatest authority that any mage of the Association can hope to achieve."

"Now that is ambitious." Harry said, quite amazed at how she spoke it.

"I was a mage." Sophie said to him, "Ambition is part of it. In that point many could agree that I was a good mage."

All the bunnies took in what she just said, and Jason was the one who spoke next:

"So, you were a really good mage?"

"Yes, I was."

"And you wanted to become a member of the Council?"

"That's right."

"And you had the potential to achieve that, right?"

"According to everyone who met me, indeed I had."

"Then why didn't you?"

Once more Jason was showing that he didn't had a lot of tact. Some of his siblings were kicking him under the table or nudging him, as if they were silently telling him to cut that out.

"Oh, come on! Don't you guys want to know it too?" He asked his siblings. "I mean, she had everything to achieve all that she wanted and here she is, living in an apartment instead of being back on the mage headquarters giving everyone orders."

He then turned to Sophie. "So, what was it? Did something happened?"

Sophie looked at him, and she was still smiling.

"Yes. Indeed something happened." She said, and the bunny looked back at him.

"So, what was it? Did you got into a fight with some important guy from there who made you his enemy? You had some accident that affected your potential? You broke some minor law?"

Sophie looked back at him, and she simply said:

"I fell in love."

Jason didn't really answered to this, but he stared at her, and so did the other bunnies. The vixen calmly sipped more of her tea, letting the flavor spread all over her taste buds before she sighed in delight.

"Springtime chocolate mint. One great flavor of the Dalmah Tea line. Sweet and refreshing. Really a good tea." She spoke as they looked at her.

"Okay..." Harry said, and he looked at her as he decided that it was better to move on. "So, this spell, how does it works?"

Sophie looked at him as he asked that, and the bunny continued:

"Does it works by using magecraft to influence the wind currents?" He asked, "I mean; I imagine that it has a method behind itself, after all, Zillah Ferron also explained this in the interview. So, do you use the magecraft to alter the wind currents to cause more movement of wind using your breath as a jumpstart? Or you actually increase the power of your blowing in a manner similar to what you just explained about reinforcement?"

Sophie looked at him, and she could not help but be admire by the inquiring mind the young bunny had. Also on how clever he clearly seemed, as he was already considering possibilities on how the spell could be possible, showing that he indeed understood the logic and process that were need in magecraft.

For a moment, she wondered if she should try to diverge the situation, or simply say to him that it was not important and move on. However, he looked at her in a way much too similar to the way that she once looked at her teachers while she was being taught magecraft.

That was the face of a young mammal avid for information, who wanted to know all that there was to know. Maybe that was what caused Sophie actually wanting to answer his question and explain to him about the spell that she'd just show.

Well, it was something very basic, and it was not as if she was going to give them a true lecture on the subject. So, maybe there was no problem into explaining it to them. After all, they didn't even were mages...

"Okay." She said, looking at Harry, "This spell works like that..."

And soon she was explaining the mechanism that made this spell possible.

"I mean, they need something to pass their time now that they are basically stuck in here until the situation is solved." Nick said to Judy, unaware that at that same moment Judy's siblings were having a meeting with his own mother.

"Which is another reason for me to do my best to try and solve this situation as fast as possible." Judy said, "Or at least find enough evidence so they will no longer need mom to stay in the city and she can go back home."

"Oh, not wanting your mother here on the city?" Nick said, and Judy looked at him.

"Oh, just quit it, Wilde." Judy said, and she actually had a smile on her own face. Nick was annoying at times, but he did that on the best of intentions to make her feel better. That was something that she admired about him.

"Yeah, sorry." Nick said, and Judy went back to her notes.

"So, how are you doing on this?" Judy asked, giving him a glance as she continued to look at the notes. "After all, you are in this investigation as well, right?"

"What, thinking I am not taking this seriously?" Nick said to his partner, feigning hurt for hearing this, before he was serious once more.

"Well, I talked to pretty much everyone around who still talks with me." He said to her, "All of them seem to have an opinion or another about the events of the mall, but nothing that seems worth following. Also, none of them have ever heard of a gang called Black Vipers."

"So, more dead ends." Judy said, and Nick shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure about that." Nick said, "I got a little information on guys who claim to have seen Laughing Joe and Slimy Tusks walking around the city in the company of some rat."

Judy's ears perked.

"Blackwall!" she said, turning to the fox, and he smiled back at her.

"We need to tell the enforcers!"

"I'm ahead of you, Carrots." Nick said, "I just ran in the Mieczyslaw girl while she was coming out of the bathroom and told her what I discovered. She seemed to find it interesting, and she ran to talk to her uncle about that. Apparently they will be looking into it."

"Well, it might not be much." Judy said, "But it definitely is something. If we get Blackwall and make him give more information about what the MTC wanted, maybe it could lead to better clarifications on the case."

"Yeah, maybe." Nick said, and he looked at her, "We all want to see this solved in one way or another. Even Honey is willing to help." Nick said, and he approached the bunny a bit, talking in a lower voice, since Honey still wanted to be off the records.

"As a matter of fact, she found out that you were trying to find more about the Manachesters, and so she sent a file regarding them." Nick said, and Judy looked at him.

"Wait, how does she knows I was researching about them?"

"That badger has her resources." Was Nick's simple answer; Judy only continued to look at him. The fox cleared his throat.

"Anyway, she sent a file with some information regarding the Manechester that you could find interesting." Nick said, "Most of it is the kind of thing that you don't find in the official sources."

"It is something serious?" Judy asked him. "Or is it mostly rumors and conspiracy theories?" It was something that Judy actually made well to ask, and Nick knew that well.

"Well, you've met Honey, right?" Nick said, and Judy looked at him before she sighed.

"Well, most of it is the kind of thing that Honey would write herself. I even think that it has a bit of her own personal observations and theories in there." Nick said, "But, I have also found something that is pretty interesting among all of that.

"Really? What was it?" She asked, more focused on her notes, but paying attention.

"Apparently, there is a whole sub file for Benjamin Clawhauser."

This caused Judy to look at him.

"For real?" She asked, and Nick nodded.

"Yup, that's true." The fox said to his partner, "There is a whole file depicting him that dates from around five years ago. It has his information, his medical files, his scores on the academy, and the address where he lived before moving to Zootopia. All the kinds of things that you can find out without an official warrant. They even found out his blood type."

Judy took in what he said to her, but she looked confused.

"Why did Honey had a file on Benjamin?" She asked, looking at him, "Did she knew him back then?"

"It wasn't Honey." Nick said, "She only had access to that file. Apparently it was someone from the Beastar Corps that investigated Benjamin and made a whole file about him."

Judy looked at him, still confused.

"Why would the Beastar Corps investigate Benjamin?" Judy asked, not truly understanding it. "Did they had some kind of suspicion about him or something?"

"It was probably in orders from someone of the Manechester family." Nick said to her, "They decided to take a look in this plump cheetah cop that was getting all chummy with Chandler Manechester. After all, these families all know that they need to be careful with who they let approach."

"What, they suspected that Benjamin could by wanting to take advantage of him?" Judy asked, not being able to imagine Benjamin ever doing anything like that.

"Well, in this point you can't really blame them." Nick said, and Judy looked at him. The fox was quick to develop the topic, as not to leave Judy thinking the wrong thing.

"These families get used to deal with money-mooching parasites and mammals of this kind." He said, "They are used to have others approach them only for their money, and so they mistrust others. Especially those who seem to be of the 'lower classes', for they are afraid these guys could try and scam them or do some kind of thing to take money from them. Because of this, they are often careful with who approaches their kids. The super-rich are like that."

Judy looked at him, and she nodded.

It was even possible to understand when you explained like that. Still, it did not bode well that someone would think that Benjamin was this kind of mammal. Judy had knew him for over two years, and she had now enough proof that Benjamin was not the kind who would approach others out of self-interest. He was a sweet mammal who honestly wanted to make friends with others, and brave enough to put his life on the line for those who needed, as he proved with the incident of the mall.

She didn't liked other mammals thinking this kind of things about him.

"Is the Manechester family really that mistrusting?" Judy asked, and Nick shrugged.

"They are of the rich class, Carrots." The fox said to her, "They act like prince charming most of the time, but they are among the worst kind of mammals out there."

"All of them?" Judy said, looking at him. "Because Gazelle didn't seemed like that. And neither does Chandler Manechester."

"Yeah, they are not the kind I am talking about." Nick said, looking at his partner. "Gazelle is what they call 'new money'. She came from down and worked hard to get her pay. She is not the kind who was told since a young age that she should mistrust everyone because of her money, although she learned that she should not trust everyone. As for the Manechester guy, he probably was like that back before he met Ben, but getting friends with him probably opened his mind a little bit. I mean, the guy even gave up assuming the business of the family to pursue his dream of being a confectioner. He left his sister to take care of that."

Judy heard what Nick said, and it seemed that the fox actually knew what he was talking about. At least he spoke of it was if it was something that he was sure. Judy wondered if this was more from growing up among the streets or if the fox had some kind of personal experience...

As the two cops continued to talk to each other, Benjamin was on his usual spot on the front desk, and he was currently having a nice snack on some fancy confectionaries.

The plump cheetah happily munched on the gourmet donuts that he got himself with his money. This was something that he would hardly have, as it would cost a portion of his police officer salary, but now that he had a big bank account and a platinum credit card, he found himself buying that on a whim. Still, it was not going to do that every single day, for he knew that he should not spend all of his money on sweets, his mother told him that a long time ago. Ben decided that he would have one of these per week, it seemed reasonable enough.

The cheetah was really satisfied there, in the front desk, eating these fancy pastry items, as he looked at mammals go back and forth. He was truly satisfied for being in there, and for seeing how everyone was still so nice to him.

Internal affairs had not wanted to interview him, something that Benjamin was glad for. They had no reason to want to, as Nick had said, and Ben felt really glad that he was right. He would never feel comfortable being treat like a criminal. Not after...

A shiver ran down Benjamin's spine as an unwanted memory tried to crawl into his mind, but the cheetah shoved this memory aside as he stuffed another piece of pastry on his mouth, chewing on it and letting the sweet flavor help him forget the bad things that had happened years ago.

Food had become a coping mechanism of shorts for Benjamin Clawhauser, after all that he has been through on his past. It wasn't the healthiest one, but it was definitely better than alcohol and drugs.

As Ben filled his mouth and his stomach with food, he caught himself able to move his mind away from the invading thoughts. Sighing, he relaxed, once more feeling glad that he bought that fancy pastry from a really nice store out there.

It was obviously something expensive. If not for the fancy box in which they came, the fact that the golden thing sprinkled over it was actually true gold powder kind of gave it away. As Ben looked at it, he would wonder how he would explain this very expensive thing to someone who came asking.

Well, he knew that he didn't wanted to lie or keep secrets from his fellow officers anymore, but he still had reservations about letting them know that Ben had a literal fortune now. He was afraid that they could change attitude towards him.

It is not like the fear of being reject by the others from being an ex-mage, but rather the feeling that this could cause some other kinds of issues, as others would be interested on his money. Ben saw enough television and movies to know that sudden fortunes could really cause the mammals around to change attitude, and he also saw it by himself with both his landlord and the mammals of the bank.

Now, he knew most of the officers in there well enough to know that they wouldn't come to kiss up to him only to get his money. Still, the idea of them suddenly become more interested in his wealth than on the cheetah himself was something that worried Ben.

He was glad that this was not the case with Nick and Judy, and neither with Bogo.

"Excuse me."

The sudden voice broke Ben's mind out of his reflections, and caused him to look at the one who just spoke to him.

The donkey was nearly the same size as Ben himself, being an inch or two taller. The fur of his body was of a dull grey coloration, with a darker gray on the fur on the hop of his head. He was dressed elegantly, with a suit and a bowtie, and he was looking at Ben as he held something in his hooved hands.

Ben swallowed the rest of the pastry, before he addressed the newcomer.

"Oh, sorry sir." He said, looking at him and tapping the crumble out of his fur and shirt. "How may I help you?"

"Are you Benjamin Clawhauser?" The donkey asked, with a neutral expression and tune, as he simply looked at the donkey before he answered.

"Yes, it's me. Why?"

The donkey looked at him for a second, before he respectfully bowed his head at the cheetah, while he offered it the thing that he had on his hooves.

"I represent master Chandler Manechester. I'm here to deliver this to you."

Benjamin looked at it for a few moments, and he then reached for the thing that he was offering.

It looked like a stack of invitation cards. They looked simple, with the words MANECHESTER written on the front, along with the symbol of the family of horses Manechester on the wax seal. Each one of the five cards that he had had a name written on it.

Judith Hopps.

Nicholas Wilde.

Marceline Foxgrove.

Joshua Clawhauser.

Benjamin Clawhauser.

Ben looked at each one of the cards, and assumed that they were all the same thing. So, he opened the one that had his name written on it.

Upon breaking the emblazoned seal of the card and opening it, he found another card. This one skillfully handwritten.

Ben read it, and slowly his eyes widened.

The cheetah rose his gaze to meet the face of the donkey, who looked at him and bowed respectfully.

"Master Chandler will be waiting." He said, and he turned around and walked away.

Meanwhile, Ben was left in a little of a daze, as he looked at the departing mammal, before he looked back at the card that he now had on his paws.

The fancy calligraphy in it said: YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE MANECHESTER MANSION

So, this concludes this chapter, hope you all have enjoyed.

Once more, I'd like to remember you all that this story is heavily inspired in the story Zootopia: File 2, written by EmpressImperia. You will see many parts of it that are inspired in the chapters of the story.

Also, some of you probably already noticed that I'm using some other source of works as inspiration for some things in this story.

Finally, I'd like to use this chance to congratulate Zootopia for its fifth anniversary. I might be a little late, but I still would like to offer my felicitations for this wonderful work of Disney.

Read and review, constructive criticism welcome and no flaming.

Thank you.