It was almost night by now. It would be five p.m. in a few, and it was starting to darken, as it usually did on this time of the year. Consequence of autumn, as the days were getting shorter, and the nights longer. The sky above changed coloration as the six figures walked across the ground of the property of the Vole Gardens, stepping into the dry leaves of the ground beneath them, which fell from the trees around or were bring by the wind.
Ahead went the badger dressed all in white. He had an indifferent expression on his face as he guided the five mammals following him in direction to the place where the Wilde clan resided.
Nick and Judy were walking side by side as they followed the badger, with Josh and Marcy both coming right on tow. Behind them, Yahya walked with a serious expression on his face.
They had originally thought about looking for Ben and having him come, but the badger was insistent about them "being on time", so they didn't had much time to go after the plump cheetah, who was probably in some other area of the mansion. So, they just went on their own way.
With Yahya coming along with them.
Yahya had been really surprised for hearing that a family of mages lived at just a twenty minute walk from his own mansion. I mean, who wouldn't? So, you can't really blame him for wanting to have a look at the place were those mages lived, and about what they could be up to.
The badger did said that the invitation was "open to who wanted to answer".
So, Yahya was coming along with them.
No one really protested. Not even the badger.
The badger simply guided them out of the house and across the streets of the Vole Gardens, and then out of the streets and into an old stone-paved path that led into somewhere else.
They could see the green maze at a distance, as the stone-path they were taking went right by the side of the big vegetal fences of the maze. However, even the green maze was soon left behind, and they looked ahead, at the place where they were heading.
It was a house.
A big house.
Even from that distance it was possible to say it was bigger than the mansion of the Manechesters. At least thrice bigger.
And that it was so old that it was falling apart.
Seriously, from a distance you could easily see how old and worm down and in how much disrepair that house was.
And the stone path led straight to it.
"That is not it, is it?" Nick asked, looking at the old decayed house they were heading to.
"You can bet it is." Josh said to the fox, who looked back at him. "That's where the Wilde clan lives."
Yahya walked a bit more ahead, and looked at that house.
"That house is abandoned." The horse said.
"What, you know by looking?" Marcy asked, to what Yahya answered:
"That house has been abandoned since before I was born. The ones who lived in there left many generations ago. That house has been abandoned ever since, and it has even been deemed improper to live by the city government. The only reason why it has not been taken apart was because the city hall has declared it a historical patrimony of the city. Everyone knows that."
"Really?" Marcy asked him. "And who told you that?"
"My father." Yahya said, without a second of hesitation.
"And who told him?" Marcy questioned, causing Yahya to look at her. The way she looked at him said it all.
"It was a lie." Yahya concluded, looking forward at the house that he spent years believing no one lived into for at least a hundred years.
"A fabricated fact." Josh told the horse. "To keep people from wanting to come to their house and bother them. The Wilde value their privacy, so they arranged for everyone to think that the house was abandoned. They even spun around the story that it was haunted, so no one would come too close. Quite tame, compared to what other clans would do to keep others away from their homes."
Everyone processed this.
"So they still live there?" Judy asked.
"They have for nearly three hundred years." Josh explained. "That house was built when the Wilde clan first decided to settle home in this part of Zootopia. That house was actually here before the Vole Gardens was even build around it. And all this time, the Wilde clan has been living there. Hidden just beneath everyone's snouts."
"And they didn't took very good care of the house." Nick said as they walked forward. "I mean, just look at it, it looks about to fall apart. Were they trying to sell the idea that there was no one living there? Well, they did a good job."
"Yeah, they certainly did." Josh said, looking at the house. "It really looks badly-kept from here, huh? You gotta give it to those foxes. They are pretty good with such simple magecraft."
"What?" Nick asked, looking at the cheetah, who just smile at him.
"Just wait a bit."
Nick looked at him, and he was about to ask another question, when...
"Nick?" Judy's voice made Nick look at her, and see that she was looking at the house they were walking towards. She had a curious expression on her face, as if she was trying to understand better what she was seeing.
Nick soon was looking at the house as well, and he was then looking at the house as well.
He took only a few seconds to understand what Judy was looking strange at.
The house... was not as bad as it looked from afar.
The ceiling was not broken and falling apart, and there was not a great chunk of it missing. The ceiling was actually in pretty good condition, with very few patches damaged... no, scratch that, there was no damage on it at all, it was whole, only looking old... wait, it was not old! It looked pretty new. The entire ceiling actually looked like it had been reform recently. The eight chimneys coming from the ceiling were not broken or in disrepair as they looked from a distance, and looked all whole, and some of them were actually letting out a smoke that they couldn't see from a distance, letting it know that there was actually someone living there.
They approached the gates, and were surprised to find out that they were not as rusty and old as they seemed from afar. Actually, they were not rusty at all! They were perfectly well kept and were so polished that they shone! And they looked like they had details on them made of gold! The foxes curling around the knobs of the doors of the gates looked like they were sculpt from pure gold, with small rubies in place of their eyes.
The badger pushed the gates open as they came inside, and they were on the front garden. There were four fountains on said garden, and none of them looked broken as they did from a distance. In fact, all of the fountains were in perfect condition, without any moss or anything. Their marble forms were all perfectly intact, and they were even working, as water came out of them, coming out of the mouths of the foxes sculpted in marble and falling into the pools.
As the five mammals following the badger stopped before the house, they could see how beautiful it was.
Marble pillars on the front. Perfect sculptures of foxes on the entrance. Scary gargoyles of dark marble decorating the corners. Even the details on the front that seemed to have been sculpted using gold and other precious metals. There were even gemstones incrusted in a few points, like oversized diamonds, rubies and sapphires!
The house definitely didn't looked old or abandoned.
It was not as if as if it suddenly changed from coming close. It was not as if coming closer made them pass through some short of veil and then see the house differently. It was not as if the house suddenly change appearance, as they were close enough to look. There was no shimmering and changing e like a mirage, nor dissolving of something to reveal the truth hidden behind the lie.
It was just that the house looked in disrepair from a distance, and then looked better once you were close enough to take a good look at it. Like when you see something from a distance and don't really see it well enough, but you can have a better look at close.
Judy and Nick could only stare in amazement of that mansion, wondering how that could look old and abandoned from any distance. Yahya was wondering the same thing.
"How?" the horse asked, and it was Marcy who answered.
"It is called glamour." Everyone looked at the hybrid. "It is one of the simplest forms of illusion. It changes the way other mammals perceive reality. There is a bounded field around the house that has this illusion covering it. It follows the principles of how mammals misinterpret what they are seeing if they look from a distance. This concept is applied at the house. You know how some broken or old thing looks decent if you look it from far? Well, with this is the opposite. The farther you are, the lamer the house look from a distance. It looks old, broken, covered in dust and cobwebs, but that is only an altered perception. When you get close enough, you see it is not bad at all."
"I'll say..." Judy said, as she looked at the impressive sight of the opulent mansion.
Way more opulent than the Manechester one.
The badger, seemingly unimpressed by the reactions of the other mammals, simply walked forward and opened the doors.
"Please, come inside." He said, and soon the five mammals were making their way to the inside of the house, passing through the open doors, made of the finest type of wood, with details in pure gold. The handlers themselves were made of put gold, with gemstones decorating the handles shaped like fox tails.
Nick had been thinking about making some joke of "it looking better on the inside", but that joke got lost on the moment.
However, it would definitely be truth when applying to that house they were into right now.
If the outside of the house was opulent, with the golden gates, four marble fountains and door decorated with gems, then there was hardly any word to describe the inside.
The ground was made of the purest marble, so polished that it was nearly a mirror, reflecting the ceiling, decorate with a paw-painted mosaic that would put the Sistine Chapel to shame. All around there were perfectly sculpted statues, with the walls decorated with magnificent paintings, and the light came inside through windows decorated with the most beautiful stained glass images.
All around, it seemed that there were works of art. As much as on the Manechester house. However, where Adrian's collection had varied themes, it seemed that all of the artwork on that specific mansion had a very specific main theme:
Foxes.
The paintings on the walls were all of foxes. Some of them standing for the painting, some of them in dramatic positions. The statues lining the corners were of foxes in noble and imposing poses. The pillars on the place had the images of foxes sculpted onto them. The whole mosaic made above depicted foxes in positions of nobility and power, like wearing fine garments, brandishing a sword against another armed fox, or drinking from a goblet while used a groveling lion as a sitting stool. The mosaics all depicted foxes as well, most of them dressed in a way that made it seem they were royalty.
Anywhere you looked. Foxes, foxes, foxes.
And, of course, there was the "masterpiece".
Right on the center of this great entrance hall, laid a statue. A huge statue, made completely out of precious metals. The statue depicted a terrestrial globe on a pedestal. Around the globes, were foxes, all of them surrounding it, looking at it with smiles on their faces, as they reached with their paws towards the globe, either touching it, pointing at something in it or hoovering their paws over it as if they were about to grasp it.
It looked like those foxes were deciding who would get which countries.
"Wow..." Was all Nick could say as he took in the very entrance of the house of that family.
His family.
"Who would guess foxes lives here?" Nick said ironically, gesturing to the great statue on the center of the place.
"How ostentatious." Yahya said, as he took in the fox-themed art all around him. He looked up, at the gigantic mosaic of the ceiling, and at the enormous chandelier made entirely of crystal. It was the source of all the light on the room, as multiple lights, probably lamps, glowed all around it as it hung right over the statue on the center of the room. "Too much, in my opinion."
"That's coming from the guy who has a huge mansion filled with works of art." Marcy said, looking at the horse, who didn't even bothered looking at the hybrid as he answered:
"The mansion was build long ago. It has been in my family for generations, and I simply renovated it to be like it was on it's days of glory. As for the arts, it is all Adrian's doing, not mine. If it was up to me, my family would have lived in a much less extravagant household."
He looked at a certain part of the mosaic, which depicted a fox on a chariot being pull by horses. That's right, horses, not ostriches. Yahya's ear twitched.
"But, I have to admit. Even Adrian's collection doesn't compares to this." Yahya said, gesturing all around. "I'm not the most knowing of art, fashion or tendencies, but even I can tell that this much ostentation cannot be of good taste.
The other mammals on the room said nothing in return to Yahya's words. That is, the mammals that came with him didn't said anything in return. Because another voice took the role of answering:
"Do you know how many foxes have reached a place of true influence and honor, Mister Manechester?"
Everyone looked around to see where the voice was coming from.
"How many foxes have rose to a position where they could truly be admired by other mammals?" The voice continued, "Where they could be envied? Where they could be looked up as models and ideals to be reached, instead of looked down as nuisances and embarrassments?"
Everyone could pinpoint where the voice was coming from now. And now, the owner of the voice came into view, as he walked from behind the great statue at the center, his cane touching the ground with a sharp sound as he used it to walk.
"The bad reputation of foxes is not recent." The fox with wine-colored fur and clothes on shades of pastel said as he walked into full view of the newcomers, five small gemstones of varied colors and shapes floating around his head, like moons orbiting a planet. "Throughout history, we have been considered low lives, thieves, traitors, and overall the scum of mammals. We have been looked down upon, kicked, beaten, threatened, spat upon and treated like inferiors by a great number of mammals, who considered us to be unworthy of their respect or trust, and that we never rise above anything other than the very bottom of the pecking order."
As the fox said that, he walked forward, looking at his guests, and he stopped right before the dark horse. There was a smile on his face as he looked at the equine.
"So, forgive us if we siege the chance of being proud of ourselves as species when we have it."
For a long moment, the horse and fox looked at each other, while everyone around watched. Finally, the fox spoke:
"I don't believe we have ever properly met before. I am Noah Wilde. Head of the Wilde clan."
Yahya looked at the smaller mammal, before nodding and saying:
"Yahya Manechester. CEO and founder of the Beastar Corps."
With this, the fox nodded at him, and turned his attention to the rest of the guests.
"Welcome, my friends." He smiled as he looked at them, "To my not-so-humble abode. Please, make yourselves at home."
He then turned his attention to the badger, and nodded at him.
"You can go back to the other chores." He said nonchalantly. "There is still a lot of things to scrub. Oh, and you don't need that disguise anymore."
Disguise?
As the mammals around wondered what the fox meant, they were shocked to look at the badger and find out he had completely changed appearance. Where once stood a badger wearing plain white clothes, now stood a badger-shaped golem.
Judy and Nick jumped back as they saw that, and even Yahya seemed surprised. The cops immediately reached for their dart guns, pointing it at the golem.
"Hey, relax you two." Noah said to the cops. "It is just one of our golems. Now, there was an accident on the workshop of the west wing. It needs to be clean urgently before the stains dry. So, chop-chop."
The golem looked at the fox, bowed its head and then turned to walk on the direction of a hallway, leaving Noah to deal with his guests. Some of them were already looking at the fox.
"So, you got some of those, huh?" Nick asked to the wine-colored fox, who smiled at him.
"A little over a hundred." Noah said, "Just to do all kinds of things on the house, like cleaning and cooking."
"Can't you hire someone to do that?" Nick asked. "Or you're too good to mix with the riff raff?"
"Oh. Nothing like that." Noah said, looking at the younger fox. "Is just that golems are more convenient than hired hands. They obey all you say, never complain, would give their lives for you, don't get tired or hungry, and they don't need health or dental plans. They are not alive and most of them don't have teeth."
"So, this is what the Wilde clan does?" Yahya asked, looking at the place where the golem went to. "You fabricate golems?"
"Among other things." Said a new voice, which made everyone look in the direction of the stairs. Another fox was making his way towards them. Or, better saying, he was limping his way towards them. This fox looked older. He had some wild fur, as it looked disheveled all over his head and neck. Said fur was of a brick-coloration, with a cream color on his undermuzzle and down his neck. He was wearing a dark-green robe and comfortable clothes of blue coloration, and he was walking with the help of a cane, which, upon closer inspection, had a tip decorated with the effigy of a fox's head. This cane was not for show, as it seemed that Noah's cane was. The way the fox limped on his left leg as he walked made it clear that he actually needed that cane.
"The Wilde clan." The fox said, walking with the help of his cane in direction to the guests, going around the great statue as he did so. "Is a clan that specialized in the art of Kabballah. An art that, believe it or not, was taught by the ancestor of our clan by none other than Solomane himself, and passed down through out our lineage until the present days."
He walked closer to the mammals, and Yahya looked at this newcomer with a raised eyebrow.
"Solomane?" Yahya asked, "As in, the legendary king Solomane of Israel?"
"And the most powerful mage who has ever lived." The fox said as he stood before the guests. "With many apprentices. Among them, as fox named 'Wilde'. The ancestor of this clan."
Yahya had a slightly skeptical look on his face as he looked at the newcomer, who then continued:
"Anyways, the Wilde clan specializes in Kabbalah. Not in a single branch of it, but on every aspect of the craft, from casting spells to summoning spiritual beings to do our biding and, of course, the art of creating golems. After all, goleomancy, even though being a branch of its own, is an art that has its very origins on Kabballah magecraft."
Everyone looked at the fox, who looked back at all of them with his hazel eyes, smiling.
"I'm sorry, and you are?" Nick asked, and the fox smiled at Nick, before answering:
"Your uncle."
Nick blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Noah was the one who stepped forward to clarify and make better introductions.
"Nicholas, this is Lawrence. He is Sophie's younger brother."
Nick looked at Noah, and then back at the other fox, who smiled at Nick.
"So, how's my sister doing?" Lawrence asked, and Nick couldn't really form an answer to it. His mind was still processing the fact that he had an uncle and never knew about it before.
"So, yes." Noah said, cutting in. "Now that the introductions have been made, why don't we all go have some tea? It is best if it's done on the right time." He then gestured to one of the doors on the side. "Let's do it in one of the gardens. It is such a lovely autumn afternoon, let's enjoy it, yes?"
With this, Noah was soon leading all of the presents through one of the hallways, and they took a door that led them to a gazebo that even looked like a small garden. Above them, there was a hoof made of colored glass. During the day, those glasses certainly caused kaleidoscopic light to be project down on the place. However, due to the time of the day, the light was coming more from the sides, casting a predominantly orangish glow on the table and chairs that were on the middle of the gazebo, which was where Noah guided everyone to.
"Sit down, everyone, please." The fox said, gesturing to the tables set around the small table. "I is almost about time. Soon everything will be served. Ah, there it is!"
Just as Noah said that, the door through which they came opened once more, and everyone looked to see figures walking through the door.
The golems were not much bigger than a fox, and neither of them looked pretty much like any specific type of mammal. They only had an average mammal muzzle that made them look vaguely like some predator of unidentified species. Each golem was bringing something with them, like plates with biscuits, a trail with a complete tea set (including plates and cups of varying sizes) and even a small cake and a knife on the side. Each one of those were set on the table as they all looked at the golems.
"Golems certainly make the best servants, in my humble opinion." Lawrence said as everything was very carefully put into the table as the mammals sat. "They never question your orders and they always carry them on without uttering a single complaint. That's how all good familiars should be."
Noah cast a glance at the fox sitting by his side, while the other mammals looked at the golems that were bringing the things for the tea. Nick and Judy, in particular, were looking at the entities of stone serving them. Soon, all of those entities were leaving, save for two, which were currently working on preparing and serving the tea for the guests.
Nick and Judy could not help but feel a little nervous around those golems, considering the last experience they had when that specific mage work...
And those golems themselves looked so familiar too...
"There is a problem, officers?" Noah asked, seeing the way the cops had been looking at the golems. "Would you like me to dismiss them?"
Nick and Judy recovered, and they both said it was okay. Noah nodded, and soon, they were focusing on the tea they were being served.
For this evening, Noah had selected a brew of blueberry merlot and mint tea, sweet and refreshing, and great when accompanied by milk.
"Wait, this is real milk?" Judy asked, feeling the flavor of it.
"Why, of course." Lawrence answered. "You don't expect us to drink that almond or soy sludge, do you? If we are having milk, better be the real thing."
Judy looked at the white liquid being carefully poured into the cups. Milk was a little of thorny issue among mammals. Since it could only be produced by mammals, there were some issues regarding it. Not that it was illegal or anything, but there were some mammals who got really embarrassed by this kind of thing, and some conservative parties thought it was not something that should be allow. However, it was not as if the milk was take from unwilling females. Most of it came from women of species that naturally produced great amount of milk, and needed it to be take regularly to keep healthy and avoid pain and complications. Once taken, someone had to do something with the milk. There was butter, cheese, ice cream, all of it made from the milk coming from those females. It became so commonplace that mammals nowadays hardly thought much about it.
Good thing, because when you thought you were consuming milk coming from a female you hardly even knew, it was hard not to feel embarrassed, as it was something so intimate. Some mammals even defended that it was immoral (but only the most conservative and overzealous of the lot), and that only cubs should be the ones getting milk. There were even all manners of "milkless" options for those who really didn't wanted milk on their or their families' diet.
Judy never had much problem with that herself. Especially considering how much she loved milkshake. But she did felt a little embarrassed when she understood better where the main ingredient of milkshakes came from...
None of the other mammals on the table seemed to have any problem with it as well, as all of them drank the tea with milk without any problem. Judy followed suit, and she found the tea to be very enjoyable.
"Man, this stuff is good." Nick mentioned, and Lawrence answered:
"Of course. Only the best for the Wilde clan. We deserve it, after all we went through to be where we are today."
He put his cup down, looking at Nick.
"You do deserve it too as well, Nicholas."
Nick looked at him, and Lawrence continued:
"You are a Wilde. A descendant of powerful mages who had done many things that you most likely didn't learn in school. Amazing things. Things that would certainly made any mammal who ever knew you to think twice before looking down on you for being a fox."
"You are one of us, Nicholas." Lawrence concluded, as he looked at Nick. He then reached inside of his robe's folds, and pulled out a piece of paper.
"That's why you deserve this." He said, handling the slip of paper to Nick, who hesitated for a moment, before taking it. Soon, Nick saw it was a check. And his eyes widened when he saw what was written in it.
"What the..." Nick said, looking at the value written there, and Lawrence was soon saying:
"The Wilde clan has a lot of savings, all of which is accessible to family members. We will be working on getting you to have access to the family funds as well. Until them, you can have this little symbolic value."
"Symbolic?" Nick said, still flabbergasted, as he looked at his uncle. Judy peered to look at the check, and her eyes widened like dinner plates when she saw the amount of zeroes there.
"Just show it in any bank of the city and you will be able to cash out the money. They might even allow you to open your own account. If you have any problems, just give us a call and we will put them on their place." Lawrence said very casually, while the mammals around Nick and Judy also looked at the check he had given Nick with the "symbolic value".
Marcy whistled as she saw the money that Nick had just been given.
"That is a sizeable amount." Yahya said, and he looked at the fox. "Is it really okay giving it to someone who have just met?"
"What?" Noah said, "Nicky is family! Besides, it is not like this amount would put a dent on our finances. We have plenty of money."
"Oh, really?" Yahya said, looking at the fox. "From your family's patents, I presume."
Yahya was aware of how mages made family. He had heard it from his grandson's mouth days ago during a conversation, when Chandler was asking him about some person who would buy gold. Yahya had, naturally, got curious, and his son told him about how his friend Benjamin made a generous amount of money due to patents that he and his twin had, all of it paid in gold ingots by the mage's association.
It was interesting to know that Officer Clawhauser had this much money to his name.
And that he got it in a way that could easily be ruled as tax evasion. Like did all other mages, apparently.
"Most of it, yes." Lawrence said to the horse, causing Yahya to look at him "But, we have other sources of income as well."
"Legal ones?" Yahya asked, and this caused Lawrence to smirk at him.
"What? Think that foxes can only make money if it is something illegal?" He asked, and some of the presents were also looking at the horse, as if waiting for his answer.
"I have been on this city for five decades." Yahya said, looking at the fox. "I have interacted with all kinds of mammals, as well as with many businesses and industries of the most diverse kinds. In some cases, I even met the families that manage and own them, as a number of them live here in Vole Gardens."
"And yet, the name Wilde never came up." Yahya concluded. "The first time the name Wilde came into my attention was when your nephew joined the ZPD." Yahya was looking at Lawrence, "Before that, the name never appeared in any of the businesses I heard about, and no one I knew ever mentioned doing business with a family of foxes of that name."
"So, excuse me if I am a bit confused about the income of a family that is so wealthy but of which I never heard before."
There was a brief silence. Noah, who just finished eating a cloven-shaped biscuit, and washing it down with a sip of tea, rose a finger and said:
"A fair point, you have to admit, Lawrence."
Lawrence looked at Noah, and then he looked back at the horse, who was still looking at him, to see what he was going to say next.
"Well..." Lawrence said, after a few seconds of silence. "You may never had heard our name within your circles... but, you also didn't knew we lived so close to you, did you?"
Yahya looked at the fox, who then continued:
"We don't have our name appearing everywhere because we don't want to. We have decided to keep our names off the businesses related to us. Both to preserve our own names, as to avoid having to deal with the ignorance of the people who don't wish to associate their name with a company that is owned by foxes. After all, you must have heard that good businesses ventures that never took off because the investors didn't wanted to place the money with certain species."
Nick looked at his uncle as he spoke that, and he was forced to admit that he was right. Judy also heard it, and she didn't wanted to believe that it could be that bad, but the look on Nick's face said that it probably was.
"Yes, you may have a point." Yahya said, looking at the tod. "And, out of curiosity, what kinds of business do you invest your money?"
"A little bit of everything." Lawrence said, "A few law firms, a few cosmetic companies, a soccer team on Guatellama. We diversify."
Lawrence's smirk then opened.
"But, our greatest income comes from entertainment." He said, and Yahya looked at him.
"Entertainment?"
"Yes, entertainment." Lawrence said, "More precisely, we get most of our income from our company, the Joygold."
Yahya's eyebrow raised, Judy's eyes widened, and Nick nearly choked on his tea as he heard that.
"W-wait, wait!" Nick said, as he recovered from the coughing fit he just had. "Joygold? The Joygold?"
Lawrence looked at him, while ick looked back at him.
"You mean the intercontinental conglomerate that started as a company that produced toys over a hundred years ago, and that today is one of the greatest entertainment companies in the world, all the way up there with Disney, Furflix and Nintendo? The one that makes an eight-digit income annually with everything from yo-yos and tops to original videogames, and even with animated series and movies based on their videogames? That Joygold?"
"There is another?" Noah asked, looking at Nick, and then turned to Lawrence, "I was sure the name was original."
"Wait, you guys own the Joygold company?" Judy asked, "But, what about Horngold? As in, Jackson Horngold? The antelope who is the descendant of the great-grandson of the one who founded the company a hundred years ago?"
"Ah, Jackson!" Noah said, "What a nice boy. His wife is about to have twins. We should give him a nice bonus this Christmas, don't you agree, Lawrence?"
Lawrence shrugged.
"You have most of the shares, do as you want."
Judy looked at them, and Noah looked back at her, and then he started explaining.
"You know what is the greatest problem of living as long as me?" The fox asked, not to the bunny in particular, but to all of the table. Before any of them could actually answer, the fox answered himself:
"Getting bored. Seriously, living for centuries can be totally boring if you don't have something to keep your mind occupied."
"I thought mages dedicated all of their time to study and research." Yahya said, and Noah laughed.
"Oh, that is for those squares of the old guard. I'm not like that. All work and no fun makes life even duller." The fox said, "I needed something to pass my time and distract me. So, I got into crafts. Wood carving, sewing, sculpting, all of that stuff. I did tables, tissues, clothes, tapestries..."
"Oh, but the thing I loved to do the more were toys." Noah said, and his face took on an expression of joy that was almost child-like.
"Yo-yos, tops, dolls, small cars, balls, wooden swords, all of those things. And then, I'd distribute them to the kits on the city and just watched them play. You should see the joy on their faces when I gave them all the toys they wanted and they played with them."
"Oh, so you were, like Zootopia's Santa Paws?" Nick asked, and Noah chuckled.
"Yeah, except that I worked all around the year. I was pretty active on my hobby." Noah admitted, "It was someone close to me who said I should try and make this hobby into a business. Try to make some money out of it while I was at it. I thought it was a good idea."
Noah took a small pause, and he sighed.
"Of course, it would not be easy." He said, "After all, the adults were already weary of me as I went around giving their children toys."
"If there was a strange mammal giving my foals gifts and standing there looking at them, I'd be weary too." Yahya said, and Noah chuckled.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Noah said, "But that was not it. You had to see the dirty looks the parents gave me, before they snatched the toys of their children's paws and tossed them away, saying that their children didn't needed toys made by a filthy fox."
The mammals present shared looks, and Noah continued:
"As you can imagine, if they thought like that when I gave the toys for free, you can imagine they wouldn't be lining up to buy toys from my paws. I couldn't just open a store only to see it set on fire on the next day for being a business owned by a fox. No, I had to be creative, I needed a way of selling my toys without really doing it myself. That was when I met Horngold."
"He was a young lad who was after a way of making money to help his family." Noah explained, "They were new to the country, and didn't had much. Let me tell you, back then animals from other countries had nearly as much problems as foxes. Still, they had it better than us. He certainly was not treat with nearly as much mistrust as me. At least people didn't seemed like they hated him only for existing. The young man was actually quite charming. He was honest, pleasant to talk with, got a pretty face, looked trustworthy, loved kids, and didn't had problems with me for being a fox. So, I came to him and offered a little proposition."
Everyone who was hearing was coming to the same conclusion.
"He was a front face." Yahya concluded, and Noah nodded.
"I made the product, he sold it." The fox said, "At first, it was just a stand, but the toys soon started making success. We had to arrange a bigger stand. Then two. Then we had to have an entire store. News spread around the other cities, and we had a lot of requests for custom-made toys. The job was too much for me, so I had to put some of the golems to produce toys. They don't have a lot of imagination, but they certainly are dedicated workers."
The fox laughed, and everyone just kept looking at him. Noah cleared his throat, and returned to explanation.
"But, unfortunately, some started getting on my fur for using golems for making toys. So, to get them to leave me alone, I decided to actually hire people to make the toys. I'll tell you what, it was hard finding someone who was willing to work for a fox. But, they were willing to work for an antelope, and Horngold once more proved to be great for this. The workers were not cheap, but the money we were making with all the orders and sales was very significant. Before I knew it, we were an entire franchise of stores selling toys."
Everyone listened.
"Naturally, as time passed, we continued to grow. From the regular toys, we also passed to boardgames, and then to card games. Until we sold our first original videogame back on the nineties. I didn't helped with that, naturally, as it is all too advanced for me." Noah said, "And now, it is one of the biggest of the entire world. And it all started from an old mage having a hobby. Can you believe it?"
"And no one knows the company is owned by foxes." Josh concluded, "That is, no one who didn't had contact with the moonlit world, as we all know that the Horngold are just the front face and that Noah Wilde is the sole owner of the company."
"Hey, not sole owner." Noah said, "Of seventy percent, yes, but I do share the rest with my family. Everyone has their share of the company. Well, save for your mother, she gave up hers' when she left." Noah spoke to Nick, "If you want, you can have then. It is only about five percent, but considering the value of our stocks, it is still a lot."
Nick was processing all he heard.
He was so surprised for knowing that one of the greatest entertainment industries of the entire world was founded and owned by foxes. Not only foxes, but his own relatives. And no one knew. Not even Nick himself!
"Good money, isn't it?" Marcy asked, and Noah nodded.
"Yes, it is. But it was never about the money." Noah said, "It was about the kits. About giving them some happiness in face of such a cruel and unfair world and society, full of bad parents, violent bullies and socio-economic problems. It was all about bringing some joy to them."
"And let me tell you." Noah said, "Seeing the joy on the face of a kit, to me, is still worth its weight in gold."
Everyone looked at the fox.
"You really like kits, don't you?" Judy asked, and Noah nodded.
"Indeed I do." Noah said, "I love kits, always have. They are so innocent and pure, before society corrupts them with their views and prejudices, that is. I just feel that kits always bring joy and happiness to a place."
"INTRUDERS!"
"Speaking of which..." Noah said, as everyone turned to look at the source of this new voice. Everyone looked at the small fox who was talking to them.
He was certainly not hard to miss.
He was around nine or ten years old, and he was wearing an electric-green shirt with yellow shorts. Not that strange for a kit, but still enough to call attention with the vibrant colors. However, it was not the color of the clothes that called as much attention...
"Do you guys also see a blue fox?" Josh asked, as everyone looked at the small kit. The fur on his head, legs and arms, instead of being of the traditional russet coloration one normally expects from fox, were of a baby-blue coloration. The fur on his ears, on his hands, legs and on the tip of his tail, on the other hand, were of a lavender coloration. Only the white of his muzzle and down his neck seemed natural.
"Intruders!" The small blue fox said, pointing at them. "You have invaded the property of the Wilde clan! You must leave! Now!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Marcy asked, looking at the little one. Who looked back at them with a hostile expression on his hazel eyes. It was obvious that he was trying his best to look intimidating before the strange mammals.
"Theo!" Another voice came, "Theodore!"
Soon, another fox came into view. He was clearly older than the kit, being on his late teens. He wore a blue jacket and a pair of long pants. His fur was of a silvery-white coloration, with black on his ears, around each pale-yellow eye and on the tip of his bushy tail.
"There you are, Theo!" The fox said as he looked at the little one. "I told you that we needed to train!"
"It's them, Eli!" The small kit said, pointing at the mammals. "They are the ones who were invading! I saw them through the window!"
The kit then turned back to the mammals.
"Who are you? Why are you in our house?"
The mammals shared looks, before Yahya spoke:
"We were invited."
The kit immediately answered:
"Liar! You came here to steal from us, haven't you!?"
"What? No!" Judy said immediately.
"You came here to steal our secrets! I'll not let! I'll fight you!" The kit said, and he looked like he was getting ready to fight. He older fox reached out and seeming as if he was holding him back by the arms.
"Wow, easy there, tiger." Nick said, looking at the kit. "We really were invited, and we didn't came here to steal anything."
The kit still looked like he wanted to get at them, with the teenager holding him back. It seemed that the kit really wanted to kick them out, and only quieted down when Noah himself spoke:
"Theo, it's okay. They are my guests. I invited them here for tea."
"So, they won't steal anything?" Theo, the blue-furred kit, asked, "They might sneak into the archives when you are not looking."
"We'll keep our eyes on them all the time." Noah reassured the kit, "Both me and your father will be sure they won't try anything and, if they try, we'll make sure they regret it, okay?"
The kit looked down, saying an "okay". Meanwhile, someone else was looking at Lawrence, and it was Nick.
"Father?" Nick asked, and Lawrence nodded, as he stood up briefly.
"Nick, I'd like you to meet my sons." He said, as he gestured to the kit and the teenager. "Theo, Eli, this is your cousin Nicholas. He is the son of my sister Sophie, I told you about her, remember?"
Eli and Theo looked at Nick, who looked back at them.
"Yes." Eli said, looking at his cousin, and Nick also looked back at the cousins whom he also didn't knew he had, one of which was still looking at his with a lot of mistrust for a ten-year-old.
"Now, this is a gathering for adults." Lawrence said to the two younger foxes. "So, Eli, could you take your brother to some other part. You two should be training now, right?"
Eli bowed his head to his father.
"Yes, we should. Sorry for interrupting. Let's go, Theo."
With this, Eli steered Theo away from the gathering of adults, and the two disappeared through the door, leaving everyone to turn their attention to Lawrence, who sighed and said:
"Kits, huh?"
Everyone just looked at the fox for a few moments, before Yahya asked:
"Do you allow your son to do that to his fur?"
"Hey, he just came back home like that one day." Lawrence said, and Yahya continued to look at him.
"If I came back home with my fur died blue my parents would have thrown a fit." Judy said, and Noah laughed at this.
"Girl, this is nothing! I can remember a time when..."
And soon, they were hearing a story about a time when Eli was around the same age as Theo, and that Noah considered memorable enough to share with the guests. It was a pretty interesting story, to be honest. Then it Noah decided to share another one of his favorite stories, this one about when Sophie and Lawrence were kits, and it was quite an interesting story as well, and Nick actually enjoyed hearing it.
His mother never spoke about her family. She never even told him that she had a brother, or nephews. Maybe it was an ex-mage thing?
"And on that day their father forbade them of ever having spaghetti again." Noah concluded, and everyone was looking at him as he finished that story, Josh and Marcy were both laughing, and even Judy was openly chuckling at the funny tale. Lawrence, on his end, seemed to be quite embarrassed for having this story of his past told to the guests, and Noah actually seemed to enjoy by making the fox embarrassed.
"We were young back then." Lawrence said, as he felt the need to defend himself. "I matured since that time."
"Good thing you did." Noah said, looking at him, "It would have been difficult to deal with you if you remained as mischievous as an adult as you were as a kit."
"Oh, you wouldn't have worried about dealing with me." Lawrence said, "Because if I hadn't matured, I'd have been dead before I turned twelve."
This comment made the chuckling stop, and everyone looked at the fox.
"That's harsh." Nick said, looking at him, and his uncle looked back at him.
"It's truth." Lawrence said, "Of course, you might not know because your mother took the liberty of coddling you once you were not born among mages." Nick raised an eyebrow at him.
"Coddled"? What, did his uncle thought that his life was easy since he was not born a mage?
"In our world, you have to mature very quickly." Lawrence said to his nephew. "You do it, because if you don't then you won't last long. You need to understand how things are and what you need to do to stay alive."
Lawrence looked at his nephew, and smiled.
"By your expression, I'd say you know that already." He said, and Nick looked back at his uncle. He had to fight back a shudder as the memories of the Ranger Scouts incident came to his mind. Lawrence, however, seemed to have noticed, because he said:
"The world showed you how cruel it can be, didn't it?"
Nick said nothing in return, instead putting another forkful of that strawberry cake on his mouth and chewing on it. Lawrence looked at him for a few moments, before nodding.
"Yes, we all saw how cruel the world can be." Lawrence said. "Because it can be cruel, and our parents were sure that we knew this. They were sure we would know how the world goes, and that we would know how to fight our way through it so we could survive."
Judy was looking at her partner, and then at Lawrence, who was looking very regal as he rested both paws on his cane.
"I see... it was 'fighting your way through' that you got that scar on your paw?" Yahya asked, and Lawrence looked curiously at him. The horse looked, and Lawrence followed his gaze to his paws. There was a scar on the back of the right one. A long line crossing all the back of his paw, looking made by a blade.
"Ahh, this..." Lawrence said, looking at the scar on the back of his paw, almost as it was a found memory to him. "A memory of the time I nearly got killed in a war."
"You've been in a war?" Judy asked, looking at the fox, who continued to look at the scar for a few seconds, before looking at the bunny.
"A mage war." Lawrence said to the bunny, "The kind you wouldn't hear about on the news or in school. The kind that happens every few decades, or even each few years, without anyone who is not of the moonlit world taking notice."
"I took part on one of those wars, it was where I got this." He said, proudly showing the scar on his back. "I didn't won, but hey, I came out alive! And only with a scar on my paw and a bad leg." He said, tapping on his left leg as he spoke that. "They are my badges of honor. I certainly got off easy, compared to others who came before me."
Judy and Nick shared a look, and Nick caught himself wondering what was with that look Lawrence was giving him.
"Okay, I think it is enough talking about war." Noah said, "Maybe we can talk on more pleasant subjects, on things that are more meaningful to our current situation. Like for example- Uh, raspberry tarts!"
Noah's words cut as soon as a golem came, placing down a plate with a literal mountain of small tarts on the table, and Noah Wilde was all over it in no time, eating them and letting out moans of delight like a little kit. Everyone just stared at him for a few moments, before Yahya finally said:
"Alright, I think that is enough of all of this."
Everyone looked at the horse (save for Noah, who was currently stuffing his face with raspberry tarts), as the horse looked at Lawrence.
"I think it is about time you told us why you have actually called us here."
Lawrence looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the reason why you sent one of your stone minions to my house to offer an invitation to have tea." Yahya said.
"What, cannot we have done it just because we wanted to be good neighbors and enjoy some company?" Lawrence said, looking at the horse. "Do we need to have ulterior motives?"
"You practically demanded us to come with your 'open invitation'." Yahya said, "And I have been watching you during the entire conversation. All the while he..." The horse gestured at Noah, "was talking about the shenanigans of his younger relatives, you were looking at him and seemed to be impatient. Nearly as if you were waiting for him to tackle a specific subject."
He looked the fox dead in the eye.
"You didn't brought us here to have tea just to be good neighbors." Yahya concluded, "You have us come here because there is something you want to talk about. Something specific."
Lawrence looked at the horse, and then chuckled.
"You deserve a round of applause for your great perception of things, Mister Manechester. You truly are as good as the rumors say. What makes me wonder if certain other rumors might also be truth."
Yahya didn't reacted, and only continued to look at the fox, who looked back at him, before laying back on his chair and addressing all of the gusts this time.
"Yesterday, you have captured a mage named Pryce Sheppard." Lawrence said, "A freelancer, who is currently being held prisoner by you."
"During the course of an interrogation, he claimed to have been hired by a relative of mine." Lawrence said, and everyone looked at him.
"How do you know that?" Judy asked, to what Lawrence only answered that he "had his ways", before continuing:
"He claimed to have been hired by Cornelius Wilde. And that this has happened recently. Now, is that truth, or have we been feed bad information?"
The mammals on the table looed at him, and the first one to answer was Yahya:
"In the case the information is true." All eyes turned to the horse, who was looking at the fox, "Would the information be of your business? After all, it is a matter that the authorities should be investigating. In that case, the enforcers."
Yahya was not provoking-sounding as he sad those words, but very respectful. However, Lawrence seemed to have considered those words offensive, for he glared at the horse.
"Of course it is our business, horse." Lawrence said, with such intensity and assertiveness that it made Yahya raise an eyebrow at him. The rest of the guests also looked at the fox, who seemed to notice it.
"I mean, it is my cousin we are talking about." Lawrence said, in a much more polite manner. "And we thought he was dead. If you thought a member of your family was dead, and all of sudden you heard the news they were still alive, wouldn't that be of interest to you?"
Yahya said nothing for a few moments, only looking at the fox, before he nodded.
"Yes, I assume you are right."
Lawrence nodded back at him, and then he turned to the rest of the guests.
"So, will anyone tell me if my cousin is actually alive or not?" He asked, and the guests shared looks once more. Josh was the one who raised a finger, taking it upon himself to answer, as the present enforcer.
"Well, it is true that we got Sheppard." Josh said, "And it is true that he claimed to have been hired by Cornelius Wilde."
Lawrence looked at him, and the cheetah explained a bit of what Sheppard have claimed.
"And he was telling the truth?" Lawrence asked, to what Josh answered:
"Well, he really believes the fox who hired him claimed to be Cornelius Wilde."
"Which raises a question." Yahya said, looking at the fox, who was now looking at him. "Why would your cousin hire a freelancer to come to our house and attack one of the present mammals?"
Lawrence looked at him for a few moments, and then he said:
"I honestly don't know."
Yahya continued to look at him, and the fox sighed.
"Cornelius has always been quite unpredictable." Lawrence admired, "It was really hard to guess what he was going to do next, with that obsession of his' to achieve instantaneous spatial transportation. He went through all limits to try and achieve it. Once he even snuck into the house and tries to steal secret documents from out archives. The relationships he had with the family soured after this."
"He all but cut ties to the rest of the family after this, saying that we were all useless if we would not support him." Lawrence concluded. "He basically forsook all of us in quest for his goals and ambitions."
There was a brief silence.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Judy said, looking at the fox.
"Don't be." Lawrence said.
"And you want to find him again?" Marcy asked, and Lawrence looked at her.
"Of course we do." Lawrence said to her. "He may have been extremely rude to the family, but he is still a Wilde. Besides, it is not like he is as much of a failure as my sister."
Nick, who had been silent until this point, finally spoke.
"Wait. Wait wait wait. What was that?"
He was looking at the other fox, who looked back at him.
"What was that you just said about my mother?" Nick asked, and Lawrence had no qualms about saying:
"That she is a failure."
Nick looked at his uncle, and the other guests looked at him with surprise as well.
"Oh, don't give me those looks." Lawrence said to all of them. "I'm just saying the truth."
"For someone with the amount of talent and potential she has, Sophie turned out as complete failure as a mage. Not to mention a total embarrassment for our family." Lawrence said, and calmly took a sip of tea, and everyone was looking at him.
"You know, those are really harsh words to say about your own sister." Josh said, and Lawrence put his cup down.
"Maybe." He said, looking at the cheetah, "But that doesn't means they are not the pure and unaltered truth."
Everyone was looking at Lawrence, including Nick.
"So... my mother is an embarrassment?" The tod asked his uncle, who answered his words.
"Make no mistake, your mother was extremely talented, and I still love her as my sister." Lawrence said, speaking to Nick in the most paternal way possible. "However, the fact remains that her actions brought nothing but shame to the whole clan."
"What actions?" Judy asked, looking at Lawrence. The tod looked back at her, and took another sip of tea, before saying:
"Decades ago, Sophie left our house. She traveled, and she was supposed to come back bringing great honor to our family. However, she failed miserably, and came back to us broken, humiliated... and pregnant."
Everyone had their attention caught by the last statement, and they all looked at Nick, who was looking intently at the fox.
"Yes, she was pregnant with you, Nicholas." Lawrence concluded. "She came back with a bastard child on her womb instead of a great power that would help the clan grow, and that was something that really embarrassed us."
"Because she had a child out of wedlock?" Yahya asked, wondering if this would have been enough for a mage family to actually consider kicking a young lady out of the house, but Lawrence made a dismissive gesture.
"The pregnancy was not the issue." He said, "The issue was that she gave up the very reason why she left in the first place."
The non-mages on the table looked at him with raised eyebrows.
The "reason why she left"?
"She had departed to achieve glory." Lawrence explained, "She departed to achieve great things. Great deeds and feats that would have brought fame and prestige to herself and, consequently, to the Wilde clan. Perhaps, she could even be able to help us reach the very goals that the entire Wilde clan was built upon, over a thousand years ago."
"She could have reached all of it, you know?" Lawrence said to all of them. "She could have reached that and much more, and brought infinite honor and glory to our family. However, she had to lose her way just when she was on the track. She just had to decide that the glory, honor and power she should achieve was just not better than 'following her heart'."
Lawrence threw air quotes as he said that, and he let out a snort.
"You know, when I first heard that, I didn't believe it. Sophie was not like that? She was one of the most dedicated, serious and reasonable mammals I have ever knew. That was why I was shocked that she had gone and done something so irresponsible. So stupid."
"It is not even about the type of magecraft that she dealt with!" Lawrence said his tone was growing more intense the more he talked, as if talking about it was enough to put him in a bad mood. "It is the fact that she decided to just throw away everything! She just gave up everything that she and all of those who came before her fought so hard for on a whim! Can you believe that someone can be so unbelievably selfish!?"
Everyone looked at him as he continued, and were not sure if Sophie was as selfish as Lawrence was making it sound.
"She was suppose to come back to us as a hero! Instead, she came back with her head hung low and a baby growing on her womb! The result of her 'finding love', as she had put it, and the only thing she even had on her name after the whole fiasco!"
"You know, Cornelius might be a problem for the family sometimes, but at least he never did anything to embarrass the family like Sophie did." Lawrence said, and now it really sounded as if he was venting with the guests. "Do you know how much we have to fight to reach the point we are into today? Do you know how hard was to grow as a clan of mages with the rest of the mages all looking down on us for being foxes, and trying to keep us 'where we belonged'? Do you know the difficulties our ancestors faced? The sacrifices they had to make? They did it all so we could grow and become stronger! So their descendants would have a better future than they had! The very least we could be expected to do was to live up to their legacy and honor all they did for us!"
"But what did my brainless sister do!? She threw it all away! She practically renounced all of the honor and pride of the Wilde clan, won at such hard costs, all because she wanted to follow her heart! Bah!"
Everyone was now looking at the fox, most of them with expressions that said they didn't liked what he was saying. Most of them all was Nick, who looked at his uncle with an unamused expression. He cast a glance to the side to Noah, who was still stuffing his muzzle with raspberry tarts, seemingly oblivious to anything that was being said.
Or acting like he was.
Almost as if he didn't care.
"And then, right after, she decided that she was done with magecraft as well!" Lawrence said, sounding like he still couldn't believe it. "She just said, 'I'm done' and walked off! As if she hadn't humiliated us enough!"
"Humiliated you?" Marcy said, "You know your sister nearly lost her life back then don't you?"
"What?" Nick said, looking at the hybrid, but his attention was taken from her immediately by his uncle's next words:
"Well, I won't lie, that would have been much better."
Nick and Judy were flabbergasted as they heard that, and the others were also staring at the fox with surprised, even disgusted, expressions.
"When a mage leaves the household of their clan, they are expected to come back with great glory or not come back at all." Lawrence said, as if he was explaining something obvious to a child. "Not to come back in shame! Anything but that!"
They only looked at Lawrence for a while, and then Nick asked:
"So, you wanted my mother to have died? Is that it?"
Lawrence looked at the fox standing before him, and it seemed that Lawrence was calming down now. For a moment, Nick even had the impression that he was choosing good works to say.
"Even in the face of defeat and failure, a mage can still bring glory to the clan." Lawrence said, looking at Nick in the eyes. "Even if a mage failed to reach their ideals, a mage can still save the name of their family and bring honor to them."
"By dying?" Nick asked, finding the concept hard to grasp, and Lawrence continued:
"A mage who died while on the pursuit of their goals and those of their clan, died living up to what is expected of a mage. They have went to the final consequences of their mission as mages, and made the final sacrifice for the chance to have their ambitions and those of their families achieved. That is why, even if a mage is defeated and humiliated, they can still bring glory to their clan. A mage who has died on the pursuit of their goals, has remained loyal to their lineage and to the very ideal of what it means to be a mage, and they will be remembered as heroes and martyrs, and bring honor to the name of their clan for their devotion and bravery."
"That is why it would have been better for everyone if Sophie had died." Lawrence concluded. "Even after disgracing the entire family, she could have saved it by sacrificing herself for our ideals. But, instead, she decided to come back to us and, upon finding out she was going to have a kit, decided to renounce magecraft and leave, renouncing all that she ever was and fought for him live a meaningless life, a mundane life, among the common masses, becoming a great embarrassment to the family name."
Everyone was in silence, looking at Lawrence, and he sighed.
"You know, it was really sad." He said, "Sophie was one of the most talented mages our clan has ever produced, and she could have reached nearly anything, but she threw it all out. Our legacy, our efforts, our pride and our name. All of it because she 'feel in love'."
He let out a snickering sound.
"It was really a shock that someone with as much potential, and who practically embodied the pride of the Wilde, could be so stupid and weak. What a waste..."
A very uncomfortable silence built after those words were said, as everyone was looking at Lawrence, some of them glaring. Nick, on his end, had an impassive look on his face, and he seemed to be calm. He placed his cup and plate down, and looked Lawrence in the eyes, and then said:
"Fuck you."
Lawrence blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"FUCK YOU!" Nick shouted, making most of the mammals around him jump back a little bit, as he got up, and was now snarling and glaring daggers at Lawrence. Nick had been holding back all the while he was hearing Lawrence talk, and now he was letting it all out.
"Fuck you! Fuck the 'honor and glory of the clan'! Fuck your 'rich mage morality'! Fuck your 'pride as a Wilde'! Fuck your notions of having dead relatives is better than having then be weak! Fuck your huge tail, pompous mansion with fox-themed art and fancy gazebos where you have flamboyant tea parties!"
Neither Lawrence nor Noah were reacting very much. Noah continued eating the tarts, seemingly oblivious to all that was happening around him, while Lawrence looked at Nick with an unamused, but almost bored, expression.
"And, you know what else?" Nick said, fishing on his pocket. He pulled out the check that Lawrence had gave him and, before his uncle's eyes, tore the check.
"Fuck! Your! Stinking! Money!" Nick tore the check once with every word, and then threw all the pieces over Lawrence's head like confetti, while the older fox remained completely impassive.
"I'm leaving!" That was all Nick said, and he walked off by the side of the gazebo.
"Nick!" Judy called, and she gave Lawrence a dirty glare, before she went after her partner, calling his name.
"Yeah, I'm leaving too." Josh said, "Don't take it wrong, but I find your company really unsavory."
With this, Josh got up and left, and Marcy followed soon behind. The only one of the group left was Yahya, and he too seemed to decide he would not be staying anymore.
"Excuse me." Yahya said, as he got up and calmly clopped his way after the rest of the group, now leaving only Lawrence and Noah sitting on the table, while the guests all left.
Nick just wanted to get out of there. He wanted to get as far from that house and from those people as possible. He walked around the house, and easily found his way through the front gates, with everyone else following behind him. Judy herself right by his side.
"Stupid arrogant rich people." Nick grumbled to himself. "With their rich people morality and values. Putting their name above my mom's life. No wonder she left..."
Nick was really pissed after what he heard, and anyone could notice it. Including Judy, who was doing her best to comfort her friend and partner, as they made their way back to the Manechester mansion.
"That went worse than expected." Lawrence said, as he took another sip of tea, nearly chocking as a piece of the check Nick tore and threw on him.
"It's your fault, you know?" Noah said, as he swallowed another tart, and now looked at the other fox. "You had to start badmouthing Sophie yet again. Didn't I told you a hundred times to let it go? Sophie is still family, and it is not good to badmouth family, unless they are complete bastards."
"Oh, yeah?" Lawrence said, recovering, "Well, you didn't said anything while I was talking just a minute ago."
Noah looked back at him.
"I was eating the tarts." Noah said, "I couldn't speak with my mouth full."
Lawrence rolled his eyes.
"I swear you are crazier than Cornelius, you old geezer."
"Careful, boy." Noah said, "I am still the head of the clan."
"Doesn't means you are not an old geezer." Lawrence said, looking at him. Noah said nothing on it, instead speaking:
"So, it seems that the plan didn't panned out thanks to you."
"We found out what we needed." Lawrence said, "We confirmed that there is someone around using the name of Cornelius to hire a freelancer."
"We already knew that, you don't need to pretend this was the reason for this little 'flamboyant tea party'." Noah said to him, making Lawrence look at him. "Well, it was, but not the main reason. This was not about confirming something we already knew."
Noah looked Lawrence in the eyes.
"This was about Nicky." Noah said, "It was about getting him to know us. About connecting with him. About getting on good terms with him. And you totally botched it when you decided now was a good moment to speak ill of his mother."
Lawrence looked at Noah for a while, before looking down. Noah sighed, and took another bite on yet another raspberry tart. Oh, how he loved those!
"What now?" Lawrence asked to the head of the clan, the one whom he was bond to listen and obey, as he was the leader of their lineage.
"Now?" Noah said after swallowing the mouthful he was chewing. "We wait for Nick to cool his head and then try to contact him again, and next time you let me do all the talking."
Lawrence nodded.
"I still don't get why we need to be on good terms with him." Lawrence said, to what Noah replied:
"Because Nicky might be the most interesting fox born on our lineage since the times of Solomane. His very conception is a miracle in and on itself, and you know it."
Lawrence said nothing in return, as he knows Noah was right, and the elder fox chuckled.
"It is quite interesting, actually." Noah said, "That Nicky can be so special and have absolutely no idea. It would really sad to let him live the rest of his life without ever knowing how special he is."
Noah chuckled a little.
"He certainly goes a little after his father, don't you think?" Noah asked, to what Lawrence didn't answered, and Noah went back to savoring the delicious raspberry tarts made on their kitchen.
Man, those golems were good cooks!
And this concludes this chapter. Sorry if it is not the best, I think that the time I remained without working made my lose my skill with long chapters. I hope it is still good enough for my followers.
Also, King Solomane = King Solomon, a Zootopian version of the legendary king of Israel.