On reflection, you decide that it's safe-ish for you to end your circle-hunt and head for the zoo's exit. While you haven't checked all of the habitats, the only ritual diagrams you found were all next to mammalian apex predators. Even other top carnivores like the crocodile in the Reptile House, aggressive omnivores like the bears and boars, and just plain huge and powerful mammals like the elephants were left out of the selection process, if whoever was laying down the circles even had one. It suggests a pattern, and the zoo hosts no other large carnivorous mammals that would fit, so it's probably safe for you to leave.

You figure you can let Lu-sensei know about what you found today at tomorrow afternoon's class, and either re-visit the zoo on Saturday morning, or let your teacher scout the place.

Satisfied, you spend the last twenty minutes or so of your field trip just being a kid among animals.

As it happens, after hearing your tale, Lu-sensei decides to visit the zoo himself the next morning. When you see him again that afternoon, he tells you that he checked all of the habitats, and the only circles he found were the ones you said you'd already disarmed.

That gives you a nice, warm glow of accomplishment which persists throughout the rest of the lesson, and all the way home.

That evening after supper, you, Briar, Moblin, and Zelda are playing in the backyard in the last hour or so before the sun goes down when you suddenly get the feeling that you're being watched - and by more than one observer.

"Alexth," Zelda says, pointing up. "Who'th that?"

You look up, and find that your little sister has spotted a firefly-like blue glow hovering just beyond your fence. It looks - and to your enhanced senses, feels - like a fairy, and it's definitely one of the presences you sensed watching you. It's not the only one, however, and your gaze cuts towards the upper branches of the tree in your yard, where a presence that is neither familiar nor hostile has settled itself. And THEN you look towards one corner of the yard, where the shadows cast by fence are deepest, and something that feels familiar and unfriendly is lurking.

For some reason, you get the impression that the newly-arrived fairy, the thing in the tree, and the shadow on the ground are all glaring at one another.

"I don't know, Zelda," you admit slowly, "but I don't think they came alone."

Zelda looks from the fairy to where you're looking. A moment later, she takes your hand.

Moblin growls softly as he comes up on your sister's other side. A brief glance shows that his attention is likewise fixed on the shadow.

You are honestly torn between keeping your little sister at your side, where you can best ensure her safety, or sending her indoors, out of sight and - hopefully - out of mind of your unexpected supernatural visitors. In the end, you decide that the latter damage has already been done, and you'd prefer to have Zelda under your watchful eye, as well as Moblin's and Briar's. Plus, you have the feeling that if you tried to send her inside now, she'd either refuse, kicking up a fuss in the process, or run straight to your parents for comfort against the "thcary thadow thing."

Gained King of Women C

"Alright, then," you say. "You have my attention. Are you all just going to stand there and glare, or are you going to do the polite thing and introduce yourselves?"

There is a pause.

"Ladies first, chu," the thing in the tree says then.

"Oh, no," a feminine voice whispers from the shadow. "After you."

"I would not dream of it, chu."

"I insist."

"Hi there!" the fairy says brightly, flying over the fence and straight up to Briar. "You must be Briar! It's great to meet you! I'm Prim - you know, short for primrose? Heh. Primrose. Rose. Briar. Get it?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too, Prim," Briar says dryly, while giving you a look over the head of the tinier and much younger-sounding fairy. "What brings you to Sunnydale?"

"You mean, other than my wings?"

"Yes, other than those."

"Well, I was just minding my own business the other day, when Hyacinth showed up and said Dewdrop told her that Lily said that Brooke wanted to pass on a message that Granny Oak agreed to deliver for the Old Guy, and that since I was the closest, I was getting tapped, and that was kind of awesome, because - just between you and me? - nobody's ever asked me to deliver anything before, especially not to another fairy."

"I can't imagine why not."

"I know, right? So anyway, I asked Hyacinth what the message was, and she said that Dewdrop told her that Lily-"

"I got all that already, Prim," Briar interrupts smoothly. "How about you just go ahead and repeat the message?"

"Oh, sure!" The little blue fairy pauses, clears her throat a couple of times, and then starts speaking in a much larger, older, more male, and unwelcomely familiar voice than before. "'Hello, there, Little Lady! If you and young Mister Harris'" - Prim suddenly slips into her normal voice - "who I'm guessing is this kid here, 'cause he matches the description that got passed on, and WOW, what has he been eating?"

"You'd be right, quite a lot, and what's the rest of the message?" Briar presses.

"Oh, yeah." Prim coughs again. "'If you and young Mister Harris aren't too busy, I have business that will be taking me to Los Angeles next month, and once I'm done, I was considering swinging down by the Hellmouth to check on things. Do you know a place where we might meet, without stepping on too many toes and other appendages, or should I just look up the lad's family in the directory?'" Prim pauses, then resumes her natural speaking voice once again. "That's it."

Zelda giggles. "You thounded like an old guy!" she teases.

Prim snickers back. "Yeah, didn't I? But I'm much better-looking."

Zelda nods. "Uh-huh."

"Of course, awesome as they are, I didn't get picked as a messenger for my looks. No, sir! I got picked 'cause I know not to get sidetracked, especially not on a Hellmouth - and Briar, one fairy to another, I have to ask, how do you stand it here? Because the air? Phew! Demon-reek everywhere. Is it always like this, or is worse than usual 'cause of the creepy witch hiding in the shadows?"

"Come down here and call me that to my face, pixie," the shadow hisses. Two ominously creased eyes glow red in the evening gloom.

"Yeah, right. I'm not a dumb as you look, spooky."

"Why you little-"

"Ladies," the being in the tree sighs, "please show some professional dignity, will you, chu?"

Fairy and shadow look at the tree, then at each other, then back at the tree.

"I have no idea what that means," Prim admits.

"I do," the shadow says, "and there's nothing dignified about being drafted to carry some mortal's mail."

"There is always dignity in doing one's duty, chu," comes the firm admonishment. With that, a rather large bat emerges from the leaves, scuttling along upside-down on one of the thicker branches.

"Eeep!" Zelda promptly ducks behind you - as do Briar and Prim. It belatedly occurs to you that most bats are aerial predators, and their famous use of echolocation in hunting insects might just enable them to pick out invisible fairies on the wing.

"You are Alexander Harris, correct, chu?" the bat inquires, looking at you with unnaturally large, crimson eyes.

"I am," you admit. "Would I be correct in guessing that you are attached to the Shuzen family?"

"Indeed, I am, chu." The bat sounds pleased. "I am here on behalf of Young Mistress Kahlua, chu." Somehow, one of the bat's furled wings pulls a sealed envelope out from mid-air, or possibly his thick, neatly-groomed fur. The bat extends its limb and the letter towards you. "For you, sir, chu."

Mindful of the little sister at your side and the lurking shadow over in the corner, you weave a simple cantrip to take hold of the letter and carry it down to your hand.

"Thank you," you say, nodding to the bat. "And you as well, Prim."

"No thanks are necessary, chu. I was merely doing my duty, chu."

"Did you hear that?" Prim says proudly, probably to Briar. "He said 'thank you!' To me! Hardly anybody ever says that to me!"

"You don't say," Briar mutters.

"If you'll give me a moment to finish up this last bit of business," you continue, facing the bat, "I can read this and have a reply to send back with you - if that's not presuming too much."

Gained Manners C

"That would be fine, sir, chu. The Young Miss instructed me to wait for your answer in any case, chu."

"Well, it's not fine with me!" Prim announces, doing a complete one-eighty in terms of mood as she flies out to get in your face. "Nobody said anything about carrying messages both ways, so you... can just... forget..." She finally notices that the bat is looking at her with an upside-down frown. "Eeep!"

And she's promptly hiding behind you again.

The bat sighs, shaking his head.

You turn to the shadow. "My apologies for the delay. May I know what brings you here this evening?"

"You may," the shadow responds, "but my instructions were specific. The message I am to relay is to be delivered to you, alone, with exceptions allowed for your fairy pet-"

"What was that?" Briar growls, rising from behind your shoulder like a tiny, angry star.

"-and your fighting master. No one else."

"Hey, no fair!" Prim protests. "You got to hear the message I brought! I should get to hear yours!"

The shadow glares at her. "Your opinion interests me about as much as your useless prattle, you babbling bug."

"Why you no-good, shadow-skulking-"

You feel an urge to pinch the bridge of your nose.

"If that's the case," you tell the shadow, "would you mind if I took a few minutes to address these other issues and see the other messengers on their way, before we get down to business?"

From the way the shadow's eyes shift, you'd say it was frowning.

"That... is acceptable," she grumbles.

You nod. "Thank you for your patience."

Opening the envelope, you slip out and unfold Kahlua's letter, noting as you do so that she uses higher-quality paper than you've ever seen or handled before, and also that she has actual penmanship - all graceful lines and swirling loops, rather than the printed block-text you're accustomed to reading and writing. It takes some effort for you to make sense of the fanciful characters, which slows your reading speed considerably, but you manage to decipher the letter.

Gained Literacy E

It reads as follows:

Hi, Alex!

How have you been? The last I heard about, you'd blown up a hotel room and were seeking refuge at the US Embassy; since then, nothing. Is everything okay? Did you get back home safely? Have the local demons been rowdy and in need of putting back in their place? Is that why you haven't written yet?

I apologize if I sound pushy, but I've been bored beyond belief since the tournament ended. Mother, Father, and Miss Akasha have been completely unreasonable since that little ninja invasion. They won't let us off the estate, they hardly allow us out of the house on our own, and they're being COMPLETELY paranoid and silly about letting me get in touch with you. They claim they didn't want me to write you a letter, because you live on the Hellmouth and they thought a demon or a sorcerer might get ahold of it, and they were even more opposed to the idea of my using the telephone. Have you ever heard of anything as silly as a curse traveling over the phone lines? Well, now you have.

Overprotective parents aside, I'm writing to let you know that my birthday is coming up on the First of July, and that you are cordially invited to attend. (I've always wanted to write that.) I'll also be inviting Tatsuki and a few other interesting people from the tournament. I was going to ask the ninja-girls to attend, but apparently my family has a group of associates who have bad history with a ninja clan that's closely allied with the Mugen Tenshin sect, and the adults would get upset if I had them over. Phooey.

Shinshi - that's my bat - will wait for your reply. Don't worry about travel arrangements; I can handle all of that on this end.

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Kahlua

PS: Miss Briar is invited too, of course.
PPS: Oh, and if your parents will let you, bring your little sister along! I'd love to meet her, and I'm sure she and Kokoa will get along great!
PPPS: I suppose if you need a big person for a chaperone, you can bring your teacher. The adults are all interested in meeting him.
PPPPS: And if you're going to all that trouble, I guess you can bring Miss Chase. If you have to.

Well. That's a thing. Now if only you could be sure that Kahlua's birthday didn't overlap with Ambrose's vaguely-defined "next month" - but the way your luck runs, that would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?

You carefully fold up Kahlua's letter and tuck it back into its envelope.

"I'll need some time to talk to my parents and my teacher before I can start putting together a proper response," you tell Shinshi. "Will that be a problem for you?"

"It will not, young sir, chu," the bat replies. "I may be speaking a bit above my place, but I believe that the Young Miss would much prefer to receive a complete and detailed answer, chu." He slowly unfolds his wings. "When should I return for your letter, chu?"

You consider it. You could speak with your parents tonight, but the earliest you can talk to Lu-sensei is tomorrow, and then only if he's got some free time to see you, as he did last Sunday. If not, Monday will be your earliest opportunity - and it would be the easier approach, giving you time to talk to the adults and to Cordelia, without interrupting their existing schedules. Granted, given the... tension... that you sensed between her and Kahlua at the tournament, you doubt that Cordy would really want to go to the other girl's birthday party, but then again, you know enough about Cordelia's social calendar to understand that she often has to go places and meet people she doesn't care for, because it's what her parents and high-society in general expect.

Either way, making the call without her input would just get her mad at you.

The big bat nods, invertedly. "I shall see you then, young sir, chu." And with a rustle of wings and branches, he drops from the tree and takes to the air, vanishing swiftly into the distance of the growing twilight.

You turn next to Prim. "Thank you again for your hard work, Prim. I have a way to get my response to, er, the Old Guy, so you won't need to be troubled any further on my account."

You can just make out the fairy's head bobbing to one side. "...huh?"

"He means you can go now," Briar translates.

"Oooh," comes the slow response of dawning realization. "Okay."

She makes no move to depart, however. After a moment, Briar sighs.

"He's also implying that he won't talk to the shadow until after you've left, Prim."

"Oh." This time, the exclamation is short and disappointed. The fairy's light dims and hangs a bit lower. "Phooey. Are you sure I can't-"

"Prim, please? As a favor to me?"

"Okay!" And just like that, the smaller fairy lightens up and zips off.

"'A favor?'" you repeat out loud.

"Don't worry about it, Alex. Assuming she even remembers it's owed, the payment will be something insignificant, like telling her where the cleanest morning dew is available, or a story she hasn't heard before. And I'll be the one paying in either case, not you." Briar turns to you then. "I'm guessing you'll want a little privacy while you talk with our last... visitor?"

"Would you mind, terribly?"

"No, I wouldn't. Zelda, Moblin? Come on. Let's go inside."

Moblin looks to you for a moment, and appears satisfied when you nod. Zelda, on the other hand, tightens her hold on your hand and presses her face against your lower back.

"Don't wanna."

Oh, dear. Stubborn little sister mode is go.

Turning about and taking a knee in front of your sister, you lay a comforting hand on her shoulder and look her square in the eye.

"Zelda, you would be doing me a big favor if you went inside with Briar and Moblin now."

"...weally?"

"Really. I made a promise that I'd talk to the shadow alone, and you know what Mom and Dad say about promises."

"'If you make 'em, don't break 'em,'" Zelda quotes. She sounds both accepting and reluctant, and glances past you at the darkened corner for a moment. Then she looks back at you, her expression firming up. "Pwomithe you'll be caweful?"

"I promise."

"And you'll play with me aftew?"

"Sure."

"And we'll have ithe cweam?"

You mock-frown at her. "Now you're pushing it, squirt."

Her expression is pure innocence. Then, with another nervous glance at the corner and a quick hug for you, Zelda wraps her arms around Moblin's neck and heads for the back door. Your dog bears his new limpet-collar with all due dignity, and Briar flies along just a little ways ahead of your sister.

As the back screen door shuts behind them, the shadow grunts. "Well, finally. Do you always waste that much time coddling the brat when you could be getting stuff done?"

You frown, for real this time, not caring in the least to have an uninvited demon speaking in that tone about your little sister.

You let out a breath, allowing your annoyance at the intruder's less-than-polite remark to pass unremarked.

Gained Rage F

"So," you say instead, "now that we have a moment's privacy, what brings you to my back doorstep?"

The shadow does not respond immediately. Instead, you see the eyes glancing carefully about, making sure that no one is in earshot. Then the patch of shadow wells up almost like water in a fountain, slowly giving rise to a foot-high plume of red-tinted darkness and free-floating motes of fiery red light. The darkness then settles in upon itself, taking on a more distinct form - one that follows generally humanoid proportions, at a fraction of the usual scale.

What finally emerges is a bat-winged, knife-eared, spade-tailed figure about the size of a cat, with reddish-black skin, blood red eyes that glow dimly in the fading light of day, and a mouthful of tiny fangs. The claws, stubby horns, and shaggy legs ending in cloven hooves more or less complete the image of a classical imp, although this one is wearing an extra-small Oakland Raiders t-shirt that still comes down to the top of its elongated ankles, and is belted around the waist a bit like the Hylian-style tunics you've seen in your dreams. If the voice hadn't already given away the gender, you'd still have pegged this imp as female, due to the subtle curves beneath the shirt, the overall shape of the face, and the surprisingly effective use of cosmetics on lips, claws, hooves, and horns, as well as about the eyes.

"Right," the she-imp says, "not that it's likely to be a surprise to you at this point, but I'm here to deliver a message from a girl who calls herself 'Beryl.'"

As predicted, you fail to be surprised by this.

"And what she said, after a certain amount of boring pleasantries and empty platitudes that I'm not going to bother repeating, is that one of the questions she never got around to asking you 'last time' - whenever that was - is whether or not whoever's been teaching you magic would be interested in taking on a new student, or just corresponding with another practitioner. And if the answer was yes to either, I'm supposed to leave an address at which she can be reached."

Okay, that part's a little surprising. Also sort of amusing, at least from your end, when you picture the look Beryl is likely to have on her face when she finds out that your primary teachers in magic are an invisible fairy, and a voice in your head.

"So," the imp says. "What's the answer? Is it no? Please say it's no, because that way I can skip the return trip."

You scratch your chin, then nod.

"I think I'd like to have that address."

The imp groans. "Great. Just great. That means I have to fly all the way back and let the girl know she can expect a letter at some point - and there's a game on tonight, which I'm going to miss. Thanks a heap, Junior."

"You're welcome," you reply with a smile.

Rather like the bat before her, the imp pulls out a small, folded piece of paper - plainer stock than what Kahlua used for her letter, and lacking an envelope. When you unfold it, you see that Beryl's handwriting is also a great deal plainer, and that she apparently doesn't go in for writing letters that much. It's just an address for a mailing box.

Gained Beryl's Contact Information!

"And before you go," you add, tucking the paper away, "what exactly were those 'empty pleasantries and platitudes' that Beryl used?"

"Wha- oh, come ON! You're not seriously going to-"

"I seriously am," you say firmly. "Nothing against you personally, but I am not going to get into the habit of letting summoned beings leave out bits of messages, rituals, and other potentially-important information."

One scaly eyebrow twitches for amoment. Then the imp scowls and half-turns away from you. "Nope. Not going to do it, and you can't make me."

Her wings start to beat. You've got until she gets airborne to convince her to divulge the missing lines.

Although you are tempted to just let the imp go, you can't escape a nagging worry that Beryl's "boring pleasantries and empty platitudes" might have contained some scrap of information you may need to know - or would at least like to.

You sigh. "Well, if you're in that much of a hurry, I won't keep you."

"Much obliged, kid," the imp says with a grin, wings beating faster as she leans forward and breaks into a run.

"I mean, I can always ask Beryl if there was anything important that got skipped over-"

The imp lets out a strangled "urk" as her wings pause in mid-swoop, throwing her off-balance and turning her take-off run into a controlled stagger. She comes to a stop and glares up at you. "You wouldn't dare."

She doesn't sound remotely confident in that statement.

"It might be important to know," you reply. "That, and I think Beryl deserves a heads-up that her messenger of choice is having memory problems. I'll admit the bat got off easy, what with just having to drop off a letter, but even the fairy remembered what she was supposed to say word-for-word. She even got the crazy old man's voice right."

"Oh, you bastard..."

"Hey, my folks are married, thank you very much."

"Hey, Alex?"

Oh. Shit.

Feeling your face go pale, you turn at the sound of your father's voice, and find him coming out of the back door, as if summoned by your passing mention of him. He's frowning.

"Zelda just came back inside looking upset about something. She won't say what, and your Mom and I were ho-whoa, what the-?"

And now he's staring. At the imp. Then at you. Then back at the imp.

You wince, glance at the minor demon, and feel a headache start to form.

The imp frowns at both of you. "What, have I got something on my face?"

"Alex," your father says in a strangled tone. "What. The. Hell?"