The morning sun streamed through the open window and onto the small breakfast table where Lilith sat. She leaned back and let the warmth seep into her fur and complement the full feeling in her belly. She looked around the room casually, noticing again the interesting signs of scorch marks here and there. Apparently, she thought, things got rough in here on occasion. She wondered if there would be more scorch marks in the kitchen area.

As if the thought of it had brought it to life, the door to the kitchen area opened and a gray rat Master stepped out. Lilith assumed it was a master, at least the leather vest and pants that he wore were black. So was the metal implant on his shoulder.

He strode over to her and said, "Adept Lilith, come to my office, we have some things to discuss." Then he turned and walked away. Lilith recovered from her surprise and scrambled out to follow him, regretfully leaving her warm sunbeam behind. She'd had few enough pleasures lately, and that had been one.

The rat led her through the reception area, through a door in the back of it, and through the resulting office to a larger one behind it. He didn't say a word, and barely even looked at her, while he did that and then shut the door and sat down behind his desk. He curtly motioned her to the chair facing it and she sat.

"Well," he observed, "it looks like we have a bit of a problem here. You've had a night's rest, two good meals, and care for your horse, but you don't have any credit to pay it with."

Lilith instinctively bridled at his judgemental tone, but held her peace.

The rat clasped his paws and rested his chin on them as he continued in a tone that was supposed to be thoughtful- but Lilith could see he was delivering a prepared speech. "The worst part of it is that we don't really have much of anything you could do to earn credit. We've got all of our positions filled with locals, one way or another, so having you do any chores would simply mean they wouldn't get paid. That's not very good for our reputation around here, having members of the community lose part of their pay. But, without that, there's not that much left......"

He paused, and Lilith decided to step into the gap. "I'm sure there are plenty of job openings for a trained dark-side Adept around here. After all, you seem to have a thriving little guild."

The rat seemed to miss the slight hint of sarcasm in her tone as he replied, "perhaps, yes. Of course, that's another problem all on its own. You can't just take the job of another adept, either. That'd be worse than displacing a local. What we would need is some sort of new job opening...."

Lilith looked at him sharply. "Ok. So what is it?"

"Well, I'm not sure yet--"

"Yes, you are. This whole thing has been leading up to something, so let's hear it. Just what are you getting me into?"

The rat facing her almost seemed to get indignant but he covered it with a chuckle. "I see you're a direct sort of fur. Good. We can use that. To make a long story short, the mayor has asked me to have a dark-side Adept serve as the local Peace Enforcer. It's basically a beat cop, that sort of thing. You'd simply be walking the streets making sure no one was disturbing the peace, or anything bad."

He paused, but Lilith simply stared at him expectantly. Finally, she said, "Go on."

"Go on? There's not much more to it, I just told you what it was."

"You know more than you're telling. Get it out. Just what sort of job is this really going to be?"

"It's going to be exactly what I said, Adept. Nothing more or less." The rat was beginning to get a little indignant now, and Lilith could see that he really was hiding something, but she wasn't sure what. She decided a skeptical approach to it would be a good idea.

"I see. So there's nothing else available?"

"No, I just told you, nothing else. If you want to pay for all of those goods and services you've used, then you'd better take this."

"Threats? I wouldn't think you'd need those." As the rat began to get truly angry, she held up a hand and said, "I'll take it, there's no need to get upset."

"Finally! Now come on, we've got to go see the Mayor and get you officially enrolled." As he headed to the door, he added, "Oh yes. My name is Vika, I'm the local guildmaster."

"Of course," Lilith murmered dryly.

As they left through the outer office, Lilith wondered why Vika had an office for a receptionist when he didn't even seem to have a receptionist. Oh well, what's one more thing that doesn't make sense. They soon stepped out onto the street and Vika led her towards the center of town. She looked around with interest- if she was going to enforce the peace here, she needed to know what it was like. It seemed all very normal. The buildings were mostly brick or stucco, like most dwellings in the south half of the Heartland. She wondered for a moment how long it had been since she had seen a building of decent stone or wood. She almost got homesick, but then firmly reminded herself that she didn't have a home back there anymore. The few furs I'd know from my guild days there probably wouldn't even want to speak to me anymore, now that I've switched sides- and look it, too, she silently added, looking down at her metal left hand ruefully.

They came into a central square, and a two story red brick building in the middle turned out to be their destination. They walked in, between the benches and under the trees which were promising coolness for the day. Lilith frowned to herself as they went inside. All the way over, Vika had barely acknowledged the few greetings he got. That didn't puzzle her. What did was that she had yet to look anyone in the eye more than a second or two. No one seemed willing to, for some reason.

The pattern continued in the Mayor's receptionist office. A competent looking vixen stood guard, and when Vika announced his presence and the fact that he wanted to see the mayor, she nodded normally. But then she looked at Lilith, and her eyes widened before she quickly looked away and almost scurried to the door to the Mayor's office to announce them. Something was most definitely up, and Lilith had no idea what.

That knowledge perhaps made her edgier than usual as they were shown into the Mayor's office. The mayor was just putting a bottle back into his desk as they came in, but when he saw Lilith he stopped to stare and almost pulled the bottle back out. He changed his mind, though, and dropped it in. After slamming the drawer shut harder than he needed to, he brought his hands up and Lilith saw that they were shaking. Is everyone a nervous wreck around here? she thought irritably.

"Ahhh, good morning, guildmaster," the mayor said.

Vika bowed. It might have looked better on someone else, with him it just looked awkward. "And a very good morning to you, Mayor Nurans. I believe I've solved our little problem of hiring another Peace Enforcer."

"Another? Oh, yes, of course."

"Yes, we talked about it yesterday, don't you remember?"

The Mayor seemed upset by his forgetfulness, Lilith noticed. "Yes, yes, of course I do. So is this Adept here the solution?"

Vika smiled. Lilith wasn't entirely sure she liked that smile- but it could have been because she hadn't liked a thing about this rat that she'd seen so far. "Yes, Nurans, this is Adept Lilith. She arrived in town just yesterday, but I'm sure she can help us out."

"I see. Ahhh... so what are your qualifications, Adept?"

Lilith blinked. Everyone had been talking around her so long that she wasn't prepared to answer anything. "Oh. I served as a bodyguard slash security officer under Tyahis last. It didn't end too well, though. We got overrun, and I lost my hand trying to save him."

For some reason, this news seemed to please Nurans. Lilith couldn't see how failure helped qualify you, but she suddenly felt certain that he'd say yes- not that she was sure he could've said much else if it had come to a contest of wills between him and Vika. "I'm sure you won't have to worry about losing a hand here, Lilith. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you, sir."

Vika cleared his throat. "Nurans, wasn't that the Peace Enforcer staff I saw in your receptionist's office?" At Nurans' nod, he said, "Adept Lilith, why don't you go out and take a look at it? It will be your staff of office-- with your permission, mayor," he said, with a nod perhaps meant to be courteous, but which was actually more of a brusque acknowledgment.

"Oh- yes, of course, of course. Go right ahead, Adept."

Lilith didn't exactly like what was happening. It was very smooth, but she sensed that she was being told to get out while private business was discussed. Still, there wasn't much else to do. She nodded, thanked the mayor politely, and went back outside.

A she stepped into the outer office, the secretary hurriedly looked at her desk and became very busy with-- something. Lilith couldn't see what was there that required all the concentration that it seemed to be getting. She frowned in disgust, and looked around the office. In one corner, she noticed a staff made of gray stone.

"Is this the peace enforcer staff?" she asked casually as she walked towards it.

"Yes, Adept" was the hurried response.

Lilith picked it up, and carried it toward the window. She sat in the windowsill and looked it over. It was of stone, she could feel that by the weight, but the texture was something between stone and wood, and the grain and shape were that of wood. She frowned. The ball on top was identifiable as amber after a bit of examination. As she pondered it, she saw the secretary peeking up at her. When she looked toward her, though, the vixen again ducked her head and set about running through drawers on her desk.

Lilith had had enough. She walked over, and put the staff in the drawer that the secretary had pulled out so that it couldn't be closed again. The secretary looked up fearfully.

"Ma'am," Lilith said, "so far this morning I have yet to be able to meet anyone in this town and look them in the eyes. Would you please tell me what is going on here? I'm an ordinary vixen, for a dark-side Adept. Are magicians so feared in this town that no one is willing to look at one??"

The secretary gulped, and leaned back. "N-n-no, n-not exactly that, but that doesn't help any."

"Then why won't anyone look me in the eye?"

The secretary giggled nervously. "Uh, that's the reason, Adept. Your eyes."

Lilith frowned. "So what's the problem with my eyes? Granted, red might look strange if you hadn't seen it before, but why should that scare you so much?"

The secretary's jaw dropped. "You mean you were born that way?"

"Of course. How else could I have gotten it?"

Another hysterical giggle. "I didn't know, but I wasn't going to ask a dark-side adept, because there was no telling what sort of rite you had gone through, and if it left you looking like that, what else might you be capable of?"

Lilith gave a disgusted snort, pulled the staff back and turned around to the window again. "What kind of town is scared of a simple vixen that happens to have red eyes."

"One that never heard of red eyes before," was the rather shaky response.

Lilith shook her head in disbelief. "Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Look, will you take my word I'm not any more likely to fry you on the spot than anyone else is if you look at me?"

"Y-yes, Adept." The response was still a little trembly, but Lilith was glad to notice a relieved grin went with it.

"Good! Now, what can you tell me about this staff? I've never seen wood- or stone- like this before. Which is it, anyway?"

"Wood- or at least, that's what it started out as. It got turned into stone afterwards, but I don't know how. I've seen other pieces like that, though none that shape."

"Wood turned to stone. Hmmmm"

"Yes, and the amber on top was a tree resin, I think, and it got turned to stone, too."

Lilith stared thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, I think I've heard that before. Very interesting."

The secretary nodded wisely. "The first Peace Enforcer said that having those materials be both living and non-living helped his magic."

"First? Magic?"

"Yes, didn't you know? The first Peace Enforcer was a mighty magician back before the Union even. He ruled over this whole area with that to help enforce his will."

"Not your typical beat cop, then," was the dry response.

The secretary laughed, "I should say not! Anyhow, after he left- or died, or whatever, no one seems to know for sure- the rod got put back in storage until now."

"Wait a minute. You mean that there hasn't been another peace enforcer since?"

The other vixen shuddered. "I should say not, thank the ancestors! One was enough. What the mayor is doing resurrecting that old legend I don't know. I don't think any rash of burglaries is worth bringing that old ghost up to haunt people."

Vika was feeling very pleased with himself as he turned to go. He'd driven a hard bargain with the Mayor, and had gotten him to agree to three silver quints a day for Lilith's services. He'd also just about driven the Mayor into a nervous breakdown with a few well-aimed verbal shots. That was icing on the cake.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Mayor, " he said. "I'll have our new Peace Enforcer here an hour or two early so that you can have your ceremony at 11 tomorrow morning."

The only reply he got was a mumbled "ok". It was enough to bring a smile to his face as he opened the door and walked into the outer office. He found Lilith holding the rod and staring off into space while the secretary stared at her.

"Well, I'm glad you ladies had a good time while we were busy. Adept, you can put the rod back for now, you'll get it in a formal public ceremony tomorrow morning."

As Lilith moved to obey, he continued, "I got a decent salary for you, too- two bronze sovereigns a day."

"Yes, I suppose that's decent," Lilith replied as she returned. She saw right away that he was lying, and knew he'd gotten more. The fool. Does he think I'm a beginning apprentice, that I can't see his duplicity? This rat must have to screw his own socks on. Too bad I don't know how much he's cheating me out of.

"Of course it is! Now come along, we've got things to do this afternoon to get you ready."

Lilith nodded goodbye to the secretary as she walked out behind Vika and actually managed to exchange a smile with her.

Vika, though, was a little less pleased as he contemplated Liilth's reaction and the afternoon ahead. Ungrateful little vixen. Give her a nice salary and she acts like she deserves it. Maybe I can keep her from getting too uppity, though. Looks like I'm going to have a hard time getting her skills up to doing this job- but as long as we get paid for it, it really doesn't matter how good she is, now does it?