Time for Change

Tyler returns to his apartment and finds it full now that the children and their tutors are there as well.

Unable to deal with the noise and chaos of the full room Tyler heads to his laboratory, a hidden room within his apartment. There he takes one of the gems he had bought from the store owner. He still can't believe he was able to get the gem at such a good price, the stone is more than ready for a spell to be set, whoever had owned this gem had used it as a focus many times in the past.

Tyler takes the gem and concentrates as he sets the spell into the gem. Once that is done the magical energy no longer buzzes dangerously in him. Tomorrow he'll take the gem into town and have it set so Shelby can wear it as a necklace or a brooch. This will allow her to travel where ever she wants just like the elves and she won't be so dependent.

If she had had this the attack would never have happened.

He feels guilty about that, more guilty than he's ever felt in his life. Shelby would have been safe if she hadn't seen that store helper kiss him. Or if he had even stopped the clerk from kissing him or slapping her or something, instead he just let her.

And now she almost died, due to the machinations of his mother and possibly other high lords and ladies.

He's not going to leave Shelby so helpless again.

The last thing he does is hide the magical aura, most elves can sense when a stone has been used in that way. Not many stones have permanent magic set in them because most people wipe the stone after using it as a focus. It takes a great deal of magic to prepare the stone to accept the spell.

Shelby had seen Tyler return so she doesn't worry about him being out there without his guard, but she does worry when he disappears into a door she's never noticed before. When hours go by and he doesn't come out she begins to worry even more. Dinner has come and gone and still there is no sign of Tyler.

Finally the children fall asleep either on the floor or on the couch and Shelby decides to look for a way to open the hidden door.

"Let me, my queen," Treren says smoothly. He had been watching Shelby and had noticed that she kept looking at Tyler's secret room. He knew it would  be just a matter of time before she decides to look for Tyler. He opens the lab door and waits for Shelby to enter  before closing it behind her.

"Tyler?" Shelby says with wide eyes looking at the lab. It reminds her of her high  school chemistry lab, although larger and neater looking.

Tyler looks up startled, from what he's doing. "Shelby, how'd, why'd, you come here?" Tyler had lost himself in his work. Losing all track of time and forgetting about everything including his wife and kids.

"I saw you slip in here when you came back, which is a good thing or I'd be worried sick. But when you missed dinner and it's late, very late and you still haven't come out yet, I thought that maybe I should see what's holding you up. What is all this?" Shelby is careful to not hit anything when she gestures. She doesn't know what might happen if she does.

"I'm making a restorative right now. I seem to be needing them a lot lately." He rubs the back of his neck ruefully and then the lower back after he stretches. "I didn't mean to lose track of time like this. I just need to do a couple of things before I can stop for the night."

Tyler puts a few things away and checks on others and nods satisfied. He takes Shelby's hand and leads her back out of the lab. 

It is only then that he realizes that he's hungry.

Shelby had thought he might be when he finished whatever and had saved him some food. She has him sit in the only chair not taken by her children and hands him his plate. She isn't ready for Tyler pulling her down on his lap, he holds her there as he eats.

"Tyler it would be easier for you to eat if I wasn't sitting on you." Shelby says dryly even as she makes herself comfortable there.

"Probably, but I prefer it like this. I didn't mean to get lost in the work. At first it was a way to get rid of some of the magical energy that was nearly overwhelming me, then I just got lost in the wonder of the magic. It relaxes me and it's been some time since I've been able to indulge. I really shouldn't have tonight, I should have started the interviews, or rather interrogations of the high houses." Tyler rubs his bridge of his nose as the exhaustion makes itself felt.

"Damn, I've never held so much energy for so long."

"Is it dangerous?" Shelby asks anxiously, she knows little about the magical world.

"It can be if I hold it in too long. I was buzzing with it earlier and that's dangerous. It's why I had to use so much of it just to take it down to safe levels. I never could have done it if I hadn't been so low from using that spell on you earlier and using most of the restorative strength as well."

"Is that why you nearly blew off the doors of the great hall?" Shelby asks all but laughing.

"I fixed them before we left, but yes. I knew that I would be taking a great deal of magic and had to have as much space as possible."

"You talk as if magic takes space, I just thought it was something you either could or couldn't do." Shelby is fascinated by everything Tyler is telling her.

"It does take space, like oxygen takes space. Some people can and some can't. Those that can are sometime able to expand the amount of space the magic can fill, like pearl divers on Earth. They've increased their lung capacity to be able to stay down underwater for long amounts of time. Some magic users have been able to increase the amount of space they have for more magic. I have a very large capacity, some, rather a great deal of which is genetic and other has been due to practice. It's the reason I am able to perform the spell that saved your life today.

"Yet even with all the practice I've had, it was still iffy about me being able to hold so much magic. If even one more person had been there I'm not sure I would have been able to. And some very central people were gone. One of them is my best friend, James. He's contracted, Lady Moeki and a few other people.

"James is in the cells, he is the one that did the fireball attack. Lady Moeki is the bitch my mother wants me to marry. The others are known followers of my mother."

Tyler hides the yawn, "Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I've already given Treren his magic back. I've already interrogated him and he's clean, but there are over two hundred more that have to be interrogated. If you wish to see me for any length of time in the next few days you should join me. Besides, I want you to pick out a lady in waiting to keep you company."

"A lady in waiting? I'm not even sure what that is, let alone why would I want one."

"She would be a companion to be with you when I can't be. Come with me, I have something for you,"