Chapter Text
The distant wail of police sirens and traffic still echoed in his head as Cassian shut the door of his small ranch and leaned back against the door, letting out a worn sigh. He'd been up for over twenty four hours, much of that time spent at yet another Magi gathering where Krennic repeated meaningless words and assurances that their world was a safe from the danger of the more mundane society, those who lived blissfully unaware of the existence of magic, witches, warlocks, shapeshifters, fairies, and any number of other things.
Krennic had rattled off another list of things they should and shouldn't do, designed at "protecting" them from the mundane world. Because these words had come Krennic and not the Council itself, they weren't necessarily laws, but strong "suggestions."
Cassian felt his stomach churn at the thought. Each story Krennic told was designed to make people fear the mundane world, and each suggestion he made was designed to put those of their world further and further under Krennic's influence and rule. There were already general rules about not revealing yourself to the world at large and performing spells or even general magic in front of the non-magical public, but the suggestions that magic should only be performed in certain areas that Krennic or his advisors deemed safe, and the general suggestion that if you saw someone performing such magic in an "unsafe" area that you should report it?
There was a difference between safe and controlling. There had also been the suggestion that certain protections should be given to only registered witches and magical beings and that certain types of magical beings didn't fall into those categories...
The man intended to rule by fear, and Cassian didn't like any of it.
"Cassian, you home?" his Apprentice's tired voice asked from the hall.
"Thought you'd be asleep already, Bodhi," Cassian greeted the other man. Bodhi was only a few years younger than Cassian, but his mother hadn't been a witch and he'd come late to his gifts, thus why he was still considered Cassian's apprentice at 23.
The dark haired man yawned as he half stumbled into the living room, already in pajamas, and shook his head lightly. "Was, woke up when the door opened," Bodhi murmured. "What's up?"
As a mere Apprentice, Bodhi hadn't been invited to the "Town Hall" Krennic had held that evening. Instead he'd stayed home with Cassian's Imp, Kay.
Thinking of the Imp made Cassian look around, wondering where the Shadow Imp had gone off too. Shadow Imps were not creatures originally of this plane, and sometimes Kay would vanish for hours at a time, only to reappear either of his own will or if Cassian summoned him for help with a spell.
"Hmm, oh, Kay said he'd be back in the morning," Bodhi answered Cassian's unspoken question as the older man looked around the living room. "So what happened?" Even half asleep, Bodhi could see Cassian's tenseness.
Cassian didn't speak for a moment as he headed into the kitchen and went through the motions of filling the tea kettle and putting it on the stove. He removed two cups from the cupboard, his eyes fixed on his actions as he debated how to explain what had happened that evening.
"Krennic," he said at last. "He spent most of the town hall making more 'suggestions, and unfortunately a lot of people seemed to be listening tonight."
Bodhi winced and followed Cassian into the kitchen. Bodhi knew well that as one of those not born of two magically talented parents, he lay in one of the groups that Krennic was not fond of. "Did he say any specific that would.." he trailed off.
Cassian shook his head. "No, not this time, but the sentiment went unspoken." He mechanically filled two tea balls and set them in the mugs. "He also reiterated how tragic Councilor Erso's disappearance was, but that the community must move forward." He scowled at those words. He knew he wasn't the only one who suspected foul play in Councilor Galen Erso's disappearance. Two other council members, Mon Mothma and Davits Draven, had expressed their concerns, but Krennic and his supporters had quieted them, slowly stealing away influence and power.
It was an insidious descent, into what, Cassian was not sure, but he knew he didn't like it.
"Think he'll have you watched? Bodhi voiced the concern.
"I've been careful not to say anything, so I don't think he'll watch me too closely, and as long as I don't poke around too much to his knowledge," Cassian grimaced. At least one person who had been poking around for clues had a rather unfortunate and to Cassian, suspicious accident two months ago.
"Then we'll just have to be careful," Bodhi concluded.
Cassian frowned and glanced at him. "Bodhi, you're less than six months from the end of your Apprenticeship. Are you sure you want to risk 'poking around?'"
"Galen was my friend, Cassian, I can't just let his disappearance go."
The older man met Bodhi's gaze, in part because he really couldn't argue with that. Both of them had, quietly, to each other, and to one or two others they knew, voiced concerns when Counciler Erso had disappeared a little over six months ago. The general makeup of the Council had changed in the months prior to Erso's disappearance, people who opposed Erso's policy of general leniency and peace towards the non-magical world. The Councilor had never come out and suggested they expose themselves, and he'd always urged caution because those without magic might not necessarily be able to understand the magic world that well, but he'd never harbored any negative attitudes towards those born into mundane families, or those whose magic wasn't as strong as others.
Cassian's own blood wasn't particularly 'pure,' but both his parents had been witches before their deaths during a round of infighting between the Purists and the rest of their world some twenty odd years ago.
Cassian's own transition from Witch to Warlock a few years ago had raised eyebrows among the Purists. When a Witch came into adulthood, they would often bond with a familiar, usually some form of animal, though sometimes they might bond with a magical beast, or in a rare case, a shapeshifter. Cassian's bonding with a Shadow Imp from the plane of Shadow was completely unexpected by most people, and suspect to others.
Elemental creatures rarely consented to bond with anything or anyone, but when Cassian had accidentally unlocked an elemental ward, the Shadow Imp Kay had been freed. Intrigued by this human, the Imp had begun following Cassian around, and eventually expressed interest in Bonding with Cassian as a familiar rather than return to his own plane.
Cassian and Bodhi had both kept their heads down publicly since Erso's disappearance, but that didn't mean they weren't quietly looking into things. And evidently Bodhi might have been looking further into things than Cassian had originally suspected. He couldn't blame the other man, though he wished his Apprentice had been comfortable enough to tell him.
"Alright, Bodhi," Cassian said at last. He quietly poured hot water into both mugs when the tea kettle began to whistle. "But lets work together from now on."
"I can do that," Bodhi promised. "Speaking of, I saw that cat again today."
Cassian's brown furrowed. "Cat? The Nebelung?"
Both men had recently seen a gray, green eyed Nebelung cat wandering their neighborhood, and around their garden in particular. The breed wasn't a common one, and this specimen was larger than most stray cats around this part of the city.
Bodhi nodded. "She, I'm fairly certain it is a she now, sat outside our back door in the garden watching me for almost an hour while I was grinding herbs today. But she vanished over the fence the second I stepped outside."
Cassian frowned slightly. "I wonder if I should put up some kind of ward," he mused. "I don't think that this is an ordinary cat."
"Fairly certain she isn't," Bodhi agreed. "You know that sort of energy unbonded familiars give off? She felt similar to that, but not quite." He accepted a tea mug from Cassian. "Something to think about."
Cassian nodded, sipping his own tea quietly. Both men fell into silence, and eventually Bodhi yawned again, knowing Cassian had made one of the tea blends that helped with insomnia. They quietly said their goodnights to each other and went towards their own rooms, the tea mugs left carelessly on the counter to be washed the next day.
For all his concerns, Cassian had known the tea would help him sleep. He expected to awaken in the morning to his alarm clock.
He did not expect to awaken to the sound of Kay shrieking in the Imp's native tongue and the sound of crashing crockery.
He staggered out of bed, mind already beginning to summon the beginnings of a spell as he threw his bedroom door open and hurried down the hall. He nearly ran into Bodhi, who stood transfixed in the entrance to the kitchen, staring.
A tea mug lay in pieces on the kitchen floor. Kay dangled from the pendent light in the kitchen, cursing.
And a large gray furred, green eyed cat sat on the kitchen counter, watching them all with unblinking eyes.
A scowl crossed Cassian's expression and he pushed passed Bodhi into the kitchen. Kay, an inky, vaguely humanoid form with wings, hopped off the pendent light and glided to Cassian's shoulder, scrambling into a sitting position and wrapped his tail around Cassian's neck, glaring at the cat. "What do you have to say for yourself now?" Kay demanded of the cat in an acid tone.
The cat watched Kay with what Cassian swore was an amused expression and delicately cleaned one paw before turning her green eyes to Cassian.
"I believe my familiar asked you a question," Cassian said, his tone less acid than Kay's, but still annoyed.
The cat watched them for another minute, before changing shape, in the smoothest shift Cassian had ever seen, into a dark haired, green eyed woman with a fierce expression. She sat clad on Cassian's kitchen counter in knit shirt, cargo pants, a dark vest, and interestingly, no shoes.
"My name is Jyn Erso," she announced calmy. "And I've come to you for help in finding my father."