There was a young girl –no more than six.  She sat at an outdoor table of a coffee shop –sipping tea in a yellow Sunday dress and pigtails tied with bows.  Occasionally she’d glance up from her reading to take in the golden afternoon around her, but for the most part she simply ignored it.

Normal people, who had no eye for aura or the greater issues of the world, passed her by without thinking anything out of the ordinary.  At the most, they may have wondered why she wasn’t in school, or why the book seemed far too thick for a child that age.

It was such a shame; they didn’t understand what a rare sight it was that they were passing up.

He was actually out in public.

“Your body guards aren’t around, I see.”

Sacha looked up from his tea and smiled just a bit, “You know me better than that, Aralt.”  He sipped at it again, “You can’t possibly believe I haven’t noticed your dogs sniffing around.”

“I’d hoped you would.”  Aralt glanced around again and tried to tell if he was being watched. “You still feel comfortable without your own protection, though.”

“They’re someplace around here,” he said dully, “I just can’t stand spending every waking moment with them.  Could you?”

“Your staff or mine?”

Sacha chuckled, “Point taken.  Sit, sit.”  He closed his book and motioned with a wave of his hand to the opposite chair.  “I’ve missed hearing your stories.”

Aralt took the invitation, “They all lead to the fact that we’re closing in on you.”

“Do they?”  He paused to stir more cream into his tea, “From where I’m sitting, they don’t seem to be.”

“We forced you into that body, didn’t we?”

The little girl Sacha had become looked up, the grey eyes a bit colder.

“Don’t think this means you won,” he said flatly, “I’ve taken residences not to my liking before, and it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“Of course it doesn’t.”

Sacha returned to his drink.  “So what are you doing here?”

“Following my scouts.”

“You never follow your scouts.  We’ve been going at this for centuries, and never once…”

“Maybe I realized that was the problem.”

“Or maybe you’re just doing the same thing you’ve always done,” Sacha said flatly, “Let’s stop pretending I don’t know who you are and you just tell me what you want.”

“You never did figure out how to keep up small talk.”

“Neither did you.”

Aralt sighed and folded his fingers, “You’ve heard about our problems with your associate.”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that.  You’ve had problems with all of them.”

“I’d rather not use names in such a public place…”

“I’d rather not be led around when you chose the public place.”  He looked over, “The name please.”

Aralt hesitated for a long while and took a few glances around to make sure no one was in hearing distance.  “Xun,” he said under his breath.

“Ah.”  Sacha paused to sip his tea, mix in more sugar and sip again, “He’s never been anything but talk, Aralt, you know that.  Why on Earth do you need to take him down now?”

“He’s gotten a hold of some dangerous technology…”

“What kind?”

“Some biological…”

Sacha held up a hand and shook his head, “I warned that idiot to stay away from things like that.  But of course no one can ever listen to me…”  He put his cup back down, “How long do you have?”

“Maybe a week, at the most,” Aralt told him, “He’s already issued threats.”

Sacha hid his mouth behind laced fingers as he thought.

“If you leave me alone completely, I can have something suitable in three days.  And I mean leave me alone completely.”

“That can be arranged.”

“We’ll negotiate price when I’ve finished, as always,” Sacha told him, “This one will be high, I warn you.”

“I’d figured it would be.”

“Good then.”  He smirked as he finished the last of his tea, “I’ll never understand why you want me dead, sometimes I just don’t know what you’d do without me.”

“My headaches would be far less severe, I’m sure.”

The head of security, ever in a perfectly-shaped body, came from wherever he’d hidden himself as his employer stood.  He kept a suspicious eye on Aralt as he helped Sacha into the tiny petticoat.

“You should try the Darjeeling tea while you’re here,” Sacha said as he tucked the book under his arm, “It’s quite good.”

Aralt turned in his seat to watch the two head off for the market place.  Other staff, seemingly coming out of nowhere, joined the ranks.  The group flanked behind what was now a little girl as they disappeared into the crowd.

It was such a shame that whenever he had Sacha across the table, there wasn’t enough to take him in.  Not that anything less should be expected of him, of course.

After this state-sponsored commission was finished, Sacha’s services would open up again and he’d begin re-building his record.  And when he started, he wouldn’t be spotted in public again.

Not that it really mattered –they’d been through this same routine so many times that Aralt knew they would catch him again.  With the latest technology they’d developed, he should finally stay in their custody.

But the day they would be able to was a while off.

For now, there was nothing to do but try the tea.