Kate and Sean

Untitled Part 7

Abbott found himself making the rounds with Mavis this morning, being that his books were not in order to the king's liking. Each house they stopped at for after care he demanded an explanation of payment. One woman was brought to tears as she handed over a bolt of fabric meant for her daughter's wedding dress. Abbott walked a few paces ahead of the king hoping to disguise his anger with distance.

 Mavis stopped in front of another door, "You are missing this one, are you not?" Abbott tossed over his shoulder, "He paid me last week. I forgot to mark it in the book, as I had another emergency to deal with."

Mavis closed the distance, snatched Ben's shoulder and threw him up against the side of a cottage. The book was now open with his pencil in hand, "Now that I have your full attention, what was his payment?"

"He gave me a sack of grain, twenty pounds easily. Reagan was with me, you can confirm with him if you like."

The king snapped the book closed, "Why should I need to confirm with him when I have you here? If you continue to test me, I will audit your records for the entire season and continue on your rounds with you until they are satisfactory. Generosity is not a business, Abbott." Mavis shoved him towards the next client's house.

They made it all of a few yards when Ben stopped cold, "Do you smell that, sir?"

"What of it? Someone is burning something. Do we not have enough to deal with today?"

"No, I need that. I have been looking for that for some time now." Abbott turned up an alley towards where the smell was coming from. He stopped by a cottage he wasn't really sure if it was the right one. Then Mavis tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at a human in-between this cottage and one they had already passed.

Abbott perked right up, "I knew it! Hand it over."

Smokey replied, "Get your own, dude."

"Are there seeds in it? Please tell me there are seeds." Abbott snatched the blunt from the man and put it out on his boot. "Is this all you have? If there is more I want it."

"None of your business, guy."

Smokey went to grab the blunt back when Mavis snatched the man by his chest and slammed him up against the wall."Abbott asked you a question, human. You will answer him."

"I can't believe I'm getting jacked. I ain't got no more." His voice was already pitchy from the pain and Mavis squeezed tighter, now digging his claws into the back of the man's neck and scalp as he did so."Do you wish for your last breath to be a lie?"

Abbott put a hand on the king's arm, "Let him answer, I won't get the rest if he is dead. Now tell me, where it is. I promise, his patience is beyond short today."The man struggled and tried to reach for his ankle. Mavis released him and he fell forward, coughing and clutching the back of his neck.

He rolled on the ground, trying to pull something from his sock when Abbott beat him to it, he waived the yellow package in the man's face, "Is this all of it?"

Smokey winced in pain as he looked at the blood on his hand, "I got it from Sean, before we left port, that was all he had."Abbott was now smiling as he sniffed the package. "It smells strong too. We shall see how it does in this bitter climate. I have always been curious about how it would fair." He stuffed the package in his jacket and sniffed the blunt before putting it in his lapel pocket. "Tell you what, stop by my clinic later. I'll tend to your wounds and we'll consider this payment."

"What the hell? I was fine until you and your boy jacked me for my shit." He came to his knees still checking the amount of blood flow. "The queen said if anyone gave us trouble to tell her, you know. She said her boys will handle that shit."

That comment stopped Mavis in his tracks, he whirled around and snatched the human off ground slamming him full force into the wall. He had the man so far off the ground that he was eye level with the enormous beast. "So, tell me more about what my wife said, and who these boys you speak of are?"

The wall had shaken so hard that the homeowner came out to see what was happening, "Sir, I paid him for his work already. If you kill him, I will be at a loss."

The beekeeper was a well-respected elder and Mavis had no desire to upset the old man. "He has quite the careless tongue, Jon. I am tempted to remove it."

"I will keep him disciplined, sir. I promise." The elder pounded his staff on the ground a few times to remind the king that his legs were not so good anymore. "Let me get him inside, would you?"

The king let the human drop. "If you ever speak to my wife again, I will feed you to the wolves." Then he shoved Abbott out of the alley, knowing the doctor would now be overcome with the urge to check on the man. "If I catch you treating his wounds I will cut his throat."

"As you wish, sir." Abbott tossed the comment back over his shoulder as he headed up the street to the next patient on his rounds. He stopped short when he noticed Mavis turning up an alley that was not in the books. "Sir, I didn't treat anyone at the cobbler's, I went there to get shoes for my daughter. If anything I owe him."

"Then why is there a note in the guard's log? It shows you were here for three hours and Layla was at the palace." Mavis growled as Abbott rolled his eyes and stormed past. He knocked on the door and a few seconds later a pair of beaded shoes were shoved into his hands. His cynical attitude was now wearing the king thin. "Payment for services rendered, I am sure."

"Or future services as I explained already, sir." Abbott scooted past the king, narrowly avoiding his foot, "Alright, alright. I will start collecting at time of service."

They finished their rounds with lunch at the tavern. Abbott was enjoying some polite conversation with a merchant until Mavis growled at the man and sat their plates down. Seeing the king was still edgy from the morning rounds he opted to pull out the beat up yellow envelope instead of bothering with conversation.

Abbott took a long sniff off the package and smiled before trying to stick it back in his jacket. Mavis swiped it from him before he had the chance and sniffed it as well. "What is it?"

"Marijuana or cannabis. It has a variety of medicinal uses. I'm most interested in it for the pain relief aspects of it. If there are seeds in there I'm going to try and grow it."The king slapped the package back on the table, "So that creature was in some sort of pain already? Probably aggravated a Joutone."Abbott chuckled, "No, one of the other properties of it is euphoria." Seeing the king's angered glare over the large word use he rephrased it, "Sort of like being incredibly drunk. Humans call it being high. He was using this for enjoyment."

That won a grin from the king, "I am impressed, Abbott. You are starting to use your position to gain some sort of control with the humans."

"That was not my intent, sir. However, it was rather fun. Where we are from this substance is highly illegal. Which is why he was so protective over it." Abbott pulled the blunt from his lapel and gave that a quick sniff. "It has been a while since my wife and I had a date night. What do you say about having your niece for the evening?"Mavis stuck a knife full of meat into his mouth and replied, "Of course. So, you intend to try this stuff?"

"No need to try it, sir. I enjoyed it in college on a regular basis. No, my wife is going to try it. It is also rather relaxing. Might make her willing to play a few games." The devilish twinkle in Abbott's eye was not lost on the king. Abbott caught him chuckling to himself. "Come to think of it sir, wouldn't be a bad idea to give you some. Would make a nice additive to your tea."

"If you put anything in my tea, I will cut your throat."Abbott grinned as he sliced through his potatoes, "You would be too relaxed to cut my throat."

"Keep your concoctions in your clinic, human." Mavis said before pointing to Abbott's plate, "Will you finish eating sometime today? I have more work ahead of me."Ben took a few more bites and shoved the rest of his food off before getting up to leave. Mavis took a swig off his ale and followed, leaving a tip for the bar keep.