Wardrobes and wonders will never cease (Khaat)

As if on cue he walked in brushing dust from his trousers " Im here been up for hours at the stables feeding teh hourses they all need breakfast too " he said and chuckled " but that chicken is fisty as soon as I let him out of the hen house he chased me " he sid chukaling " but every ones happy and fed horses out in the padock that foals coming along well she's now standing longer " he said and pored a cup of coffee and drank it " god i missed this " he said as he washed his hands and moved to sit down at the table. Taking some bacon he placed the rest of his breakfast on his plate and began to eat as he loked from kate to khaat and back chukaling.

Robert frowned deeply when Steven came in, saying he had just been at the stables. "That's funny. Kate and I went there before daylight to take care of the animals and came back just a few minutes ago. We never saw you. How did we miss you?" He wasn't sure what Steven had found to do, because he thought he had taken care of the barn actually very well.

Khaat didn't reply. She was just hungry. Angus fixed her a breakfast plate and put it in front of her.

"Thank you," she said softly. She wasn't used to being hungry. It made her feel greedy, and it felt rude.

"Its good to see you eating again," Angus smiled. "Maybe you should be pregnant all the time."

"No!" she said quickly. That drew laughter from the others. Angus fixed plates for the others and sent them floating into the others who were seated at the table. Then she looked at Brian. "I want to join you today on the obstacle course."

"You're allowed to want to," he shrugged. "You 're just not allowed to do it. If you want challenged, we can do that, but not at that level."

"Khaat, how about you and Jess take a walk instead?" Robert suggested. "Or I could do Tai Chi with you later. Maybe outside in the sunshine."

"Maybe I'll do both," she said.

"If you space them out and don't push it, then, yes." he told her.

"You up to a walk today?" Khaat asked "We could take the girls."

steven looked at Robert and sighed " ok I was in the hay loft looking for that drated mouse, he'd chewed threw a bag of feed and I wanted to tell him not to do it again , I looked all around , I did hear you come in but that mouse ran right past me laughing " he said and looked at Robert " don't tell Delilah or she would laugh her self silly me being thorted by a mouse " he said looking embaressed " I did look in on the foal she says thanks by the way " he said finishing his food and placing the plate in the sink .

"We wont tell," Robert said. "i'm not so worried about one mouse. I'm more worried that he'll bring all sorts of family members and friends."

Khaat didn't speak. Jess never answered her about taking a walk with her. She merely put her plate in the sink when she finished and walked outside before anyone could even notice she was gone. She headed down a trail by herself into the woods. The woods were quiet and peaceful and she was enjoying it. She picked up the pace just a bit to an easy jog and began running. She had to be careful not to step on any roots or trip on them. She really did want to stay in condition.

"Are you all in condition and ready for tonight?" Brian asked.

"Sorry I"m late," Kieran said, coming in for breakfast. He fixed himself a plate and took a place at the table. "I overslept, I guess. You lot do believe in going to bed late and getting up early. It catches up with me after awhile."

steven chuckled and nodded " that was my thought too " he said and sighed " would be realy bad if that happened" he loked at Robert " so I realy should get back and talk to him " he stood up and walked to the door " unless you have anything you need me to do for you?" he asked .

jess looked at Khaat and smiled she saw her leave and followed " khaat ?" you all right you didn'r wait for me to say i would go with you , I had amouth fileld with food at the time " she said catching up to her " sorry " she walked next to her and admired the woods around them " its nice out here " she said and walked beside her feeling it was going to be a nice day after alll .

"That's fine," Robert said. "Its supposed to rain later on today and into early evening. If we have outdoor things to do, we'd best do them this morning. Otherwise, we'll be doing them in the rain."

"No, I"m fine," Khaat said. "When you didn't respond, I figured you didn't want to go. I felt it would be rude to ask twice. And, yes, it is beautiful. Kieran was kind enough to show me there are some trails that make a perfect circle around the borders of the grounds. I'm sure the guys have already found it and used it for patrol, but its quite a walk. It'll be good exercise. I'd love to run the whole thing, but I know Brian would have a heart attack if I tried that." She laughed. "So tell me. Are you nervous about tonight's mission?"

steven nodded and headed down to the stable to find that mouse and tell it not to shew the horses feed bags .

Jess chuckled " that he would khaat, that he would " she smiled as she walked " i'd be lying idf I said no, Im always nervouse when it comes to missions " she said and walked with her she felt a cool breeze and smiled " its good to get out of the main house and just enjoy the fresh air and i would not be suprized at that one bit" she said refering to khaat saying the guys would have found the path for patrols. " Im worried that jack in battle would use his wear side , hes not fought like a human before " she said and looked at ehr as they walked.

On her part, the nervousness did not end for Khaat. Not after a long walk with Jess, not after watching the men trying to negotiate her father's obstacle course, Not participating in the warm up. It just didn't ease her. In fact, she just could not eat dinner. She just excused herself. She didn't understand it. She had never been nervous before a mission, but there was some sort of raw panic that threatened to rise up inside of her, and despite Brian's presence and his constant reassurance, she felt no better. And the closer it got time for the ball, the more frightened she became.

As they dressed, she watched Brian change into his tux and put in the diamond and onyx cuffllinks into the french cuffs on his dress shirt. He added a shoulder holster for a gun and put his wand in his jacket pocket. Khaat had changed and had managed a holster for a tiny derringer sort of pistol around her thigh and she attached another holster for her wand around the same thigh but just above it and off to the side a bit. It would be within easy reach because of the short cut of the gown in the front but well hidden because of the way it draped in a pool on the floor on the sides and the back.

"You look gorgeous," Brian said to her, as she put on her emerald earrings.

"Thank you," she said. "And you look stunning. Completely stunning. And very sexy."

"And all yours, my dear," he kissed her cheek. "I still wish you had eaten with the rest of us at dinner. You sure you won't reconsider letting your father give you a bit of a potion for your nerves?"

"Posittive. I want to be on my guard tonight."

"I don't need you overly concerned. You'll give us away." He picked up beautiful gold lame shawl that she had paired with her gown to keep off the cold mountain air. "Ready?"

"I am. Shall we?" he offered her his arm. "

"Yes," she said, taking a nervous breath. She got up, and went with him, feeling like she wanted to run the other way. She trusted his plans and her father's, and they had both spent hours on the planning, but still, something would not let her let go of her fear. She went downstairs and found her mother and father already waiting. Her father was dressed impeccably as always, and her mother was very elegant in a royal blue gown, with sapphire jewelry.

"You look beautiful," her mother told her.

"Thank you," Khaat said.

"Are you nervous?" her mother frowned.

"A bit," she lied.

"Why?" she asked. "its going to be fine."

"Keep telling me," she said softly

jesss walked out with jack following her held not to high and her dress half open at the back " well if you can't do it " she said jack followed saying he could but he could not get the zip to move " you calling me fat jack black heart , it went up all right before" she said and stopped feeling jacks hand on her zip again she felt him move it slightly and it went up " there told you" she said and loked at Khaat and Brian " wow, very smart guys" she said and smiled then turned to Jack " why couldn't you look like that" she said doing his bow tie up.

Jack walked out behind jess after tring several timeds to pull up her zip " jess I have tried like six times it just won't go up , I'll try once again" he said and pulled gently on the zip it passed the spot and slolwy went up and he sighed " ok your right dear " he said and smiled " hey can't be that hansom it would be criminal " he said chukaling " ok were ready now" .

"You two look wonderful," Khaat said.

"Indeed," Robert said, seeing Kieran come downstairs, putting on a cufflink. He looked at the women in their gowns and smiled. Khaat did think that Kieran had an enchanting smile. She wished he would do it more often.

"Now why can't women dress like that all the time?" he asked. "You ladies are beautiful. Are we ready?"

"You have your gun?" Robert asked Kieran.

"Right here," he patted the gun that was in the holster under his shoulder.

"Then as soon as Steven gets here, we're ready," Robert said. "Now, Angus, you're sure you can handle the girls for tonight?"

"Max and I have it under control," Angus laughed. "Go. I'll enjoy the quiet."

"Quiet? With two one year olds? Hardly," Khaat smiled.

"We'll be fine. Stop worrying. You lot be careful."

"We will," Brian said, getting out keys for two of the large cars. The plan called for them to not all arrive together. Kieran pulled invitations out of his jacket pocket. He handed one to everyone.

"Those will get you in. Don't ask how I got them. You're friends of Tom Gelding. That's all you need to know," Kieran said.

"And remember," Robert said. "Gelding knows Brian and Khaat and me. He does not know the rest of you. Not yet. That's why I want you in a separate car. We will be intruders. You lot can get in and get to our host, Dominic Costa. Do not underestimate Costa. He is valuable to Gelding because he is old money. His grandparents were from Rome. He has connections all over the world. If we take down Costa, we will seriously impair Gelding's ability to expand into other countries and destroy his ability to move in the US maybe permanently. Costa is always under strict muggle guard. Look for muggle security systems. It won't be easy. Be very careful that you don't create a magic breech that will pulll us back under scrutiny of the American government if we dont' have to be. The house is shielded, and, as such, is not under a magic ban. The grounds, however, fall under the ban. Costa is a muggle, but he is fully informed of and can participate in the wizarding world with amazing effectiveness. I cannot tell you enough to be careful. Are we clear? Any questions whatsoever?"