Marriage is Murder

"It will be charmed to be open when it is appropriate for it, year round, on its own, and closed when it needs to be, on its own," Edward said. He found a seat at Brian's desk, and unrolled the parchment blueprint. He took out an enchanted quill. The quill allowed him to move any line on the page much like moving a thread. He could stretch a wall, add a room, add a floor, do whatever changes he wanted, by using the quill to simply move the lines or add some lines.

"The key to the quill," Edward said, "is that for the quill, every line is a thread until you set the blueprints in stone. And one never sets a blueprint in stone until the building its designed for is finished. I tend to not set blueprints in stone ever. This quill is the only thing that can move any of the lines on the page. And there aren't many of these quills. I know a spell to create a three dimensional image of the building once its finished on the page, but we're not ready to do that. Not yet."

"I got that covered already," Brian said, coming in after working in the barn all afternoon. He'd taken time to shower but he was tired. He'd done all the work by hand, and as exhilarating as it was, he was tired. "When I filed with my lively wife for legal permission to expand our buildings, I included any agricultural and energy resources to make the farm self sufficient. She was crafty enough to word it to give us large latitude there. What exactly are you blueprinting now, Edward? And why does it remind me of a laptop?"

"Because its a primary desire of mankind to have control over everything," Edward said, starting to lift the lines up into walls, starting the 3D imaging. "Muggles have the same dreams we do. They just have needed several hundred years to catch up to find a way to do what we've been doing magicaly for a long time. As for what I'm drafting, you're out of basil."

"What?" Brian frowned. "That doesnt' look like a basil plant."

"It isn't, Smartalek," he quipped. "Its a greenhouse. If you're going to be self sufficient, then you do need a better plan for plants than what you have."

"I see. A two story greenhouse?" he frowned.

"Don't complain until you actually see the finished draft," Edward said, still working.

Khaat and Robert apparated in. She had spent much of her own healing energies in trying to draw off the infection from her father's shoulder and in trying to draw off his pain. The last thing she tried seemed to be the most effective but she had not told him she had resorted to it. It was a spell that was all but forbidden for healers because of the high risk. In fact, few even knew it anymore. She had discovered it by accident. It allowed her to draw off his pain by taking it on herself. She was, literally absorbing his pain into her own body. He had been so preoccupied with his work that he hadn't noticed.

When they apparated in, He put the bag on the floor and sat down in a chair. "We talked with Michael," Robert said. "He's coming in for dinner. Would you set another plate, Angus?" Khaat went up to her room.

"Absolutely," Angus said. "And I presume that means I should break out the firewhiskey."

"Yes, please. I could use one now."

"I'll get it right away, Robert," Angus said. "Khaat okay?"

"Yes," Robert said. "It really did throw her that our house is not the home she remembers. Give her a bit of time by herself. It is an adjustment. And very understandable."

"Here, here," Robert agreed. "Thank you, Jess. We did get a great deal done. Its amazing how much we can get done together when we don't get interrupted a hundred times."

"Did you push her too hard?" Kate asked him. "She's tired."

"Then perhaps she needs to hit the gym. An afternoon at a desk should not have done that," Robert said.

"Perhaps you've got it wrong," Kate scowled, a touch angry at him. She got up and went upstairs to check on her daughter.

Khaat had gone to her room and had stretched out on the bed. She had done her best to use her powers to go find Remus in order to distract herself from the pain she had absorbed. Kate found her in a seer's trance. This was not how Khaat dealt with fatigue. Kate knew she might, however, deal with the loss of the place where she'd spent so many years with Remus by going to find him. So she decided to let her rest.

Downstairs, Michael apparated in, and he brought with him a large basket.

"Isn't there a proverb about being wary of strange men bearing gifts?" Angus asked.

"Close," Michael said, laughing. "Its Greeks. Not strange men. I'll admit to strange, but I"m not Greek, so you're safe. I happen to have here, some lovely bottles of wine and a freshly made dark chocolate 14 layer cake."

"That's ambitious even for you," Angus said, impressed. Michael took the basket to the kitchen and drew out the gorgeous cake and the bottles of wine.

Edward stopped working and looked up at the ceiling.

"Is Khaat home?" he asked.

"Probably by now," Brian said. "Why?"

"Something's not exactly right. The seers' energies in this house just went drastically up," Edward said. "Its as if all the seers have been triggered somehow." He got up and started out of Brian's office.

"Where are you going?" Brian asked.

"Upstairs," he said. "That's where its started from." Brian followed. Michael and Robert saw Brian and Edward heading upstairs, looking like they were checking on a security matter.

"Should we join the parade?" Michael asked.

"No. I don't think so. Not yet," Robert said, taking a sip of his firewhiskey.

Edward followed his instincts and went right to the bedroom. He checked her. "Leave us," he told Brian. "This energy started here. Right here. Leave us. You'll only be a distraction for me." Brian hesitated. Edward gave him a repremanding stare, and Brian left. Edward sat on the bed and laid his hand on Khaat's forehead to try to bond his energies with hers to try to find her.

Khaat didn't see Remus where he usually was. She was about to slip into the trees when she heard someone behind her.

"You know you wont' be allowed to pass into the woods," Edward said to her. "Not unless you stay. Do you also know you're bleeding on this side?" She turned around and saw him there. She saw he was right. She had the same wound that her father had. She didn't have it on the physical side of the veil. But she did have it over here. Remus stepped out from the trees.

"Bringing guests?" Remus asked her.

"This is..." she began.

"I know. What I don't know is why you're here." Then he saw the bleeding wound on her shoulder. "That wound is very serious. Tell me you're not here to stay."

"No," Edward said. "She's not. What did you do, Khaat?"

"She cast it wrong," Remus said.

"Did she, now?" Edward said, not believing that anyone with her skills would do that by sheer mistake.