Things are always changing.

That is a reality of the world, and there was no denying it.

When things change, it is extremely hard for them to go back the way they used to be, if such thing is even possible at all. At most, we will all be expected to adapt and to form a "new normal" from the situation that has changed.

The revelation of the existence of the supernatural to the world surely was a big change. One that caught everyone by surprise, and provoked all kinds of reactions all around the planet. Some had been thrilled. Some had been angry. Some were in denial. However, a great number of them were scared for things changing in such a radical way.

In the face of such a change, it seemed that the world was walking straight into problem. However, this all changed when a ferret decided to go to television and speak to others.

The interview was televised by the ZNN to everyone. Mostly it was focus on Zootopia, but it was something that reached everywhere thanks to the communication means of the modern age. The interview was made available for everyone via the internet and the ZNN's website, as it reached not only the entirety of the UZA, and of Animerica in general, but even reached overseas for everyone to see it.

You lost it when it aired? No problem, for the whole interview was made available in the ZNN website for you to watch again and again at any moment you wanted and anywhere you were. The news of the interview were circulating everywhere, and it had already been cover by other news channels and newspapers in the course of the week that followed. It gained space in the national and international media, until practically everyone in the whole world had seen at least part of the interview, and they knew at least a little bit of what the world of mages truly was…

Now, this did not changed the fact that everything was changing, and that there was no way for things to go back the way that they were before it all. However, everyone now had to adapt. They had to keep moving forward, accept the new reality, and to find a way to live in the new form of normal.

This applied to everyone…

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  [i]The Mage Council's Gathering Room, England[/i]


"It seems that everything is somewhat falling into place now." Calves said, as he continue to tip into his computer. The reindeer was standing by his side. He was taller than the goat, and this was obvious, as he stood on 8'2'' feet tall, being quite tall for a teenager reindeer. The fur of his body was of a light-brown coloration, and his snout was black in coloration and his eyes were blue and beady. There was a good mass of fur on the top of his head and on his chest, which was of a cream coloration. His head was also decorated by big reindeer antlers. He was wearing a clothing that looked like some short of uniform, with a white shirt, with a crimson vest over it and a blue tie, with a black jacket with a curious logo on the long sleeves, and a pair of black pants. He was looking over the shoulder of the goat as he waited there in silence.

"Yeah, it sure is…" Someone else said, it was Mustang. "But… what is your assistant doing in here? This room is only for members of the council."

The reindeer shrunk a little bit at it, and at the hostile look that the horse was giving him.

"Harvey is very loyal to me, and for the amount of times he has been here, I'd say that he would even deserve an extra seat just for him." The goat said, causing the horse to shift his hostile gaze from the reindeer to him, but the goat didn't even noticed, or if he did he did not gave it any attention. "Besides… he knows a lot of more technology than I do, and he will be able to help me with this computer if I have any problem. I mean, since most of us chose not to deal with technology, we tend to have someone to deal with it for us… you have someone to deal with technology for you, right?" The goat asked, a sly smile on his face as he looked up at the horse, who looked like he wanted to bore a hole through the body of the goat with his gaze.

"Oh, yeah, that would be nice." Maskell said, as the raccoon was leaning over the table from his high chair. "Another one of your students joining the council, until all of them are made by mages who you taught." The raccoon said that as a joke, but it caused many to look a bit uncomfortable at what was spoke.

"Anyway…" Calves continued. "It seems that everything is calming down after the past week."

"Calming down?" Lykins asked, as the lynx looked at the goat. "I'm sorry, have you missed the many protests that are still going around?"

"They have reduced in number." Collington said, as she seemed to be looking at an iPaw that she had brought. This was just one of the things that made others look at her with raised eyebrows, as she too didn't followed the common of mages to avoid technology. "Researches prove that, even though the protests are still going on around the world, especially in countries with very religious governments, the amount of protests had effectively reduced in a dramatic way. Apparently in response for the interview given by Zillah Ferron one week ago."

Some were forced to agree with this.

"Yeah, maybe the ferret did made a good decision when she gave that interview." Maskell said it. "I guess that the young lady does deserve some points for doing what she did."

"She took a wild risk." Clawse said. "It was far too dangerous, and the chances of backfiring are still high."

"Still, it seems that things [i]are[/i] getting better." Vanhorne said, as the impala looked like she was trying to see the positive side. "It seems that mammals are becoming less afraid."

"Yeah, it seems that the mammals are becoming more receptive." Boivin said, "Perhaps the ferret girl did made the right decision."

"She had no right to make this decision all on her own!" Sanders said, "She exposed all of our community like that and she took an unbelievable risk! She should at least have contacted the Association and told us of our plan before she decided to do something so risky!"

"We would probably have denied it." Mieczyslaw said, as the wolf was now looking through papers that were given to him before he entered the room. Most of it looked like reports and other kinds of documents. "With you certainly being the one on the lead against the idea."

"Of course I would!" Sanders said, slamming his paw in the table with a surprising amount of strength. "The idea was absurd and could only end in disaster!"

"But it didn't." Mieczyslaw said to him. "And these documents in here prove it. They are reports from many of the enforcers and a number of our associates and agents, and they seem to confirm that the moods are, indeed, calming down all around after the interview. It seems that having information on what is really going on and what mages and magecraft is all about is helping others get calmer."

"We have been secret for a reason." The fennec said somberly. "We all convinced the world that we did not existed for a very good reason. We did not did it only on a whim, or just so we could laugh at their expenses. We have invested a lot of time and effort into hiding our existence, and that ferret decided to go forth and tell them practically everything! She would even be considered a criminal for this! We have laws against this kind of thing!"

"Laws that will surely need some changing in the near future." Mieczyslaw said, "As we have already talked, it seems that everything is changing, and secrecy is no longer an option. This does put a good number of laws regarding secrecy in jeopardy, as it seems that they have lost their purpose."

Sanders looked like he wanted to say something in return, but he did not. Apparently, he had found nothing that was good enough of an answer to what the wolf had said. So the fennec only resorted to sit on his chair, with his arms crossed, looking to be quite mad at everything.

"Wow… Sanders at loss of words?" Maskell said, "Now that surely proves to me that everything truly is going bonkers."

Sanders turned to him, and he seemed that he was ready to fly at the raccoon's neck.

"Maskell." Said Lupine, as the other wolf looked at him. "These meetings have already been troubling enough without us provoking each other, so you would do well in stop with the taunts."

Maskell made a salute at him to signal that he had understood, right after making a zipping gesture over his muzzle, to show that he would be quiet. Still, even though he said nothing, Sanders seemed to get even madder at him. He glared daggers at the raccoon, and one or two members followed his cue as giving the same look at the smaller mammal.

Lupine, however, had his attention turned to the other wolf at the table. "So, Mieczyslaw, it is confirmed that the amount of tension is decreasing?"

"Up until now." The other wolf said, still looking through the papers. "I have reports from many enforcers and associates on different parts of the world explaining that the attacks on individuals who were supposedly related to the supernatural have all reduced dramatically." He explained. "Also, the amount of protests have reduced in size and frequency, as it seems that a number of mammals no longer wants to take part of them. Not only that, but our contacts are also reporting that it seems that the governments around seem to be developing their own versions of 'mage protection policies', or something of the like, save for the more religious and oppressive regimes, that seem to be still plotting against the mages around, but they are a significant minority."

The wolf put down the papers, and looked around, "It really seems that the non-mages are mostly giving up starting a war with the supernatural."

"The ferret had this effect in them." Vanhorne said. "Especially the things she spoke in the end, about not letting fear guide our actions."

"Yeah, she surely made a very good speech back then." Maskell said. "They are still talking about that speech in the internet. They are comparing it to Martin Lionther King's speech."

"She spoke from her heart." Vanhorne said, "And everyone who heard her speech could tell it. Her words were truly sincere."

"It seems that they were." Sanders said, "But many did not liked her words, and some of them actually feel angrier with all that she said on the television."

"But they are a minority." Mieczyslaw said to him. "The non-mages now are less edgy and, because of this, we are becoming less edgy as well. The tension is diminishing between both sides, and I know that you can notice it too."

Sanders said nothing in return. MIeczyslaw knew that he had made a point, and so, he sighed, leaning over the table, quite satisfied with the point he had made. Meanwhile, Maskell made yet another comment:

"Yeah… maybe the revelation of magecraft to the world is not going to be the great disaster that everyone always thought."

"It is still too soon to say." Catlow said, looking at his own documents as he spoke that. "It is still only one week since the interview, and it is hard to predict how others will act in the following months. Things could actually get worse."

"And our resident pessimists continue to make their party." Maskell said, what rendered him a reprimand from Lupine. The raccoon now was going to remain quiet.

"I'm just saying the truth." Catlow said, and he looked at the reports that he had. "Yes, the protests reduced, but the ones who still go to them seem to be pretty keen on their opinions that mages don't deserve trust or chances of any kind. Also, while the attacks have diminished in frequency, it seems that the ones who are attacking are keener on actually doing actual damage to others."

"Not really a surprise there." Lykins said, "After all, the ones who resist changes the most are the most passionate on attaining themselves to the old ways. It is to be expected that the ones who would still want to reject the supernatural and magecraft would the be the most conservative and bigoted ones."

"They can make quite a noise." Calves said.

"Individuals like that tend to attract more to their own side." Clawse said, "They will surely want to convince others of their point of view, and they will not give up on getting rid of what they consider taboo. There had always been individuals like that, from the very beginning."

"Not to mention the politics that still want to ride popular fear to power." Lykins added, "But most of them are currently changing their tone with the changes that the interview has triggered."

"Still, there are chances that everything could get worse." Catlow said. "It would not be the first time that things go well in the beginning only for them to go downhill ahead in the road. This could very well be one of these situations."

"A fair point…" Mustang said, "In any case, perhaps we should remain ready in case of trouble."

"You mean, keeping on our toes and ready for a war?" Mieczyslaw asked, his expression not a sympathetic as he looked at the horse. "You know, I really thought that we were going to leave it behind."

"A wise mammal does not looks for war." Mustang said to him, "But is always ready in case it comes. These are words of wisdom that many should try to take in mind."

"I can agree with that." Catlow said.

"Of course you do." Maskell said once more.

"Maskell, stop, this is the last warning." Lupine said, and the raccoon rose his hands defensively, but he still had a smile on his face as he leaned back.

"Well, it seems that all we can do now is manage the situation." Calves said, and this caused everyone to look at him. "After all, the duty of the council is to work for the continuation and protection of the mage community under their care. This is all that we can all do." He said, looking around for a moment, at the mammals sitting in the round table. "We just do what we need to do now, and keep making the important decisions of the Association. We go forth, we mobilize our resources, we manage the important subjects that come to us, all the while we keep an eye for the developments of all that has happened and that will happen. In time we will see if the ferret really made something that only caused everything to get worse, or if she managed to turn the stupidest decision someone could make into the smartest thing that someone could have done."

It seemed that many of the mages sitting in that table agreed with that, as they all nodded and said a few words in accordance to what the goat had said.

"So, I guess the thing that we must decide now…" Calves said, as he looked back at the computer. "… Is if we will answer to the queen's summon and send representatives."

The mammals all around looked at Calves, confused.

"Representatives?" Sanders asked, "What the bloody hell are you talking about, Calves?"

The goat once more rose his eyes to look at the fennec, before he once more looking around, and he saw the confused and inquisitive expressions of the other members of the Council. The goat could not help but chuckle.

"The great Mage Council. Responsible for the most important decisions on the Association and mages of the world. Always aware of all that is happening in the lands under their jurisdiction." Calves said, seemingly having fun with the notion. "At least, that is what some non-mages seem to think."

The rest of the Council continued to look at him inquisitively, some with raised eyebrows. Calves looks back at him.

"You really don't know what is happening in our own home turf?" He asked, and the expressions of the mages around gave him all of the answer that he needed. The goat chuckled again…

[center]**********************[/center]

 

Outside of the room of the council, but still in England, there was something happening.

Across the roads of the cities of England, and across the far roads that moved out of the cities, all the way to the villages that were the most far from the urban centers of the English Empire, there were vehicles moving. They moved at a reasonable pace, not very slowly, but also not very fast.

The vehicles would move across the roads, and the ones that were moving across the roads in direction to distant towns and villages would stop at the center of them, letting some of the mammals who were inside to walk out.

Now, either the vehicles were moving or stopping, the mammals in them were not really quiet, as at least one of them was ringing a bell, as he called out:

"An audience!" The mammal would say. "The queen requests an audience with the Mage's Association!"

Right after this mammal called everyone's attention, another mammal, dressed formally and carrying a piece of scroll would proclaim aloud:

"In reason of the many developments in the British Empire and the world, the queen now requests an audience with representatives of the Mage's Association!" The mammal would say, seemingly reading form the scroll, but also looking like he was repeating a rehearsed speech.

"By this mean, the queen requests the presence of one or more representatives of the Mage's Association to come into an audience with the queen and members of the parliament, to happen in two weeks from now at the Buckingham Palace!" He spoke loudly. "The audience shall be a peaceful meeting and it shall discuss the positioning of the Association and its future interactions and relationships with the state and the crown! The queen shall be waiting!"

With this, the vehicle continued to move, and soon it would repeat the process.

It was something interesting to see, as the English mammals could go by the book and put up quite a show when they had their hearts at it.

Many wondered if the Association would actually answer to this request of the queen…

[center]**********************[/center]

Back in Animerica, things were looking quite nice for a certain vixen.

Vicky walked across her workplace; all the while, some mammals were applauding her:

"Hey, Vulpen, good job!"

"You really rocked with that interview."

"You totally deserve that Lemmy. The other one's have no chance."

"You go and bring that prize back!"

"So, any new stories you are working on?"

"Should we expect you to show an interview with Bigfoot now?"

"I bet next she will reveal where Burrow 51 is!"

Vicky smiled as others were complimenting her and making comments like that.

The past week has been good for Vicky, as the fact that she had made the 'Interview with a Mage' had truly did wonders to her reputation and, seemingly, career. It started with her boss personally complimenting her for her skills as a reporter and her dedication in front of everyone, letting everyone know that she was the responsible for that story and that it was a proof of how good she was at her work.

Everything kind of fell into place after that, with other mammals now being much nicer to her. Of course, Vicky suspected that most of them were just wanting to share a bit of her shine, but she didn't minded. She also enjoyed the fact that her friends also were receiving their due, as she made sure to tell to everyone how each one of them was essential for the interview and for the story, and they were all getting the benefits of having helped into the interview.

Vicky had surely made a name for herself as the reporter who interviewed a mage and helped the world learn more about them. This reflected with the way people treated her, as now she had a lot more respect from her peers at the ZNN, and she also had been receiving a lot of appreciation from out there. Apparently, she even started to have her own fan club on the internet, as some mammals described her as a "very talented and very hot reporter", and even were asking her when she would become an anchor, to which Vicky could only chuckle in response.

And, of course, things continued to get better, as a few days ago she received a letter saying that she had been indicated for the News and Documentary Lemmy Award, a prize that was reserved for the ones who had made outstanding achievement on national news and documentary programming. All of that was thanks to the interview, and this only helped even more for her reputation and career. Some were even saying that she also deserved to get the Furitzer Prize.

Vicky could hardly remember when there was the time that she received so much respect from others. It was something unusual for foxes to be so respected by others, and that much Vicky knew, but she also knew that she had succeeded in attaining respect from others.

However, not everyone respected her now, as it was easy to notice that some seemed to be quite jealous of Vicky's success. Some of them even were willing to badmouth her and said other things about her when they thought she was not going to hear. This kind of thing was not new to Vicky, as she had to deal with it from her classmates already when she was graduating from college, and she knew that this was the price that you sometimes paid for being successful: dealing with envy.

Vicky was ready for it, though, as she knew that this was just another proof that she was truly making success, and that she had truly deserved it after all of her hard work. She could handle the envy of some mammals…

Vicky received all of the compliments and pats on the back that they were giving her, and she even told them that she was working on a few stories, although she doubted that they would be as interesting as the interview, but she still promised to do her best.

It was so much that the vixen almost couldn't keep up with it. She had to excuse herself for a cup of water to get away from all of them and take a breather.

Vicky hummed as she walked into the hallways, not noticing a figure that was looking at her from behind and that was now following her. She didn't noticed until she reached the water drinkers, picking up a cup and filling it on one that was right for mammals her size. That was when she noticed a shadow falling over herself.

Vicky turned around to meet a familiar face, one that made her own face harden. Stan just stood in there, looking at her with a sweet smile.

"Vicky!" He said rather happily, although Vicky could easily notice that there was something off about that smile that the deer was giving. "Girl, we haven't talked for a while! Have you been avoiding me?"

Vicky said nothing, as she only gave him a cold glare and said, as politely as she could:

"Mr. Staglore."

"Oh, what is with the formality now?" The deer asked, as she crouched to be closer to her own height. "We have known each other for over a year now."

Vicky didn't answered, and she only continued to give stag a cold glare. Meanwhile, the deer continued to smile at her.

"So, I heard about all of the success you have made." The stag said to her. "Amazing… It is truly amazing. I mean, interviewing a mage and getting so much information on these guys like that! Wow! That is truly…. something… congratulations."

The stag was smiling as he spoke that. However, there was anything about the way he was talking that told Vicky that he wanted to say something else to her. The way that he was looking at her…

"Yeah, thanks." Vicky said, turning and getting ready to leave, but her path was blocked when the stag used his arm to block her path, nearly slapping his hoof into the wall. This startled Vicky, and made her look at him.

"Still…" The deer said, "I have to say… I feel a little upset with you."

Vicky looked back at him, as the stag looked back at her.

"You used to share all of your stories with me… you always told me of all of the stories that you had, especially if they were something interesting… and when you got the stories you came right to me to share them…" The stag spoke, and Vicky only continued to glare at him coldly. "But… this story you had… you didn't spoke to me… You didn't told me or even mentioned anything… I thought we were friends…"

Vicky glared at the stag, who was now giving her a somber look, even thought there was still a smile on his muzzle. It was obvious that he was not happy.

"Vicky, I thought you trusted me."

"I did, [i]Stan[/i]." The vixen said back to him. "That was what I did wrong in the past year."

"Now that was cruel." Stanley said to her. "Why are you being so mean to the one who was your friend ever since you joined the ZNN one year ago?"

"Maybe because I found out that my [i]friend[/i] was just a parasite." Vicky said, and now the stag's smile disappeared completely.

"I was one of the few who would give you the time of day when you came, you ungrateful pelt." The deer hissed at her. "I helped you get stablished and I taught you all of the ropes of the work."

"You were stealing my stories!" Vicky hissed back at him, not letting herself be intimidated by the bigger mammal. "You always came with the story that the boss wanted me to pass the stories to you because he was worried about having a fox in the news, but these were all lies! You told him that [i]I[/i] didn't wanted to present my own stories while telling [i]me[/i] that he was forbidding me of presenting my stories, all so you could take the stories as if they were your own! Or are you going to deny it?"

Stan looked like he had no answer for this. He just stared at the vixen for a moment, before he spoke again:

"I was just doing that to help."

"Help who, exactly?" Vicky said, her anger rising as she continued to speak with that two-faced parasite.

"Everyone!" The stag said as he looked at her. "I was preventing the ZNN from having its reputation stained for having a fox presenting the news. Was preventing [i]you[/i] from embarrassing yourself by appearing on the television only to face rejection from the public! I did it all to help everyone!"

"To help yourself!" Vicky said to him, now really starting to lose her temper. "You were putting me down and keeping me there while you used my stories to help your own career!" She said accusingly. "You were only interested in helping yourself, you stupid parasite!"

"I knew that having a fox in the news would stain the ZNN's image!" The stag said, speaking it as if it was a valid argument. "No one wants to see a fox presenting the news!"

Vicky wanted to claw him at the face. All this time she thought that Stan was on his side, and that he truly understood her, when he was actually another bigoted jerk who had only gotten close to her because it would be convenient to him. This made her blood boil.

"Really?" Vicky asked, now a smile appearing in her face. "Well, it does not seem that it affected the ZNN's reputation to have a fox interviewing a ferret mage. Actually, many seem that they actually liked to have seen me on television making such a wonderful interview.

Stan scoffed at this.

"If the story is good enough, the public can surely overlook certain things." The stag said, "Including the fact that the story is presented by a filthy pelt."

This time Vicky reacted, as she moved the cup on her paw and splashed the water on Stan's face, making the stag jerk backward, but the fur of his face was already wet. Vicky looked at him with disdain, something that Stan answered in kind.

"I can't believe that all this time you were just using me." Vicky said to him, and the stag was silent. "You know, I really believed that you were my friend. But all this time, I was just a way of you to promote your career. Well, not anymore." Vicky said, it was clear that she had made her mind. "You will never be able to steal my stories again! From today on, I'll go to the boss personally to give him all of my stories, and I'll be the one to present all of them from now on! You will have to find someone else to suck dry! You know how hard I work for all of my stories!"

She said to him, and she was about to leave again, when Stan once more blocked her path with his arm, now slamming the wall even harder. She once more turned to him, and she saw the angry expression on his face.

"Oh, yeah." Stanley said to her, "I know how [i]hard[/i] you work for all of your stories… I know very well how all [i]vixens [/i]work hard for what they want… under the sheets."

More anger surged into Vicky as she heard that. Of course, that the stupid stag would be the one who would have this particular prejudice. Of course, he would be the one who thought that Vicky slept with others to get her stories. Maybe that was the reason why she was not even surprised.

"I wonder just how hard you worked for that interview…" Stan said, and Vicky continued to glare at him.

"I watched the interview, you know? Quite a few times…" The stag said to her, "The headquarters of the Mage's Association is in England… You went there two months ago, didn't you?"

"Yes, to visit my aunt who lives in Otterpool with her husband." Vicky said back to him, "Why?"

"Yes, you aunt." Stan said, and he looked at her. "Maybe you took some time to visit someone else while you were there… maybe someone who could give you an information… maybe some [i]lord[/i]… Or a member of a certain [i]council[/i]…"

He looked at the vixen, who stared daggers back at him.

"Tell me, do mages like to do weird things in bed?"

That was all that Vicky could take.

"Goodbye, Stan." She said, moving under his arm and getting ready to go to anywhere that was not close to that stupid deer. However, she was once more stopped from leaving, this time, by grabbing her arm.

"Hey!" Vicky said, turning around to see Stan's face really close to her.

"You know, I really respected you all this time." The stag hissed at her as he held her by the arm. "I allowed you to speak. I listening to your complaining even when I had other things to do. I gave you advices when you needed some."

"Let me go!" Vicky said, fighting against his grip, but the stag continued to hold firm on her arm.

"I even was discrete, and never questioned you about your methods."

"You are hurting me!" Vicky hissed at him as he was now squeezing her arm to prevent her from escaping from his grip.

"I never asked who or how many you had to take to bed to get your stories." Stan said to her, his face now morphed into anger. "But this time I am [i]very[/i] curious, and I [i]really[/i] want to know how many mages of the Association you had to sleep with to arrange that interview."

Vicky's heartbeat was increasing at this. The grip of the stag on her arm was so strong that soon it would start bruising her skin under her fur. In that moment, many emotions were surging inside of her. Fear for the way that the stag was holding to her. Anger for having found out that he lied to her and used her for over an entire year. Frustration for all of the times that she saw her own stories slipping through her fingers to land directly in the lap of that parasite with antlers.

Her lips started to curl into a snarl, and her claws reflexively unsheathed. Her emotions were all surging and turning into rage, and it was about to explode.

"What is going on?" A new voice broke the tension that was building, as both mammals turned around to see this newcomer. It was no other than Fabienne Growley, and she looked at the scene before him, the stag crouched and holding the vixen by the arm, roughly by what it seemed.

"What is this?" She asked again, and both mammals calmed down.

"N-nothing." Stan said, quickly letting go of Vicky's arm, who soon was massaging her arm. "W-we were just having a little chat."

"Didn't quite seemed like a chat." Growley said, and she looked at the vixen, who still seemed to be glaring daggers at the stag.

"It… it was a heated argument, actually." Stan said, still trying to defend himself from getting into trouble. The snow leopardess looked at him for a few moments, and then turned her look at the vixen.

"Vulpen, are you alright?"

Vicky looked at her, and back at Stan.

"Yeah, I am." She spoke, and she even spoke further:

"Staglore was just giving me some advice into dealing with envy." She spoke, causing both animals to look at her. "He was just telling me that I should be ready to deal with the envious mammals out there who will be unhappy with my success. These stupid mammals that will want to bring me down for nothing more than resentment for having a vixen making success."

"Well, luckily, I know how to deal with such mammals, as I had to deal with a lot of it during my life." Vicky continued. "I'll just keep my head up high, knowing that their envy is just another proof that I am truly successful in life." She then looked straight at Stan, who was looking back at her. "After all, this is the true attitude that someone with 'victory' in the name should have."

If looks could kill, Vicky was sure that she would be a dead vixen with the glare that Stan gave her. To which Vicky only smiled, and winked discreetly at him. The stag looked like he wanted to say something, but he only said a polite "have a good day, Vulpen" and turned around to leave.

There was a silence left behind, and after a while, Growley turned to Vicky.

"So, how is your arm?"

Vicky checked her own arm, "Alright. No bruises."

"Should we go to mammal resources?" Growley asked, "Or maybe go talk to the bosses about this?"

"Nah, it is not worth it." Vicky said, "I mean, it was just an argument that heated up, nothing serious."

Growley looked at her. "Vulpen, please, do not insult my intelligence." She spoke, her arms crossed, "I am perfectly capable of recognizing a start of a fight when I see it."

Vicky looked at her, and it was enough to know that she was not going to be able to fool Growley. Honestly, she didn't even thought that it was really going to fool her even for a second. The scene that had unfolded was indeed self-explanatory, and it would be hard to believe that reasonable mammals would merely have an argument like that.

"Should we speak to someone about it?" Growley asked her, and Vicky sighed.

"There is really no need." Vicky said. "I really don't want to go over any more stress because of him."

"You know, it is curious." Growley said, "Many people around were sure that you two were great friends."

Vicky looked down at this. "Yeah… me too." She said, feeling quite sad over that. Yeah, you would too if you discovered that someone you thought you knew and who you thought you could trust was not what they seemed. If you found out that the one that you thought that was on your side actually didn't appreciated you at all, and only hanged out with you so he could take advantage of you and use you. This was something that could really make someone upset.

"So, he does not dealt well with your success?" Growley. "Yeah, that is really bad. I've seen a lot of friendships end like that."

Vicky said nothing. She preferred not to tell that she had been used for over a year. It was embarrassing that she was played for so long by Staglore…

"Well, you might as well just keep moving forward." Growley said to her. "After all, if he is willing to change with you so much only because of envy, then it is because he was never truly your friend to begin with."

"You are absolutely right." Vicky said.

"Oh, congratulations for the story, by the way." Growley said, "The interview was amazing."

These words were sincere, and that much Vicky was able to say. "Thanks." She said with a smile.

"Now, I really need to ask, how did you found the mage and convinced her to give you an interview?" Growley asked.

Vicky looked up at her, and she looked down, a little embarrassed.

"Well… to be completely honest, she was the one who called me and told me she wanted to give an interview." She admitted, and Growley looked back at her.

"Oh, right…" She said, and shrugged, "Well, some of the best stories are sometimes given to us. Still, I have to say that you did an amazing job while interviewing her. You made very good questions, you were very professional in screen, and you showed a lot of compassion to her when it mattered."

"Yeah, I just did my best." Vicky said, "Honestly, I'm glad that I didn't screwed it up. That might as well be the more important story that I found in my life."

"Yeah, for now." Growley said, "You still have your entire career ahead of you, and you might actually find other stories that are just as interesting. Especially considering how good you certainly are."

There was honesty in these words. This caught Vicky slightly off-guard. She was able to smile back.

"Oh… I… I really appreciate it, Ms. Growley." Vicky spoke, and the snow leopardess smiled at her.

"Oh, I'm just saying the truth." The feline said, "You know, I have observed you for a while, and I also heard what others said about you."

"Oh, you mean, how it was amazing a vixen made it to the ZNN, and that the place was lowering their standards when hiring the staff?"

"No, I was talking about the good things." Growley said to her. "Not all mammals have bad opinions on foxes. Of course, there are some guys who say bad things about you, but you'd be surprised on how many mammals actually speak well of you, especially the ones who worked with you. They speak a lot of how you are dedicated to your work, of how straightforward you are as a reporter, and how much you are dedicated to finding the truth… Honestly, I never understood why you never presented any of your own stories."

Vicky flinched a bit of it.

"I… have not been in a good place in the past year." She said, purposely avoiding to speak of how Stan tricked her for that whole time. "But… I finally decided to take my career on my own paws and fight for it. I decided that it was due time… which is why Staglore is so upset."

"Yeah, I heard that some of the stories he presented were done by you." Growley said. "I heard that you two had some kind of 'arrangement'…"

"Anyway, I don't think I'll ever find a story as interesting as the interview." Vicky said, not wanting to delve in that for longer than they already have. "I mean, interviewing a mage surely is a big thing, and that interview basically answered most of the questions about mages that everyone had."

"Yeah." Growley admitted. "Still, now that we all know that there are mages out there, this makes us wonder just what else is out there." She said, "I mean, the supernatural exists, and that gotta be the biggest thing we have had in the past century. Also, there is the fact that the ferret herself admitted that there were things she was not telling. This makes us wonder what else we can discover…"

Vicky had to agree with her in that point. Yeah, there were many things that were still left unanswered, and these things opened space for a lot more speculation from everyone else, as now that everyone knew that mages existed, this made them wonder if other things were also real, like dragons, vampires, and all of that stuff. Not to mention that there was a lot of more speculation about what the Association was hiding, which included some theories that said that they had an army of evil spirits and three-headed dragons trained to obey their orders.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure that there will always be stories to tell." Growley said, "There will always be things happening, and there will always be the need for people to know what is going on. That is why we need good reporters, like you."

There was a lot of sincerity in these words. That much Vicky could say, and she couldn't help but feel glad for hearing such things.

"Thanks a lot, Ms. Growley."

"Oh, you can drop the 'Miss'." Growley said to her. "You can just call me Fabienne." She said, and Vicky smiled back at her.

"Well, I guess I can call you that… if you call me Vicky." She said, and both females laughed at this. Soon they were both walking away, chatting as if they were old friends…

[center]**********************[/center]

Meanwhile, things were moving along in the ZPD.

The place looked pretty much like it did on any other day. It had gotten better in the previous week, as it seemed that the number of protests and crimes had diminished after they grew because of the website. There were no longer vandalisms and attacks to places related to the supernatural, and it seemed that most mammals had lost their will to protest over mages. At least they stopped being so public about it.

However, scammers were still a kind that sprouted every now and then, as it was possible to notice as Nick and Judy brought, once more, Duke Weaselton.

The weasel still wanted to make money out of the situation, like many other scammers and petty criminals out there were. Of course, Nick and Judy had busted him and took him in, just like last time.

The most impressive, in Nick's opinion, was that the weasel was doing the same thing that he did when they caught him last time: selling devices that could detect the presence of mages. He was selling them as artifacts that had been developed in secret, and that worked by "detecting the presence of the Magic Circuits in the body of a mammal", allowing it to identify mages, as well as "detecting the magical energy that they use to make their spells", as the weasel announced to people.

Judy thought that it was amazing just how many mammals had actually bought these devices.

"There is a sucker in each corner, and at each five seconds another one is born." Nick said to her as she mentioned how amazing it was that mammals could be so gullible.

Once they put Weaselton "on the freezer", they were both walking back, passing by the front desk in the process.

"Oh! Judy! Nick!" A voice called, and they turned to look at Clawhauser, who was looking at them.

"Yo, Benji." Nick said to him, "So, everything alright in the donut office?"

"Oh, just fine!" Clawhauser said to him. "I just found out that there will be a promotion on Gazelle merchandising tomorrow at my favorite store! I'll get a lot more shirts!"

Nick and Judy both smiled at this. It was good to see Benjamin back to his normal shelf. In the past months, the big cheetah had been clearly worried and troubled with something, certainly over all that was going on. The fact that he was smiling like he used to was a good sign. He was among the ones who got a lot calmer and a lot more positive after the interview, even though he had become somewhat more edgy in the first two days after it, but now he was in a better mood.

"Well, anyway, I wanted to tell you that the Chief has called both of you to his office." Benjamin said, and this wiped the smiles off the two cops' faces.

"The Chief wants to see us?" Nick asked, "Why?"

"He didn't said." Ben said, as he opened a box of donuts and picked one. "He just said that I should talk to you when you came back and ask you two to please come to his office."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Nick said, "'Please'? Did the Chief actually said 'please'?"

Ben nodded, "Yeah, I found it a bit strange too. Normally he is only nice and polite when he is really mad, but he didn't sounded mad… actually he sounded… well, it is hard to explain, but he sounded a bit serious, but not angry."

Nick and Judy both shared a look.

"So, wanna go see what this is about?" Nick asked to the bunny, "There is still time to run."

Judy looked at him, and soon, they both decided to go see what it was that the Chief wanted.

After an elevator ride and a walk to the buffalo's office, they knocked the door, to which the familiar, booming voice of the bull answered:

"Who is it?"

"It's Hopps and Wilde!" Judy said back. "Clawhauser said that you wanted to talk to us."

"Yes, yes…" Bogo's voice came from inside. Soon, the sounds of footsteps were coming from inside, and the buffalo opened the door. "Please, come in."

There was the "please", now coming straight from the buffalo's lips. This was something a bit unusual to hear in your everyday life. This made the cops wonder if the situation was serious, and if either of them was actually in trouble.

"Please, take a seat." Bogo said as he closed the door, and soon, the two cops had climbed into the much bigger chair, and were now standing on it. The Chief didn't said anything as he walked around the desk and sat on his own chair.

For a while, he said nothing, and this served to make the two officers worried.

"Uhh, sir?" Judy said, and this caused the buffalo to look back at her. "Is there… any reason why we are in here?"

"If it is about something we have done, we are both ready to apologize and promise never to do it again, whatever it was…" Nick said, and Bogo looked at him, but merely sighed.

"You two did nothing… so far." Bogo said, and he sighed. "I just… wanted to talk."

The two mammals shared a look. The Chief calling someone because he "wanted to talk"? This was unusual, and it was not something that either of them had expected. It was not how the Chief usually acted.

Still, in the past days Bogo had not been acting like he normally did. He had been a bit more distant at work ever since that night on the warehouse, and it got a bit more serious after the interview came along.

It seemed that the Chief had something on his mind.

"Everything has been crazy lately…" Bogo said, "With the mages, and magecraft, and all of that stuff… I'm now not sure of many things…"

The two mammals said nothing at this. However, they did noticed that the Chief seemed… upset.

"For months I have dismissed all of that talk of mages and this stuff as being fake." Bogo said, "I mean, I grew up believing all of it to be fake… to be absurd… I knew that this was all illogical and unreasonable… I was absolutely sure that it was all fake… until that night…"

Both officers didn't knew if they were suppose to say anything on the matter. So, in doubt, they decided to remain silent.

"I haven't really know what to think ever since that day… I still don't… I just know that now I'm pretty sure that magic, or magecraft, or whatever is really a thing…" Bogo said, and the cops looked at him.

"I keep remembering practically everything that happened in that night, over and over again, as if it was a movie…" Bogo said, and he then rose his head to look at the two cops. "And one of the things I remember, was how that tiger looked at you, Wilde…"

Nick tensed as the buffalo said that.

"He recognized you… and he called you [i]Russet[/i]. It was the name used for your disguise, I know because you kept complaining on cliché it was for a fox to be called Russet…"

"Oh, yeah… that…" Nick said, a bit awkward. "That was because that tiger was one of the mammals from the busting of the illegal fights… You see, he and the coyote… they were the mammals that Wolfard and I chased. The ones that got us surrounded…"

Bogo looked at him, and nodded.

"Did you knew they were mages?" Bogo asked. It was a very direct and straight question, and Nick tensed as he heard that. Now, he knew that he was threading on very dangerous waters, and that a single wrong word would cost him his job.

The buffalo looked at the fox, and his gaze shifted to the bunny, who also looked to be nervous.

"You both would be terrible at poker." Bogo said to them. Nick wanted to say that he was just caught off-guard, but he knew that this would be an admittance of guilt. The buffalo looked at them. "Tell me everything."

The two mammals shared a look among themselves.

"Or you'd rather have me put both of you on parking duty for the rest of your lives?" He asked, and the cops knew that they preferred to avoid this, but they also knew that there was a lot of things that they should not tell Bogo. Still, under the hard gaze of the buffalo, they found themselves unable to lie.

They ended up telling to him practically everything. Nick explained of him of what really happened in that place with Wolfard and the two mages, and how it seemed that Wolfard had his memory altered (what he was now absolutely sure due to the ferret's revelations). Meanwhile, they also explained how Nick and Judy had been followed by strange creatures, with Nick being followed by that blue butterfly, while Judy was being followed by a crow. She even offered to show Bogo the records that she kept on her sightings of the crow, but the buffalo refused.

Now, the two cops looked at the Chief, as they both waited for his answer. Nick was particularly worried, for he had just admitted that he had lied on his official report, and that was something very serious for a cop to do. Judy was also worried, for she had helped Nick keep it a secret, and this meant that she was hiding information from her Chief and from the other cops.

They waited for an onslaught of the buffalo any second now. However, they were surprised when the buffalo simply deflated.

"You two did well to hide it from me."

The two mammals could only stare flabbergasted at the buffalo.

"If I heard any of you mention any of these things, I would probably have fired you on the spot… or at least demoted you to the archive." Bogo said, "Hiding it was probably the smartest thing that you both could have done…"

There was something wrong.

Both of the mammals knew that there was something very wrong with their boss.

He was saying that they did the right thing by hiding something and lying to him. Not only that, but he didn't even seemed angry. He did seemed upset, but not like he normally did. This was not how he usually acted. This was not the fiery Chief Bogo that they both knew.

"Chief, is there anything wrong?" Judy ventured to ask, and the Chief snorted, but not an angry snort.

"Wrong…" The buffalo said, "Yeah, I can say that a few things could be wrong… I could be wrong…"

There was a silence in the room after that was said. A silence that was broken by Nick, who was rave enough to say:

"Okay, I have the feeling that you are really upset about all that is going on." Nick said to the buffalo, who looked at him. "Also, by the way that you are acting, I would say that it is something [i]really[/i] personal." The fox concluded, and Bogo glared at the fox.

"Sir?" Judy said, causing the gaze of the buffalo to shift to her. "What are you so upset about?"

Bogo looked at her, and at Nick. After a few moments, he sighed.

"Do you two know why I never liked talking about my brother?" He asked, and the two mammals shared a look. They didn't even knew that Bogo had a brother.

"We used to get along great when we were calves." Bogo said, "We used to hang out together nearly all the time. We did a lot of things together. I looked up to him, and I admired him. But one day…" There was a pause, the two animals looked expectantly at Bogo, and he continued:

"We were passing the summer in our uncle's farm. There was a forest nearby, and Timmy loved to go in there and explore. I tried to tag along, but he had a lot more experience than I did. Also I… was kind of afraid of the dark woods."

Judy and Nick shared a look.

"I was ten, okay?" Bogo said, and soon he was continuing:

"One night, he went to the forest and took too long to come back. Our uncle was getting worried. Heck, [i]I[/i] was worried." Bogo said, "And then, all of sudden, he comes rushing back through the door. He is all dirty, his clothes thorn, he was bleeding from the head and looked like he had seem a ghost. He was frantic when he came, and he kept talking something about 'monsters' and about 'dead mammals'."

Bogo took a moment, and the two continued to listen in a respectful silence.

"It took nearly an hour before he calmed down enough to tell us what had happened." The buffalo said, and he was grimacing. "He told a story about mammals hiding in the woods, doing some kind of ritual, and about mammals exploding as if they were dynamite. Needless to say, my uncle didn't believed him. He even wanted to take us to the place where he said it happened. We went there in the morning, but we found nothing."

Bogo sighed.

"After that, things got… hard." He said, "My brother continued to tell to others the same story that he told us. He told our parents. His friends. Kids from our school. But no one ever believed him. They called him a nutcase, a liar, they picked up on him for saying these things. Mom and dad didn't liked the story he was saying, and our father was… well, lets just say that he didn't liked anyone saying foolishness."

"My parents took him to specialists, and they all concluded the same thing: my brother really believed that the story he was telling was truth." Bogo said, "Of course, you must imagine how my parents reacted to that."

"They said that maybe it was a way of his mind trying to process some traumatic experience that he had in the woods. One of them even said that it could be because of the blow that he had in the head." Bogo continued. "My parents forced him to make therapy, but overtime it only got more troublesome. He got mad at the therapists for wanting to convince him that his story was not real. Got mad at mom and dad for not believing him… Got mad at me for not supporting him…"

It was obvious that this was a sensitive point.

"But… they all knew… I knew… that the story that my brother told could not be truth." Bogo said, "Because we all knew that magic wasn't real."

A deep silence followed these words, as they two animals considered all that had happened.

"Well," Nick said, being the one to break the silence, "That certainly would explain why you were so uptight about the magic thing."

Bogo said nothing in return, and the lack of response for Nick's remark had let him know how serious that was. That and the glare that Judy was currently giving him.

"He never let go of that, you know?" Bogo continued, "Actually, he started to research on similar things. These things of occultism, supernatural, esoteric, all of that crap you can find on old dusty books or online." The buffalo said to them. "The rest of the family all but gave up on him, myself included."

Bogo seemed really upset as he said that last part. The big buffalo sighed.

"Back in January, I went to visit him." Bogo said, "It was a resolution I had made. I just wanted to talk but… it didn't went well."

"It started out nice, actually, we talked about the past, about the fun we had, but then we started going on the subject of what happened with him in the woods that night. Before I know it, we are discussing about him spending all of his time researching that occultism crap." Bogo said, "It ended with me telling that he should go look for someone to fix his head so he could finally move on from this stupidity and leaving."

Bogo leaned back on his chair and looked at the ceiling.

"My brother used to be my hero…" He said to no one, "I looked up to him, admired him, and the last time I saw him I basically called him a lunatic… But, what else I was to say? I did thought that he was crazy for believing in all of that magic stuff, because I knew that magic didn't existed… but now…"

"Now you know it does." Judy completed the thought. Bogo let out a gigantic sigh, and was now massaging the bridge of his muzzle with his hoof.

"What if he was right?" The buffalo said. "What if something really [i]did[/i] happened in the woods. What if he actually saw something, but no one believed him when he was saying the truth? The idea that I spent all those years thinking of my brother as insane when he was actually right…"

Once more, the two diminutive officers remained in silence, as they took in this new piece of information that they had just learned about Bogo. It surely explained a lot of the instance that the buffalo had on the videos and the existence of magic, and it certainly explained why he had been so affected by it.

Nick didn't quite understood it fully, for he was an only child. Judy, however, had a multitude of siblings, and she could imagine what would be like to be on bad terms with them, as she had been in more than one occasion. She could fully sympathize with Chief Bogo and what he was going through.

"Sir?" Judy said, "Would you… would you mind if I gave you an advice?"

Bogo looked at her. He looked tired.

"I think you should try to talk to your brother." Judy said to him. Bogo merely looked at her.

"I already tried that, Hopps, and it didn't worked out well, in case you weren't paying attention."

"You should give it another try." Judy urged him. "I mean, it is obvious that this is eating you up."

"She is right." Nick said.

"So, I guess that maybe you should try talking to your brother again." Judy said to him. "Maybe this time you two can actually find some common ground to talk. If you now believe that he could be right on what happened to him, then you should go and tell him that. It is hard for anyone to admit that they could be wrong… but it could not be worse than definitely losing a relative. Especially out of pride…"

Judy said, and for a long moment, she and the buffalo just looked at each other.

"I received a call an hour ago about some mammals who are reuniting in the street." Bogo said, recomposing himself. "Apparently they are trying to start yet another protest. I want you and Wilde to go in there look at it. Right now, if possible."

Judy and Nick shared a look. Judy even wanted to say something more, but she was interrupted by Nick.

"Count on us, sir. Let's go, partner." He said, and soon Judy was following him into the door. On the way, Nick whispered to her:

"Give him some time. You already made an impact."

Judy didn't really understood. Of course, she had failed to notice the introspective look that Chief Bogo now had as he was left alone in his office.