Murphy stared for a moment, then said, "The cat talks. The fucking cat talks. Why didn't I see this coming?"

"Of course I talk," the white cat snapped.

"Urusai," Saffir said, absolute zero in his tone.  His face was as cold as his voice, and both Murphy and Harry could see the difference the years had wrought in him.

"No, you shut up," Jaspis snapped at the Blue Prince.  "You can't just spring talking cats on people."

"And unlike some cats," said Harry, stepping in, "he can speak with an English accent."

Murphy made a strange noise somewhere between a snort and a giggle, then shook her head. "Ease up on the infighting, gentlemen. We don't have time."

The cat glowered at them all and added, "The means by which I communicate don't matter.  What does matter is that the Enemy now has its hands on one of the senshi and a powerful wizard."

"More than a wizard," Jaspis said softly.  "A noble of Nemesis."

"Is that even relevant?" asked Harry. "I mean... how many people in this time are even aware that Nemesis exists?"

"I think it is relevant," Saffir said, having laid a silencing spell on Artemis when he'd been about to yowl in surprise at a new revelation.  "Did I ever speak to you of the Sailor Senshi?"

"I've carefully refrained from asking," replied Harry. "I figured you'd explain eventually if it was important."

"About now would be good," Murphy added, resting her hands on her hips.

Saffir glanced at the white cat, and sighed.  “Right.  It gets... complicated in places, so I’ll give you the short version.  Fifteen years ago a group of five fourteen-year-old girls were given powers to change to a more powerful form and fight things that would try to take over the world.  They’re based in Japan, since on average most nasty magic-users tend to come through there, where the barrier between this world and the spiritual ones is at its weakest.  Even in guarding that small island, they have their hands full.”  He winced as he remembered his own part.

Jaspis, never helpful for long, added, “And you’d know that, wouldn’t you, Heir-Prince?”

Saffir shot him a filthy glare.  “That was well over a decade ago, Darkstar.  I paid the price for my youthful arrogance.”  With a flick of his fingers, he undid the spell he had laid on Artemis.

"Right, so," said Harry, trying to take it all in and deflect the brewing fight, "they're kind of like wizards, except not. I can process that for now."

Artemis was glowering at Saffir now that the silencing spell had been removed.  "Their magic is not of this world.  This has to be a factor... but they don't know the source of Minako-chan's power."  He pawed the pen.

"Right. So. We need a Plan B. I suggest we head back to the Batcave to regroup. And since I'm the one driving, none of you have any say in the matter."

Jaspis hesitated.  "My nephew comes with me."

"Just as long as you take care of him," Murphy said.

"Of course."  The younger man disappeared for a moment and re-emerged with the baby in his arms.  Saffir frowned, opened his mouth, then closed it again.  Not important.

"Suit yourself," said Harry, taking out his keys and twirling them a bit. "I tried babyproofing my place, but damned if the little buggers don't keep getting in. Keep him close."

Artemis sniffed and leapt to Murphy's shoulder; in the back of the group, Saffir slumped slightly.  He had a vague sense of foreboding that did not at all please him.

Murphy didn't even flinch; she did absently warn the cat to watch his claws.

In answer, Artemis wrapped his tail lightly around her neck and proved that he didn't need claws to maintain his balance.

Harry led the motley crew outside and proceeded to rev up the beetle. "Everyone who's coming, come."

"...we can't all fit in that," Saffir said, alluding subtly to the fact that three of the four humans were over six feet tall.

"Squeeze."

The Beetle did its best impression of a clown car as they piled out and raced toward Harry's apartment. He was already plotting out some possible methods by which they could proceeded, but his thoughts were interrupted.

...by a pair of young women - one blonde, and the other dark - sprawled out on his stairs. He did not think he was unjustified in his next words.

"...the fuck?!"

The blonde was closest to them, sprawled on the top stairs.  She was clad in a skimpy nightie that was missing one strap (the observant could see it tying back a thick blonde braid) and was accessorised by two utility belts that seemed rather military for the rest of her garb.  A 9-millimetre handgun lay a few stairs below her.

The dark-haired girl was sprawled against the steel door itself, obviously having rolled all the way down the staircase.  Trembling arms held her up over a puddle of vomit; both girls sported bands on their wrists that seemed familiar to Harry.  Saffir peeked over Harry’s shoulder.  “Minako-chan!”

 

~*~

 

They had passed two more junctions when Lapis suddenly stopped.  "Wait," she hissed, staring at one point in the wall.  Instantly Minako planted her feet while bringing her weapon to bear at the spot Lapis indicated.  Lapis' energy ball faded into her palm, and she touched a finger to the wall.  "We've been going in circles," she told Minako.  "There's magic here – each turn sends us back to the start."

"Shimatta," Minako swore softly.  Bloody manacles.  Even if she didn't have Rei or Michiru's sensitivity, she still could usually detect traces.  "Can you cancel it?"

The Nemesian woman shook her head regretfully.  "No – this is a magic completely different from my own.  It feels... something like this world's magic, but – different."  She pulled her hand away from the wall and wiped it several times against her pants.  "Dirty."

"Bloody hell..."

"The magic isn't dirty," commented a new voice.  It was male, but to Minako's ears sounded more like a youma might sound than a human.  "It is merely different."  As the two women whirled, he added, "As is yours."

Minako trained the weapon on the hooded figure's head.  "Dare ka!" she snarled, ice-eyes glaring out with malevolent intensity.  The centre of her forehead warmed a little but she paid it no heed.  She had other things to worry about. 

The cloaked figure seemed amused by her anger.  "You may call me Cowl."  His Japanese was slow and enunciated with care, and sounded even stranger than his English did.  Changing back to English, he added, "I have been... observing the two of you for some time now."

"Have you now?" Minako replied coldly.  The gun's barrel never wavered.  "Should we then presume you're the one behind our all-expenses-paid luxury vacation?"

"You might."  He seemed to shift his gaze past Minako to Lapis.  "I must admit that your powers... intrigue me."

I'll bet they do, Minako thought sourly.  Her face retained its mask of frozen anger.

Cowl spread his hands.  "Ladies, I will be frank with you.  I had you brought here so abruptly to see how long it would take you to escape.  I must admit that you both exceeded my expectations."

"That's nice.  Now how about you let us leave, hm?"  From the corner of her eye Minako saw Lapis had shrank back, shaking and pale with terror.  The senshi could understand why.  Even without the twin white suns of eyes, the man calling himself Cowl looked too much like Wiseman.

She now really wished she had her henshin wand.  Or something a little more substantial than the gun in her hands.

He gave the impression that he was smiling.  "I'm afraid I can't do that, ladies.  Even if you yourselves are not of use to me, you are my way to someone who is."

"Jaspis will never help you!" Lapis blurted.  Her voice was high with fear, but her tone was also defiant.  "No more will I!"

"Did I ever say a word about your brother?"

"Who?" Minako didn't quite demand.

"That would be telling, wouldn't it?"  Again that amusement to his voice.  "Though I will admit that one of the two I seek would be easy to... mould."

Minako felt the icy lead crawl into her stomach.  Her eyes, were she to see them, took on a look not unlike a fractured glacier.  "No," she stated in a dead, flat voice.  So help her, he wouldn't lay a hand on the child.

Lapis Lazuli was not so reserved.

"I'll kill you first!" she shrieked, blue power flaring around her and kicking up a breeze that blew her hair away from her body.  Gone was the fear, banished by the rage of a mother whose child had been threatened.  The power gathered in her hands as she brought them up towards Cowl, palms out.  As soon as it peaked, she let go, firing one of the most powerful energy blasts Minako had felt in years.

Minako smartly dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, coming up in a crouch as her gun again tracked for Cowl while at the same time tried to control the reeling sensation of being so close to a source of such potent emotion.  The rage and hatred, it made her blood burn from the power behind it.

And not just her blood.  She again felt the tingling, welcome, spreading warmth in the centre of her forehead that reminded her of just how restricting the iron bands about her wrists were.  Swearing silently, she removed one hand from the gun to cover the glowing sigil of her planet.  Now certainly was not the time for random, uncontrollable spikes of her own power.

The power – and the hatred fuelling it – died down as Lapis controlled herself.  There was a brief moment of nothing, and then an equally powerful attack was hurtled down the hallway, striking both women and throwing them back several feet.

Minako cried out as she went flying, but managed to roll once she hit the floor.  (The bruise to bloom later on her shoulder would be spectacular.  As would the ones from where the purloined utility belts dug into her flesh.)   She managed to keep the gun in hand (how, she couldn't say) and looked around for Cowl while also glancing to see if Lapis was okay.  The warmth and light of the Venus sigil was thankfully fading, but not as fast as Minako would have liked.

Lapis lay on her back, unmoving, though the rise and fall of her chest indicated she was still alive.  Cowl, on the other hand, seemed none the worse for bearing the full brunt of the Nemesian noble's attack.  "That," he said simply, "was not wise."

...How could he not be affected? Minako wondered, a sliver of real fear cutting her stomach.  She moved to Lapis' side, gun trained on Cowl.  And because the magic didn't work, she figured it couldn't hurt (much) to try a plain human weapon.  One shot, aimed for the head. 

The bullet didn't even strike him; instead it bounced off a shield he must have put up when Lapis first attacked him.  "Nor was that," he added, and gestured; once more Minako was struck by his attack, throwing her even further down the hall.

This time she didn't roll so much as skid when she landed, skin squeaking painfully against the floor.  Wincing, she pulled herself up to her feet again, and wondered why her hand felt so empty.  The fact the gun had flown from her hand and was about twenty feet away on the opposite side of the corridor explained things.  She hurt, but worse was the feel of Cowl's blast.  Cold, lifeless... dead.  She shivered from the sick feeling it caused her, but stubbornly pushed herself forward to at least get to where Lapis lay.

"Are you quite finished?" Cowl asked her, sounding nothing more like a kindergarten teacher... from hell.

"That depends," she snapped back.  The second gun was in her hand quickly; but a shade slower than she could have.  She had landed wrong.  "Are you?"

Again that impression of a smile.  "A brave little chickadee, to be certain... but will you be so brave if you must face him as an enemy?  I wonder..."

Minako scowled, stopping as she stood over Lapis.  "He'll not be yours."  She remembered clearly what Wiseman did to Chibiusa.  Warped her mind, her body, almost destroyed her soul with the black taint of the dark crystal.  Never again, she vowed.  To anyone.

"Won't he?" Cowl mused.  "His soul is already tainted... oh, you think I still refer to the child."

She regarded him warily, ice-eyes narrowing.  Patronizing irritant, so sure of himself, but his type always seemed to end up that way.

Lapis' hand closed around Minako's ankle, and power flared again.  "NO!" Cowl shouted, lunging for them, but it was already too late – blackness had closed around both girls.

Minako froze when everything went black.  The world tilted crazily, causing her stomach to churn violently, and nausea, while something really cold stabbed at her skin.  Sudden disorientation, and then the sharp pains of landing on several somethings, all of them corners.  Her arm sang with pain when her elbow slammed into one of the corners, the gun clattering to the ground from now-numb fingers.   When she rolled to her side to try and alleviate the pains, she realized why the were there in the first place: she was on stairs.

When she could get her eyes to open and work again, she had no clue of where they were inside a dilapidated building.  Biting back a groan, she rolled to her other side, relieved to see Lapis and only now noticing the blue-haired woman's hand around her ankle.

Lapis Lazuli lay curled in the foetal position, her free arm wrapped around her head, shaking in fear and whimpering in pain.  Slowly, she released Minako's ankle, rolled down the stairway, fetched up sharply against a steel door, and promptly vomited.  She held herself above the mess with trembling arms; Minako could see that her wrists were red and inflamed around the iron bands.  She was whispering something in a vaguely Germanic language that Minako decided was Nemesian.  Within the words she could hear the names Jaspis, Topaz, and Dresden.

Minako lifted her head at the sound of footfalls, sky-blue eyes narrowing in assessment at the new arrival.  Tall, darkly dressed with an overcoat, and looking utterly bamboozled.  Minor point to her - she had the advantage of surprise.  Sort of.  Pushing herself up slowly, she kept her eyes on the man's face.  If she was dealing with wizards, she didn't want to risk being caught up in a soulgaze.  Her tingly arm she allowed to hang, the useful one straying casually towards her waist (and the throwing weapons in the utility belt).

He spoke English, so English she would use.  "Who are you?" she returned a little roughly, her words spoken with a slightly accented but clearly British tone.

Blue hair and eyes came into sight over the tall man's shoulder.  "Minako-chan!" Satoshi cried, pushing past him and dropping to one knee to give her a hand up.  "Are you all right?  What happened?"  Unlike his companion, he spoke to her in Japanese.

"What?" added another male voice in , also pushing past the tall man.  He was between Satoshi and the other stranger in height, his hair a strange mix of green and purple.  In his arms was a baby.  His eyes widened as he looked past Minako.  "Nyx, Erebus, and Khaos.  Lapis!"  He vanished from sight in a flare of power, only to reappear at the bottom of the stairs.

The wizard cast his gaze around, looking the blonde and the bluehead over. Yes, that was definitely Lapis. He felt like he had just fallen out of the "really freaking confused" tree and hit every branch on the way down. Twice. "Somebody mind explaining to me what just happened?" he asked loudly. "Aren't you supposed to be kidnapped? ...and which one of you puked on my floor?" Upon closer examination, both of the girls looked rather exhausted, and they were both wearing... yup, definitely thorn manacles. Either enchanted shackles were the hot item this year, or something heavy was either going down, about to go down, or had already gone down. 

Minako was about to respond to Satoshi when the flash of light for a teleportation had her stiffening up and trying to work her bad arm to reach for a weapon, since Satoshi held the hand of her good arm.  She didn't so much as relax as take note of Mixed-hair bending over Lapis concernedly.  Another Darkstar?  Possibly the brother Lapis had mentioned, which the sight of a baby in his arms strengthened.  Still, she didn't exactly take too kindly to the casual teleportation as evidenced by the strong grip with which she held Satoshi's hand, along with the slashing look she gave Jaspis before refocusing on Satoshi.

"First things first: who ARE these people, can any understand Japanese, and is Artemis aware of anything?" she demanded in a quiet, earnest voice.  To everyone else's ears, 'Artemis' sounded like 'arutemisu'.

Satoshi's grip on her hand tightened slightly, but relaxed after a moment.  "We need to talk, you and I.  The man with the mixed hair is Jaspis, the freakishly tall one is Duresudan Hari.  He's a wizard.  I hired him to..."  His voice faltered slightly.  "To find you,"  he finished after a moment.  "Neither of them speaks Japanese to my knowledge.  As for Artemis-"

The white tomcat appeared on one side of Harry Dresden's coat, her henshin wand held in his mouth.  He said something garbled around it and ran to twine around her legs.

Harry didn't speak a word of Japanese, but he could make out something that sounded kind of like "Dresden". He cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "I'm going to make a wild guess and assume that the blonde is Ms. Aino?"

"You are correct, Mister Dresden," she replied, taking a moment to let go of Satoshi's hand so she could scoop up Artemis with her good hand.  The other she held out so he could spit the wand into her hand.  "And yes, we were kidnapped, but as you can plainly see we escaped."  She looked around at all of them, her gaze chilly as she regarded the two, no, three Darkstars at the bottom of the stairs.  "As I foresee a lengthy discussion ahead, perhaps we might find a private place where such matters may be discussed with relative freedom?”

"Right, right," said Harry. "You all are free to come into my apartment. I'll get those manacles off you. ...and then find a mop." 

Carefully manoeuvring around the pool of ick, Harry unlocked his door and lowered the wards (which had taken quite a pounding), then ushered the group inside. He quickly darted to the kitchen area and opened up a drawer, from which he extracted a hacksaw. Once the wizard was past, Jaspis tucked his nephew into Lapis' arms, then scooped both of them up in his own.  Cradling the pair of them against his chest, he walked inside after Harry.  Satoshi, a step behind them, kept pace with Minako, ignoring Artemis' filthy glares at him. The iron tool made short work of the manacles, and Lapis let out a whimpering sound of relief.  Harry could see the harsh redness to her pale skin indicating that she had set them off more than once.  Jaspis, no less observant, scowled angrily.  "What are those... things?" he demanded, unable to find a suitable epithet as Harry began work on Minako's manacles.

"They're called thorn manacles," said Harry as he sawed. "Made by faeries. They basically put the kibosh on any sort of magic goings-on. Which begs the question on how you two got out here in the first place."

"They would be made by faeries," Minako repeated, careful to keep still while Harry worked.  Then she sighed in relief as the manacles fell off, and she felt better.  While her wrists were nowhere near as bad off as Lapis', hers were still reddened from when she had tried to henshin despite not having her wand.

In response to Harry's question, she nodded at the blue-haired woman.  "She managed to teleport us out of there.  Though can someone kindly inform me where on this Earth 'here' is?  America, I would presume from everyone else's accents."  If only it had been Japan instead.  "And if someone by chance has any extra clothes..."  She trailed off, frowned, swore then sighed before closing her eyes to concentrate and get rid of the come-hither.  "As I was saying."

Jaspis looked down at his sister, then gently settled her down on Harry's couch.  "I won't be but a minute," he said, bowing politely to Minako before vanishing from sight completely.  Saffir, beside the blonde, sighed in vexation.  A very short time passed, then Jaspis appeared outside the door with some clothes in his arms.  "I wasn't certain of your size," he told Minako as he walked back in, "but you and Lapis are about the same height, so I brought you one of her dresses."  He offered it to her with a smile.

Harry blinked several times, rubbing his eyes, his train of thought derailed by the vanishing and re-appearing of Jaspis.

Well, she had said "if anyone".  She gave Jaspis a curt nod and a cool 'thank-you' before putting Artemis down in order to accept the clothes.  A quick 'do you mind' before she went into Harry's bedroom just long enough to pull the dress on over her head (while wondering at the room's faint pine scent), hook the utility belts around her waist again, and come back out.  A flick of her hand and the henshin wand vanished back into its temporal pocket - the attackers had been smart enough and able enough to time their attack so that she had called in her wand but not before transforming. 

The dress was a bit tight in the chest, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before.  "Now, where are we, again?"

"Chicago," said Harry, rejoining the conversation, and for the first time getting a really good look at Minako. Now that she was dressed and not shackled, Harry could see that she was a very attractive young woman. Nice hair, good body...Harry quashed these thoughts and silently mused that he needed to get laid. "You're a long way from home. Do you have any idea who grabbed you, or why?"

Jaspis looked confused and mildly hurt at Minako's coolness towards him - after all, he hadn't attacked Earth - but strode past her to sit beside his sister, who was crooning softly to her son and laying every protection spell she knew on him.  The heir of the Darkstar clan winced as he felt some of the nastier spells.  "Lapis, what happened in there?" he asked her softly in Nemesian.  Next to Minako, Saffir looked up, blue eyes narrowing as he listened in.

"He threatened Topaz," Lapis whispered back.  "He said he could mould him!  I won't let him near my son!"

The Blue Prince's blood went cold.  That sounded far too near like what the thrice-damned Wiseman had done to Small Lady.

"That depends, Wizard Dresden.  How familiar are you with a necromancer who deigns to call himself 'Cowl'?"

If Harry was holding a drink of some sort, he'd have dropped it in a dramatic manner right around then. As it was, he just froze.

"Leave town," he said urgently. "Get out of here. Take the first flight away. Use fake names. Take Lapis with you. Just go."

"Uh, question," said Jaspis, raising a hand.  "Who or what is Cowl, and why should I, Jaspis Darkstar, flee from him?"

Saffir kicked him.

"Imagine, if you will," said Harry, "the most powerful being you've ever had the misfortune to encounter. Got it? I'd be willing to bet good money that Cowl'd be able to bounce it off the wall. So I repeat: leave town. Get thee gone."

The colour drained from the faces of both Saffir and Jaspis, though Jaspis recovered faster.  "Nothing is more powerful than the Wiseman," he said, but he still looked shaken.  Saffir was not surprised that he turned to look at Lapis as he said this.

Minako gave a sharp bark of laughter before growling out, "Oh, I can think of a few things more powerful than the Wiseman.  They are, happily, dead."  But at high cost.  She rubbed the area over her heart briefly, recalling how her starseed had been torn out.  "Before I get myself gone, Mister Dresden--" she gave him a hard stare that didn't quite trigger a soulgaze "--I would prefer to have as much information as I can."   

"Before that," Saffir said, not quite loudly, "Dresden, don't you think you should call someone and let them know that the kidnapee is no longer kidnapped?"  He'd rather Harry be distracted while he told Minako the truth.

Jaspis stared at him.  "Who the hell are you and wh--"

Saffir kicked him again.  Harder.

Harry slapped himself about the head and silently cursed. "Right. Doing that now," he said, making a beeline for the phone and dialling in Murphy's private number.

She picked up three rings later and said, "Harry, if this isn't important get off the line. I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"Remember those kidnapees all that fuss was about?"

"Yes?" Her voice sharpened.

"Not so much anymore."

A pause. "Harry, explain yourself before I go insane."

"They sort of materialized on my doorstep. Don't ask me for the particulars, I have no idea."

After a brief pause, Harry added "So, whatever you did, good job."

Just then, a very loud, very painful-sounding SLAP! echoed throughout the room.

 

While Harry had been dialling Murphy, Saffir had taken Minako aside.  In Japanese he told her gently, "Minako-san, we need to talk."  He was serious, as serious as he'd been when they'd first met several years ago.

Minako, for her part, did not like the tickling of dread in her stomach.  There was good serious, and bad serious.  The way he looked at her right now... Decidedly bad serious.  Especially his change from -chan to -san.  "Don't tell me you know something about this Cowl but never told me," she responded in a low tone.  The others (aside from Artemis) wouldn't know what was being said as she used the Japanese word for 'cowl'.

Saffir shook his head.  "No, I've never heard of him.  I... have not been completely honest with you, Minako-san." He glanced strangely at Artemis before returning his gaze to her.

"Spit it out, Satoshi," she said after a quick, almost worried glance at Artemis.

He nodded.  "Fifteen years ago, you and the other Senshi tried to protect a man who was your enemy, for no reason other than friends had asked you to.  Despite your best efforts, that man died trying to warn his brother of a betrayal that could kill them all."

Artemis remained silent, grudgingly impressed that the Nemesian man was actually admitting the truth to her.  If slowly.

Memory, and shadows of wariness filled her eyes.  "Yesss....," she said, vocally prompting him to continue.

"His body died, but his soul was kept alive for unknown reasons.  Perhaps simply to torture him with his failure.  That soul drifted away from the place of his death, and was eventually pulled into the body of a boy who was kept alive only by machines; the soul and mind had already departed for the afterlife.  The name of that boy was Orimoto Satoshi."  With that revelation, he turned pleading blue eyes onto Minako's.

"Orimo..."  Her face paled with disbelief.  And the beginnings of ripe anger.  "Sa...  Saffir?"  She took a half-step back as she snapped her head to look at Artemis, silently begging him with her eyes to say it was a stupid, poorly-timed joke, that it wasn't true, that the man before her wasn't, in fact, the Blue Prince.

Because if he was...  No.  No.  It was a stupid, asinine, immature male thing that he must've hatched with Artemis to--to distract her.  From what was happening.  Which in itself would've been bad enough, but she could understand that.

Artemis shook his head sadly.  "He isn't lying now, Minako-chan," he said to her sadly.

Saffir took a step towards her.  "Minak-"

Her hand flashed out with considerable strength, the force of the slap as loud as the sound of her heart breaking.  "You-- You--"  She spluttered the Japanese, and finally decided it was too clean to curse properly in her native tongue.  "You deceitful gutter-son of a whoring BITCH!" she shrieked in English, her whole body trembling with pain and fury even while the sigil on her forehead glowed with golden light.  She took two long steps back, her temper-darkened eyes never leaving him, her hands balled into fists at her side.

Across the room, Jaspis came to his feet with a startled oath, power flaring around his hand.  He took a step towards the two, but stopped, confusion dancing on his face.  The energy remained around his fist, however.

Saffir remained where he was, hand still outstretched, the imprint of Minako's hand flaring red against his cheek.  The expression on his face was heartbreaking, but there was no surprise in it, just sad resignation.

Artemis said nothing, but leapt to her shoulder and rubbed against her cheek, hoping to ease her pain somewhat.

"...I'll call you back," said Harry, wincing and hanging up the phone. He darted across the room where - apparently - the action was happening, and declared to the room at large, "Whatever drama is unfolding, break it up."

Minako kept her eyes on Saffir.  There were simply no words.  Not at all.  So she pulled Artemis off her shoulder so she could hold the cat who had been her best friend and constant companion for almost half her life, some part of her hoping that his purring could comfort her even while she still wished to believe this wasn't some sick joke.  Finally, she tore her gaze away to focus at a point on Harry's forehead to avoid a 'gaze.  "If you please, Mister Dresden, I shall depart, but again I request any information you might have on Cowl."

"Beyond 'stupidly powerful', there's nothing to tell," said Harry, looking over the scene warily.

While everyone's eyes were elsewhere, Saffir silently vanished in a gentle flare of power.