Work Text:
An Indecent Proposal
"Goodbye, Elias. Ruth and I will be home by dinner time." Chise said, as she grabbed her green coat off the hook and put it on by the front door.
"See you at dinner, Chise and Ruth. Do you have the guide of which mushrooms you will be foraging for?" Elias asked from the kitchen table, while finishing his morning tea.
"Yes, Elias. Ruth is going to forage for morels for Silky, and I will be foraging for cordyceps." Chise said, repeating today's assignment for her magic teacher. "I also have my knife and our harvest baskets already outside, ready to go." Chise said with a small smile.
"Very well. After all the rain we have received lately, you should be able to find a bountiful harvest." Elias said, while the Silver Lady nodded happily.
"We will be back as soon as we can!" Chise said loudly, walking out the front door with her familiar.
Elias remained at the kitchen table, finishing all sections of the daily newspaper from London. About forty-five minutes after Chise and Ruth left, there was a knock at the shuttered window in the kitchen, where Elias and Chise conducted their medicine sales.
Silky opened the window slowly, as today was the normal day that their medicine shop was closed to the customers in the village. She opened the window just enough to see who knocked, but kept Elias out of view.
"Ah, Good Morning, Madam. Is this the Ainsworth residence?" A tall man wearing a gray suit asked the Brownie. Silky nodded, looking at the man questionably.
"Excellent! Then this is where Professor Ainsworth lives, yes? Would the master of the home be available to speak with me? I won't take too much of his time." The man explained.
Silky looked at Elias, palms up, waiting for his reply.
"Let him inside, Silver one. I'll meet him in the living room." Elias said and stood, covering his face with his veil.
It only took a few minutes for Silky to let the man in, and sat him on the sofa. The man set his briefcase down, and pulled out a manilla folder, and yellow legal notepad and pen, then waited.
The Silver Lady quickly prepared a tray with herbal tea, clean teacups and saucers, honey, and shortbread. She nodded to the guest, then went back to the kitchen to clean up the breakfast items. While the man watched the Silver Lady from the living room, he missed the Thorn mage's silent entry into the room. Elias sat across from the stranger, crossing one long leg over the other.
When the man realized Elias was in the room and in his chair, the man was startled, and rose from his chair quickly.
"Ah! Forgive me, Professor Ainsworth. I am Doctor Nathan Shapiro." He said as he walked across the room to Elias, hand extended. He shook his hand, and quickly sat back down.
"I didn't hear you enter the room, and that startled me. I also wasn't aware that you were a demihuman." Nathan explained.
"Hmm. Demihuman. Who are you and why are you here, Doctor?" Elias asked the man curtly.
"Yes. Well, I wanted to call you or email you before I arrived to England, only to be told that you do not own a telephone nor a computer."
"I have no need for modern technology. I have survived this long without it."
"Yes. Well. The reason I am here is on behalf of an esteemed member of the American branch of the College, where I am a board member. We keep in correspondence with Torrey Innis, who has been on loan to your branch of the College for quite some time." Nathan said as he sipped his tea. Then he continued.
"It has come to our attention that you are in possession of a Sleigh Beggy, who also has the Sight."
"This is true." Elias said simply.
"According to the notes, she is an seventeen year old young woman from Japan, and the sleigh beggy was auctioned off here in London, and she has been in your possession for approximately eighteen months now."
"Yes."
Doctor Shapiro checked off his notes. "It's listed here as you, Elias Ainsworth, as the sole purchaser, for five million pounds. Tell me, Professor Ainsworth, what was your goal when acquiring this girl?"
"For Chise Hatori to be my apprentice. She is also a Mage, as I'm sure you know, from your file there." Elias said, pointing a gloved finger to the doctor's folder and notebook.
Nathan blushed. "Well, yes. Sadly, the College here in London has been extraordinarily slow as to giving us more information on the Sleigh Beggy, and of course her medical files are unavailable to us, due to doctor and patient confidentiality."
Elias grunted noncommittally. "What exactly do you want to know?"
"You are a man who clearly has no need for small talk. So I will speak plainly. I have a client slash colleague in New York City who is very, very interested in purchasing the sleigh beggy." Nathan said, reaching for a shortbread. "How much will it take for you to relinquish her?"
"She is not for sale." Elias said sharply.
"Now, now, don't be hasty, Mister Ainsworth. my client happens to be magically gifted, and has been searching for a sleigh beggy for over a hundred years now, and has many great plans for the girl with the Sight."
"She's not for sale. She is mine, and will never be sold again."
"Mister Ainsworth. My client is willing to be very generous, and will pay handsomely."
"No."
"My client is offering you double your winning bid. I have ten million pounds in this suitcase. Cash in hand!" Dr. Shapiro said, as he stood up and placed the briefcase on the coffee table, facing Elias. He pushed the clasps open, and opened the case to reveal the money, bundled in stacks of one hundred pound notes.
"I have no use for your money, Doctor Shapiro. Chise is no longer for sale." Elias said quietly.
Nathan sighed. "I was afraid you would not sell her." He said.
"It will never happen." Elias said simply.
Nathan looked around the room with narrowed eyes, thinking of the next step to proceed. He reached for the manila folder, and pulled out several sheets of paper, and steadied the pen in his hand.
He quickly glanced through the papers that he had memorized on the flight to London.
"Professor Ainsworth. Would you be able to share some of Chise's medical history with me, Doctor to Doctor? From what I read, you are a doctor yourself, although your field of expertise is holistically focused." Nathan asked, pen at the ready.
"Perhaps." Elias said cautiously.
"Great! How is the sleigh beggy, health wise? Does she get tired, or weakened easily?"
"Not really. However, her body is still weak after several battles. She rests when she needs to, especially after using magic without her familiar or a neighbor."
Nathan scribbled some notes down on his notepad. "Would you happen to know anything about her family history? Do you anything about her parents? Are there any siblings? Is anyone one else in the sleigh beggy's family magically gifted?"
"I have no knowledge of Chise's family, nor their medica history." Elias explained.
"I see. So, would you say that she is typically normal, medically, for a seventeen year old sleigh beggy and teenager?" Nathan asked, pen scratching the paper.
"Chise. Her name is Chise Hatori, and she should be referred to as such. She is a highly valued member of this household, and demands our respect. Do you like being referred to as the human doctor?" Elias asked.
"My apologies." Nathan said, blushing to his roots, and clearing his throat before he continued.
"Back to my question. Would you say Chise is typically normal, for a seventeen year old young woman?"
"How so? In what ways do you mean, Doctor Shapiro?"
"Please, call me Nathan."
"I prefer not to. Frankly, I am growing weary of this conversation. Will you get to your point? My patience is wearing thin." Elias said.
"Fine, if it pleases you Doctor Ainsworth. I will have you know that my field of expertise is in the fertility side of medicine and getting patients pregnant successfully. Many celebrities have been clients of mine, and you would likely know them by their boy-girl fraternal twins, which is my specialty."
"I care nothing for humans, much less celebrities. Would does this have to do with Chise?"
Nathan started to sweat in nervousness, since this conversation was being made up as he went along, without the express permission of his client, who was paying him handsomely to carry the briefcase of money to Professor Ainsworth. He wiped his upper lip with a handkerchief, and continued.
"Well, I was asking for her medical history to see if she would be able to carry a child to term. I happen to have a few embryos in my lab, made with sperm and eggs from members of The College in America. They are determined to carry on the bloodlines of the magically gifted, but sadly all of our female contacts are way passed childbirthing age. Chise would make a wonderful carrier, and we hope that her DNA would be carried onto another human. We would want to see if we could impregnate her, if she is menstruating.
Of course, we would use sperm that we have had cryogenetically frozen for decades now. If Chise is not fertile herself, we could plant some embryos in her, and hope she would carry a magical child to term." Nathan explained, and swallowed thickly, reaching for his teacup and saucer.
Elias had also been holding his teacup and saucer, and slammed them until the side table beside him, shattering them both.
"Leave." Elias said in anger.
"Please, Doctor Ainsworth, hear me out-"
"No. I've heard what you've had to say for far too long as it is. Chise is not going to be an experiment or an incubator for you, or for anyone else." Elias said, as he flipped his veil backwards, revealing his skull head, red eyes blazing.
"Yes. Well, forgive me for this intrusion, and I desperately hope you will give it some thought and change your mind."
"LEAVE." Elias said, standing from his chair, blue magic surrounding him.
Nathan stood up quickly, dropping his folder and notepad on the floor. He slammed the briefcase shut, and ran out of the living room, opened the front door, and ran for his life.
Elias quickly gathered the offensive paperwork and placed it in the fireplace. With a wave of his hand, the file and notepad were set ablaze instantly, burning down to ashes in record time.
Silky walked into the living room. She took a second to see the scene. She looked at Elias, and nodded with a grunt.
"I agree, Silver. I apologize for breaking yet another tea cup and saucer. I will purchase a new set in London, posthaste."
The Silver Lady smiled, and gathered up the broken ceramic pieces, and made her way back to the kitchen.
Several hours later, Chise and Ruth returned home from foraging, baskets full and their faces triumphant.
"Elias! Silky! We're home!" Chise called out when she and her familiar entered the home.
"Welcome home, Chise, Ruth." Elias said from his chair by the fireplace.
"Thank you, Elias. We found so many mushrooms today! How was your day, Elias? Did anything exciting happen?" Chise asked, as she went to sit on her husband's lap.
"No. Nothing worth mentioning happened while you and Ruth were away." Elias told her, nuzzling her head.
Fin.