MVUTO

chapter 19 - take a deep breath

"Ellie, there's another drone..." James lowered his binoculars.

"tsk, no need to ask, jam it, darling."

James pointed the RF jammer amplifier at the buzzing intruder onto private airspace, which promptly dropped like a stone.

Ellie lifted his shades "is it gone?"

"dead on the ground."

"don't stop jamming it... I want to see who it belongs to".

Ellie commandeered James' binoculars to spot a distant figure collecting his downed spy drone. "Him again... when will he learn? It must cost him a fortune in drones and cameras! Just how much does that pap get paid?!" Ellie returned the binoculars to James. "no picnic in the grotto is the same without being buzzed by insects, I guess!" Ellie sighed wistfully.

"Perhaps if we weren't naked...." James wondered aloofly.

"and how am I supposed to get some healthy rays if I'm fully clothed?!" Elixir moaned.

Foreseeing the futility in arguing, James yielded.

"come here, darling, let's have some dessert". Ellie held his arms out to welcome James into his embrace.

Briefly glancing up from his position atop Ellie, James noticed a pair of feet a short distance from his lovers head. Lifting his eyes further, James could see they were attached to something not quite as tangible as a solid human body should be. Ellie followed James line of sight, "oh, it's you, excellent timing...!"

"yes, you could say that. we are sitting in parkland at midnight." Mvuto kicked off.

On the opposite side of the planet, Ellie and James sat up to address their unexpected visitors.

"we... who is we? "When the one behind moved, Elixir finally realised he saw two superimposed images. "ah, still the shy one? Just a mo! You're glowing! Are you both living?"

"yes"

"oh! So you have something perilous and world-changing planned then?"

"correct again".

Ellie groaned, "bloody hell!" hiding his face in his hands to block the expected blunt force of the answer to his next question "so what do you need me to do?" he moaned, resigned to his fate.

"I need a place to protect my people, a substantially large building in the middle of my part of town. Built to my specifications."

"really, and how much will that cost?"

"too early to be asking. What is your direct line?"

"tell him, James."

Unperturbed by scenes egregious to mere humans, James gave the ethereal visitors Ellie's direct contact details. And in turn, they received the new names they are now known by before the travellers bid them farewell and disappeared.

"This is interesting. Did you notice how young those two were? (sigh) And already making enormous demands on our stash!" Ellie sipped his iced tea. "I may have to forego plans in the capital. I say 'may,' but inevitably, I will have to. At least Mvuto has parked his backside in a fashionable city."

Ellie lazily swirled the little ice balls of tiny herbal flowers in his tea, "mm fascinating". 

James handed him a teaspoon. "what do you see in the tea leaves?" James asked, curiously.

"just a future world ruled by chaos", Ellie smiled mordaciously.

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"What on earth were you doing in the park in the middle of the night?" Zuri's worried parents demanded. "you could have run into a pervert!"

Her father had installed a GPS tracker and had madly booted it up to search for his missing daughter, immensely relieved to find Zuri only a block away at a nearby park.

______________________

"you still use the old ways", Brian commented, standing guard.

"when necessary, in this case, it was. The ley lines are tattered here and barely holding together, only strongest near the flowing waterway. Even underground, the strands are frayed like a bad hair day. I would need to scan far below ground in this town to find a site to suit my purpose."

"and that is what exactly?"

"a building with deep subterranean floors right down until it hits bedrock. Hopefully, there shouldn't be too many underground conduits, fingers crossed."

Mvuto found it necessary to use Zuri as an additional power surge to contact Elixir due to the weakened ley lines at the only site in the city closest to home. Under the cover of darkness, on the banks of a creek flowing through the park, Mvuto sat in the lotus position with Zuri hanging on behind like a bike-riding pillion passenger. The most comfortable and the least awkward way they could think of for them both to join and combine their powers.

Along the return journey, a police vehicle rounded the corner.

"don't move!"Mvuto abruptly commanded. Both Brian and Mvuto froze until the police van passed them and turned another corner.

"Brian! I didn't say 'don't breathe'!"

"that still requires movement!" he gasped, holding his chest. "how did they not see us?"

"I reflect what is behind us at them, works better at night. Are you sure you're alright?

"I'm okay. I'll remember to breathe next time!"