“I'll present the result and discussion,” Tal pointed at the slides on Delven’s laptop, in one swipe he showed the next. “You do the conclusion, don't forget to connect it with your introduction.”

“Understood.” Kôra nodded.

“All is done,” Delven closed. She sipped her milkshakes. “Before the presentation, we should meet up again to discuss and rehearse,” she added, which responded with an agreement of the other two.

“Well, finished! Now let's eat,” Tal suggested.

“You did three slides out of fifteen,” Delven chaffed. “And you already ate three snacks,” she pointed at a stack of empty plates near Tal.

“One snack per slide.” Tal reached out to a tablet on their table to order. “I've never tried this sheet bread before, what filling is the best?”

“Salted butter or skyberry jelly,” Delven answered uncaringly. “Anyway Kôra, don’t you wanna order something?” she noticed that the boy has not ordered anything.

“ I. . . I am not sure if my taste will match foods,” Kôra made up an excuse to avoid being ashamed in front of his friends who seemed to have no problem with the nominal on price list. “Herbal tea was enough.”

"Heh, the welcome drink," Talst scoffed.

“Come on, just order anything that interests you,” Delven butted in to persuade. “Tal will treat us!”

Kôra glanced at Tal in doubt, such act of kindness would be least expected from him.

Talst's sour and scrunched face was an unspoken refusal.

"I’m gonna order this monitor lizard stripes." Delven pointed at a picture in the menu for Kôra to see, slices of deep-fried monitor lizard meat with dark green sauce. “Though I don’t think I can eat all of it. What about I share it with you, Kôra?” she offered.

“Why not me?” Tal protested; quickly that Kôra had not even thought about a proper response. "He said he doesn't wanna eat."

“Seriously, Tal? You're a glutton!”

Kôra put a weary smile at his friends’ banter that was starting to get loud. There were many people in this outdoor café and it would be embarrassing if all heads were turned to them. He reached into his pocket, only a little more than enough money for going home. The boy felt cheap for letting Delven share for him; he must come up with something to refuse. 

Two desks across theirs, a young woman looked at them glance by glance. Like the majority of Grahein citizens, she wore an earth-styled clothing: a frilly light blue shoulder-cut blouse and white canvas pants. The color scheme matched her darker brown skin. She repeatedly checked her smartphone; one of the technologies popularized by the Earth people.

"Fucking noisy brats," a man who sat across her complained, he covered his right ear nearest to them. It was replied by nothing but Delven's high-pitched cackle from afar.

“What's with that, old man?" the woman teased; she readjusted the ribbon headband which lined her peach-colored kinky hair. “I bet you were an annoying teen,” she added with a mischievous smile, and again set her eyes back to Kôra and friends.

“Nope,” he denied. “Anyway, you know them?” That silver haired young fellow indeed realized his friend was observing something. Her different demeanor gave it out; she was drifting in her thoughts. “You keep looking at them like a creep.”

She did not respond.

"Io!”

That startled woman forced a smile. “Uh. . . I’m just looking at the girl’s bag, so cute! I think it's the last winter's limited edition, collaboration with Mioona," Iota pointed to the bag that looked extraordinarily normal to Izky. "Sister got lucky to have it, what's left now are just scalpers."

"I can see why it is a limited edition," Izky said. He noticed a glaring thing; Iota was not staring at the completely plain-looking bag until he asked. Her focus was on the small brown-haired boy beside the girl.

The boy probably is someone she knows, Izky thought. He continued sipping his coffee. Yet, his eyes were trying to steal a view of those kids out of curiosity; perhaps there was something funny that he missed. The left eye was green, right blue; the pupils shrunk.

He saw another thing that should not be seen.

Izky jolted as if a thunderbolt struck him; before he coughed violently, choking on his coffee.

“Izky?”

“You okay, Izky?” Io stood up and slapped his back.

Izky dazed out of breath. Io picked up some sheets of napkins from the table and handed it to him. “Clean up the coffee on your face, babe,” she gave a code word for Izky while pointing her own nose, which he immediately realized.

Even after he regained his composure, Izky looked different. The man’s eyes were changing; blue and green of his iris merged into sclera, making it indistinguishable. From his nose seeped a thick black liquid, and another started to ooze from the corner of his lips.

Izky wiped his face with the napkin, stained it black. The wet spot evaporated as a subtle black smoke that flowed towards him, leaving the napkin clear white. When that young man covered his face with his hand, the sight could still be seen and noticed by some other visitors nearby. He heard them talking, no matter how low they kept their volume down.

“What’s wrong?” Iota said in a hushed tone, not to attract more attention. Some heads were already turning at them. “ Did you see some creatures? Having trouble keeping this form again?"

“No."

"Jeez! One word answer," Iota chided. "Are you feeling ill? Should I tell your dad?"

Izky flashed a grin of amusement. His canine teeth stood out the most amongst the rest.

"I'm serious, babe. Shouldn't we visit a doctor?"

“I’m okay; just hungry,” Izky assured her. He browsed the menu with a frown on his face. "This fucking place doesn't have any real food; are people even going here to eat?" 

"Well here you are, sweetie."

"You begged me to come and promised me a free coffee, you sparkly turd," Izky taunted. The earth drink is one of his favorite; his body can tolerate more caffeine than most human.

“Okay, then. . ." She helped Izky to decide his meal. "Maybe this meat pie, hun? There are earth chicken, mountain pheasant, forest pigeon, softshell snake-turtle, monitor lizard, and wool deer," Iota told.

The suggestion was in Izky's consideration. Venison of the wooly deer sounded nourishing, but it cost the thrice of monitor lizard. Most of Maiyean people are abstaining from mammals meat, an exasperating setback.

Meat prices in most Maiyean districts are higher compared to how much they are abroad. The cost increases trough their use of sedating spell papers in slaughter houses, and an extra measure to remove the effects so it will cause no harm to the consumer. This might sound like a counterproductive move in an economic perspective. Despite this, Maiyean meat industries are able to supply the regio; some communities outside even imported those meats in small scale, claiming the process is more humane and ethical. In Tôryaemaen belief, causing an undeserved torture to those who have a soul is considered a grave sin.

It is believed that while higher animals have soul, they have no moral —thus cannot do right or wrong by default. God cannot judge them like they judge human, and any cruelty human put them through is ruled as undeserved. Fish and invertebrates are traditionally thought to be too simple of an animal to have a soul. So are sessile animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. The Tôryaemaen lore stated that all the first mammals god created were nourished with the same milk before descending from the heaven. In their anthropocentric view, humans were ordered to be kind especially to their fellow milk kins. Eating fellow mammals is considered impious for a big portion of Tôryamaen people. Most mammals meat are supplied by slaughterhouses owned by people from other ethnic backgrounds or imported; mostly consumed by non-Tôryaemaen and sold with an even higher price.

Izky being busy with himself was a good distraction. Iota could observe Kôra's group once more; they were about to leave. "Also excuse me for a while." Io stood up and picked a small purse from her bag in haste. “I'll be back soon—and don’t touch my pancakes!”

After a nod, Izky grabbed his glass and drank out the remaining coffee in a gulp. He did not paid attention to what Io said, including her dessert. His eyes have turned back to their human-like condition once more. He went back on checking Kôra and friends, confirming his vision of what he saw.

His attention was shattered by a loud thumping noise; Iota tripped on her high heels and fell near Kôra's table. It caught the attention of some visitors and staffs; including Izky who could not help but cringed. The woman reached their hands to stand up, and grabbed Kôra's right hand despite the one of a waiter nearer to her. A pink light shimmered below her hand; subtle enough to not rouse anyone's awareness but Izky's. The man squinted his eyes to extract the details.

Magic?

That glint matched the color of the rhinestones on Iota's nail decoration. As he inspected closer, it might be a false alarm. He scanned his environment to the smallest details of its people: from the small rip on a woman's pantyhose, an extravagant amount in the bill of that loud group in the middle, the corner dweller man who stuck his nasal mucus below his table, and back to Kôra who was seen shaking his right hand in discomfort while tidying their seat.

The exhaustion of staying alert is inevitable for those with sharper senses.

Now, Iota’s fluffy pancake looked even more appetizing.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Meanwhile, the light was dim in a ladies’ restroom. From one of all empty cubicles, Iota whipped out another of her phones out of her purse. She searched for a name in her main contacts. Io sent the image of Kôra who was gazing at the distance, realizing nothing. The photo was taken by quick and discreet means, a little blurry in quality.

“Keane,” she typed the name of the recipient. “Look.”

Sent. Her message's status changed from delivered to read. 

The recipient started typing. .  .