Bula sat the young woman down and got her water from a nearby store, to which she took a trembling sip of. Her whole body shook with anger and regret and frustration, even as she took a long gulp of the water.
"Start from the beginning, Dame Chantilly."
"I didn't mean to have that outburst." She admitted, wringing her lace petticoat's outer ruffle just a smidgen. She took a breath, and began to explain to the detective the scene she had just caused.
"But I saw Lord Teloran and I suppose my mind went blank. I thought of every ugly thing he's said to me and I lost my mind. I couldn't stand watching him across from me, taunting me, pushing my buttons."
Bula nodded, sitting across from her, a silent gesture to continue her story.
"He told me that I had gotten 'what I deserved.' That was when the shouting began." Madalina looked upset with herself.
Bula kept calm, but anger bubbled under her expressionless features.
"I … slapped him. I was going to do much worse if you hadn't come along, I think. I know I spread some frost across his face."
"If that's all you did, you're stronger than you look." Bula said rather bluntly, "I would have killed him for saying that to me."
Madalina smiled softly, sadly. "I never want to see him again." She sighed, "But to keep him away from me, I suppose I have to go to the precinct to file a restraining order."
"That's correct."
"Then will you do me a favor, madam Bula? Will you take me there?"
"Of course I will. Just let me go find Pel first. Sit right here."
Bula stood, going back to looking for Pelleas. She found them talking to the fruit vendors that the two had had their spat in front of, and she slid up to them, hands in her pockets.
"There you are."
Pelleas looked up at her and grinned. "Exciting morning!"
"Right. Well, Madalina wants to file a restraining order on him."
The elf nodded. "That makes sense. Give me a moment here and I'll join you both in the car."
Bula exited the scene and left Pelleas to whatever they were doing. The elf bit onto a pen and wrote something down on a piece of paper, tucking it away into their front pocket.
With that squared away, they hopped into the squadron car and drove off to the station, making idle chatter. Pelleas' attitude didn't give away their secrets, and Madalina and Bula were none the wiser about it.
As Bula filed away the paperwork for the restraining order and Madalina signed her name away, Pelleas paced in their office.
They picked up a holophone, and made a call.
Bula's eyes narrowed lightly as she heard them talking away in a hushed whisper to someone, but her attention was on the young dame.
Pelleas stepped out into the hallway, and the muffled noise of their talking could distract Bula no longer.
"Thank you for doing this with me," Madalina stated, "I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it myself."
"Of course, my lady. Don't you worry about a thing. With this, if he tries to get within 10 feet of you, a bubble will pop up and he physically cannot pop it." Bula said, handing over a ring. It would dissolve when Madalina willed it to, and she looked relieved as she slid it on her finger. It was a simple silver ring, but the runes on the inside of it were what kept the magic going.
As Madalina gathered her things to leave the station, Bula looked back into Pelleas' office – noting that they were gone. Her brows rose, and she stood to go and check on them.
But they weren't there. The only thing that was left behind was a piece of paper, with 'Gone on break!' written in a quick scrawl. Her partner was definitely hiding something. They were notoriously bad at lying, and especially to Bula.
"Damnit, Pel. Just what are you doing?"
She had no choice but to wait for them to come back.
Whatever they were doing, they'd have an explanation for it. Pelleas was slippery. Good with their words. Bad at hiding their intentions, but they were a good detective. She had faith in them. She had hope in her heart that they were doing what they thought was the right thing.
Bula decided to take a break as well, sauntering across the street and to her favorite bakery. She sat down only for her holophone to ring and sighed, tucking the sweetroll she'd ordered back into a pocket.
There was talk of busting an illegal gambling ring and they wanted Pelleas and Bula on the job.
She quickly walked back to the station and found Pelleas there, fiddling with a rubix cube.
"There you are."
"You know me. I don't stay gone for too long."
"True," She said with a laugh, "But come on. Time for work."
"Right you are, Bula. Let's waltz."
As the two detectives walked into the quickly dimming city's streets, Bula felt another tug of curiosity at the back of her mind about what secret Pelleas was keeping this time. She'd kept it hush-hush for them last time when she had found out their sister was involved in a gambling ring, but she wasn't sure if it was related to that or something else entirely.
She'd find out in due time. As they got into the crystal-powered car, Bula's thoughts slipped away as quickly as they'd come, and Pelleas' chipper attitude kept her from remembering.
Pelleas managed to hide the bags under their eyes, and even as they wore a serious expression for the raid on the ring they were about to do, their eyes still sparkled.
It would take something huge to dampen those brown eyes. Something unavoidable.