Giles Copper struggled, as he did every morning, with trying to decide whether or not to bring his brother's gun.

He needed the bullets this time. No question. But would he need the gun?

He hated it. Just holding the heavy thing in his hand – feeling the smooth coldness even through his glove – it was a hell Mr. Copper felt he did not deserve.

True, he didn't deserve it. It was passed down to him. He inherited Lachlan's hell.

With a resigned sigh, the Stalwart tucked the thing into the holster strapped to his side. If he had to be honest with himself, he regretted the last time he decided not to bring it. Without it, the situation had gotten quickly out of hand and now the monthly visit was going to be an awkward one. And Mr. Copper hated awkward visits.

He walked the few short steps across his office and grabbed the large brown coat from the hanger. He threw it on in a flourish, slipping his slender arms through the oversized sleeves with practiced ease. It was heavy and warm once he had it on, but instead of weighing him down, he felt born anew. Like splashing ice cold water on your face first thing in the morning.

"Well, that was a rude awakening, Master."

The feeling was short lived and replaced with a moment of panic as a voice called out from somewhere in the vast depths of Mr. Copper's coat pockets. The man let out a gasp, and was in the process of throwing the coat off of him, when he felt something tickling the back of his hand.

Mr. Copper brought his hand out from the inside of his pocket and stared down in wonder at the little blonde mouse sitting on top of it.

"Good morning," the mouse greeted. 

Mr. Copper stared. He blinked rapidly while his brain tried to keep up.

What? A talking mouse? I...

The mouse took a moment to clean its face and whiskers before its little black eyes peered back up at him. "Are you alright, Master? You're looking paler than usual."

Mr. Copper met its eyes and, all at once, he remembered.

Of course. Mary. This is what she looks like as an animal...How had I forgotten?

Mr. Copper blamed late hours and the general stress of his job before he cleared his throat and addressed his familiar: "I'm alright. Didn't get much sleep. How are you, Mouse?"

"Besides the general aches and pains of being awakened by an earthquake, I am quite fine, Master."

It was impossible to tell through expression alone what his familiar was thinking. The mouse sitting on the back of his hand didn't smile, or grimace, or leer its beady little eyes at him. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he first learned of familiars. Part of him had imagined they would move their mouths and animate their faces like the talking animals he had seen in cartoons as a kid. No such luck.

Thankfully, he had spent enough time with Mouse's...human body to hear the subtleties in the tone of her voice. She was teasing him.

For her effort, he cracked a half smile. "Sorry, I don't know where my mind is today. I had forgotten that you had fallen asleep in there last night."

The little blonde mouse nodded its pointed head. "Sure, sure."

Mr. Copper moved his hand up beside his shoulder and his familiar hopped on. As if he was a pirate captain and she his faithful parrot. It was a wordless agreement between the two that this was their favorite arrangement.

"I am sorry," Mr. Copper assured as he walked to the office door, fishing out a dry erase marker from another one of the coat's pockets as he did. "Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yes, Master, I'm fine. I wouldn't be around still if I was rattled that easy."

He felt another tickle of soft hair against his ear. He had to fight the urge to swat at it. His familiar wouldn't be so forgiving if he was that careless.

He did take a moment to register her answer. Her tone wasn't always easy to read even when they were the same...species? (Mr. Copper made a mental note to take the time to write out an appropriate list of terms to better describe their new arrangement) Was she bitter when she said those words? Surely, they had some rough moments in the past, but she had made no outright complaint about it before. Was it another tease then? No, no, she was always forthcoming when she was jesting with him. She had learned quickly that he could take things a little too seriously and was just a little too sensitive.

Then was she merely stating it as a fact?

Mr. Copper pondered some more as he unscrewed the marker. The way the tip of the marker was glowing a bright golden color, and how his hand almost seemed to move on its own as it pressed the marker against the plexiglass part of his door, was simply an afterthought.

Recently, using his Knowledge was taking up less and less of his attention. He could hardly remember anymore the years of his youth where he'd pour hours and hours of the night into writing the exact equations and formulas needed to open up a doorway between one piece of paper and another, nearby, piece of paper. The nights upon nights of near misses and complete failures.

Now, he was writing out an equation that would connect him to the other side of town and he was more concerned with the particulars of his familiar's tone. The fact alone almost made him crack another grin, if it weren't for the concerning implications.

"Still never get tired of seeing you flex your muscles," his familiar commented from his shoulder. Her small body was awash in the golden glow as Mr. Copper's hand danced across the glass, almost a blur to the naked eye.

  I wish I could say the same, Mr. Copper thought to himself.

It was turning into a bore. He knew that. Writing elaborate equations to make connecting doorways, creating doorways and windows into places where they once never existed. He had done it hundreds and thousands of times. It was a useful trick, no one denied it. It was the main reason why he inherited the title of 'Stalwart' – but that's all it was. A trick.

He could feel it. The desire in his head. He knew he could do more. He wanted to do more. Open more, hypothetical, doors. See just how far his Knowledge could take him.

But it was a dangerous path. Mr. Copper was one of the few witches who knew just what that meant. The more you pushed the boundaries of your Knowledge, the more you messed with the 'rules' of reality, the more you broke. It had spelt the end of every Knower who was once great and powerful. Every last one.

Even his brother.

But, Giles Copper could not deny, it sounded awfully exciting.

The equation finished and the golden light flashed once more before dispersing completely, leaving behind a circle of intricate letters and numbers arranged in such a design that only Mr. Copper understood.

With a small sigh, he tilted his head slightly towards Mouse. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"Of course, Master," she answered. "This is no different from any other job."

Mr. Copper tried again to dissect her words as he opened his office door.

  ...

He had to shield his eyes at the sudden glare of light. Different from his own golden light. He really had been out of it that morning to have forgotten his sunglasses. If this were any other job, he would be at risk for his life for having to take just a few seconds to adjust to his new surroundings.

  He kept a free hand near the gun until his eyes adjusted to the sun.

Mouse had climbed to the top of his head. Thankfully for him, she was much more present and was executing their maneuvers without a hint of hesitation. If someone had tried to catch Mr. Copper off guard in that moment, she would have known, and they would no longer have been a threat.

Mr. Copper rubbed his eyes before getting a quick look at their surroundings. Nothing special or unusual, just rows and rows of brown and yellow houses. He had seen it many times before. He cleared his throat again.

"Thank you for the look-out," he said. "I must not be myself today."

"Maybe I should be making sure you're alright," the mouse on top of his head suggested.

Mr. Copper was about to shake his head, but thought better of it. "A short walk and some cold air should help clear my mind."

"Is that why you didn't pick a house closer to Lady Louise's?"

"That, and..." Mr. Copper patted the coat pocket near his chest and his familiar obediently climbed down into it, "...we have some things to discuss."

Mouse poked her pink nose out into open air. "Uh oh. Sounds ominous."

Mr. Copper closed the front door of the house that he had chosen to connect his office to. He took a rag out from one of the many coat pockets and wiped it hastily across the marking inscribed on the wood, smudging it, but not removing it entirely.

"A risky move, Master," his familiar commented as he stepped onto the debris-free sidewalk. "What if someone sees?"

"We'll have to risk it. It would be hard to find the door we used when most every house looks the same and—"

"And it's faster to make your portals with doors you've used before," Mouse finished for him.  "I understand, Master. You just seem to be taking an awful lot of precautions for a visit."

"It's a visit with a free witch," Mr. Copper corrected. "You can never be too careful."

Mouse didn't say anything back, and for a short moment they walked alongside the quiet neighborhood in silence. Though it had to be nearing midday, there was not a soul to be seen. The houses they walked past were hollow and lifeless. For Mr. Copper, it was a strange mixture of peace and eeriness.

"So, what did you want to discuss, Master?"

"I will not be completely sincere with Lady Louise upon our arrival," Mr. Copper announced, never one to mince words.

"Oh?" Mouse stuck her head out a little more from his coat pocket, betraying her curiosity.

"I will be telling her that you are guarding the perimeter, while in truth you will be infiltrating her home."

"Why, Master, how devious of you."

"I do not do it without a great deal of discomfort," Mr. Copper assured, running a hand through his hair. "But we, the Overseer and I, have little choice. Tensions are running especially high between Lady Louise and Madame Terrebonne. Higher than usual. We need to know what the Lady is planning, if she's planning anything at all."

Mr. Copper could feel his familiar's tiny eyes watching him but chose to keep his gaze focused on the path ahead. He tucked his body further into his coat as a frigid winter wind blew through the quiet neighborhood.

"If they catch me there it might be trouble, you know."

Her quiet voice rang out in Mr. Copper's ears. Loud enough to make him look down at her. The little blonde mouse remained tucked in his pocket, its pointed face peering off into their surroundings.

"I know, but I have confidence in your abilities. You won't be caught."

Mouse looked up at him, meeting his gaze. "Is that why you waited until just now to tell me about the plan?"

Mr. Copper blew out a wisp of smoke-breath. It was always during the winter that he thought about his brother the most. Lachlan was a notorious smoker. Near the end of his life, he was smoking at least a pack a day. Giles would always tease his brother how those things would kill him before any of the crazy witches could. His brother, in turn, would go on and on about how only a great and powerful Knower would put him in the ground.

Turned out, as usual, his brother was right. From the whispered rumors Mr. Copper could fish up, it took the Overseer less than a few seconds to end Lachlan's life.

Mr. Copper had yet to take up the habit of smoking. But every time he saw his breath in the frigid air, every time he hit a moment of stress – like when Mouse asked him that question— he wondered if he should.

"I was debating until this very morning whether or not we should go through with it. It bares many risks, as you know, but we cannot be caught off guard if this...disagreement escalates."

"And I guess it's just too much to ask that everyone just talk through their problems like adults, huh?

Mr. Copper sighed. Sometimes his familiar was able to frame the exact way he was feeling into words. He wondered for a moment if it was due to their connection as Master and familiar, or if it was simply because of who she was.

"Feuds between free witches are almost always deep rooted and driven solely by emotion. Similar to the sorts of Knowledge they wield, I suppose," he explained. "Even if the person behind the witch is normally the level-headed, practical type, the very nature of being a free witch forces them to question everything, to constantly look over their shoulder, and to trust next to no one. It's both impractical and fool-hardy of the Stalwart, and his familiar, to expect any of them to work things out peacefully. It just isn't in their nature."

"Right, right, I remember, Master," Mouse conceded. The little creature rested it's head on the lip of Mr. Copper's coat pocket. "It's just frustrating, having to deal with them like this."

Mr. Copper didn't answer. He stopped walking when the sidewalk ended at an intersection in the road.

"Lady Louise lives just down this way," he said, nodding his head to where the sidewalk continued to their left. "We shall go over the plan before we continue."

In essence, Mr. Copper's plan was simple enough. He and his familiar had been through similar scenarios when scoping out potential witch hideouts. The only difference was that Mouse was now a...well, a mouse.

They went over potential access points into the home from outside. They discussed the need to stick to tight spaces where only she could fit. With solemn words, they touched on the incredible danger Hornroot and his legion of owls possessed.

She was the perfect prey. Her enhanced hearing would do little against their ability to fly in silence. She would be in their territory, in an unfamiliar setting where the enemy had long made themselves comfortable.

Mr. Copper could not hide his worry, but his familiar shouldered it with his own words. "It's like you said, Master, we have little choice."

With that, their planning was done. Mouse climbed down from the pocket in his coat and into the side pocket of his brown dress pants while Mr. Copper continued to follow the sidewalk to Lady Louise's house.

Her house was more of the yellow variety. Just as squat and unassuming as every house he had passed before. It would have been near impossible to locate it among the masses if he had not been there multiple times already.

The Stalwart stopped walking just in front of it. He had deposited his familiar a short while ago. It risked being spotted by one of Hornroot's owls as she made her way to the house, but they could not risk doing it any sooner and appearing suspicious.

It was all a balancing act between risk and reward. It was an act Mr. Copper and Mouse were both familiar with. But his worries would not leave him and weighed him down considerably. It kept him, at first, from moving the few steps needed to reach the front door.

This wasn't just some reckless, power hungry witch on a path of destruction. This was a free witch with wealth, connections, and a clear understanding of her Knowledge and the position that Knowledge put her in.

And, in her home, she knew, just as much as Giles Copper knew, that if she were to try something, he would be powerless to stop her.

...

*Author's Note*

So, some of you may be putting together why this second book is called "Unfamiliar Faces". Now we seem to be following along with the Stalwart and his familiar as they prepare for a potentially dangerous visit with one of Wildwood's "free witches". What exactly will this visit entail? And why, exactly, does Mr. Copper need his bullets for it?

Either way, I hope you guys are ready for another impacting moment between the fox and the mouse.