Recovering Bazett

"Right then," Bazett said, digging in her pocket for her phone. "In that case, I'm gonna call my friend with the prosthesis. If I sweet talk her, I might be able to get her here by tomorrow."

Yui left her alone as she got on the phone, and went to join Lazarus in his study. "So..." she started uncertainly. "What should we do now? About the Grail, I mean."

"Well, we'll have to figure out how to cleanse it ourselves I imagine. We should talk to Ilya and Avenger and see what they can tell us that might help. We might also start some serious research into seeing if we can cleanse it by some undiscovered means. As far as I know, if we can keep peace then we can research for quite some time. We currently have several mages at our disposal so I'm hoping that with our combined talents, we can figure out something." he said all this as he walked, flipping through books and magically taking notes on his desk as he paced. " And if we can't cleanse it, we may have to destroy it...completely."

"Alright. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I guess we'll do everything we can. I'll send out messages to some of the mages my father knows and see if I can't get any other ideas together."

"Good thinking my dear," he smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "After everyone has rested, I'll call a meeting and we can all discuss research ideas. I'll also send a letter to Kirei and see if he has any ideas for cleansing."

Mari grinned at Hachi as she moved behind her. "Is everything okay? I saved you some cheese curls! I'm so glad you're okay!" She held up a vibrant foil bag with an over-excited mascot piling treats into their mouth. Saber's helmet swiveled over to the pair, orange dust on the gilded white metal.

"They taste better than they look."

Scathatch raised an eyebrow and tried one. Not bad! "I'm also glad you're safe. There will be some interesting times ahead."

Illya stretched and stood. "Wellllll, I suppose I'll stay for tea, and then head back to the castle!"

Assassin finished the tea and poured a glass for everyone and sat down with the group.

"You might wanna stay a little longer," Avalon informed her, "I'm betting Larry is gonna want to talk to us about a WHOLE bunch of stuff soon."

Mari blinked. "Larry? Larry... OH! He does look like a Larry!" She crunched another puff decisively.

Medea poured herself a cup after descending the stairs, then glanced over to Asterion and gasped. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry! Come, come." With a wave of her hands, the settee and a chair scooched aside, Mari hanging on tight to the arm while Saber gently cradled their teacup. Soon, there was enough room for the large Berserker to sit comfortably.

"There we are! Do let me know if your back aches?" She smiled brightly at Asterion.

Asterion growled softly and sat down in the corner of the room, now with enough room to be comfortable. He nodded slowly at her. "Th-thank... you..."

Assassin handed a cup to the hulking Berserker and smiled, who carefully took it and inhaled its scents. "Mmm..."

Assassin then turned to hand a cup to Avenger, who was just now entering the room. He was surprised, but took the cup and smiled weakly. "Uh... thanks."

As everyone settled in, Illya skipped over to Saber, peering up at her helmet with curiosity. "Hey! That's some really cool armor you got! Are you a knight?"

Using a tissue, Saber wiped the orange residue off of their helmet. "Yes, of sorts. I was raised to espouse knightly values, like chivalry and noble conquest."

"Woooow..." Illya breathed. "That's so cool! I hope you don't mind if I make a guess..." she added, sidling closer. "Are you one of the Knights of the Round Table? I mean, when it comes to knights of the Saber class, the most famous ones come from there!"

Although their voice was friendly, there was a slight, hardly perceptible waver. "That seems to be the way, doesn't it? I'm afraid I'll have to keep that a secret, my lady." Astolfo leaned in with interest, eyes wide.

"The Round Table? That's sort of like my legend, right? The Paladins and the Knights, following a noble leader!" Saber nodded.

"From what I can tell, there are a lot of overlapping themes in histories and myths. The hearts of the people are always stirred by heroes in times of need." Saber raised a hand shyly to their visor when Astolfo applauded, impressed.

"Spoken like a true champion of valor!! We have so much in common already!" He cheerfully topped up Saber's teacup as if serving a comrade in arms.

"It's so romantic!" Illya sighed. "In the last war, the Einzberns summoned Lancelot as a Saber! It's too bad he died so quickly... Miss Atalanta took him out in his first fight. Still, I heard he was really brave and noble!"

The white helmet swiveled up in surprise. "Lancelot? Really? It's been so long..." Their cheeks grew red under the helmet. "It's a shame he was defeated so quickly. He was always formidable."

"Yeah!" she giggled. "I guess that goes to show you how things can really surprise you in the Grail War. And how scary Miss Atalanta is! That's why my family decided to just go with raw power this time. Asterion can be super scary too!"

"Anyway, nice talking to you!" She skipped back to Berserker's side. Her Servant, meanwhile, had lifted a portion of his helmet to pour the tea carefully into his mouth, revealing a white-furred snout underneath.

Saber let out a soft sigh and rubbed the curved handle of the cup with their thumb. Astolfo patted their back reassuringly.

"I know it's not much, but that's how things can go in the Grail War. Besides, Miss Atalanta's really nice when you get to know her! She's one of my best friends, and I'm sure she'll like you too!" He gave a beaming smile that Saber couldn't help but chuckle at. Medea tapped her chin with a finger and waved a hand to catch Astolfo's attention.

"May I borrow your phone, dear? You have Kirei's number, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" He handed over a pink clamshell cell phone, decorated with pearl and pink crystal notions, a hippogriff charm dangling from the hinge. "Don't be too mean, though, or he'll just hang up on you!"

"I'll be on my best behavior, I promise." She gave him a wink before tabbing through the contacts list and dialing the priest's number.

[[MEANWHILE AT THE CHURCH OF JUSTICE]]

Kirei jumped when his phone rang. He looked down at it uncertainly, recognizing the number. Still, it was so soon after the fight. He wasn't sure what was going to happen. He gave Atalanta a look of concern before picking up.

"Astolfo?"

She chuckled. Of course. "If you don't wish to speak to him, I can handle it," she offered.

"It's your lucky day, Father Kotomine. We've managed to ease your former comrade into a temporary alliance, and managed to keep your head off the table of negotiations to boot. Now would you be a dear and put your better half on the line?" Medea sipped while she waited for an answer.

Kirei was silent for a long time, before handing the phone to Atalanta. "It's for you, anyway."

She took the device, rather bland compared to Astolfo's phone, and put it up to her ear, "Hello?"

"Hello darling~!" She switched to ancient Greek, fetching a wine glass out of a cabinet. "How are you? I was hoping you might be amenable to coming by soon so we can have a conversation!"

She followed Medea's linguistic lead, "I suppose I could, as long as it's not a secret ambush..." there was a bit of a smile in her voice, but it was a serious question.