Prologue to Ashes of Honor: A Meeting at Mad Magda's Tea Room

There are few venues within the mortal city of San Francisco that are dear to Tybalt, and the one closest to his heart is Mad Magda's Tea Room. Long ago, in the days before the Great Earthquake, Tybalt had adopted a mortal family who'd just come from Eastern Europe and who had shown him kindness on several occasions, both as a cat and as a man, and for their actions, Tybalt has watched over them and their children. The latest, and perhaps last, of the line had turned the family blessing into a profitable and unique tea room in a city overrun with coffee shops.

Situated on the Western edge of Hayes Valley, the tea room was a wash of bold colors, wood, velvet chairs, antique theater posters, and other archaic pieces. Tonight, there was even a few Tarot readers working, and the soft beats of trip hop played softly through the speakers. One might enjoy the place simply for its ambience, but the true value was in the tea. This night, Tybalt had ordered a pot of lavender and anise, and took it to the back garden, where he'd reserved the largest seating area, as a means to insuring privacy beyond what magic could provide.

He'd leave to food stuffs to the boys...once they arrived. Still, he wasn't so foolish as to bid his time waiting for them to appear, and so snacked on candied orange peels covered in dark chocolate as he sat and watched the pixies dance among the strings of lights which criss-crossed birch trees and the sole oak, which played host to a few cats, who in turn agreed to keep an eye out for any spies within the garden.

Caution was rarely wasted.