Edward is stressed.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that someone working for Yurina was the one who released the holiday exclusive considering how she'd capitalized on that chaos incredibly effectively. Edward would be impressed if he wasn't so pissed off about the whole thing. The situation has thrown a massive wrench into his work - there's now an unknown third party involved that he has no read on and no way to predict its movements.

Much as he hates to admit it, everyone might have been right about not underestimating Yurina Nakayashi. Now that he's seen her in action, Edward gets it. Someone like that in a position of power and no need to limit her malice - it's no wonder so many of the older Ministry workers still shudder when she's so much as mentioned.

In the weeks since the turn of the New Year Nakayashi - or Yamaa, as she's calling herself now - has set herself up as the face of Muggle/Magic relations, and it's pushed the Hunters to a total stand-still. Any move they make now will be detrimental to the integration, and while Edward thinks they should still do it, if only to get Yurina and her shadow cabal out of the picture, he understands the logic of waiting.

The whole thing has resulted in his spending a lot more time in the Hunter offices, pouring through old reports on Yurina and trying to get into her head enough to work out what her next moves will be. He knows the other Hunters have noticed his change in routine, but considering the circumstances he doubts anyone is surprised. He has noticed Lopatkina-Paluch keeping a closer eye on him recently, so it's possible that he's being considered a suspect for the information drop which is less than ideal. He's pretty sure he'd covered his tracks well, which probably means his boss is just anti-Muggle when push comes to shove and if it wasn't expected Edward would have been insulted. As it is he just smiles at his boss whenever he sees the man looking, and usually Lopatkina-Paluch will offer a wry grin in return as if he hadn't just been caught staring at Edward suspiciously.

McKay doesn't seem to be treating him any differently, but she also isn't spending much time in the offices these days, often vanished on errands to the main Auror floor of the Ministry to try and work out what exactly the Hunters are supposed to do now. Edward is keeping an ear to the ground on that one - if they decide to disband the Hunters he'll lose his inside access to the Ministry which would be less than ideal  - but there's not much more that he can do on that front, which only adds to his stress and frustration over the entire situation.

The only thing that could be skewed as a positive in all this is the fact he's seeing his real team a lot more regularly these days.

"How goes the Hunting?" Kevin asks as they run into each other about a block from Jennifer's flat, which has become their default meeting place. "Still stalled?"

"I don't think it's going to be moving again any time soon, no." Edward replies with a sigh. "Lopatkina-Paluch is still breathing down my neck, and I haven't been to the Archives in ages, so I've really got nothing new to report today."

"That must be killing you." Kevin remarks wryly. "I remember even in training you were always the person who had to have some assignment to work on." He tilts his head. "Are you still searching for magic's evil underbelly then? With nothing else to do."

Edward shoots his friend an unamused look. "The fact you say that skeptically even knowing about those wars-"

"That mostly killed magical people, go on." Kevin interrupts glibly, and Edward just shakes his head.

"The conflict was kept almost entirely within the magical world."

Those words from Weasley have stuck with him these past weeks, taunting his waking conscious and haunting his dreams. Almost entirely - she never clarified that and none of their hand-picked reporters had asked.

To be fair, no one had asked Harris and Taylor at the open conference, but he doubts they would have been allowed to give a proper answer anyway.

Kevin pokes him slightly, frowning. "Hey, we're here." He says carefully, and Edward realizes he'd nearly walked past Jennifer's building he was so lost in thought. He grins sheepishly and presses the buzzer.

"Hi Edward, I know it's you but I'm replying so you don't have to lecture me today." Jennifer's voice sounds tinny coming through the speaker, though her amused exasperation shines through perfectly well.

"I'm here too!" Kevin says. "And Ed's in a weird mood right now, I actually think you might have avoided the lecture anyway."

Jennifer doesn't say anything else as she buzzes them in, but Edward just knows that Kevin's comment is going to come up later and he glares at the other man pointedly.

"What? Normally I'd let it slide, but you were so distracted you nearly missed Jen's house. That's concerning, and you don't talk about your feelings unless you're cornered into it so."

"You're awful." Edward tells him blithely.

"Oh please you've been attempting to manipulate both me and Jen this whole time on your little 'I hate magical people but I'm pretending I'm just being cautious' plan. Don't look at me like that, you knew I knew. Jen's catching on too, by the way, so you'll want to drop the bull with her soon too."

Edward honestly feels a little gutted by Kevin's frank analysis - mostly because his friend isn't wrong, though also because it's Kevin, and it's very rare that Kevin gets this serious about anything. He's the teammate who manages to crack jokes over some of the most horrific corpses they've seen and quip when chasing down international terrorists with bombs. The man is unflappably jubilant.

Kevin turns to grin at him. "It was in this moment, that Edward Clarke realized he had ed up." He declares, in a terrible attempted imitation of David Attenborough, and Edward relaxes slightly at the jab. They're still good then, but he's definitely on thin ice.

Maybe it is time to come clean with his team about everything.

Jennifer's door is hanging open when they reach it, and Edward offers a mild rebuke over it that gets him a stuck-out tongue from Jennifer and a pleased smile from Kevin.

"I ordered Chinese." Jennifer declares as she ushers them both to the living room. "Work was insane today."

Kevin perks up. "We finally hear back from the FBI then?" He asks, and Edward raises an eyebrow.

"You reached out to the FBI? You know they've been pretty messy since Comey was ousted." Edward says skeptically. "We never got to work with the new guy - you sure it's safe to talk to them right now? Considering Yurina is working directly with them."

Jennifer shakes her head. "We didn't reach out overtly, but I sent a few feelers around to see if some of our past contacts in the Bureau could help with anything. Also Comey was an and the Bureau has been messy since it's inception. The Yurina thing is why I stuck to people we already know."

Kevin laughs and they end up letting themselves get a bit sidetracked debating if the FBI had ever been competent while waiting for their food to arrive. Once it has, and Edward pays (it's his turn, apparently. It's been so long since they've done takeout he doesn't argue it. He is currently getting two paychecks after all, so really it's only fair), they turn back to work.

"Unfortunately our old contacts don't have - the ones that weren't quietly fired all quit in protest." Jennifer sighed. "The one thing I did get is that Yurina can't have been infiltrating earlier than a year ago - that's when our last guy got the boot. So she's been moving fast."

"Unsurprising based on what I've found on her." Edward sighs after swallowing his spring roll. "She's the type to always be thinking ten moves ahead. There's a reason she hasn't been caught despite her case being open for twenty years. Internationally, too. This woman is dangerous."

"And incredibly charming." Kevin adds, and shrugs when the other two look at him incredulously. "What? I'm not saying I think she's charming, it's just an objective observation! I've been watching all of her public appearances, and I know you two have as well. I dare you to look me in the eye and say she's not damn good at wrapping up her words in a pretty, easy to swallow bow."

Edward sighs again. "No, I agree." He confirms, and Jennifer nods as well.

"It just . Is there any communication with MACUSA on all this? I don't think Muggle Law Enforcement in the States is going to be much help at all." She asks, and though her tone is hopeful her expression is resigned.

Edward can only shrug. "I honestly don't know - Pup and a few of the Hit Wizards are working that angle alongside the political reps for the Initiative, but I'm not part of it. Most of us are honestly just sitting on our hands right now - I'm pretty sure the younger Aurors are ready to go start a war just to have something to do."

Jennifer frowns. "Don't joke about that - you know people really are calling for an all-out war against magic right now. It's scary."

Edward blinks. He hadn't actually known that, and Jennifer is right that it's worrying. "How serious is the push?" He demands, and Kevin gently pushes him back into the sofa.

"It's mostly people on the edges of the Internet - dark web and conspiracy sites - but we're keeping a close eye on it in case it decides to start running more mainstream. I'm sure most of our agency's international equivalents are doing the same thing. No one really wants a war over this - World War Three has a terrible ring to it."

"So did World War Two and that still happened." Jennifer says mournfully. "Let's talk about something else, this is depressing. Anyone know when Yurina's next public appearance is going to be? The bosses want to try and send a team out to observe her in person but we can't actually get hold of her schedule."

Edward scoffs. "I doubt anyone has that, even the President of the United States."

Kevin grins. "I'd say if she's trying to keep it secret, then definitely the president of the United States. That man is a sieve - any information he has will end up on Twitter eventually."

They end up diverging away from the topic, and Edward it tempted to leave things there. But Kevin's rebuke from earlier is still echoing quietly in the recesses of his mind, and he knows if he doesn't say anything now he could very well lose two of his best friends.

So when there's a lull in the chatter he clears his throat. "So this is a major topic change but I don't really see any way to get into it comfortably so. Yeah." He clears his throat and ignores the knowing grin he's getting from Kevin. "You guys, um, have probably noticed that I'm particularly focused on revealing the worst of the magical world."

"You don't exactly hide it with us, so yeah." Jennifer says mildly, but her eyes are sharp when he meets them.

He tilts his head. "Fair enough. But I think it's only fair you know why. You both know I'm adopted, right?"

"Of course, your parents are great." Kevin confirms. "And they've told us the story two hundred times."

Edward smiles slightly. It took a long time, but he really does appreciate now what Susan and Peter Clarke did for him back when he was barely eleven and felt completely isolated from the world, not that they'd ever expect thanks or payment for it.

"I've never told you about the car accident. The one that killed my parents."

The other two go still, and Edward knows if he looks up Jennifer will be fidgeting nervously and Kevin's brow will be furrowing as he makes the connections. Edward lets him do so in silence, not wanting to verbally relive the night his world flipped on its head.

Literally.

"The war was in ninety-eight though." Kevin says slowly. "How could it have been magical people in ninety-six?"

"That's my question." Edward replies grimly. "And it was magical people. I was trapped by the back seat, my leg was partially crushed, but it saved my life. Whoever cause the accident didn't see me. But they tortured my parents for what felt like hours. I'm never going to forget the word Crucio for the rest of my life. It's Latin. Means 'I torture'. I'll remember that to my death bed, assuming I live that long."

He falls silent, staring at his lap where his hands are clenched into white-knuckled fists.

Jennifer speaks after a long silence. "I'm sorry. And I think I understand now, a little, why you're so cautious about these people."

Edward looks at her accusingly - it sounds like she's about to drop a 'but' and he really doesn't want to hear one right now when he feels like his chest has been grated open.

Jennifer winces apologetically. "But do you remember June 2015?"

Edward frowns, honestly not sure where she's going with this.

"There was one hundred and twelve murders in London that year, and most of them happened in June. Most of them were stabbings - brutal, bloody, and the victims suffered a lot as they slowly bled out, unable to call for help. Do you remember that."

Edward grimaces - Jennifer really has a way with words sometimes. "What's your point?"

"My point is that those people weren't magical. They were just run-of-the-mill s who decided murder was a viable problem solving technique. Or just a good form of stress relief. My point is, it's not magical people who are capable of being horrible. It's just people."

They sit in silence, letting that settle, before Kevin coughs awkwardly. "Cheery."

"Just stating how I see things." Jennifer says tiredly. "But for every knife murderer there are hundreds more people who would never be capable of doing the same thing. You know that Ed, you work this job too. We see the worst, but we survive through it because we know people can be better. Why should that be any different just because someone has magic?"

"Because they can kill without leaving a trace! I told emergency services what had happened, and no one ever believed me!" Edward bursts out, then immediately bites his tongue. He did not mean to say that.

But Jennifer doesn't lash out in return like she normally would. Instead, she switches over to the couch so she can lean her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She says quietly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But starting a war just makes more orphans."

Edward doesn't cry, because he's an adult and in control of his emotions, but he doesn't push Jennifer away either.

They don't talk much for the rest of the night.

If Estelle though desk duty was torture before, it's about ten time worse now that there isn't even the possibility of being taken off it soon.

She was actually supposed to go back on active duty in the New Year, so of course there is no active duty in the New Year. So she's still stuck at her desk, now with two set companions instead of rotating ones, rifling through old files that she knows are being thrown at them only for the sake of distraction as the leaders try to figure out what their next move can be.

The whole point of the Hunters was to track down and neutralize Yurina before she could make her next move. With that move now made, and Yurina pretty much untouchable thanks to her public popularity, they're stuck.

At least Estelle isn't alone in her misery anymore, but it's a hollow comfort: despite Finn and Fiona's attempts, it's rather obvious that the Hunters are probably going to have to pack up their desks and give the Initiative more leg room sooner rather than later. Estelle is honestly surprised it hasn't happened yet - all this sitting around feels like a waste of time and manpower. She's an Auror for Merlin's sake, she can be doing a lot more than sitting at a desk idling through busy work!

She shares the sentiment one morning with Desmond as they're getting ready for work together, which is maybe the only good thing in her life right now. Things aren't back to normal between them, and she's not so naive as to think they ever will be - they have a new normal now, one where magic is out in the world for anyone to see. They have a meeting with Leona Poole in a few weeks to discuss their experience and share how they're working to continue their lives together despite the upheaval, and Estelle is quite looking forward to it - even if it wasn't going to be a pleasant break from monotony, Leona Poole is a major magical celebrity and Estelle isn't ashamed to admit she's excited to meet the legend in person.

Desmond hums. "I mean, there are things you could be doing. Other than Hunter paperwork, I mean. Isn't Aruna still working on comparing magic and Muggle law practices so that we can start developing laws and limitations for the overlap? Or something on those lines, to be fair Aruna never tells anyone what she's doing but I've seen Hunters going in and out of her office some days. Maybe that's something you could do more of now?"

Estelle blinks, running through her memory to see if she can remember what that's all about, as it definitely rings a bell.

"The Integration Rotation." She says after a moment, grinning at her boyfriend's raised eyebrow. "Tristan's name. Obviously not what it's officially called, but it's certainly easier to remember. You're right though, maybe we can increase the frequency on that since more of us are available right now - it certainly would help Aruna." She muses as she finishes getting dressed and heads for the master bath to see about doing something with her hair. "I imagine running the entirety of law integration would be a lot for just one person - she'll probably appreciate the help."

Desmond makes a face that Estelle can't quite read, and she frowns at him. "What?" She demands.

He gives a half-shrug, which fails to answer her question but does get his shirt to settle properly. "Aruna is... an introvert, I guess? Like, an extreme one. None of us have really talked to her since all this started. I'm not sure she actually would appreciate more people hanging out around her. I was more thinking that you could do the research separately and then bring her more stuff during the actually assigned times."

Estelle hums, pursing her lips. "Well, it would just be me, and I'm plenty helpful. She'll have to come to terms with working in a team anyway - I really don't see her being able to do her whole job alone and while I haven't had a rotation spot in a while I remember asking her quite a few questions. Being present is pretty important for the Rotation."

Desmond shrugs again, which is a proper answer this time. "I suppose you can ask, if that's the case. I'm just warning you that she may well say no."

"Well then she can suffer under twelve tons of paperwork on her own, but at least she'll have been given the option to not do that."

Desmond laughs as they head for the kitchen. "You're going to phrase it exactly like that when you offer, aren't you?"

"You know me well." She grins back.

Estelle doesn't immediately head for Aruna's private office when they arrive, as she does still have a few files to trudge through before she can ask Finn for permisson to pursue a new focus.

Demelza is already at their shared cluster of desks, and the woman grins as she walks over. "Welcome back to hell, I'll be your fellow tortured soul today." She greets brightly, and Estelle laughs as she pulls out her seat.

"Good morning to you too Dez." She replies. "I may have found a ticket out, actually. And I thought you had too - where's Noah?"

Dez waves vaguely at the lifts. "He gets to argue with American Aurors today, I'm officially passing that baton on. Someone else may suffer the MACUSA's incompetence for the next few millennia, I've had my fill."

Estelle ends up forgetting about her new project idea for most of the morning as she and Demelza (and Tristan when he shows up thirty minutes late and completely soaked for some reason he won't explain) joke around instead of actually getting their assigned work done. Estelle ends up telling Demelza about the drama with Desmond, as the older woman somehow still hadn't heard the details of it, and she returns the favor by sharing some of her more ridiculous romantic endeavors.

"What about you Tristan? What crazy dating stories do you have?" Demelza prompts when their lastest round of laughter has eased up.

Tristan immediately turns bright red. "Oh um, none? I've never dated anyone before."

"But you want to." Estelle can't help teasing. "Don't think we haven't all noticed you making every excuse under the sun to go over to the Initiative half of the offices to stare longingly at..." Estelle frowns. "Well crud I can't remember he name off the top of my head. Something with a C?"

"Kylee!" Demelza exclaims, loud enough that the brunette in question actually looks up from across the room and Demelza has to laughingly wave her off as Tristan turns an even deeper shade of maroon and sinks into his chair, hiding his face in his hands.

"You are the worst." He hisses into his palms, and Estelle isn't sure if he means her for bringing it up or Demelza for accidentally getting Kylee's attention. Or possibly both, which would be fair.

"Relax, she's not going to suspect anything if she didn't already." Estelle assures him. "You're about as subtle as Pup was before he and Petra officially started going out."

"Oh gods." Tristan mumbles into his hands before peeking out to look over at Kylee, who's long since turned back to her own work. "Am I really? Then she really must not like me very much. She's definitely smart enough to have noticed."

"She strikes me as the type not to." Demlza declares after a moment. "You should be more forward with her!"

"Maybe not now though." Tristan insists. "I mean, we may not have much to do at the moment, but all this is tripling the Initiative's workload - I wouldn't want to distract her."

Estelle perks up then, abruptly reminded of Desmond's earlier suggestion. "Actually, I think you might be able to do the opposite!" She grins at the confused looks she receives from both her desk mates. "Why don't you offer to help her? You can spend time together, see if you really get along or not without the pressures of a first date, and I imagine it's better than just sitting here doing nothing. I'm actually planning to go help Aruna on a more regular basis today. It's still paperwork, but it's got to be better than this."

Demelza raises an eyebrow. "So that's the ticket out you mentioned before. Not bad, though you'll both have to be cleared through Finn and the Initiative leaders first."

Estelle hums. "I know, I will. But it's a good idea, right? The Initiative is overwhelmed, we're underworked - it's a win-win scenario in my view."

"First we need to finish these though." Demelza points out, and they finally get down to work nearly three hours after coming into the office. Luckily it doesn't take long, and the opt to head for lunch before going to present Estelle's brilliant idea to Finn and Fiona, who are surprisingly both present in the office today.

"So let's prep our presentation - if we do this well we might actually be able to get everyone currently on standby some real work to do." Demelza declares as they settle at one of the cafeteria tables. It's as crowded as ever and they're sharing the table with a group that seems to be from Transportation, but they all ignore each other easily enough. "Estelle, what was your game plan?"

"Well obviously we'd need to give the proposal to Finn first, though he'll definitely tell us that it's up to the Initiative leaders if it's a viable option for everyone." Estelle says. "So just a rudimentary overview for him, and Fiona if she's still there when we get back, but we probably should put together a proper pitch for Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Morgan. They're running a pretty tight ship over there at the moment."

"Understandably so." Demelza confirms. "Okay, so do you have a proper pitch outlined, or were you planning to wing it?"

Estelle grins, unabashed. "Winging it." She confirms. "You know me, I'm good at improvising."

Demelza shakes her head. "Fair enough." She agrees, and Tristan gapes at both of them for a moment before finding his voice.

"You can't... we can't wing this, what the hell." He says, more dazed than shocked. "We need to make sure we have a solid outline at least of what we're going to say, I refuse to wing this. Merlin."

The women laugh, but they indulge Tristan and actually put together something resembling a coherent outline. Tristan is still a bit pouty, but as lunch is over he can't really insist on further solidification on what they currently have. They take the lift up together and immediately head for the bosses' office, which Fiona has once again vanished from.

Finn looks up at their knock, brow furrowed but quickly smoothing out when he sees who they are. "Good afternoon, is everything alright?" He asks, straightening in his seat and pushing a few files out of his way so he can lean forward to address them.

"Actually, we had an idea we wanted to run past you." Estelle says. "We were thinking, since most of the Hunters don't have much to do at the moment, we thought it could be a good idea for us to try helping out the Initiative while you and Fiona work out what our next moves can be."

Finn watches them intently for a long, silent minute, his mind obviously whirling over the suggestion, how it could be implimented, and if it's worth doing so at the present time. Finally, he blinks and nods.

"I think that could be a viable option for us at this moment. Why don't you present it to the Initiative leaders and see if they can fit you in anywhere."

"Thank you sir!" Estelle remembers to say as the three of them bustle back out of the office and across the floor to where Mrs. Morgan and Mrs. Weasley are hopefully not too busy.

Estelle knocks twice and waits somewhat impatiently to be invited in. It takes longer than she'd expected it too, and she's beginning to wonder if perhaps the Initiative leaders are too busy to be bothered (which, thinking on it now, actually wouldn't be that surprising under current circumstances) when the door swings open and Mrs. Morgan appears in front of her.

"Yes?" She asks, eyeing the trio critically, her gaze lingering slightly longer on her son. "Is everything alright with the Hunters?"

Estelle clears . "Yes ma'am." She says quickly. "The Hunters are fine. Actually, we're here to offer our assistance, if it's needed."

"We aren't actually doing anything over there so. If you need extra eyes or hands or something we're available." Tristan adds, and Estelle gives him a wry glance. Very smooth coming from the guy who was so hung up on not winging it - though maybe he knew he'd be awkward around his mother, hence the insistence on being prepared. Either way, Tristan gives her a sheepish grin as the three of them are ushered into the office.

Mrs. Weasley is already watching them as they file in, so she'd obviously heard their offer through the open door. Once Mrs. Morgan has closed the door again and returned to her desk the Undersecretary wastes no time launching into a miniature interrogation.

"You say you want to help - how exactly would you propose that?" She questions.

"Most evidently would be for Ms. Kandasamy." Demelza replies immediately, and even though it was Estelle's idea she stands back to allow the older woman to take control. She is the senior Auror, probably has more experience than Estelle in pitching these sorts of things to people of much higher authority, and has taken quite a few more shifts on the Integration Rotation than either Estelle or Desmond, making her better suited to explaining the entire concept.

Also, though Estelle would never in a million years admit it, Mrs. Weasley is rather intimidating. She's fine letting Demelza take the brunt of that heat.

"As you know," Demelza continues, segueing smoothly into the pre-planned presentation, "The Hunters are already conditionally assisting Ms. Kandasamy with her work on the law, particularly in considering potential implementation of practical adjustments for both magical and Muggle law enforcement agencies in regard to their functioning within the broader society. We thought that as we currently are on something of a hiatus, the Hunters would be able to increase the amount of time dedicated to helping in this area. We also are all quite adept at reading and memorizing forms, should that be of any use to other Initiative members. We understand you're all rather busy at the moment, and we simply wish to offer to assist however we can, seeing as we certainly have the time."

Mrs. Morgan is nodding thoughtfully, though Mrs. Weasley is unreadable throughout the speech. The two Initiative leaders exchange a glance, communicating silently for a moment before Mrs. Weasley gives a slight nod.

"There is certainly merit to your proposal. We'll check in with our teams and see if any of them need additional assistance. For Ms. Kandasamy, that's primarily handled by Fiona - be sure to ask her next time she's in the office, but I think it's a good idea."

Estelle is beaming as the three of them are led back out of the office and the door closed firmly behind them.

"When do you think we'll know if this is going to work out?" Tristan asks quietly as they walk back towards the Hunters' half of the floor.

"Considering how efficient the Initiative is right now? We'll probably have an answer by tomorrow." Demelza says confidently. "Keep an eye out for Fiona - I'm willing to bet she'll think it's a good idea too."

Estelle grins. "Well considering it was mine, is that any real surprise?"

It may not be field work, but things are certainly looking up.

When Aruna comes into work to find Fiona sitting in her office at a time she wasn't scheduled to be sitting in Aruna's office, the law specialist knows things are about to change. And she knows she probably isn't going to like it.

Sure enough, Fiona tells her that they're expanding the number of Hunters who will be working with her, and increasing how often they'll be in her office. Which is horrifying, but Mrs. Weasley has approved the move so Aruna doesn't feel like she can really say no. Plus, any normal person would appreciate the extra help, and Aruna had been mildly overwhelmed by her workload even before the disaster that was the holidays.

She still hasn't fully recovered from those, and not just the abrupt information drop and subsequent appearance of Yurina. The holidays always make her feel hollowed out, and she still hasn't quite settled back into her skin.

At first, she's hopeful that maybe the increased number of Hunters coming by her office won't be so noticeable - maybe they'll all be like Fiona and Demelza, who mostly keep to themselves unless they find something they believe will be of direct interest to Aruna's work. This hope is rather quickly and efficiently dashed by Isaac Harrison, who's one of the first people to come in to assist her. He's constantly asking questions about anything and everything Muggle law enforcement does, and often proceeds to try and make suggestions that are at best unhelpful and at worst rather disparaging of Muggle laws and procedures. Aruna ends up getting very little actually accomplished during the morning he's assigned to work with her, and she prays that her afternoon companion might be just a little better - she can't take another five hours of that.

She takes a bit of extra time at lunch - she needs it to recover - before reluctantly heading back up the lift to the seventh floor. She heads straight for her office, bracing to see who's with her now, only to find it entirely empty. She blinks a few times, disoriented somewhat by the rush of nervous energy that had been building up and now has nowhere to go, before closing her office door and collapsing into her desk chair. Maybe that's it for today then, and she can spend the afternoon catching up on everything she didn't get done this morning.

She's managed to get through a decent chunk when there's a light tapping on her office door. She tenses automatically, before forcing her muscles to unclench.

"Yes?" She calls, glad her tone remains steady.

A blonde head peers through. "Good afternoon Ms. Kandasamy. I'm Catriona Wolff. Fiona says I'm to assist you however you need this afternoon?"

Aruna nearly smiles - it's an offer, not a demand, and she gets the sense that if she were to say that she doesn't need any help at the moment that Catriona would have not qualms walking away and leaving her in peace.

That certainty is perhaps why she waves Catriona in, despite immediately regretting it. "No, it's alright. Um, maybe you can go through those?" She gestures to a pile she'd been hoping to get to this afternoon, prior to Isaac's morning derailment. "And you can take notes on anything you think might be useful."

Catriona offers a brief smile and nod as acknowledgement before collecting the indicated files and settling down to read. Aruna turns back to her own work, and finds herself surprised when the end of the workday rolls around and she's actually gotten her morning work finished. She looks over at Catriona, who's scribbling down a few notes with a sharp focus that Aruna almost envies - she used to have that sort of drive.

Although lately she's felt more like she has that back, especially when she's down in the courtroom. She hopes all this smooths out soon so she can begin attending court cases again.

"Here." Catriona offers the roll of parchment she'd been writing on. "I tried to keep things organized based on the files, though there's quite a bit of overlap between them."

Aruna smiles and thanks her. "I'll go through it before I leave."

Catriona offers a half wave as she leaves the office, and Aruna unrolls the notes and grabs a pen so she can make her own comments. However, she finds that she doesn't have to add very much - Catriona was extremely thorough and had touched on almost everything that Aruna would have herself. With a smile, she packs up her desk and heads out for the evening - maybe having other people around helping her own won't be so bad, if most of them are like Catriona rather than Isaac.

The next morning she braces herself, but relaxes as soon as she gets into the office when she sees Minerva Seo already sitting in Aruna's guest chair, rifling through several folders and muttering to herself. Aruna has worked with Minerva before, and for extended periods of time, and actually quite likes the other woman. She reminds Aruna of a younger verions of her mother in some ways - driven, confident, and unafraid to call people out if and when she doesn't agree with them, regardless of whether or not that call out would be seen as "socially appropriate." It's honestly rather comforting.

"Good morning Mrs. Seo." She greets politely as she enters the office, closing the door behind her.

Minerva flicks a hand in greeting, eyes not moving from the file she's currently poring over. "It's a morning, certainly." She says after a moment, finally looking away to write something onto a parchment she has splayed across Aruna's desk. "I hope you don't mind, I know you're supposed to have this morning to yourself but I had a thought last night that I had to get written down as quickly as possible, and it required some cross-referencing from your work here."

Aruna blinks as she settles behind her desk. She was supposed to have this morning to herself? Still, Minerva often has unique takes on her work, so maybe her being here won't be such a burden. "I suppose I don't mind. Would you care to share your thought?"

Minerva shoots her a quick grin. "I'm still in the midst of comparisons, but I realized that both our law enforcements are supposed to be geared against lethal force wherever possible. However, I would argue the magical attempts at this have been more effective than Muggle ones."

Aruna frowns. "Well with paralyzing spells that have a ranged effect it makes sense - you have more means of non-lethally subduing criminals than we do." She points out, and Minerva nods as she continues reading.

"Precisely! So I thought, what if we bottled up Petrificus Totalus in a way that it could be released by anyone at any time of their choosing? I'm looking here to see what the ethics of it would be, and if Muggle law enforcement would be allowed to retain that sort of weapon, since it is still a weapon, and then of course we'd have to actually create the spell but I'm sure there are spell creators already working on that."

As always Aruna finds herself a few seconds behind the other woman's thinking, but once she catches up she has to agree it's a good idea. "I believe such weapons should be fine, though you may actually want to consult with Rose and Landon since they work directly with the lawmakers. Magic use by Muggles is definitely something both sides will want regulated properly."

Minerva nods distractedly. "Of course, of course. Well, I think that's all I'm going to find here." She finally puts her quill down and looks at Aruna directly. "Is there anything I can help you with? Since I'm occupying your space and time already."

Aruna does stop to consider the offer, but ultimately declines. "Will I be seeing you later in the week?" She checks as Minerva rolls up her ink-covered parchment and stuffs it into a bag that looks far too small to actually hold it.

Minerva hums. "Not this week, but I do expect to be by eventually. Fiona has everyone on rotation for the afternoons, mostly, some are morning shifts, so that you can have as many diverse inputs as possible while the Hunters are still here."

Aruna frowns at that last comment. "While they're still here?" She asks, hoping it's not a stupid question with an obvious answer she doesn't' know simply because she keeps to herself most days. Okay, all days.

Minerva shrugs. "Well, with Yurina out in the open, we don't really have a job anymore. Fiona and Finn are doing what they can, but even if we retain some operation I'd put good money on the group downgrading significantly in the coming weeks, if it's not disbanded entirely."

Aruana frowns. "That... is a good point. Still, I would think it would be best to still have a specialized group to keep an eye on her. She has a plan, right? And an organization helping her coordinate it. Obviously you'll have to keep to the shadows, but observing her and figuring out where her connections are, which strings are being pulled - I think that's still something important, especially when we still don't know what her end goal is."

Minerva snorts. "Her end goal is magical domination of the world." She says flatly, and grins at Aruna's surprised look. "What? Did no one fill you in on the wars?"

Aruna presses her lips together. So it was a stupid question.

Minerva doesn't get upset though, just sits back down. "I'll fill you in since your team apparently failed spectacularly on that front. I'd get comfortable, it's a bit of a long story."

And it really is. Aruna is honestly horrified she somehow missed hearing all of this, though she's also been avoiding the news recently for her own sanity so maybe it's not. But obviously she needs to start it up and watching again, if these are the sorts of things she missing.

"Basically, it's white supremacy but with magic." Minerva sums up after a solid fourty minute overview of the first and second wizarding wars, as well as Voldemort and his Deatheaters.

"Is Yurina really the only one who got away? There's no chance that someone who was pardoned might still be in league with her?"

Minerva shrugs. "They might be, but we actually do have all of them under surveillance - have since the Incident first happened. It's actually what most of the Hit Wizards have been doing this whole time, so if nothing else we'll still be retained here."

Aruna hums. "Well, that's good. I mean," She adds quickly at Minerva's quirked brow, "I do appreciate the Hunters' help with my work. So I'll be glad if some of you do stay."

Minerva smiles. "Well we would have kept that up regardless - this Initiative is important, maybe more now than before, and especially your work. You don't have to worry about your routine changing too much if the Hunters are entirely disbanded."

Aruna mulls that over well after Minerva has taken her leave of the office (and informed Aruna that Demelza has the afternoon shift, which is a pleasant note to end the conversation on). Her role really is important, she knows that, but it's the first time someone who doesn't have a vested interest in making her feel good about herself has said as much. It almost makes her feel worse. Here she is, isolating herself, expecting people to come to her when they want her input, when her job is probably the only one (well, besides the political specialists') that is going to directly impact everyone when all this is done.

She waits for the wave of dismay and self-loathing to crash over her at the realization, but after a long moment she realizes her expected tsunami of misery is actually just a small stream of disappointment in herself. Which is... something. Maybe she should call her therapist and say she's fixed now?

She sighs and turns to actually get started on her work. Knowing her, she's probably just too tired or overwhelmed to process all this right now, and it will all catch up later. For now she just needs to buckle down and do her work, and hope everything turns out for the best.

And if she mentally thinks the 'best' would be Minerva's severely decreased number of Hunters going back to only coming in twice a week, well, sue her. She likes her routines.

Author's Note: And so the storm begins - things are irrevocably going to change with the Hunters, but what those changes look like will have to be seen! But now we know more about Edward's whole deal, and Aruna seems to be improving at least incrementally. Estelle, meanwhile, remains bored and the same as ever xD