I stop mid charge, and Slave does the same. We both do so for different yet similar reasons: Namely the fact that the cat happens to be currently engulfed in magical flames.

"Why did you attack me, Mistress?" the black cat whines, clearly feeling a greater sense of betrayal than physical pain, as she shakes off the fires from her fur as though they were mere water droplets.

As for the the rat, she simply wears a confused expression as she tilts her head to one side. "Since when have I ever needed an excuse to attack you? I am very disappointed in you, Slave. You know how much I enjoy a good cat-fight, and yet you specifically waited until my back was turned to engage in one!"

"I-I'm sorry." the cat says in a soft, meek voice. "You've just been spending so much time with Squire lately, and I didn't want her to steal you away from-" she pauses at the word, seemingly coming to a realization.

"What is it? Finish that sentence." The rat says, glaring angrily at the feline. The battle music has since ended, of course, and Slave who had looked downright terrifying just moments before now looks tinier and weaker than she ever had. "You were going to imply that I belonged to you, weren't you? That you are owed my attentions?"

Slave lowers her head, unable to even will herself to look at the small rat who approaches. At least not until she takes a hard slap to her snout from the rodent. It couldn't have inflicted more than a single point of damage, but I have to admit that even I winced from the sound of it. The cat looked to the rat, similarly shocked.

"You will look at me when I'm talking to you. I will speak with whom I wish to speak with, train who I wish to train, and as for you? Your job is to sit there and like it. You are not here to be coddled or complimented or have attention lavished upon you. If you want that, find some human to take you in." the rat pauses, furrowing her brow, "No, no, forget that last part. That would imply that you had some rights or agency, but you're not a pet, are you? You're a slave. You exist to serve my needs, and nothing more, whether you accomplish that through keeping me safe, gathering food for me, suffering for my amusement, or simply sitting quietly and looking pretty. I'm not here for you, you're here for me, and you should be, nay, will be grateful for the opportunity to serve. Do I make myself clear?"

I can't help but tense up. It just felt like such an awful thing to say to the cat, but clearly Slave disagrees. She actually smiles a bit as she rubs the side of her snout with a paw."Yes, mistress."

As for Vile she simply sighs and shakes her head. "I swear, cats are sometimes more trouble than they're worth." she says to me. "Well, almost more trouble than they're worth. Leave us. We'll catch up to you soon. Me and my pet need to have a little girl talk, in private."

The rat grins wickedly, pretty much the only way that she's capable of grinning, and even Slave looks a little bit nervous in response to it. A part of me, and not a small one wants to speak up in defense of the feline, but I can't come up with the right words. It's probably best to not butt in, anyways. Still, I'm not happy, and none of that is due to nearly being killed by Slave.

This dissatisfaction doesn't fade when Vile returns. Alone. Admittedly for a moment there, I fear the worst. "Where is Slave?" I ask, a little hesitant to hear the answer.

"Oh, we had a nice little chat and she's on time-out. I figure hanging upside down from a branch by her tied paws for a couple of hours will help to remind her of her place."

"How could you do such a thing?" I ask, only able to imagine how unpleasant that must be.

The rat just looks confused. "Seriously? How couldn't I? Even putting aside the fact that she looks super cute struggling and mewling helplessly, she did try to kill you. Oh, and don't worry, that won't be happening again. We've come to an understanding." she nods.

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"I know, it's just that..." I pause, strongly considering biting my tongue and not speaking out, but can't help myself. "I... I don't like how you treat her. And I don't understand why she tolerates it. It just seems wrong for her to hold so much love in her heart for someone who hates her so much."

The rat blinks, seemingly stunned by the words. "Wait, you think that I hate Slave?"

Now it's my turn to be confused. "Don't you? You say that you like hurting her, you say such awful things to her, and don't care at all about her happiness. Plus, you know... the whole rat and cat thing."

Vile shakes her head and chuckles. "You really are naive. I guess that I sort of get it, though. From your perspective, it probably looks like I'm just using her for protection and the likes, and offer nothing in return." she pauses, "I suppose that you're not entirely wrong, either. I do have to admit, she gives a lot more to me than I do in return. Maybe my heart just isn't as big as hers. Still, it's no coincidence that we ended up together. Slave may be a little hot headed at times, that just comes with being a cat, but she's also strong, warm, affectionate and very, very sexy. It's so exciting the way she moans and squirms when I lick her-"

"I don't need to hear this!" I blurt out, interrupting her.

"I was going to say 'ears'." Vile says.

"Really?"

The rat pauses and chuckles. "No. Not really. I wasn't going to say her ears, but those are nice, too." she smiles.

"Wait, you think Slave is sexy?" I ask. I'll readily admit that I'm not the most experienced in such matters myself, but it still seems strange. "I would have though you would be more into, you know... rats. Namely male ones."

"Have you seen what male rats look like?" she asks back. I give the matter a little thought, and eventually nod. I'm not entirely sure, but there were a lot of rats in the storage shed, and I can only assume that a lot of them were male. "Well, there you go."

I stare, head tilted, confused by the response.

"What, does it surprise you so much that a hideous creature such as myself that scurries around in the darkness and filth might actually be drawn to warmth and beauty?"

"You're not..." I say, or begin to say, unable to force myself to lie and claim that she isn't hideous. I feel awfully bad about not being able to state the white lie, but I suppose that she wouldn't have believed it anyways. Instead, I just awkwardly trail off, having no idea of how to finish the sentence.

"Anyways, to answer your question, no, I don't hate Slave at all. Quite the opposite."

"Does that mean you love her?" I ask, perking up a bit. While the rat is clearly much more clever than myself, the question leaves her flustered, much to my amusement. What? I'm allowed to be a bit petty once in a while!

"D-don't be ridiculous! That dumb cat is just a tool. A toy for my amusement, and nothing more."

I can't help but smile. I would have thought that Vile would be a better liar than this. I guess that she was simply caught off guard. Still, I know better than to probe the matter too deeply. Feelings can be confusing and deeply personal things. "Well," I ask, "Do you at least... respect her?"

The rat lowers her head, giving the matter some thought. "Slave is a pitiful, weak-willed masochistic whore who should be eternally grateful for being allowed to lick the dirt from my toes." Vile says, with a sigh. "But yeah... I... respect... the hell out of her." she says, seemingly grateful for the opportunity to insert the somewhat less intimate word in there. The rodent then raises her head to glare at me, "And I swear in the name of all the Gods above, the day that you tell her I said that, will be your last day on this earth!"

I simply smile and nod my head, tail lightly wagging behind me. I'll admit, I'm still not entirely comfortable with their situation, but it is a weight off my chest to know that, even if a little problematic and uneven, the relationship isn't nearly as malicious as I had feared. As much as I would love for Slave to know what the rat had said, again, feelings can be complicated and personal things. It isn't my place to do so. Plus, the threat which the rat is likely more than capable of acting upon doesn't help, either.

"Well, now that that's settled, my pet still needs a couple of hours to cool off. In the meantime, we should get back to your training." Vile says.

I nod enthusiastically. Sure, it can be rough, but it's satisfying as well. My excitement quickly falls away, however, as the rat smiles sadistically and says, "What is twenty-five minus nine?"

I can only softly whine. I should have known there would be repercussions from getting Vile all flustered earlier, and that she would be more than eager to take her revenge. The next two hours are very, very long ones, during which I experienced a great deal of pain, and didn't manage to raise my intelligence score in the slightest.

Vile didn't seem the least bit disappointed, however, and clearly considered that time to be very well spent.

---

Vile: "Now that that's out of the way, we can get back to the exciting stuff: Training and raising attributes!"

Squire: "Is that really all that this arc is about?"

Vile: "Well, not all... just the most important part."