Chapter Five - Petting Puppies

They arrived at a big important building right in the centre of Shitake, but Mem really had a hard time caring too much.

That was a little not-nice though. She really wanted to care. Miss Cinder was nice to Mem. She didn’t insult Mem even once, which was a new record for cultivators. Usually they insulted Mem within minutes of seeing her, but Miss Cinder had spent days close to Mem without saying one bad thing.

Unless she was saying bad things in a way that Mem couldn’t understand, in which case it didn’t matter, because then Meme wouldn’t understand that she was being insulted in the first place.

Mem wondered if Miss Limpet and Mister Bone Daddy Harold, Destroyer of Worlds and also Alex were cultivators, but she didn’t think so. Miss Limpet dressed a little like a cultivator, but she did magic and had a nice dog. The others were very different too.

Mem liked different. Different hadn’t insulted her at all yet.

She stepped out of the carriage after Mister Harold and Miss Cinder were already out, then she stretched her head back as she took in the big building they had stopped in front of. It was one she’d seen before, though she’d also avoided coming too near.

The Ashen Pavillion was a grand structure, towering above many of the other buildings in Shitake City. It was made of grey stone, with little carvings all over of cultivators doing cultivation things.

It was the administrative centre of the city, which was why Mem tried to avoid it so much. She didn’t like administration stuff. Sometimes, they made her sign things and read things, and Mem had a hard time saying no to pushy paper people, which meant that she’d spend days trying to understand their forms, but they were written in complicated ways and always made Mem want to cry.

The administrators were outside now, all lined up in a neat row, silly hats on fully display. They bowed as one. “The Administration Welcomes Lady Cinder,” they chorused.

Mem decided that she didn’t want to be here. She slipped closer to Mister Harold’s side, then carefully touched his shoulder with her elbow joint. “Yes?” he asked.

He was a lot more expressive with skin and flesh on his face, but Mem wasn’t sure if she trusted his expression. Not that she didn’t trust him. Mister Harold was very strong and very honest. If he said he was going to burn a city down, Mem would be inclined to believe him, regardless of if he had a face or not. It was just that the face felt wrong after seeing his skull for so long.

“Mem was wondering if she could go take a walk. Mem doesn’t think you’ll need her for all of this.” She waved her scythes in the general direction of the Ashen Pavillion.

“Hmm, I suppose we won’t be needing you here. Do you have any money, for food and sundries?”

Mem bobbed her head up and down. “Mem does!”

That had been a gift from Mister Commander Seventeen. He had given her a small pouch filled with silver and gold coins and said that it was her pay for her first week of work.

Mem had never been paid before. It was very nice.

“Well, enjoy yourself. Though you might want to return here before it gets too dark.”

“Mem can do that,” Mem agreed. She bowed to Mister Harold and Miss Cinder, then glanced up to the top of the carriage. Rem was arguing with Alex, and Mem wasn’t sure her bigger sister would want to talk to Mem at all. She usually didn’t.

Mem waved her goodbye anyway, even if Rem didn’t see it.

She had money, time, and was in Shitake city. There was only one place that Mem wanted to go to now. With a bounce to her step, Mem took off across the city. It didn’t take long for her to find a building that was a little lower than the rest and which she could scale up the side of. Mem wasn’t great at parkour, but she was really good at picking herself up after going splat.

Once she was higher up she was able to better orient herself.

Mem wasn’t very smart according to a lot of people she’d met, but she did have a very good sense of directions. Mem only very rarely got lost, so with a bit of staring around and locating landmarks, she figured out where she was and where she wanted to go.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

As she bounced from rooftop to rooftop, Mem found herself thinking back to Miss Cinder, and maybe more importantly, the rest of the Ashen Forest sect.

They hadn’t ever been very nice to Mem. Mem had liked this city before, though. It was loud and filled with people, and those people sometimes tossed their food away in places that Mem could reach.

The cultivators picked on her for going through the trash, but they rarely hurt Mem. They were too afraid. Not of Mem, of course, but of Mem’s mom and her sisters.

Mem wasn’t sure she understood cultivators.

Mem had always been a creature of simplicity. She liked straightforward things: the soft warmth of sunlight filtering through the trees, the gentle hum of city life below, and the satisfying taste of leftover pastries. Cultivators, however, were not straightforward. They were, in Mem’s opinion, very puzzling beings.

She remembered how her mom had once told her about the balance of nature and how every creature had its place in the world. “Even the tiniest ant has a purpose,” she'd said. “To be eaten by me.” But what was the purpose of cultivators, especially when they were always looking down on those they deemed weaker or different? They went on and on about defying the heavens, but Mem didn’t understand what the sky had done to anger them so much.

Their entire lives were dedicated with strange daos. Different paths that they took that would lead to power and prestige and other things that Mem didn’t care much about.

It was strange.

Eventually, her thoughts drifted away, and she realized she’d arrived at her destination.

Shitake needed lots of protection from rats and mice and small monsters. There were ash birds, who’d attack people, and mean little critters that would ambush people.

So the city had big kennels where they kept all sorts of animals to help protect the city. Cats and dogs, mostly, who’d hunt vermin and little monsters.

Mem landed before one of these, then knocked on its door.

Soon enough, it opened, and a grizzled old man stood at the entrance. “Oh,” he said. “Hello, Mem.”

“Hi,” Mem said. “Can Mem help? She has money this time.”

"Wouldn't say no to some help," he said. "Nor to a bit of coin. Betty just had a litter of pups. Could use the extra coin to get her some proper meat."

"Mem will share," Mem said.

Puppies!

Mem followed the old ratcatcher to the back where there was an open space with a sliver of sky above. There were lots of cubbies in the walls, and some exits into the backroads and alleys so that the dogs and cats could come and go.

They were used to the ratcatcher, but Mem's presence set a lot of the animals on edge.

That was fine. Mem went to the middle of the space and settled herself down. She needed to focus and time for what she was about to do.

This was something she'd seen Alex trying to teach Rem. Rem was much smarter than Mem, but Mem really really wanted to learn this, so she did.

"In the sky where the birdies all land

There’s magic that I don’t understand.

But with hope in my hearts,

And a weird little start,

I’ll... something-something, Mage Hand!"

A small, ethereal hand appeared before Mem. It wasn’t very good, with six fingers, none of which were the same size, but it worked.

Mem glanced down. A curious kitten had approached. Slowly, carefully, she lowered the magic hand.

The kitten smacked it, then it let the hand rub across its little head.

Mem didn’t understand cultivators and that kind of person. If it was up to her, the only Dao that would matter would be the Dao of Petting Small Things.

The next few hours were the best in Mem’s life. She couldn’t touch the small babies herself, but some of them rubbed themselves against her legs. There were cats that purred, and kittens that kittened, and puppies doing puppy things.

She didn’t understand Mister Harold and the Limpet any more than she understood cultivators... except when it came to magic. Because magic was really magic if it let her finally do what she’d always dreamed of doing; giving tummy rubs to good little boys and girls.

***