Saryn awoke to nails rap-tap tapping against polished obsidian, a sound that reminded her of the kitchen velociraptors from the movie Liam played a few too many times. After the third rerun she’d mentally set the scene to the tune of ‘Yakety Sax’ which really improved the rewatchability.

Outside the sun was rising, highlighting Greenwood Keep. But, that was wrong, the Keep was in the west not the east. Saryn blinked, grasping that the sun was setting. She’s been unconscious for at least a full day…

Oh man, mom is gonna spank me til I'm blacker than an umbraquin! She thought, closing her eyes once more. No point in rushing back to a beating. Especially not when every bone in her body ached as if she’d cauterized her skin then scrapped it off with a potato peeler. Which… actually wasn’t far off…

She tried to flex her claws, and found that she had human fingers. Ones that gripped the coarse sheets of a bed.

“My lady, please forgive us–” began an umbraquin, his plea severed by a familiar voice.

“Shut your mouths!” Snapped Nyota, pausing her pacing to glare at the three prostrated were-panthers.

Her tail, usually so poised, flicked in rapid, agitated swishes, swirling the air with wrath. Saryn had never seen mother so furious, and it triggered the deep scars left on her soul, the ones left behind by decades of re-living her father’s beatings. Her body convulsed, disobeying her mind’s desire to stay still, silent, unseen, hidden within the sheets.

She curled into the fetal position, tucking legs to chest and face to knees, her hands moved to cover her ears, to avoid ugly cauliflower ear, and found they weren’t located on the side of her head.

Silence gripped the room. Without so much as the sound of breathing.

Saryn’s movement had been noticed.

Soon the blows would rain down on her, soon she would be dragged out of bed and then the slaps would begin. It always started with slaps, then if she failed to cry hard enough it would progress into punches–

Someone was touching the blanket, adjusting it, tucking it tighter around her.

Why? Did they bind people in blankets before beating them here? Odd choice, blood might stain the blanket. Evidence of abuse. But Father had once played a Liveleaks video of an execution where a man, chicken, dog, cat, and cobra were all sewn into a sack, weighted down, and then dumped into a lake. Quite the extravagant execution for the twenty first century. But they… They wouldn’t actually do that right? Not in a world with magic, catgirls, and… vivisections…

Oh Shit.

She trembled under the touch, fearing the worst was about to befall her. Yet the hands touched her face, and the chant of healing began. She knew it by heart, had heard it almost as often as her mother’s heartbeat.

Oh great, they can heal you and then beat you. Then heal you again. Repeat until they were too exhausted to continue hitting you… Thought Saryn.

A low growl rumbled in Nyota's throat, a sound that echoed with both grief and fury. Her claws flexed, retracting and extending as her mind raced.

"How could you be such an idiot!" Nyota hissed under her breath, her ears flattening against her head.

The question gnawed at her, a bitter claw at her heart. She loved Saryn with every fiber of her being, but this? This was beyond unacceptable.

“Tis my fault! Punish me my Lady!” Said Orion, still kneeling on the floor.

“Oh shut up, we both know you can’t disobey her!” Hissed Nyota, blaming herself for this folly.

It was her fault, Liam’s letters had warned her that their daughter would be an exceptional creature, someone to keep guarded and watched at all times. He’d speculated that she would be able to control other felinids as soon as she learned to speak, but Nyota never imagined she would escape to Rhendal’s tower in the middle of the night and burn herself into a human shape! Exceptional did not begin to describe how absurd the notion was. It was inconceivable. Yet, it had happened, right after Saryn breathed life into thousands of fireflowers, somehow awakening her magic in a single night, a month after being born and a decade earlier than was expected.

“Exceptional creature.” Whispered Nyota, pinching the bridge of her nose.

With a sharp turn, Nyota stood, pacing across the obsidian tower with vengeance in her heart, aimless, pointless vengeance. The flowing fabric of her gown whispered like the electricity she wielded. Her ears perked forward, alert, yet still trembling with anger.

“Orion, your punishment will be to invent a way where you umbraquins obey my orders first. That ought to be enough of a puzzle for your slow wit. Recruit the researchers as well!”

“Yes ma’am!” Said the trio in unison.

They remained on their knees, eyes averted.

“Well? If you’re not a healer then git! Go get started!” Ordered Nyota, her words slapped the men onto their hindquarters, scattering them from the room.

And she found herself locking the heavy doors of Rhendal’s sanctum sanctorum, the peak of his tower, and where the old man had intended to die. He’d left his journals here, all written in a code that only Soren seemed capable of reading. An arcane librarium that was now Saryn's bed chamber.

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Mana flickered to life as Saryn tried to wrap a shield of shadows around herself.

“Stop that this instant!” Snapped Nyota, whirling on her child.

Concentration broke, and the spell fizzled, for no matter what level Saryn was, that was only a rating of her raw ability, not the intellectual control or experience required to wield magic.

Nyota strode across the room, hesitating for the briefest of moments. But her resolve, as unyielding as the eclipse that crowned her reign, pushed her forward. She reached down, and swaddled the girl in blankets, pushing past Saryn’s look of terror to cradle her against her bosom.

“If you weren’t so bald, I might have spanked you black and blue.” Warned Nyota, repeating the healing chant.

This time mana flowed into Saryn’s chest, soothing her screaming heart, and stealing the tension within her ribs. The youngest catgirl practically turned to jelly, going limp in her mother’s arms.

“Are you going to heal me first then?” Asked Saryn.

“Who else is going to heal you? You brought Orion! We have a dozen healers and you bring the one umbraquin who can’t heal!? Saryn, what were you thinking?”

Nyota’s harshness crushed the conversation, leaving them both in silence. The room was dim, for the only light was a soft glow from the enchanted crystals filled with purple fire. Such items filled Rhendal’s tower, a testament to his mastery over all things mystic. Saryn remained motionless, allowing Nyota to rock her, gently swaying in a way that brought tears to her mind. Her many past lives melted away as she felt something she’d pursued for centuries.

Safe.

Is this how the child felt when I held him in my arms? Oof… I was the worst mom… Thought Saryn, curling into a tighter ball.

“Saryn, why do you keep tensing? I can tell how hurt you are, just lie still. It’ll be a while before I can heal you fully.” Said Nyota, her voice little more than a whisper.

It didn’t need to be any louder, not with her mouth an inch away from Saryn’s ears.

“I’m sorry.” Whispered Saryn, hoping to avoid the coming beating.

“Saryn… You keep recoiling, like, like I'm going to hit you.” Nyota began, her ears moving sideways before laying flat in fury. “Has someone been hitting you?” Snarled Nyota, making Saryn’s heart skip two beats.

A feeble ‘no’ was all she could manage to squeak out.

Mother’s face softened, and she inhaled deeply through her nose, calming her own racing heart before sitting on the bed. Her hand went to Saryn’s chest, Mother’s way of hearing her child’s heartbeat.

“Saryn.” She whispered, “You’re safe, no one will harm you, so why is your heart racing?”

“I’m sorry.”

That caught Nyota’s attention, confirming one of Liam’s darkest letters. He wasn’t from this world, so why would their child be of this world? Furana’s soul might be like his, that of a grown woman thrown into the body of an infant. A terrible fate, with endless confusion in store. Nyota extracted the eclipsiarch from her blanket, lifting her so they could see eye to eye.

“If you were any normal child, that would be a natural response, but you just became the youngest mage in all of history. After putting me through the longest pregnancy in history!”

Saryn looked away, her ears naturally flicking backwards to lay flat against her skull, and her tail fell, two things she would have to get used to controlling if she wanted to conceal her thoughts.

“I went too far…” Said Saryn, trying to cover her ass.

Instead, Nyota’s eyebrow raised.

“Enough lies. You’re like your father Liam, not from this world.” She said, her grip tightening on Saryn’s chest and shoulders.

A response that made her fingers cling to Nyota in kind, tightening on her far larger wrists and realizing she was entirely helpless.

Being a toddler really sucks! I wonder if the kid survived… What am I thinking? He’s got magic, of course he survived…

“I’m from you mom… What’s a world?” Asked Saryn, putting on her most imploring baby-eyes.

“I thought hearing my child call me mom would be the happiest moment in my life, but when you mix it with a lie it becomes something vile. Be honest with me Saryn. You’re in my world. I didn’t care that your father was from somewhere else. You are my daughter.” Nyota’s grip relaxed, setting Saryn on her lap and wrapping her in the blanket once more before cradling her. Nyota’s next words were soft, a whispered offer.

“Liam changed his name when he discovered magic, would you like to change yours?”

Saryn tensed, nothing was working on this woman, it was as if she could read her mind! See through every trick, deceit, and half truth in Saryn’s extensive arsenal.

“I’m not- …” Saryn began, only to fall silent as Nyota’s eyes pierced hers.

“Why haven’t you kicked me out if you knew?” Saryn asked.

Nyota looked as though she’d been punched in the tail.

“Kick out my daughter? The last thing Liam left behind? Never.” She said, pulling Saryn into a hug and planting a kiss on her forehead.

The child’s breathing was shallow, her usually vibrant tail limp beside her.

“You’re not mad?” Asked Saryn, unable to process the warmth in her heart.

Nyota's heart ached at her words, but a point still needed to be made. A conflict that made her own tail thrash behind her.

“I’m furious! Because I almost lost you! What were you thinking, Saryn?" she whispered, her voice a dangerous purr. "Working yourself to the bone, pushing yourself until your fur fell off and you collapsed? You didn’t even bring a dress!"

Her hands clenched into fists, claws digging into her palms. She knelt beside her daughter, brushing a stray lock of hair from Saryn's forehead.

"Did you think this would make me proud? Did you think I'd purr in delight at your foolishness?"

A single tear slid down Nyota's cheek, and she quickly wiped it away, her ears twitching in frustration. "You are the only daughter that is all mine. My precious kitten who was never katnapped. Promise me you’ll never risk yourself again!”

Saryn’s tail wrapped around her waist as if to contain the turmoil within her. Wincing as Nyota pressed her forehead against Saryn's.

"Promise me. Stay with me, I know you have a bright future, brighter than I ever did, but you need to learn to pace yourself! Hope is meaningless if you die! Please, I've lost all my other children, I- I…” Her voice dwindled to an inaudible note, unable to utter the last few words, ‘can't lose you.’

They remained intertwined, mother cradling daughter until Saryn could withstand no more, and her mind slipped into sleep. Leaving Nyota alone with their thoughts.

Raising a daughter was more complicated than she had guessed, but the willingness to love gnawed away at her anger, breaking apart her fury and chunking it into crumbs. Listening to Saryn’s shallow exhalations until the anger ebbed out of existence. She would have to be strong, not just as a queen but as a mother. She would have to teach Saryn the meaning of love. A realization that wounded her soul, for Nyota knew that Saryn had lived at least one life, and failed to discover what love was during it. They would begin tomorrow… Once Saryn was healed. Nyota looked at the girl’s pink burns, it would take longer than a day to heal.

For now, all she could do was wait, keeping vigil by her daughter’s side, her tail curling protectively around them both.