Chapter 8
Norna sat at the dining table and looked towards the half-open front door.
She frowned.
Lord Mitten had gone on one of his extensive forays into the surrounding area and had not yet returned. It was already way past midnight. A few years ago, the cat had suddenly appeared and made himself at home in front of her father's fish store, which adjoined the house. Since then, he had lived a free cat's life with a fixed home base. And since then, he had appeared in front of her house every day in time for breakfast fish in the morning, for his petting appointment at lunchtime and for an evening snack at the end of the day. Until today.
I hope that nothing has happened to him, Norna thought anxiously.
She had christened him 'Lord Mitten' because of his proud appearance and white paw. What if monsters had entered the forest and claimed his territory for themselves? The tomcat, as she knew him, would not back down and feel equal to them.
She shook her head.
A sad case of completely distorted self-perception, she thought and for a brief moment a smile stole onto her face, which disappeared again with the next thought.
What if he really was defending his claims to ownership?
The possibility made her forehead sweat with fear. Images of a formerly white paw sticking out of the bushes, bloody and dirty, appeared in her mind.
Stop!
Norna forbade her mind to think any further before her thoughts drifted off into a dark corner. She thought about how she could distract herself.
Her gaze wandered to the bedroom door on her left.
Talking was already out of the question. Her father had long gone to bed with an enviable confidence that everything would be fine.
Am I just too anxious or is Dad too optimistic? Or both?
She realized that the brooding was starting again. She needed a distraction until, hopefully soon, Lord Mitten came back. Because, and Norna had no illusions about this since she knew herself, she wouldn't be able to sleep until then.
"If I catch you..."
she muttered to herself,
"then ... you'll get an extra portion of petting," she finished the sentence truthfully and sighed.
She should have gotten a fish instead of losing her heart to a roaming tomcat, she decided inwardly.
That would definitely have been the better choice for her inner peace and quality of sleep.
Norna’s gaze wandered through the living area and stopped at the bookshelf. The few books she had inherited from her late mother stood neatly next to each other on the wooden shelf, their thick spines inviting her to immerse herself in them for the next few hours.
The fact that there were any books at all in the household was quite unusual; normally they rarely found their way to Anaholm, as they were a luxury item in the harsh everyday life of the village and had to be imported from far away.
Her mother had followed her love to this village and had taken as many of her treasures with her as possible. She loved reading and passed on her passion to her daughter. As a small child, they had bent over the old book pages together and read through the texts. And after her mother died suddenly as a result of a plague that had swept through the village, Norna found herself hunched over the books even more often as they comforted her and reminded her of their time together.
My faithful friends, she thought and got up to get one of the books.
It didn't really matter which one, she knew the books inside out. Their significance went far beyond the mere text and entertainment value.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Hmm.” She skimmed the titles on the spines.
The 'Eulogy to King Artholet II, ruler of the three kingdoms', 'History of the continent of Amanth - the truth revealed!' or '30 ways to bake a rhubarb pie'?
Norna opted for the lighter fare this time - in terms of content, not calories - and sat back down at the table with the baking book. She opened it at a random point and began to read.
Recipe no. 19
Take:
50 g sugar (70 g for the sweet-toothed among you)
200 g muut nuts
2 egg whites (from ordinary chicken, mind you!)
1 tbsp. oil
100 g butter (from the ordinary cow, you crazy magicians!)
300 g basel berries
1 pinch of salt
No rhubarb (because let's be honest, who likes rhubarb?)
First mix the wet ingredients and sugar together, then add the nuts and salt. In the next step, whisk the egg whites (which you, dear user, hopefully did not add to the wet ingredients) and carefully fold into the mixture.
Pour the cake batter into a greased cake tin and spread the washed basel berries (really, do you have to make a special note of this in a baking book, dear publisher?) on top. Place the cake tin in the wood-fired oven, keep an eye on it and remove it from the oven when the cake is lightly browned (lightly!).
Bon appétit!
As often as she had read the recipes, she had never baked them. Where did you get muut nuts from and what was this rhubarb that this book was about?
Her mother had described the exotic plant to her back then, but her memory of it had faded over the years and only a vague idea had survived into the present.
One day I will find this rhubarb and bake a rhubarb pie - against the advice of recipe no. 19, she swore to herself and another smile flitted across her lips.
One day I will leave this place and find rhubarb and taste muut nuts and read new books. And write to Dad every month about my discoveries and send him presents and have a fluffy pet that never leaves my home and waits for me and...
Norna indulged in her dreams, resting her head in her hand and staring at the ceiling with her eyes.
Time passed while she was lost in her fantasies until a movement outside the door catapulted her abruptly back to the here and now.
"Lord Mitten?" she asked hesitantly, focusing on the doorway.
"Meow."
Lord Mitten calmly entered the room, stretched extensively and began to groom his fur.
"Lord Mitten!" Norna hastily got up from her chair and approached the cat, only to stand at a respectful distance after a brief hesitation. Lord Mitten was very particular when it came to who was allowed to touch him and when. Outside of the ritualized midday petting session, it was better to ask him for permission for the good of one’s own hand.
"I was worried!" she said reproachfully. The tomcat looked at her blankly for a moment, only to continue cleaning himself extensively shortly afterwards. His tongue shot out of his mouth and wandered from his left shoulder further down his back. His whiskers twitched with every jerky movement.
Oh, what a fluffy creature! Norna's fluff-loving heart squeaked with happiness and relief, pushing away the worries that had been so heavy a short time ago.
Aahh, what a silky coat, just begging to be cuddled!!!
She might be slightly fanatical when it came to fluffy creatures, but her life-sustaining instincts didn't completely fail in the face of the proud tom, who immediately punished intrusive behavior with a determined swipe of his paw. It had an astonishing power that one would not have expected from the cat. Fortunately, Lord Mitten was too polite to use his claws.
With difficulty, Norna kept her enthusiastic inner fangirl in check and slowly crouched down.
"Would it be alright," she looked at him questioningly, "if I pet you for a while? I've missed you."
Lord Mitten looked at her and wrinkled his nose briefly.
"Meooow." the cat replied.
He walked to the rocking chair at the other end of the room, jumped onto the yellow cushion filled with feathers and slowly settled down on it after a couple of careful turns.
Aahhhhh, how sublime, how majestic!!!
Her inner fangirl jumped up and down enthusiastically at the sight and Norna struggled to keep her facial expressions under control. She didn't want to frighten the cat with her ecstasy.
"Thank you," she said as calmly as she could and walked slowly to the rocking chair.
After settling down on the floor, she slowly moved her hand towards the cat and gently stroked his back.
Pure bliss. Norna was in heaven.
With every movement, the last remnants of tension fell away from her.
Cats really are magical creatures. She sighed contentedly.
*****
Lord Mitten had to admit to himself that he really had become a little soft with age.
After hiring Kryll and sending him to Minthral, he had hurried the rest of the way across the forest canopy. Originally, he had intended to make himself comfortable in one of the trees on the edge of the village and take a nap there.
But then he had remembered Norna and wondered whether his unusually long absence had worried the young girl. If it was up to him, everyone should have the right to a good night's sleep and so he had walked back to her house without further ado so that she could sleep peacefully too.
And indeed, the only light still burning in the whole village belonged to the living room of the fisherman's family.
Lord Mitten sighed.
What an attentive girl.
He would have to break the news of his departure to the 16-year-old gently.