To her credit, Kate only let her mouth hang open for a second, before jumping off the ledge and unsheathing a bastard sword.

In the process, she forcibly dislodged me from the wall and nearly sent me stumbling towards the ground. Though she did catch me before I landed. She appeared sheepish, and she should have too. My left side was already throbbing just from the acceleration and manhandling.

I glowered at her and she quickly turned her attention back towards the way that we came from, towards the gorge, towards where the mikuya were coming.

Of course, she failed to see them. They were not within sight range, not in the narrow and cramped passageway–within ten yards, all we could see was shadow and stone.

She let her sword hang in a lazy one handed grip while she used her other hand to run through her hair.

A part of me was tempted to ridicule her for her actions. But that was not how friends are made, nor kept. And I still needed Kate’s aid. Besides… even if she was a bit too aggressive, did she really deserve derision? Yes. I squashed those infantile thoughts–they would only hinder.

My observations unbeknownst to her, she groaned. “Of course they aren’t there. You smelled them then?”

I nodded.

“How far out?”

And that was a difficult question to answer. It was only due to the wind that I caught a sudden whiff of them, and while it was strong, exact distances were difficult to answer. What I could say though, was that the mikuya had entered the crevasse network, as the wind would have brushed by them before delivering the scent towards me.

I shrugged, “Can’t say exactly. They’re at least to where Kissen was.”

“Who?” she asked quickly, before shaking her head. “Right. Doesn’t matter. How long till they reach us?”

I shrugged again. I had no way of measuring their speed. Honestly, she should have been happy with the meager warning I was able to provide.

“Fine. We can deal with this. But I need you to try and figure it out,” she said in a stern tone, before softening the statement with a flicker of a smile.

She headed back towards Muleater and the others to report. Meanwhile, I was left peering into the gloom, towards the encroaching mikuya. I counted off seconds and tried to gauge how much closer the sounds had come, but with how the sound bounced around the passages, and with how irregular those sounds were, the effort turned out to be pointless. All I knew was that they were approaching, but perhaps not overly quickly. I was unsure how far away they even were. With my inability to track their progress, my thoughts turned towards other matters. Pressing matters.

Larissen had yet to return.

Already, I was preparing myself by modeling the humans’ likely course of action. Undoubtedly, they would press to retreat. With Larissen still absent, they would abandon him. Afterall, they held little value for the worth of a beast’s life. If I went with the humans, it would be without Larissen. This would annihilate any empathy I had gained from the Kaiva. Additionally, without him, I would be helpless against the humans. They could simply collar me as I slept.

I decided that a more proactive course was required in order to prevent an unfortunate turn of events. I approached where they discussed. Muleater glanced towards me, wondering why I came, as if I would have no say in our course of action. I played it off.

“I have seen no evidence that they moved since I last caught their scent,” I said. It was an awkward way to deceive them, if not for Muleater’s unknown ability to discern truth, any lie I wished to tell took far more effort. In this case, I wanted to pretend I had relevant news that would excuse me broaching their discussion. Not that I should have needed an excuse.

Muleater gave me a measured look before asking, “How far off?”

Again, that question. “At least to where we laid Kissen to rest.”

At least Muleater knew who Kissen was and recognized the name, albeit after a few seconds’ pause.

“Too close,” Ken said, spitting on the ground. “Need to move.”

“Larissen has yet to return,” I reminded him, and the rest of the humans.

“We… we can’t stay here,” Kate said, in a soft voice, towards me, as though she were breaking delicate news. I shot her a glare and saw her wince, before swallowing back whatever else she was going to say.

“The beast was too slow. Looks like he’s getting left behind,” Gregory said, sounding just a bit too gleeful. “Unless you want to crawl back there to try finding him?” His eyes lingered on my missing arm, right on the stump.

“Nobody is going in there after him,” Kate growled.

“Children,” Ken muttered under his breath, almost a curse-word in its own right.

“Regardless, we’re moving. Pack up!” Muleater ordered, referring to the bags people had taken off, and the boots that had been taken off feet. The way those feet stank made me almost glad I could no longer wear shoes. But I could not allow myself to become distracted.

“We can’t leave him behind,” I said, nervous to directly oppose the humans. But abandoning Larissen, and trusting the humans to honor a deal… it was simply not a tenable option.

“Don’t worry,” Gregory said with a smirk. “I’m sure we can find another animal for you to rut for.”

What was his problem?!

A flash of irresponsible anger swept through me. My lips moved before I could reign anything in.

“What an utter fool,” I spat and immediately regretted it. But the words had been said.

“Coming from an animal?” Gregory scoffed in an angry tone. He had squared up with me, and his hand was reaching into the inside of his coat. I reminded myself that he was an Artificer, the same kind of person that had made the guns, that had made the collars and keys, and that undoubtedly held several foul surprises on his person. “I doubt you even know what those words mean,” he sneered.

“Careful,” Kate said. She positioned herself to the side but still between both Gregory and myself, ready to intervene, perhaps. I hoped at least. But her presence granted me some courage to further push. Every second spent arguing here was another second for Larissen to return. And afterall that, I still had plenty of anger to vent, and allowing him to continue molesting my character would set an unfortunate precedent. But mostly, despite the logic, it was the anger and weakened state that pushed me.

However, anger was no excuse to escalate. I needed to regain myself and recompose. But as I went to de-escalate, I looked upon his gloating visage and my temper flared once more.

“What else should I call a little boy who chooses to fight his allies in the face of adversity?” I growled.

Ken snorted a laugh, interjecting. “Point. Not that you’re much better, cat.”

Before Gregory could lash out, Muleater snapped everyone out of the argument.

“Enough. Just. Enough. The wyrkwik are coming and we need to move. So stop and finish putting your boots on!” she finished, snarling and pointing her blade at Gregory, where he still held one boot in his hand where he had been loosening the laces. “Or don’t and walk barefoot.”

Gregory’s mouth opened, “Oh.” He leaned over and started doing just that, lacing his boots up. Why he did so, he continued grumbling, “doesn’t change my point.”

“What?” Muleater snapped at him.

“...nothing,” he grumbled.

“That’s better.”

Unfortunately, I had yet to think of a way to alter the party’s course to abandon Larissen. It would be the expected course of action. No subtle manipulations would alter such a bulk condition in such a short period of time. I would need to spend my social currency and act bluntly.

But we had yet to leave, and I still had a chance to sway their course of action, however slim that chance was.

“We can’t abandon him!” I said, cringing at the desperation that tinted my words.

“I know it’s tough,” Kate told me.

At the same time that Muleater said, “-We are unable to hold this position. You yourself brought this warning to us. We would be fools to not act.”

“Perhaps if you had any more of those vials?” Manny Stillson asked.

Suddenly, I regretted my choices to give all of that leverage to Larissen. A single vial would have worked just the same, while I could have kept the remaining. I did not anticipate the need to renegotiate before his return. And I really should have.

I shook my head, “But Larissen will return with them, and possibly more if he found the alchemist.”

“It would be good Chargers spent after bad, I am afraid,” Manny said in a falsely apologetic tone.

Another wave of anger passed through me.

Was Larissen equitable to goods?

Was I?

Was that all the Caravan Master saw in us?

Of course it was. I had already known that. And I had willingly thrown my lot in with them. I was not a human. I had to keep reminding myself of that. These were not my people, because of the societal barriers that humans had erected, that I doubted would ever be torn down.

This was irrational. I was acting irrationally. But at the same time, it was impossible to act otherwise.

I backed away from them, from Gregory, from Kate. They all seemed to loom threatening over my short stature.

“No,” I said, hesitatingly, fearfully, but courageously all the same.

“Wha–?” Kate started to ask, but I turned and fled towards the narrow cramped offshooting passage that Larissen had entered.

They shouted. I could not be bothered to care.

“Leave her,” one of them said.

“No!” Kate shouted again, chasing after me, into the narrow passage.

I banged my stump of an arm on a wall as I crawled and angled myself through the tight passage, barely fitting.

“Just wait!” Kate demanded, squeezing into the passage after me. She latched onto my ankle.

I kicked.

“Let go!” I shouted.

“I’ll carry you! It’ll be fine! You and I–”

“-No! I’m not a–just no! Let go!” I kicked at her hand once more.

The other humans were shouting behind us, out in the larger crevasse, not that it mattered. They would not follow. I was surprised that Kate had, to be honest. Not that it mattered. I kicked again, flailing.

The grip loosened.

I slipped out and pushed further into the narrow passage.

Kate scrambled after me, slower, due to her bulk.

The humans tried stopping her, but I hardly noticed. I had to find Larissen. He would have the vials, he would have the leverage, he would see me as more than a trade goods.

“Stop!” Kate shouted after me, still pursuing, just a bit slower. “You’ll die! Your wounds will open. We can figure it out!”

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“No!” I shouted back.

Trackless Tracks: 7/9 (+1)

I squeezed and scrambled through a turn in the passage, and came out into a wider atrium, where the wall had split, and a seemingly natural cavern descended, away from the crevasses and potential of convoluted paths to the sky.

Kate came out after.

If not for her pursuit, I would have marveled. It had been a while since I had seen the sky. And here, in this atrium, at the bottom of a massive stone pit, I could see it far overhead. Even the overcast sky could not ruin the moment. And then there was the cavern, descending from the atrium on the opposite side of the pit, from where I had emerged.

As I saw no one else in the pit, Larissen must have traveled down there.

I was already putting distance between her and me, between the crack in the wall that we had emerged from, taking a few hesitant steps into the cavern. I felt some reluctance in venturing underground, but it was the only path that Larissen could have taken, and I did smell his trail heading that way, along with the caustic burnt hair smell that I had begun associating with the alchemist.

“Just wait!” Kate shouted, easily catching up with her broad steps. Her arms came around, to either side, I dove forward, but she had come in too fast. Her arms wrapped around my chest and lifted me up, my feet kicking futile in the air.

“No!” I said, thinking frantically. “You aren’t getting me back out through that hole. Not without Larissen.”

It was true, the passage we came through was narrow enough that I doubted she could force me through, not when I was kicking and fighting for all I was worth.

She scoffed, “Could always knock you out.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“If you keep acting like a dumb animal, I might.”

That gave me pause. And then anger revived, bubbling up and overflowing through my mouth like toxic sludge.

“Is that what I am to you?” I snarled. “Then why don’t you let me leave. Let. Me. Go.”

“I–” Kate paused. I had stopped struggling. It was both undignified, hurt my position, and just hurt, in general. I was hanging limply in her arms, very cognizant of the firm muscles, even beneath the thick cloth jacket. “-I didn’t mean that. It’s just–”

“Just what.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m not an object to be lost!” I said, ignoring other ramifications, still suffering from the geyser of anger that these insufferable humans left me with. “You collared me. You amputated me. You treat me like subhuman filth!”

“It’s–” Kate was growing flustered, her breath hot on my ears, tickling them. “-that’s–you know it’s not what I meant!” she sounded offended.

“You didn’t mean to collar me?” I asked mockingly. “You didn’t mean to lock me in a cage?”

“Yeah, but that was before I knew you.”

“So, it’s excused then?!” I hissed. My anger had peaked and was now ebbing, leaving me exhausted body and soul, but not mind. I needed to calculate a way to retrieve Larissen. How could I influence this conversation? Kate was flustered, she was digging a proverbial hole–then the idea hit me. “Tell me why then. Why should I forgive, because mother knows I’ll never forget!”

“Wha–? Look,” she said. “You’re different. I didn’t realize just how different. But if you were a regular kunny, then I would never have fallen for you.”

I scoffed. “And that excuses how you treated me? How humans treat us?”

“Why’re you so insistent on lumping yourself in with these other animals?” Kate asked angrily, some spittle flying loose from her lips and landing on my fur.

“Why?! Because you and the world see me as one already!” I shouted.

“Yeah, but they aren’t human!”

“I’m not human!” I shrieked.

“But the way you act–it’s just like a human. You’re just like one of us, just… just… with deviations.” She justified, more to herself than to me. I was unsure what she even meant by deviations. Unless she thought I was some mutant, escaped from a carnie show.

“You’ve known me for what, a few days?” I asked. “What happens when your infatuation with me ends?” I would have glared at her to make my point, but she was still holding me firm, my back against her chest.

“That’s not going to ever happen,” she insisted.

“But how can I trust that?! All I know is how you humans behave. And it’s not great.”

“They just need to get to know that you’re different, then they’ll accept it! And if not, I’ll protect you.” She seemed so confident that she could protect me. But could she, against all the other humans? Would she stand by what she was saying now? What about when the world turned against her? For some reason, I doubted it.

“There’s a problem with that plan of yours,” I said.

“What?” she asked.

“This all depends on you! What if–when–you change your mind?”

“Yeah, but I won’t.”

“But what if you do?” I insisted, hoping to make her see the folly she was asking me to commit too.

She groaned. “How can I convince you otherwise? Name it. Let me prove I’m serious here.”

I scoffed, shaking my head, cooling down somewhat. I could at least get her to help me, if she was going to harass me then she might as well be useful.

“Help me find Larissen,” I said. “Prove that you’ll put a Kaiva first before the humans.”

She paused.

“Like I thought.”

“No–It’s… it’s just not easy, yeah?”

I scoffed in disgust, hitting her with my head. “Let me go,” I demanded.

“You–this isn’t that simple!” she protested. “You’re asking me to go against orders!”

“Like that makes a difference to you. I’ve seen you go against orders before.”

“Not an important one like this. The wyrkwik could already be attacking the group!”

I thought I would have heard the sounds of combat, if that were so. Even echoing through the narrow passage. However, that was not the case.

“This proves it.” I said, letting loose a bitter laugh. “I knew I couldn’t trust you. I’m just a novelty. You don’t really care.”

“I do!” she said, lying, I was certain.

“Then prove it.” I crossed my arm across my chest.

She hesitated, before nodding, and setting me down. “Fine. Fine!” she shouted. “Let’s make it quick. He couldn’t have gone far.”

An awkward moment passed where neither of us moved. She was still holding me. Her breath, her chest moving, pressed against my back, my tail wrapping around her thigh; even though we had both exhausted strong emotions, or perhaps because of it, I grew incredibly aware of her body, and the surface between her and I. From the way her breath hitched, I thought she might have experienced that as well.

And then she swept me up further and cradled me and began a brisk yet careful pace further down into the cavern.

“You know I don’t think you’re an animal, yeah?” Kate asked out of nowhere as she continued carrying me. The argument must have been bothering her. Which was good. It should be bothering her.

I shook my head and clamped my mouth shut. She certainly could have fooled me. Normally caging a person is reserved for after the second date. However, the argument was immaterial, and we had a vested interest in avoiding alerting any potential enemies of our position: sound had a way of traveling through these caverns.

But Kate was missing the hint, and she continued to keep the conversation going.

“Why’re you so insistent on finding this–guy?” Kate asked, though she seemed to have swapped in a different word at the end of that sentence there. Or perhaps I was projecting, but I had a feeling it would have been less than complimentary.

This question I could answer. But again, discussion would be counterproductive. Instead I gave the shortest answer I could think of, if perhaps a bit curt.

“Do you normally abandon your allies?” I asked, answering her question with a question.

“He abandoned you first,” Kate said in a hushed tone. “He made you look like a fool. He tried luring you away to kill you. How did he get you so wrapped and twisted?” she asked. “You should be happy I want you to come with us without him.”

Those were legitimate points. I suppose, given the dearth of better options, I had been latching on to suboptimal alliances. But in Larissen’s point, he only ever betrayed me when his sister’s life was on the line. I suppose I took too long considering, as she took my nonresponse as a point.

“Exactly,” she said. “So why are you sticking your neck out for him now?”

There were a lot of reasons. A lot of tactical, important reasons. But before I could answer that, she tacked on another question, and this one far more accusatory.

She continued, “More than that, why are you sticking out mine and everyone else’s neck?”

“You followed me,” I said simply, trying to keep the emotions from spilling over. “I tried to go alone. You–” I swallowed and really tried to drive this home through her thick skull “-you followed me.”

“To try and stop you!” she insisted. “To save you!”

By this point, all considerations for stealth had been forgotten. Kate and I were now in a battlefield of words, where she and I both fought for supremacy in a cold war of ambushes and feints. Or, more likely, my fever had begun actively degrading cognitive functions. Regardless, I would not give in this time. There needed to be some degree of mutual respect.

“It was not your right!” I said. “I don’t belong to you.”

“Well maybe you should!”

“Excuse me?”

“...” she paused, before doubling down. “Clearly you aren’t making great decisions. You want me to just let you run off and die? How far can you even walk right now? For the crown’s sake! I’m carrying you right now, as we speak!”

I shut down. I could not be owned. The very thought of it left me in a state of impotent fury that left me sputtering, spitting, and snarling. When I realized I could not speak, at least not in any language Kate would recognize, I began flailing, twisting, kicking, and even biting, all in a messy confrontation to attempt and secure my freedom.

I would not be owned. I just… would… not!

My left stump began bleeding, the wound opened from the sealed flesh. My sides twinged and almost snapped. My jaws latched onto Kate’s shoulder, and I bit as hard as I could, but apparently not hard enough to even draw blood.

I saw red. I heard it. All I could taste was this strange energy that refused to make sense, refused to rationalize, and superseded all thought. Was I feral? The thought caused my anger to only grow. A toe claw latched on below Kate’s chin. I kicked as hard as I could. Nothing ripped, nothing tore, only my flesh and bones were strained. I panted for breath, I had to release her shoulder.

A pressure wrapped around me. A white static. Diffuse heat.

After an indeterminate amount of time, my breathing evened out. I had overreacted. My cheeks heated; my ears and tail wilted. Not good. Not good at all. But salvageable. Emotional outbreaks were allowed, and if performed in moderation, could garner sympathy. Sometimes. Depending on previous relations.

I finally realized where the pressure was coming from.

Kate had stopped walking, choosing instead to lean against a wall and slide down, with me now wrapped strongly in her arms, on her lap, with her squeezing me just on the verge of discomfort. She had even been rocking. Her breath was like thunder to complement the galloping of my heartbeat.

Several deep breaths later, my wits completely returned.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Kate apologized, or came as close to it as I had ever heard. “I’ll never think of you as property, I swear.”

“Or an animal?” I asked quietly. I hated that I sounded that weak. But honestly, I would have chosen to sound that way, even if I were strong. It was too useful to foster the impression to leverage my… rigorous outburst.

“Or that,” she said.

“What–” I started to ask, but several questions competed for supremacy, until finally I settled on the most important one and changed course. “-how long did we waste?” I asked.

“Too long.”

“And we were too loud…” I sighed regretfully, not feigned this time. “I’m sorry. I–I overreacted.”

That was only a slight lie.

“A bit,” she nodded, agreeing, seemingly accepting the apology though.

I narrowed my eyes.

She should have rejected it.

She must have felt me tense, as she added hastily, “But I could have chosen my words better.” She climbed to her feet, still holding me. “And you’re still not fit to walk. Think we’ll find Larss soon?”

“Larissen,” I corrected idly. “And I hope so.”

Featherlight: 5/9 (+1)

We had turned down towards the cavern and began walking. As the element of stealth could not even be pretended, we continued chatting in low voices. After some time, I heard soft steps padding towards us. They were close. In the gloom, I thought I saw a feline figure stalking towards us. My lips pulled back and my ears perked up.

“Larissen,” I said.

Kate froze, then let me down to my feet and put a hand on her sword hilt, ready for confrontation. I ignored her, still focused on Larissen.

“Did you find him?” I asked, referring to the alchemist he had been scouting for.

Larissen hissed. “This one failed. His scent disappeared.”

“This was all for nothing then?!” Kate near-shouted, blame and condensation dripping from her tone. “Fallen gods take your hide!” She glared at Larissen. “You said Charson came this way!”

“Yes. As the prey did…” he paused warily, eyeing me in her arms. “Why this aggression?”

I interjected before Kate could pick a fight with Larissen. “The mikuya were approaching our position,” I said.

“And the the humans did not leave?”

“They wanted to. I–we–came to find you.”

Larissen remained silent for a time, considering.

“If this is a bust we need to head back,” Kate said, spinning around and leaving, without carrying me. It would be the first time that I had to actually walk in a while, and I relished the opportunity to exert my independence. At least I did until I took several steps, and found my legs uncoordinated. I stumbled along until Larissen steadied me.

“What happened?” I asked him.

“The scent disappeared. This one ranged further ahead and found no signs. No cracks or hidden passages were found. The prey frustrates the hunt.”

“We told you the Alchemist was tricky,” Kate said from up ahead. “He could have made a tincture to fool you.”

“Unlikely,” Larissen spat, offended.

“Do you still have those two vials?” I asked.

He nodded, but made no motion to return them.

“At least we got something out of this,” Kate grumbled. “Those might be the only thing that save us now.”

Blessings: Rank (1/9)

* Body: 65

* Mind: 75

* Spirit: 49

Talents:

* Athleticism (3/9):

* Climbing I (1/9)

* Featherlight (5/9) (+1)

* Stealth I (3/9)

* Trackless Tracks (7/9) (+1)

* Alchemical Immunity (ineligible for growth)

* Eschiver (1/9)

* Evasion (5/9)

Spells:

* Illusion I (5/9)

* Touch (6/9)

* Closed

* Closed

Gifts:

* Obsession (3/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)