“Thank you, young lady,” the older woman happily put her receipt away and nodded at me.

“Thank you as well, Miss Hurtzler. Please come again!” I waved her goodbye as she left my window.

Watching her go, I wondered what she was going to buy. She had withdrawn quite a sum. Nearly a thousand coins. It took me and two others to carry all her coins over. She had wanted smaller value coins, thus why she had wanted so many.

Two men were carrying her coins for her. Workers for her business, it seemed. They walked behind her slowly, since she herself walked so.

Glancing down at our copy of her receipt, I wondered how often people like her withdrew and spent such wealth. She had withdrawn nearly ten times more than that golden coin I had gotten on my first day working at the bank.

Sofia, when I had gone to get her verification stamp upon Hurtzler’s request, had told me that only a small portion of our clients had such funds in their accounts here.

The oddness of how humans and their markets worked was a good distraction for me. I was growing rather… restless, and I knew it was visible to everyone. Not just Vim and those who knew me better.

It’s been a week since those non-human’s had shown themselves on the roof. A week since I had bathed with Vim.

And still yet nothing had happened.

At first I had been… expectant. I had barely been able to sleep for the first few nights, since I had expected something to happen. Yet nothing had.

And not only had nothing happened yet… everyone seemed far too calm about it. No one seemed worried, or even wanted to talk about it. Everyone was just… basically back to normal. Working, or doing whatever they wanted to do. Most didn’t even talk about them anymore, unless prompted to.

Honestly people seemed… too happy. Too excited.

Everyone seemed to think that we’d soon be getting new members, possibly. And that made them excited. Happy. Hopeful.

But at the same time they knew it could become something dangerous and horrible… and as such knew better than to do anything but wait for the results. Though that might just be because they expected Vim to handle it.

Putting the copy of the receipt away, into a folder that would eventually need to be taken back to Sofia’s office… I looked up when someone walked up to my window.

I hadn’t called anyone over yet, and there hadn’t been many people in line either… so…

The young woman looked… normal for this area… but not really someone who would frequent the bank. At least, not someone who did so as a customer. She looked more like one of the human women who worked behind the counters, as I was doing, than someone who had money in an account here.

“Welcome to Animalia Bank! How can I help you?” I greeted her calmly as she glanced around.

“Hello… I was uh… told to give you this,” the woman said, a little hesitatingly.

I frowned as she placed something onto the counter, a little before the glass window.

A familiar feather.

I gulped at the sight of it. It matched, almost perfectly, the one that was now in my room. On my desk.

“What?” I asked her as I reached under the glass panel to grab it.

“I’m not sure… I was given a coin to give it to you. A boyfriend, maybe?” the woman giggled as she smiled, creating a story that fit her own fantasy.

Before I could say or do anything else the woman turned and hurried out, seemingly happy to accomplish her task.

Glancing down at the feather in my hand, I confirmed it was the same one as what I had found on the roof. It felt and looked the same… though the one in my room had been stained with blood, so it had been not as…

No. This one had blood on it too. Just not on the feather parts itself, but instead at the stem. A small stain of black…

Rubbing my thumb along the point, I sighed at the stain it left behind. It hurt her that badly to pull them out like this?

Stepping around the counter, I ignored the other human workers and headed for the door. It, thanks to being the middle of the day, was wide open. I paused before the door and looked out. To the street, and the city just beyond it.

I scanned the street first, which was silly. They’d not show themselves so blatantly… after scanning the rooftops, I finally found her.

Standing at just the edge of an alley, a small hooded figure.

It was her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Glancing around, I noticed that no other society members were nearby. The few women and men, employees of the guild, staring at me were doing so lazily. None seemed bothered by me.

Should I get Vim?

Yes. I should.

But…

But what if she ran away because of it?

Standing right before the door, I glanced down at the little slots where the bank’s doors latched and locked when closed. There were little thumb sized holes in the brick, where bars of metal slipped into.

If I stepped beyond those, outside of the building… not only would Vim become upset with me, so would everyone else.

They had voted for us to stay inside. To wait. To see what they’d do.

But something told me that she had done this on purpose. As to not confront Vim.

Gulping, I looked up at the girl. She had retreated into the alley a little deeper, but was still there. Waiting. Watching me.

With her feather in my hand I stepped out onto the sidewalk, and then I quickly crossed the street.

If something happened I’d just run back with all my might, to Vim.

I’d not go into the alley.

Just needed to talk to her…

Reaching the other side of the street, I slowed and hesitated as I glanced around. There were a few people walking around, but most of the people here were in carriages or on carts. Not many walked around here. Slowly approaching the alleyway, I studied the buildings. Warehouses. Closed ones. Ones the Animalia Guild owned, but rarely used.

Taking a deep breath as I stepped up to the edge of the alley, I nodded at her. “Hello,” I said to her.

She flinched at my voice, and I tried to smell for more than just her. I could smell her… and the stink of humans, and old wood and waste. Likely from the warehouses… but there was another scent too. One I didn’t recognize and I knew it was one of her friends.

The girl was wrapped in the same cloaks and jackets that she had been last time. Her entire body was covered in them… obviously being used to hide her non-human features. The problem though, was that it was a nice day today. It was warm, and there was little wind.

She looked out of place, all bundled up like that.

“Hello…” the girl finally whispered at me. I had barely heard her.

My heart heavily beat in my chest, and I realized this really was happening.

“You don’t need to leave the alley, but please get a little closer?” I asked her. I didn’t want to go into the alley. I could now smell someone else nearby. I could only smell one other unique scent, but odds are there were more.

The girl shook her head, and even took a step backwards away from me.

I frowned at her and wondered if that was what she wanted. For me to enter the alley, so they could hurt me or worse.

“My name is Renn… Please, don’t run away. Let’s talk a moment,” I said to her.

The girl shifted, and I noticed the way the layers of jackets and cloth moved. She had moved her arms oddly. Maybe she had crossed her arms?

Wait…

That woman. The one who had given me this feather… she had said it was possibly from my boyfriend.

Which meant the feather hadn’t been given by the girl, but…

“If you hurt me, that man you met last time... Vim. He’ll show up. And this time he won’t stop,” I warned her. Although I needed to say it, I did so carefully and without trying to sound too threatening.

The small girl groaned. A tiny little whimper of a sound filled the alleyway… then she gulped.

Before I could say anything more, noise drew my eyes to the building next to her. To her right… and…

I frowned as I watched an arm pop out from a hole under the building. Then another. After a few moments a lanky man pulled himself out from what looked like a broken gutter or basement window. He went to standing next to the young girl, staring at me with a rather confrontational look.

Great. I knew I had smelled another… but the scary thing was it wasn’t him. He stunk horribly. There was still another scent nearby. A third, at least.

And why had he crawled out of that hole?

“Who are you?” the man asked me.

Before answering him, I noted the tone in his voice.

He was scared.

“As I said, I’m Renn.”

“What are you?” the girl asked me. Her voice was light. Pure. Yet it shook. She was just as scared as he was.

“I’m a Jaguar,” I told them.

The two shifted, and glanced at one another. As the girl looked up at the tall, lanky, man I was able to see her feathers hidden beneath her heavy hood. Some looked far bigger than the one I held.

“What’s that?” the man asked me.

“A large cat,” I said. At least, so everyone was telling me. I’d not seen one myself.

“A cat?” they both said at the same time.

I blinked at their reactions, and felt a little foolish. Why did it feel like I was talking to children?

“What do you want from us?” I asked them.

They both glanced at one another again, and then the man nodded. She looked back at me, and pointed at the sky. “Can we meet later? At night?” she asked me.

“Where?” I asked.

“Your roof. Away from humans.”

I nodded. That was reasonable.

“Tonight,” the man said.

“Please… don’t bring anyone else…” the girl spoke softly, but seriously. Once she nodded, and I nodded back, she turned to leave with the man.

“Wait!” I stepped forward, dared to.

They both startled, but turned slowly and looked at me.

“How is she?” I asked.

For a long moment, I waited for their answer… and thought maybe they hadn’t understood me.

“Pulti is dying,” she said blankly.

He nodded, and then they both turned to go again. They hurried away down the alleyway, turning right into another alley not far from here.

Watching them go, I sighed and wanted to groan.

Dying.

Of course she is.

I turned around, and was about to hurry back across the street… until I ran into a man who was as unyielding as time.

“Oh… Hey Vim,” I smiled up at him, as he glared down at me.