The two stared at each other for a good while. Caden seemed too tired and shaken up from their dream to fully process that there was a cat on their blanket, while the cat seemed to be perfectly comfortable and enjoying the warmth of the blanket and the other. The sun had started to rise outside, the soft red and orange tones of the morning sky peeking in through the curtains of the window. It appeared that they hadn’t slept all too long. Gently sitting up without moving the cat too much, Caden rubbed their eyes and looked around the room. Zaida and Hale were still sleeping on the other bed, it was a big mess of blankets and pillows the two were sleeping in, but at least they seemed comfortable enough.
Their gaze fell back down onto the cat which was still staring up at them. Caden wondered how the cat could have possibly gotten into the room, the windows were closed overnight and when they examined the room earlier they didn't notice any cat doors or anything for it to get in. Maybe they just didn't pay enough attention and the cat had been inside the entire time. The soft orange coloured cat started to cuddle into the blanket and gently purred, not minding the witch all too much. “This bed is quite comfortable, huh.” Caden said quietly as they moved their hand over the blanket, trying to pet the cat. Just as their hand touched the small cat, it jumped at the sudden contact and ran off, leaving a heart broken Caden behind.
The cat disappeared behind one of the drawers and upon closer inspection, Caden could see a small hole in the wall behind it. So that's how it got inside. After the witch had gotten up, they tried to quietly move across the room to get dressed and ready in the bathroom. They didn't want to wake up the other two afterall. As for Ithil, the spot where he had slept was seemingly cleared already, the sleeping mat was neatly rolled up and tied together while his bags were already packed and ready to go again. Seems like he didn't sleep all too long either. Their head still felt a little dizzy as they washed their face, Caden couldn't get that weird dream they had out of their head.
It wasn't like they never had weird dreams before, it was actually quite common that Caden dreamt about weird things. They usually happened right before something was to happen. It always left them pretty confused but it had never ended in a headache like this. Caden shook it off and blamed it on their own nervous feeling before stepping out of the bathroom and into the hallway outside of the guest room. It looked a lot friendlier now that natural light came in from the window, they could argue that a hallway that was decorated to look a bit older while being dimly lit was quite the unsettling image. They didn't like dimly lit areas like a narrow hallway at all. “Good morning Caden.”
The soothing voice of Tori called out as she had just exited her room. The witch rubbed their head a bit and waved slightly, making their way over to the other. “Morning.” “Did you sleep well? I hope that the guest room was big enough for all four of you.” Tori asked as she chuckled at the other's drowsy appearance. “It is probably the most comfortable thing I'll have slept on for the next while. From here on out it'll be the dirty floor and run down motels…” They slumped over and leaned onto the railing of the stairs, whining at their sleeping situation. They weren't one for camping outside, as much as they loved spending time in nature. Something about a good night's rest in a nice and warm bed was so much more charming than any air mattress ever.
“Isn't that the exciting part? Venturing out into the world and not knowing where you'll stay and how you'll manage to get to your destination. Those sorts of challenges make a journey worth the effort, wouldn’t you say so?” She gently placed her hand on Caden’s shoulder to encourage them a little bit though it wasn’t too effective. “I’m heading downstairs to have breakfast with the others, you could join us if you’d like. Your friend is there already too I believe.” Tori gave Caden a soft smile as they looked up, nodding at the suggestion. “Actually yeah, I haven’t had proper food since we got here-” They mentioned once realising just how hungry they actually were.
After that chase through the forest yesterday, their energy resources must have hit a critical low. That’s not a good thing for someone who is about to venture out into the unknown, they’ll need all the power they could possibly get. Both of them went down the flight of stairs and Tori led Caden into the kitchen where a small table had been set up already. Owl and Ithil were already sitting at the table while Tim was busy cursing over the stove top which didn’t seem to work as the young fox had wanted it to. “Good morning Caden! I heard you got back safely again yesterday, next time you shouldn’t go out alone…” Owl happily greeted the witch while pulling out the chair from below the table next to them.
As Caden sat down on the chair, Owl handed them a glass and started placing a plate and some utensils down in front of them. The air was filled with the pleasant smell of freshly baked goods and scrambled eggs. Caden’s usual breakfast consisted of dried fruits and a slice of toast with butter on it at best, they usually didn’t have the time to make something more fancy. The food prices for eating out in the Hexdom weren’t all too great either so they rarely ate out. “Would you like some orange juice?” Owl asked Caden, who was curiously watching Tim cook. “Yes please!” Carefully the other witch filled Caden’s glass with the orange juice. It had a vibrant orange colour, just as you would want it from fresh oranges.
“We might need a new stove soon if you keep aggressively using it, Tim-” Tori pulled back the fox with a concerned expression on her face, the poor stove top already had some scratches on it and looked pretty worn. “Well it doesn’t work properly either so we might as well get a new one already!-” Tim replied, pulling away from Tori and continuing to aggressively make scrambled eggs. At this point they could be considered pulverised eggs… Tori grabbed the plates from the table and placed a few slices of fresh bread onto them. She waited patiently for Tim to finish the egg abuse before she put portions of the scrambled eggs onto each plate.
“Here you go everyone, please enjoy.” She placed the plates in front of each of them and then sat down herself, pouring a cup of tea for herself and Ithil who thanked her quietly. Tim placed himself in between Caden and Tori and began happily eating from the food, occasionally dropping some crumbs of the bread onto the floor. It was then that Caden realised that there were crows inside of the kitchen, either hurrying onto the floor to grab some of the crumbs or sitting on the shelves and watching everything from above. “Is this even sanitary?-” They asked hesitantly, they counted a total of 8 crows at the time. This was the kitchen of the café afterall, animals should be kept out of kitchens for health reasons.
“Do you have a problem with them being here?” Tim said in a rather threatening tone of voice while he smiled at Caden, scaring the witch ever so slightly. “Be polite, Tim.” Tori gave him a nudge while he started to giggle, placing a crumb of bread onto Caden’s shoulder. Immediately after, one of the crows landed on there and started to poke them, trying to get the piece of bread. “They’re friendly as long as you give them food. They are also very clean.” Tim shooed the crow off of Caden’s shoulder again, resulting in a sigh of relief from them. “Besides, Owl can clean the kitchen with their magic before we prepare anything else. It wouldn’t even cost us much effort!” “Maybe for you it wouldn’t, it’s still a difficult spell-”
Owl kicked Tim’s leg under the table and frowned, they were not happy about the idea of them cleaning up after someone else’s mess. Especially bird poop. Tim kicked back even stronger, making Owl smack their knee against the table and sob in pain. “That’s what you get, this is my kitchen so I’ll make the rules!” Tim celebrated in triumph as Caden watched the situation, the cook of the café seemed quite passionate and maybe a bit rough. “No fair, you know I get bruises easier than you-” Owl whined and rubbed their knee, it already looked pretty red from just one kick. “That’s because you are weak and you also uhhhh-” Tim thought for a moment. “You’re lame too!”
After a couple more quiet remarks from Owl, it was quiet again. Ithil and Tori both sipped their tea quietly while everything went on, they didn’t seem to want to bother with the two bickering at all. Caden seemed to be the only concerned one at the table. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be coworkers? You shouldn’t argue like that, especially not while sitting at the table and eating breakfast.” They called out the two who were now looking at Caden confused. Tim was the first one to start laughing. “This is how they normally interact with each other, it might seem like they argue a lot but it’s usually just a joke.” Tori explained as she set down her cup of tea.
“Though I would appreciate it if you didn’t kick each other next time, alright? You should know better than that, especially you Owl.” Owl returned Tori’s lecture with a gentle nod while looking down, taking a small bite out of one of the bread slices. “Your concern is appreciated though, Caden.” She smiled and continued on with her own food. They all continued eating now, some friendly banter happening here and there but no major conversations were struck. Caden noticed that specifically Ithil was rather quiet. Not that they had any intentions of striking a conversation with the Elf, they just thought he would be more talkative.
Once everyone had finished their food, Tim and Tori started to clear the table and wash the dishes. They seemed pretty efficient, though it was understandable for them, they had a whole café to run so something as simple as washing the dishes was probably the least they could do. Owl had gotten up to grab some papers from another table. “Caden, do you think we could talk a bit about the magic spells that you got taught at your school? I’ve been curious since yesterday!” Happily returning and sitting down, Owl handed the paper to Caden and gave them a pen. “You could also write down some spells for me to look up later!” They seemed rather enthusiastic.
“Wow, someone seems awfully excited about studying this early in the morning, hm?” While the two witches were discussing some spells, Mr Coffee came into the kitchen with two bowls in his hands. He was followed by the one eyed cat that Caden scared away earlier and another cat, this one was a lot bigger and had dark fur. “Good morning Mr Battery Acid.” Tim grinned while waving at the older witch. “I told you not to call me that, where did you even get that from?-” Obviously dumbfounded by the oddly specific nickname from the fox, Mr Coffee put down the bowls onto the ground in one corner of the room and started filling them with food.
“There’s all sorts of synonyms for the word coffee, you know. I could go on like this forever, Mr Mud.” He teased the man while continuing with the dishes. Mr Coffee turned and stared at the fox awfully disturbed, almost spilling the food he was filling into the bowls. “How does that even have anything to do with coffee-” He whined a bit, stepping away from the bowls and letting the two cats dig in, gently stroking the smaller cat. “Let me guess, a certain pale individual inspired you to start calling me that.” He crossed his arms over his chest, already suspecting that the café’s house vampire was to blame. “Don’t worry, Sir Butterknife isn’t safe from it either.” Tim mentioned before moving out of the kitchen.
The older witch chuckled at the comment and went to grab a mug, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “At least that.” Before he could get awfully comfortable though, Tori already pulled him aside to discuss today’s menu and working hours. It must be awfully difficult for so few people to run a whole café on their own, at least that’s what Caden thought. Before long, Mr Coffee came over to the table and stood beside Owl, placing his hand on their head and gently patting it. “And what are you guys up to?” He smiled as he glanced onto the papers the two had scribbled on for the past couple of minutes, filling it with all sorts of spell descriptions and other things.
Owl proudly held up one of the papers to the other, pointing at one specific description on it. “Caden is teaching me so many new things, look! This is so much easier to understand than those old books!” They happily called out while Mr Coffee looked over the paper, he seemed quite content with it. “This is actually a really good explanation, you wrote this Caden?” His gaze fell onto Caden who replied with a firm nod, grinning at the other. “I was the top graduate in my class, this is mere childsplay, really! Of course I will write the best explanations!” Caden bragged while doing some weird pose, it was almost embarrassing to watch for Ithil. “Aren’t you confident, Caden.” Mr Coffee replied with a slight chuckle.
Owl stared at Caden in awe, obviously impressed by the others' ability and confidence. Something that they lacked a bit themselves. “Why don’t you stay here and you can continue to teach me!” They grabbed onto Caden’s arm happily and shook them slightly. Even Ithil, who had been reading a book ever since they finished eating breakfast earlier, raised his head and put his attention onto the two. “I’m not fit to be a teacher, trust me-” Caden chuckled awkwardly, they remembered that time they were forced to teach a group of first graders back in the Hexdom, it ended terribly. As much as they love the attention and the fact that everyone has to listen to them, in the end they would just feel bad for not teaching things properly.
“Besides, as much as I would like to stay, I still have my own duty to fulfil.” Couldn’t forget about the actual reason why they were there. “But!-” Owl couldn’t quite understand and wanted Caden to stay. “Don’t worry, it’s not like they will be gone forever. They might be busy right now but who knows, maybe they’ll come by every once in a while after that.” Mr Coffee sighed and rubbed Owl’s back, trying to soothe the other. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll have time to come back! You can bet on that!” Caden encouraged Owl as well, promising that they’d return. They didn’t quite know how long the entire mission would take but it shouldn’t take long, especially since they didn’t have a lot of time anyway.
“Speaking of that, what ARE you guys even doing? You wanted to go to Nymphs Creek, right?” Owl looked over at Caden curiously while Mr Coffee gave Owl a pat on the back before going back over to the cats to take the now empty bowls. The dark cat finished way ahead of the orange cat and had climbed onto one of the counters in the kitchen, watching as the other cat struggled to get up too. The older witch picked it up and gave it a gentle head pat before placing it down next to the darker cat. “Yes, we will go there to get the-” Before Caden could continue speaking, Ithil interrupted them. “We've been sent by our respective Kingdoms to have an audience with the ruler of the Nymph Kingdom.”
Ithil shifted on his chair and turned towards Mr Coffee. “We need to discuss important and urgent matters with them which is why we will be leaving as soon as possible. You said you had a map of the passage to Nymphs Creek, could we borrow it for the time being?” He glanced at him through his crystal clear lenses, his expression wasn't as stern as it would usually be, perhaps because he was asking for something. Mr Coffee nodded and asked Ithil to come with him to a different room to go get the map in question. “You guys work directly for the four Kingdoms?” Owl asked Caden while trying not to get too excited, they really seemed to find every detail about them interesting.
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Caden was hesitant with answering, judging by the fact that Ithil interrupted them, it meant that they shouldn't tell too many details of their actual mission. They didn't quite understand why, the people of the café had given them a place to stay and were helping them find the way to the Nymph Kingdom, they had the right to know why they were doing what they were doing. Their specific order said nothing about keeping it a secret. “The Kingdoms chose the best of the new generation to fulfil a very important duty for them. Our first stop is Nymphs Creek but we have to travel through all of the other Kingdoms too. Apparently the other three will be way worse to get into…”
Caden wondered how they would even manage to get there. Overall, they had been given an order in which they should visit the Kingdoms to make sure that their journey would go as smoothly as possible. Their first stop was obviously Nymphs Creek, after that they were instructed to somehow make it into the Human Kingdom, which has been isolated from the rest of the Garden ever since it formed. And if that wasn't difficult enough, the next stop would be the Vampire Kingdom, a place that Caden specifically was terrified of entering, partially because of their prior interaction with Sir Blade. Not to mention that if they made it that far, the Ice Spirit Kingdom at the end of their journey would definitely be their end.
There was no need to worry about anything though, at least that's what Caden had to tell themselves. They were chosen for a reason and for that, they would give it their all to get through whatever challenge lies ahead. “Let me guess, you are not allowed to talk about what exactly you are doing?” Breaking the silence with their question, Owl started to collect all of the papers on the table again and stored them away safely in a drawer. “I never got the instruction to not share it with anyone specifically but four eyes would probably not want me to, for whatever reason.” Caden made sure that Ithil was not right outside of the room to hear what they were saying.
“I wouldn't tell anyone else if you told me.” Owl quietly mentioned as they gently stroked through the fur of the dark cat, it seemed to not like that at all but still let the witch do it anyway. “You don't have to tell me but who knows, maybe I could help you with whatever you are doing.” Caden considered for a moment before giving in, it's not like it would be the end of the world if they told someone else. They got up as well and went close to Owl, making sure that it would be just the two of them that heard it. “Basically we want to collect petals from each Kingdom to revive the Divine.” Caden whispered to Owl to which they got a very surprised expression in return.
There was a long moment of silence between the two, Caden was awaiting a response from the other witch while Owl had to wrap their head around what Caden had just said first. “Why are you looking at me like I just said something crazy?-” Caden finally broke the silence while stepping back a bit, they didn’t like that it took this long for Owl to answer. “Because you just did! Do you even know how insane that idea is?! Not just the overall idea, it’s already hard enough to believe that anyone would be able to revive the Divine, but also the question of why anyone would ever want to do that? No mortal should go anywhere near the Divine’s actual powers!”
Caden quickly covered Owl’s mouth as they practically shouted their response towards them. “Will you be quiet!-” They whispered harshly while slowly removing their hand from Owl’s mouth once they calmed down, hoping that they wouldn’t continue to scream more. Luckily it seemed like no one heard what they said. “Sorry, it’s just-” Owl took a second to rethink their thoughts again and form better sentences than the ones they yelled at Caden prior to that. “Is that really your goal?” “Yes.” “ The Alliance of the Kingdoms really decided on messing with the Divine?” “Yes.” “Are you sure-” “I think I was the one that was there when they gave out the mission, there’s no reason for you to doubt that.”
Caden frowned and crossed their arms across their chest, they weren’t sure why Owl wouldn’t believe them but it was clear that their back and forth would get them nowhere. “The corruption of the divine Flowers is growing worse and worse every day, I’m sure the people here in City X must have noticed that too. The only way for us to finally banish all corruption, and the Orange Eye with it, is to heal the flowers with the magic that created them.” Caden explained. It seemed like Owl was slowly starting to understand exactly what Caden was talking about. “And the only one that can use that magic is…” “The Divine.” Owl said quietly before looking into Caden’s eyes with a concerned expression.
“I was right then. All those attacks and the sudden destruction of the city recently, it wasn’t just some random thing that happened, the Garden is actually dying…” Their gaze fell towards the ground as they began to shift in their spot. “Mr Coffee kept reassuring us that it was nothing to worry about and that the Garden would soon enough recover by itself but… that’s not the truth, is it?” There was a tiny glimpse of hope in their eyes as Owl looked up at Caden, who could only return a silent nod. “Our duty is probably the most important one there will ever be.” Caden replied, letting out a long sigh. They didn’t like when the mood in any situation turned sad and gloomy.
“But there is nothing to worry about!” They suddenly exclaimed, causing Owl to flinch a bit at the sudden shift of tone. “I’m more than capable of getting all of those petals and reviving the Divine! In case you didn’t know, I am actually quite incredible-” Owl couldn’t help but giggle at that comment, it relieved Caden that they at least managed to cheer them up after they brought about the negative mood through their talk. “Are you really that strong?” Owl asked the other, who clearly seemed offended by the question. “Of course! I guess I also have the other three to help me though…that’s more than enough to get the job done!” Caden wouldn’t admit that they were also worried about how impossible it seemed.
“This will be our secret though, right?” Caden held onto Owl’s shoulder and looked at them with a bright smile on their face. Owl could only shyly return the smile as they nodded, though they still felt concerned in one way or another. “I promise that I won’t tell anyone how incredible you are.” They chuckled before getting back to work and cleaning up in the kitchen, mostly stacking the now dried plates onto each other. “Hey, I don’t mind if you tell people how incredible I am as long as it’s not too specific!” Caden called out after Owl before leaving the kitchen, going through their hair with one hand and using the other to open the door.
“I would love to hear just how incredible you are, little Witch.” The monotone voice of none other than Ithil rang out as Caden bumped into him on their way around the corner, the taller of the two readjusting his glasses while looking down at them with a monotone expression that would match his voice. “All I know is that your voice is INCREDIBLY LOUD and that we could hear you shouting at Owl from over here.” He obviously didn’t seem too impressed by Caden’s conversation with Owl, whether he heard what exactly they were talking about or not was not quite obvious to the witch. “Jeez, sorry for being enthusiastic. You should try that sometimes too, four eyes.”
Caden brushed themselves off and backed away from the Elf, making sure that they wouldn’t try anything funny. Though, Caden wondered why they got the feeling of having to be on guard in Ithil’s presence. They were supposed to be on the same team so why did that Elf make it so hard to like him? “Did you get that map?” They changed the topic for good, trying to look around Ithil to see if Mr Coffee was anywhere nearby. “Mr Coffee is currently looking for it.” He answered as he leaned against the wall, his attention shifting from Caden to the hallway behind him. “Shouldn’t we help search for it? It’ll be way quicker if all three of us started looking for it.”
“Do you enjoy rummaging through things that aren’t your own or are you too dense to realise that we have already intruded on these people’s privacy more than enough?” The annoyed gaze that Ithil shot Caden couldn’t even be hidden by the Elf’s glasses, it was obvious that he was not in the mood to interact with Caden. Too bad that Caden couldn’t care less about that and that they didn’t think before they spoke. “You know, helping people find something is considered a kind act. I don’t think you’ve heard of it but it’s when you are kind to someone. You might have lacked that growing up-” Their tease brought them nowhere but being pressed against the wall as Ithil held them by their collar.
“How about I show you a kind act, hm?” His cold hand held tightly onto the fabric of Caden’s shirt as they struggled to get away. “Not so incredible now, are we?” His words were harsh as he kept pressing the witch more and more against the wall. Caden frowned and reached up to Ithil’s head, grabbing onto his hair and pulling down on it in an effort to break free from the other’s grip. They both continued to become more and more agitated, neither of them was going to let go any time soon, they were both too riled up for that. A firm pull finally brought the two apart as Mr Coffee grabbed both of their arms and pulled them away from each other.
“There’s no need for that, you two. Especially not inside.” He kept a firm grip on both of their arms for a few seconds longer to make sure the two wouldn’t immediately start fighting again. With a sigh, Mr Coffee let go of them and stood back, using the rolled up map he had in his hand to smack both of them onto their head. “Aren’t you two a team? At least try to act like it when you are around others.” He shook his head before walking past the two, greeting Zaida and Hale who would come downstairs just then. Caden watched the older witch before returning their gaze to Ithil, trying to read his expression. He, however, had fully turned away from the witch and started to walk away too now, joining the other two by the stairs.
“We already packed up everything upstairs, we can leave as soon as you guys are ready.” Zaida leaned over the railing of the stairs and called out to the two while Hale supported her idea via a thumbs up. “Good enough, let’s discuss our plan and then get going. The sun has already fully gone up.” Ithil replied as he moved to one of the tables in the café area in which Tori and Tim had been busy with getting everything ready for the new day. Mr Coffee brought over the map and rolled it out onto the table. “The Deep Swamp is the only passageway to Nymphs Creek that is accessible for non-nymph species that has been recorded up to this date. You’ll find it right there.”
Mr Coffee pointed at a small line on the map, dragging his finger across the smooth surface of the paper to show the exact way. “It’s a difficult path with many uneven parts to it, but that makes it a lot safer than some other places outside of the City. No monsters will make it through there, that’s for sure.” He explained as he took a step back again, letting the other three sit down at the table as well. “That’s about all that I know about the path, I’m afraid. I’m certain that you four can make it though. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you before you leave.” With a reassuring smile and a nod he went back to the kitchen to help the other three with the preparations.
Now it was just the four of them again. “So Caden, did you find your way back yesterday?” Zaida asked curiously as her tail gently swayed from one side to the other. “Of course, it was easy enough to get rid of one pesky monster!” They called out just to be shut down by Ithil’s voice again. “After the café owner had to go get them.” He mentioned before returning his attention back down onto the map. Zaida had to hold in her laughter as she watched Caden turn bright red, gently giving the witch a pat on the head. “Awww, our little Witch is embarrassed, hm? Don’t worry, there’s no shame in needing help every once in a while. That’s why they sent all four of us and not just one after all.”
Caden rolled their eyes at the comment and turned away, crossing their arms over their chest. “It’s not like I needed the help, I just so happened to stumble into him and we got back to the café together. I could have made it on my own.” They mumbled to themselves while Hale nodded along to their mumbling, trying to make the witch feel better by agreeing. “Whatever. What’s important now is that you don’t go running around on your own again once we leave the city, you got that? I don’t want to be the one to explain to the Queen of the Hexdom why her ‘best witch’ died before reaching even the first destination.” Ithil pushed the map over to Caden.
“Just to make sure that you were listening, why don’t you show us where the passageway to Nymphs Creek is?” His eyes fell onto the still slightly embarrassed and upset Caden, who gladly accepted the challenge even though they had not been paying attention beforehand. “That’s easy, it’s right there!” They said as they pointed at the first passageway they found on the map, awaiting Ithil’s response. Zaida took the map from Caden and placed it down properly again, this time showing the actual passageway that was on the complete opposite end of where Caden had thought it was. “You meant that it was right here, didn’t you? You just got the sides mixed up.”
She smiled at Caden who wouldn’t dare look at Ithil now, they already knew that his expression would either be one of severe annoyance or severe disappointment. They would not see any positive emotions from the Elf today, that the witch already knew for sure. “Good thing you aren’t going alone and have us as your team, wouldn’t you agree Caden? We all have our strengths and weaknesses after all, you shouldn’t worry about not being able to read the map.” Zaida encouraged the witch while handing the map back to Ithil, shaking her head at him to show that he shouldn’t comment on it. “We will make it to Nymphs Creek before the sun goes down.”
“That’s the plan for now, it all depends on if someone decides to be incompetent or makes us wait for them.” Ithil commented, earning himself a smack on the arm from Zaida. “Even if it takes a little longer, we will make it there together. We are not leaving anyone behind, you got that?” Zaida glared at Ithil and held her hand up as if to warn the Elf that he would earn another smack if he dared to comment again. “Fine by me, if it doesn’t end up being an inconvenience then we will wait even for Caden.” Even though he seemed to be agreeing, his expression said otherwise. He would most likely complain if Caden made them delay even just a tiny bit.
“Okay, everyone grab their things and check that we have everything before we go. Once that’s done, we’ll meet up back here and leave. Please make sure to not take too long!” Zaida reminded the three before everyone went off on their own, grabbing their belongings from the guest room and checking to see if anything was left behind. Caden had grabbed their bag from upstairs and came down the stairs right as Mr Coffee walked by, the older witch carrying the orange cat as he saw the other. “Caden, I haven’t gotten around to asking yet but how did you sleep last night? I hope the guest room was comfortable enough for you and your friends.”
“Oh, the room was alright, don’t worry about that. I already told Owl that the bed was almost more comfortable than my own.” They replied while placing their bag against the wall next to the exit of the café. “Is that so?” Said Mr Coffee as he followed them, putting down the cat and gently brushing his hand through her fur as she circled around his legs. “Though when it comes to sleeping, I didn’t get lucky last night.” Caden mentioned as they watched the cat, still feeling kind of bad for scaring it this morning. “Oh? May I ask why?” Mr Coffee looked at Caden curiously, he wasn’t quite sure how to take what the other just said. “I had a bad dream, I guess, I don’t know though.”
Caden crouched down to the cat and held out their hand, trying to pet the cat. “Funnily enough, once I woke up I saw this cat sitting on me. I’m not sure but it sort of calmed me a bit.” They smiled as the cat slowly came closer to their hand and started rubbing its head against it, purring softly. “Ah, MImi has that sort of effect on people. I’m not quite sure why but she seems to have a nose for people being nervous or afraid. She is scared of most things herself but always comes by when Owl is feeling nervous about work.” Mr Coffee smiled as he watched closely how the cat named MImi reacted to the other witch. “We rescued her a while back so I’m not too sure of her origin.”
“She looks like she has been through something, with the missing eye and all. No wonder you took her in, you guys are matching!” Caden blurted out again without thinking, though immediately realising that that comment might be a bit rude and inappropriate. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-” “It’s alright Caden.” He replied with a slight chuckle, gently placing his hand on the table next to him and leaning against it. “Sir Blade said the exact same thing when he brought her here, talking about how it was meant to be and all. Seems like you two would get along great.” He smiled, though Caden only returned an uncertain look. “I’m not too sure about that, last time I talked to him, he kinda tried to kill me-”
“Oh don’t take that to heart, he can be like that sometimes. I can assure you that he would never kill anyone, especially not a young witch like you. On purpose.” The last comment just made Caden even more certain that the two of them would not get along. After a while the other three slowly but surely also collected themselves around the front door with their things. It was time for them to go. “Thank you again for having us.” Zaida lowered her head towards Mr Coffee and Owl, who simply dismissed the formalities with a wave of their hand. “Please, it was our pleasure. If you ever need a place to stay, you can always come by. We’ll keep the room free for you.”
“You don’t have to-” Ithil denied though it was Owl who jumped in this time, giving them a thumbs up. “We insist! It’s not every day you get to meet and house very important people from the outside! Please do come back one day!” Owl called out to all four of them as they started to walk out of the café though it was clear they specifically meant Caden. They all waved goodbye as they made their way towards the outskirts of the city and away from the café again. “Alright guys, let’s focus on our mission. We don’t have all too much time to get all of these petals.” Zaida said as she pulled Ithil and Caden along.