Alwyn and Aliza headed off on their own to some secret destination. I have good intuition, and I had a feeling it had something to do with their treatment.
The two of them left the two of us, me and Liora, to... fish. We needed dinner, and Alwyn didn't feel like hunting.
So, he handed each of us a fishing rod and shooed us to the river.
"Are teacher and Aliza in love?"
"What are you talking about?" I sighed.
We were sat on a big boulder overlooking the water, waiting for bites.
"They sneak off together all the time. Aren't they totally kissing or something?"
"No... I guess no one told you. Aliza is sick. That's why she's traveling with us, so Alwyn can treat her."
"Sick? She looks fine to me."
"Nah, it's something bad. We're even traveling all the way to the capital for her treatment."
"So teacher really does like her."
"That's not it. Honestly, don't you have any observation skills? They hate each other. At least, Aliza hates his guts. But he's kind of indebted to her, so..."
"How come?"
"Aliza used to be a witch. She actually studied with Alwyn. But, things happened, and her mana pool was shattered. Now, she can't practice magic, and it's apparently all his fault."
"Wow... I didn't even know someone could lose the ability to use magic. That's so sad...!"
"Haaaah... yeah."
We sat for much longer, waiting for a bite. But no bites ever came.
"I'm done with this, obviously the bait isn't working or something!"
I leapt off the rock and rolled up my pants and sleeves. I was a lot more used to this than sitting idly.
I looked through the water, staying still and waiting for a passing fish. I held my breath, waiting.
"What're you doing? You aren't actually trying to catch a fish with your bare hands, are you?"
"Let me focus."
On instinct, I tore through the water and grabbed the darting fish. I tossed it up to Liora.
"Wow! That was impressive! But... isn't it kind of small?"
The fish in her hands was barely edible. It was practically a baby...
"None of these fish are any good... no wonder we weren't getting any bites. I bet there's something eating all the good ones up stream!"
I started running along the stream. If I was right, staying in our spot wouldn't yield any results no matter how long we waited.
"Hold on! I'm coming!"
I hid behind a tree as I approached the culprit.
"Quiet! Hide!"
Liora dramatically jumped into a bush.
What an idiot... but... am I seeing this correctly?
A few feet away, a massive pile of fresh, meaty fish sat on the riverbank. The collector wasn't a large bear as I'd expected. No, it was—
"OMG...! A kitty!"
"No, stop!"
Liora jumped out and ran at the small cat. I'll admit, the cat was very cute. But I wasn't surprised... I'd already seen this cat once before.
The cat spotted Liora running at it and started to run in the opposite direction. I began chasing the both of them.
The three of us ran through the woods, dodging trees and bushes. The cat was fast, but it seemed to be quite bloated from its buffet...
"Caught you!" Liora shouted, jumping at the cat.
Instead, she landed face first into a tree.
Yes! Now I can be alone..!
I continued chasing the cat. If it really was the same cat as before, maybe I'd be able to get answers.
"Stop running! You know I won't hurt you!"
The cat did not stop running.
We'd been staying put in these woods for three days already, so I knew the layout pretty well. Apparently even better than the cat.
The animal was cornered, back against a cliff not even a cat could survive.
"Why won't you talk? Are you trying to play dumb? I know it's you, Mr. Meow!"
"Nya!"
What? That didn't sound like... is this not the same cat after all? No... it has to be! Maybe it just can't speak anymore?
"You can't speak, can you? Can you understand me? Do you remember me? It's me, Linnie."
I held out my hand for it to sniff. It approached and seemed to relax.
"What happened? Did you get punished too?"
"Nya!" the cat nodded.
I don't think It's much of a punishment for a cat to only speak in 'nya's... but I didn't say that.
"OMG!!!! KITTY!!"
The cat tensed up. "Hiss!"
Liora came storming in.
"Stop! This is my... ehem... friend! She won't hurt you, I swear."
Liora picked the cat up and squeezed her. "NYAAAAA!!!!!!"
"Don't you know how to treat animals?"
"What? They love affection, don't they?"
"Not like that! It's a wild cat; it doesn't want to be squeezed to death by some girl it doesn't even know..."
"Nya."
"Oh... really..." she said, dejected.
Liora placed the cat back on the ground, but surprisingly, it didn't run away.
"Hmmm... I know this may be sudden, but do you want to stick with us?" I knelt down to whisper, "I'm currently looking for Bishan. Maybe we can both get what we want..."
"Nya!" the cat affirmed.
That's how we got the cat as our fifth party member.
"But I can't keep calling you 'cat'... what should I name you?"
"Ohhh!!! I always wanted to name a cat!"
"No." "Nya." we said in unison.
"Pleaseeee?"
"You're just going to name it something stupid."
"Well, what gender is it?"
"...Male I think?"
I was uncertain. I hadn't really thought about it... its voice had sounded vaguely masculine, I thought.
"Please forgive me," I said.
I grabbed the cat and lifted it above my head.
"She's a girl."
"Really!? No way! That's perfect! Let's name her Lady!"
"What? Lady...?" I asked. "Actually... I kind of like it. It suits her..."
"Doesn't it? She looks so elegant, she needed an elegant name!"
"How about it? Do you like it?" I asked.
"...Nya." she affirmed.
I'm surprised... I suppose she has a decent naming sense. 'Lady...' it suits the black cat. Beautiful and elegant, she's right.
The three of us headed back to the riverbank where the pile of fish was. Lady agreed to give us a few fish for dinner.
But... when we arrived, there was nothing left!
"What happened!? The fish are completely gone... there's not even bones left! Whatever ate it all must've been really hungry..."
"No, you idiot! Whatever took it all obviously stored it in their own hiding place."
"Nya..." she growled.
"You know who did this?"
"Nya!" she confirmed.
"Take us, we'll get your food back!"
Liora and I followed Lady through the forest once again. I started to sweat, imagining the worst. Though I'd killed a molfawr before, I wondered if a grizzly would be too much...
"How much farther...?" Liora groaned.
"How is she supposed to tell you!?" I slapped her in the back of the head.
I couldn't wait until she got her own hat so I could shove her head inside of it like Alwyn had done to me many a time.
"Nya!"
We arrived at the large entrance to a cave. It was hard to see far inside, but we trusted Lady and continued behind her.
"Can you see anything?" Liora whispered to me.
"Just give your eyes time to adjust..."
Suddenly, Lady stopped, and Liora and I crouched down stealthily.
It wasn't a bear, but a group of three men.
"Why would they steal from a poor cat?" Liora cried.
"...Why wouldn't they? What was she going to do with such a big pile... it's really her fault for hoarding."
"Nya...!"
"Linnie, you're good at fighting, right? Take them out and grab the fish!"
"I don't have a good feeling about this. I'm not familiar with the emblem on their coats, but they don't seem like a random group of thugs..."
"Nya nya."
Your meows aren't really helpful...
"It's fine! Alwyn and Aliza told me about how you don't feel any pain, that means you're practically invincible!" she patted my back.
"That's not what that means..."
I leapt down below to where the men were relaxing. Silently I snuck behind them, avoiding the illuminating firelight.
I felt something grab the back of my head, and I was lifted from the ground without warning. I dangled helplessly.
There was a fourth!? Lady, real helpful information!
I struggled in the man's grip.
"Boys, look what we got here! Some brat sneaking around, wouldn't have even noticed him if I wasn't coming back from a piss..." he laughed.
"A brat!? What's he doing all the way over here?"
"Probably hungry for some fish... could've just asked. Not like we'd give it to him...!"
The four men erupted into laughter. I sent my elbow into the man's ribs, doubling him over and freeing myself from his grip.
I drew the sword from my hat and swung at the closest of the four, but he dodged effortlessly.
"A sword? You were hiding a sword in your hat? That's real interesting, kid!"
Liora? A little help!
The man swung at me and I ducked, barely. I dashed into his stomach, stabbing his side with the blade.
Damn it! Shallow!
"Ow! You're gonna regret that, kid."
From above, a flying pair of legs crashed into the man's skull, knocking him out cold.
Liora!
The man who'd grabbed me earlier finally got back up and joined the circle, leaving the two of us surrounded again. Three versus two.
"What do we do now?" she whispered to me.
"Run?"
There was nowhere to run.
The three men collapsed in on us all at once, trying to grab us both. I swung the sword haphazardly, slicing one of them across the stomach and another across the bicep.
"Fuckin' brat!"
Liora got grabbed by the third man, and was squirming trying to get free. I jumped, swinging my sword down on the man.
He lifted his arm in defense, and I sliced it clean in half.
This sword really must be enchanted with more than a light spell...!
"AHHHHHH!!!!! YOU BRAT!" he clutched his dismembered hand.
In his distress, I finished the job.
Is Liora going to be okay watching this?
From behind, I was grabbed by one of the two remaining. I looked at Liora, who was trying to figure out what to do.
The final man was beating me while the other held me still, the two completely ignoring Liora. They probably assumed she couldn't do anything.
But she could.
I kicked the sword over to her, and before the men could recognize what I'd done, Liora plunged the sword into the man's back.
Then, in a moment of poor judgement, plunged it through me and into the guy holding me.
...The hell!?
The man behind me collapsed, leaving no remaining.
"Wh—what'd you do that for?" I spat red.
"What's wrong with you? Are you dying?!" she cried.
"What do you think!? You stabbed me through the stomach!"
"But I thought you couldn't feel pain!?"
"That doesn't mean I can't die you—you idiot..." I groaned. "My hat... grab my hat."
Liora rushed to grab my hat off the ground. "What now?"
"Inside, there's some potions Aliza packed me. Take them... take them out," I coughed.
Lady appeared beside me, meowing in distress.
Liora grabbed every vial and flask inside my hat. I wasn't exactly an alchemist myself, so I kind of drank all of them.
"Hopefully that works..."
I felt my body grow heavy, and I dizzily collapsed to the ground.
"Linnie!"
"Nya!"
"Just—just take me back to... to camp..."
I wish I could say I slept. I didn't, though. It was closer to lost time. When I came to, I felt no more energized than before. No, in fact, I felt much worse.
"raaaghhh..." I moaned.
I opened my eyes to the campsite, Aliza was standing above me and Lady was on top of my chest.
"You're finally awake!" Aliza clapped.
"Fish... did we get the fish?"
"Fish? Ohhh! The fish! Yeah, Liora and your little cat friend brought like, six days worth of fish! Isn't that insane? You must be a crazy fisherman to catch so many fish..."
Lady purred on my chest.
"Great..."
"Are you in any pain right now?"
"Obviously not..."
"Well, that's not what I mean! Is there anything that feels like it's... broken? Out of place?"
"I was stabbed, my entire gut is out of place..."
"That's because you drank the potions I gave you completely wrong!"
"How was I supposed to know which ones to drink!?"
"By listening when I told you?"
"...Sorry."
I was bedridden for two more days after that, delaying our journey even further.
Lady began to sleep with me every night as well. It was my first time having a 'pet.'