A heavy cloak was left hung on a coat hanger followed by the sound of metal and gss clinking together when a utility belt was gently pced over the old bedroom mattress. Leone fumbled with his gloves, pinching a fingertip to slip one off and wiping the sweat of his palm before removing the other. The pair of gloves were tossed alongside his belt as he approached the colored gss overseeing the front courtyard entrance of the church they were staying in. He rubbed the back of his neck before combing his fingers through his hair, bouncing his silver locks of hair freely and enjoying the touch of breeze against his neck. Someone knocked on the door before it squeaked open, stepping inside as he kept his eyes peering out the window.

  "Yes?" He asked, noticing the figure behind him through the window's faint reflection. The figure began to compose itself, shaping into more distinct characteristics as he stepped closer. The hunter was expecting the priest but found himself joined by someone else's company. "Where's Perdilius?"

  "Still talking with the foreigner." Raz adjusted the colr of his breastpte, loosening the straps under his ribs to breathe easier under the armor. "I wanted to express my concerns about this pn of yours."

  "He seems to express a great deal of trust in me." Leone reminded him, rotating his arm to loosen a stiff feeling in his nerves.

  "Yes, that is what brings me caution. Should we experience a brief mishap, if even the faintest thing goes a different route... I just do not feel confident in this strategy if it brings a faint chance of danger to the people of this city. We may not be locals, but if we are to gain their trust it would be wise to keep them in our minds in our pursuit of capturing the three beasts."

  "Everything will work out well, you'll just have to trust my judgement in that. Your father knew my worth when he hired me."

  "He asked for a hunter-"

  "No, he asked for me." Leone turned around, confronting Raz with an irritated gre. "Not just any hunter, but me specifically. What brings to you these doubts, shouldn't you be overwhelmed now that you two are this close to catching them? I would have thought that bringing in the youngest would ease your worries."

  He spun around, adjusting his hair and keeping his back to Raz. Raz sighed and roamed around the room, his fingers brushing along the many different tools the hunter kept on his belt.

  "Careful with that." He warned him, "That green vial there has enough potency to put a dragon into a deep sleep for four days! And I assure you, it is not for the intent of catching a nights rest."

  He rolled his eyes and leaned against the gss with his arms crossed. "Shouldn't you be patrolling out in the front, why are you even here? Go make yourself useful and stay out to command the others, just try not to get them killed this time."

  "Yohan and his crew were there to assist you in your mission, they are dead and yet you live."

  "I already told you, I grabbed the girl and made my retreat before I was thwarted by the middle child, your pet experiment. I would have brought her with me had her friend not interfered, but I did as I was told. You have your beast, now we wait for the rest."

  Raz frowned. "Yes, but it would not be the first time a Nekomata had slipped your grasp. For a professional, you have yet to show us these skills of yours."

  Leone gred back. "Capture the three siblings alive and in good health, that is why I am here. Whether they break out and escape like the st time is not my fault. Fuckin' amateur."

  Raz met his gnce and stepped up to confront him. "You may be a hired hand, hunter, but I am his right hand. When we have the girls, you will be given your reward and your services would no longer be required. But I have to stay and affirm that all goes well. This is my personal stake at hand, not yours. You do your job and keep your hole shut. You're not the only one wielding a few tricks under your sleeve."

  "Calm yourself, child. Such violent dispys of aggression are not welcomed when we all serve the same goal here." Perdilius smiled as he entered the room, catching the two in a heated dispute.

  Raz and Leone held an angry scowl until Raz stepped back, approaching his father's side and bowing his head slightly. "Apologies, father. I assume that all went well?"

  "Of course." He grinned and walked past him, his gaze set on the hunter. "Now Leone, I shall be approaching my quarters soon. Will you not be getting a nights rest soon?"

  Leone leaned his forearm over the window, peering out and scanning the outdoor surroundings. "Nay, I've been trained to perform without two days rest. I can stand watch throughout the night, I'll need to after all."

  "You don't trust my men?" Raz scowled back.

  "You mean those ignorant blokes who can hardly count without the use of their fingers? Of course, I don't see why not. Trust them with my life."

  Perdilius chuckled in amusement. "Sarcasm, a favorite of mine. Fine, do me the favor of reassuring that all goes well. I take my leave for tonight, let us pray that this doesn't take too long."

  Leone leaned closer and squinted at the sight of a pair of cats peeking over the rooftop of the opposite building. He smiled as the door closed behind him. "Won't be long now."

  The pair of cats mewed before slipping back under the cover of night, surrounded by a spark of light to reveal their humanoid forms.

  "This is the pce?" KuliKuli asked, adjusting her hair.

  Dimyri licked her paw and rubbed her forehead, nodding back. "Yup, this is where he went off to."

  Emyri carefully poked her head over the rooftop, spying on the numerous soldiers keeping guard at the front gate. "They bare the mark, it's them for sure."

  KuliKuli wrinkled her nose, her eyes burrowing in anger. "I can smell Felix and Reta in there."

  "And Syri too." Dimyri added.

  Na'Vi hissed and sat back, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Filthy barbaric humans! Always picking on us as if they owned us."

  "Easy dear, let's not be too nasty here." Emyri warned her, patting her shoulder and turning to KuliKuli. "Hun, if we are to do this then we should do it quickly. We don't want to get ourselves into a nastier surprise by exposing ourselves here."

  "Right." She nodded. "Na'Vi, you come with me. Dimyri, you and mom keep watch here."

  "You don't have to tell me twice." Dimyri grinned, her eyes fshing wide as she sunk her head and offered a nervous smile upon meeting her scorned mother's gaze. "Just, you know... be careful."

  "I will." KuliKuli replied, turning back into her cat form and running off with Na'Vi chasing behind. The pair of cats leapt from one building to the next before cautiously climbing down a few balconies and window sills, making their way onto the ground. Kershin Market may have been active throughout the day, but the city was dead quiet under the light of the three moons. Their inhabitants were mostly shut indoors, peacefully sleeping the night off with only a few people strolling around the streets. KuliKuli did catch a woman in a revealing outfit leaning against an opened door, was she waiting for her lover or was it too hot indoors and she found herself in need of a nightly breeze?

  The girls crossed the road while remaining easily hidden under the cover of night, carefully slipping under a stationary carriage. From there, they traced the wall of the fence outlining the courtyard around the back of the church, where they slipped between the metal bars effortlessly. KuliKuli hopped onto one of the window sills, climbing her way upward into the second and third floor and peaking in each time. The first window showed nothing but a messy kitchen, the second window showed a hallway with numerous closed doors. The third window revealed the interior of some sort of mechanism of rotating gears, she looked up to see the small bell tower and figured that the two were reted somehow.

  Na'Vi mewed to catch her attention down toward the first floor window. A few men were rummaging around dirty pots and pans, cooking up a te night dinner for themselves. One of them held a bundle of keys on his belt as the two loudly engaged in conversation. He removed his belt and left it hung over a chair before sitting down to talk to his friend. The girls turned into their Nekomata forms and crouched under the window in silence, pressing their backs against the cold stone wall.

  "What now?" Na'Vi whispered.

  KuliKuli huffed. "We wait until they leave, maybe those keys can help."

  "Okay." Na'Vi nodded, gncing around awkwardly. "So, thanks for picking me."

  "What?"

  "You picked me to come with you, it's the first."

  "Oh."

  "The first time you picked me-"

  "Yea, I heard you."

  "Okay, okay." She paused and breathed in, keeping her voice low. "So, you and Felix?"

  KuliKuli sighed. "Now is not the time."

  "I know, it's just... after we met, you've been keeping distant and it's something I can't help but notice." She paused as KuliKuli huffed and crossed her arms. "Look, I'm sorry but this is the first time for me to talk to you in private and I want to make the most of it."

  "This is exactly why I've been avoiding you."

  Na'Vi was taken aback with a look of shock. "What!?"

  "Keep your voice down!" She shushed back. "It's just... I'm sorry Na'Vi but I'm with Felix now. Whatever we had before was with Nityri, not me."

  "But you are Nityri, aren't you? Losing your memory doesn't change that, we can't just forget who you were before." Na'Vi argued back.

  "Probably not, but it's easier for me to just be KuliKuli. Nityri just seems like too much."

  "Too much how?" She frowned.

  KuliKuli smacked her lips before sulking. "Okay fine, I guess we're doing this now."

  "Look, it may be unfair to ask you to drop him and go back to me. I'm not asking that."

  "You're not?" She seemed surprised.

  Na'Vi shook her head. "No! It wouldn't be the same, you're not the same Nityri that I fell in love with."

  "But you look away-"

  "Yea because I'm watching Nityri make kissy faces at some disgusting hoomie!"

  "Stop calling him that, you don't even know him! You don't know Felix like I do."

  "I'm even more surprised that you fell in love with him, I figured you would hate them more than I would after what happened."

  "What?"

  "But I guess it helps that you lost that memory too, I would want to forget if it happened to me as well."

  "Forget what, what happened to me?" She scooted closer with a curious expression. "Is this reted to why they're after me?"

  "They're humans, why would I ask why they want us? It doesn't surprise me knowing what they can do." Na'Vi frowned. "I lost my damn mother because of them, but you wouldn't remember that!"

  KuliKuli gasped, cupping her mother. "You... oh my gosh."

  Na'Vi relented, shrinking in her posture. "Forget it, I shouldn't have said that. It just... it hurts when you avoid me because you were the one who would comfort me then. You use to hug me and tell me it will all be better. But now I see you and you look away, or walk away to avoid me, or change the topic when I try to talk."

  They flinched at the noise of metal banging on the floor indoors.

  "Oh gods, you dropped the bloody pan Hoffs!" Someone shouted inside, smacking their friend behind the head. "Look at what yer doing next time, that could have been my bloody supper on the floor!"

  "Oi, ease off! I'm not some fuckin' child anymore."

  "Oh sure, then get yer arse up and grab some bloody towels to help clean this up!" He fumed, sitting back in his chair and shaking his head as the other man exited the room.

  KuliKuli and Na'Vi were spying through the window, sinking their heads out of sight as they sat against the wall again.

  "Damn it." KuliKuli sighed, rubbing her forehead.

  "Guess we wait a bit longer." Na'Vi muttered, rubbing her paw over the grass.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't know about the... about your mom."

  "Yea yea."

  "When did it happen?"

  "Pfft, I was younger, I think I was four winters of age. It's foggy to me, I just remember she was carrying me around and then she hid me in tall grass. She whispered that everything will be fine, to stay and hide and she'll come back soon. Then she ran off and I can hear the humans crying out 'The beast is here, the beast is here, there is the beast!' The noises grew louder, like they were screaming and yelling and making these awful noises, but the I just kept my head down and closed my eyes hoping they would go, hoping Mom would come back. I waited... and I waited... but she never came. Emryi found me, took me in, and then just... well, she's been my mom ever since. I never asked, I didn't want to know because... well."

  She pressed her paw over her chest and breathed in with a shaky voice. "I didn't want to know because I would miss her again. It um... it helps not to think about it. And then with umm... you know, no actually you don't know."

  "Know what?"

  "The thing about being adopted. You know, sometimes we would move around from one pce to the next when the winters would come and our food source would grow scarce. Sometimes we had to py up to the families in vilges or tribes that we passed through, and sometimes you find a human or elf that takes a liking to you. Children mostly, that was... they were nice. Adorable even. It was risky but sometimes they want to keep you and we leave it up to them if they want to stay."

  KuliKuli nodded, listening quietly when she paused. "And you didn't like that?"

  "I didn't, because when it was my turn I didn't get so lucky. My friends got adopted but when it was my turn... let's just say my human was ignorant at best with a fuse that would set at the tiniest discomfort. They were cruel, I had never been more scared before in my life. I ran away, I nearly starved when Emyri found me again." Na'Vi sniffed, hanging her head down. "But I never felt alone because you were there. But everything changed the night we were raided by Perdilius and his men. I thought this was it. I thought this was the night I could open my eyes and see my mother again."

  KuliKuli looked down in silence as she continued.

  "But you were gone, and I was alive with my second mom and my sisters. I figured... if I can do one thing right, I can help my second mom find you again. Because they wanted you three, for some damn reason they want you three only. And before you ask, no I don't know why they want you so badly. Mom knows, but..."

  KuliKuli closed her eyes and nodded. "I have a feeling she knows a lot more that she doesn't say. I'm sorry about your mom, and I'm sorry about your friend. But Felix is different, he's not like the others."

  "I can see that." Na'Vi wiggled in her seat, kicking her legs around. "Itchy grass. He's a damn softy, always looking at you with dreamy eyes. He's been so happy that it's almost revolting."

  KuliKuli blinked and looked at her. "What are you saying? Are you-"

  "I would stop if I were you, my emotions are high enough as is." She wiped her nose, keeping her paws out of sight. "He seems nice but I don't trust him. Can he even fight?"

  "What?"

  "Is he capable of protecting you against what's coming? He's trapped in there somewhere and if we get him out, he might think differently about fighting back."

  KuliKuli shook her head, clearly upset. "I can't believe I'm hearing this, yes he can protect me. I can protect myself!"

  Na'Vi paused for a moment, carefully picking her next words. "Think about what comes tomorrow, is this someone you can see yourself staying with, someone to share your life with? He's human, you're not. What happens the day you encounter something else? Say Perdilius is gone, what then? There will be more in the future still, so long as we are us we will forever live a life of danger around those bipedal creatures."

  "What about Reta? She was accepting-"

  Na'Vi looks to her in disbelief. "The werewolf? I doubt she has any alternatives in her condition."

  "Okay, but Janette seems to be getting along with Syri well."

  "That worries me too-"

  "Oh come off it!" KuliKuli growled, gring at her. "What's wrong if they get along well?"

  "It's just... It's the same with you and him. It's not safe-"

  "Life isn't safe, Na'Vi. We're hiding at the back of this tiny castle thingy hoping to find a way to rescue my mate and close friend."

  "Fair. But Nityri-"

  "KuliKuli."

  "Right, KuliKuli... if you really want him safe, you might want to consider leaving him."

  She stared back at her, baffled by her words. "Why would you say that?"

  "It's the truth, this isn't me being jealous it's me being real!" She frowned back, standing her ground. "You may not like it but we have to accept what we can work with."

  "You don't think we can beat this?" She asked.

  Na'Vi closed her eyes and shook her head in a look of frustration. "I would feel more confident if we had our clutter still, maybe if Aunt Alma and her group was with us then sure. But we're so few and they are so many. And that Hunter came this close to gutting you, Kuli. I don't want to see that, I plead every night that our friends are still alive but it gets harder to believe every day."

  "Harder for you maybe." She turned her head, crossing her arms. "Na'Vi, this isn't- I don't want to hear this, not now."

  Na'Vi relented and hung her head in defeat, sighing as her tails curled up around her. "Sorry. Just, take it from a cat who lost her mother. It's not easy losing someone you love."

  Their ears perked up when the noise of keys jingled inside. They pnted their heads to the window just as the guards were done eating for the night. The younger one grabbed his ring of keys and juggled them lightly in his palm when the second soldier poked his head around the doorframe.

  "Eh, leave it. Won't be needing dat thing."

  "Ye sure?"

  "Yea why not? Just leave it on the lil hanger so we dun lose it." His voice trailed off as he left the room, with his younger partner shrugging and leaving the key ring on a hook beside the kitchen door.

  KuliKuli and Na'Vi swapped nervous looks, with KuliKuli taking the initiative. Biting her tongue, she shrunk into her cat form while Na'Vi tilted the gss enough for her to slip through. Quick as a mouse, she yanked the keys and held them between her teeth, changed back into her cat form and slipped back out the window. Na'Vi followed her and soon the two cats were seen scurrying down the road.

  Leone narrowed his eyes, spying through the second floor window.

  "Took long enough." He muttered as he reached for the ntern before his room went dark.