Shadow nodded vigorously, accepting the offer. The kids broke out in muted cheers, before turning to whisper to each other.

Shadow didn’t stick around, letting herself back down to the floor and moving over to the table. The ink and journal were still out, but Annie had corked the ink again.

Perfect.

She took them both and stored them in a pouch. These days her pouches were mostly empty unless she was out collecting things. The humans were better at carrying her stuff. She paid them back by finding food, herbs, and other stuff.

She thought about how to leave the room. She could shadow-port down, but she had learned all too well, given her experience with the trapper, that she shouldn’t waste that ability unless absolutely necessary. She also… wasn’t sure how the kids would react to it. The man hadn’t gotten really angry until he’d see her use her dark mana. Annie and Jonas had explained to her how some people associated shadows and darkness with evil. Apparently, there were also some very scary creatures that used dark magic to do some very evil things, demons included.

The trapper had probably thought she was evil and a demon just because she used it.

Annie had said that magic wasn’t good or evil though. Magic was just a tool, and you could use it for either. She was still a little fuzzy on what exactly those terms meant (they seemed pretty nebulous) but she thought she had the basic gist of them. Helping people, making them happy, and being friendly was good. Hurting people, making them sad, and being mean was bad. If you did a bunch of bad stuff, you were probably evil.

Most stuff that happened seemed to be a mix of the two, and things got very complicated very quickly when she’d tried to talk about anything in specifics.

Regardless, she thought she had a decent enough idea about it to not accidentally do some sort of terrible evil thing without realizing it.

The point was, she really didn’t want to mess anything up by showing the kids her shadow-port dark magic if it might make them think she was evil.

Maybe she could show them her magic once they knew each other better, and they could tell she definitely wasn’t evil. She could also explain the thing about magic not being good or evil first so they wouldn't be confused.

Now, on to escaping the room. This was proving to be a bit more troublesome than anticipated.

Annie had closed the door with a leather tie that helped keep the door shut, and also kept people from sneaking in while they were sleeping. Shadow was pretty sure she could get it undone, but she was much less sure she could tie it again when she got back. She would also be leaving Annie with her door open for however long she was out, which seemed like a bad idea given no one was awake keeping watch.

Shadow looked back at the window.

She supposed she could try to… climb down…

The thought made her shiver. The sides of the building hadn’t looked the best for gripping, and they were high up enough to make her nervous.

She vacillated back and forth for a bit before deciding to use the door. And then stopped again.

There will totally be teeth marks on the door strap once I’m done with it.

She stared at the offending strap like it had betrayed her.

This was so frustrating! She’d made the decision to go on her grand nighttime adventure with her soon-to-be new friends and couldn’t even figure out how to leave the room properly!

She went back over to the window, and hopped her whole body up onto the windowsill, making sure to balance carefully.

She looked down at the sheer drop off the side of the building. The boards that made up its construction were nice and flush. It was obvious whoever had built this place knew what they were doing. Which sucked for her. There really was nothing to grab on to. If she climbed down she’d need to do it by sinking her claws into the wood. That’d be a mean thing to do to the inn’s owner, and she also wasn’t certain it’d work. This wood was pretty hard. She didn’t know if she’d be able to sink her claws in deep enough to keep from falling.

Apparently, the children noticed her plight because she heard Maggie’s voice whisper up to her.

“Are ya stuck up there?”

Shadow looked down.

She... supposed she kind of was.

She nodded down at Maggie.

“Oh, oh! I have an idea! We’ll be right back! Follow me!” She whispered excitedly, motioning toward her two friends as she ran off.

Shadow cocked her head at their retreating forms.

She guessed she should just wait.

She did consider shadow-porting down now that the kids wouldn’t see her. There really wasn’t anyone around. The village seemed basically abandoned now that it was night out. There were a few windows she could see that still had some light coming from them (Probably from a candle or a lamp! She’d learned about them!), but most were dark.

But again, if she didn’t have to use it, it was better not to. Maggie seemed to have a solution, and it would probably be best to just use whatever that was.

Shadow just laid herself down on the windowsill to wait, looking out over the village. It had a whole different feel at night. Much calmer. She had enjoyed herself during the day (barring the… unfortunate conclusion), but the night felt more comfortable. It always did. Just another way she was different, she supposed.

She felt a little melancholy creep up on her at the thought.

No. I’m going out to have a great time with new friends! No being sad!

She took a deep breath and glanced over at Annie again.

She would be mad if she found out. She really only wanted to keep Shadow safe. To keep people from hurting her. She felt her conviction to leave waver.

But then the kids were back, holding what looked like some sort of cloth bundle.

“Ok, grab a side and spread out!” Maggie whispered enthusiastically at the group.

The three kids grabbed some of the cloth and spread it out in a sheet they held over the ground.

What are they planning to do with that?

“Ok Shadow! Jump!”

Wait, what?

They wanted her to jump… onto the sheet? That was a terrible plan!

She shook her head vigorously.

“Don’ be scared. We’ll catch ya’! Jus’ aim at the sheet!” Maggie whispered in encouragement.

She… there was no way! She was too high up! She looked down at the sheet with trepidation.

“A Shady's kinda like a cat! Ya should be fine jumpin' from up high! And we’ll catch ya in the sheet!”

Would... would she really be okay? It seemed too high...

She glanced back at the tied-up door. Was… was she really going to do this? If she just used the door… anyone could come into the room. She probably couldn’t re-tie it, and even if she did there would definitely be teeth marks all over it. Annie would find out she’d left.

She screwed her eyes shut and took another deep breath.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

“Ye can do it! Come on! Jump!”

She crouched down on the windowsill, lining herself up with her target.

She took another deep breath.

She hopped into the air, and the ground rushed at her.

It took all her willpower to keep from screeching.

Her paws met the sheet, which started to catch her—And then she slammed into the ground underneath, her weight having yanked the sheet out of all the kids' hands. She saw them stumbling forward after the unexpected force of the landing.

But… she was ok. She’d hit hard but her legs had cushioned her landing just fine. She looked down at her limbs in surprise. The sheet had barely helped as far as she could tell.

She looked back up at the windowsill.

I… I can jump from that high?

She’d been so nervous but apparently her body was fully capable of something like this.

Huh. Good to know, I guess.

As she stared at the windows some other thoughts passed through her mind.

Wait. How am I supposed to get back up there?

And then the kids were around her, and she was distracted.

Maggie was busy hugging and checking her over.

“I’m sorry I slipped! Yer okay though, right?”

She nodded at Maggie and waved her off.

I’m ok!

"See! Told ya ye could do it!" Maggie extolled, grinning again.

Shadow looked around.

They were pretty exposed out here. There was no one around, but it still made her worry about being caught. Plus, she still had on her glowing collar on, and she’d be a lot more visible than the kids. She had a pretty decent grasp on how good human night vision was. The kids would be hard for a human to spot from any real distance in this light, but she would not be.

Hmm.

“So, yer really smart like a person then?” The boy (as she could now smell) said.

She nodded, but then put up a claw to shush him.

She pointed at a nearby space between houses (she still hadn’t asked what that was called. Knowing the humans, they probably had a name for it.) and motioned for the group to follow before heading off in that direction.

The kids followed shortly after, and she pulled out her journal and the ink.

“Is that a book?" The not-Maggie girl asked as Shadow was busy getting the ink open.

She finished opening the ink and nodded, before opening her journal up to her writing page.

She dipped her claw and wrote.

'Hello! Nice to meet you! What're your names?'

She looked at the two new kids, grinning. One nice thing about the collar is that it should let the humans read her words just fine even in the dark.

“Wow! Ye can write!”

“Awesome!”

“Yer smart like a trader or... or like noble!”

The three chimed in with various looks of amazement.

Shadow's grin was starting to shift to a bit of confusion, and she poked a claw at her sentence, looking up at them, waiting for an answer.

The kids looked around at each other a bit before Maggie piped up.

“Um, we… uh… don’ know how to read. Is what ya’ wrote there important?”

Shadow blinked.

They… can’t read?

Why can’t they read?

This glorious night of friend-making just got somewhat more complicated.