When the sun rose to greet a new day, I was already back inside. As Hannah prepared breakfast for herself, I pondered in my head whether I should tell her about the Landlady also knowing our secret.

I dismissed it as, quite frankly, this process was getting quite repetitive.

“You better hope Linth is at the academy.”

On a weekend? Linth? Not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that she was there. I couldn't picture her being anywhere else other than in her den. I was vaguely aware she must have lived some sort of life outside her lair, but that place wasn't just setup for weekday stays. I'd spotted the sleeping bag.

Hannah had woken up earlier than sunrise to drag me back in. Whether this was due to concern for my well being or just to confirm I hadn't fled from my responsibility, I didn't know.

My mouth watered as she worked at the kitchen counter. Thoughts lingered on the idea our deal from before may even be upheld despite my mistake.

A slice of ham sailed through the air as Hannah tossed it over her shoulder. “Here, you 'earnt' it.”

Tracking my target, I prepared to catch it.

Ham in my mouth, I deigned it best to shut up rather than question her generosity.

Whilst I lapped up the lingering taste on my paws, Hannah threw on her cloak and satchel. The weather had improved overnight, the storm passed by south of Kasper. Hannah's choice in clothing was never the less half motivated by style.

“Adam, you done?”

“I'm gonna need to ride in your satchel. There's a festival going on out there.”

Hannah pursed her lips shut. Her verdict to my plea withheld behind a lingering stare.

“Fine. It's better than seeing you get squashed.”

We left out the door, descending the stairs to the first floor and past the empty living room. Granny had probably gone out shopping.

We entered the streets. The life of the city was now being concentrated into its public plazas and long avenues. The crushing number of attendees going shoulder to shoulder as the merchants fought fervently for attention looked like the perfect picture for the city. Labourers, merchants, nobles, guards, they could have all been represented in one still image on Kasper's finest streets.

The festival was taking place some distance away from the cathedral. A deliberate choice by superstitious local planners.

Fine items of jewellery glistened in the sun. Precious metal woven like strands of silk to make jaw-dropping works of art. Not to mention, the glass work necklaces were unparalleled. Glass fox heads hung on cords like large glittering dew drops for all to see. Elsewhere a vendor sold beautifully cut and colourful agates which if held up to the sun would shine royal purple or deep crimson. The craftsmanship of the archipelago islanders was not to be underestimated.

The inner magpie I never knew lived within me was dancing with joy. Despite an absence of practical use, I couldn't deny that jewellery did look pretty.

But it was nothing compared to the sultry scents that brushed up seductively against my nose. Fish, meat, fresh bread. Smoked salmon, gammon, brioche, sugardough. I would slay the seven gods to feast on such fine delicacies.

Ah but the people! Really, the people made it all.

Locked in bitter battle over what was worth what, merchants taking children for every coin to their name. The social power of the individual became apparent here. Father competed with son. Couples despaired as they fruitlessly searched on with their anorexic budgets for glorious works of art to represent their love which supposedly transcended the material realm.

Yes, the people really made it. But then again, I'm a lazy, spiteful creature who could be described as a 'real bastard'.

Sure, humans were sometimes difficult, dangerous, or downright hostile, but their creations filled the world with colour and flavour. Maybe the world would be a better place without them, but it would certainly suck not to have brioche and gammon in ready supply. Watching wild sheep graze all day on a humanless paradise would remind me of these indulgent manmade amenities then absent from the world.

“When do they burn the wooden effigies?” I poke my head out from beneath the satchel flap.

“Next weekend. Now be quiet.”

I slipped back into the satchel. Even if not for pleasure, Hannah was still going to be walking through the festival. On occasions like this, she'd normally be complaining about the noise as she was trying to study hidden away in her living room.

The scrolls I was sitting on hadn't seen much attention over the last few days. A symptom of being swamped by petty meaningless little quarrels and arguments which would probably amount to nothing. That was the real travesty. So much time wasted on nothing.

Greeting us ahead was the silence of the gatehouse to the academy grounds. It felt like a dive in to sanctified serenity after wading through the festival grounds.

Lectures didn't take place on weekends. This meant little to the staff who had to prepare and grade materials ahead of schedule. But today the faculty had given themselves permission to enjoy themselves.

“This is... peaceful.” The outdoor practice fields were empty. There were no gossiping students or watchful faculty. Only the distant celebration kept my thoughts company. That and Hannah.

“I thought I told you to be quiet.”

“It's not like anyone is around.” I reply dryly. “I don't think the ghosts of the cathedral knowing I can talk will pose any problems.”

“I'm pretty sure one of the symptoms of the Hexan plague was deafness.”

“Oh so that's that then.”

Man what a way to go. Losing any of the senses can be extremely distressing and disorientating.

I once had a caretaker who went out into the mountains to harvest herbs. She fell backwards and hit her head, losing her eyesight. If she hadn't taken me along, she might not have made it back home to recover. Whenever I thought about what it meant to lose one of the senses, I thought of her.

Of course, my heroics were nothing but coincidental. If I had stayed at home and she hadn't come back, I probably wouldn't have looked for her and she would have died alone on that mountain. I wondered if I'd even think to question myself about her fate. Would I have even learnt to regret that kind of inaction?

That put my value as a person into perspective. The kind of perspective I wasn't comfortable looking from.

We continued to hurry on our way to Linth's den. Paying not much attention to the area around us, we entered her building abandoned for all but one room.

When confronted with the door to Linth's den, not a sound coming from the other side, Hannah hesitated. She was not so fortunate as I to be hiding in the satchel.

With a steady hand, she did something she rarely every did. She knocked on the door.

There was no reply.

Moving her hand to the doorknob, the turned and gently pushed.

Despite it being a weekend, sat at the table as I knew she would, staring nervously from behind a dense book, was Linth. Probably hoping the knock on the door would disappear, but today was just not her day.

“Hi.” Hannah forced a smile.

“Hi...”

Standing awkwardly by the door got rather tiring. After forcing a rather meek smile, Hannah changed approach abruptly from cautious to her usual bluntness. “Right, so my cat can talk.” She offered a pause in which Linth could speak up, but the girl remained steadfastly quiet. “But well, the thing is, he's not a cat. He looks like a cat, he probably smells like a cat, and maybe even tastes like a cat. But he's not a cat. You see, Adam here, is a dick.”

Not sure I liked where that went.

And with that Hannah turned her satchel upside down, dropping me to the floor.

“And to be honest, I don't actually feel like explaining because that's not my job.” Hannah brushed her hands of me. “Honestly, Adam, why did you have to put me in this mess as well.”

Where was this coming from? I stared up bewildered at Hannah who instead of explaining things politely, was using the opportunity to verbally assault me. “Hey hey hey, it's not like I intended for this to happen!”

This might not have been the best place to start an argument, but there was an awkward silence that needed filling whilst I padded for time to find the right words to apologise.

“So it was an accident? You just 'accidentally' decided to traumatise our friend for life.” Any attempts at defence would be mercilessly sliced through as they rightly should be. “Let's say for instance, you accidentally stub your toe on a table. It's still your fault. Whether you knew what you were doing or not. That table was hardly running full speed at you. 'It was an accident' is not a defence.” This was more than cutting through my defence.

This must have been a fairly awkward thing for Linth to watch. “It's... um... It's okay guy-”

Squirming more than a little now, I must have looked like quite the pathetic creature. “Stubbing a toe against a table doesn't quite compare to the situation at hand. That's a very strawman argument.”

“G-guys, please, it's ok-”

“You'd never know the pain of stubbing your toe against a table leg as a cat. I'm envious of you, really. To be a talking cat must be bliss.” No longer aiming for my meagre guard, she stabbed for my weaknesses.

“I'm not a cat dammit!” She had said so just moments before!

Were I just five feet taller, Hannah and I could settle this argument like gentlemen, outside.

“G-guys. Please, stop. My sides, are cramping.” Linth was holding her hand up to her mouth, trying to contain her laughter, with her other wrapped around her stomach. “It's just too funny.”

Both Hannah and I shared a look and a smile.

All according to plan.

In between telling me to be quiet on the way here, Hannah explained a plan of action which seemed almost too bizarre to work. A plan to make me appear less the personification of bad luck, and more human. And it went a little something like the above.

The effects were, admittedly, heart warming. It was such a contrast to her first reaction to knowing I could talk.

There wasn't fear, panic, or shock. There in front of me was someone laughing as though they'd just seen a bizarre comedy routine.

I guess I'd also get a chuckle out of watching a pet owner argue with their pets like this.

This feeling was so different from being stared down at. It was in sharp contrast to the nightmare where I couldn't utter a word for fear of bodily harm, let alone joke like this.

“Linth, I'm sorry.” Hanging my head in a bow of apology, anxious not to waste this moment. “I shouldn't have to-”ld you I could talk? No. That wasn't right. That wasn't the issue. “I... Shouldn't have hidden my identity to you.”

Yeah, that was right. The damage was not the reveal of deception, but the deception itself. Never should I have allowed her to treat me like a peculiar house cat. But at some point, especially with Linth, I should have been able to tell that she wouldn't have reacted all that badly to knowing I could talk.

“It's okay.” She lowered her hand, revealing her flustered smile. “I think I understand. But um, I was just a little shocked. But I know you wouldn't reveal a big secret like that unless you had to.”

Hannah decided this was the perfect moment to interject. “I'll sell him to you for chicken tikka sandwich.”

Wow, was that really all I was worth?! On the other hand, chicken tikka sandwiches from the canteen looked pretty good. That might have bene the highest praise I'd ever received from Hannah.

“No thank you.” Linth shook her head. “But um, before I ask questions. There's something I need to say.” Her smile from moments ago was replaced with a tense nervousness. “I haven't told anyone else about this. Um. But, Adam, there was something really important you wanted to tell Hannah.”

Really? This was new news to me.

I looked up to Hannah who nodded. I suspected she thought she knew more about this than I did. “She said it herself. You wouldn't reveal a big secret for no reason. So there had to be a reason, right?”

Linth looked to me as though she hoped that jogged my memory. “I'm sorry, Linth, I don't really know what your talking about. Was it something to do with Killian?”

But it couldn't have been. Nothing I needed to say about Killian wasn't said to Hannah in person.

She shook her head. “No. Hannah, Adam wanted me to tell you that um, there's some sort of spell caster going around the cathedral. He said they were connected to his curse.”

Her words set my mind into a tailspin. I didn't remember this at all. Linth wasn't the kind to just joke like that. This had to be some sort of misunderstanding.

Hannah barely even flinched. “I see. I think I understand what happened.”

“What... What is Adam's curse? Who is Adam really?” Linth asked, having now the composure to ask the questions that had been simmering in the back of her mind.

Instead of giving a satisfying answer, Hannah merely shrugged. “Who can say? He never seems to be able to remember.”

“How old is he?”

I couldn't answer that question. Not to mention, it was quite a rude thing to ask.

“Guys, please don't talk about me like I'm not here.”

Hannah leant back against the door frame. “I met him twelve years ago. He looked and sounded exactly the same back then. Adam is the name I gave him. The thing is, I can ask about his curse but a part of his curse is not being able to give answers. So there's not much point asking about the Adam's past because his curse gets in the way. Trying to get anything out of him is like fishing in a salt lake. Just treat him like a talking cat for now.”

“For the last time, I'm not a cat! Also, again, I'm here in the room with you two.” Geez, for someone with so many questions to ask, she could at least direct them at the right person.

Linth got up off her chair and moved to her bookshelves. “That's so crazy.” She said with a face of mixed consternation. “Curses like that... They are like something out of a fairytale. Does this mean there are people who can do this sort of thing?”

“Whoever this spell caster is, I don't think this is the first time Adam has met them.” Ah yes, Hannah, don't ask me. Of course I'd remember something as big and important as that. My thoughts were a daze of sarcasm and frustration towards this conversation. “Linth, it's probably a good idea not to think about the curse too much. You'll learn a lot more about Adam now that you know he can talk.”

I lift my head eager to change the subject. “On that note, are you one hundred percent sure you didn't tell anyone else?”

Seriously, who would believe a spell caster to do with my curse was wondering around? No human could have lived that long. It hurt my head to just to entertain the idea.

Best not to think about this.

Best not to think about this.

Linth, still searching her bookshelves gave a worryingly non-commital answer. “Um... Probably.”

“Probably?” Hannah straightened herself up again with a 'here we go again' look on her face.

“Well. Yeah. I didn't tell anyone. And um, well...” She looked back our way with a pained smile. “It's hard to hide something's wrong from people who know you well.”

“Trouble with your family?” Broached the subject.

Linth sunk her head in despair. A smile still on her face in an attempt to dismiss concern which didn't match the rest of her body language in the slightest.

Besides knowing that the headmaster was Linth's dad, I knew just about as much about Linth's family as Hannah. That is to say, I knew next to nothing.

I looked up to Hannah, but at some point her gaze has drifted over to the window. She paused before wandering to that side of the room to get a better view. “Hmm... It really is a sunny day out. Let's go on a walk, it'll make you feel better I promise.”

Sunny with a gentle breeze. An ideal day for a nap. Shame about the noise.

“But there's a festival going on.” Linth protested. “I don't handle crowds well.”

Hannah continued to stare out the window towards the river. “No, I don't like crowds either. But it's a good idea to get a change of scenery every now and then.”

“But what about Adam?” Linth rightfully worried about the well-established danger crowds spotted with children posed to me.

“It's all right, he can ride in my satchel like usual. You can also talk to Adam later.” Hannah's gaze moved and lingered meaningfully on me. There was quite pleading in her eyes. “If we're going to go, it's got to be now so we don't miss the festival.”

That was oddly insistent. No, this wasn't just a spur of the moment 'let us all go enjoy the festival together like friends' kinda thing.

“It's all right, Linth. Being in the satchel means I don't have to walk. I can just... stare... enviously at all the people buying festival food.” The world is a big place filled with plenty of food other than ham and smoked salmon, all waiting to be tasted.

Hannah strolled up to Linth, not giving her much time to protest. “Come on. I haven't been to any festivals since I came here. But well it'd look a bit pathetic to go alone with your cat, right?” She caught Linth's hand shamelessly.

Oh woe is you Hannah. Not even the slightest bit of pity for the cat that has to be seen with you.

Linth looked between Hannah and her hand. “What if we get lost?”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Then I can just hold your hand the entire time. Now let's get out of here before we both die of... old age.”

As abrupt as a decision as it was, Hannah led Linth out of the room whilst I trotted behind.

Exiting the building, we turned southwards back in the direction of the main campus. Hannah would spare passing glances behind her as we travelled through the mostly empty halls.

Hannah's gut instinct had told her to leave with Linth as soon as possible, that at least I understood. Something had caught her eye outside the window.

The other possibility, which seemed more of a convenient excuse than anything, was that two friends were enjoying a festival. And to be fair, whether Hannah was dragging Linth away from her den for one reason or another didn't matter so long as they both did actually enjoy the festival together.

And although there was worry in the back of my mind which would surely make any festival food scraps thrown my way taste a little bitter, Linth hadn't picked up on Hannah's concern like I had. Which might have been a blessing.

Instead, Linth was preoccupied staring wide eyed like a frightened lamb at the dense crowds around her, clutching on to Hannah's hand as though she were hanging off a cliff edge.

Now out of the campus, Hannah noticed the obvious unease. It made me feel guilty just watching. This didn't count as kidnapping, right?

“Hey, should we head for somewhere quieter?” Hannah as promised, didn't let go of Linth's hand. He ability to do so was in question though.

“M-hm.” Linth nodded. “So many people.” Constantly recoiling like a cat with a garlic stuffed nose at the slightest threat someone might brush up against her.

“All right. There should be a public garden by the suburbs.”

Blessed relief. That promised satchel ride hadn't happened. Everytime someone's foot came within inches of my body, I nearly jumped.

Not to mention, being a black cat in what was coming to midday heat was not fun. Especially when said black cat was running all over the place.

We arrived at the public garden. It was essentially a glorified park where visitors were trusted not to bring any children or pets that'd pull up the flower rows in a frenzy.

Rows of arranged flower beds, occasionally broken by flat open areas of grass beneath the shadow of picked bare apple orchids. The rain before had left a scent specific to wet grass, sickly and sweet in the air.

“Want something to eat?” Hannah asked after she sat Linth down on a park bench.

“I'm fine.”

“I'll eat hers.” I whisper from the shadows beneath the park bench.

“All right. Well I'll get three just in case.” Three what? She didn't say. “Adam, look after Linth. I'll be right back.”

“Linth I will lay down my life to protect you.” I declared a lie that couldn't be further from the truth.

Hannah left both of us here. Whilst not packed with people, it wasn't empty either. Most of the people who were visiting had come with the same idea in mind, to escape the chaos. So respectfully, they kept to their small groups.

“Is it okay for you to talk to me in public?” Linth might have looked quite odd. A long girl sat on the bench muttering to a black cat.

“So long as I whisper.” My voice was a conjuration. I could moderate its volume and even location of origin. “But it just isn't a good look for you to be seen muttering to a black cat.”

There was an ensuing silence as we both waited for Hannah to return. The gentle breeze carried with it the smell of pollen. Bees buzzed busily from flower to flower. Branches swayed and leaves rustled like waves falling on a beach.

“Adam.” Linth leaned forward. “Can you sit up here?”

I guess I could. Emerging from the shadows beneath the bench, I pounced up a level and sit besides her.

She slowly, hesitantly reaches out her hand. “Is it okay for me to touch you?”

“Even after you know I can talk?” It was a surprise to be asked this.

“You were the same person back then as you are now. Even if I didn't know that.”

“Yes but-” It was hard to argue. But she knew I wasn't a cat. Treating me like a cat despite despite knowing otherwise would feel like a betrayal to myself if I let it happen.

But Linth occupied a very strange place in my mind. She meant no harm by it, which in of itself would not be excusable, but since it was Linth I was willing to compromise.

“Sure. I guess I will grant you the honour of touching my fur.” Indeed, my magnanimity was truly to be admired.

Ah yes, a little to the right. That's the spot.

Her hands were already scratching behind my ears and my cheek. “You did it on purpose.” She muttered.

“Hmm?”

“You know.” I most assuredly did not. “Well, um, whenever I had trouble talking to Hannah, you'd distract me.” She probably had a lot more on her mind she wanted to talk about than this, but this seemed the easiest for her.

Interesting theory. I suppose when she put it like that, I did do that sometimes. It was just difficult to watch her and Hannah talk. Wolves and rabbits had a more equal power dynamic than those two.

Linth suddenly stopped. I looked up, noticing she was staring over at a group of four guardsmen walking through the garden at a brisk pace.

Three were dressed in similar motley brown with leather tunics. The fourth stood taller, wearing a metal breastplate over her chest and royal purple cape over her shoulder.

It didn't seem particularly interesting, however Linth's eyes were fixed on the guard in purple.

The four marched with a purposeful gait, the guard in purple leading from behind as the four discussed. Although some distance away and growing still, I tuned my ears with some success into their conversation at the behest of my gut instinct.

“-complicates things further. If we don't find these criminals, valuable knowledge and talent to the kingdom will have been lost. Are the guard certain it is the clans behind this?” Her warhammer hanging at her belt slapped her side with each imperious step.

“Guard captain Brecker was only able to interrogate the professor for a short amount of time before he passed out due to his injuries.” The most senior looking of the motley brown guards answered back. “His injuries are severe and a recovery in the next few days unlikely.”

“He was abandoned by his co-conspirators?” The guard in purple shot back with a spiteful smile.

“Yes. Captain Brecker believes this is a sign the conspirators and their hostages are still hidden in the city.”

“The storm probably cocked up their escape plan. They thought they could be in and out, taking advantage of the traffic and be able to leave before the festival started proper and the entry points were more vigorously checked.”

“So the knights will cooperate?”

“Did you think we'd abandon citizens of the kingdom? Some may disagree, but Kasper is as valuable as any interior city.” They hurried west and out of earshot leaving me with a few questions and somewhat relieved I didn't have to deal with that mess.

Incidents like this during a festival were probably some of the worst.

The knight in purple and the motley brown gang of local guards were going to handle this as quietly and quickly as possible.

“That was a Kingdom knight.” Linth muttered. “Did you... hear what they were talking about?”

“What makes you think I did?” As if I would be the kind of person to sneakily eavesdrop on every conversation that went on around me.

To our right, a girl was proposing to her partner. To our left, three children were making up new kinds of berries they wished existed.

“Your ears.” Damn, she had me.

These twitching and turning little buggers were acting on their own. It's not like I wanted to listen in. But how would I purposefully deafen myself when I had ears that sensitive?

Hannah came back up the path, diverting Linth's attention.

“I got three crepes.” Th-three? As in one for me as well?! I thought she was joking.

I could bounce with joy. Except whilst this 'crepe' thing sure looked colourful with its berries and fluffy cream wrapped in thin pastry, I was cautious about its taste. After all, there was no meat.

“Thanks.” Linth accepted hers graciously.

“No problem. I feel a little bad for kidnapping you.” Hannah then set the second one down next to me. “Here, Adam. I bet you thought festival food was just more ham, smoked salmon, and brioche.”

Well she wasn't technically wrong. That was what caught my eye this morning. This crepe did smell quite sweet.

“Do cats usually eat stuff like that?” Linth eyed me approach my crepe for a cautionary nibble.

“Aren't you forgetting something? He's not a cat.” Hannah whispered that last part away from me. “Besides, he's got a stomach of steel. He'll eat anything.”

'Anything' wasn't quite right. Throw a rat at me and I'll throw my disgust back at you. My palette was quite human.

To bystanders, it must have been quite the odd sight. Sitting between two girls on a bench in the swaying shadows of a clean picked apple tree, removed slightly from the path, was a black cat nibbling on a crepe.

Incidentally, the girl proposing to her partner stopped midway through after spotting me. Fearing this was an omen, she made the biggest blunder and might have hurt her partner in her blunder. This belief in this myth of bad luck was self-perpetuating.

“Anything interesting happen whilst I was gone?” Hannah must not have noticed the gaurds.

“Apparently there's some gang going around kidnapping people. Or so I've heard.” This crepe thing was actually pretty damn good.

“Kidnapping?” Linth couldn't suppress the nervous concern in her voice.

“Yeah. The knights and local guard are on it though. None of our business.”

Scratch my previous statement, this crepe was way more than pretty damn good. I just wished I had a big enough mouth to appreciate the full combination of texture and flavours at play.

Hannah crossed her arms and stared up into the sky. “Hmm...”

So this was real festival food. I'd forgotten. Most of my caretakers were from rural communities. They didn't go to these fancy festivals in the big city often. If Hannah wasn't going to eat hers, then I'd be happy too. Not only was my stomach lined with heat treated steel, it was very spacious as well.

“Hannah?” Linth, cream on her cheek, glanced over.

Deep in thought, Hannah screwed her eyes shut for a moment before a devilish smile overtook her. Her look practically screamed 'I have a very cunning plan'.

Oh no. This never ended went well for me.

“I think I know where what the guards are looking for is.” The glint in her eye was was an equal mixture of foolhardy hope and dogged determination.

I must have jinxed it when I said it was none of our business. I should have known Hannah would take that for a challenge.