Father wyvern requested that I be a party to negotiations. This was all new to him and I think he wanted a face present that he knew he could trust. In addition to the Generalissimo, Magrat asked Duke Sven and Wren to join us. I think she wanted to demonstrate to the wyverns that we really were working together on this.

I had very little to contribute. Most of the talk revolved around where the wyverns could go for both the long and short term. Because of the communication problem, it looked like the best short-term solution was my suggestion to settle the wyverns near the trolls on the Green River while the weather was warm. That would give mages time to find a more permanent solution to the communication problem.

When I mentioned that Father Garshom had experience in potions and enchanted tools, the two goblins present were ready to send the army to fetch him right at that moment. Nothing was resolved just then since the Prince sent word that lunch was ready. Wyverns were like felines in wanting to sleep, especially after eating. The wyvern family each had a hog to eat before starting the talks with Magrat. They retired to the roof of the cheese factory for a long nap. Magrat decided the talks would start back up tomorrow morning, so I now had my afternoon free to play with Cat's gift from the Goblin Queen.

I wasn't feeling patient enough to watch the two-footed ones eat plant matter and meat that had its taste ruined by heating it so I headed for the trees. I was sure I had smelled mountain coneys at the edge of the forest on the north side of town and I was going to catch myself some fresh meat. I had just pounced on a fat coney that had been raiding local gardens. I was about to gut and clean it when Cat mind-shouted at me.

I can't say I was overjoyed to have my fun-with-food moment interrupted before I even got started. At least I got a little pouncing in before having my snack time ruined. I ran back to the meeting hall with the just-killed coney. The door was closed and there was no one to open it. It was most annoying. My only recourse was to do what anyone of my species would do when presented with a closed human door. I yowled as loud as I could, just to make sure they heard me inside.

When Cat and I first arrived at Elvenhome, I yowled just a handful of times to be let in or let out before all the doors I used regularly sported newly-made door levers instead of doorknobs. Alas, the doors on the goblin meeting hall have knobs. To be honest, I can use doorknobs but I end up destroying the knobs. My jaws are too strong and I end up crushing doorknobs when trying to turn them with my cuspid fangs.

Wren opened the door. She looked concerned and a little out of breath, "Fuzzy, what's wrong?"

* Nothing. Cat rider wanted me and there was no one to open the door for me. *

"You made all the noise just to get the door opened? Haven't you heard of knocking?"

* Knocking requires hands, Wren dearest, and I don't seem to have any. *

"You miserable incorrigible intolerable excuse of a cat. We thought something terrible had happened."

* It was terrible. First, Cat interrupted me before I could have my lunch, and then no one met me to open the door, which I can't do myself. It's a nice fresh coney too, which now I must wait to eat. After nothing but mutton since we left Kizdangengar, I was really looking forward to it. *

"Fuzzy, why be difficult when, with a little more effort, you could be impossible?"

I stopped and looked at her with mock admiration, * Why Wren, that's a great idea! I'll get to work on that right away. *

It was just then that I noticed every eye in the room was on me.

Motley Owl walked up to me, "what's wrong, Fuzzy?"

"She couldn't open the door and her majesty here was put out that no one waiting to open it for her," Wren snarled.

"That's it?" Owl's eyebrows disappeared upward toward his hairline.

"Isn't that enough?"

To Wren's disgust, Owl howled with laughter. "You know, Fuzzy," he grinned, "you could have mind talked to any one of us to let you in."

* Too much work, not enough fun, * I declared, still feeling put out about the door.

Still grinning, Owl pointed to a table in the corner of the dining area where the Duke, Willam, and my boy were waiting for me, "would you like me to dress out that coney while you talk with those who summoned you, your Cattiness, Great Sage of All Beasts?"

* Very funny, Owl, * I grumped. * No, I'm going to have Cat Rider do that for me. *

Owl continued to laugh behind me as I padded over to my boy. I put my front paws on the edge of the table and dropped the coney in front of Cat.

* Dress that out for me, please. You can keep the skin. * I then jumped up on the table and laid down.

"Fuzzy," Cat gifted me with a face full of long-suffering patience, "you can't sit on the table, and why should I dress out this rabbit?"

* Coney. I was ready to gut and clean it myself when somebody interrupted my lunch. And why shouldn't I lie down on the table to talk with you? I don't fit on any of the goblin chairs and benches, and the only other alternative is the floor. *

Cat glared at me, and I glared back. The duke picked up the coney and waved someone over. Sergeant Albert arrived looking a little nervous and eyeing me.

"Albert, would you please take this to the kitchen," the duke handed the sergeant the coney, "and get it dressed out for this starving and pathetic mountain cat." The sergeant took the coney and escaped. "Fuzzy, I had no idea you could caterwaul like that. Is there any way to capture that sound with magic and use it for a doorbell?"

I switched my glare from Cat to Duke Sven but got distracted: * I surmise that you think you're…Oh! Oh, oh, oh, right there. Oh, yes, right there, right under the chin. * The Prince aimed for my one weakness. I flopped over onto my side from scratch-induced paralysis and purred.

"Feeling less grumpy now?" a grinning Willam sat back down.

* Willam, marry me. *

"The church would never permit it," Willam pointed out, still grinning.

* The Holy Writ says nothing about marrying divine beasts, neither for nor against. *

"What about the prohibition of fornicating with animals?"

* That's about having sex with animals. That's independent of marriage. Marriage under the law is a legal contract by which two people of opposite genders merge their estates and set up a household with property held in common. Married status is also the precondition for legal sex, but that implies you don't have to have sex to be married. *

"Give up, Willam," Cat laughed, "Fuzzy doesn't lose arguments."

"Alright, children," Duke Sven interrupted, "playtime is over. We need to start thinking about how we can rescue the king."