Breakfast in the morning was a treat, at least for me. Great Aunt Dora employed a mage for the Hof as well as being a mage herself. As a result, the Hof had an actively maintained cold room and ice room in the kitchen cellar. This enabled the Hof to store game meats for months at a time. I had bear for breakfast. When I joined everyone else in the family dining room afterward, I informed Duchess Dora that I intended to move in as soon as I had the leisure to do so.

"So, you think you can just barge your way into my home without so much as a 'by-your-leave?'" she asked with mock indignation.

* I am a spirit beast and an emissary of the gods, * I curled up on the oversized armchair I was provided at the table and rested my chin on the edge of the table. * You should be honored that I would deign to visit your humble dwelling. * I delivered that haughty pronouncement with an extra-large serving of condescension on the side.

Cat almost choked, trying to eat and not laugh at the same time.

"Everyone in my castle," the Duchess looked down her long aristocratic nose at me, "must serve some function or earn their keep." She upped the ante.

* My sacred presence brings good fortune and the blessings of the gods wherever I go. *

"So does the high priest of the city temple," she demurely sipped her tea. "As a latecomer to the local spiritual economy, you have no market share and an uphill battle to gain some."

"Ouch!" Across from me at the table, Uncle Sven pulled out a chair for Lady Zenobia and then sat down next to her. "I think that point was just scored by Aunt Dora. You might not win this one, Fuzz."

"Well, she's overdue on finding someone who can match her at verbal sparring," Cat gave his great aunt a look of encouragement.

* I must add that I'm incredibly cute and cuddly. * I made my very best big kitty eyes at the Duchess with a purr loud enough to rattle the silverware.

"So, in addition to being an insufferable layabout," one of the duchess' eyebrows lifted eloquently toward her hairline, "you rely on undeserved sympathy to scam others into housing and feeding you." She turned her eyes to Cat, "Prince Andray, I am most disappointed in you. This creature's attitude is not at all fitting for service to the royal family. I suggest you replace this sycophant with something more appropriate, like a palfrey, which would have the added benefit of not talking back. I will take on the remediation of this leech in a cougar suit myself. A few years of servitude catching rodents at the ducal grainery should do the trick."

* Mousing is beneath me, * I sniffed. * No cougar would stoop so low. *

"My foster mother told me that ever since Fuzzy took up residence in Elvenhome, all the rodents and insects in the living and cooking spaces have almost completely vanished," Cat helpfully informed the Duchess.

* Traitor! *

"Love you too, Fuzz," Cat's smile was as innocent as the day he was born. "You will need to isolate her at night, Aunt Dora, because she snores."

* I do not! *

"And she makes these funny woofling noises sometimes," Willam added, "and all her paws twitch as she chases some offending mouse in her dreams."

I was saved from further abuse by the arrival of the hungover Duke Valgard and Father Garshom, who were much better targets than I. Duchess Dora showed them no mercy.

When Duchess Dora heard that the Regent had thrown the Countess de Teep into the dungeon, she was both appalled and concerned since the Countess was advanced in years. Cat set up a table in the solar for the scrying crystal so those with magic ability could watch. Duchess Dora and her mage, Timbert, joined up.

To my surprise, Lady Zenobia also joined us. Just looking at her aura, I could tell she had talent though little training. What she knew, she had learned out of books. Her father was one of those unenlightened people who distrusted magic outside of the temples and thought she would be tainted if she had training.

As soon as Sven had helped her to a chair, I couldn't help myself from asking: * Lady Zenobia, can a blind person see through scrying? *

"If someone was born without sight," she explained with a polite smile, "the answer is no. Someone who has never had sight can not gain it through a scrying pan or stone. I lost my eyesight through a mishap when I was six. I can tell the difference between light and dark but nothing else. My study of magic texts indicates that I should be able to see what is revealed by a scrying stone."

* Please pardon me if this is rude, but your eyes appear clouded. Was it quick lime? *

"You are correct, Lady Fuzzy," she sighed.

It was a shame that it was a chemical burn. Once scar tissue was established, burnt tissues resisted healing. No one has ever succeeded in creating a healing spell that will reverse the damage of burns.

"Well, Fuzz," Cat said before he went into his trance for scrying, "I think you should do the linking with Lady Zenobia since you are the most practiced thought caster among us."

* I can do that, * I thought of what words to use to cast and then said in my mind, * Γρυττε μεμ, μειτσjε μν εἀγεν ἁρ εἀγεν! *

To me, Zenobia's connection felt like itchy little pinpricks behind my eyes. I don't know how it felt to Lady Zenobia but she did gasp when the spell took effect. Then I waited for Cat to trance and dropped into my own so I could see where he directed the crystal to go. I felt Dora and Timbert join in.

First, Cat dropped into the dungeon, looking into the different cells for Countess de Teep. Cat found her eventually. Her face was bloodied, one eye was swollen shut and her nose was broken. She was either sleeping or in a coma, but we dared not be too invasive. We didn't want to give away that we were actively scrying the palace every day.

(to be continued in installment 77)