“Kisa! It’s not what you think. Come with me!” Meera yells. My security is trying to stop this dangerous situation. However, I know the genie is out of the bottle. And curiosity kills the cat. I can’t avoid this. Though Meera continues to tug, without Kisa’s cooperation, her freakish Demi-Cat strength is immovable. I shake my head, putting up a hand. “Myrr?”

“Let her go, Meera.” I sigh, feeling my stomach sink. The back of my neck is prickling with guilt. My head on fire with pain. It hurts to think, let alone speak. But I know I need to explain. Putting my head in my hands, I whisper hoarsely, “I’m sorry, Kisa. You weren’t supposed to know.”

“This is a bad idea,” Meera says but lets her go anyways. “You’re exposing us.”

“It’s more dangerous not to say anything,” I reply, head still in my hands. It burns something awful. Quietly, I whisper the words for Chill and feel cool air spreading over my temples. The pounding subsides enough that I can talk. “Kisa, I came here to destroy Merekeep. The things you suspect...they’re true-“

“We came here to destroy Merekeep,” Meera interjects. I nod at her. “These honourless thieves and spineless weaklings who call themselves assassins. We’re going to bring them down.”

“D-Destroy?” Kisa’s cat-like slit pupils widen. Whether in horror or amazement I can’t tell. Her bottle-brush tail swishes from side to side, in a frantic rhythm. “Myrr...and Meera...want to destroy Merekeep?”

“Not just destroy.” I shake my head. Chanting, I make a mini ball of compressed ice in my hands with Chill. For a second, the blue frosty orb swirls about with a howling wind inside. Then I let the magic go and it explodes, shattering into a hundred tiny snowflakes, scattering everywhere. Cold water splashes off my face and mana-made tears drip down my cheeks as I close my fists and bow my head. “We will tear it down. The Daggas Clan who rules this place. Those that oppress the Demi’s and cause so much misery. I will take everything from them just as they have from me. However...”

“However?” Kisa’s gaze is spellbound. I peek at her from the corner of my eyes, head still bowed. Her emerald eyes are locked on my hands as her tail swishes, swaying side to side like a giant tawny palm frond in the wind. She bares her teeth, unconsciously tensing as she waits for me to answer. I shouldn’t be honest. But I don’t want to lie about this.

“However...I’m not doing this for the Demi’s. Not really...” I raise my head and narrow my eyes. Let her see some of the true me inside. It’s always there, not quite anger, perhaps rage, but more like something else. Vengeance,justice, conviction, call it what you want. It’s me. “They hurt someone who belongs to me. My sister...well Natalia would tell you that she’s my maid. As well as other people, like my father. I just wanted you to know that. Don’t mistake my reasons. This isn’t a grand quest for your race. I am not a hero. Rather...we’re not heroes.” I nod to Meera who’s been waving her hands irritably. She smiles as I acknowledge her. “It’s just business for us. Personal business. Please leave and bring Nya with you tonight. Take whatever you want, money, supplies, any of the product. Your service to us has been invaluable, I want you to know that. We have connections outside the city who can set you up someplace safe for Demi’s-”

“Leave?” Kisa’s voice is louder than I expected. Her tail abruptly stops swishing. Slowly, she starts walking closer. Meera moves to stop her, but I shake my head. No...let her say what she wants to my face. “You want Nya and I to leave?”

“Yes. As I said, we can find a home for you-“

“But then who will run the shop while you kill the Daggas?”

Huh?

A half-transformed Demi-Cat hand slowly turns human before my eyes as Kisa sniffs and reaches into her pocket. Removing a handkerchief, she doesn’t hesitate to bring it to my astonished face and dab at the watery remnants of my mini-Icebomb demonstration. Over in the corner, Meera has a perplexed expression to match mine. However, after a moment, it widens into a smile. To my surprise, she blurs, walking over and going out the front door.

“I’m going to keep watch for a bit!” She calls back and then is gone. It’s just me and Kisa in the shop’s main room. I look around, confused but my cashier grabs my head, holding it steady so she can dry my face. What’s happening?

“Where’s Nya?” I ask.

“In our room. I told her to leave when the Stranger came. Unfortunately, I was negligent and failed to remove myself from the room in time as you ordered. This is my fault,” Kisa tells me. Carefully, she adjusts the handkerchief and blots around my eyebrows. “Don’t move, Master. I’m sorry your first maid can’t be here with you. Allow me to serve in her place until you’ve taken care of your personal business.”

“You...want to stay? Don’t you understand? I’m killing people, Kisa!”

“They hurt your maid...of course tearing them apart is only justified. Did you think we would be afraid?” Kisa’s eyes are glowing, an expression I’ve never seen before on them. Tears well up inside the emerald spheres, but don’t spill out, instead turning shiny in the light and making her blink. The hands which were covered in fur are now delicately wiping off my eyelashes, never once missing their mark. Always with consummate care. “Master, do you know what it was like before you bought Nya and I?”

“I’ve heard the story,” my reply is met with a swallowed gulp. “But I assumed you two didn’t want to talk about it. You never bring it up.”

“We don’t,” her voice tremors, but her hands remain steady as she finishes my left eye and starts to work on my right. Dabbing gently with that handkerchief, rotating it to a new dry spot. “I...I was hoping if I don’t say anything to her...to Nya...she might be young enough. M-Maybe she’ll just forget one day.”

“Ah. I see.” Blinking as Kisa moves on from my eyes to my hair, I look up at her face to see that the tears have escaped prison and are running away down her cheeks. They drip to the floor and she jerks, trying to avoid getting them on me.

“I-I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay.” I take the handkerchief from her shaking hands which remarkably haven’t transformed back into paws yet. Kisa’s control is something else. Thinking back to what the slaver said about Demi-berry addiction, I wince. Reaching up, I push away Kisa’s hands and try to blot at her cheeks, but she grabs my hand in an iron grasp. “Kisa? Let me help.”

“No.” She growls. The handkerchief is taken from me, and Kisa wipes her own damn tears away without my assistance, sniffling just once. When I open my mouth to ask her why, I see her staunch face, flushed with emotion and decide better of it. Ahh...a maid’s pride. Or something like that. “Master, I wish to stay. You...probably don’t understand it. How hopeless we felt, knowing that there was no where to run. They’d never let us outside the walls. Demi’s aren’t allowed to leave Merekeep. But now, we know there’s a place with something better! This shop is everything to Nya and I. You...and Meera are our everything. If you make us leave...we’d have nothing...even outside the city. They’re all gone...every one I used to know...and Nya doesn’t even remember...“

“You don’t care about the danger?” I raise an eyebrow. Worried that as a Demi-Cat, Kisa isn’t thinking this through. “Don’t you understand? It’s not just you...your sister is at risk here, even if we tell her nothing. This shop is cozy. The walls are thick right? That won’t stop them if they realize who’s behind the bombings. You heard what happened to that Demi-Raccoon I tried to save. Are you prepared for that? Can you imagine what it’d be like for Nya-“

*Thud*

“Master...I keep trying to tell you. But you will not LISTEN!” A hand on my forehead. Or rather a paw. I’ve always found Kisa’s face to be quite cute with the cat-ears, but right now, it’s different. Imperious, she glares at me with a powerful snarl that somehow makes me shiver...for those who wronged her. It’s a face I’ve only seen on one other Demi-Cat. Briefly, I remember Natalia before locking those memories away. Kisa’s teeth have become fangs but she still speaks clearly as she declares, “Of course I am afraid to see Nya like that. But no matter where we go, she will always be in danger. Even outside this city, I have heard the stories. The few who made it out but ended up starving so badly they had to return and beg to be let back in. I don’t want to die slowly again! You can ask Nya right now what she thinks of leaving...explain it all to her...and I am certain...her answer will be the same as mine. We are not afraid of what you are doing...you are a good person who takes care of Demi’s! We love the shop...and we will serve you until the end! If you get caught, even if you ask us to leave, we will not! We will stay and fight for you like Meera does and defend our home until they rip our claws away and tear off our pelts! Even if you tell us to leave, now that we know what you are doing, we will always be waiting outside your door, for the day your order comes!”

“Kisa...” I didn’t see that coming. Never reactivated Foresight after the Stranger left. Head hurts too fiercely anyways to calculate possibilities. All I have right now, is my gut. It’s not something I have to rely on often, my brain usually takes care of the decision making, but right now, I think my gut’s a better bet than the useless mashed potatoes trying to do math in my head. I...knew it was bad. But I had no idea it was this bad. They all seemed just so happy to be here...maybe I didn’t want to see it. Or...just didn’t care.

“Master, please...let us serve.” Kisa’s eyes are insistent. She puts an arm around either side of my head, leaning down and wrapping me in a hug. The pain is blinding, but subsides slightly into a dull fiery burn as her tears drip down into my hair. “We need you.”

“I...I got that Demi-Raccoon killed. A little girl...like Nya.” I whisper back. Natalia’s face flashes before me in the darkness, I’m imagining the Daggas Clan’s assassins pulling at her fur. Poking and prodding...searching her flesh. The things I saw done to her parents in Sines. I couldn’t stop her from seeing them like that. I still hate myself for that. “She just wanted to get cheese for her Masters. It was my cheese. I planted the bomb and made her run. She seemed...to be happy. Not suffering...and now...what’s left of her...if she’s lucky...she’s dead.”

“I know you, Master.” Kisa’s face is a blessed smile, even as she cries. Holding my head, she never doubts me. “You didn’t want them to catch her. This isn’t your fault. You’re trying to punish the ones who tricked her into serving them! She didn’t know they weren’t real Masters! She didn’t even know that she should get to choose!”

“She didn’t...and neither will the others. All the Demi’s who end up in the way...or hurt in what’s coming. My spells hurt, Kisa. Magic doesn’t discriminate. I can’t control it that well yet. For every member of the Clans I kill, there’s a risk that your people will get caught in the crossfire. And they’re so weak...never trained. Some of them will die no matter how careful I am. Are you okay with that?” I don’t know why I’m saying such things. The villain never confides in his minions. Doubts should stay inside me and be buried along with my enemies. But tonight is different. The future was taken from me. My world is falling apart. And the enemy knows my face. I feel it for the first time since winning the Trials. My recklessness, the thrill of gambling for the first time has brought me deep into enemy territory. I told myself that I wouldn’t gamble again after risking my life and Elina’s that night against the Rainstopper Council. Yet now I fear, maybe I haven’t been carefully counting cards or playing a good game of poker in Merekeep. The plan is unraveling. The players are stronger than I thought. And I have to wonder...have I just been gambling this whole time?

“Master...” Kisa’s voice is soft and quiet as she holds me. She rises, and runs her fingers through my hair to remove her runaway tears. Gradually, her gentle hands fall away. I look up at her. The emerald cat-like eyes are narrowed, and unlike myself, her rage is not cold, or calculating. Rather, it is on fire, burning with a terrifying glory. Gone is my innocent cashier, and in her place is something...scarier. Demi-Cats...are they all like this? What was Merekeep thinking, enslaving their kind? Well now...I suppose they’ll pay for their mistakes. Kisa’s genteel mouth and easy-going demeanor are nowhere to be found as she raises her fully-transformed paws to reveal sharp claws extending from the pads. “You are worried because we are too weak, and too innocent. Then train us. Give us the order, let Meera show us how to fight as she does with you. Make us strong! Nya and I will not fail you...I swear it on my pride. If you teach us, we will find others who wish to serve as well! When you take care of your personal business, the Demi’s will not hold you back!”

What have I done?

“Is that really what you want?” I can’t stop it now. My voice is soft although we discuss heavy matters of heart and blood, “I already have a head maid...but if you guys want...my maid is young and inexperienced. She could use some good sisters to help her run things once we’re done here. Only if you guys want though-”

“YES, MY MASTER!” her reply comes before I can even finish talking. Kisa agrees without a moment of doubt. How I ever thought she would leave is beyond me. Merekeep...do you have any idea what’s coming? What you’ve created? What I’ve unleashed? Hehe...hehehe...I may come to regret this. No, scratch that! I probably will! But no more regrets. Me and the Demi’s...we all ended up here against our will. This is your karma coming back to you! And it’s a real b*tch.

“Come with me, Kisa. We’ll see if Nya really does share your convictions.”

[Careful, Truthseeker!

Shooting stars burn so bright...

But their light ends so quickly in the night.

Never wish upon a black star!

For you might just find...

Heroes and villains are not so different.

Don’t you ever wonder...

Why I chose you?]