"Galio? Is there something wrong?" Listenia asked as she turned over in bed to find me sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Just a dream. Left me feeling empty," I said as I looked down at my hands. I could still see the blood on them.
The dream had ended there, but I knew the rest of the story. I remembered screaming out with her lifeless body in my arms. The Guides gave me what I asked for, and in the end, fate had its way just like my mother had intended. She forced this fate on me.
"You seem to have a lot of unsettling dreams," Listenia said as she came over behind me and kissed the back of my neck while putting her arms around me.
"Dreams are windows to past lives, and my past is much longer than just five hundred lifetimes," I said, leaning back and turning my head to kiss her.
Listenia kissed me slowly, and I wanted to fall down in bed with her, but today was not one for dicking around. The summoning was just around the corner, no more than a day away. From my estimation of the summoning circle, it would activate at nightfall.
"Are you ready to go see your mother?" I asked after breaking the kiss, and Listenia sighed.
"You have things to do, so I will go deal with that woman. Like you said, she is nothing more than a child with no power. If you have time, come by later today, and you can see if I need any help then. I think that this is something that should be dealt with between us for now," Listenia said as she started to get dressed.
"I think that is a good idea," I said as I got up from the bed.
Listenia turned and smiled at me, and I reached out and stroked the side of her head. She leaned into the touch, and I dropped my hand to her waist and tugged her to me.
"I will see you soon," Listenia said as she gave me a quick kiss.
I watched as she left, and then I got dressed. I headed to the manor but changed into a cat first. I was not really in the mood to deal with mobs of women today.
After hopping out the window and crossing a few roofs, I hopped down on the inside of the manor's fence. It was still early, but Eliza and Chili were waiting for me on the front step. I had said I would come by in the morning, but I wasn't really feeling training.
"Galio? Is that you?" Eliza asked as she hopped up to come over to me as I walked over.
"I don't think that there are any other cats that are as white as Galio," Chili laughed, and I transformed back into my human form.
"I thought that I would come by and say hello. I have some things I need to do, but I should be back in the evening. I thought that we could train for a bit then. I am just not feeling up to it today, and I need to go to Bramma and deal with that," I said as I looked at Eliza.
"I am sorry to hear that. Maybe we could go with you? We could do a bit of training there," Eliza said, and I shook my head.
"This is something that I need to do, and I am going to be going as a cat for the first bit. I will come find you when I am done," I said as I started to walk off.
"Are you sure that you are okay?" Eliza called out to me, and I stopped, turning back to her with a big smile that I forced on.
"Just a bad dream. I will be fine," I said, and she smiled back.
"If you say so. I will see you later then," Eliza said, and she and Chili walked off.
After they left back inside, I transformed again and headed to the north gate. On my walk over, I tried to push everything out of my head. I needed to clear it, or it was going to start affecting my day.
Once I made it to the gate, the Guards were there, and they were talking with Mishal, who was wearing her robes. Even in the daylight, the lightning-shaped marks under her eyes stood out from her dark skin.
"Look who it is! Sarah, it is that damn cat again! Are you going to turn into a space lion again?" Brenda demanded as I walked over and sat down beside Mishal's bare feet.
"Brenda, it is a cat. What we saw last night was not the same as this! You heard Senna! This is not some magical cat! It probably just got hit in the head too many times or fell off too many roofs!" Sarah snapped and then pointed at me. "Look at the stupid look on its face! Does it really look like some goddess or monster to you?!"
"Well, it is fairly white, but it does kind of look stupid now that I think about it," Brenda said as I stared up at the two of them blankly. That witch!
No, she didn't tell them about me, but telling them I was a couple scoop short of a full sack was not an improvement. I would have to get back at that woman, but that could be saved for later.
"I think that this cat is special, so I will take it with me for good luck," Mishal said as she picked me up and stroked my fur. "I will be heading to Bramma for the day, but I should be back in the evening if everything goes well."
"Oh? Are you expecting trouble?" Sarah asked, and Mishal looked down at me briefly.
"That is hard to say, but I wouldn't say that it can't happen. We will just have to see how the day goes. It has been a while since I've been back," Mishal said as she turned to walk away from the gate.
I crawled out of Mishal's arms to peek over her shoulder and stared back at the guards. Then I stuck my tongue out and pulled both my eyelids down.
"You see that! No normal cat does something like that!" Brenda exclaimed as we walked away.
"That is just further proof that the cat is as dumb as a bag of hammers!" Sarah snapped, and I sank back down. Damn that, Senna!
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