Two months later

Nyitzcha undid the lock to her front doors with haste, pushing through with her arms spread out and a joyful laugh as she entered. She spun around, inhaling the smell of dust and ale as she fell onto one of the stools beside a round table. Kuli peaked through the doorway, looking around carefully as she approached the tavern with a brown cloak disguising her appearance and a hood to hide her ears. Once the doors close, her tails snuck from the bottom of the fabric and she quickly shook the cloak off, her ears flickered and her fur trembled with gratitude upon its familiar exposure to freedom. Nyitzcha spun around, resting her little feet on the stool while she leaned back cradling her head on folded arms with a satisfied look on her face. Kuli felt her nose wrinkle as the smell tickled her nostrils, bursting into a sneeze. "Choo!" She sniffed. "It's a bit dirty here."

"Is a bit o' dust, adds t'da scenery. Nuthin' a wee lil rag can't clean." Nyitzcha hopped down from the stool, disappearing amongst the many stools and tables before hopping atop her serving table. "We 'ave water, das good. Here, take a few rags an' make yerself useful. We gotta make dis place look bran' new, ah say it should be fixed by t'morrow!"

Kuli nodded, catching both wet rags with each tail as the doors closed behind them.

"Are you sure this is enough to work with?" Asked Felix, carrying a large block of wood over his shoulder while one the Nekomata's helped carry it from the other end.

"It's a start now get to it!" Janette ordered, her eyes settled on a clipboard as she was busy writing down what appeared to be blueprints to a new house. The drawing was amateur at best but it did not matter, she needed a visual to help her design come together.

Spi'Reto passed by carrying a few tools like saws and hatchets, sneaking in a glance over her shoulder. "You know, my mom can help you with that. She's a pretty good artist, she use to make paintings in her free time."

"That true?" Janette recalled the weeks prior when they were discussing a plan of action in the forest, thinking back to the many paintings she found piled at a corner of the large tent they were in. "If she can follow my directions, sure."

Alma's ear twitched as she was approached by her son, who dragged her to Janette and made the request. "Me, draw blueprints for you?"

"It's my house, but if you can be my hands and follow my vision then yea, I'd like for you to help me draw out some plans for my home. Can you do it?"

"I... suppose." Alma reluctantly agreed, her fingers slowly reaching for the quill Janette was offering her. She sat down by the picnic table next to her, keeping quiet as Janette rolled out a new blank sheet of paper and began to disclose her directions.

"No no, one at a time kids. No pushing." Emyri said calmly.

"She started it!"

"Did not-ow!"

"I will end it if you don't behave." Emyri raised her voice, patiently waiting for the little kids to sit down. She brushed her brown fluffy hair, tucking it behind her ear as she sat down and brushed her thighs and waist. It was time to begin teaching the children once again after everything had calmed down. Most had trouble readjusting to normalcy, for good reason after all. Though it was mostly the adults and elders who slept each night with worry and concern, afraid that one day they will be found, it was the little one's who entertained themselves with games and mischief. Perhaps they were too young to understand, to comprehend the danger they lived through, but there lies an innocence in them. Watching them play games like tag or hide and seek, it brought laughter and smiles to everyone to be reminded of what a boring life once was. Boring, yet peaceful.

Peace is good, Emyri thought to herself as a smile began to form. She cleared her throat and began to lecture them about their lessons for today, it was either teaching them about their culture and heritage or teaching them about survivability and how to adapt. Today's lesson was about the latter.

"How is everyone doing in their new home?" She asked. Many of the little ones shrugged or stayed quiet, some even fidgeting with their tails or had their eyes looking somewhere else.

One little paw raised her hand. "Are we going to be moving like we did before?" She asked in an extra high pitched voice with curious eyes.

"No, not this time. This is our new home."

"Forever?" Another girl asked.

"Well, for the time being. I think we are tired of moving around, don't you think?" Many of their little faces nodded in agreement, some of them blowing raspberries in relief. Good, she thought to herself, they've adjusted after a few weeks.

Another paw was raised. "Den, why are Aunt Alma and the others going?"

Oh dear, she knew this would be asked. She took a deep breath. "That's because they like moving around. Aunt Alma's home was back in the woods-"

"Where the big thin' was!" One other voice chimed in, raising her paws to exaggerate the size of the tower to her friends.

"Yes, exactly. They had a job to look after it and now their job is done."

"So, now where will dey go?" The first girl asked again.

Emyri sucked in her breath, feeling the weight of those words impact her hard. "Only she knows, I couldn't tell you. But I-I hope she stays safe wherever she goes. Fortunately they won't be leaving just yet,-"

"U'til dey he'p us fix up a'big house!" A rather tiny adolescent Nekomata chimed in, creating a soft ripple of laughter among the cat children.

"Now what did I say about interrupting when someone is talking, dear?"

The cat girl gasped and cupped her mouth with both paws. "Sowwy."

Emyri smiled and shook her head. "Places, children. That's enough questions to start the day, now for today's lesson."

BANG!

Several Nekomata's yelped and lept into the air, landing on all fours with a fierce snarl. Nukka raised her paws, sweating and being apologetic while Janette rushed over to see the impact.

"What happened? Is anyone hurt?" She cried out, catching her breath and looking over the scene.

Nukka sat down, frozen in place as she closed her eyes and held herself steady, her paws covering her ears. Janette looked around, some of the large crates had claw marks dragging along the sides, she guessed that the bear lost her grip while transporting the cargo.

"Momma!" Janette nearly fell as a Nekomata slipped past her, hurrying to hug Nukka with wide arms. She carefully began to brush Nukka's head, leaning her head against her and looking back at Janette. "Is she in trouble?"

"No one is hurt, it looked like an accident really. Is she going to be okay?" Janette asked.

Mimi nodded, patting her adoptive mother bear on the head as Nukka opened her eyes and her facial expressions softened to one of relief. "No trouble for Nukka?"

"No Momma, you're not in trouble." She smiled, turning her sight on Janette. "Excuse me, is it okay if I borrow her for a bit? Mother needs help moving several medical things around and we can use some bear grip."

"Who, Zimi? Yea sure, go ahead. I think we can work with this here, whatever it is." Janette mumbled as she approached the stack of crates surrounded by several curious cat girls.

Later that night, she retired back into the tavern where Nyitzcha was busy serving customers. She didn't bother to wave hello to her, she was preoccupied yelling at some drunk that his pay was too low, but she nearly bumped into Felix as he spun around with a serving plate in hand.

"Whoa! You look-"

"Like shit, I know." She groaned, pushing past him.

Felix quickly stepped in to catch up. "I was going to say exhausted, how's the house coming along?"

"It's been two months, Nukka dropped the frames and some of them came out bent. Some of the girls can't seem to use tools that well, in hindsight I should have expect that with their paws, so I've had some of the villagers help out on that."

"The elder folk?" He asked with an awkward expression.

"Yea, I have them do small stuff and I make sure they're okay, besides they offered. Don't make that face please, I'm already feeling awful." She brushed past him with half closed eyes, walking around the corner where the stairway was.

"Okay, just... I'm here if you need anything!" He called from around the corner.

Janette rolled her eyes, feeling a pain in her chest as remorse entered her heart. She looked back then shook her head, placing a mental note before fishing for the key to her room. Closing the door behind her, she pulled back the chair to her desk and sat down in a huff, burying her head on her crossed arms. Maybe it was the stress, she was use to working daily but juggling so much was getting to her.

I need to de-stress, Janette thought to herself as she reached for her journal. It's a lot of blank pages, just waiting to be filled with mystery, thoughts, imagination, whatever the writer desires it to be. Scooting back, she reached for the window next to her and pushed both window latches open, listening to the rustling noises and cheerful voices of the numerous travelers, buyers, or owners of the marketplace up and down the lengthy red dirt road. Well, the cool night air did help keep her spirits up and a glimpse at the stars this time reminded her of her life's journey. Many encounters she's had to last a lifetime, many wouldn't believe her word for the truth. That to her was a crazy revelation, if the seven gods do exist, then so many other religions are in for a surprise, and unfortunately this also meant that many acts in history, not all of them good, were in vein. Or could it be that those religions do carry some truth in them? She began to ponder with her index finger and thumb squeezing around the quill in her hand, tapping against the wooden desk frequently, building momentum as more and more thoughts approached her. How many towers exist? What are the seven doing, what do they want?

"My goodness, I get it now. That's why Vardare wanted to stay, it was too big an offer to leave behind, how could he?" She combed through her silky brunette hair down from scalp to past her shoulder, feeling a nervous tingle in her chest as her thoughts pointed to the owl, or book, or spirit. How did he get in that book? Now that was another question, and it dawned on her that there is an entire world of magic she is still unaware of. She had a hobby of reading in her youth but placed the books down once she inherited her parents business, and now she had neglected from expanding her knowledge further.

"Note to self, look for more books." She wrote to herself on a notepad beside her. She scrapped the piece of paper incidentally as the ink ran dry, frowning as she reached to gently dip the tip in ink. Looking back at her open journal, the blank pages stared back at her. It felt different, rather sad actually as she understood that it would not be writing back. She looked out the window to the stars, wondering if Vardare was enjoying himself still. Vardare, maybe start with learning more about him, she smiled as she wrote that down in her notes once more.

Her lips pressed together and wriggled like tangled worms struggling to free themselves as her eyes settled on her empty journal once more. She use to write in her diary, but how to start writing a book? Although the thought first excited her, she began to believe that tingle in her chest was mistaken for something else. Deep breath, where to start? How to start? Why to st-

"Mew?"

It seemed ridiculous to admit, but Janette was startled and the quill flipped in her hand, dropping to her feet as she pushed her chair back to face the lonely cat perched on the windowsill. It was an adorable white cat, she calmed herself and felt her face turn red as she realized that was what scared her, but her calming manner went away when she stared into the cat's green eyes, beautiful like jewels forged from jade, sparking like the brightest stars in the blackest night.

The soft furred cat lept down, inviting itself inside before getting comfortable on her bed where it began to grow and take shape, shifting and shedding its fur in place of delicate skin, her chest forming soft breasts, her snout retracting into a human nose, yet her paws and cat ears remained the same, and her tail split into two tails.

"Syri." Janette gulped, folding her leg and leaning back in her chair in a futile attempt to save face. "What can I do for you here?"

Syri licked her paw, rubbing her forehead and batting those pretty green eyes of hers. "Why are you talking like that?"

"Like what?"

"All serious and stuff. Are you nervous? I can feel you're nervous. Do I make you nervous?"

"All of these questions don't help." Janette bent over, plucking her quill from the ground and stroking the feather before meeting her eyes. "Are you doing okay?"

"I think so, this place has more room and people and it's nice being with friends. I miss home, but Mom says that's natural and in time we can get use to it. But after two months, I still wake up thinking I'm home. Actually," She began to fidget with her tails, both tips bumping together back and forth as her ears fell back and she looked away. "I have... well, it's a lot to deal with."

She understood, but didn't know what to say or how to contribute, so softly nodding was her response.

Syri's ears shot up as she smiled suddenly with a burst of energy. "Oh! I've been learning more words! I learned how to say hoo-mane now, human."

"Heh, that's good to know." Janette smiled back as a warm feeling entered her.

"And umm, I've grown use to wolfy. She's not so scary now, especially when she's in human form!"

"Reta, that's nice. I haven't seen her drink in a while, I was beginning to think she might be upset about something." She raised a finger to her chin, thinking back to her past interactions with the werewolf.

"How is your house coming along?" Syri asked next, leaning back on her two paws.

Janette felt her heart beat skip as her eyes settled on the cat girl's chest before quickly snapping her head away so fast, she heard something pop. "Ow! It's fine."

"You okay?"

"It's fine, it's fine! The house is fine!" But my neck is not, she gritted her teeth forcing a smile and cursing herself in her head.

Syri parted her lips, leaving her mouth open as if wanting to speak, but closed them after. She hopped off the bed and approached her, each soft step causing Janette to grow more uneasy with this direction. She stopped as she stood in front of her now, and despite having months to grow accustomed to her nudity, it still carried an effect on her. Syri could tell, her nose caught whiff of the excitement and for a moment her mind flashed back to that first time in the mansion in bed. Her tails swayed but wrapped around her waist tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing those memories aside with the shake of her head.

"Listen, I wanted to tell you about us."

Janette nodded, bracing herself for what's next.

"I'm not stupid, I notice you've been super busy with everything with your job and your house. I've been helping too, but I also notice you avoid me. I felt bad thinking you didn't like me, but I can feel what you feel too. You do like me, a lot, but you're scared. So I asked Mom about it, and she told me to talk to you."

Janette nodded, her mind filled with worry. This is it, whatever she decides, she would support it.

"I think we started too fast, because I felt you were really pretty and we jumped in for funs before I learned your last name. I know some can do that, but not me. I'm not going for fun with anyone, I want to be with one someone, I mean one person, yes?" She stumbled in her speech, being careful in her words. "I think I said it right."

It was so difficult when you practice what you say then come to say it but forget your words halfway.

Janette stood up, catching the cat by surprise. "Can I talk next? I want to say a few things too."

Syri nodded, both women two feet apart facing each other.

"I think she's right, we started way too fast."

Syri sighed in relief. "Good to know, I was worried I was a bad mate."

"No no, you're great. I'm the bad one, I've never been in a relationship before."

"Me neither. Lots of cats I know usually mate with people they mark and stay with them."

"Yea."

"Yes."

Awkward pause.

Janette breathed in. "I still like you, do you like me?"

Syri looked a bit nervous. "I don't know if I can trust you like I did before."

"That's my fault, not yours. Okay? I think maybe... we should start over."

Syri looked up rather confused. "Start over?"

"Yea, like pretend we are meeting again. Get to know each other, that kind of stuff. But... I really am busy too."

Syri nodded. "The house and job."

"House and job, yes." Janette's eyes looked toward her journal. "When that's done, I think we should take some time until my house is finished before we try again."

"So, we are not mates then?"

Janette took a moment to answer, reaching out to hold her paws. "We can be friends, and then we'll see how it goes after."

"After." Syri repeated as she began to smile. "Yea, okay. But no more avoiding, okay?"

"Okay." Janette laughed, feeling a huge weight off her chest. Actually, both of them laughed in a shared wave of relief. Speaking of chest, she shot a glance at hers as her smaller tits shook when she laughed too. "Okay, yes."

"Ahem, my eyes are up here." Syri cleared her throat, giggling as Janette turned red and maye eye contact with her. "My name is Syri, nice to meet you."

"We're already holding hands, or paws. But hi, I'm J'Nette O'lav Cicarrio, but please call me Janette."

"Cute name for a cute face. Nice to meet you, O'lav." She snickered before letting go, approaching the windowsill. "Thanks for this. I was worried it would end badly but... this went well I think."

"Yea." Janette smiled back. "I think it did. Goodnight Syri."

"Goodnight!" She waved before transforming back into a cat. She mewed and jumped out the windowsill, leaving Janette alone in her room once more. She sat in her desk, tongue running between her lips as her brows came together in a look of concentration. Even though it was her book, the story didn't start with her. Luckily, she's had plenty of time to listen to how Felix and Kuli first met, and now she has a better idea how to begin.

Just start with one word, that's all I need. But how to start? She dipped her quill in ink and placed it on the page.

Thunder struck down with a fierce roar, the rain pouring hard as if mother nature were showering down upon her inhabitants...