Chapter 492 The home cat

“Welcome back, Miss Breeden,” the servant woman greeted as the doors were opened for Kat. “I hope your business in the city went well.”

“‘Well’ is one of those relative words,” Kat said with a chuckle. “I’m still breathing, my legs and job are intact, and the streets aren’t running red with blood and riots, so that’s a cheer. Other than that, though, there ain’t much good news to be had whenever I visit the Guild branch nowadays.”

The woman gave her an odd look. “You always have an interesting way of seeing things, Miss.”

“I try.” Kat smiled, then glanced around the foyer. “Any news here while I was gone?”

“I'm afraid not.”

“Nothing to be afraid of. No news is decent news as far as I'm concerned.”

Kat exchanged a few more words with the woman before hauling herself up the stairs and heading for her room.

It wasn’t as fancy as the one she’d been given back in Freybrook, but that wasn’t saying much. The place was still two or three times the size of any room she’d ever called hers, with enough expensive-looking furniture scattered around that Kat sometimes felt underdressed just standing in it.

Still felt a little ridiculous having the whole thing to herself, honestly.

She fiddled with the long braid her hair had been tied into as she crossed the room, working loose a few strands that had got caught awkwardly along the way. Reaching the bedside table, she grabbed the waterskin sitting there, tipped it upside down, and shook the last stubborn drops into her mouth before tossing it back down.

Then she pulled out the tie at the end of her braid and worked her fingers through it until her hair spilled loose over her shoulders.

That done, she flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the canopy overhead through a few loose strands of hair. She raised one hand above her face, turning it slightly in the light.

A thin, faint scar ran along it, starting near the base of her thumb and trailing towards her knuckle.

A little reminder from back when she’d been a brat and still entertained ideas about becoming some great swordsmage or another, all fired up on stories about people like Gratianus Graham.

A dry laugh slipped out of her.

She’d actually kept at that dream right up until she met Arnaud. The man had been the one to finally knock some sense into her and make her realise she didn’t really belong in the world of blades and fancy sword forms. Or rather, he’d made her appreciate having her talents lie with magic and accept that there wasn’t much wrong with that.

Blazes, just today the Guildmaster had been talking about promoting her to A-rank. She wasn’t even thirty yet. There were only a handful of Shielders in the entire empire who managed that at her age.

She was pretty damn gifted.

Really had to keep reminding herself of that sometimes.

Her arm dropped back onto the mattress.

After a moment, her fingers rose to her jaw instead, brushing across the rough patch of burn-scarred skin that crept up onto her cheek.

Another reminder.

Couldn’t quite get herself to laugh at that one.

Kat let out a slow breath and closed her eyes, sinking deeper into the mattress as her thoughts started wandering wherever they pleased. She hadn’t done much to tire herself out today, but a nap was nice sometimes.

When she woke, it was because her stomach was kicking up a racket.

Kat stayed sprawled there for a while longer anyway, enjoying the stupidly comfortable bed and wondering if she could get one like it for herself someday. She didn’t particularly want to know what the thing actually cost, but maybe she could convince Scarlett—or Evelyne, who was usually the one to talk to about that—to shave a bit off her pay and get her one from wherever they got theirs.

That’d be nice.

Although she should probably get herself an actual home before worrying about the bed.

She’d spent most of the last ten years living out of Guild lodgings, inns, or even on the road when necessary. At some point, she’d almost forgotten what it was like to have somewhere that was properly hers.

Living in Scarlett’s mansions was comfortable. More than comfortable, really. But it had never been meant to be permanent.

Her stomach growled again, louder this time.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Kat dragged herself upright and swung her feet onto the floor. She shuffled over to the wardrobe, changed into a fresh set of clothes, wrestled her hair back into a lazier braid, then headed straight for the dining hall. Her timing turned out pretty decent. Allyssa and Shin were already partway through a meal at the long table when Kat walked in.

“Kat!” Allyssa called, hunched over a bowl of soup with a chunk of bread in one hand and a loose strand of blonde hair hanging dangerously close to becoming part of dinner. “Were you taking a nap?”

“Sure was.”

Kat passed behind her and hooked the stray strand of hair away from the soup before it could meet an unfortunate end. Allyssa muttered a quick thanks, dipped her bread into the bowl, then waved the soggy end vaguely in Kat’s direction.

“You’re starting to become like Dad,” she said.

“What. Lazy?” Kat laughed.

“No. Old—Ow!”

Kat released the pinch at the back of Allyssa’s neck and gave her shoulder a friendly pat.

“Why don’t you try calling Scarlett old next time? Think she’ll appreciate it?”

“She doesn't look old, though. You d—Ow!”

“You spot one wrinkle and suddenly you think you can go around calling me whatever you want, brat? Watch yourself.”

“Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Consider me watched!”

“Good.”

“How did things go at the Guild?” Shin asked without looking away from the book placed in front of him.

Kat turned her attention to him. “Oh, you know. Same same. Things are still a mess basically everywhere, and the other branches are stretched thin, but it’s not as bad as we thought it might get with the Empyreal Barrier being established.”

“How is the situation in Wildscar?”

Kat was quiet for a moment.

“Worse, from what I hear. They’re afraid there might be a real tide coming in from beyond the Everdust Barrier sometime soon.”

Shin studied her for a while, then gave a slow nod and returned to his book.

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Kat left them to their meals and headed into the adjoining kitchen, where she traded a few words with the chef and his assistant before the chef slapped together a couple of plates for her. She carried them back to the dining hall and settled in with Shin and Allyssa, passing the next while talking about nothing much at all.

Eventually, the doors opened again.

Kat broke off halfway through a conversation with Shin about a book from the estate’s library that she’d been trying—and mostly failing—to make sense of, turning as Slate entered with a golden-haired girl dressed in white beside her.

“As reported, we are not alone here,” Slate said in that peculiar, perfectly flat way of hers. Her gaze passed over Kat, Shin, and Allyssa before returning to her companion.

The other girl regarded them with an equally inscrutable expression.

Kat couldn’t help staring for a second. Then she looked back down at the bread in her hand and dipped it into her soup.

Having one of the imperial princesses wandering around the mansion was plenty insane on its own, but on the Scarlett scale of things, it honestly didn’t rank all that high. Kat still got a little jolt whenever she saw the girl unexpectedly, sure, but even that was starting to wear off.

Slate and the princess took seats at the table to Kat’s right. Kat tore off a few pieces of her bread, but after a few seconds, the prickling awareness of someone staring at her made her pause.

She turned and found Slate looking directly at her.

“…Something wrong?”

“Hilde requires sustenance,” Slate said.

Something inside Kat twitched, just a tiny bit, at the casual use of the princess’ first name. Probably nowhere near as much as whatever was twitching inside Allyssa beside her, though.

It was honestly kind of adorable how hung up the girl got around the princess. If Kat were in her shoes, she’d be riding that high for weeks. How many people got to brag that an imperial princess had looked up to them as a cool teacher worth following around for an afternoon?

That aside…

“You’re not getting my food, kiddo,” Kat said, pulling her plate a little farther from Slate.

The faintest crease appeared between the girl’s brows beneath her hood.

“I had no intention of taking it.”

“That’s great. If you want your own, kitchen’s that way.”

Kat jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

Slate continued staring at her.

Kat raised both eyebrows. “What?”

“Hilde is a direct descendant of this empire’s emperor and a member of its imperial family.”

“I’m aware.”

Slate tilted her head to the side. “Her station warrants a considerable degree of service according to this society’s implicit social contract. Are menial tasks such as the retrieval of sustenance not commonly delegated to those of lower station?”

“Oftentimes, yeah.”

“You are of a lower station.”

Kat gave Slate a long look, then glanced past her at the quiet princess sitting beside her.

Letting out a small sigh, she reached over to pat Slate on the head.

“You’re not supposed to just grab whoever happens to be closest and outrank them into fetching your lunch. Besides, I don’t think your friend would mind going with you to get something herself. And if you really need someone to bring it over, there are plenty of people around paid to do that.”

Slate’s eyes shifted up towards the hand on her head, then she turned to study the princess.

After several seconds, she slid out of her chair.

“I will retrieve the sustenance.”

She started towards the kitchen. The princess watched her go for a moment, then quietly rose and followed.

Kat chuckled to herself.

A year ago, she never would’ve expected royalty to be the sort who seemed almost happier not having people waiting on them hand and foot. Now she’d met two different princesses—sisters, at that—who both seemed to have that particular oddity.

Made her wonder if the crown prince was the same.

Slate and the princess were gone for a while before eventually returning with trays of food. Surprisingly, one of those meals seemed to be Slate’s. The little homunculus rarely bothered eating, but maybe watching the princess last night had made her curious.

The pair rejoined Kat and the others at the table. Neither spoke much while they ate, and Kat was happy enough to leave them to it as the conversation carried on around them.

After a while, the doors opened again.

This time, Fynn entered the hall, walking straight past Kat and the others before disappearing into the kitchen. He returned soon after with several bowls and plates balanced precariously in his arms and started back towards the doors.

“Ehm, Fynn?” Allyssa called.

He stopped and looked back at her.

Allyssa pointed at the small mountain of food in his arms. “What are those for?”

“Eating.”

“I figured that much. That wasn't what I was asking.”

Fynn’s brows lifted.

For some reason, his eyes moved to Slate.

Slate, in turn, looked at the princess.

Allyssa blinked, visibly puzzled, and Kat only barely managed to hold back a snort.

The princess seemed a little unsure about why everyone was suddenly looking at her as well. After a few moments, though, the quiet girl glanced at Allyssa, then Fynn.

“It was a leading question,” she said. “You are supposed to explain why you are carrying the food away. It…seems like more than you could eat.”

Kat smiled at that. Clearly, the girl was underestimating how much Fynn could put away. But other than that, she had the right of it.

Fynn nodded to himself. “I thought as much.” He turned back to Allyssa. “It's better to be precise with words.”

Allyssa stared at him, then her head snapped towards Shin when he gave Fynn an approving nod. She slapped him on the arm.

“Whatever,” she grumbled. “You knew what I meant. Now you’re just doing it on purpose. Anyway, who are you bringing all that food to?”

“Evelyne, the old lady, and Scarlett,” Fynn replied.

That caught everyone’s attention.

“Scarlett’s awake?” Kat asked.

Evelyne and Lady Withersworth were both still recovering from the events at Dawnlight Palace and hadn’t left their rooms much, but Kat at least knew they were alright. Evelyne had joined them briefly for a meal the night before, and Lady Withersworth’s daughter had stopped by to visit her that morning.

Scarlett was another matter.

She’d slept through almost all of yesterday and the better part of two nights. Rosa said she’d spoken with her for a bit, and while the bard insisted Scarlett was going to be fine, Kat had got the sense that wasn’t all there was to it.

So hearing she was finally up was a relief.

One of the bowls in Fynn’s arms started to slip as he shifted his weight. Before it could tip, a quick gust curled around the stack and nudged everything neatly back into place, stirring his white hair across his forehead in the process.

Once he had the lot balanced again, he looked back at Kat.

“Yes. Scarlett is awake. She’s in the garden right now.”

Kat gave him a long look. “In the garden?”

“Yes.”

“What is she doing there?” Allyssa asked.

“I don't know. Working?”

“She's not supposed to be working.”

“I told her that.”

“And what did she say?”

“She didn't answer.”

Allyssa spread her hands and exchanged an exasperated look with Kat and Shin. “She's crazy, right? She has to be?”

“Heedless and stubborn, at the very least,” Shin said.

Kat shook her head. “You know how she can be.”

They’d all agreed Scarlett ought to spend the next few days resting, and every one of them had offered to handle whatever they could in the meantime. Looking back, Kat knew that had been a bit naive.

She and the others had given Scarlett plenty of grief for how much the woman piled onto herself, and most of the time she deserved it. But Kat wasn’t blind to the fact that Scarlett had ended up in a position where there were things only she could deal with. Things that didn’t always leave much room for taking a few days off just because everyone around her told her she should.

Reminding her not to run herself into the ground was one thing. Kat didn’t want to become another person adding pressure by telling her to relax when relaxing simply wasn’t an option.

And she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d figured that out.

Rosa, especially, seemed to spend half her time trying to work out how to make things easier for Scarlett without making a whole production out of it. Although things like that were always relative when it came to Rosa.

“I’m leaving,” Fynn announced.

He turned towards the exit, and the doors swung open ahead of him under a sudden rush of air.

Allyssa let out a long, suffering sigh once he was gone and leaned forward over the table, both cheeks planted in her palms.

Kat noticed the princess looking at Slate with a faintly confused expression. The small, hooded girl merely tilted her head back at her without offering any commentary.

Kat watched them for a couple of seconds, then pushed her chair back and stood.

“I think I’ll go check on Scarlett and see how she’s doing.” Passing Allyssa, she gave the back of the girl’s head a light pat. “I’ll let her know she’s made you very disappointed.”

Allyssa looked up at her. “You will?”

“Yep. And I’ll also tell her you think we’re old.”

“Kat—!”

Kat laughed as she left the dining hall.

She only made it a few steps into the corridor before slowing at the sight of the behemoth standing beside the entrance in full plate. Sir Holdger looked down at her, his eyes hidden behind his visor, then inclined his head in a small nod.

Kat raised a hand in a somewhat awkward wave, then carried on down the corridor.

It didn’t take long to reach the enclosed garden at the centre of the estate. The place was boxed in on all sides by the mansion’s wings and wasn’t anything compared to the sprawling gardens Scarlett’s home back in Freybrook boasted, but Kat liked it well enough. There was something nice about having your own little patch of green tucked away in the middle of the empire’s biggest city.

Not that there’d been all that much green to admire here when they first arrived in Elystead.

At this time of year, only a few of the plants had started flowering, and Kat had been told most of what grew in the beds here wouldn’t properly bloom until later in the summer. Which made the sweet floral scent hanging in the air now fairly hard to miss.

Kat breathed it in as she followed the stone path deeper into the garden.

Things really had a habit of changing quickly around Scarlett.

She spotted the woman near the heart of the garden, seated on a bench amid clusters of fresh blossoms and buds just beginning to unfurl. A couple of plates—probably courtesy of Fynn—had been set near one end of the bench, while at Scarlett’s other side rested the phantom dragon, perfectly still as her hand moved slowly over the scales along its back.

A tiny humanoid figure darted around Scarlett’s head, all long limbs and sharp angles. Its translucent wings flickered almost too quickly to follow, leaving thin trails of pale blue-white light behind as it zipped one way, doubled back, then looped around her again.

Scarlett looked up as Kat approached.

Kat smiled.

“Mind if I join you for a minute?”