Justin turned to her after he rolled up the carpet, and asked doubtfully, "What's your source of information? You seemed so clueless when you started, but now you have inside information?"
"I um, started a job with Starcraft Technologies since I started playing," Danika admitted nervously. She still wasn't very comfortable with Justin.
Justin frowned at her and said a little sharply, "You shouldn't be talking about it at all then. Information leaks are not a joke."
SaltySiamese flicked her cream colored hair back so that the brown tips flashed through the air, and pointed out cheerfully, "She didn't really say anything that you didn't."
Justin smiled at her for a moment, and the gentle expression startled Danika as much as the sharp words that followed, "You don't think so? Knowing that the new area will be relatively undeveloped is enough to let older, more established guilds like ours make plans to take over territory, and potentially even build kingdoms of our own. Nothing like that has been possible so far, because the entire map is crowded with firmly held racial territories. Why do you think the wars in the dwarven kingdoms are so bitter? It's because the kingdoms are divided into small enough territories that it's theoretically possible to take one over without bringing the God of War down on the other side."
MatchlessMinion frowned and then nodded. "So that's it," he said thoughtfully.
Danika eyed Justin nervously and hoped that she hadn't done something irrevocable. Justin was probably correct and she shouldn't have spoken at all, but he also seemed to have extrapolated a lot more than she'd expected from such a small detail.
After a moment they all looked around the plains where they'd landed. There were a few faded little flowers in the drying summer grass, but no obvious signs of leopards.
"Which way?" SaltySiamese asked.
Danika blinked and called up her menus. Locate Mark reported that they hadn't actually landed very close to the leopard, but they were probably within a few kilometers, which wasn't too bad. At this range the whereabouts compass seemed like it would actually be more useful than repeatedly checking the Mark's location, which explained why Aishin had leveled both skills.
When they caught up to the were leopard, Danika was surprised again by how much larger her cubs seemed. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that a week was a month in the game. It was easy to take the quick growth rate of her plants for granted, and a little shocking to think that the child of Kit and the Traveling merchant would grow to adulthood in only four or five years.
The leopard eyed them suspiciously and asked, "What are you doing back here strange little dragon? And with different companions, are you running a tour?"
MatchlessMinion asked the leopard in return, "Are you volunteering to participate in a tour package? That might actually be profitable and our guild needs more coin."
Everyone gazed at the chinchillamin in surprise and he shrugged. The were leopard bared her fangs, and growled at him. "My family does not exist for your amusement and profit little rodent."
Danika interrupted quickly, "No, my friend wants to obtain your were curse." She pointed to SaltySiamese.
The were leopard looked at the elf and then asked incredulously, "Why would a half human want to be cursed with a full human shape at the whim of the Moon?"
Danika almost fell out of the air. Justin started to laugh. SaltySiamese turned and gave her a disgusted look.
MatchlessMinion glanced at ZipZing and then his sister and Justin. He announced indifferently, "Neither of you ever specified what kind of were curse, only that you needed to find a type of werecat. She's definitely a werecat."
"That's true," Justin agreed with amusement. "And it's entirely possible that a sample of her blood would give enough new information to let us build the curse we want."
The leopard snarled, but Danika's language skill translated enough that she could tell that the leopard was instructing her cubs to run as soon as she moved. She interrupted quickly, "We'll pay or trade for a sample of your blood and include a healing potion of course."
The leopard narrowed her eyes at Danika. After a moment she growled warily, "Well, if a dragon is willing to barter, I suppose that an arrangement could be reached." She glanced at the wizard and huffed a breath. "Wizards are almost as secretive as cats," she said dryly, and her face shifted into a silent cat's laugh.
Danika gazed at the leopard uncertainly. A suspicion formed in her mind, but MatchlessMinion caught her eye and silently touched one of his little fingers to his lips.
They quickly worked out a deal, and Justin indifferently agreed to pay a thousand coin per drop of blood. Danika provided the healing potion without being asked, although it was going to be difficult to replace. She really needed to do more quests that provided more resources than they used. Only her garden was letting her keep playing this way, and the selling price on the moonflowers was slowly dropping as they became more common.
Danika apologized quietly to SaltySiamese before she and Justin left. "I'm sorry, I never imagined that there were were-humans, or that the game would call her a were leopard when it was the human part that was the curse."
SaltySiamese shrugged. "You've gotten closer than I have yet, and we'd have paid to collect the cursed blood anyway. It's fine!"
"Are you sure you don't want to ride back with us?" Justin asked.
MatchlessMinion waved a little hand dismissively and declared, "We have another quest that we can work on from here."
"Thanks though," Danika added quickly.
They waved as the carpet gently lifted into the sky and gradually increased its speed. Once it was out of sight they turned back to the little leopard family.
The cubs had gotten bored and were tussling with each other in the dry grass with a great deal of unstealthy rustling. Their mottled spots blended into the ground on the plains the way the snow leopard cub had blended into the mountaintop. Both of the cubs showed as a were leopard with ZipZing's identification skill, the same way their mother did.
"How did you get cursed, and how is it actually transmitted?" Danika asked. The leopard's proximity to the wizard who had cursed an adventurer into being a book was suspicious.
"Greedy little dragon," the leopard stated. Her eyes shifted to MatchlessMinion and she added, "Perhaps you've been spending too much time with furry little thieves."
MatchlessMinion casually replied, "Perhaps you've been spending too much time with humans if you think dragons shouldn't be greedy and inclined to keep information for themselves."
"Hey," Danika objected.
But the leopard's eyes narrowed with amusement, and she agreed, "Perhaps I have."
"So how were you cursed with humanity?" he asked again.
"I foolishly annoyed a wizard," the leopard admitted. "At first it was horrible, but of course, I've learned to make use of it," she said smugly.
"Is it transmitted by blood or was your whole family cursed?" Danika asked.
The leopard's eyes widened in false innocence and she questioned, "Wouldn't you say it's transmitted by wizards?"
"It's transmitted by bites," MatchlessMinion said calmly, "all the were curses are."
"How do you know?" Danika asked with surprise.
He rolled his eyes and asked, "Do you think my sister hasn't demanded we hunt through every fragment of information and every rumor by now? I'm more surprised that it's been so hard to find a werecat. Even werewolves are pretty rare, but we've found a few."
The leopard narrowed her eyes again and growled, "Like just anyone is worthy of being a cat?" Her gaze pinned ZipZing for a moment. She seemed to have had enough of them and stalked off. A moment later her cubs realized that she was leaving and scrambled after her.