As Sera and the others stopped by the barn to grab their pets, I went to my room to grab Ani. He blinked sleepily from his spot in the sun, and I waved him over. Obediently, he trotted up to my side. Remembering the last few times we'd tried trekking through the city with him, I went ahead and picked him up.
The others were already ready and waiting in the courtyard. Millie circled above, and I noticed the small sky-blue dragon was once again draped over Aeolus's shoulders.
From my arms, Ani gave a chirp, staring at Millie. Startled and clearly still bitter, she turned her head away from him, purposefully ignoring him. The dragon looked between them and gave a slight hiss of warning to Ani, who is apparently immune to such things.
Ani wiggled in an attempt to jump down and bother the other two, but I restrained him. "Don't you dare." He stopped, but I didn't trust him enough to loosen my grip.
Aeolus gave a broad smile at our approach. "This is Notus, my baby dragon." He said, lifting a hand to scratch under the dragon's chin. "Isn't he cute?" The dragon gave him a little nuzzle at the words.
"He's amazing." My mouth was dry at the sight. A real dragon!
Ani tested my restraint, and I tightened my grip further, treating him like the misbehaving cat he was. Judging by his past behavior, he would bother Millie or Notus and then whine about having to walk. I'd only have to pick him up again.
As the city was crowded, making carriage rides slow, we elected to walk, or, in Millie and Notus' case, fly, through the town and into the neighboring forest near where the chimera had escaped last night. While I didn't appreciate hunting down something which had tried to kill us, we had Millie scouting from above and I felt reasonably well protected. We reached the forest border within an hour of walking, my feet and legs already aching. The fresh, clean air almost made the effort worth it.
We spent an hour or so in the woods, unworried about getting lost due to our flying companions. Millie soared overhead, occasionally dropping down to grab a mouse or other small animal. Notus stuck mainly to the trees, gliding from one to the next. Ani, meanwhile, decided he didn't want to be held anymore and slipped off into the brush for minutes at a time, occasionally popping out to scare Notus or steal Millie's prey. Embarrassed and feeling responsible, I attempted to catch him, but he slipped through my hands like water and continued to torment the other pets.
Notus eventually escaped to curl up around Aeolus' neck again, and Millie glared at me as if to say, "this is your fault." I tried to look suitably apologetic, not wanting the phoenix to take her anger out on me instead of the mischievous Ani.
Notus was the first to find any indication of the chimera, alerting Aeolus of claw marks on the branches where it had bounced from branch to branch as Notus himself was doing. Unfortunately, we lost the trail around a mile in.
We wandered the area where the trail went cold for a time, searching for clues. Finding none, we were soon back in the smelly city. The temporary blessing of the fresh forest air completely ruined my progress in getting used to the smells, and I nearly gagged as we walked through the city gates.
Unsurprisingly, Ani demanded to be held shortly after entering the city. As I stepped over another unfortunate puddle, I understood why he hated walking the streets. "Maybe I should get you some cat boots or something…."
Ani burrowed closer into my chest at my words, nuzzling my neck in what felt like a bribe. Well, at least like this he stayed out of trouble.
As punishment for his bullying, I made Ani stay in my room while Aeolus, Azure, Sky, and I went to the bathhouse. Unwilling to be an awkward bystander again, I quickly gave in to peer pressure and suffered through their exercise regime with them, starting with a warm-up. Once again, it was made quite obvious I wasn't fit, and I felt the judging eyes from the other men in the gym on me as we went.
Once we were finished with the 'warm-up,' which I personally would have described as enough exercise on its own, Azure asked, "Are ya willin' to learn some self-defense now?".
I gave the offer some serious consideration this time. Azure wasn't the type to use training or exercise as an excuse to injure or bully someone. Yesterday, he'd been strict with Aeolus and Sky but not cruel. I thought he might actually be concerned for my safety and serious about his offer, unlike any of my previous 'offers.'
Thinking about it, I didn't have to worry about being embarrassed either, for I would likely never see them again upon my return home. Really, I could only gain from this training. Azure was an expert in his field, and although Chicago was relatively safe if you knew where you were going, I had already been mugged once before.
However, the flip side was that it was yet more exercise.
Decision made, I took a sharp, nervous breath, then agreed to learn some basics. Azure positively glowed with joy.
Wary of scaring me off and aware that I hated physical exercise, he went easy on me, starting with what he claimed were the essentials of self-defense for someone like me–how to fall and how to run.
With instincts and experience honed from escaping bullies as a child, I was proud of the progress I'd made, picking it up reasonably quickly. Even Azure was impressed, rewarding me by showing me how to throw a 'proper' punch by keeping my thumb outside my fist instead of curing my fingers around it. In doing so, he cautioned me, telling me if I was close enough to land a punch, it was probably far too late, and I should run if possible. I would have been offended if he hadn't looked so concerned as he said it. Or if it hadn't been true.
Once It was determined I was able to not break my hand when punching someone, we moved to play Ludus Latrunculorum. Some of the men from yesterday were already waiting patiently by the game board, and I first challenged the ones from yesterday.
With Aeolus, Sky, and Azure cheering me on, I won each match, earning cheers and the respect of the men around me.
Refreshed and with my ego sated, I walked out of the bathhouse with a smile so broad it was nearly painful, feeling like nothing could bring me down.
When my feet met the concrete at the bottom of the bathhouse steps, a "Mrrow?" met my ears. Reflexively, I looked down to see Ani sitting patiently by my feet, ready to be picked up.
"Is that your cat?" Aeolus asked. Without waiting for an answer, he bent down to pat Ani on the head. Ani arched beneath his hand.
"Yeah."
Azure frowned. "Didn't ya leave him back at the inn?"
I bent down to pick Ani back up, cradling him against my chest. "Yeah," I answered him. To Ani, I asked, "How did you get here?"
Ani looked up at me as if I were stupid before settling himself comfortably against my chest.
"Did ya leave the window open or somethin'?"
"No." I couldn't recall ever opening it in the first place.
"Maybe Sera let him out?" Aeolus suggested.
Helpless, I shrugged.
Sera and Helia waited for us on a bench in front of the inn, rising to greet us as we drew close. "How was it? Did you get a chance to play Ludus Latrunculorum?"
Aeolus smiled, then answered for me, bragging, "It was great! Hayden let Azure teach him basic self-defense, and we watched some great games. He didn't lose once today."
"I'm impressed."
I gave a one-shouldered shrug. It wasn't a challenging game. "By the way, did you let Ani out of my room?"
Sera tilted her head. "No? Did you not bring him with you?"
"I could have sworn I locked him in my room."
"Perhaps you didn't shut the door or window properly?"
"Maybe…"
Quickly, as everyone was waiting on me for dinner, I walked through the inn to drop Ani back off in my room. The door looked shut, and I set Ani down on the floor to give an experimental tug. It was latched. A quick inspection of the window revealed that, too, was shut properly. No other points of exit stood out to me as I shut the door behind me, waiting for the click of the latch.
Dinner that evening was a quiet and peaceful affair, with most of our group exhausted from last night's chimera attack. Still, despite the exhaustion tugging at me and the lingering question of how Ani escaped, I went to sleep with a smile.