I woke up the next morning, and before I opened my eyes I could feel a warm weight on my chest. I bent forward, thinking someone had rested their head on me, only to find dark grey fur. "Mimi?" I asked, half-asleep. She got up and stretched, her little cat paws almost on my face.
"You're right, human!" she thought into my head. "So I heard you're going back to Redhelm?" I was barely able to take in all this.
"How did you..." I stopped, realizing Mimi was a magical cat.
"I know a shortcut, if you'd like." I got up, recovering my clothes and hoping Mimi wouldn't mind the lack thereof. The second I got my backpack over my shoulders, she jumped on, her head poking out beside mine. "Forward, human!" I heard her think as I was recovering my gem-set rapier. With some guidance, I walked between two trees, turned sharply right, and found myself looking at the Hunter's Lodge.
"Mimi? How did you do that?" She jumped off my backpack, looked up at me, meowed, and walked away. I approached the Hunter's Lodge and knocked on the large, carved wooden door.
"Who is it?" I could hear the Elite hunter ask, answering my knock. I knew from his tone this was the one I had met before.
"It's Vienna Of Tareris. The noble that Kamon brought in."
I heard a laugh from behind the door. "Oh, you're that noble who we lost on that hunting trip. Someone's got a lot of explaining to do!" He opened the door. I ducked my head and walked under, the wooden structure closing behind me.
"Thank you for allowing me pass--" I started, before being cut off.
Kamon ran up to me. "Vienna, where were you?"
"I don't think you'd believe my adventure, even if I told you." I would have liked to speak about Selaria, Bramwell, and Mimi the magical cat, but the improbability of those things caused me to think otherwise. "I'm trying to make my way back home. I obtained food from the nearby town." That sounded sufficient. It was no lie, given the difference in distance between my Kingdom and Silverglint. By failing to specify anything more, I told a much more mundane, believable story.
Kamon looked like she bought it. "You know the way back to your house? You don't come down here much."
"I have a way to get there." I walked out the door, last of the sunrise turning into a conventional day. Civilians were already out, and I could see an armored Knight riding between them, spear in her hand like a flag. An orange symbol of flame shone on the red cloth, indicating the Knight's presence and power. "Greetings, Knight. Can you tell me how to get home?"
The Knight stopped her horse. "What is a noble doing out here? The houses of the upper class are that way. If you're a Tareris man, your home should be more to the left."
"Thank you, Knight." I walked past her, the Knight's horse then picking its pace back up into a walk. When I reached my house, I stopped at the door, making sure the gems in my rapier were hidden by the cloth of my long coat and that my new dagger was stashed near the top of my pack. The knock on my door was easy, as my parents were late sleepers. A minute after I made contact, my mom opened it, moving aside to let me step through.
"Did you have fun last weekend?" she asked, as I moved inside the house.
I nodded, acting tired. "Yes I did, though I slept far too little."
She laughed slightly, clearly one of mirth. "You know you can always come back and rest here. Your dad went back to manage the workers, so it's just me at home today." I went to my room, and gratefully felt how soft the bed was. I spent the better part of the day reading, revisiting a series I found a few years ago about the adventures of a Katana-wielder with faith in a strange canine being. About mid-day, I heard a knock at the front door.
"Excuse me," a voice stated. "Where is Vienna?"
Thankfully, my mother was there to answer. "He spent the night with his friends, so he's probably asleep."
"Close enough," I though as I lay there. I judged the time by where the sun was in the sky, knowing that I only had a very loose idea of it. Tomorrow I would make my move, on my quest out to Vylath's tower. Dinner was as usual, my parents being much more talkative than I. After taking a walk around that evening, almost reaching the archway that led to the town's lower class, I returned home and waited.