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When Alfred and Renee brought out the meal, Skye literally had to wipe the drool from her mouth. Alfred carried in two trays, one in each hand, while Renee carried one. Each tray had three large plates on them with two sauce cups jammed between the plates for stability.

The first tray Alfred carried was mostly seafood. One plate was piled high with boiled lobster claws, while the other two had deep-fried fillets and seasoned, deep-fried dough balls called hush puppies. The two sauce cups had butter for the claws, and a creamy tartar sauce for the fish and pups. Being her usual order, Alfred had set the tray down in front of Shasta.

The second tray didn’t have as much food on the plates, but it was aesthetically pleasing. One plate had a beautiful display of sliced fruits that were arranged to look like a flower. The another plate had shredded bits of turkey mixed with rice, peas, carrots, and a cream-based sauce. The last plate was a simple salad with two dressings to choose from in the sauce cups. Smiling at their reaction to his culinary display, Alfred set the tray down in front of Maevis.

Grabbing the final tray from Renee, Alfred set it down in front of Skye as he explained the dishes: “The first thing I have for you is a whole stack of sweet and spicy chicken legs. They have a hint of citrus in with the spice. The next is a plate with three barbecue pulled pork sandwiches. The two cups have extra sauce from both dishes, in case you felt they were too dry. This last plate is a speciality of Renee’s; it’s a slice of dark chocolate cake with a sweet oranges and cream frosting. It’s great for the finish!”

“Ooo! I get a chicken leg!” Shasta called out as she grabbed one from the top of the stack.

Skye smiled and replied as she reached over to Shasta’s tray; “That’s fine so long as ye let me have a lobster claw!”

After grabbing a rather large one from Shasta’s plate, Skye set it off to the side on hers. She took a sip of her beer, then bit into a chicken leg. Skye normally didn’t like spicy food, but there wasn’t much heat behind it. The flavors from the spices, and the smooth, bitter body from the beer overwhelmed any heat.

Smiling happily as they ate, Skye exchanged a look of bliss between herself and Shasta. They both turned to Maevis expecting to see the same level of enjoyment from her, but chuckled instead. She was shoveling away at the rice dish like she hadn’t eaten in a week. Hearing their laughs, the old fairy looked up with her cheeks packed like a chipmunk; causing Alfred to chuckle as well.

.....

After chewing and swallowing rapidly, Maevis defended herself; “I used up some magic, too! And like Skye said: we’ve been following her all day. Didn’t exactly stop and eat..”

Skye swallowed her current bite then ask, “Why were ye followin’ me? I assume on Tidas’ orders?”

Shasta and Maevis looked at each other a moment before they explained. Shasta had already told, and apologized to Skye for talking badly about her. She explained the incident in the hall completely, then Maevis added her tiny part. Once they finished, the princess stared at her food a minute before telling them that it was fine.

“What? Are you sure you’re not mad? I’d be mad. Actually, I’d probably hit me if I were you,” Shasta spoke with a despondent tone.

Skye flashed a weak smile; “Oh, the thought did cross me mind, but we just spent a few hours doin’ that.. I am a wee bit hurt that ye would say such things, but I think I know a way to make it up to me.”

Shasta eyed the princess skeptically; “And what would that be?”

Skye held up her fist and raised her fingers as she spoke; “I want to know three things.. One: what kind of Fae is Alfred? Two: what happened between you and Maevis? Three: how did ye become a Bakeneko? The last one ye don’t have to tell me about though.. That’s only if ye want to.”

Shasta had flinched when Skye had mentioned the third question. Alfred had walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, but was also encouraging her to tell them her story. No one knew the exact details but her, Alfred, and Tidas. Everyone involved with her creation was long dead now..

Shasta and Alfred shared a long look with each other before Shasta huffed in defeat. A silent battle of wills was fought and lost, prompting the loser to down her current cup of cream. She looked over at Renee and politely asked her to get at least two full bottles of cream.

The tone she’d used unnerved Renee. She and Shasta weren’t kind to each other, but for the past few days, she’d honestly been trying to be. Renee hadn’t given her change of heart any credence. She honestly didn’t think that Shasta could change, but here she was..

Once Renee walked away, Shasta began to explain her past...

“I don’t remember much from when I was a cat, other than I was happy.. There was a little girl name Lin that raised me from a kitten. She and her family lived in the upper poor section of the Odawari district in the northwest area of Sai.”

“So you’re from Sai? How did ye wind up in the Fae Nation?” Skye asked eagerly as she sipped her ale.

Shasta narrowed her eyes as Skye for interrupting her; ” I’ll get there! Do you want my whole story or not?”

Skye apologized, then Shasta continued; “I was her family for seven years.. But a lot of people in Sai have a superstition about keeping a cat past so many years. It differs area to area, but a lot of the traditional families limit how long they own a cat According to the legends, bad luck would befall the person or people that kept them past that..”

“My family tried to get rid of me, but Lin snuck me back into the house. When her parents found out they were mad, but they loved me too.. So they let me stay.. That was their biggest mistake..”

Shasta paused as Renee brought the bottles of cream out. She thanked the girl, then waited for her to leave again, but she just stood there. Reading the room for his employee, Alfred asked Renee to accompany him to do the dishes. She refused at first; wanting to hear Shasta’s story.

Alfred apologized for his nosy waitress before grabbing her by the back of her shirt, and practically dragging her away. Skye smiled at their antics, but immediately went straight-faced when she turned back to Shasta. She opened one of the bottles of cream and chugged a quarter of it before she started to speak again.

“Lin’s father was a merchant. He shipped everything from foods, to furniture, to antiques.. He’d gotten a special shipment for one of the nobles in that was too valuable to leave in his store house.. He brought it home..”

Shasta took another long drink; “I was playing with Lin, waiting for her mother to finish cooking when we knocked over the dragon statue, and broke it in half.. He screamed at Lin, grabbed me, and went to throw me out the door.. But when he opened it, four men came into the house. Lin’s father dropped me as he started screaming at them. Her mother tried to get her to run.. But.. s-she turned back for me.. She reached out to grab me.. But they grabbed her..”

Skye’d heart wrenched in her chest as Shasta continued; “They threatened to kill her if they didn’t get the statue, but we’d already broken it.. They saw the pieces on the floor.. The man threw Lin against the wall.. She was only eight..”

Tears slipped down Skye and Maevis’ cheeks as Shasta choked back her own to continue; “I ran to her, but she wasn’t moving.. I tried to get her to open her eyes, but she wouldn’t.. Then next thing I knew, Lin’s parents were on the floor too.. not moving.”

“When they saw me, one of them stomped on me and crushed my ribs. I was next to Lin, so I used the little life I had left in me to scoot over to her. I thought she was dead, but she wrapped her arm around me.. One of the men saw her move, and told the others he would finish the job.”

“I remember feeling desperate.. So desperate to protect her, to save her..”

“And that’s when you awakened as a Fae?” Maevis asked, seeing her having trouble getting the words out.

Shasta nodded her head before she downed the rest of her first bottle of cream. The three women sat in solemn silence a few minutes as each collected themselves. Skye was balling from her empathy. She could see and feel the agony in Shasta’s story, and hated the sheer cruelty in the world.

After a few minutes, Shasta’s tone and expression changed. Anger and hatred seeped out her in waves, making the mages around them stop their own conversations to look in the direction of it’s source. No one knew what the three were talking about, but all prayed to the gods that Shasta didn’t lose her temper again.

“I think you need to calm down a wee bit,” Maevis stated as she realized that everyone was looking at them.

Shasta and Skye snapped out of their respective thoughts, and looked around to their audience. Shasta was about to tell them all to fuck off, but Skye stood up and apologized instead. She stated that they didn’t mean to disturb anyone, then joked about how they were just drinking away her fowl mood. With the beautiful woman’s words, everyone went back to enjoying their meals and time.

Shasta wasn’t surprised by Skye’s smooth handling of the situation. She seemed to have a natural knack for delegation. ‘Leave it to Tidas’ wife to be the perfect diplomat.’ The thought brought a small grin to her face, and caused her fury to subside.

Maevis watched Shasta’s bloodlust fade as she smiled at Skye. ‘The lass really is something else.’ The thought helped the old fairy bring her own emotions under control. After clearing her throat, Maevis fluttered over to Shasta’s hand, and placed her two tiny ones on top before saying; “You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to, dearie..”

Shock covered Shasta’s face a moment, then changed to a thankful smile as she replied; “Thank you, Maevis, but I’m ok now..”

After situating herself and pushing the plate of chicken bones away, Skye hesitantly asked; “So, what happened to Lin? What happened to the men?”

Shasta popped the cork off of her other bottle of cream, took a drink from it, then replied; “They all died...”