Erik's best friend was his cat Ayesha. The Persian had proven himself useful but only Ayesha didn't bother him with nonsense. He hadn't kept her based off of that, he kept her in the beginning because she proved to be a rather good mouser. When she was a kitten she had stumbled into his lair. He had been startled and had been ready to Punjab lasso the creature before he saw her piercing blue eyes. He dropped the rope and picked the small thing up.

"What are you doing little one?" Erik asked her. The cat merely meowed. A meow he would grow to love.

"Haven't you a mother or a home?" he asked the kitten. Of course, that cat could not respond and Erik sighed. "I can't very well have you wandering about in the darkness. Tomorrow night I shall see to it you make it safely above."

He put the cat down and decided he should feed it. It was so skinny and Erik never believed animals should be harmed. Unlike people, cats to him processed a pure heart and therefore needed no scorn or judgment.

Erik set down a saucer of milk. He knew somewhere milk wasn't the best for cats but at the moment he had nothing to feed it. Erik watched the cat drink the milk and thought the cat would be lucky indeed to find a home. But not his home. He couldn't keep an eye on her. With all of the traps and pits was no place for her. It was nearly 7 am; he would just have to wait till dusk to emerge.

He had been up all night composing and was tired. He had been awake for the last3 days and sleep was coming. Erik closed the kitchen's door. He didn't want the cat to get lost or heart. The cat would be fine with her milk and newspaper for a few hours.

Erik went to his room and slept. For perhaps the first night in years he slept without nightmares. He dreamed of nothing at all. He awoke refreshed and feeling better than he had since he didn't know when. He remembered the cat and walked to the kitchen. Erik opened the door, preparing to take the cat back to the world above when he saw between her paws was a rat. Not a big rat but a sizable one. One much too big for such a small cat to catch.

Picking the rat up by the tail and looked at the cat he remarked, "Did you catch this?" the cat only blinked, which he took as a yes.

"My, my, you are a smart one aren't you? Did you catch this all by yourself? Perhaps you might earn your place here." He scratched her behind her ears.

The kitten rubbed her head against his pant leg and Erik's heart softened in a way he had never known. "I shall call you Ayesha," he declared.

Ayesha had been the love of his life ever since. She followed him everywhere and never once tripped any of the trip wires. She caught no fewer than 5 vermin a day. She caught more in the beginning because the vermin had not had anything to stop their proliferation. Now Erik found fewer sacks of grain picked through and he was happy to no longer find his bread nibbled.

Erik knew nothing of cats and endeavored to learn everything. He found she was a Siamese. Siamese cats are very vocal which some might have found off putting but he enjoyed her singing. When he played his piano or violin she would sing alongside. Ayesha was faithful and was faithful even on the day Christine entered his life.

Erik had been reading and Ayesha had been somewhere when a small thud reverberated throughout the caverns. Erik jumped to his feet to investigate. He knew exactly where it came from. It was from one of the stairways that led to the uppermost part of his domain. The stairs in those parts were often hidden and occasionally some bumbling stagehand would find himself in the darkness.

But instead of a balding middle-aged man who had drunk too much, he found a young lady. Ayesha was already there and was batting at the girl's dark curls.

"Come here Ayesha," Erik whispered. Ayesha did not move. This was odd as the only person who had caused Ayesha to disobey was the Persian. He hoped this girl would not be as prodding and knowing as the Persian was.

"Ayesha!" Erik hissed but the cat did not move. Sighing he went over to Ayesha and picked her up. He surveyed the girl and decided perhaps he could just take her up and dump her at the top. But Ayesha shot him a piercing look that if he went through with his plan, his hands would be scratched.

"Ayesha, why do I listen to you at all?"

Just then the girl moved. He set Ayesha down and the cat went towards the now moving girl.

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