King's Orders
Wingul was well aware of how the opportunity for any citizen to have an audience with the king boosted Gaius' popularity. He also knew that it drew many people to the city known as the Daybreak Citadel, which pleased the locals, since the visitors would essentially end up being tourists, buying local food and products while they waited to have their audience with Gaius.
There were just some days where endless complains or ridiculous requests challenged his patience.
It was one of such days when an older man came in with a suspiciously wriggling box; the lids were bouncing slightly, movement clearly caused by something inside. Wingul looked toward the guards expectantly, but the woman who was supposed to check baggage to ensure nothing dangerous was brought inside simply nodded. Regardless, he took a step forward, just in case the box did turn out to have an unexpected threat.
"Good day. What brings you here?" Gaius questioned.
The citizen placed the box on the floor gingerly and bowed respectfully. The movement of the box's lids increased significantly now that it was placed firmly on the ground. Wingul squinted at it suspiciously, noticing that there were several air holes in the sides.
"King Gaius, I have a request for you," he said pleadingly. "I'm only a farmer with limited resources and I can't afford to give a home to any more creatures."
"Creatures?" Wingul echoed.
But at that moment, the little creatures inside the box escaped from the loose flaps on top. A small kitten, no more than five weeks old, poked its tiny head out of the top and looked around the cavernous audience chamber curiously. It let out a squeak that was surprisingly loud given its small size.
"The city has numerous beast tamers," Wingul interjected. "Can't you bring them to one of them?"
The citizen opened his mouth and struggled to respond, but Gaius spoke instead. "They're kittens, Wingul. Beast tamers are concerned with larger animals."
"There's a shelter for non-warfare animals," Wingul said, determined not to be defeated on this front.
"It was full," the man said apologetically.
"No matter. The castle could use a remedy to the mouse problem," Gaius said. "We will take them."
"Thank you so much!" the citizen said gratefully, suddenly bowing again. "I'll tell everyone of your kindness and fairness!"
Wingul looked at Gaius skeptically, his expression conveying every word of 'you can't be serious?' without voicing anything. Gaius simply returned his gaze calmly with a look that meant it wasn't up for discussion and nodded toward the box. Begrudgingly, Wingul trudged down the stairs to retrieve the box of kittens. The brazen one that popped its head out promptly tried to bat at his collar as soon as he had the box in his arms.
After several more professions of appreciation from the citizen, the audience came to an end. Wingul adjusted his grip on the box to support the bottom with one arm while he dared to lift one of the flaps to peer inside.
"Gaius, there are five," he said.
"This is a large castle," Gaius said dismissively. "You won't even notice that they're here."
"Where should I put them?"
"Just put them down here for now," he said, waving toward the edge of the throne. "Are they old enough not to need their mother's milk?"
"Why are you asking me?"
Gaius glanced up at him, unentertained. He knew that his right hand had a ridiculous amount of miscellaneous information from reading often since childhood.
"They look to be between five and six weeks old," Wingul sighed. "They should be fine to start eating regular food."
"Good. See that the cooks prepare food for them."
Wingul stared blankly at him as he motioned for the guards to send the next citizen in. As he wasn't paying attention, the tiny kitten who attempted to attack him the first time lashed out with another attack. Tiny but surprisingly sharp claws sliced his hand as the kitten tried to attack the feathers protruding from the end of his sleeve. He pulled away quickly and stepped back, unable to help but notice Gaius looking vaguely amused at him being caught off guard by a kitten that weighed less than a pound.
Wingul was working in the study he shared with Gaius when a messenger knocked on the door. He gave the guards permission to let the person enter and kept writing, though he frowned when the door opened. It wasn't their usual messenger; instead, a delivery person from a business he didn't recognize.
"State your business here," he ordered.
The deliveryman saw his irritated expression and swallowed as he bowed quickly. "Good day, Lord Wingul! I'm dropping a package off for King Gaius from the engraver. His Majesty already submitted payment, I am only here to deliver the items."
Wingul looked at him suspiciously and told him to set the box down on the table by the door and be on his way. The man looked more than relieved to leave quickly, but bowed once again for good measure before the guards closed the doors.
What could he have possibly gotten from the engravers?
It's too small to be any sort of weapon or armor…
Deciding it was his obligation to make sure it wasn't an erroneous delivery with something dangerous inside, Wingul went over to open the package. He unfastened the twine and unfolded the fabric to find nothing other than collars.
He looked through the collars – all ten collars – and blanched at what the custom embroidery and engraving on the name tags must have cost. There were two collars for each kitten, one that was tiny and another that was for a fully grown cat. He looked at the names and liked each one even less than the last. There was a Lin, Leene, Li Ying, Rin, and Winnie. At that moment, Gaius stepped inside the room.
Wingul held up a handful of the collars. "What are these?"
"They're collars," he deadpanned.
"How much gald did you waste on these?" he asked pointedly.
"The price was fair."
"And their names?" Wingul questioned.
"The black one that likes you is Winnie, if you were wondering,"
Wingul dropped the collars back into a pile and returned to his desk. He hardly considered that frequently attacking him counted as liking him.
'You won't even notice they're here' turned out to be the most blatant lie Gaius ever told him. The kittens were fed meals of fish prepared by the cooks and ate in the dining hall when the two of them did. The fish had to be cooked plainly for them, which made the smell rather unpleasant. Gaius didn't seem bothered by it.
Worst of all, as they got bigger and developed an avid interest in human food, Gaius was more than willing to give them table scraps. The first night, it could be considered entertaining. The second night, it was a bit bothersome. Two weeks later, it wasn't so endearing – at least in Wingul's point of view. The same couldn't be said for Gaius.
"They're going to get fat if you feed them everything they want," Wingul said.
"They keep rather active with mousing, they should be fine," Gaius said calmly, as he fed two of them small pieces of chicken.
Lin, Leene, Li Ying, and Rin were all crowded around Gaius' chair, often and loudly voicing their adoration for the elusive human food that Wingul never shared with them. They were still small and their voices had yet to develop, so their cries were all high pitched, demanding squeaks.
"I haven't seen them catch even one mouse," he said tiredly.
"They're still small, give them time to become proper hunters."
"Hey!" Wingul exclaimed, reacting unusually strongly when he looked back to his plate.
The black and yellow kitten - Winnie - who was obsessed with his feathers had managed to sneak up on the table unnoticed. Fiercely determined, Winnie somehow clasped the steak on his plate between its tiny teeth and was making a valiant effort to pull the piece of meat away. Gaius snickered quietly, which only served to worsen Wingul's irritation with the entire situation. Wingul grabbed the kitten, who struggled to hold on to the steak that was in all likelihood heavier than he was, and pushed him away.
"They're kittens, be gentle," Gaius said, his voice serious again.
"I didn't even put it on the floor," he retorted.
"He was only hungry."
"They aren't supposed to be on the table," Wingul said, looking down at the hair left behind on his plate in disgust.
"They're only kittens, they'll learn," he said, clearly unconcerned.
Wingul was getting tired of Gaius' endless excuses for the little monsters. It only bothered him more that the king wouldn't just admit that he liked having them around – they had to have a higher purpose, even if it was just an excuse. Winnie was already trying to climb up his arm to attack his collar.
Exasperated, Wingul waved for one of the kitchen staff to take his plate away, as he wanted no part of it after a feline pilfered from it. Worst of all, the kittens ended up getting his dinner anyway – the attendant came back a few minutes later with the steak chopped into tiny pieces for the devious creatures' enjoyment.
Fic request from Yume Hanabi.
I'm not making fun of the fact that English Xillia localized Wingul's birth name as both Li Ying and Lenne with the cat names. Nope. Not at all. Why would you even think I'd do such a thing?