"Anders! Look what I found! Someone had left it in a basket of bread sent to the kitchens…I took it before anyone noticed, thought you might know what to with it…"

Jowan opened his palm and showed Anders the tiny little ball of fur sitting on it. For a moment Anders thought his friend had brought in a mouse and wondered what in the blight would he do with one but then the creature let out a tiny little sound and Anders felt his heart skip.

"Oh! Jowan it's a kitten! And less than a week old by the look of it! Oh…give it to me, how on earth…people can't just do things like this!"

Jowan was quick to comply, as cute as he thought the creature to be, he really knew nothing about looking after baby kittens - Anders was the resident expert here. As he handed the creature to Anders he felt it shiver and it let out a pitiful mewl.

"Oh gosh, I hope I didn't hurt it or something! Why is it shivering like that? It's not cold here."

"Because it's too small to be on its own. At this age, it should snuggled up to the mother and nursing every couple of hours, oh you little thing you must be starving! What evil people separated you from your mummy and left you all alone? Awww…don't worry little one, I will look after you yes I will."

Anders ran a hand over the tiny creature and Jowan could see a faint glow surrounding it, he was amazed how small and exact the flow of magic was that Anders directed at the kitten - he wouldn't have been capable of such precision, that's why it was Anders studying to be a healer and not him.

"What are you going to call him-her-it, do we even know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

Anders chuckled, "Well you can usually tell by looking under its tail…" he turned his hand around and lifted the small tail up with delicate fingers "yes…I think this one is a girl. I think I will call her…Sunshine, cause that's what she is in our dreary little lives in the Tower. Now, I need milk and some towels to wrap her in…could you go to the kitchen and beg Owen for some warm goat's milk? I think I'll make a bed for her at the clinic, Wynne will not mind her being there and it is warmer than our room. Meet me there as soon as?"

Anders made his way to the clinic as Jowan left for the kitchens. Enchanter Wynne was a gentle woman (although with an iron core), she was Anders's mentor in creation studies. She would not mind the cat and would look after it when Anders had other lessons to attend to. He couldn't wait to tell Karl about this, he would be delighted! But first, a warm towel from the laundry and then to the clinic to wait for Jowan.

Anders tended little Sunshine day in, day out. He dutifully woke up every two hours at night to feed the kitten for weeks until he deemed her old enough to start on solid food. She was the worst-kept secret in the Tower. All the children knew about her and flocked to the clinic for a pet and a cuddle, even some of the Enchanters could not resist it. And to Anders's astonishment, Captain Cullen was a frequent visitor, often coming after his duties were over and spending hours with Sunshine on his lap, content to pet her while Anders worked.