Chapter _
"Ok that's should be good for tonight." Rist said wearily as he stopped his dash through the trees. He had put a good three miles between him and his pursuers so he deemed it safe to stop. "I think I'll sleep in this tree for tonight," he said as he tied his pack to a safe branch and settled down on a larger branch toward the base of the tree. "I'll reach Clides Dale tomorrow then I can rest for a while and plan from there." He told himself tiredly. In mere moments he was asleep.
It was mid-morning when Rist woke to a stray sunbeam hitting his eyes. He got up, grabbed his pack, and sifted through it. "Ok let's see what we have: rags for bandages, bed roll for sleeping on the ground, his newly acquired goods, food. "Ah, that's what I was looking for." He said as he replaced everything except the food.
His meal seemed hardly a morsel, but it would get him to Clides Dale. Sighing, Rist sat there and looked at the scenery. It was a beautiful morning; the snow sparkled in the morning sun. As he watched it glitter he recalled a fond memory of when he was young. He had been staring out the window of the nursery seeing it glitter like it did now. He just looked at it awed by its simple beauty. As a kid he had once thought that snow was valuable, he ran some from the window sill to the elder in charge. "How much is it worth?" he had innocently asked the elder. The elder looked at Rist, whose name had been just Slightpaw then, and smiled. "OH that, that is just as valuable as the water we drink." He said kindly. "But you told us the story of the sparkly rock and how it was very valuable." Slightpaw said back, looking a little hurt, "This is sparkly why not it worth as much as that stone?" The elder sat there, stunned for a moment at the thought of snow being worth money. Then he laughed softly. "The difference is," he said as he lifted the snow from Slightpaw's paw, "that stone was a rare beauty beloved by many, but snow is very common in comparison." The elder put the snow into a bowl next to him and reached into his pocket and produced a gold coin, "But it is my opinion that snow is valuable indeed, for snow can turn to water which all life depends on." As he said these soft words he slipped the gold coin into Slightpaw's small paw. "If you keep it between us I'll give you one gold coin for the first snowball you can give me from the first snowfall each year," the elder said quietly so none of the other little ones heard. Slightpaw looked up into the elders great brown eyes. "Thank you." he said quietly as he went to store his new treasure in his room.
And that's how Slightpaw earned himself some money. Eventually he had stopped bringing the snow to the elder; it made him feel a little silly to continue after he grew up a bit. He never truly forgot though, and every year following he had gone and collected a snowball from the first snow to remind him how valuable it was.
Rist Slightpaw was taken back to the present by his current burden. "Well I better to get moving," He said to himself. Standing up he slid down the tree and landed in the snow. He sat there a moment longer looking at the snow. Without thinking he bent down and grabbed a handful of snow, packed it into a ball, and walked over to put it on a flat stone. Bowing his head he turned to leave, but not without casting one more glance at the valuable snow around him.
The sun was setting when Rist stumbled out of the forest and into Clides Dale. He was scratched, and felt like he had walked straight through every sticker bush in the forest. If he had taken the road he would have escaped all these annoying scratches, unfortunately he had to worry that the idiots who had accosted him last night would be on it and checking for him. That would have annoyed him more than bushes ever could.
He made a mindless bee line for the tavern in high hopes of a warm room and a hot meal. Those hopes came crashing down fairly quickly when, just before he entered, a hand grabbed the collar of his cloak. "Hey!" He snarled as he turned to bite its owner.
The person who held Rist firmly was Raymen the tavern owner. He was standing in his big leather boots and ruddy brown clothes, he didn't generally like standing out. He had rough skin and a gruff beard, but despite his size that said danger to those around his warm blue eyes said welcome.
Rist just stared for a moment before getting a bit annoyed. "Why did you stop me? What did I do? Why I aughta..." that was as far as he got before Raymen put a hand over Rist's mouth. "I stopped you to save your life," he said quietly, "a couple of men came looking for you earlier today. It was kinda queer though, for they whore no shirts." Rist took that pause to cough 'inconspicuously', a light grin lighting his features. "Anyway, they're staying here and from the way they look I don't think it's safe for you to stay at the tavern," Raymen continued.
"WHAT! Where am I supposed to stay?" Rist said incredulously. "Well…" Raymen said slowly, "You're in a 'bit' of luck. Another tavern opened up across town by the name of The Napping Kat." Rist gave his friend a skeptical look, "OK, what's it like?" "Well it's like a regular tavern, but…" Raymen answered. At that moment the door across the street opened. "AND STAY OUT," came the shout as a man flew out the door. Even with a new shirt on, Rist recognized him. "Well that will have to do. Thanks Raymen I owe you one," Rist said quickly as he turned down a side street throwing up his hood on the way.
Within ten minutes Rist stood, panting, in front of The Napping Kat. He took a moment to catch his breath, and once he had he looked up. He thought it may have just been him, but the door looked wider than the others around. Dismissing his thought he pulled his tail into his cloak and went inside. Closing the door behind him he looked around. It seemed to be a normal tavern; it was late though so almost no one was in there. The owner had a good sized fireplace; they probably had Fred the brick mason do that. They also had some well carved tables, chairs, and a particularly well made counter, all probably made by Fred's arch-rival - Ced the carpenter. Yup everything looked normal from the wall, to the floor, to the cat looking person standing behind the counter.
Come again.
Rist did a double take. It was definitely cat like with black hair everywhere but the tips of her ears which were white. Despite her cat-like features, she (for it was 'obviously' a she) had furry yet human-like hands. Another walked by on the close side of the counter. Her top half looked like the other except her fur was white, her bottom half looked like that of a big white cat. The upper torso attached to the lower in a manner similar to what you might see in a centaur. "What the heck is that?" He said beneath his breath. He scratched his unhurt ear making his hood fall off. 3...2...1… "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" Rist turned just in time to see a smaller version of the strange creatures hurtling toward him. "Oof" was about all he could say as the creature tackled him, taking him to the ground as the creature looked down at him excitedly.
"Mommy it's one of those Jakkai things," the little one shouted in an extremely hyper manner. "Hey! Since when did I become a 'thing'?" Rist said, slightly irritated at the thought of being called a thing. "Oh not again, Silver, get your sister," said the cat-like thing behind the desk. The little furry on top of him was removed by a bigger one who looked close to 18 in age. "Jigsaw, don't tackle guests," she said. She had blue hair that was just over shoulder length and silvery fur ran down her body. Her fur pattern was consistent other than becoming a little darker at her forearms and the end of her tail. With a slight blush, Rist thought of just how attractive he found her.
"Hello I'm Chakat Silverlight and this little monster is Jigsaw," she said indicating the little calico colored kid in her arms, "and who might you be?" Rist took a moment to get his mind to tell his mouth to say something at least semi-intelligent. "Umm my name is Rist Slightpaw, fair Miss Chakat," he answered slowly. She laughed, and he felt a bit stupid. It certainly wasn't helping that he was still planted on his tail from the earlier tackle. He got up rather quickly, nearly stumbling in his attempt to gain his feet. "No no, that's how we introduce ourselves, my name is Silverlight. Chakat is what I am silly." She managed to say through a fit of giggles. "Huh?" was all that he could reply as he felt like he was missing something. Silverlight saw that she had to explain a bit better, "My race is Chakat. We came to this land from over the sea many years ago." "Then how come I haven't heard of you?" Rist said questioningly. "The news here travels about as fast as ice is what I'd say the problem is," Silverlight replied, nearly bursting out in laughter again.
Before she broke down into a laughing fit she lead him towards the counter and the other two Chakats. When Rist had been seated Silverlight pointed towards the white Chakat in front of the counter and said, "This is my mother, Moonrise." Rist extended his hand to greet her, but received a large but very pleasant hug instead. "Glad to meet you," Moonrise said smiling widely. Rist's jaw dropped as he felt just how large her breasts were. Silverlight leaned next to his ear and explained, "That's how Chakats greet others." Rist nodded his head in acknowledgement, scooping his jaw off the ground in a quick save as he turned to the Chakat behind the counter. "You must be Silverlight's older sister then," he said trying to seem a bit smarter than he had to that point.
That sent all three into a fit of laughter. After a minute or so Silverlight managed to catch her breath enough to answer Rist's bewildered look, "Oh shi wishes shi was that young." Ok so Rist had misjudged age, but now the question of why she said 'shi' when talking about the other Chakat arose. Unfortunately he didn't have time to ask, silver was already speaking again, "Hir name is Nightrunner, and shi is my sire."
Rist's mind went blank. "Um sire? Are you sure?" he asked tentatively. She nodded smiling widely. "As in the one that knocked up your mom?!" Rist exclaimed. Silverlight looked like she was about to explain something when Moonrise cut her off, "oh, don't tell him yet dear I love the look on their faces as they try to figure it out, especially Jakkai." Rist's mind was reeling, what am I missing that seems obvious to them? He thought quickly while looking them up and down. He looked them over again and saw something else this time. Doing a double take to confirm and blushing madly he said to the Chakats, "You guys aren't just female, are you?" Silverlight answered immediately, "Wow you're the first one to actually get it so far. Most people are too shy to check us out that much. Yes Chakats aren't just one gender, we are both, hermaphrodites."
Rist's jaw dropped so far it could have bounced off the floor. When he finaly managed to close his mouth he tried to speak, but only sound that would come out was something like "Iagha confoghed." They gave him a moment to calm down then he tried again, "I'm confused how you are both genders." it was Moonrise who answered him. "It's just the way Chakats are, why are you small?" "Ok touché." he said. Shaking his head he laughed to himself, "Well you learn something new every day."
Jumping down from his seat he then said. "May I lodge here while I stock up for my next journey?" "Of course," Nightrunner replied, "it is two silver pieces for a night another two for meals, and trust me you want those." Rist dropped his bag to his side, rummaged in it, and pulled out some coins. "This should pay for a few nights," he said as he placed some coins on the counter. "Great!" Nightrunner said happily, while putting them into a box for safe keeping, "Silverlight will show you your room." Giving his thanks he grabbed his bag and followed Silver up the stairs. They walked in silence; silver had a look on her face that showed shi wanted to ask something, but she seemed to know how tired he was so shi left him alone. After unlocking the door shi beckoned him in and presented him with his room.
It was a simple room; a bed large enough for a Jakkai to sleep in, a desk which was also Jakkai sized, a chest to store cloths and other stuff, and a mirror on the far wall. Rist went to the mirror and looked in it, he was greeted by a tired Jakkai, covered in dirt and twigs from head to tail with a travel worn cloak that would have to be replaced soon and a blood soaked bandage on one of his big ears. Also in the mirror was a Chakat with silver fur looking curiously over his shoulder. The last thing he noticed in the mirror was the nice small room with the incredibly welcoming bed.
Turning to Silverlight he said, "Thank you it is very nice. Is there a place I could bathe?" "Of course!" shi replied happily, "It won't have warm water till tomorrow though because we are going to sleep now, sorry." Rist sighed, his shoulders slouching a bit, "Ok" he mumbled and he trudged over to the bed. Taking that as her queue to leave, Silverlight slipped out of the room with one thing on her mind, "Adventure."
