A pure silver vixen watched two wildcats walk into the dimmed room. When the cats had come forward a few more paces she spoke up.
"Why do you come into the realm of the Star-Tellers? Do you have an appointment? If you don't, then one of the lower Tellers can help you, me included."
The vixen watched impassively as the leading wildcat leaned towards her companion and conversed. At least, they appeared to communicate. The first cat pulled out of the talk, apparently finished. The other cat stopped as well. The first wildcat then replied, "No, we don't have an appointment. But it is very urgent. Can you contact the Star-Tellers and see if they can accommodate us?"
The vixen beckoned one of the young foxes lining the walls to her. She told him to see if the highers could, and sent him off. He came back a moment later and nodded to her. The vixen turned to the cats.
"Telestil has informed me that the Star-Tellers will see you. Down the hall through the black curtain."
"Thank you," the first cat purred. Her companion put two fingers on her forehead and pulled them down. "Sephira says thank you, too," the first cat translated. The two slunk off down the hall, as if they were hiding something.
'Well, that was a surprise,' the vixen thought. 'That must have been Flanna and Sephira. No wonder the second cat didn't talk. But what could they want with the Star-Tellers?' The vixen didn't ponder it too long; wildcats were deadly rulers, and asking the wrong question could mean death.
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Flanna peered into the room beyond the black curtain and saw four wildcats around a crescent-shaped table. Arranged in some sort of pattern were the Star-Tellers' implements of their trade: sable crystals, pure white balls of glass, and the odd star chart. The wildcats themselves were decked out in an assortment of robes and clothes: Celka, a star-watcher, wore robes of black velvet specked with white spots. On her head sat a stygian adder, supposedly a tool to augment her seeing powers. Selestina, another star-watcher, was dressed in an atramentous flowing cape with a gray garment underneath. A raven perched on Selestina's head, cawing raucously. Halona, a fortune-teller, had a shadowy cloth draped across her shoulders. No headpiece adorned her skull, but a sooty mark was slashed across her fur above her eyes. Now, Rhiamon was the most interestingly dressed. She was garbed in a simple black toga, but its decoration was more than simple. On each sleeve rested a strange symbol, a silver star inside of a claw. Flanna had no idea what it meant, but Sephira must have. Flanna ignored Sephira's small intake of breath and continued studying Rhiamon. Across her chest was a rib cage of a wolverine laced with dark eagle feathers. The rib cage was dyed an odd shade of sable mixed with scarlet. Deep red stripes bordered a dark gray sash tied about her waist. But by far the strangest aspect of Rhiamon's appearance was her headgear. A wolf's skull fitted snugly over her own head, and her coal eyes could be seen through the vacant eye sockets of the skull. The wildcat's slow, heavy breathing echoed disturbingly out of the skull's jaws.
Rhiamon's onyx eyes glanced to the curtain. "Flanna, Sephira," she hissed in a hoarse, yet sinister, voice. "Why have you come to our domain?"
Sephira glanced at Flanna and made a slash with her second finger. "No, Sephira, I don't know how Rhiamon knew we were here. We may as well go in."
A/N: I'm back! Had a small case of writer's block. I had to post this chapter because I couldn't think of much else to put in this setting right now.