Creation's Lament Chapter Six: The Stone Creation

A few weeks later, Haru shifted out of her wooden form and clung to the roof of her hut, terrified of the mice taking over her floor in a seething mass.

'How can they stand to eat these things?' She jumped out the window opening and opened the curtain enough so that the furry snacks could escape by themselves. The Creation decided to take a walk in the close by woods to give them time to clear out.

Ever since the prince made his intentions for Yuki clear to his father, the Cat King had been showering gifts on Haru in a vain attempt to get her to fall for him. But the constant flow of cat gifts, which were more repulsive than alluring, were getting on Haru's nerves.

"Why can't the guy just accept that I don't see him like that?" She started running between the trees to relieve her stress, the warm wind caressing her face as her hair flowed behind her. These woods were her sanctuary, the one place in the Cat Kingdom where she felt the most secure, now that mice had taken over her hut. According to her calculations, winter should be about over, but the feline monarch kept pulling out some silly story about a groundhog adding two more weeks to winter. Frankly, even rotting in a snow ditch was beginning to sound more attractive than staying.

This is what she was thinking when a loud bang pierced the sky. She looked up to see a cloud of darkness descending to the trees a little to the left of where she was standing. Curious, she headed towards the cloud, pushing aside branches and leaves in order to see what had fallen into the Cat Kingdom. As she pushed herself through another bush, she came into a small clearing, where the lump of darkness had landed close to the stream. She took a few steps closer.

'A crow?' She walked around the huge bird to look at his face. When she saw it, a wave of rippling power spread throughout her body, the information crystal clear.

'A Creation!'

But how had it gotten here? The crow was comatose, one wing pierced and bleeding. Suddenly grateful that her mother had made dozens of handkerchiefs for her, she pulled one from her sash and dipped it into the stream to start cleaning the wound. The bird shifted uncomfortably at her touch, but relaxed as she gently cleansed the cut from the dirt and leaves that had gotten stuck in it from the fall. Taking a few more handkerchiefs from her sash, she constructed a crude sling, but decided not to put it on him until he awoke.

Half an hour passed before it happened, Haru patiently waiting next to him with a bit of mending in her hands and a cat-size needle in between her fingers. It had taken a while to learn how to use a needle that was shorter than the distance between her longest finger and her elbow, but she kept Naoko's needles in remembrance of her. The crow shifted and groaned, opening his eyes to the beautiful forest around him.

"What on earth…"

"You mean what in the Cat Kingdom."

The crow turned sharply to the voice, and his lower beak dropped in disbelief. Haru slipped the mending back into her sash and held up the makeshift sling.

"Your wing's not looking too good, so if you could stand up while I put this sling on you, that would be helpful."

He didn't budge, still staring at her as she walked up to him. He didn't get up, making Haru a little irritated.

"I know you can understand me, so what's with you?"

The crow shook his head slightly, a slow chuckle issuing from his beak as he regained his thinking abilities.

"Why is it that Baron gets all the luck?"

Haru blinked, confused.

"Who's Baron?"

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"All right Yuki; today's the day we tell Haru about the Cat Bureau."

The royal fiancée nodded and tightened her grip on her love's hand. The cat Creation would have to leave soon, the Cat King was beginning to turn berserker from her obvious indifference to his affections. But as they approached her hut, the royal couple noticed that she wasn't inside, since she only left her curtain up like that to get rid of the gift of mice. She may look like a feline, but her manners and behavior resembled that of a human still. Knowing that she liked to run around the forest, they started looking around the trees for her.

"Come on; Baron can't be that cool. I think you're just trying to set me up with your friend."

Yuki and Lune froze, recognizing Haru's voice. A little more sifting through foliage led them to a small clearing, where their friend was finishing tying off a sling on a crow's wing. Both of them looked up as the royal couple came through the bushes. The bird stiffened, Haru somehow reading his mind.

"Don't worry about Lune and Yuki; they both prefer fish to fowl. Hey guys, this is Toto, another Creation."

Lune blinked, stunned to have seen more than one in his lifetime. Yuki bowed first.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Toto. Are you taking Haru to the Refuge?"

The crow blinked, and then smiled a bit.

"After I'm stone for a while to get rid of this cut, I'd love to take Haru there. That way, she can decide for herself if Baron's cool or not."

Lune looked down, shamefaced.

"We were actually about to tell you about him ourselves. Father ordered everyone not to tell you about the Cat Bureau, since it would probably make you want to leave even more."

Haru quirked a furred eye brow, and turned to Toto.

"You didn't mention a Cat Bureau. What is it for?"

The crow sighed.

"When Baron first came to the Refuge, he got bored out of his skull, so he started the Cat Bureau to help people with their problems. You wouldn't believe some of the strange things we've been roped into doing. One time, a little girl lost her favorite doll, and we spent a week trying to find it until the doll turned up in her older brother's pocket."

Haru giggled.

"How many Creations are at the Refuge?"

Toto looked at her sadly.

"If I bring you there, a grand total of three. Plus a piggy cat that Baron hired."

Haru's eyes widened in shock.

"I knew our kind was rare, but this much?"

The dark bird sighed.

"What's sadder is all the empty houses in the Refuge. Every time a Creation's born, a dwelling appears there for them. But since a few are still being fought over or happen to have been destroyed, there are roughly ten houses standing empty."

Haru shook her head, thinking that Creations were rare enough without being killed.

"On the other hand, you explain the shrine-like house that appeared about half a century ago."

She smiled, thinking about her own little home away from unwanted suitors. Although she was still skeptical about this Baron, he had to be better company than the Cat King, if he was so willing to help others, even if it was just to relieve boredom.

"Why don't you go ahead and rest, Toto? Is it spring in the other world yet?"

"Has been for a while."

Haru growled her frustration at the feline monarch's attempts to keep her from her own kind. Lune could read her thoughts.

"Yuki and I will keep Father busy until you two leave. Goodbye, Haru."

She embraced both of her dear friends and said goodbye before watching them run out of the forest. They both knew how to get to the Refuge, they would all meet again.

"As soon as I wake up, we'll leave, okay?"

She nodded, and left to get her bag from the little hut. Toto grinned evilly as he shifted into his stone state.

'I can't wait to see the look on Baron's face when I come back to the Refuge with this cat-girl.' Being a bird, he wasn't a very good judge of cat beauty, but even he could tell that Haru turned a few heads in public. And with Baron's manners, the stone crow doubted that the two would be 'just friends' for very long.