Chapter Ten: Limits
Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.
-George Jackson
xxXxx
"Why didn't you tell me any of this years ago?" Toto demanded as they sailed away from the palace and towards the human portal.
"I promised Yuki I wouldn't tell anyone, even you. Now you understand how I feel whenever you hide details from me," Baron reminded him, although his heart was pounding out of control.
Chicky. He was actually going to meet Chicky. He should have been thrilled to meet the girl that had single-handedly convinced him that not all humans were evil monsters. Instead, he was wishing with all his heart that Vulcan had said another should retrieve her.
There were all sorts of things he wanted to ask her, and he had a feeling she wouldn't want anything to do with him after finding out the truth. He just wished he knew whether or not she'd be glad to leave her home world for good. If all humans treated her as the ones on the cliffs had, wouldn't she be grateful for his intervention?
"I should have known that a pretty girl was behind your sudden change of heart," Toto lamented as he prepared to dive into the large circle of stones that surrounded a pitch black hole.
"Careful," Baron warned. "Lune says there is an overhanging rock on the human side of the portal. It would be best to proceed with caution."
"Spoilsport," Toto pouted, choosing to soften his descent enough to land on one side of the portal. "Did he mention where the rock was in relation to anything?"
"Not really. I suppose we should just be careful." 'At least he was good enough to 'forget' to grab something from me or Toto. This will be hard enough without having a royal audience.'
"If we get hurt on the other side, I'm blaming his highness," Toto grumbled before taking a deep breath, and diving into the portal.
Just like with the Avian portal, it was a long, dark tunnel, one that was all too eager to suck them in.
Baron clung to Toto's feathers as hard as he could; knowing that no sound would be welcome in this strange vortex.
Suddenly, his vision was filled with light.
"Ouch!" Toto yelped as he bounced off a rock and fell to the ground.
Humbert rolled off with a startled meow. "Toto!"
"I-I'm fine," the crow panted, rolling to his talons. He experimentally moved one wing, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Just a bit of bruising, thank heaven. How are you?"
"All right, I suppose-" Baron tried to say, rising to his feet. But then he fell back to the ground, his pants falling to his ankles.
He curled up to cover the sudden nudity, and found his back had somehow grown longer, and much more liable to curl up.
"Of course," he groaned, looking at his hands, which were no more. Instead, his gloves were falling off a set of paws. His shoes had also fallen off, thanks to a set of hind paws.
"How on earth did my ancestors stand these things?" he demanded, stuffing the gloves into his pockets. Then he kicked off the pants and started rolling his socks off.
"It was all they knew, Baron. If any of them could see you now, they'd be wondering why you'd say such a thing."
Baron nodded, and took a good look at his surroundings.
The portal had come out in a strange, shallow pit that was thick with grass. The only exception to this was within the circle of mushrooms close by, which was filled with soft dirt. There was a large rock covering it, almost the same as a small shelter.
No wonder Yuki had chosen to rest right under it, in the portal's mouth.
"All right; I'm pretty sure I can fly again; think you're up to finding the Sea Maiden?"
The little kitten scarcely heard him. The sky overhead was a soft, grey color; nearly the same as his normal attire. He could tell that it was only because of clouds, because he could just see a spot of light from the sun on the other side of the grey. The tall trees surrounding them were nothing compared to the one he had on his estate, but were nonetheless lovely. Autumn must have been approaching here as well; the soft green leaves were lightly tinged with yellow and red.
The air was crisp and cool, and he could just taste the sea in it. There was also a distant scent of smoke; a type that was more putrid than any he had ever smelled before.
Still, it was a great deal better than what he had been expecting. It was even better than the little he had sampled from the king's crystal ball.
"Honey, have you found any good seeds?" could be heard, probably from a bird.
"There's some over here! Hurry, some sparrows are moving in!"
"Baron? Humbert, are you all right?" Toto asked with concern, reverting back to the kitten's true name.
In any case, it was enough to snap him out of his thoughts. "… I've been studying humans for the past eleven years," Baron whispered in amazement. "Yet… I never dreamed their kingdom would be this lovely."
Toto snorted. "Yeah, great place, not-so-great people. Now stop gawking so we can start searching for the Sea Maiden."
Baron shook his head to clear it, and smiled. "Sorry. Let's get on it, then." With difficulty, he got on his paws, and started pulling his pants toward a bush.
"Now what are you up to?"
"Hiding my spare things. Lune likely did the same thing when he came here." He couldn't use his paws to push his pants against the roots all the way, so he used his nose instead. He considered leaving his precious hat and jacket behind as well, but decided to leave them on.
He didn't want to be completely naked.
Toto soon hopped over with his shoes, which had the rolled up socks in them. He dropped them next to the pants, and nudged Baron with his beak. "Come on; let's get going!"
"As you wish," Baron sighed, hopping onto the crow's back. The action was surprisingly easier in his new form, although he had nearly jumped clear over his friend.
Holding onto his friend's neck was also tougher to do with paws. But somehow, Baron was able to manage it as Toto took to the skies.
Within seconds, they had soared above the forest, and started circling loosely.
"You're the one that knows where to find her; what now?" Toto asked.
"Head to the water; she lives in a lighthouse, so her home will be close to the sea."
"Fine. What's a lighthouse?" Toto asked as he curved towards the sea.
"It's like a watch tower. There will be a home connected to it. Lune said it was fairly close to the portal, and he had to walk."
"That must be it, then," the crow said excitedly, changing direction a bit to dive for a white tower; poking through the thick trees by a good amount.
The top of the tower was walled in glass, and Baron could just make out some equipment from within. "I wonder what type of fuel they use to make the light work," he mused.
"You can probably ask the Sea Maiden. Will she be in the tower or that little building connected to it?"
"I'm not entirely certain, although it's more likely that she and her keeper stay in the house during daylight hours."
Toto flew closer, and started looking in windows. "Holy bananas; look at the size of those pans!"
"We could both fit into them with ease," Baron said sickly. "Since she's not in the kitchen, let's keep looking."
Thankfully, the house only had a few rooms. By looking through the windows, they managed to find two bedrooms (both of which were messy beyond belief), another room that appeared to be for storage, and the last of the house was taken up by… a drawing room? Or maybe it was a study.
In any case, three of the walls were lined with shelves. There were a modest number of books, figurines, and what looked like small portraits. The middle of the room was dominated by a large couch and chairs that seemed to be lined with huge pillows.
"Those things actually look quite comfortable," Baron noted before staring at a large fireplace in one corner. "But it doesn't appear that anyone is home."
Toto sighed, and circled the little house until they were facing the road. "We'd best wait, then. Not much else we can do."
Baron nodded, and tried to sit on the porch. However, his body refused to bend the way he wanted it to.
"I'll never understand how my ancestors coped with such bodies," he muttered, finally choosing to lie down and rest his head on his forepaws.
"We've already had this discussion, Baron. Now, how long do you think it will be until they return?"
"Who knows? I'm a scholar, not a seer. All Vulcan said was that we would be successful in bringing Chicky to the Cat Kingdom."
Toto jerked a bit. "Chicky? Is that her name?" he asked incredulously.
"Yuki said it was, and she wouldn't lie." Suddenly realizing he was tired, Baron gave a yawn that sounded strongly like a meow, and fell asleep.
ooOoo
"Baron, wake up," Toto cawed, nudging Baron a bit hard. "They're back!"
The little kitten's eyes snap open, making him see clearly a metal thing climbing up the dirt road to the little house. He immediately pounced onto his paws, and leapt into one of the large lilac bushes on either side of the porch. His hat was immediately torn off his head from the branches, making him reach back slightly to pull it closer to him.
"Smooth," Toto cawed in amusement as the metal thing drove up and stopped roaring.
Chicky immediately opened one side to step out of it, her caramel eyes slightly troubled. "Did you see that, Renny?" she asked, flipping her long hair over one shoulder. She was wearing it in a strange style today, one that made her hair look like a tail shooting from the back of her head.
"See what, Chicky?" Renny asked, stepping out of his side.
Baron gaped in horror. That human was huge! He was much taller than the girl, not to mention at least three times as wide.
"I thought I saw something on the porch."
"Eh, don't worry about it. It was just that stupid bird, see?"
Toto cawed indignantly.
However, Chicky didn't seem convinced. "No, I don't think it was the crow. But he's huge!" she gasped, distracted for now. "I didn't think crows got that big!"
"Says the one who lives with a giant pig!" Toto snapped, flying at Renny.
"Hey, stay back, you birdbrain!" Renny yelled, although he was staring, too. "Say, you're right, Chicky. He's more than twice the size of a regular crow."
"And you're more than twice the size of a regular human!" Toto snapped as he dove for the human again. "How many pigs did you have to eat before you started looking like one?"
Renny flailed his hands a bit, and reached into the metal thing to grab a long metal bar. "Chicky, get the groceries inside while I hold him off!"
"Maybe if we stop talking about him, he'll go away," Chicky offered, going around the metal thing to pull bags from the back.
It was about then that Baron noticed something different about their metal thing. The ones he had seen in the king's sphere were all one color, which also happened to be shiny. However, there were large spots of rust on this one, and the design didn't seem as… fluid, somehow.
Perhaps this was the best they could afford. In any case, it was clear that neither of the humans could understand Toto.
The crow got in a lucky swipe at Renny's hair, making him growl and swing his bar around some more. "You just try that again, you big chicken!"
"Can't he even get the type of bird right?" Chicky groaned as she unlocked the door, and hauled in four of the bags.
But just before she disappeared into the door, she snuck a look behind her, making Baron burrow deeper under the bush.
But her eyes were on the epic battle between bird and human.
Chicky looked from the fat human to Toto, a slightly naughty grin spreading over her face. "Oh, Renny!" she called sweetly. "If you lose against him, I'm going to taunt you about it forever!"
Renny shuddered, and started chasing after the crow, who had started cackling evilly. "Did you hear that? My reputation's on the line! I'm not gonna let a chicken-livered-"
"What are you waiting for, Baron? Say something to her!" Toto demanded, revealing that he was just providing a distraction.
Baron gulped nervously, and looked to the open door. If he ran in right now, he'd be able to escape Renny's notice, but how would he convince Chicky to come with him?
What was he supposed to say to her? Somehow, he doubted she would be too open to 'please follow me to a strange place without question', especially after what she had lived through the previous week.
She had come back out before he made his mind, holding a huge round cookie in one hand. She whistled sharply to get attention, making both the crow and human look at her curiously.
"Crow-san! If you stop harassing my stepfather, I'll give you a snickerdoodle," she tried coaxing, breaking the cookie into two pieces. It bent slightly, and made no noise as it broke.
'Ah ha! So that's the kinship between them!' Baron thought exultantly.
But then, where was the Muta-san Yuki spoke of?
"What, no! Those are my cookies, Chicky!" Renny protested.
That sealed the deal for Toto, who broke away from the fatso to glide to her on soft wings. Expertly, she tossed one half into the air; allowing Toto to catch it in his beak and swallow it whole.
"Hey, that was pretty good!" he exclaimed, circling around her for the second half.
"Tasty, isn't it? Now leave my stepfather alone, please," she reminded him while tossing the other piece of cookie into the air for him.
"Chicky; those are my cookies," Renny complained as they both grabbed more bags from the back of the metal thing. "Why the heck did you waste one on that overgrown vulture?"
"I don't want you two hurting each other. Besides, he might be an endangered type of giant crow that we don't know about, so we'd better leave him alone. We're on thin ice with authorities already; remember?"
"Oh, all right. But don't feed him any more of my cookies," he warned her as they disappeared into the little house, and shut the door behind them.
Toto landed on the porch and finished swallowing the second piece of cookie. "That was delicious! But dang it, Baron; why didn't you take your chance when you had it?"
"… I panicked," the little kitten admitted, feeling ashamed.
"Come on, Baron; out of all the humans we could be trying to contact, you're scared of this one? She's so nice that I can hardly believe that ill-tempered pig raised her!"
Baron sighed, and wiggled his way out of the bush before setting his top hat back to its familiar perch. "I know I shouldn't be, but… she's still a human. Plus we don't know her step-father's opinion of cats; it would be best to proceed with caution."
"Why not? We've already found out his opinion on birds," Toto muttered as Baron managed to mount him again.
They took to the air again, and circled the house until they could see Chicky, taking cans and such out of the bags in the kitchen. They landed on a tree branch fairly close to the open window so that they could keep an eye on her.
"-Just angry that I didn't get myself killed," she muttered angrily.
"Maybe, but that's no excuse for covering up an attempted murder!" Renny shot back at her, on the other side of the kitchen so he could fill one of the large pans with water.
"I know that, you know that. Unfortunately, people down there have a moral compass the size of an atom!"
'I didn't think humans knew what an atom was,' Baron thought randomly. 'Even if she's probably right about the villagers.'
"I think you're flattering them, Chicky. Still, it might have been nice, if you could have gone to regular school, just for one year," he said wistfully. "Join a club, go to parties, maybe even the prom…"
'What's a prom?' Baron couldn't help but wonder.
Chicky's hands slowed as her eyes flooded with pain. But she shook her head to clear it, and kept putting away the cans. "At least they had the decency to attempt killing me before the year started. I don't have to put up with them for a whole school year now. I'm used to studying on my own anyway, and I wouldn't know what to do with myself at a party, let alone the prom. I'd rather be out on the waves; you know that."
"Except it's not healthy, Chicky. A nice girl like you should have some friends. Real ones, I mean."
Her hands tightened into fists, and started shaking a bit. "If the best this area can come up with are Jack's gang, I'll wait until after I graduate and go to college somewhere else. Besides, I've got you, and the sea. I'll be all right with just that."
"Except you deserve better than a grumpy old man and a bit of seawater for company."
"Renny! What a thing to say!" she said in mock surprise, grinning as she suddenly tossing one of the bags at him.
Renny caught it with ease, and started pulling out fresh vegetables. "It's the truth, Chicky. It's not fair that you have to stay a pariah in this cold village for no better reason than you're different."
"I'm amazed that he knows what a pariah is," Toto commented.
Although Chicky couldn't understand him, she looked up at the sound of his voice. Baron's stomach immediately clenched as he locked eyes with the legendary Sea Maiden.
She stared at Baron in complete shock as her stepfather kept talking about how she deserved better than what he was able to give her. But it was clear that she wasn't listening to him, as she pinched herself on the cheek to be sure this wasn't a dream.
He nervously tipped his hat at her, which was a bit more difficult with paws than hands. 'What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?'
"Renny?" she squeaked in an uncertain tone.
"Yeah?"
"You know that big crow outside?"
"What about it?"
"Well, he's currently being ridden by a cat."
"What? A feline?" Renny roared, urging Toto to fly off the branch and up onto the roof.
"You scared them off!" Chicky complained; her voice a little clearer than it should have been. Was she leaning out of the window to look for them?
"Good! I don't want any filthy cats near my little girl!"
"This one wasn't filthy, Renny! He was even dressed up, like that cat from last week!"
"All the more reason for him to scat! Stay away from my Chicky, cat!" the huge human roared out the window before slamming it shut.
"Well, at least we know her keeper's opinion of cats. It's even better than his one about birds!" Toto said sarcastically.
Baron hopped off his friend to start pacing the slightly slanted roof. "This is no good," he muttered. "We can't get near her without going through him."
"And there's a lot of him to go through," Toto added with a smirk.
Baron sighed, and kept padding his way up and down the roof. "There has to be a way to separate them. There's only one Fish of Nilpan, after all, and he's certain to cause chaos if he learns of his majesty's plans for her."
This had to be why he was chosen to go, other than the king's habit of sending for him all the time. He could almost picture Natori trying to reason with Renny, and getting shot with one of their guns.
He was good enough to suppress an evil purr. The human weapon was rumored to be quite deadly.
Toto nodded, looking up at the tower. "We might have a prayer once it gets dark," he offered. "He has to go to the tower to operate it, doesn't he?"
"I believe he does. But the king's probably expecting us by now, and you know how he gets when he has to wait."
"Not really; I hardly ever see him, remember? He always talks only to you," the crow said, only allowing a trace of his frustration to escape his voice.
He had been a minor noble before his king sent him to the Cat Kingdom, which was why he was so much bigger than the average crow.
"Which is his loss, I assure you," Baron offered him, instinctively rubbing his face against one dark wing.
Without warning, an idea popped into his mind. It was a very simple one; one that he almost shrugged off completely.
Yet… he couldn't help but wonder if it would work. It would solve many a problem if it did.
"Toto," he said suddenly, hopping onto his friend's back.
"What is it?"
"We don't have to separate them. She'll take care of it for us."
"What makes you say that?"
"In my studies, I've read many tales of human women that fall prey to curiosity. Circle the house once, make sure she sees us, and retreat slightly to the woods. Then we'll wait a bit."
Toto shrugged a bit, and took off. "All women are curious creatures, and she doesn't appear to be an exception to that."
Baron nodded, but didn't dare speak again. He didn't want to give the girl a reason to resist her natural inclination.
After one circling of the house, they found her again. She was still in the kitchen, but they couldn't see her, because Renny was smothering her with a hug. He was bent over her a bit, and seemed to be crying about something.
The only reason they could tell Chicky was on the other side was because they could see her surprisingly delicate arms wrapping around the huge male's neck, and dragging him down a bit for a hug. Only then was her face present, as she rubbed one cheek against her stepfather's. Since the window was closed, they couldn't hear the soft words that she was giving to him.
"Look at the window," Baron whispered, praying for her to see them.
Almost like she could hear him, her large brown eyes flickered to the window. She stared again, but kept hugging Renny like she had seen nothing.
Baron tipped his hat at her again as Toto headed to the forest, taking care to stay in sight of the window so that she could see it.
The crow landed on a branch, a few trees away from the little house. "Now what? We wait until she comes out?"
"That is the plan."
"What are you going to tell her about all this?"
"I won't have to tell her a thing. When she comes out to us, fly into the woods, but don't let her fall too far behind. We'll need to beat her to the portal's mouth by a good minute, so that we can make the final preparations. After that, we'll need to hide."
"Hiding again? How will that make her agree to put on the necklace?"
"Don't worry; it will."
The minutes began to tick by. Baron automatically reached for his pocket watch, but then remembered that they were in his pants. He sighed again, glad that Lune hadn't collected something of his. This would be too embarrassing if Natori had managed to record his humiliation for posterity.
He smiled a bit, remembering Lune's wish to retire that family as soon as he was crowned. He could hardly wait to be rid of them for good.
"Should we circle around the house again? She's taking her sweet time," Toto complained.
"Let's give her a little longer. There!" Baron said excitedly as a window opened.
It wasn't the kitchen one, but Chicky soon slipped out of a window, and softly closed it behind her. She adjusted her long blue coat a bit, and started jogging for the woods; a searching look in her large eyes.
"Now," Baron whispered, making Toto take flight so that the girl could see them.
She brightened a bit, and started running to them. "Hey-"
They soon dove deep into the trees, with the human girl close on their trail.
"Will you slow down? I just want to talk!" Chicky called to them, stumbling a bit before regaining her balance.
"Do we really have to do it like this?" Toto asked in a whisper.
"It's the only way we'll get her to do it," Baron hissed back, flattening himself against his friend's back to avoid branches as much as possible.
But without warning, his top hat hit against just the wrong branch, sending it flying behind them.
"Oh no!" he panicked while looking back for it.
Chicky managed to catch his beloved hat, although it looked so terribly tiny in her hand. "I've got it! Are you sure you don't want to stop and talk?" she yelled at him, starting to catch up. "I'm willing to give it back!"
"Go faster!" he hissed to Toto, making the crow put on a surprising amount of speed.
"Slow down!" the Sea Maiden could be heard saying, just as they reached the grassy pit.
"Now hide in the woods, and don't let her see where you are," Baron urged Toto frantically, hopping off his back quickly in order to shake the Fish of Nilpan from the pocket of his jacket.
The golden necklace spilled out over the fresh earth of the portal. While still on the outside of it, he reached into it and used one claw to quickly write two words in the same dialect he had seen in the king's sphere. He felt a surge of relief that he was familiar with it, since there were countless ways for humans to write, and he still only knew ten dialects.
As Toto flew to the far side of the rock sheltering the portal, Baron could hear her faltering footsteps close in.
Somehow, he managed to slip beneath the bush that he had hidden his pants and shoes in. From beneath the leafy branches, he did his best to stifle his gasps, and started praying.
"I… just wanted… to…" Chicky gasped, just before tripping and falling face first into the ditch.
Baron flinched and suppressed his first instinct to check on her.
"Ouch. Oh, right; that's why I stick with the ocean," she groaned as she lifted her head from the soft grass. "Water is so much softer to fall on."
'Speak for yourself,' Baron wanted to answer her, but didn't dare. Not when they were this close.
Chicky held one hand to her head, the other one still holding his precious hat as she sat up. She maneuvered her body towards the center of the ditch, looking around in vain. "Hey, Cat-san?" she called out, waving his top hat around over her head. "Don't you want your nice hat back? You sounded like you didn't want… to… lose it?" she asked incredulously, getting to her feet as she gently brushed traces of dirt off of his precious hat.
'Yes, she saw the fish already!' Baron inwardly cheered, watching her strangely shod feet move closer to the portal, and kneel next to it.
"I've never seen anything like this before," she said numbly, touching one of the mushrooms. "I wonder if someone planted it to look like one of those fairy rings Hannah reads about." She sighed in depression. "If I were still friends with her, I'd have loved to have shown her this."
'Fairy rings? Is that what humans call portals?' Baron couldn't help but wonder.
Chicky lightly stepped into the portal while still kneeling, to avoid the overhanging rock. One slim hand scooped up the golden necklace to inspect it further, and then hold it closer as she inspected his two human words on the fresh earth.
"Wear me? What on earth… if one of the jerks from town had led me here, I'd say this was a prank. But…" she murmured thoughtfully. "I've never insulted a cat, or even a bird. Why would either one want to prank me?"
She set his beloved top hat next to her left foot so that she could keep her balance against the rock. "Wear it, don't wear it. Wear it, don't wear it," she muttered, trying to make up her mind.
'Please, just wear it!' he inwardly begged her. 'The king's expecting us by now, if not sooner!'
She tapped a finger against the solid rock, thinking over her strange circumstances. It felt like eternity to watch her debate, even when she started moving her feet around slightly to keep circulation flowing.
But when she finally voiced her decision, Baron was struck with horror. He had known from the beginning that this venture would end in sorrow. But nothing sealed the girl's fate like the words that fell from her mouth as she clipped the Fish of Nilpan around her neck.
"What's the worst that could happen?"