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Thanks so much to CitrusChickadee for reviewing! Thanks, glad to see you're back as well! Little fluff chapters are fun to write, so I'm happy you like them! :D

With that, on with the tale!

Relevant Events: Tressa's Chapter Four

23. Cat

"Where do you think she came from?"

"Don't know."

"Do you think her owner is around here somewhere?"

"Don't care."

"Do you think she even has an owner?"

"No idea."

"Do you think the eight of us could become her owners?"

"Absolutely not."

Tressa pouted, glaring at the back of Therion's head as she followed him through the streets of Grandport. "You're no fun," she muttered, running a finger over the soft head of the little gray kitten she'd found meowing beneath an overturned jar. "Would it kill you to have a heart for once?"

"Yes," the thief deadpanned without turning to look at her. "Now, where were we supposed to meet up with Primrose and Cyrus again?"

"Don't change the subject!" Tressa jogged to catch up with him, staring defiantly at his one visible eye. "I bet Prim and Cy would gladly agree to us keeping her!"

Said visible eye rolled dramatically. "Since when do you toss around nicknames like that?"

The merchant smiled innocently. "Since I overheard Primrose calling you 'Theri.' Aren't we all close enough for nicknames by now? Or is that just a cute thing you two do?"

Almost instantly, Therion's cheeks turned bright red, and he ducked his face into his scarf to avoid looking at her. "Sh-Shut up," he grumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the violet fabric. "Brat…you're wasting your breath, anyway. You know damn well that we're on the move too much to properly take care of a pet."

"But we bring Linde everywhere with us," Tressa pointed out, "and H'aanit's master's direwolf followed us around for a little while too."

"Neither of which were high-maintenance baby animals."

"...you just hate fun, don't you?"

"Yes, Tressa, that's exactly it," Therion said flatly. "The reason that I'm against you dragging a tiny, fragile kitten all over Orsterra with us is because I hate fun. You've done it. You've solved the mystery at last."

Tressa's pout quickly returned. "...well there's no need to be so rude about it."

"Whatever." Therion glanced around the crowded marketplace. "Don't you have a fair to prepare for, anyway? It's well past noon and you haven't even signed up yet."

"I know that!" Tressa insisted. "I needed to scope out the competition first! You have to enter the item you're selling the moment you sign up, so I had to make sure no one else had anything like my product!"

"Well, thank the gods no one else had another one-of-a-kind legendary gemstone," the thief replied dully. "Now, would you drop the cat and go sign up so we can get all this over with?"

"Absolutely not, and no, not yet." If anything, Tressa bundled the little kitten closer to her chest as she gave Therion a sharp look. "We still need to check in with Primrose and Cyrus, after all. They covered a whole half of the market that we didn't get to see, so maybe they found something that could beat my Eldrite!"

Therion's eye narrowed. "Didn't take you for the paranoid type. You sure you don't just want to show them the cat?"

Tressa waved him off casually. "That's just a nice little bonus. Come on, let's go!"

"Tch…fine."

()()()()

Once the merchant and the thief reached Grandport's tavern, they found the dancer and the scholar waiting for them at one of the establishment's tables. The other four members of their band of travelers had gone to secure lodgings at the inn, but Tressa had insisted that at least a few of them remain to make their way through the market and familiarize themselves with the competition that the Merchant's Fair would offer.

"Ah, there you are!" Cyrus called, waving Tressa and Therion over. "I trust your own foray into the marketplace went as smoothly as ours?"

"In a manner of speaking," Therion deadpanned before Tressa could answer. He slid into the empty chair next to Primrose and leaned back, expression flat. "In any case, I'm tapping out. She's your problem now."

Cyrus' eyebrows lifted. "Er…I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to…"

Primrose's eyes, however, quickly fell on the small gray bundle in Tressa's arms. "Oh?" she asked curiously, leaning forward to get a better look. "Who's this little newcomer?"

Tressa grinned and lifted the kitten onto the table before taking a seat beside Cyrus. "I found her in the market, stuck under a jar! I'm not sure if she's got an owner or if she's a stray, but…she was all alone there, and seemed so scared, so I couldn't just leave her there, you know?"

"Indeed…" Primrose reached over and lightly scratched behind the kitten's little ears with one finger, eliciting soft purrs from the tiny creature. The dancer smiled fondly. "She's a friendly one, isn't she?"

"Perhaps that means she does have an owner after all?" Cyrus suggested. "Considering the fact that she seems accustomed to and relatively comfortable with humans, that is."

"She hissed at me earlier," Therion muttered under his breath.

Tressa rolled her eyes. "She could probably sense how mean you are."

"Shut up, Tressa."

"In any case," Primrose interrupted, giving Therion a warning look, "what do you plan to do with her? Have you tried asking around to see if you could find whoever owns her?"

"I did," Tressa sighed, "but no one in the area knew anything. She could've tumbled out of a window anywhere in the city and then run off for all I know…I want to keep trying, obviously, but if we can't find her owner, then - "

"We're not keeping her," Therion said flatly, earning himself a sharp glare from Tressa.

"I wasn't going to say that!"

"Sure you weren't."

Cyrus chuckled slightly and shook his head. "As loath as I am to admit it, Therion is right," he said gently. "We are in no position to properly care for such a young animal ourselves…but not to worry, dear Tressa! I am certain we can locate whoever misplaced the poor thing in no time at all."

Therion snorted slightly. "Planning on launching another one of your investigations, Professor?"

"Precisely!" Cyrus replied, evidently missing the sarcasm. "There's no harm in continuing to ask around town, is there? Perhaps the kitten's owner has even had the same idea - if both of us are questioning the townsfolk, then surely we will be brought together in no time!"

Primrose nodded. "Excellent point. Our business here isn't quite urgent, as there's still time before we need to get you signed up for that Merchant's Fair, Tressa, and we haven't seen any merchants with a product nearly as rare as your entry. As such, I'd imagine we'll all be able to search around separately - with eight of us, we should be able to get the job done that much more quickly, no?"

"Aw, thanks, you guys!" Tressa said, beaming. Then, she cast a smug look in Therion's direction. "See? I told you they'd be happy to help."

Therion's visible eye rolled, not for the first time that day. "Technically you said they'd want to keep the cat too…" he muttered under his breath so that the excited merchant couldn't quite hear. "Thank the gods you weren't right about that."

()()()()

It took a bit more convincing to reassure Tressa that her planned entry for the Merchant's Fair was perfect (seeing as, ever since her earlier encounter with Noa Wyndham, the girl had been expressing serious doubts about her Eldrite's ability to win, for whatever reason), but once that matter was settled, the four travelers swiftly ventured back out into the marketplace. Cyrus took a brief detour to the inn to inform the others of their lost cat-related plans, and soon, all eight members of their group were on the lookout for anyone who might be missing a certain gray kitten.

They had all split up in order to cover as much ground as possible, so Tressa had no idea how well any of the others were faring. The merchant herself was having rather poor luck herself, until finally, about an hour into her search, a man peddling finely crafted bows and arrows mentioned that a mother and daughter had passed by not long ago, asking about a gray cat that seemed to match the description of the one Tressa had found. After quickly thanking the man (and fending off his attempt to sell her a bundle of arrows), Tressa raced off, following the trail of various merchants that had seen the same mother and daughter.

It took some careful crowd-maneuvering and efficient vendor-questioning, but before long, Tressa managed to catch up with the duo. As much as she had previously joked about wanting to keep the cute little creature, Tressa had to admit that the look of sheer delight that lit up the young girl's face upon being reunited with the lost kitten made the search more than worth it.

"We can't possibly thank you enough," the child's mother said as she bundled the kitten into her own arms. "Any sort of reward you'd like, we'd be happy to - "

"No, no, no!" Tressa quickly interrupted, lifting her hands in a placating motion. "No payment necessary, really! I couldn't possibly accept any kind of reward - I'm just happy I was able to make sure this little one got home safely!"

"Are you certain…? If it's money you need, then just name your price and I can - "

"Absolutely certain! In fact, I insist!" Tressa smiled and gave the purring kitten one last pat on the head before stepping back. "Seeing the three of you happy is more than enough reward on its own."

The woman returned the smile gratefully. "Thank you, so, so much." Then, she leaned down and nudged her young daughter gently. "What do you say to this nice young lady…?"

"Thank you, miss!" the girl echoed shyly. "Thank you for saving Smoky!"

The merchant beamed. "You're very welcome! Take good care of little Smoky from here on out, okay?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically, then reached up to take her mother's hand, grinning up at Smoky the kitten. After a few more expressions of gratitude (and a few more refusals of payment on Tressa's part), the mother and daughter went off on their way, making sure to keep their newly recovered kitten as close as possible.

Tressa watched them go, her smile gradually fading into a look of thoughtfulness.

"Huh…" she mused aloud, turning and distractedly making her way down the cobblestone steps behind her that led to the small beach at the edge of town. "A town full of treasures, and yet they were ready to give up anything necessary to get that little kitten back. The value of the leaves they wanted to give me didn't matter to them at all…to those two, Smoky was the most priceless treasure in the world…"

She stepped onto the sand, twisting so that her backpack slid off of one arm, allowing her to rummage through it. Her fingertips soon found the worn leather cover of her notebook, and she pulled it out, absently slinging her bag onto her back once more as she began to flip through its yellowed pages.

"That's the thing about treasure, isn't it…?" she murmured to herself. "It's got so many different meanings for different people…precious stones are valuable, sure, but…some people wouldn't care about that sort of thing at all. They'd prefer getting their kitten home safe, or seeing a smile on a loved one's face, or…"

She trailed off, running a hand over a page towards the middle of the notebook, where she had first begun to write out her own accounts of her adventures across the continent with her seven companions. A smile slowly spread across the young merchant's face.

"My legs have always been weak, you see, so I never stray too far from home…but I've always longed to see the world! I just know there are countless, wonderful things out there, waiting to be discovered. But…the rest of the world was always out of reach…"

"That's it…" Tressa said softly, closing the notebook and gazing at the cover reverently. "I know what I need to do! I - "

Suddenly, she was cut off by a light clearing of the throat from behind her. Tressa blinked, then glanced over her shoulder to see a tall, black-clad woman with short blonde hair standing behind her, a cloying smile on her red-painted lips.

"Oh, um…hello," Tressa greeted her with a nervous grin, suddenly uneasy. "Can I…help you?"

"Yes, do excuse me, miss…" the woman drawled, "...but I feel like I've seen that notebook somewhere before…"

She stepped closer, and for reasons unknown, Tressa felt her stomach clench.

"...would you mind showing it to me?"

See you guys next time for Tale 24: No Time!