Wanderer 5

Part 4 here. Archive here.

Goblins didn’t bother with doors. In cold weather they draped heavy blankets across their doorways, but otherwise there were just strings of beads which clattered merrily as the wind played with them.

Or rattled incessantly as a cat yanked and batted at them.

Pimz sighed and scratched her ear. At a loss for how to deal with this creature.

It had started innocently; the kit, having grown old enough to wander from her mother, came bumbling in while Pimz roasted a grouse. The kit chirped piteously and wound about the goblin’s ankles until hospitality was given. Then she settled down on the blanket Rix was knotting, purring and kneading as if trying to help full the fabric. Finally she slept, round from her hosts’ food and warmed by the fire.

Since then she seemed to think she lived here. She would go out at all hours as she pleased but always return. The blanket was finally finished, but Rix had left it near the fire rather than gifting it to Tuz. He had started another, which Pimz was determined he would be allowed to use as a courting gift, no matter how the cat was decorating it with fur.

And while the cat seemed to want to contribute to the family she’d invited herself to, and was industrious about hunting and bringing spoils home, the small critters she proudly carried back weren’t good eating. Not to a goblin, at least. So the cat’s “gifts” were only eaten by the cat. Who still wanted to eat from the family pot.

She was pleasant company, and not usually a bother, but… what to do?

***

I have found a home! My mother is so proud of me.

The string-man makes me toys and blankets. The old woman gives me many treats. The young woman skins my kills and chops them up for me, and rewards me with many scritches.

I work hard to fulfil the Pact. I hunt all pests who dare come near the village, especially the gardens. I place my scent on each member of my new family and everything in our house. I amuse them and keep them company.

Every day I rise and stretch and feel my ancestors thrumming in my veins. They call and I answer, for I am Cat!

Part 6.