The royal animal keeper was a short old man who filled a role Aralim had never suspected. When Miresh stood next to him, they were almost of the same height, and his long barn north of the Iron Palace was filled with cages and creatures Aralim had never seen. “This hardly seems like a good place to find a pet. These animals seem feral,” the Walker said. A snake hissed and snapped at the metal lace that lined its cage.
The man quickly glanced at him and frowned. “They are,” he said. “This is my collection—scholars come from far and wide to study the animals I have collected. I have every reptile on the continent, you know, except for a Slither.”
“A Slither?” Miresh asked. “Is that a type of snake?”
“And a type of man!” Kommu, the animal keeper, bobbed his head and pointed to a diagram on a nearby wall. “Roaming bands of snake people that travel the Expanse and the Scalelands.”
Aralim looked closely at the drawing. It showed a man’s gaunt torso covered in scales, with a serpent’s head and a curved neck. Large, flat scaly protrusions arched from the rear corners of their head and hung down their back.
Miresh scrunched up her face and leaned away from Kommu’s waving hand. “Where are your cats?” she asked. “We’re here to get a cat.”
They continued walking through the barn at the man’s behest, and into the yard behind. A wooden wall kept the zoo contained, while various enclosures were made of rope fence and rock posts. They passed a pit with wild jackals baying and chasing their black speckled tails, and a grove of chattering monkeys. Kommu pointed ahead. “Reed cats, we call them. They keep to the streams and flood plains and fish and hunt frogs or insects. They form only one meaningful bond, traditionally with their mother.”
“I’ll be its mother?” Miresh asked, excitedly.
Aralim sighed and put his weight on his lantern staff as he followed. Leadership was not a simple concept on the Path—concerns for one’s underlings was not enlightening, was not progress. But Miresh was further than Aralim, so he would say nothing. He would watch and learn.
Kommu bowed his head. “Cats are loners. It’s not as a human child and a human mother,” he said. “But any young one raised in your house will live in your house with you, little lady.”
He leaned on the edge of an enclosure. Inside the pit, a large tan cat was walking along a small grassy flat. Aralim noticed three others in the grass, blending into the scattered shadows of trees and needle tail plants.
“They’re so beautiful,” Miresh piped.
“There’s a ladder over here. They are friendly, you mustn’t worry. You may choose a kitten.” Kommu lowered rope rungs into the pit and Aralim was surprised by the old man’s muscles. He looked at Aralim. “They are four months old—already catching their own bugs sometimes. We feed them fish, which you can buy from the market.”
When Kommu swung one leg over the edge and onto a rung of the ladder, Aralim spoke up. “Just Miresh.” They both looked at him inquisitively. Aralim knelt down in front of Miresh and repeated what he had first told her on the topic. “You choose the kitten that you are drawn to.”
Miresh nodded. “Right,” she said. With a straight mouth and furrowed brow, she descended the ladder into the field below.
One of the adult reed cats set its feet and turned to look at Miresh from across the glade. Against Aralim, it might have been up to his knee in height. That was closer to Miresh’s waist. She paused and looked at his quietly. Of course, these were not wild cats; according to Kommu they were already domesticated to be pets. The adult that had spotted Miresh first wandered toward her with its head pointed ahead. A few others came to the edge of the tall grass to watch.
The twelve-year-old held out her palm. The tan cat stepped closer and stretched its neck to smell her hand. After a few twitched whiskers, it looked past her and walked forward again, turning to rub its side against her arm and back. Then, it paced back toward the trees at the other end of the enclosure.
Miresh followed, from a distance. She paused, and glanced back at Aralim. He leaned on his staff again and nodded, despite himself. She smiled and kept walking, into the shadows of the trees. A handful of fluffy critters were knotted around the base of one tree. Miresh was swarmed by furry little kittens, some curiously keeping their distance, some excitedly pressing up against her. Her lantern staff soon leaned against the tree while she gave the kittens her attention. She petted them, then sat down amidst them, then laid back against the tree.
After a while, she sat up again. The cats continued to play. She looked around, and then stood up. She took the orange lantern staff in one hand and smiled up at Aralim before walking back toward him. Kommu asked to hold her staff so she could climb easily, but she held it deftly as she went up.
“Did you choose?” Aralim asked.
“They were adorable,” Miresh said. She smiled and squinted in the sunlight.
Kommu bowed his head. “Did you choose?”
“Can we go?” Miresh asked Aralim. She looked uncomfortable.
Aralim blinked. “Of course,” he said. He started walking toward the barn again, and Miresh followed as quickly. Kommu stuttered in confusion and tried to keep up, but Aralim called over his shoulder, “Thank you for your time and help, sir.”
Miresh and he walked in silence for most of the way. She seemed very contemplative, and maybe a little sad. When they reached the market at the end of West Corid, Aralim asked, “You didn’t want one of those cats. Are you alright?”
The little girl nodded, and looked at him with a distant look in her eyes. “We walk the Path,” she said, quietly.
Miresh and he arrived at the mansion before Narr of course. He followed always, but there had been no word from Rattar concerning the merchant and no threats from Yakalaka. As far as anyone could learn, she still believed she had killed her target.