Certain types, you know the ones I mean, are always droning on about shifting your perspective and seeing things from another point of view. I wonder how long they’d be singing that tune if they got turned into an animal for a couple days. Some of them would probably love it. Fucking weirdos. You want to know something weird about being a cat? I have a feeling that you do. As a cat even when you you’re not cold you want to be warmer. I don’t know what it is but pretty much all the time you want more heat. I’ve heard about lions living in deserts and I didn’t really believe it until now – seems like it would be way too hot with all that fur, even though they’re not super furry. But cats must just run hotter than other mammals. I wonder if there some animals that like it colder. It occurs to me now that turning people into animals would really be a great way to advance science. So many questions would be answered.
My point is this, I did sleep in bed with Cladarielle last night but it wasn’t in a weird way. After the fire burned down I just wanted more warmth. She did not pet me. I would have bitten her so hard if she had tried. But she didn’t so it was fine. I just want to make that clear.
The Staelish house isn’t a mansion or anything like that, but it is nice enough that it seems strange to me that there are no servants about. Cladarielle is just here by herself, making her own food and drawing her own water and all that. They clearly have money, as I’ve learned being a wandering killer pays surprisingly well, but they have no staff. I couldn’t figure it so I asked Cladarielle about it while she was making herself breakfast and she seemed to think it was a strange thing to ask. She didn’t even really answer me. She did tell me though that she had a dream that today I was going to be returned to my human form.
“Do you believe in that? Dreams telling the future?”
“I don’t see why not, there’s magic that can tell the future, and I have magic in my blood so why couldn’t I have a dream that tells me what’s going to happen?”
“Is there dream magic?”
She nodded, nibbling on a piece of bread “Yes. There’s are spells that allow you to communicate with people through their dreams, there’s spells that allow you to travel through dreams and end up somewhere else in the real world, there’s spells that let you haunt your enemies with nightmares, there’s spells of all sorts, although not many people learn them. Some magic users even think that dreams are real in a way, that they take place on another dimension that’s inhabited by creatures that live there. Some nightmares are just nightmares, others are creatures of the dark dreaming.”
“Well that’s a new horrible thing to learn.”
She shrugged “I don’t know if it’s true, it’s just what some people think.”
“I met a creature once that I can believe is a living nightmare.”
“Sadly the Gods seem to have created a lot of creatures like that.”
“Do you believe in the Gods?”
“How could I not?”
“You know what I mean, obviously the Gods exist because they give their followers magic but what are they really? What’s the difference between an evil God and a Lord of the Thirteen? Is there any reason for us to worship them other than extortion?”
“I’m no theologian, I can’t answer any of your questions. I can’t say that I’m a devout follower of any god but I pray to Adariel sometimes.”
“Why?”
“The same reason you say thank you when someone helps you of gives you something.”
“I’ve never really understood that either.”
“You’ve thanked me several times.”
“That’s different.”
She smiled “Of course. You’ve never had a dream come true? Or tell you something? Even if we forget about magic and foretelling the future and all that I think that sometimes dreams can tell you things that your conscious mind is too busy worrying about to notice. Have you ever known someone who was clearly making a mistake and you couldn’t understand why they couldn’t see it? I think your mind sometimes can cut through that clutter and lay things bare for you.”
“What’s the point, doesn’t seem like anyone listens.”
“Maybe some do. Maybe that’s why some people seem doomed to fail at every turn and others always seem to come out ahead.”
“That’s a better explanation than some I’ve heard. I had a dream once that an angel visited me. Or maybe an angel did visit me in a dream. Or in real life. It’s not clear to me exactly what happened there.”
“What did it say to you?”
“It said that it was my guardian, although mostly all it did was bust my balls.”
“You don’t have balls.”
“You don’t know what I have. One thing he told me is that my problem is that I’m such a good liar that I don’t know when I’m fooling myself. What he didn’t take into consideration though is that I’m also really good at detecting lies.”
She raised an eyebrow “Really good?”
“Well, I mean I’m okay.”
After she finished with her breakfast she got dressed for another day of pounding the streets and trying to find someone or some information to help me out. It was strange again to see a woman of this class getting ready by herself and also not spending a lot of time on her make-up and hair and dress. After she was gone I was left to wander about the house and get more and more anxious – I hate do nothing and relying on others. In case I haven’t mentioned that a hundred times already. I slept a good deal of the day, cat style, but there was still plenty of time to make myself crazy. I got slightly worried when it was a few hours past sunset and she wasn’t back. She had been out all day – and I know how exhausting it can be to run around town talking to people for hours.
Even well after midnight she didn’t come back.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hair regrowth progress : NA
Funds: None
XP: 348,051
Inventory: Animal Totem Tattoo (Lion), Enchanted Tattoo (Storm)
Revenge List: Duke Eaglevane, Piltis Swine, Rince Electrum, watchman Gridley, White-Muzzle the worg, Percy Ringle the butler, Alice Kinsey , “Patch”, Heroes of the Lost Sword, Claire Conrad, Erist priest of Strider, Riselda owner of the Sage Mirror, Eedraxis, Skin-Taker tribe, Kartak, Królewna & Bonifacja Trading Company, Hurmont Family, Androni Titus, Greasy dreadlocks woman, Lodestone Security, Kellgale Nickoslander, Beltian Kruin the Splithog Pauper, The King of Spiders, Auraluna Domiel, mother Hurk, Mazzmus Parmalee, Helgan van Tankerstrum, Lightdancer, Bonder Greysmith, Pegwhistle Proudfoot, Lumbfoot Sheepskin, Lumber Consortium of Three Rivers, Hellerhad the Wizard, Forsaken Kin, Law Offices of Office of Glilcus and Stolo, Jey Rora, Colonel Tarl Ciarán, Mayor Baras Haldmeer, Rindol the Sage
The Errant Endeavors of Ela the Expert 