Catgirl Isekai Gone Wrong

[HiddenMaster]

Chapter 28: Sasha's Forest

I nibbled my lip a bit as I looked upon my work. Paper would have been so much easier to work with, if less durable, but, well, I'd found out paper was not nearly so plentiful here. There was some, but our host had little to spare, nonetheless any for a random five-year old's silly pointless project. That didn't really bother me, but it was a surprising change from the island where even with us being isolated, there was always another little journal or piece of paper taken from Sandy's cargo or crew effects to be found.

Still, I'd improvised. Using a frame of carved sticks and twigs tied with twine, a discarded cloth stretched over said frame, a strip of leather, more twine, and a little carving knife led me to my creation: a makeshift band with two triangles attached. Tying off one end, I sat up and yawned.

I'd been at this a while, but it at least looked…

Tolerable.

With that, I took my project and padded over to the table stand. On it was a cloth bag. I gently opened it and knocked away a few socks to the side to reveal Sandy's orb.

She was still opaque, almost like quartz crystal with none of her light and only a trace of amethyst in her crystal depths now. I touched the surface of her core, and besides the smooth, cool feel of her crystal, I felt nothing. Well, mostly. She was actually warmer now than when she was awake and glowing. After a moment, I retracted my pointer claw. She didn't respond to my touch any more than the past twenty times I'd poked her.

I stared a bit longer before sighing. I missed Sandy. I'd known her for less than a year, heck only a few months, yet she already felt engraved into my life.

Still, all the better I finished so she could wake up with my gift.

Thus, I placed the set of cat ears over her orb. They were a bit loose, but I fixed that with a bit more twine wrapped around her core. Once I was done, I admired her look with the fake cat ears, patted her orb, and closed the sack back up.

I hopped up and left for downstairs with more than a bit of eagerness to my steps.

The reason why was simple: we were going to with Sasha into the forest to gather herbs and mushrooms!

…

Even thinking that made it seem a lot more boring than it was, but there was a reason for not, say, racing off to see the glories of civilization in Stonetown.

…

It was me. I was the reason.

We'd tried to head to Stonetown with Sasha for one of her routine visits few days ago, but I, uh, hadn't gotten very far. I'd felt much better since first waking up after Sasha cured me, but I wasn't all better. My stamina capped had out at playing tag with Mom for a bit and then sleeping for eighteen hours.

Collapsing face first into a patch of daisies was not the grandest way to discover I needed more rest. But! I'd gotten better over the last few days, and Mom judged me good enough to head out.

Frustratingly, she'd seen the village already, at least once. I tried not to be jealous, but to be fair, I tried and failed at a lot of things in my life so far.

The bottom floor of the cottage consisted of a single 'front' room with a desk and shelves for the rare occasions someone came to Sasha but mostly existed as herbal storage space, another devoted wood lined storage room with tons of herbs and other concoctions hidden away in bottles lining the walls like glittering little secrets, a kitchen area with a devoted fireplace that doubled as a sort of dining/living room, and Sasha's own bedroom she'd kept closed.

It was in this entryway I found Mom tying her boots on while Sasha absently twirled a whicker basket in her claws. .

"Oh Gwen! Good, hope you enjoyed your snooze," Mom said. I glanced to the side. She didn't need to know I hadn't exactly spent all the time upstairs asleep. But cat ears were important!

"How are you feeling? Still up for the for a little foraging today? If you're nervous, it's okay, we can put it off a little while longer."

"Mom! I wanna go!" I said indignantly. I know she worried, but seriously. I was feeling fine and moreover, giddy to see things. I wanted to see the village, but I understood just a short jaunt into the woods instead. "I slept a looooooooot and I wanna see and help!"

"She has you there," Sasha said. I was getting pretty good at catching most of her words now, after a few days of chatter and my earlier practice, but technical stuff still eluded me. Speaking it, however, was a bit more difficult.

Left unsaid was that this was just a trip into the forest and not to the town itself. Mom had put her foot down about going after I collapsed the other day.

I told myself the town wouldn't compare to the memories of my first life or even the pictures she'd shown me, but that didn't take away the fact that I'd never been in even a tiny village before. I hadn't even seen a proper society this life and I don't think the ragtag refugees Zenn and Jonas came with counted.

Hence, my attempts to temper my expectations hit a brick wall and shattered into a million pieces. Part of it was the above, but I also felt a pang as I realized Zenn evidently was still traveling with the refugees. I hoped she was okay, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Still, it wasn't all bad. I mean, I got to see and go through a living forest without the threat of starvation over my head or being eaten by monsters, so that was really nice.

Mom held her hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine."

"Ah, just got these ready recently. Please, go put this on and then we'll head out," Sasha said, and pushed a bundle of clothes into my arms.

I blinked, looking down at the black wool socks, dark green pants, and white shirt. I looked at Mom. She looked right back. "Your night gown isn't exactly good for walking around a forest, Kitten."

I…

Huh.

I stared at the clothes a bit as I realized this might be one of the first gifts I'd ever gotten from anyone other than Mom. I mean, the refugees shared food, and Zenn shared all sorts of interesting rocks she found with me while traveling before I got sick, but…
I held the clothes close to my chest and nodded; not sure I had words I could speak at the moment.

I hesitated, just a bit, before I darted up to Sasha and gave her a quick hug. She started in surprise, going stiff. I even noticed out of the corner of my eye her long tail bristling, but before she could react further I stepped away and ran up the stairs. I heard Mom and Sasha's voices shortly after, but…

She deserved a hug.

A bit later, I was dressed and ready to go. I descended the stairs.

"Thank you. I know it's just clothes, but, well, she's just had me a long time," Mom said.

"I… I wasn't aware, it really was just—" I heard Sasha saying, but she cut off.

Mom was smiling and noticed me first. Their discussion ended. "Looks good, Gwen," she said, and gave a thumbs up.

Sasha blinked at that, and then awkwardly followed up. I giggled at the entire exchange, but…


"Shall we?" Mom said, offering me her claw. I smiled, and like that, we left for the wider forest around the cottage.

Pretty soon, I was almost able to forget we weren't going to Stonetown today.

Back on the island, I'd known just about every plant by name, but while I saw some things here, I saw a lot I didn't. It ended up becoming a bit of a game.

I'd point at a plant, say a low growing herbaceous plant with pillar like purple flowers on its stems, and Mom or, more often, Sasha would chime in.

"Ah, creeping lousewart. Useful for treating rashes, but its cousin, giant lousewart, will make you puke. Useful if that's needed, but otherwise best to leave it alone. Bees love it, however."

Most plants weren't too remarkable, but it was nice to be learning again, after things had been put on pause for so long.

"Ah, see that moss? It's traveler's aid," Sasha said, pointing out a bit of an green moss growing in patches over a boulder I'd overlooked. "It's sometimes used to stem bleeding, even has a very mild coagulating effect. Good for slow bleeding wounds." She bent over slightly to pull a patch off to put in her basket.

Mom pouted.

Sasha tilted her head. "What?"

"I was going to get that one," she said, sullenly.

Sasha giggled. "Oh dear, seems I beat you to it."

Mom said nothing, but seemed oddly energized afterward.

…

This was nice. We continued a while. Occasionally, Mom or Sasha would harvest a bit of leaf or root from a plant, showing me how to. In under an hour of walking around I had about twenty new plants rumbling about in my head.

I'd thought Mom had known a lot as she'd memorized all the survival books and plant guides she'd had, but Sasha beat her handily, to the point she actually corrected Mom a few times, as well.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at an odd, yellowish mushroom growing on the side of a decaying tree stump.

"Ah! I know that one," Mom said happily. "Pidgrat of the woods. Fry this up and it's almost like fried meat, soaks in other flavors really well too."

Sasha's eyed it and slowly shook her head. "We're a day or two late. See how the yellow flesh looks good? But it's too shiny. If you check the underside…" she said, lifting the edge of the yellow mushroom up, and I saw it was discolored, with brown and black spots. "Grubs and bugs have been eating at it. You wouldn't get sick if you had to eat it, but it'd be nasty," she said.

I stared. I looked at the fungus, and back to her.

"You tried eating one when it was bad, didn't you?"

Sasha scratched her head with a sheepish smile, cherry blond ears low. "Yeah… it was when I was new out here and I had thought I'd found a bit of a delicacy I actually recognized. But, well, it very much wasn't," she said with a grimace as horrid memories I could only imagine went through her head.

We stopped at one point for a little break. I was fine, but Mom insisted and we had bread with smoked fish. Yum. Sasha even brought a skin of tea! Double yum. Still, we eventually resumed and I spotted something notable.

"What's that? Weren't a lot of these around your house?" I asked, pointing at a woody shrub with trailing vines wrapping around nearby trees and bushes, absolutely covered in bunches of tiny pink flowers. It smelled sweet, but what got my attention, what made me ask about it was the fact it smelled more, almost charged, of magic.

My ears perked as I realized the scent shifted with my notice. How interesting!

Mom opened her mouth, but Sasha beat her to it.

"Good eye, Gwen. That's a thorny wysp. Always was fond of them, back home, compared to the roses everyone else liked," Sasha said, happy at first but then her own ears drooped. "This variety's one of my own cultivars, and they do particularly well in woodlands like this."

I didn't miss the sadness in her words. I don't think she was ready to share the reason for it, but I could help, maybe. "They're really pretty, So many flowers…" I said, amping up the 'awe' in my tone a bit.

Mom's tail twitched and I knew she knew I was overacting, but Sasha probably didn't.

…

Probably.

Sasha, at my words, perked. Success!

"Why thank you, Gwen. I've worked very hard on them. Almost like they're my own kittens," she said, a small smile on her face. She patted a vine, claw tips dexterous as she pressed in, avoiding the thorns. Wind rustled the leaves as she did so, making it almost seem like they enjoyed the attention.

The rest of the trip was pleasant, but my ears perked straight up while crossing a stream as I something seemed different.

I looked around. We had been going down a trail, and nothing looked out of the ordinary; just pine with a scattering of bare trees bristling with buds. Yet, I felt like something had changed, almost like leaving a room arranged in a very specific way and coming back to find something ever so slightly off.

I sniffed, following along, holding Mom's hand as she helped me up the stream slope and into the the light crunch of needles beyond. Damp soil, pine needles, and…

This was going to annoy me. Something was missing and it wasn't just the sweet scent of Sasha's cottage…

I paused. Thought it over. I felt a jolt go through me.

The magic was gone. Or, not so much gone as faded.

Which was notable as I hadn't even realized the cottage was magical. I'd known Sasha was, of course, and I'd figured out how to pinpoint her smell within a day or two of being there from all the flowers and herbs, but the cottage? It'd sunk into the background such I hadn't noticed a thing.

The closest equivalent was Sandy when she'd activated on her ship. The whole ship had smelled a bit like her, but not quite, with a distinct twinge of the mint of her meeting oil and machinery. At least, that's how my brain interpreted it.

The difference here, though, is I wasn't even aware that someone could sink their magic into the land. At least, I think that's what Sasha had done? The only difference between her and the land around the cottage was that her scent was stronger while the land's scent was subtler.

This opened a lot of questions I had no answers for, like how had she done this, was this normal, did she learn how to do it from someone like Sandy or was it something else entirely, or what?

Another jolt went through me.

Did Mom know about this? I felt like she had to, but she'd said nothing…

Ugh. This was another 'me being a child' thing again, wasn't it? There's no way she can't know.

So lost in thought, I didn't notice Mom had stopped until I bumped into her. "Mom? Wha—"

She looked at me with a finger to her lips and pointed ahead. Sasha, for her part, had crouched as well as she glanced ahead without getting her dress dirty, but I could see her tail twitching. She gave a smile back at us, her fangs seemingly glinting. Without a word, she pointed further ahead.

The path we'd been following split ahead and the foliage decreased. Standing there, I saw three black furred deer.

I froze as well and found myself crouched without thinking. One of the deer paused and looked in our direction. It had three horns and strangely red eyes. The two smaller deer — the [fawns] — stopped as well, staring our way. Six sets of crimson red eyes trained on us.

This led to a standoff. The deer had to see us, just as we saw them, but…

They didn't break and run. They merely watched, highly observant, but not tense. Finally, the adult bent down to nibble on a low lying dwarf fern.

Just like that, the seeming tension dissipated. Neither mom nor Sasha made a move or sound as we merely watched the deer graze. Every now and then, the adult would stare back at us or bend down to nuzzle or lick one of her fawns who walked in and out from between her legs underneath her body.

It was almost strange. Just a week or two before I'm sure Mom would have slaughtered them. I knew that much fresh meat would have me salivating back at the shack before Zenn's group arrived.

Yet now, I felt almost…

I honestly wasn't sure. It wasn't a physical feeling, but it was almost light, even airy feeling in my chest. In a sense, it very much was. Not counting the things that wanted to kill me, this was the largest living terrestrial animal I'd ever seen. I knew they got much bigger. My old life told me that much, but seeing it here and now, with my own eyes, felt indescribably special, like I had seen something truly precious for the first time.

Eventually, the mom moved on, the fawns bouncing after her.

I watched them fade into the foliage.

"Trihorns, Gwen. Common enough deer. Looked like a young mother, probably had her [elain] with her while grazing," Mom said. It didn't take me long to figure out she meant fawns. Or deer babies, more or less.

I nodded, still staring out. After a moment, a question broke out of my throat. "Do they taste good?"

Mom bent over laughing while Sasha hid her mouth behind her claw tip.

I did not pout at them over my legitimate question!

Indignation aside, we ended up watching the trihorns a while, just enjoying the sight while it lasted.

Chapter 28 Author's Note

Fun fact, this and what is now chapter 29 were originally one monster chapter, but I decided to split them up a bit.



I am more than happy to write big chapters, but they take longer and my goal is 2-3k chapters, outside special chapters that really need the extra words, like a book or arc climax, or moment that needs the time. THis was a case of it working better to split as it means more posting.



Mildly annoying as it does disrupt the releases I'd had on Patreon, but eh, here we are.



Still, had fun with this chapter and turning it into its own thing.

~~~~

​

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[vladspellbinder]

Thanks for the chapter. Got a little held up on reading but finally made the time.

 

[HiddenMaster]

Chapter 29: The Grand Tour​

Chapter 29: The Grand Tour

The first indication we were nearing Stonetown was the smell.

It wasn't what I had expected. I'd had worries about the bad smells of civilization. My first life read enough to know low tech places had trouble with their plumbing. Or didn't have it at all. Movies, books, games, comics, anything to do with history made it clear that towns, for all their wonder, could smell awful if they weren't managed well for a variety of disgusting reasons from harsh fuels to literal poop.

Instead, the first thing I noticed was the scent of spice. This wasn't a super-hot spice like peppers, or perhaps flavorful seasonings like cinnamon, but more felt akin to the scent in a kitchen after a day of rigorous baking whole meal grains. I noticed Mom and Sasha sniffing too, albeit a bit after I had first noticed it.

The next thing I knew, we broke free of the tree line and came to a dead stop. Well, Sasha stopped as Mom and I came to a dead stop.

There, ahead, for what looked like kilometers, were the first, real signs of active and maintained civilization I'd seen. I'd seen ruins, I'd seen abandoned structures, a thousand and one little hints and implications here and there, but not actual civilization. Even Sasha's cottage, for all that it was clearly her home, felt isolated, almost in its own separate, magical world. If I'd been told she never left it and was some sort of mystic cat-elf living in the woods, I wouldn't have questioned it too much.

This? It almost looked like what my first life would think of as golden fields of wheat, but instead the endless stocks of grain I saw were all the color of coals just cooling on the edge of a campfire. Wind swept through thousands of stalks, causing the ember wave to sway gently in waves, the ember heads catching the light as they swayed.

These fields were very clearly not abandoned, as there were lots of cat folk wandering the fields doing farm things, although I wasn't sure what "farm things" entailed, exactly. In the distance, I saw what looked like a great big log wall, but I wasn't sure as it was so far away.

I felt a hand on my head as Mom patted me and answered my question before I could voice it. "Ember wheat, kitten. Can you guess why it's named that?" Mom asked.

I rolled my eyes up at her. "The color," I stated imperiously. I even held my nose up! What a silly question.

"Close. That's part of it, but it's also in how they're processed. See, when they're ready for harvest, the stocks are grabbed up in a big pile and set on fire. What's left behind is just the grain we then grind down."

I stared, mouth open. That…

That couldn't be right? What plant would need to be burned to release its seeds? Like why wouldn't the seeds burn too? "But… how?" I asked, at a loss.

Mom shrugged. "A wizard made it that way a long time ago," she said.

Sash hummed. "Bit more than that, to my knowledge. Old, old books my family had on horticulture mentioned that burning the fields down wouldn't actually damage the grain all that much if armies came by," Sasha said. "Certainly. It is a very advantageous trait."

Huh. That made sense. Mom looked surprised. Which was weird. I felt like she knew everything.

A certain blue rice I hadn't had in what felt like a lifetime came to me, and I felt myself salivating. "Mom? Sasha!? Do they grow blue rice here too?"

Mom paused, uncertain, her ears a little low.

Sasha slowly shook her head. "I'm afraid not. It's a bit too cold here. I know another Spire farther south had grown it, but…" she trailed off with a grimace and looked as if she really wished she hadn't brought it up.

"Oh…" was all I could say. The implications there were… not nice.

"Let's keep moving, right?" Mom interceded. I didn't miss the grateful look Sasha shot Mom's direction.

The tense atmosphere gradually faded as we walked between fields along a path. I even found myself skipping a bit and kept pausing to check little odds and ends I found growing.

"Ah, ash myrtle!" Sasha said, smiling as she poked at the dark stems and leaves of the knee height plant. "Very young, probably a good few years to reach its max height. Likes the edges of ember wheat fields. Helpful plant, good for wind breaks, honey bees, and for containing accidental fires," she said.

That was interesting but just made me have more questions! "Accidental? You mean ember wheat just, catches fire?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around such a weird staple crop, although… Was it weird, or was it only weird compared to what I knew from my first life?

While I was mulling that over, Sasha continued. "Yes," she said with an indulgent smile. "Most of the time it won't, but if it's dry enough on a sunny day they can. Seed bunches fall harmlessly to the ground and can be swept up and sifted from the ash. Better to get them in a pile first so less work, but you get the idea."

Sasha bent down to examine a wheat stalk and gave it a sniff. "Coming along nicely but won't be ready for a few months. Whole village gets together for that," Sasha said with a little smile. "Who knows, maybe you'll get to be the one to set the spark, eh?"

My entire ruminations and thoughts on the weirdness or lack thereof regarding ember wheat came to a screaming halt at Sasha's words.

I…

I could? It just occurred to me that I wouldn't just be visiting a village, but we'd be a part of it. Mom hadn't made any mention of continuing on somewhere else.

My tail twitched violently as the prospect became very, very real and made my chest all fluttery. I gulped. I hoped the people were nice.

We continued along the path, more properly a road now snaking between fields. Not a big road, but it was more than well packed dirt and had gravel across the path. Some people saw us and waved, and Sasha waved back at them, but Mom and I were getting a lot of stares.

I felt a bit shy and sheepish at the looks, even from a distance. They looked like farmers. They wore a combination of pants or skirts in a gamut of colors from browns to yellows and greens with a tunic or practical blouse as they navigated the rows of wheat.

It all looked like very practical clothes for working outside in and around a lot of dirt. A lot carried hoes but some had other tools like shovels, hatchets, etc., as they prowled among the field in small teams doing, er, farm stuff. It'd almost look like something out of my first life's history books if not for the fact that every single person had cat ears and a twitching or waving tail that often stilled when they spotted us before they resumed.

I took a breath. My first life had walked city streets with thousands of people on them. I could manage a few strangers glancing at Mom and me.

The next thing I noticed as we steadily closed in on the village was the sound. My ears twitched and perked up as I picked up the sound of a lot of chimes coming from the village.

It sounded pretty, but it was only when we were close to the walls that I saw the source: hundreds of spiraled shells bound together with twine and rope hung from the walls, even outer structures like the occasional barn or shack I saw. They let out pleasing chimes, even the occasional whistling sound like a fairy's take on the ocean.

I didn't recognize the shells at all. Some were spirals the wheel like spirals the size of my hands, while others were much more conical, with lots of variations in between.

"Mama, what are those from?" I asked, pointing at the distant shells. I don't think I'd seen them on the island.

Mom smiled at me and gave a pat. "Coilfish, Gwen. Also call them ringfish, or shellies for the real small one, or whorls for the real big ones. It's been a while since I saw any, but they swim in the ocean, lots of them, eating up small fish or plankton."

"So many," I said, staring at the variety. Some weren't small, either. While most of the spiral shells mounted on the wall looked to be the size of a fist, I saw a few bigger than my head. Mom mentioned some got real big, but how big was that?

Yet, I did have another question. "Mama, why didn't we see these on the island?" I asked in Illia.

Mom jumped at the language change. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Sasha, but she looked preoccupied with her basket. "I honestly don't know, sweetie. We didn't see lots of things on the island that we should have, shellies one of them. I can make guesses, but lots of things weren't right there…"

A few moments later, Mom slumped slightly. "Um…" Mom started after a moment as if realizing something. "I remember making some wind chimes as a little girl myself with them, and looks like that tradition's still going strong," she said with only vaguely artificial cheer.

I opened my mouth to ask a question.

"Yes, they do taste good. I'm fond of coilfish noodles, myself, maybe we can get some sometime soon now that we're around people," Mom said before I could say anything.

I pouted at her. I didn't think with my stomach!

I also didn't miss how she was trying to be so cheerful and act like things weren't terribly wrong back on the island.

"The spawning season is coming up," Sasha interrupted casually. "You'll probably be able to see a lot of them on the beaches soon."

Mom mildly jumped and stared wide eyed at Sasha. That was weird.

I tilted my head at that but was distracted as we passed by a large depression in the ground. Grass had grown up around a lot of it

I hadn't noticed it quite at first, but up close it was very obvious and looked to be the foundations of some structure and walls, mostly made from brick. Hard to say what it was, but it could have been a home, maybe an old shop, I had no idea, but it seemed isolated. Although, why would it? There were cultivated fields everywhere else, so why wasn't it farmed over? Mom didn't comment on them, nor did Sasha, but…

My ruminations were cut short as we finally got close to the gates. Up close, I saw they were wide open with…

No guards? I blinked, looking around. Some other catfolk were walking to and through the gates occasionally, but there wasn't, like, someone standing there guarding the gate or doing sentry duty. It was just… open.

Huh, maybe the village was too small? Or everyone knew each other. It could also be that it was broad daylight, so why bother with guard duty when people had work to do?

Up close, the musical chimes of the intertwined shells held together in the hundreds along the wall were louder, but not overpoweringly so. It felt pleasant, almost comforting in a sorta orchestral choir sort of way.

It occurred to me I hadn't heard much in the way of music before now. Mom sang me songs, and I remembered tapping on an improvised drum, but the island didn't exactly have much.

It was nice. I don't think I could imagine better sounds to accompany me on my first trip into proper civilization.

I slipped my claw into Mom's and felt her squeeze my hand as Sasha led us through the gates, and for once, I felt excited and hopeful.

~~~~

"Gwen, get down from there! It's okay!"

No, it wasn't!

My teeth were chittering, my hairs were bristled, and my claws were sunk as deep into the tree bark as I could manage.

It'd all been nice at first. Nervous, but excited. So many intact buildings, so many things to sniff from fish to cooking food to wood smoke to salt to… okay, and some bad smells too given it was a village with a few hundred people, but even that wasn't so bad and kept to a minimum.

Then, I'd noticed the stares.

I'd been walking with Mom, gawking at the intact buildings. Most were wood with whitewashed exteriors with tiled roofs made of a blueish material, but some buildings had stripes or altered colors, like the tavern having more vibrant stripes. Also, taverns were a thing. Or bars. Inns? I'm not sure. The word Sasha used and explained was a "place people drink at" which could be a lot of different things.

Mom had looked at it a bit longingly, and I felt bad for her. I guessed she hadn't had a drink in a long time, although I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose a bit. Even from outside the smell was a bit strong to me. Not bad, just strong.

But, about this point, a group had exited the building and they all stared at us. Mom got the bulk, followed by Sasha, and then there was me.

Almost everyone had darker hair than us. Mom and I had red hair, while Sasha was a cherry blonde, but here I could see the vast majority of people had brown or black hair. They also didn't have the facial markings Mom and I had. Their clothes looked normal and practical for daily work, pants, some dresses but nothing overly fancy with a surprising amount of color thrown in.

But they were staring.

I'd gripped Mom's paw tighter but took solace in how I was able to keep going. I then realized that this was only a few people.
More were stepping out. Some from houses, some from buildings. I saw people carrying firewood set their loads aside to stare at us, people with baskets filled with fish stopped and pointed. We'd moved on, passing great pits in the ground, nearly white and filled with salty brine. Their tenders stopped, too.

Not everyone had stopped to look at us, but enough had.

On one hand, this made sense. I knew from my first life that small villages likely didn't get too many outsiders, so a newcomer was sure to attract attention. Our obvious differences, even our manner of dress being in something I now realized was slightly finer than what they wore, made us stand out even more..

On the other claw…

I broke about the time we got in sight of the ocean and what looked like well-established wooden docks, with a few fishing boats tied up nearby. Nearly fifty catfolk with twitching ears turned to look at us, dwarfing the previous crowd. It should be noted that the previous crowd were, while somewhat diminished, still behind us and watching. This meant I couldn't hide behind Mom as we were surrounded.

ToomanytoomanyunknownsdangermomhelpwatchingwatchinghidehidemompleasehelphidehideIHAVETOHIDE—-

Which led me to now:

Clinging to a tree higher up while Mom tried to coax me down.

Truth be told, I'd calmed down a bit ago. But I was absolutely mortified.

I thought knowing how big cities could be would prepare me, that having so much knowledge of my first life would let me stroll about. Then a moderate crowd pausing to glance at us was enough to make me lose it.

The tree was nice, at least. Some sort of pine needles smelled really fresh and vaguely nutty. Not quite a tom-tom tree, but still, nice.

"Gwen!" Mom called out to me.

I knew I only had so long before Mom climbed up to get me. I knew she could. I'd seen her climb way bigger trees.

I breathed deep, in and out, with my eyes closed, just like with those magic exercises. But I wasn't trying to sense magic or channel mana or something, I just wanted to be nice and calm. I opened my eyes, looked down, and promptly had my claws dig in even deeper into the tree.

"Gwen!" Mom called once more. She wasn't frantic, but she was worried and getting louder.

"I'm stuck," I whispered. Mom, predictably, did not hear me. But it was difficult to overcome this as I was very much very high up.

I didn't even know cats could be scared of heights, but here I was. I felt as if loosening my grip or retracting my claws for even a second would see me fall all the way down with a splat.

I gulped and tried to look down again but froze up.

Finally, I managed to gather my strength for one shout that, even if it was in Illia, screamed my mortification to the world. "I'm stuck!"

…

Mom got me down shortly after. Reuniting and clinging to her side was reassuring, but my face was also red hot.

The crowd had dissipated a bit, but I heard a lot of good-natured laughs.

Haha, they took joy in my suffering.

I jumped as I felt a poke.

"Gwen? I believe this would look good in your hair," Sasha said. She was holding a pretty purple flower with a lot of petals on it. Petals which, I realized, had many shades of purple to them varying from the center to the outer edge. I breathed in and if my eyes hadn't been focused on it before, they would now as beneath the deeply floral scent I picked up something else: magic. Faint, but there.

"May I?" Sasha looked to Mom, who nodded. With that, she gently placed the flower in my hair, positioned just beside an ear. This close, it smelled lovely, and the magic I could smell on it just enhanced it. It didn't feel like a different magic, like how Sandy's ship had charged and oily, this felt like the magic just enhanced everything about the flower.

"Amethyst tear," Sasha said. "Don't get too many of these, but I think you'll appreciate it." Sasha stood back to admire her work.

Mom smiled at her and looked back at me. "So pretty, will have to see if we can find a mirror," she said and knelt down. "You know, it's okay if this is a bit overwhelming, right? I know it's the first time we've been around so many people. We can take a break if you want."

I shook my head, hair waving back and forth.. "No, I, I want to try. This, this is normal, right? I want to get used to it."

Mom got an odd expression on her face. "I guess it is. But, you are being very brave so far. Just be sure to hold my paw and stay close, okay? I'm here for you," she said, holding out her paw.

Sasha was smiling at the entire exchange, although pretended she hadn't been listening in when I looked her way.

I looked back to Mom and gripped her paw. A few moments and a deep breath later, we continued our tour.

"This is Fishertom's Wharf," Sasha said with a gesture and a little bit of an eyeroll. "Bit grandiose, but what are you going to do?" she shrugged helplessly. "Around a third of the village works here in some capacity, either in maintaining ships, nets, or working the fishing boats bringing back the daily catch. Without them, I doubt the village could be anywhere near as well fed."

I nodded, studying the ships. They were nothing like Sandy, being small and maybe able to host a dozen people. Several boats were docked, and I saw a few out at sea still in viewing distance. Looked kinda like longships, albeit not quite. They were squatter and fatter. "How far out do they go?" I asked.

Sasha hesitated, ears lowering a tad. "I'm not rightfully sure?" she said, uncertain.

"Probably up to a dozen, two dozen kilometers. Depends on how far out, their journey, supplies, and winds, I imagine," Mom said, gaze fixated on the ships. "Looks similar to some old designs, I think… although if they're being used, I guess not that old?" Mom said to me in Illia as an afterthought.

Sasha frowned. "I would appreciate being kept in on the conversation. My grasp of the old tongue is not as well as yours," she said.

Mom froze, and I stared. She sheepishly rubbed her head and responded in Ciem Illia. "Sorry, just what we're used to it, from back, er, home."

Sasha slowly nodded contemplatively. "I see. I would dearly love to hear more about your background. Sounds like it puts my own sordid past to shame," she said.

Mom nervously smiled while I shuffled my feet, unsure how to proceed.

"Um, can we continue looking around?" I finally tried. That wasn't the smoothest way to move on, but I didn't know else to do it.

"Of course," Sasha smiled down at me. "Shall we, Eliza?"

Mom nodded.

We continued on. The stares were constant but felt less blatant now. Or maybe they were always just curious and now that I'd experienced it, things weren't so bad?

I didn't know.

The wharf's remaining tour was interesting insofar as there were lots and lots of drying fish, some fish being butchered, fish on racks, and a full-on smoke house bellowing smoke as the catch was processed. Most of the buildings along the wharf seemed more focused on holding fish or fishy stuff than anything else. Warehouses?

We also saw what I learned were evaporation pools full of briny water used to get salt, as well as a lot of people busy at work on nets on rocky steps by the wharf. The last thing of note was a huge shell pile, and while some of the pile came from clams and crabs, a lot and I mean a lot a lot were those spiral shells from the walls.

I blinked, and whirled, eyes racing over the docks before I saw what I'd missed: the coilfish!

Specifically, I saw one on a table and it just…

I blinked again. It was like a squid with a shell? Its tentacles were vaguely moving. At least, right up until the teenage cat folk working punctured the shell with a spiked tool, did something with a knife, and scooped out the innards before gutting the rest and tossing the shell aside into a small pile in a smooth and well-practiced motion.

Huh. Neat.

The tour continued.

"And this s Townsquare. Also, the town's marketplace; it's not really setup for that today, but you can usually buy a bit of food. On market day, the whole town sets up and sometimes even traders from out of town show up to sell their wares," Sasha said with a wave of her hands at flattened area. Up close, I realized the stone wasn't carved but looked more like some sort of old and cracked concrete. At the center there was a large stone structure that smelled of water. Hopping over to it with Mom in tow, I saw it went down deep. Some kind of cistern?

"Ahead is the Councilor's manor," Sasha said, pointing to the only three story building I'd seen here. It looked about the same, but with small improvements. I saw more stones worked into it, and actual glass windows, similar to what Sasha had at her cottage. Most houses here just had some wooden blinds or panels they'd close for the windows. The front door was big and ornate, and the walls had some fancy patterns and designs on them that weren't anything distinct but formed mildly mesmerizing spiral patterns in the architecture.

Mom looked at the manor with a complicated expression and signed. "Guess wealth is always the same, huh?" she said idly. Sasha definitely noticed but didn't push her.

My belly rumbled at this time and both Sasha and Mom looked at me, startled. I flushed. Sasha giggled.

"Can I try coilfish?" I asked, looking back at the wharf. Mom briefly reached for a pocket, but stopped, looking actively pained.

"Gwen, I'm not sure—" Mom began but was interrupted by Sasha.

"Oh, it's okay, I can get us a snack. Here, Molly's cookshop," Sasha guided us across the square to a house that had an overhang. There, we found an older cat woman stirring a pot that smelled super fishy and savory and made me drool while a young catboy with droopy ears chopped vegetables.

The older woman had silver hair and was a little hunched, but she brightened on seeing us. "Ah, wonderful. Pleasure to see you, Governess, and guests?" she ventured, tilting her head. "Bit early for the lunch rush, but I can get you something?"

"Coilfish noodle bowl for the little one if you would Molly," Sasha said.

"Certainly," she said.

I held my hands out expectantly. She tilted her head, staring at me just long enough for me to start feeling dumb before she laughed and got out a small wooden bowl. Sasha placed a few colorful shells on the table while Molly scooped up noodles and broth into the bowl. The noodles were a deep brown in color, but the broth was rich and deep, with chunks of chopped up tentacle in there.

I may have started drooling at the smell and possibility of eating something new.

"Tommy, get some extra salt fish for the little dearie, would you?" Molly said. Said 'Tommy' jumped at being addressed and looked over at us, wide eyed, before spotting me. He slowly nodded before he rummaged in a barrel and pulled out a few sardines? I think they were sardines and brought them over and, after a very awkward moment of staring between us, he just dropped the saltfish in my bowl and scurried back under the overhang kitchen.

"Just bring the bowl back when you're done," Molly said.

Part of me wanted to delve into it immediately, but I noticed Mom hadn't gotten any.

"Mom? Are you going to get some?"

Molly smiled. "I don't charge much, Miss. Just two pale shellies."

Mom flushed. "I'm, er, okay. "

Sasha interjected. "It's okay. A bowl for all of us," she said, and gave Molly another four shells.

I stared as Mom fidgeted and only realized, very slowly, that we had no money and were entirely dependent on Sasha for money. Which was a super weird thought.

Everything I'd ever had was foraged, scavenged, or hunted. I stared down at my bowl, disquieted as I thought over this.

Money was weird and I'm not sure I liked it. I knew what it was, my first life told me that much, but without that knowledge I'd be totally lost on why food wasn't just shared as needed. That's how it'd been for all of my life first on the island, then with the refugees, and then with Sasha.

God, this would be so confusing if I didn't have that first life to contextualize even some of what I was seeing.

We eventually sat on a log setup as a bench with a rough table. It was comfortable enough. I raised dug in with my borrowed spoon and…

"Mmm," I sighed happily, slurping noodles.

They were thick and oddly chewy and had that same oddly smoky flavor the bread did. Made from ember wheat? The coilfish was a bit different. It felt a bit less sweet than some of the shellfish I'd tried like crab, a bit meatier, briny with a touch of sweetness. The best part was the smell, in my opinion with how savory it was with hints of roasted garlic underneath it all.

I liked it.

I demolished the bowl in short order and licked it clean. Sasha, by contrast, had also cleared her bowl, but she was impeccable afterward and I felt very self-conscious of how messy I was afterward.

I looked to Mom and saw she was…

Crying? She'd eaten a bit of her soup, but she was staring into the bowl.

Why was she—

Oh.

She liked coilfish noodles. Said she was fond of them earlier.

We'd been living alone on an island for years. Mom had been shipwrecked. This must be the first time she'd eaten this dish since I was born at least.

I felt so, so stupid that I had to piece it together and it took me this long.

I didn't like seeing Mom cry. But I didn't know what else I could do but lean into her side with a hug.

"Mama?" I asked.

Mom jumped. "Gwen, it's—"

"It's okay to cry, Mama," I said, patting her arm.

"I'll—"

"I'll give you two a moment. I have some business with the Smith and with other customers, so how about I come back after a while?" Sasha said, gently. She left her bowl with us and stepped away. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

With that, we were left alone. Mom had her mouth open but said nothing. Movement caught my eye, and I saw Molly walking up. "Here's another bowl. Lass like you needs more weight on your bones," she said, setting down a second bowl for me on the table.

"I don't have—"

"I know. It's a small kindness from me to you, you owe me no debt," Molly said, before limping back to the kitchen with a wave.

This seemed to break what had been holding Mom back, and she started shaking. It was quiet, she wasn't sobbing, something still held her up, but she finally let herself cry. As for me? I simply leaned against her and gave Mom the time she needed to mourn.

Chapter 29 Author's Note

HOLY SHIT.

This and chapter 28 used to be one chapter, a 6k+ monstrocity, but I split them up as the previous chapter really did feel a bit more suitable for its own content, with a bit of additions thrown in.

Of course, the end result is me going back through and editing this and lo and behold it grew to be about 5000 words in edits, so…

I'm wordy and can't help myself.

But I think it is done. I wanted this right, and Gwen's first introduction to society and people needed to be good. I didn't want this to be too generic, I wanted it to be memorable and I hope it works out.

We didn't get to everything I wanted to in this chapter, but that ending felt like a good point to end on.

Also, map! I made this with progen arcana, bit of neat map making software, but I am working on one made in CC3 that will be a fair bit better, although I hit a snag and think I'm going to redo what I've got so far. Still, gives a general idea of things as I see them for Stonetown. :3

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[zooba]

Every town needs a proper wall when there's monsters about for sure.