Spring 22, 1388

  Another night passed, and another day brought the same routine. Madeleine awoke at dawn to a meal of black coffee with a slice of bread and thick cheese. She prepared her appearance, and again, made the Dreamless Tincture for her sister.

  After a few minutes of conversation, Evangeline had fallen back to sleep, and Madeleine was ready for her day. She rolled her shoulders, the black dress flowing over her body. She placed her favourite hat atop of her head and came down the stairs.

  The little shop began to look like one; sparkling potions greeted customers who walked into the shelves, and rows of books and grimoires awaited behind them. The far back had adventuring gear, marked much lower than market price. Of course it was above vendor price, but since Madeleine paid nothing for the acquisition, it was just pure profit.

  She started the oven in the bake to let it warm. She’d knead dough and prepare some pastries during the quiet hours of the day. Right now, The Cat’s Second Cradle was open for business, and she flipped the wooden sign and opened the door.

  She had barely turned around when the shop bell rang.Her eyebrow raised, and her arm tightened. Her left hand opened, prepared to weave a song in the Symphony, as she slowly turned around.

  “Where’s the Cat?” the brutish voice rang out. Its owner was as Madeleine expected. Well-dressed, tall, with black glasses and slick, gelled black hair. He smiled at Madeleine, exposing a golden tooth. The rest of his face was covered in a well-groomed beard, and his hair was locked in a pony tail.

  “Good to see you too, Emanuel. ?a va bien?” Madeleine released the tension in her arm, but didn’t approach.

  “Good to see you as well, Cat. Decided to play ball with Bazerie?” he asked, and began to move through the aisles. Madeleine peered outside, and could spot the less kind thugs waiting outdoors.

  “Non. All these goods are legal and above board. I have no need for your underworld, unless your cut has been substantially lowered.”

  Emanuel clicked his tongue with a disappointed gesture, exaggeratingly shrugging his shoulders. “That’s too bad, a [Witch] and her goods would be a nice chunk of change. Well, if you don’t want membership, you are able to just pay the insurance fee, right?”

  Madeleine laughed, taking a step back into her store. Her hand held onto the wooden shelf. “Pardon? Are you running a second-rate protection racket now, gar?on?

  Emanuel lowered his glasses, and looked at Madeleine. “Maddy, Maddy. We’ve been friends since I was a kid, and I wouldn’t want to do anything to upset that. I still like coming here, and I know you’re resourceful. Just 100 gold a month, and no one's going to bother you.”

  “Funny. You’re bothering me,” Madeleine said, taking another step. The thugs outside noticed the movement, and slowly began to approach.

  Emanuel looked at Madeleine, frowning. He raised his hand, showing the gloved palm. “Calm down, Maddy. Not asking for much here. Just a bit of homage to the Underworld Queen. And even the smaller folks are now having to contribute after pressure from the boss.”

  “Pressure from the boss?” Madeleine repeated, stepping towards Emanuel. He turned his attention back to the shelf filled with potions.

  “Head Lady has gone a bit spooked, and is now bolstering her defenses. Something about Death’s Daughter? Doesn’t matter. So what do you say, Maddy?”

  “I would say, Non. Get out of my store, gar?on. You are lucky I won’t be turning you into a newt,” Madeleine responded, beckoning towards the door. The two thugs had gotten to the entrance. They pulled on the handle, and again, Emanuel clicked his tongue.

  “Relax, relax - no reason for anyone to get angry over a bad business call,” Emanuel said, shaking his head at the two men. He grabbed a Potion of Healing from the shelf and uncorked it. “Same berry scent. Intoxicating, Madeleine.”

  He walked towards the counter and placed a silver coin. “When you’re ready to talk, you can meet our broker at The Lamplight. Tell the waitress Emanuel sent you. And for what it’s worth, Maddy, you look well.”

  “And you look like a sleazed up dropout. Get out of my store,” Madeleine countered. Her arm raised and her hand pointed at the door.

  Emanuel again shrugged, taking the potion and slipping it into his inventory. Madeleine walked to the counter and picked up the silver coin. It wasn’t enough for the potion, but it was more than enough for her piece of mind.

  Except this one wasn’t minted with the Phoenix Head or the Queen’s Crown. The back was a skull grinning out, and the head was written in what looked like scribbles.

  “They’re minting their own, now?” she muttered to herself, and looked back out the store window. The three of them were beginning to walk away.

  Madeleine quickly flipped the store sign again and pulled out her silver mirror. The hair of a black cat, quicksilver, mixed atop of the mirror created her brew.

  Her eyes met her reflection, and she licked the mixture off. It would have tasted acidic and hairy, so she swallowed it in one gulp. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, found feline slits staring back at her. She quickly placed the mirror back in a drawer, before her body fully changed.

  Her bones cracked and became lean, her mass tightening and becoming more compact. Her posture pushed itself forward as she got on all fours, her black hair sprouting into long strands of fur. Her neck had a white scarf, and her black and white tail swayed. Her muscles were lean, and immediately…

  …she licked her paws so the fur would flatten. Her paw slid up to stroke her ears and keep her fur clean, before the cat shook its head.

  She could smell rats and fish and food, and the shelf of potions seemed oddly suspicious. They were teetering on the edge, waiting to be shoved down and to give her a spot to nap. Her green and orange eyes shifted to the window, where a small beam of sunlight warmed up the wooden floors…

  HISS!

  Madeleine’s conscious mind fought off the animalian instinct. Bathing in the sun could be done when she was free, as her four paws began to scamper out. She jumped through the open window, and entered Flowers-By-The-River.

  The warm sunlight was pleasant to Madeleine’s fur, and this high atop of the thatched roof tops where the heat was absorbed into the material just made her want to lay down and close her eyes. She could smell fish and food, and her ears fluttered between the sounds of footsteps and mice scurrying into their holes.

  But it was the vision that bothered Madeleine the most. Everything was hued so differently, and while she could see in the dark now, she had to give up seeing the vibrancies of blue in exchange for a greenshift.

  Emanuel and his goons walked below, in the middle of the cobblestone path. Madeleine purred to herself at the sight, as no one really seemed to regard them in any special way. Children still played and stallmongers kept hawking their goods. They looked out of place, but their reputation clearly didn’t mean much.

  Her white mittens and black legs crept above the rooftops. Her eyes immediately shot towards a bird on the rooftop opposite, and she crouched down. Her rear swayed, her tail angling and eyes narrowing. The muscles in her legs tensed, and then the cat blinked. She shook the sensation off, looking back down at the road.

  How difficult was it to find two sleazy gangsters in a city like this?!

  Madeleine let out a subvocal growl, and closed her eyes. Her pink nostril sniffed the air. The fishmonger’s fish was going stale, even if the river fish should have been fresh. There was a pleasant smelling flow of flowers.

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  And then Emanuel’s blood. Madeleine was familiar with that scent, as her body shifted, and she began to run. Her feet pattered off the thatchery, leaping between the houses. She dashed through an open window, startling the cat inside, before leaping out the opposite and landing on her feet to the streets below.

  The black-and-white cat peered out of the alleyway, looking at the three as they walked towards an intersection. She waited for them to turn, and then quickly darted between the cobblestone!

  “Mom! Look at that cat, it’s so fluffy!” a childish voice called out. A small child with brown hair and freckles on his face pointed at Madeleine, which caused her to turn around and raise a singular paw.

  The boy was no older than eight, and his stumble-run caused the fur on her back to spike up. She hissed, releasing a loud, “MEOW-RRR.” and arching her spine.

  The boy didn’t seem to care at all, even as Madeleine slowly back-pedaled. His grubby, inexperienced hand slapped atop of her head, and pulled her ears back and stretched out her eyes.

  “HISS!” Madeleine repeated, but her body was betraying her. The sensation against her nerves was pleasant, and she slowly rolled to the side.

  The boy continued to rub her head, and his other hand slid down. It came down to her stomach, which caused both sides of her polymorphed brain to agree - No.

  She immediately jumped up and lightly scratched the boy's wrist, and then bit his offending hand for good measure. “MOM! SHE SCRATCHED ME!”

  The mother regarded his lightly clawed and bit hand. “Well, Luke? What did you learn? I told you not to harass stray cats.”

  “But Mooom!”

  “You’re lucky she only scratched you,” his mother consoled, before rubbing his head.

  Madeleine quickly turned around, ignoring the wails of the boy and searching for where Emanuel had gone. Her eyes scanned the world, taking in the green-shifted sights. Footsteps dropped around her like falling trees and her agile body quickly darted between them.

  She took a right at the central intersection, running underneath stalls and avoiding the yapping and nipping of stray dogs. Her nose twitched as she took in the scent of Emanuel’s blood, before coming across a sharp alleyway.

  It was narrow, not invisible to people, but clearly overlooked. Cobblestone steps led downwards into back alleys where beggars and the poor cupped their hands and begged for coins. She slipped downwards, leaping down the steps and avoiding both the gaze and grasps of the underclass.

  She sniffed the air again, and it led towards a wooden doorway over an unmarked house. No numbers, no signage; even hovels like this had a civic address to be traced. Madeleine scanned the cobblestone wall for anything of interest that she could find, be it a carved out window or some way to excise the air that would have to be trapped inside.

  Nothing.

  It was a stone wall with a door.

  Madeleine scowled, before extending out her claws. She leaped to a nearby windowsill and then climbed a curtain, her nails digging in and ruining the linen. Up and up, until she finally reached the thatched roof again, and spotted a chimney.

  It was a good option, but chimneys were mostly used for heat, and while it was spring, there was a good chance something was cooking. Madeleine regarded and kept it in her mental map, but ran over to the other side of the roof and looked down.

  Three women perused a stall of flowers, their sun bonnets adorned with something just as fancy and something that’d wilt just as quick. Her eyes spotted the bees buzzing around it, and her entire body crouched down.

  Her eyes tracked the bees, and her claws reflexively opened and closed. She wet her lips, before pouncing into the air, landing atop of one the lady’s sun bonnets.

  “WHAT ON AMARIL’S NAME?!” she shouted, batting at her head and slapping the flowers silly. Madeleine batted at the bee, before realizing what she was doing.

  “Miau!” she apologized, jumping off the woman’s head and landing on the floor with a graceful thud.

  “It’s raining cats!” the woman shouted, staring down at Madeleine. Her eyes were scrunched, and Madeleine could see her beginning to lift her dress and wind up her legs.

  So she did the only thing she could. She put her mittens in front of her face, and widened her eyes. Her pink nose twitched, and her whiskers flickered with the motion. Her body vibrated, and a deep sounding purr just broke into the busy streets.

  The woman’s rage faded away. “Alright, it was an accident…” she said, crouching down as her companions surrounded Madeleine. She offered her hand, palm facing up.

  Madeleine’s instincts took over as she slowly approached and sniffed the fingers. The scent was unfamiliar, but there wasn’t anything ‘hostile’ about it.

  And she could do with a moment of pett– No!

  She rubbed her head against the woman’s hand and dashed forward again, into the flower shop. She didn’t have the chance to look up, running past the sign and only catching a random “A”. Could have been any name at that point.

  The inside of the shop was FILLED with flowers. Madeleine’s nose lifted upwards to sniff, and then her teeth ripped out a leaf to chew. She idly chewed it before the taste of chlorophyll entered her mouth and she angrily spat it out. Her paw came back to her tongue, scraping the taste out.

  “Aaah, girl, you want some catgrass?” a young woman approached. Madeleine’s attention quickly shifted, and the fur on her back spiked up. Her tail coiled around her legs defensively and she let out a hiss.

  The woman was dressed like a merchant, her blouse accenting a dress shirt and dress skirt. Her straw bonnet had a pink Narcissus atop of it, whose six petals and orange core accented her blonde hair.

  She gave Madeleine a warm smile, and offered her hand to her as well. Madeleine again inched forward and pressed her nostrils against the palm, taking a deep breath.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  Blood.

  She smelled like blood.

  Madeleine forced her instincts to suppress and let out a forced purr. Her head bunted against the offered palm, and the lady gently rubbed Madeleine’s pointed ears.

  “Come on girl, let’s get you something to nibble on,” the woman said, rubbing Madeleine’s head once more, and then opening her arms.

  Madeleine sniffed the air, and the overpowering aroma of blood and bone wafted off her. She didn’t lean in, but did walk forward and rubbed her side against the crouched legs. That satisfied the lady, who stood up and moved towards a small planter. A selection of Rye, Wheat, Barley, and other cereal grains made a divine little plot, which Madeleine’s body reacted too.

  She jumped up and nibbled on it, which drew a deep smile from the lady. She rubbed Madeleine’s head once again, and returned to the counter.

  The dry grass tasted like… dry grass. Madeleine had much better, and again, she had to remind herself she wasn’t actually a cat and this would wear off soon. Her eyes remained on the planter, but her ears and peripheral watched the lady.

  Behind her was a cabinet holding different seeds, tinctures, and pots filled with dirt. Madeleine had seen this trick before, and her eyes followed the cabinet to where it was seated against the wall. If this was a proper cabinet, it’d be placed right against it to maximize space.

  There was an inch from the wall. Amateur. Sure, it required more work to access the secret component, but it prevented any curious feline from realizing the intended purpose. Her eyes moved away from the cabinet, and then towards her hostess.

  An Elf! Flowers-By-The-River was more populous than Oakheart, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see one here. She hadn’t even seen one in Oakheart, but the town was still growing. Maybe by the time she returned, there’d be an entire family.

  Elvish blood was a much better base for potion than just human blood.

  The elf pleasantly smiled, until the three women outside stepped in. Her green eyes flicked over to them, before her muscles relaxed.

  She was waiting for someone. Madeleine continued to peruse the offered catgrass but pattered closer.

  “Ms. Lik….” the woman began, but stopped. “I can’t pronounce that.” The two women flanking her giggled.

  The elf said nothing, but kept her smile. Her hand however tapped impatiently on the table. One of the women stepped forward, pushing her friend aside.

  “The Magpie flies south…” she began.

  “...to find the shiniest treasures,” the elf responded, before turning around. She gave a quick glance to the door, waved her hand so it closed, and then slid the cabinet to the side. A staircase, much like the one Madeleine had installed at her home in Oakheart, greeted the group.

  The three women squealed in delight. “I told you Ms. Baker knew someone!”

  Madeleine flickered up, and meowed from the corner. The elf turned to face her. “You want to come downstairs too? Probably something good to eat.”

  Madeleine looked at the staircase, then at the four women. She didn’t let herself move, since…

  …she wasn’t supposed to understand what they were saying.

  “Meow!” Madeleine responded, turning her attention back to the catgrass. The elf clicked her tongue, beckoning the three ladies to go down. As they disappeared out of sight, she closed the cabinet behind them, and then took out a small bag.

  Madeleine took this opportunity to run out of the flower shop, and then turn around.

  “Ms. Lycamora’s Floral Haberdashery”

  A curious name, but that was something she could deal with later. Her time was running out, and she still didn’t know what Emanuel was doing down there, or what that Black Market even sold.

  That was tomorrow's problem. She had a store to run, and a sister to take care of.