Chapter 16: Ordinary Mortals
The awkward silence that had settled between the hosts and the visitors from the other world was broken by the unmusical concert of Mistral's stomach. The black tomcat, even in his role as a deity, had not abandoned his airs of an aristocratic being who wouldn't just put his snout into anything, and his stomach revolted noisily.
Remi, nearly bursting into laughter, let out only a small giggle but immediately brought her hand to her mouth.
"I pray that the wise Rí pays no mind to this noise! Our companion has spent the last few days in fasting and prayer, and now he is too bashful to eat."
The hosts smiled indulgently, and from somewhere in a corner of the flesc, a cat appeared. She stopped exactly beside Mistral, as if forcing him to look her in the eye. Mistral froze for a second, but then, with his emerald gaze, he scanned the house cat.
She was a feline thoroughly feline—tabby, but with stripes upon her fur that were downright hypnotizing. She resembled no other cat Mistral had ever encountered before. Athletic, majestic, with an arched back and a thick but blunt tail. Her long whiskers, her sharp white fangs, her silvery gaze... not gray, not blue, but silvery and piercing like a laser, made Mistral leap from his log and accompany the feline toward the door.
Anemo, who now held the Collar of the Two Skies in his hand, blushed instantly; he grew flustered and, stammering some mumbled words, stood up to open the cat door.
"He-he, I think these furry ones need some ore... I mean, air... How lovely! Isn't it?"
And as the cats stepped out into the air, the atmosphere changed as if by magic. The diners now seemed like relatives or friends sharing a meal together; in their corner, the children ate without fuss or the whims of spoiled children. They giggled and made jokes about the milk-mustaches left on their little faces, or about the loud burp of one of them.
Boo and Sirocco mimicked each other, remaining constantly at the center of attention like twin, playful flames.
"You know, mighty Rí?" Remi began, plucking up her courage after an exchange of glances with Eithne. "We do not wish to take advantage of your hospitality and leave you believing things that are untrue..." The writer swallowed hard and squeezed Anemo's arm so tightly that he could barely suppress a grimace. "We... we are not gods. We are mortals, just like you!"
All eyes fixed upon Remi, filled with wonder, and both the Rí and Mama Rorria suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Remi sighed too. *The hardest part is over!* she thought, and continued her confession:
"I am sorry for letting it be understood that we are the deities from the Great Druid's prophecy! I do not know why the cave cast us into your world! We only ask that you indulge us for a few days and... as soon as the waters recede from Oweynagat, we will return home."
Eithne had risen from her place and now stood between Anemo and Remi, her hands resting upon their shoulders in a gesture of support.
***
Beyond the threshold of the great flesc, having barely stepped into the cold post-storm air, Mistral tried to regain his composure as a Parisian aristocrat. A strange, completely new feeling washed over him. He tried to look the Celtic feline in her silvery eyes, but it was far, far beyond his power as a chat noir.
In a supreme effort of seduction, he subjected his body to an unimaginable ordeal: he sucked in his round belly, arching his back into a line he believed to be absolutely majestic, but it was hard—hellishly hard—to try and look like a panther or a jaguar when your favorite activities are dinner and a siesta.
"Mon Dieu, I think I’ve fallen in love! Pull yourself together, you fool, and say something coherent!" he shouted to himself in his thoughts, while, due to the lack of air and hunger, he collapsed flat to the ground, losing consciousness.
Not for long, perhaps for two minutes, because the thoroughly feline feline woke him up immediately with her rough tongue. She groomed him thoroughly over his eyes, over his snout, over everything.
Mistral opened his eyes, but felt like closing them again immediately out of sheer embarrassment.
"I am Arr!" his savior introduced herself. "Are you alright?"
*Say something coherent, say something!* the tomcat kept repeating to himself, but all that came out of his mouth was an anemic, meaningless:
"Mau!"
"Pleasure to meet you, Mau. Stand up, so I can show you around. Perhaps we can hunt together?"
Mistral tried to say something, anything, to say that his name wasn't Mau... "mau" was just an idiotic stammer, but before he could even open his mouth, Arr pulled a mouse out of nowhere and placed it at his feet.
"You fainted from hunger, come on! Eat to build your strength up, and let’s go for a walk."
*Mon Dieu! I hope she didn't bring me Aeolus...*
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