GT Chapter Twenty

On my way back, I met many people and passed through many places I had seen while heading in the other direction. I realized that their stories hadn’t ended when I left, any more than mine had, and I wondered what had changed in the home I left behind.

-Lady Chatterwick’s Journey

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for Maria and Tia to explain what had happened to them. They had, after all, only been gone for five days or so, though it felt like a lifetime to them. Gata was gratifyingly impressed by their adventure, and both Kourtney and Kable snickered when they heard about Sir Grogas’ punishment. Liam poked his head in twice to give them meal orders, and each time he rolled his eyes after hearing what was, to him, enthusiastic meowing.

When the story was done, Gata leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, staring at the ceiling. “At last, she spoke. “Well, I’d like to keep you here until Tobias returns, but it sounds like the Grimalkin intends for you to head directly back to the castle.” She hesitated, as if she was going to say something else, but shook her head and pushed her chair away from the table, standing and giving a languid feline stretch.

“All right, then. Kable.” Gata turned her green-yellow gaze on her son. “Take these two to the carriage station.” She looked back at Tia, seeming to read the young Felis’ mind. “I’m sorry, but he can’t buy your tickets for you. You need to do this on your own, and after what you’ve told me, I’m certain you can manage it. Now, get going before the lunch rush hits. Kable, pick up two of Mistress Vale’s large cheeses on your way back.”

The boy, who was wiping his hands on a dishtowel, grimaced. “Do I have to? Those things are huge.”

Gata gave him a flat look, and he sighed. Looking deeply put-upon. “Fine,” he muttered, and motioned to the girls. “Come on. It’s not far.”

Tia nearly walked out of the kitchen without pulling her hood back up, but at the last second, she stopped, pulled back from the door, and tugged at the heavy fabric. When she scooped Maria up into her arms, she looked down and mumbled, “It’s just easier,” and Maria gave her hand a reassuring lick.

The carriage depot was, indeed, quite close. Within a few blocks, the rattle of wooden wheels on cobblestones grew louder and more frequent, and soon after that they reached the station. When Maria peeked out, she saw that there were a few hackney carriages traveling to and fro, likely carrying people who had taken or intended to take the coach. Several people already stood around, and Kable, who was a surprisingly silent guide, pointed to a sign to the right of the ticket counter.

“There’s the schedule. We get carriages to and from the capital, as well as a few from outlying areas. Pretty busy, really, for a little town.” He sniffed and looked around, then back at Maria, where she lay in Tia’s arms.

“Maybe,” he said, awkwardly, “in a few years, and when you’re back in your right shape, maybe you’d recommend me to work in the castle kitchens? Kourtney wants to stay here and take over the tavern, but I want to do something else. I don’t want to just be her little brother forever.”

Maria blinked. No one had ever asked her for a favor as a princess before. She hadn’t really considered that she might have enough power to help someone… what? Improve their life? Escape in a way she couldn’t? She filed the thought away to examine later, and nodded.

“I’d be glad to. Not just in the kitchen. Whatever you want to do,” she offered, feeling slightly shy.

Kable grinned, Felis-green eyes gleaming, and gave an inexpert half bow. “I’ll hold you to that. Thanks,” he lowered his voice, “princess.” Glancing around, he slipped into the crowd, and Maria and Tia were alone again.

Tia looked at the counter, which had a small line forming in front of it. Maria peered at a large clock beside the schedule and meowed anxiously. “There’s a carriage in fifteen minutes, Tia. We need tickets, if it isn’t already sold out. You need to hurry!”

Tia swallowed hard, but firmed her pointed little chin until it was sharp enough to stab someone with, and got into line. There was a family of three ahead of them, and when the small group reached the counter, they heard the clerk firmly say, “No room, missus. You’ll have to wait for the next one. It’s in four hours. Would you like tickets or not?”

The woman and her husband conferred hurriedly, while their child, a boy of perhaps eight years old, peered curiously at the cat he could just glimpse in Tia’s arms. When he leaned forward, he happened to glance up into Tia’s face, and his brown eyes went wide in surprise and then excitement.

“Mama, mama!” He tugged at his mother’s skirt. “It’s a freak like we saw at the carnival yesterday! D’you suppose she’s one of them?”

His mother flushed a deep, brick red, and turned to face Tia, already apologizing for her son’s rudeness. She stopped when Tia looked up at her reflexively, forgetting to pull her hood around her face. “Oh! You really are one of them!” Then, if possible, she flushed even redder, and pulled at her son’s arm, tugging him away from Tia. “Jonathan, get back. You don’t know where someone like that has been.”

Maria started to hiss, then realized the woman had some right to be concerned. Tia’s cloak was filthy, and the hem was torn. Her skirt, too, was dirty and ragged, while her feet were bare. Bare feet weren’t unheard of, since not everyone could afford shoes, but they were also dirty, and this, combined with Tia’s unusual appearance, was enough to make any parent wary. Still, there was no need to be rude about it.

To her surprise, Tia’s chin went up. “I am no freak, ma’am,” the girl said, resolutely. “And I went out gathering herbs this morning.” She held up the pouch she’d fashioned from the strips torn from her cloak. There were no herbs in it, of course, but the woman had no way of knowing that. “I’m sorry if my appearance offends you.” She glared, daring the woman to continue her insulting speech.

Pushing her child behind her, the woman exchanged glances with the man, and nodded in grudging apology. “Excuse us, then.” She turned back to the clerk, hurriedly paid for three tickets on the next coach, and the family scurried away.

Tia stepped up to the counter, pushing her hood back from her face enough that it still covered her ears, but revealed her face. She looked at the man behind the counter, daring him to say something, but he just looked bored. He probably saw all kinds of people in his job, and obviously, Tia wasn’t the strangest.

“How can I help you, miss?” The man intoned.

Tia stumbled over her words, obviously not ready to just be accepted like any other customer. “I, um, need to go to the capital.”

The man nodded, and looked down at a sheet of paper in front of him, then eyed Tia consideringly. “If it’s just you, we can get you on the next carriage.” His eye caught on Maria, where she watched him from within Tia’s protective embrace. “Extra for the cat, and if it bites or scratches anyone, there’s a fine.”

Automatically, Tia paid the man most of her few coins, and she and Maria headed for the nearby oversized carriage, where a man waited for them impatiently. A few minutes later, they were headed home.

The ride took just as long heading in the other direction, and Tia had to wedge herself into the last place on the narrow bench in the back. Once or twice, the two found themselves drowsing, but inevitably they would be awakened with a jolt as a wheel hit a pothole, or the man on their right shoved them back upright.

When they heard the rattle of their wheels shift from the rattle of wood on dirt to the clatter of wood on stone, it was all the girls could do not to climb over the other passengers and throw themselves out of the carriage. They managed to wait the seemingly interminable period of time it took to reach the station only because they knew it was also bringing them closer to the castle.

When the door was opened at last, everyone inside attempted to pile out at once, trying to escape the fetid aroma of someone who had eaten far too much garlic recently. As Tia had been the last to enter, she managed to be one of the first to exit, and they both drew in deep breaths as they tumbled out onto the cobblestones.

Without thinking, Maria jumped down from Tia’s arms. She immediately had to spring back and wrap herself around the girl’s ankles in order to avoid being stepped on, but it still felt good to stretch her body. They both staggered to the side, finding themselves under the same trees they had recently stood beneath with Tobias, comfortably eating ice cream and kebabs.

There was nothing comfortable about them now. They were both dirty, itchy, and had a lingering scent of garlic lurking in their nostrils that Maria, for one, wasn’t sure she would ever be able to completely clear. How was it that none of Lady Chatterwick’s chronicles had ever dwelt on the discomfort of travel? She had made it sound so exciting and interesting, with never a mention of eating moldy cheese or bread with the consistency of wood, much less a word about the dangers of ingesting garlic before entering cramped quarters.

Without warning, Tia picked up Maria, and carried her, legs dangling, off to a small stand of bushes surrounding the plinth of a statue of Maria’s great-great grandfather, King Fergus the First. Diving into the bushes, Tia transformed to her cat shape and began grooming herself somewhat frantically.

“I thought,” she muttered between licks, “we’d never get out of there. What was that smell?”

Maria giggled, though she, too, began grooming her fur. It was difficult to resist, in much the same way that seeing someone else yawn made you yawn as well. “Garlic. Do you not eat it?”

“Eat it? I thought someone had bathed in it! Why on earth would anyone eat something that smells like that?” Tia cleaned her whiskers almost frantically.

“It’s really tasty,” Maria offered. “Especially with pasta, butter, and shrimp. But if you eat too much, you’ll smell like that for days, so Mother doesn’t like it. Father only lets us eat garlic when she’s on a trip.”

“Ugh,” Tia groaned. “I think I taste like it, too.”

Maria licked her paws, then shook her head. “No, but I think the smell is in our clothes and my fur. It’ll fade soon enough.”

The black and white kitten glanced around, then shoved aside her puddled pile of clothes, so they were better hidden beneath the bushes. “That’s it. I refuse to wear this any more. I know how to get to and from the castle as a cat, so I don’t need to pretend to be a human any longer.”

Maria hesitated. “It’s still a good distance away. Wouldn’t it be better to hire a hackney? You still have a little money, and-”

“No!” Tia’s paw patted the limp money pouch protectively. She picked it up in her teeth and carried it deeper into the bushes, where she pawed a small hole in the leaves and buried it. “I don’t ever want to be without money again. I don’t know why Tobias wasted our money the first time, but I’m not going to!”

Maria’s mind flashed back to the memory of a certain kitten begging for an expensive treat, and her brother giving in as if he’d done it many times before. She snorted, but managed not to laugh. “I’m sure he had his reasons,” she offered. “But how do we get to the castle from here? The roads are all going to be busy, and I don’t want to be stepped on or run over by a carriage.”

“Easy,” Tia said, giving the fur on her hip one last lick. “We go up.” She looked up at the statue, standing so tall that his uplifted arm disappeared into the extended branches of a nearby oak.

Maria blinked. She’d done a fair bit of climbing since becoming a cat, but the smooth marble of the statue looked quite difficult to scale, even if she used the nooks and crannies of the carving as steps. “Up there?”

Tia sniffed derisively. “Up the tree, of course. Why would we climb a statue when trees are easier?”

Restraining herself from commenting on the fact that Tia seemed to prefer doing everything the hard way, Maria nodded, and the two kittens scampered out from beneath the bushes and up the broad, rough trunk of the oak.