The Cat

"She's offering two-hundred septims to anyone who finds the cat," Mirabelle said.

The faculty members all mumbled and whispered to each other. That's quite a lot of money. They were packed in the middle of the Arcaneum library for the meeting, where they slouched on chairs. Mirabelle stood in front of them with a clipboard at her hip. She cleared her throat. "I normally wouldn't announce this, but she is a Battle-born. It wouldn't hurt to have their thanks. The cat is a cream tabby, and it answers to the name 'Missus Ysgramor'." Mirabelle licked her fingers and turned a page on the clipboard, then continued speaking on the next topic.

Faralda, who sat at the back, had her arms crossed. She smiled, and leaned her shoulder against her colleague, Drevis, beside her. "Are you going to look for the cat?" she said.

Drevis raised his eyebrows, "I have more important things to worry about"

"Mm," Faralda nodded, "Should be fun to watch the students scramble."

"Who wouldn't grovel for Whiterun royalty?" 

"'Whiterun royalty'," Faralda tittered. A moment after, she nudged him for his attention. She gestured to another professor, Colette, near the front and they both giggled quietly.

Colette was seated at attention. She leaned forward, jotting down notes in her notepad on the announcements, and notices. She was the only one who did this. "Excuse me." She raised her pencil up.

Mirabelle stopped talking, and looked at her tiredly, "Yes, Colette?"

"Just a point of reminder: Can we please keep the kitchen fireplace shovel in the kitchen. This is the third time I've gone to scoop the ash and had to look for it. I won't name names, but I found someone using it to scoop out dirt from the entryway!"

Mirabelle scratched her eyebrow, and nodded, "Um, yes. That's right. Please make sure to put things back to where they belong."

"And to use the correct tools for the correct job," Colette said. "The dust pan is hung right there in the entryway, I don't know why anyone needs the ash shovel." Colette then took in a deep breath, and looked to continue, but she sighed it out, and nodded to herself satisfied, and began to jot down something on her notepad. 

"Okay..." Mirabelle said, and went on with her announcements. 

Later at night, Faralda returned to her bedroom to sleep. Laying down, something excited her to the thought of catching the cat. The prize was nice, but the reputation boost was better. If she could find that cat, her name would be spoken well of in Whiterun. The Battleborns were the Tharns and Olos of Skyrim, and as much of a backwater the province was, Faralda didn't mind a good name. How hard could catching a cat be? 

So at midnight, Faralda swiped her quizzling glass from her drawer, and left. She emerged out into the college courtyard. The courtyard was quiet, and lit dim by the magic fountain at its center. Snow floated down thick and quiet. Faralda took in a deep crisp breath, and brought her quizzling glass up to her eye. 

When Faralda peered through it, she saw the glowing auras of all living things. She could see through the walls the glowing souls of students and professors sleeping and studying. She could see the glow of birds nesting under the frills of the corridor roof, and the glow of lemmings sleeping in their little snow cubbies. It was the perfect tool to find the cat. 

She wandered around the courtyard, peaking through the quizzling glass. It was difficult to discern the different souls to the untrained eye, but with use, it was clear: humans had brighter souls on account for their larger size. The cat's soul glowed a bit dimmer. Faralda crept, studying the movements of the glows, until she spotted a curious one at the other end of the courtyard between some bushes and a tree. 

She approached the location. As she got closer, she noticed there were two souls there, not just one. One was much larger than the other, certainly a person. Faralda grew uneasy, "Who goes there?" she said.

The cat jumped from the bush and sprinted past her. A man groaned in the bushes, "Why'd you do that?" he said. The voice was unmistakeable, it was Drevis.

Faralda cast magelight, and found him crawling out. She laughed, "What in Syrabane's grace are you doing there?" 

"Looking for the cat." He stood up, and brushing the snow and twigs off his pants. He pointed at the quizzling glass in her hand, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for the cat."

"Please," he rolled his eyes, "I almost had it! Go back to sleep." Drevis walked past her and looked around the courtyard.

Faralda bit her lip, "You'd like that, wouldn't you? What are you going to do, charm the thing into your arms?"

"What are you going to do? Kill it?"

Faralda eyed him. Why was he so pissy? She looked through her quizzling glass again. The cat was moving by the edges of the courtyard. She walked over to it, but it seemed to have spotted her, and ran off to an old storm drain against the corridor walls. 

"Damn," Faralda said, running over to it. She looked back into her quizzling glass. The cat had slipped inside and went deeper underground. "It went into the midden." She jogged over to a rickety old trapdoor tucked into the corner of the courtyard. She grabbed the latch and swung it open, revealing a deep, dark and tight pit. A ladder went down it.

"You're going in?" Drevis said, stalking her.

"Yes."

Faralda cast candlelight, and descended down the ladder. Drevis could only dodder about, unsure at first. A moment later, he climbed in after her. 

She went down a rung at a time, feeling the ladder shake with Drevis above her. There was a fear in his breathing, and the way he made sure at least three limbs had contact with the ladder's rungs at all time. 

Faralda stopped near the bottom of the ladder, and pulled out the quizzling glass to scout the room below. 

Drevis stepped on her hand. She yelped. Drevis gasped, and the ladder shook violently. "No!" Drevis said. Faralda looked up, and Drevis' ass smashed down on her face. His weight ripped her grip off the ladder, and they crashed down the short way onto the ground. Faralda smacked the floor, and Drevis landed on her. She felt something crack.

Drevis rolled off her, "You alright?"

"Ugh!" She sat up and touched her rib. It hurt, but wasn't broken. She gasped, picking the pieces of the quizzling glass from the ground beside her. It had cracked in two, "You broke it!" She stood up, "You broke my glass!"

"Why'd you stop in the middle of the ladder then?" 

"Why'd I stop?!" She pointed her finger at him, "You're a degenerate! An imbecile. You're unworthy of any respect. You're ruined by your upbringing, and there is no hope for you. You're rotten from the crib, and you cling onto other people thinking it will make you succeed, but you only sink them down with you."

He fixed his robes, "It's an enchanted monocle, I'll replace it."

Faralda huffed and didn't reply. Why give him the satisfaction? 

He shrugged, "But now that you don't have that thing, it's fair game I guess." He chuckled.

"I can murder you and they won't find the body." She turned away, and walked off deeper into the midden. 

The midden was the old ruins upon which the college sat upon, and it was vast. It was composed of the sewer works of the old city. Reservoirs, sewage drains, and channels wound through the rock like insect pores. The air was cool and humid. Mold glazed the ashlar walls, and the ceilings dripped with condensate. There was light coming from orbs placed along the walls. They were placed there for student safety, in case one of them was foolish enough to go down there.

It made it easier for the two to search for the cat. After a few minutes, Faralda noticed a shadow dip, and prance. It was the cat. She stopped, and then crept after it. The cat trotted into another hall. Before she continued, Faralda flicked her eyes at Drevis. He had walked away to inspect a room and he wasn't paying attention to her. 

Faralda slipped off secretly, and chased after the cat. Her plan was to encase its legs in ice, and carry it back. She'd remove the ice then quickly, and hand it over to the girl. 

But as she was thinking, the cat had entered a much smaller sewer. Faralda ran over, and bent down to look inside. The sewer was half her height. Faralda crouched and waddled in. 

It was dark, and damp. Groundwater had seeped in and filled the bottom with a stagnant pool. It smelled of swampwater. She moved her boots carefully along the drier edges, and pressed her hands against the walls. She slipped, and splashed into the muck. "Eugh." She grimaced, and looked forward. The cat was still there, strutting on.

She crawled after it, sliding her knees through the sludge. Her legs and fingers grew numb with the frigid water, splashing through. The sewer soon opened out to a latrine pit. Ancient and unused, but the ground was still muddy and Faralda could guess what that mud once was. She frowned. She was so close. 

The cat was cornered and strolled around the pit floor. She could freeze it then, but Faralda felt sorry for the cat a little. She didn't want to hurt it. She figured she could coax it, or grab it by the neck. Faralda slid her knees over the mud, and reached her hand out carefully. "It's okay," she said, putting her hand out.

The cat sniffed her fingers, and then looked up at her eyes. "Dumbass," the cat said and puffed into nothing. 

Faralda blinked, and her voice cracked. She pounded the mud with her fist, "Drevis!" she screamed, then turned around to crawl back out.

Meanwhile, Drevis was enjoying himself. He spotted the real cat moving through the ancient water reservoir and followed it into one of the side-rooms. The cat stopped inside to lick its paws, and it gave Drevis chance to summon an illusion of a false cat, and send the false over. His plan was to distract it, get close, and nab it by the neck. 

And so the false cat went up to the true cat, but the true cat hissed, and arched its back. The cat swiped and meowed at the the phantom. Drevis made the false cat enter a submissive posture, but it only made the true cat screech louder.

"You got tricks, huh? Here's my trick!" Faralda said from behind him.

Drevis jumped in shock, and looked back. A giant flaming ball hurled towards him. He cried out and the fireball blasted him, making him fall to the ground. The cat darted away, leaving the reservoir through an old busted sluice gate.

He rolled onto his back, "Are you actually trying to kill me?!"

Faralda was covered in dirt and mud. Her pants and sleeves were dripping wet, and dirt smeared her face. She walked over to him, panting. "I should," she squinted, "Lucky for you, it was more flare than power. Something I'm sure you're familiar with." 

"Well the cats gone now!" Drevis scrambled up to a stand, "Again!"

Faralda was going to snap back at him, until the sounds of footsteps dribbled nearby. Drevis and Faralda turned, and found three other wizards emerge with their hands out and ready for a spell. There was Sergius, and Phinis, and even the arch-mage, Savos Aren himself.

"Have you two seen the cat?" the Arch-mage said.

Faralda and Drevis blinked, and looked at each other. Faralda looked back at the Arch-mage and shook her head, "N-no?"

"What was all that noise then?"

"We spooked each other." Drevis said.

"Oh. You two be careful then! Can't have a professor dead over a cat hunt. Good luck!" The three rushed on deeper into the midden, splitting and going their own ways.

Faralda crossed her arms and sighed, "Even Aren's looking for the damn thing. What a mess."

A thought was in Drevis' head. He stepped to her. "Want to work together?" 

"With you?"

"I'm serious. I can't catch it through illusion alone. I need someone to help me trap it."

Faralda pursed her lips. Her eyes flicked aside in thought. It wasn't the worst idea. "I guess we can work something out. But before I do, I demand an apology."

He smiled warmly, "I deeply apologize for all I've done, even if it was in the spirit of competition. I promise to replace your enchanted quizzling glass, and pay the laundry bill," Drevis bowed, "There. Is that good?"

She looked at him, blushing. She could never be too angry with him. "Yes," she said, and cleared her throat, "And we split the prize money in half?"

"Of course."

They shook hands on it. 

And so, the two went on together to hunt the cat together. They surmised that the other professors would scare the cat from going too deep into the midden, so they decided to search back in the upper parts. There, they weaved through the halls, crawled into small tunnels, and sent lights down pits and shafts. When it felt hopeless, Drevis suggested they quit and go back to sleep, but Faralda was resolute on finding the cat. It took a bit of time, but they eventually found the cat again lurking a hallway. 

Faralda froze, and patted for Drevis' attention. Drevis turned. From their sound, the cat spotted them and hurried away. Faralda and Drevis followed after it, keeping themselves low, and creeping.

The cat made its way back up to the college. It entered the college through a tunnel to the Hall of Countenance. The Hall of Countenance was a tower, which had a basement that attached to the midden. The cat entered the basement, and went to the tower's stairwell where it began to climb up, and Faralda and Drevis followed after it the entire way. 

The cat got off on the second floor. Drevis and Faralda stopped at the landing, and peeked over the staircase. The cat was in the hall. It walked through a doorway and into the staff kitchen. 

Drevis grabbed Faralda by the knee. He leaned against her, "I'll lure it out. Use your ice spell then," he said, and Faralda nodded. Drevis cast another illusion of a false cat. It crept over to the kitchen doorway, twirling its tail and meowing. 

Drevis and Faralda waited, holding their breath. Faralda prepared her frost spell.

"Oo! Two kitties!" Colette said, her voice chirping from the kitchen. She stepped out,holding the true cat in her arms. Drevis made the false cat disappear. Colette blinked, "Oh. How strange." She wandered her eyes around, and spotted them poking their head up from the stairs. "Are you pranking me?" she said, "What's going on?"

Drevis and Faralda emerged slowly onto the hallway. When they did, the cat hissed at them. Colette pouted, and caressed the cat by her hind, "It's okay dear." Colette gave the cat a kiss on the neck. The cat calmed and snuggled into Colette's arms. Colette's looked up at Faralda and Drevis, "Well?"

"We were looking for it. How'd you catch it?" Drevis said.

"It?" Colette perked a brow, "You mean her? She'd been coming to my room most evenings. I gave her some salmon a while ago, and she likes me. Isn't she pretty? Why?"

Faralda crossed her arms and stepped forward, "Because she's mine--"

"--belongs to the student," Drevis said.

"Oh yes. The Battleborn girl, right?" Colette said. She presented a bit of salmon to the cat, bunched between her fingers. The cat licked and nibbled in smacks, purring. Colette glanced up at them, "I heard about it in the meeting. I've been waiting for the kitty to come by again for it. Might as well bring her back now." Colette said, feeding her the rest of the salmon, and then wiping her hand on her pants. She walked by them. "Toodeloo!" 

Faralda and Drevis watched her walk down the stairs. When she was gone, the two looked at each other. Drevis smiled, and Faralda grinned. Drevis chuckled, and Faralda laughed. They laughed and laughed. 

Drevis took a step towards the dining hall, "Wanna eat?"

"Very much," Faralda said, removing her dirty coat, walking with him. They entered the dining hall, and enjoyed a fine early breakfast together.

The end.