Chapter 246: 71: Following the Way

"Follow if you can," the little cat instructed impatiently.

Kit immediately transformed into her cat shape, and the snow leopard and the little cat both examined her with interest for a moment.

Shrubbery said quickly, "ZipZing, carry us with your mirror out so we can see?"

Silvam nodded and agreed, "That works." They both entered the pebble that carried the garden a moment later.

When Danika turned to look at her SaltySiamese protested, "I'm following on my own feet for as long as I can!"

"Alright," Danika agreed.

The little cat vanished, and Danika didn't see quite where it went, but she adjusted the pebble's harness and pulled out the mirror that matched the one laying on one of the stone seats in her garden. Kit had followed it, so she could follow Kit.

The snow leopard glanced back at her and said, "Hurry." A moment later he followed the path between the building and the shrubberies that crowded against it. His thick fur rubbed against the wall and the thorny branches, but he slid forward in a relaxed manner.

As Danika zipped after him through the low, narrow passage, she thought that it was a little surprising that the leopard hadn't decided to ride along in the garden. It seemed like the lazier choice to her. Behind her, SaltySiamese crawled along the same low path with astonishing speed and agility. Her lithe elven build allowed her to follow more easily than Danika had expected.

They caught up to where the little cat and Kit waited a little way farther on, and then the path they followed rose upward. The little cat regarded ZipZing with scorn as she zipped upward along the ledges and narrow footholds that the three cats had to carefully navigate as they rose higher until they reached the rooftops. Danika was saving her own transformation until they reached a place where they were told that only cats could go further.

SaltySiamese had some trouble with some of the ledges, but Danika surreptitiously assisted by casting her featherweight spell on her. After that her strength was enough to let her make the cat-like leaps with ease, and even a finger tip hold was enough to let her catch herself.

The little cat and the snow leopard glanced back at the elf with siamese coloring with narrow eyed glances once in awhile, but they didn't say anything. Danika had expected the path to become easier across the rooftops, but the path the little cat led them along grew increasingly difficult.

They crossed above a crowded market, but both SaltySiamese and the snow leopard had stealth skills like ZipZing and didn't attract the attention that the little cat had predicted. It seemed a bit miffed as it led them down into the streets again. It looked completely smug as it glanced back at them and then trotted into a low tunnel that was barely big enough for it.

Kit paused at the entrance and glanced back to them worriedly, but SaltySiamese announced, "I'll just go over the top."

The snow leopard glanced back at her and huffed a breath before saying, "Goes elsewhere." A second later the fur over his shoulders rippled like a shrug and then he shrank into a silver housecat and followed the little cat into the tunnel.

"Fine," SaltySiamese grumbled. "Dragonheart," she spat like a curse as she reached out and poked the stone Danika carried.

Kit dashed into the tunnel after the leopard turned cat, and Danika zipped after them. The tunnel was so small that she landed and ran along the ground like the cats in front of her after a few moments. She kept the communication mirror clutched against her chest as she ran, but the tunnel was so dark that she doubted the passengers in her garden could make out much of the small picture in the mirror.

"Silvam, does his ability to do that mean he remembers?" Danika asked as she ran.

Her voice from the mirror was a bit faint as the Jade Hand answered, "I'm really not sure. Several things he's said make it sound like he does, but others don't. From what I saw when I examined him from my work account I expected everything to unlock at once when enough conditions were met, but maybe that's not how the game is handling it."

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SaltySiamese added, a bit louder than Silvam, "He looked really interested when Kit transformed, maybe he just copied her."

"I guess that's possible if none of his skills are really locked and he suddenly wondered if he could do that too," Danika agreed as she ran.

Ahead of her, Kit called back, "I don't know if this affects your theory, but he's glowing enough that I can see him ahead, and I'm pretty sure that I'm not!"

Since Danika was sometimes figuring out how close she was to Kit's black cat form by feeling her tail brush her face, she would have to agree that Kit was not glowing at all. On the other hand, she was never getting glimmers of light from beyond Kit either.

"Do you have any other skills active that might affect your sight?" Danika questioned. "And isn't this passageway impossibly long?"

Almost as soon as she finished saying that, they tumbled out into a wide open area, that was still mostly dark. Or at least, ZipZing tumbled, until she was firmly halted by a large paw. From somewhere ahead of them the little cat's voice said, "You'll find the way if you know the way."

"What does that mean?" Kit asked worriedly from close by.

The little cat sounded much more distant when it replied with amusement, "Only a real cat will understand."

Danika cast her light cantrip and looked around. They were in a vast underground cavern with a lake stretching out before them, and the snow leopard was back in his leopard form at the edge of the lake where he'd stopped her with his paw. Kit was using the light to pick her way carefully down the slope ZipZing had tumbled down.

"That's really bright when you've been using night vision," Kit commented. "Which way did it go? It sounded like it went across the lake?"

Danika let her cantrip expire just as SaltySiamese exited the stone space and declared, "There's plenty of room for me here."

Something big moved in the water in front of them, because it had looked still, but suddenly a wave splashed against the shore and wet their feet. "Yikes!" Danika exclaimed. "I don't think it's safe to stand here chatting for long."

SaltySiamese raised her bow and suggested, "We can just kill whatever it is?"

"Ignore," the leopard grumbled.

"Rude!" SaltySiamese complained.

Danika tried to speak, but her words were muted. The way couldn't be spoken of, at least not in mixed company. She wondered if the little cat had meant that they needed to follow the Way of the Cat in order to move forward somehow. She quickly pulled up her menu to read it again and see if it provided any obvious clues.

? One never speaks of the way.
? Everything is deserved except for that which deserves a swift revenge.
? Nothing one does happens by accident.
? Success after a thousand failures is still success.
? Love is as warm as a spot in the sun.
? Indifference is as sharp as the claw that slits the belly.
? Hate is a waste of time, ignore it or kill it.

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