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"Oh, be still. It's me."
Saure was at one moment immensely relieved, and at the next livid.
"What are you doing here?? You should be in your cave! Do you know how much trouble I could- YOU could get in if-"
A large paw enveloped her lower face. She quieted for the moment.
"For one, I will not leave thee alone in a tempest. For another, mayhap I didn't want to be left alone, myself. That cave gets very small as it goes deep, and I cannot FIT far enough in to be safe. You might, but we return to my first point."
Saure pushed his paw away. "You know, you don't sound like any cat I've ever met."
"That is because I am not a mere cat, sweetling."
"Oh? Aren't you?"
"No," here he paused as if in thought. "I am a puma."
"I don't believe even pumas speak as you do, Fred." she said, rising and feeling her way to the ladder.
"Mind that jug, you're about to trip over it. The ladder's to your right three steps." he instructed, and rose himself. He waited for her to find her footing and climb to the top. Then, he simply coiled his flanks and leapt into the loft with innate feline grace. This surprised Saure into a squeak, and the loft's boards gave a squeak of their own. The loft was built of granitewood, though, and she knew the boards would hold his weight.

She lit the lamps again, and saw that Fred was already curled up on her mattress, his back against the cold stone wall. She curled up next to him, and together they listened to the storm rage without.

Wind wailed ceaselessly in the eaves, finding any crack and flaw it could. Rain pelted in thrumming waves, heavy, then gargantuan. Hail hammered the stone-scalloped rooftop. Saure could have sworn she heard the almost ceramic tinkle as a roof tile cracked every so often. The frame of the house gave an odd creak from time to time.

Page 31

Saure pulled down the tome she had been reading to Fred earlier that afternoon, found her page marked with a sprig of pressed heather, and continued the story.

"'Caldethra was a small child. She was born much too early, and much too small. The midwife and the healers worried for her; that she might die on her first night. She breathed with what appeared to be a great effort, and her eyes would not open. But, of course, she lived.

'Her brothers, Deldrith and Eldrich, joined forces against Caldethra in her early years. They would play such pranks on her as to make her weep for their mother, and often cruelly caused her pain. They were still young, though, and one cannot judge an elf on their first seven decades. They proved their poor worth later in life, as we know.

'Caldethra spent her childhood equally between the Eldorian library, and Aagantha Graenthantidae, or the Great Forest. She sought fervently to learn the histories, and she loved to dwell in the woods. Where her brothers neglected their studies, she excelled. Her parents were wrought with pride in her; and were saddened that, to their knowledge, she could not become queen someday.

'Her mother died bringing forth Caldethra's younger sister, who also died in her birth. The king spent several decades in mourning of his wife, as did the young Caldethra. She refused to marry upon reaching womanhood, and spent her years deep in study of the great histories.

'After the slaying of her dear father, and the great and bloody civil war, Caldethra did shed her misery, and rose to accept the crown. With her great learning of the Politics and the Reason, she brought the peoples divided together once more through logic and loving. Eldora prospered in Arcadia for many, many centuries. Few chose to die in these Green times.'"