v4c77.2: A Cat’s Tale Part 2

There was something to be said for getting a letter. Unlike the Before, with cell phones and email, where you could know what anybody was doing in a heartbeat, getting a letter was an event.

Especially when you had been looking forward to hearing from that somebody for months. I couldn’t send a letter every week with the state of the system, or with them being constantly on the move. And even though I had known they were alright…. I really, really wanted to know what they had all gotten up to.

Now though, we could sit down and hear what had happened all together. It was fun playing the part of a speaker in this audio drama retelling of Tigu’s Excellent Adventure.

“Yin then said, ‘A round on me if you say his name is Shandan!’ She dared! Master, Miantiao, you must scold your disciple for this betrayal! Especially since the bar agreed with her! Your Daughter could not convince them!”

I pitched my voice in a passable imitation of Yin being smug, then transitioned into Tigu’s righteous anger. Everybody else burst out with laughter at the petulant whine. Noodle was wheezing from his place coiled around Bowu’s arm, tears gathering in his good eye.

‘Ah, this old man is glad she’s getting a sense of humour!’ Noodle said, wiping at his eye with his tail. It was a little bit of a struggle to get there because of his back, but he managed it.

I shook my head in amusement and continued.

“I later learned that this was all Rags’ fault, and hunted him down for corrupting my dear Junior Sister! I tied him to the ceiling of the bar!”

At this, I pulled out another drawing and turned it around, eliciting a fresh round of laughter at the very unflattering depiction of Rags.

Big D’s letter had been lyrical, almost, in its quality. He wrote like somebody from, well, an ancient time period, his language largely formal but still informative. It had been concise, with the occasional aside to explain his feelings.

Tigu just rambled. It flowed from one place to the next, roughly, occasionally jumping back when she remembered something she thought was important. It was earnest and heartfelt. Tigu’s thoughts were conveyed as best as she could to the page.

She had little doodles in the margins of the scroll, things she had seen on people’s clothes; and when she reached something she wanted to convey, she didn’t even try to describe it. Another print would simply be inserted.

From the reed houses of the Misty Lake, to the endless Grass Sea at sunset. One was Xiulan, staring at the horizon, a little smile on her face.

“The Blade of Grass paid her respects to her fallen comrades. I’m glad the demons of her past no longer haunt her. Those men can rest easy knowing that Rou Tigu and her comrades have taken up their cause!”

Meiling’s eyes softened and a small smile crossed her face. Chunky oinked with pride.

She was a far cry from the selfish cat she once was. I was proud of her. And I was even more proud when a print of people in cages was unveiled. This one was abstract, unlike Tigu’s normal perfect realism. The vision was edged in red and black miasmic swirls.

“I do my best to follow what you have told me, even when sometimes I do not entirely know right from wrong. One part of me cares little about those sorts of distinctions. But when I came to this scene, I knew in my soul that this was evil. I will walk with my head held high, for in this… I know that I have done the right thing.”

‘She’s grown up so much,’ Peppa stated, her eyes warm. ‘A better Sister, I could not ask for.’

“Nor a better daughter,” Meiling murmured. Her back was straight and proud.

The girl who had once cared nothing about the weak and maimed things she didn’t like because she thought it was fun had grown to become a woman who would stand between the weak and those who would hurt them.

I felt a smile grow on my face. She was right. She could hold her head high, because all of us were proud of her.

She may not have been the daughter I had imagined having… but I was glad that she was.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She had her second abstract piece after that—the great beetle that was Grass Sea City, and its dark, seedy underbelly.

What followed was straight out of an action movie as they hunted down the slavers, and met Delun’s mother and father, two people who Tigu had given a glowing review.

I glanced at my wife and she nodded. We would have to meet the potential in-laws soon.

“And so it was done. With the help of our friends, and the Special Inspector, a man by the name of…” I trailed off. “Huh. That’s a familiar name.”

I tapped the name and Meimei looked at it, her eyebrow raised. “Oh, that’s the Lord Magistrate’s surname—wait, that’s his son’s name.”

“Well, it isn’t exactly an uncommon name,” I pointed out after a moment. “Besides, the Lord Magistrate told me he’s stationed in Pale Moon Lake City.”

We both looked at each other and shrugged.

I continued reading as they left Grass Sea City and headed to the Dueling Peaks.

“…Never in my life have I heard such terrible music! Even kind and fluffy Shaggy Two took exception to her!”

I shook my head at the sheer smugness that was radiating off the next picture; a cute chibi-rendition of Yin playing her pipa as a dog gnawed on her head.

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Finally, they came to the Dueling Peaks.