Chapter 157

157 Cat And Mouse

Skye kept a curt smile on her face as she spoke; “Ima not a mouse, ye house cat.. Why have ye been avoiding me?”

Shasta laughed haughtily; “Because I don’t want to be around you.”

Skye took a cleansing breath; “Well, it’s not like I wanna be around you either. Not with that kind of attitude, but this was a direct order from the king. If I don’t train with ye, we both get yelled at.. And You get the added bonus of gettin’ yer cream taken away.”

Shasta bent her ears back in frustration. She knew the princess was right. Magnus had specifically told her she’d be cut off if she didn’t train Skye. Due to it, the princess wasn’t the only one she’d been avoiding. The king had summoned her that morning, but she hadn’t gone to see him yet.

Magnus wouldn’t be surprised at her not showing until much later. It was a common occurrence since she’d come to live in the palace many years ago. He’d chide her in private later, but so long as she made it seem that he was aware of her tardiness publicly, he wouldn’t get too mad.

As her thoughts wandered and melded together, Shasta realized she could kill two birds with one stone, right now. All she needed to do was get Skye to the training grounds. That way, she could play it off like she’d been training Skye all day; like she had been ordered to do. Shasta had a suspicion that the princess had tattled to the king about her dodging, and that was the reason behind the summons.

If Shasta actually sparred with her, she could knock out the princess, and get a few day’s reprieve, or so she thought. ‘Maybe even convince her to be the pretty little doll that she is.. And get some aggression out, hehe; Bonus!’

Shasta began to circle Skye with an unnerving smirk while the children watched the two. The VC practically strutted as she slowly flicked her tail side to side. Her fur had a dark chestnut hue that shimmered in the light. The tip of her braid swung with each step she took until she finally stopped in front of Skye; inches away from her.

Skye didn’t flinch or break eye contact once they locked, which Shasta liked. The princess didn’t act like one, and it bothered her greatly. It would’ve been easier if she’d been a typical royal bitch; easier to dislike. If Shasta hadn’t seen her with Lawrence, she might’ve gotten along with her..

.....

Shaking her head clear, Shasta grinned and said; “Alright.. You want me to train you, then we do it my way.”

Skye blinked her eyes several times before she replied; “Aye.. That’s kinda the idea. You Train Me.”

Shasta stared at the princess, not knowing if she was blissfully ignorant or just didn’t know how to read between the lines. Either way, she was excited to pummel the princess. A devilish grin crept onto her lips, prompting Ralph to step in. He had firsthand knowledge of what the gleam in Shasta’s eyes meant, and knew better than to leave the two unchaperoned.

Shasta practically hissed when she saw Zas, Ronnie, and Klaus approaching. Her plan to take out some aggression on the princess was all but thwarted.. Until Skye turned to them, and dismissed the three for the remainder of the day. Zas and Klaus automatically protested, but Skye wasn’t having it. She knew Shasta would keep closed off if others were around them, and the princess had questions.

Skye turned back to Shasta; “They can go as long as yer with me, right?”

After her initial shock had passed, Shasta replied; “Yeah, I’ll train you, then escort you back to the palace; I swear.”

Zas stared at Shasta with hard eyes as he stated; “You have to escort her back to her quarters, not just the front gates. Tidas doesn’t want her left alone.”

Shasta perked up at Zas’s words; “Oh really? And why is that? Sneaking off lately?”

Skye looked at Shasta with a quirked eyebrow; “Odd thing to say, but ok.. No, it’s because of something else. Or rather someon-it, that doesn’t matter! All that matters is that I get stronger.”

The three males watched as Shasta and Skye bickered back and forth:

“Someone? Who?”

“Tis not yer concern.”

“Well if I’m the one guarding you, I think I should know who to keep an eye out for.”

“It’s nothing for ye to concern yer self with..”

“If they’re a threat, then yes, I think I should know!”

“So long as yer with me, he’s no threat!”

“Oh, so it IS a man then..”

“It’s not like that! I would Never hurt Tidas!”

“How would I know?! I don’t know you, and You won’t tell me anything!”

Zas had had enough of their yelling. The children looked uncomfortable, and the people walking past were beginning to stare. In a jovial tone so as not to scare the children more, Zas said: “Alright that’s enough of this nonsense! By the gods, you two bicker worse than sisters..”

“Not even close!”

“Ima gonna have to say no,” Skye and Shasta had replied at the same time.

“Why don’t ye two like each other? Yer both reall nice!”

“Aye! And pretty!”

“Aye!”

“Ye could be bestest friends!”

“Aye! And live in the palace together!”

“Aww! I wanna live with me best friend!”

“Aye, me too!”

The children all began to yell over each other in their excitement. There were probably around ten or so outside. The other twenty four were either working, or inside the orphanage doing chores and the like. Only the littlest ones came out to play after their lunch hour. Everyone else had to work to earn enough money for food, clothes, and other various necessities for everyone.

It wasn’t a fair life, but they would live. Shasta did what she could for the three orphanages within the city. She got quite a nice paycheck; being a Pillar and all. Plus the cost of her cream was generally taken care of by the king, for now anyways. Which was her largest financial burden, and not something she’d planned on ever giving up.

Too much drink for too long had the Vice Commander physically addicted to her cream. It affected most Fae the same way alcohol affected humans. If Shasta were human, she’d be a full-blown alcoholic. Cream didn’t rot a Fae’s organs like alcohol did to humans. Instead, it was physically addictive to them, similar to opiates with humans.

Alcohol still affected Fae how it was supposed to, just on a much smaller scale. Nicolas and Maevis stayed away from cream as much as possible. They preferred human alcohol to cream because it didn’t cause addiction for Fae.

Nicolas had a particular problem with cream due to his Santa days, so he rarely ever drank it. Maevis never really cared for it to begin with, and didn’t like how it made her feel afterwards. Shasta was a feline Fae, so she had a predisposition to live cream.

Aside from her cream and fighting; Shasta didn’t have much in her life. Unlike Zas, she never fully adapted to the human lifestyle. If it weren’t for Tidas and the children, Shasta would’ve stayed as feral as she was when he rescued her..

Shasta was surprised that some of the children knew the princess, but her opinion stayed the same. A small boy who had been one of the first to acknowledge Skye stood next to her. She asked where he knew her from, so he told Shasta of how the princess had healed him.

Wide-eyed with enthusiasm, the boy explained; “She showed up a couple days ago and just started healin’ people! Joey and Danielle said she was there before too! They’d been there for a while. She made Joey’s fever and head all better, and got rid of Dani’s cough! She don’t want no monies, and says she just wants us to be healthy and happy! Isn’t she a nice lady?! She’s like you!”

Shasta forced a smile for the wee lad, thanked him for telling her, and sent him off to play with the others. Skye was talking with the kids about anything they asked about. From her plans for the day, to why she was wearing men’s clothes. Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads when Ronnie brought their horses out, and the children met Thoth.

He was the largest horse they’d ever seen, and one child had even asked if he was ‘the King of Horses’. The group spent about half an hour giving each child a ride on Thoth. They did it by twos since the horse was so large. Even some of the older kids had come out for a small ride; with permission for the priestesses.

Afterwards, Skye went through and gave some of the children a quick checkup. Only a couple had anything wrong with them. It saved the priestesses money and time by not needing to make a trip to the hospital though. They tried to give the princess some money for her efforts, but she’d politely declined. Instead she told them to by extra, non-perishable food for when they ran low on supplies.

The head priestess came out and thanked the two women for their kindness and generosity to the orphanage. Zas explained Shasta’s continuous contributions to Klaus and Ronnie. They were astonished by the slightly psychotic Vice Commander’s soft side. It was nice to know that she wasn’t quite the beast she liked to play.

As the children bid them farewell, Skye saw the soft, loving expression on Shasta’s face as she clung to Zas. She truly cared for the children, which made her a decent person in Skye’s book. From what Zas, Tidas, and others had told her; Shasta only got violent with rude or asinine people. It made her feel both better and worse at the same time..

‘If Shasta only dislikes bad people, does that make me a bad person in her eyes? Why? What did I do wrong? When?’ As Skye’s mind raced, Shasta noticed the vexed expression she wore as she bit at the tip of her thumb. Shasta thought Skye would be like that the entire ride back, until she saw the sign for Olympus Blacksmith.

“Oh! We need to stop here for just a tick. I need gear if we’re to spar,” Skye yelled out to the group as she hopped off of her horse, and went into the shop.

After about ten minutes or so, Skye came out with a bundle in her arms. She tied it to Thoth, hopped up, and was ready to go. They dropped Zas, Klaus, and Ronnie off at the palace gates before taking off to the arena to train. It was common for all branches of the military to use the arena as a training ground. Shasta knew that a few might be there, but none that would dare speak against her, or her actions.

As they trotted up to the challenger’s entrance, a couple of servants came forward to take their horses. Thoth wasn’t happy to be separated again, but went with the stablehand after the man flashed a shiny red apple. Skye felt oddly nervous as she went to change into her gear. It was a loaner suit for Skye until Athena could create her actual battle armor.

It didn’t fit as well, and had an odd smell to it, but it would work for today. Shutting the locker door, Skye turned to see Shasta wearing the same clothes as she was wearing before. Confused, the princess asked why she wasn’t wearing any armor.

Shasta laughed condescendingly, then stated; “I’m not changing my clothes when there’s no need to.. You won’t land a single blow on me..”