Sjal slept on a bedroll underneath the stary sky. Unbeknownst to her, a beast was lurking in the darkness. It crept over slowly, its four legs barely making a sound as it moved along the edge of the camp. It sniffed the air, detecting delicious food nearby but that could wait. There were more important things than food. Sjal caught its eye and it looked at her curiously. It crept even more before bringing its nose right to her cheek. It sniffed the delicious flesh of a human then let out a mighty…
"Meow!"
Sjal's eyes opened with a start and she looked to her side. There was a kitten standing right next to her face. It looked very young and very hungry. It couldn't have been more than several months old but it otherwise looked like it was in decent health, not that Sjal could tell.
"You scared me," Sjal grumbled as she pushed herself up onto her elbows and shook her head until her hair got out of her eyes.
"Meow!"
Sjal pushed it away. She was tired and needed sleep. "Why bother me? Where's your mom?"
The kitten responded by walking away and Sjal was tempted to go back to sleep, but she didn't see any harm in feeding the cat. She hadn't any milk but there were some scraps of chicken from supper that hadn't been finished.
She was staying right by a town that had a fire the previous day. They'd decided to spend the night so there was no telling where this kitten's parents were. Sjal could only assume that a kitten that young had been orphaned or separated in the disaster. Especially if it was desperate enough to start approaching people.
"Where'd you go?" she asked with some shreds of chicken in her hand. She peered into the darkness, only faintly illuminated by the campfire. She tried to spot the cat's white and black fur but couldn't pick it out.
She set the chicken down on the ground and sat next to it, patiently waiting to see if the kitten would come back. It did, but it was a cautious creature. It weaved its head as it sniffed and crawled out from under a shirt. It got to the chicken, gave it a few licks, then started to eat voraciously.
"I bet you're hungry," Sjal said, noting how skinny the kitten was. "I should probably see if I can get any more food for you. What else do cats like besides milk?" She broke off a few pieces of bread, which was about all she had, and dropped some crumbles onto the ground next to the chicken. The kitten sniffed a piece, licked it, chewed it, but ultimately spit it back out.
"Don't like it, huh," Sjal asked as the kitten stared at her expectantly. "I don't have anything else for you to eat little guy. Wish I did, but you'll have to wait till morning. I doubt that small town has anything open at this hour. And I wouldn't want to wake anyone after the day we've all just had. I don't even know why I'm talking to you… not like you can understand me." She paused, realizing that she was rambling to a cat. All she got in return was another meow.
"Maybe water will do," she thought, pulling out a flask and pouring some of it into a small saucer. The kitten approached just as it had with the food and drank a little but didn't look very satisfied. "Talk about choosing beggars. Shouldn't you be happy you got anything at all?"
"Are we friends now?" Sjal asked, not completely sure how this sort of interaction was supposed to go. "I'm leaving in the morning so if you want some pets you should get over here. I really ought to be sleeping right now."
The kitten looked at Sjal curiously but then decided it was done with her. It walked off to go smell some of the others in the camp. Its decision left Sjal feeling like her emotions had been toyed with. She tiptoed around the camp, chasing after the cat with the intent to grab it. She lost track of her feet as she maneuvered around the messy camp, leading to her foot inadvertently kicking aside some pots which made a couple others stir.
"Sorry," she whispered, "it's nothing, you can go back to sleep." There were some annoyed grumbles but nobody argued. They were all exhausted enough to fall sleep within moments.
Sjal turned her head and realized that she'd lost the damned cat. "All I wanted was to pet it," she thought as she returned to her bedroll. She shut her eyes, trying to forget all about it. About ten minutes passed and she'd just fallen asleep when a loud meow woke her up.
"Ah!" she shouted in surprise. It'd meowed right into her ear and she'd nearly swatted the animal away.
Some of the others sat up in surprise and looked around. "What the hell is going on?" asked one of them. One even grabbed a knife as if they were expecting to be attacked at any moment.
"It's this stupid cat," Sjal said, "it keeps bothering me. I gave it some chicken and water…"
"Of course it's not going to leave now that you've fed it. Just take care of it, would you? The rest of us are trying to sleep."
"Fine, fine, I'll handle it," Sjal said, reaching out very quickly to grab the kitten. She was surprised with how difficult it was to keep a hold of as it squirmed about. "Fuck it's scratching me," she muttered as she tried to get a better grip of it, but its sharp nails were like little needles. She ended up letting go, allowing the critter to scamper off into the darkness.
"Finally." She laid back down and was just about to close her eyes when she saw the kitten creeping back up towards the camp. "Oh how easy it would be to just kill you," she thought while watching it. But killing it didn't feel right. When she'd gotten scratched she'd debated tossing it as far as she could, but was glad she hadn't.
The kitten sat an arm's length away from her and just watched her. They stared at each other for several minutes until Sjal's eyelids grew heavy. Thankfully it didn't wake her up again, but when she opened her eyes come morning, it was still there. It was asleep, but it hadn't left.
"Looks like you've got yourself a pet now," someone said to Sjal playfully as he prepared breakfast.
"The last thing I need is a pet," she replied, wondering how she was supposed to take care of an animal when she was always on the go. "I'll just leave it here. It's not like it can follow us."
"Aw, you're no fun," said another. He pulled out a lute that he played on occasion. He sang, "her name was Sjal and she rode into battle with her trusty kitten. There was never a fiercer pair!"
Sjal rolled her eyes while the others laughed. She was not looking forward to hearing more. She got up and scooped up the sleeping kitten and carried it off. It didn't put up too much of a fuss as she held it, especially when she used one hand to hold onto its back paws. She was going to toss it, but its pitiful meows made her stop before she got too far.
"Fine, I'll get you some milk to shut you up," she said resignedly.
She made her way to a shoppe and bought a glass bottle full to the brim with milk. She got a small bowl as well then she carried the cat all the way back to camp.
"Couldn't do it, could you? Reminds me of a time my father wanted to get rid of a stray dog that kept hanging around our home… But he ended up becoming best pals with it. Ah, those were good times."
"Nope. I guess this is my cat until it decides to leave… or gets killed." Sjal wasn't too optimistic about its chances of living with the dangerous life she lived. Still, she didn't see any reason not to keep it around. It would surely keep her busy and entertained throughout the more boring parts of her journey.
"I need to come up with a good name for you," she said as she put the cat in one of her saddlebags and hopped onto her horse. "Till then, be a good little boy or girl and stay in there. And don't jump out!" She glanced down at it as it tried its best to orient itself in the large bag.
"I said not to jump out!" she shouted as it leapt from the bag. She caught it in midair then stuffed it back in. She shook her head and realized that she was probably going to regret her decision to bring it along.
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