A fine morning mist hung over the valley, quickly being dissipated by the rising sun. Flowers rose their heads to the light, Jorbles, Rukus and other birds stirred awake and started greeting the new day with chirps and tweets and other calls, and Mry awoke and had their breakfast.
In the mustard-yellow house at the west corner of Viola Town, three Mry and a Kattin sat together in the kitchen to have breakfast together. There was a slight sense of excitement in the air; after two weeks, Lucinia had fully recuperated from her ordeal and gained a decent bit of weight on Skyfire's milk and the wholesome cooking of both the storm-grey Mry and her honey-colored sister Sunfire, and this day, for the first time, Lucinia would get to meet as good as all the other Mry of the town, besides doctor Healsong. After having taken their morning bath in the small Pine Pond which lay a few yards behind their house, Skyfire and Sunfire would from this morning on re-join the communal bath in the large Warm Lake again with their little sister Fleetfire, and Lucinia.
It would be a new experience for both the young Kattin, as for all the other Mry living in Viola Town. Except for doctor Healsong of course, who came by the yellow house daily to pick up and drop off Fleetfire, and who had also examined and treated Lucinia, no one in the town had ever seen a feline like Lucinia, who lacked the quadruped lower body. And Lucinia would for the first time get to meet a group of Mry that was way larger than three adults and one kitten, and witness the daily ritual of such a large group sharing a communal bath.
"Is much Mry in town, Sky Fire?" the slender kitten asked as she ate the last piece of her bread.
"Well, Viola Town is a relatively small town, but there's a decent-sized population here, yes," Skyfire nodded with a smile. "There's a couple dozen of us in this town. I'd say... oh... seventy, eighty of us, all in all."
"That's about right," Sunfire agreed. "There's room for a few more, but not all the houses in town are occupied."
"All big Mry?" Lucinia asked.
"Most of them are adults, yes," Skyfire smiled. "But there's a few of about Fleetfire's and your age, too."
"Yes, twenty-two, or twenty-three when counting you!" Fleetfire nodded. "We differ a bit in age, though. The youngest kit here in town is Moonlight, she's only twenty Seasons old, and the oldest kit is Morning Glory, she's sixty-eight Seasons old. You should see her! Her fur is so funky! It's all purple, a nice dark purple with light purple markings like flower petals! And her hair is purple too! Really beautiful! But anyway, so she's the oldest kit; she's actually almost an adult already. All the rest of us are kinda in between with our ages, and most of us are around forty to forty-eight Seasons old, like me, I'm forty Seasons old too. Well, actually, forty-one, if you count this Season."
"Oh. Is nice!" Lucinia smiled. "We same old, almost, I forty-two Seasons old. In my land, we count Seasons too."
"Cool!" Fleetfire said. "You like gotta tell us all about that land you come from! It sounds so interesting!"
"Yes, we'd love to hear about it, sweetie," Skyfire smiled, rising up. "But for now, let's get going to the Warm Lake, alright? It's about time." She softly stroked the Kattin's curly hair. "After the bath, when we've stopped by home here to dress, we'll walk Fleetfire to school, and then we'll show you around town, alright?"
"Yes!" Lucinia nodded happily. "I like see town!" She canted her head a bit, thinking on something. "I not go school too?"
"We'll talk to Windsong and Dreamweaver about getting you into their class, kiddo, but as it's the middle of the Season now, you'd have to wait till the start of the next Season at least," Sunfire said.
"Oh."
"And you know what's cool?" Fleetfire giggled. "What with you coming from a whole other land and such, you probably learned other things, so you might need some special lessons to get used to everything of our land! And that means you'll get into my class, because I get special lessons too since I'm blind!"
"That's very well possible," Skyfire nodded. "But like Sunfire said, we'll talk about that with miss Windsong or miss Dreamweaver after we dropped Fleetfire off at school. Come, let's get going now."
"Yes," Lucinia smiled, standing up. "I get dress and follow, Sky Fire."
The dark grey Mry smiled.
"You don't need to get your dress, sweetie. None of us bring our clothing to the communal bath, since we don't bathe with our clothes on, after all. We only need to bring our towels, some soap and brushes, that's all. After the bath, we'll walk home to get dressed, and those who work pick up the things they need for their work as well at that time. It's handier, because that way you don't have to carry too much with you when you go to the bath."
"Oh," Lucinia said again. "I understand."
She giggled softly as Fleetfire took her by a paw and started pulling her out of the kitchen and to the front door, following Skyfire, while Sunfire grabbed the small bag with pieces of soap and brushes and a few towels from the small room next to the kitchen. With the towels draped over their backs, and Lucinia holding hers over her free arm, they walked to the street that ran between the houses. The mustard-colored house in which the three Mry lived was the last in a row of fairly large houses, and a street paved with flat grey stones ran in two directions from right in front of their house; straight ahead towards the pass in the mountains enclosing the valley on the north-east side, and towards the right in between the row of large houses on the right side of the street, and a row of large-size cottages on the left side of the street.
Lucinia saw how the first three rather large houses after the house of Skyfire and Sunfire were uninhabited, although from the fourth house three Mry were coming; one adult female with a grey-blue fur and black hair, one female who seemed somewhat younger, and who had the fur in two tints of purple and the purple hair that Fleetfire had described when mentioning the Mry named Morning Glory earlier, and the third one was an even younger female with a deep yellow-ochre fur and blonde hair.
"That's Mountain Glory, Morning Glory and Golden Glory," Skyfire smiled when she saw Lucinia looking at them. "They're sisters, like Sunfire and Fleetfire and me are. Most of the couples you'll see in this town are sisters, although a few of the younger Mry are daughters of the older ones instead of sisters."
Lucinia nodded silently at Skyfire's words, too busy with looking around her to speak. Other Mry were coming from the large cottages on the left side of the road as well, all walking down the street that led further into the valley, in the direction of the mountains at the south-east side. The larger houses on the right side of the street ran all the way to the end, but on the left side, there were only a few cottages. Closer towards the end of the street was a very large building. It was twice as high as the houses, and several times as large. The small Kattin gazed at it with wide eyes.
"Wow... big house."
"That's the hotel," Skyfire said with a soft giggle. "There's a whole lot of rooms in there for Mry to sleep in. Sometimes, some of us in town want to spend a few nights together in another place than our own house, you know, and then we can use a room in the hotel. And we get travelers here too; Mry from other towns who bring items and food to the stores in our town here, and once every Cycle we have a market, and the merchants who come to sell things at the market can stay at the hotel afterwards so they don't have to travel back to their own town in the middle of the night."
"And right behind it, see that long white building?" Fleetfire, who was holding Lucinia by a paw, giggled. "That's doctor Healsong's hospital. When you're sick or injured, you can go here to have doctor Healsong make you better. I've spent a few nights and days there right after I got stung in my eyes by that yellow Buzzy." She giggled louder. "There's like real super-comfy beds and stuff there! It's all so nice that you would almost want to get sick or hurt just so you can spend some time in there!"
Lucinia let out a soft giggle of her own while she nodded a bit to Fleetfire's statement, looking at the indeed rather long, single-story building covered entirely in white plaster; even the roof tiles were plastered white. Walking in between Skyfire and Fleetfire, the small Kattin pressed herself up a bit closer against her protectors and step-sisters. Understandable, because by now a number of other Mry had joined them as they walked down the street, and of course all of them were staring at the little feline walking on only two legs. Many questions were asked, and while Skyfire was happily ready to give the same answers over and over as more Mry joined them, Sunfire took the lead and simply held up a paw.
"Look, we're almost at the Warm Lake, and everyone will be there, so that is where we will give all the answers to your questions, alright?" she stated. "That way we only have to tell the whole story once, instead of eighty times over."
Well, that was very logical, of course, and accepted by all the Mry who had joined the little group, although it did not stop them from looking at Lucinia and talking amongst each other. Still, they gave the small Kattin a bit more room, and as they reached the end of the street, Lucinia looked ahead of her with a soft gasp and her deep blue eyes wide and round. The street turned sharply to the left and to the right, leading to a bridge across a wide stream and through a gap in the mountains on the right, and towards a corner with another street running parallel to the one they had walked down on the left. Across from the street, however, a large stretch of grassland ran towards the wide creek, behind which the forest began, covering the last part of the level ground and running up along the side of the mountains, all the way to the top. The creek was coming out of an enormous lake to the left, which in turn was fed by a broad, high waterfall coming from the mountainside.
The lake was easily as large as half the town, and the waterfall was even twice as high as the hotel they had passed by on the way. Lucinia gasped softly as she looked at it; she had never seen anything like that in her entire life. Lush green forests, large lakes and waterfalls did not exist in the Kattin's desert-like homeland. She even stopped so abruptly in her tracks that Fleetfire felt a tug on her paw, which caused the young tabby Mry to turn her head in Lucinia's direction.
"What the matter, Lucie?"
"Is... so beautiful!" Lucinia gasped, staring at the lake and the waterfall, where a large group of Mry with all kinds of fur colors and patterns were converging. "So big water! Fall from mountain, so clear, so sparkling!"
"Ohh," Fleetfire giggled as she understood Lucinia's sudden stop. "You've never seen a waterfall?"
"No," Lucinia shook her head softly. "We not have in my land. Only small watering holes in... oasis. No rivers, no water falling from mountains. Is so beautiful!"
"Well, come on then, let's go look at it from closer by!" Fleetfire chortled. "All the others are already there too, I can smell it. You'll get to meet everyone, and you can feel how nice and warm the water is!"
"Yes, let's go, sweetie," Skyfire smiled.
They walked further towards the large lake. Lucinia could see how indeed the water was a bit warmed somehow; ever so slight tendrils of thin steam drifted up into the brisk morning air, quickly dissipated by the breeze. The air was filled with the sound of the rumbling and splashing water of the waterfall, and the voices of many Mry talking cheerfully with one another as they bathed in the lake, washing each other, in pairs of two or more, even in small groups. The voices gradually died down however as Skyfire, Sunfire, Fleetfire and Lucinia approached the lake, all heads turning to look at the so strange and unusual-looking newcomer with her pale cinnamon-colored fur, deep dark brown arms, legs, tail, ears and face, large blue eyes and significant lack of a quadruped lower body.
Soon enough, a barrage of questions rose up, water splashing as Mry stepped towards the shore to get closer to the sight. Lucinia shrank back a bit under all the stares, squeaking softly while she pressed herself up against Skyfire's side, half hiding behind the storm-grey Mry with her large pointy ears dipped sideways and her sleek tail drooping, almost tucked between her legs. Skyfire smiled and softly wrapped an arm around the Kattin's shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze, while Sunfire, after stroking Lucinia's hair and ears, climbed onto a rock and stood up straight, facing all the Mry.
"Sisters!" she said out loud. "Undoubtedly you have noticed Skyfire, Fleetfire and I have not joined the communal bath for the last half-Cycle, and you may have wondered why! Here you see the reason, and no doubt, judging by your surprise, you are all wondering who, and what, this girl is! I shall explain to you the story, which will answer most of your questions!" She looked around, seeing all Mry now looking up at her. "As you all know, a half-Cycle ago, there was a big storm! The next day, Skyfire and I went to the west Sand Shores to look for valuables that would have washed ashore. We found many things, and imagine our surprise when among the items that we found, was this little girl! When we found she was still alive, we brought her home with us and had Healsong examine her. Fortunately, we found her to be in good enough health, and during the next days, we nursed her back to health. However, as we knew you all would be very surprised at the sight of her and would most likely group all around her, we decided to take our morning baths in Pine Pond for a while, until we were certain that this little girl was completely back to health and strong again. Now then..!" Again Sunfire looked around her at all the others, laying a paw on Lucinia's shoulder. "This girl here is named Lucinia. She understands our language and speaks it rather decently as well, thus she has managed to tell us her name, and that she is a Kattin, coming from the land of Saloria. Her village was plundered and she was taken to be sold as a slave, but the ship she was taken on was wrecked in that storm and Lucinia here managed to keep herself from drowning by holding on to some driftwood, eventually to be washed ashore near Black Rock Point, where we found her. She is forty-two Seasons old, and we have adopted her as our step-sister, so she will live with us right here in Viola Town. So from today on, you will be seeing her a lot more. And let me tell you this; she may look different from us, and she may talk a bit differently, but she isn't different, so we do not wish to see any of you treating her differently. Alright?"
There were murmurs and nodding of heads in the large group of Mry. Sunfire also nodded, curling her lips into a smile.
"Good, I am glad to hear that." She looked over at two Mry, one with a pale silvergrey fur, the other with a fur in a very special tint of light skyblue, streaked with a pale, light lilac color like fleeting clouds. "Windsong, Dreamweaver, we will bring Fleetfire to school ourselves after the bath, and we'll be wanting to talk to you about getting Lucinia into school when the next Season starts, okay?"
"I don't think there would be any problems with that, Sunfire," Windsong, the pale silvergrey Mry said with a smile. "We'll be glad to have her."
"Good, thank you," Sunfire nodded. She looked at all the others again. "Alright, this should have answered most if not all of your questions. Let us commence with the bathing now. If there are any further questions, we will be glad to answer them, but I say again; Lucinia may look different, but she is no different than all of us, so there will be nothing out of the ordinary about the situation; she is just another girl who has come to live in Viola Town."
There was more murmuring and nodding of heads, accompanied by the sound of splashing water as the Mry began to disperse again to resume their bathing. Many of them still gazed at Lucinia as they went, curiously, but with friendly smiles that worked a lot for the Kattin's peace of mind. She stopped hiding behind Skyfire, looking around herself at all the wet taurs with equal curiosity, her ears slowly pricking back up. There was one thing in particular that caught Lucinia's eye.
"Sky Fire?" she asked as the storm-grey Mry calmly led her into the, indeed pleasantly warm, water of the lake. "All Mry... is girl Mry?"
Skyfire giggled softly and nodded.
"Here in Viola Town, there's only females indeed, sweetie. There are male Mry, you probably noticed a number of them in Oceanside when we went to Wavewatcher's wharf to borrow a boat, and there's a good lot of male Mry in Mountain City too, and in Big Lake Town, and I believe there's even only males in Arrow Reef Village, but here in Viola Town, there's only females."
"Oh," Lucinia said. She smiled a bit. "Is nice."
"Yeah, it's real nice!" Fleetfire giggled, taking Lucinia by a paw. "C'mon Lucie, come wash me, okay? I'll do you. And you can come meet my friends!"
"Yes, I like," Lucinia smiled.
She followed Fleetfire a little way along the shore of the lake, to a shallow spot where a couple of other smaller, young Mry were gathered together, helping each other with their washing. There was the one with the deep ochre-golden fur and blonde hair they had seen walking ahead of them in the street; there were two who looked remarkably alike, both with brown fur decorated with a pattern of grayish black tabby stripes; the only differences between them were that one had dark brown hair and the other had black hair, and the brown-haired one's striped fur also paled to a cream-like white color on the chest and tummy of both her upper torso and her quadruped lower body. A somewhat small but lanky Mry girl had a simple black fur and black hair, and Lucinia smiled a bit when she saw how the last of the Mry kits in the group looked a bit like her; the same pattern in her fur, although her fur was white, with her arms, four legs, tail, ears and the mask in her face being of a light grey-blue tint with an almost lilac sheen to it.
All of them looked up when Fleetfire stepped closer with Lucinia, smiling and calling out.
"Hey Fleetfire!"
"We missed you the last half-Cycle!"
"How are you doing?"
"Is that your new sister? She's pretty."
"Isn't she?" Fleetfire giggled, still holding Lucinia by a paw. She moved her head from left to right, sniffing at the air before pointing to each of the other young Mry with her other paw. "Lucie, these are Golden Glory, Cloudchaser, Dartfoot and Fleetfoot, and Nightshade. They're friends of mine."
"It's nice to meet you, Lucinia," Cloudchaser, the white Mry with the grey-blue markings, said with a smile. "That's a very pretty name, too."
"I thank you," Lucinia said, canting her head a bit as she looked at the girl. "You look nice. Your fur look like fur my mother."
"Why, thanks," Cloudchaser smiled.
The small and lanky black one, Nightshade, giggled.
"You talk funny. Do all people of your kind talk like that?"
"No, Kattin talk other language. But I live near sea. In school, we learn talk of coast folk, they talk like you," Lucinia said with a soft purr as Fleetfire began to wash her hair and rub her shoulders.
"You come from Saloria, Sunfire said, right?" Golden Glory asked while she washed Cloudchaser's feral lower back. "My mom heard tales of that land when we lived in Oceanside. What's it like there?"
"Is much desert," Lucinia said, squeezing her eyes under Fleetfire's rubbing paws. "All sand, much much sun, very hot. No big water or falling water, like here. No big trees, too. We have long trees, thin, have big long leaves and big nuts on top. Is milk in nuts, sweet milk, very nice."
"Oh yes, I've seen those nuts on the market in Oceanside," Golden Glory nodded. "Those come from Saloria? That's awesome, I never knew that."
"Hey, Lucinia?" Fleetfoot, the brown tabby Mry with the brown hair and cream chest and tummy, said, looking up from washing her sister's black hair. "Can you hunt?"
Lucinia looked around, canting her head a bit.
"Hunt? Uh... no? I not learn, hunt."
"Ohh, we gotta teach you, then!" Fleetfoot said. "It can be real exciting, you know, and it's important, too; hunting is the way you get food. Of course, you can just buy it in the stores here in town, but it's much nicer to catch something yourself."
"Oh, like fish?" Lucinia said, her eyes lighting up a bit. "Fleet Fire teach me catch fish with pole."
"Yeah, and she's real good at it, too!" Fleetfire giggled. "On her first time out, she caught more fish than me!"
"That's cool," Dartfoot smiled, shaking out her wet hair when her sister was done with it. "We'll teach you to catch Hoppies, too; they're tasty, and there's lots of them outside the valley. And there's bunches of Swimmers in the marsh at the end of the valley. They're much harder to catch, but the effort is definitely worth it! They taste very good, and their pelts are quite valuable too."
"Are there like many animals to catch where you live, Lucinia?" Fleetfoot asked.
"Is Hissbeasts," Lucinia said with a nod. "They strange, look like big big long tail with only head on end. And is Squeakbeasts, very small, but funny, with big long legs and big ears, and long tail with plume."
"You have Hissies and Squeakies in your land?" Cloudchaser said. "We have those here too. There's Hissies in the marsh. Different ones, too; some live in the trees, but there's good swimmers too that live on the ground and in the water. They look rather nice, with all their colors and all, but they're dangerous."
"Yes, Hissbeasts dangerous," Lucinia nodded in agreement. "Not hunt Hissbeasts, but I learn kill them. Is needed. Hissbeast bite you, you go dead." She canted her head. "Hissbeasts here too? They make rattle sound too?"
"Rattle sound?"
"Yes. In my land, Hissbeasts have thing on tail. They shake, makes rattle sound."
"That's odd," Cloudchaser giggled softly. "The Hissies here don't have that. But they're still dangerous, alright, when they bite you, you will die too. But if you can kill them, you're lucky! That skin they have is very precious. I heard that in Mountain City, they pay three to five gold for Hissy skins."
"Are there birds in Saloria too?" Nightshade asked.
"Yeah! Screechbirds! They nasty, they eat dead people." Lucinia made a face, then giggled softly. "Is funny birds too, Runbirds, with big long legs and big long neck! They no fly, but run fast! And when they scared, they go; flop! Stick head in sand!"
The others all laughed and giggled.
"That's so weird!" Fleetfoot giggled.
"Well, what did you expect?" a new voice sounded. "Everything about this one is weird."
Lucinia and some of the others looked around. The new voice belonged to another young Mry, who certainly looked quite unusual herself, as her fur was quite thick, and a deep green in color, about the same shade of the pine trees growing on the mountainside. Random patches of lighter green and light brown mixed with the dark green color in a tortoiseshell pattern, and the girl's hair was the same tint of brown as some of the patches in her fur. She was rather short for a Mry; her four feral legs were shorter than usual, as was her tail, and her upper torso was very compact in build. One might even say; stunted.
Fleetfire smirked when the green-furred Mry broke into their conversation, and Lucinia noticed the other Mry girls also weren't exactly looking very pleased.
"Hush up, Morningdew," Fleetfire said with her ears half flattened. "No one asked you."
"What, can't have it someone says the truth about your little freak friend?" Morningdew sneered. "You can't deny it; she is weird. Look at that, she has the tail of a Squeaky!" She pulled Lucinia's tail, then smacked the Kattin's rump. "And look at that thin skinny ass!"
Lucinia squeaked and backed away from the green-furred Mry, while Fleetfire reared up and slapped Morningdew's paw away with one of her forepaws.
"You're one to talk about looking weird, stumpypaws!" she growled. "Leave her alone!"
"Oh boo hoo hoo. Are you gonna make me, blindface?" Morningdew said in a challenging tone.
"If she won't, we will," said yet another new voice behind Morningdew.
The green-furred Mry cringed just a bit. Behind her were standing Sunfire, and another adult Mry with a fur in a similar golden color, but even brighter, and the same tint all over her body. It was that second Mry who had spoken up, her ears flattened, an eyebrow quirked and her paws on her hips as she looked down at Morningdew, her tail swinging in an agitated manner.
"I told you to stop harassing others," the golden Mry said coolly. She grabbed Morningdew by an arm and pulled her away from Fleetfire and Lucinia. "Go get dried off, and don't let me catch you pestering them again."
"Yes mom," Morningdew huffed. It didn't sound very remorseful.
As she waded away through the water, the golden Mry turned back to Lucinia and smiled softly.
"I'm sorry about that, dear. I hope she didn't hurt you?"
"Uh... no," Lucinia said softly, stepping out from behind Fleetfire. "I just surprised, not expect hard touch."
"Oh, alright," the golden Mry smiled. "If she pesters you again, just let me know, okay?" She offered a paw. "I'm Honeydew, by the way, Morningdew's mother."
"I Lucinia," Lucinia said, putting her paw in Honeydew's paw. "Nice meet you, Honey Dew."
"It's very nice to meet you too, dear," Honeydew smiled. "And forget what Morningdew said; you don't look weird, I think you look very pretty."
"I thank you," Lucinia said with a soft smile.
"You're welcome, dear," Honeydew giggled softly. "Well, I'd better go see what kind of trouble she's getting herself into now. See you around, okay?"
"And we should be going too, kiddos," Sunfire added. "It's time to get dried off and go home to pick up Fleety's things for school."
"Alrighty!" Fleetfire smiled. She turned her head to the other young Mry. "See you all in a bit! I'm bringing some extra fish for lunch, we can trade! I hope any of you will bring Ruku legs or wings, mmm!"
She waved cheerfully at the others, taking Lucinia by a paw to follow Sunfire back to where Skyfire was waiting for them with the towels. Lucinia waved at the other young Mry as well, smiling.
"You friends nice, Fleet Fire," she commented as she stepped out of the water to let Skyfire dry her off. Her nose rumpled a bit. "Not Morning Dew. She not nice."
"Yeah, Morningdew's a rotten egg," Fleetfire smirked. "She's not my friend, in fact, she's nobody's friend. No one likes her, because she's a stupid..."
"Fleety, mind your words," Sunfire admonished, though she couldn't help one of her upper lips curling into a half grin.
Fleetfire chortled softly.
"Sorry. But she just is a rotten egg."
"Yes, I feel sorry for Honeydew, she has bunches of troubles with that kit," Skyfire said, brushing Lucinia's hair. "Best try and stay away from her a bit, sweetie; she's a troublemaker."
Lucinia nodded, looking up and waving with a smile when some of the other young Mry she had met stepped past them, accompanied by one or two adult Mry each, and waved at her and Fleetfire while calling out cheery greetings. A moment later, Skyfire and Sunfire took her and Fleetfire by a paw and started walking back to their house, where they dressed in their leather vests, while Fleetfire put on a green shirt and white belt, and Lucinia put on the purple dress Skyfire had made for her and the broad brown belt she had gotten from Fleetfire. Skyfire also took the rest of the roll of purple satin she had made Lucinia's dress out of, plus two of the larger swords and one of the gold sickles they had found on the beach two weeks earlier, and she smiled at Lucinia, nodding at the large chest full of silver coins that Lucinia had found.
"Fill a pouch with your coins and bring it with you, sweetie," she smiled. "When we show you around town, you might see some things you like in the shops, so it'll be handy to have some silver with you."
"I'm bringing some of these too," Sunfire said, putting two of the silver bars from one of the boxes they had salvaged from the sunken ship by the reef in one of her saddle bags. "She'll need a bow. We can get one at the metal shop, but I'll have Fireglow make a bow for her from this silver too."
"Good idea," Skyfire nodded. "Fleety, do you have everything?"
"Yep, all ready!" Fleetfire giggled, patting her saddle bag with her short white staff.
Skyfire chuckled and nodded, taking Lucinia by a paw again, while Sunfire did the same with Fleetfire. They walked back out and down the street, but this time, at the end of the street, they turned left and followed the street into town. Lucinia saw that behind the hospital, at the corner of the two streets, was a rather large building, with a large open side on one end, and a door on the front. There were three cars in the building; a black one without doors and wheels, standing on stone blocks, a white one of which the hood was opened, and a green one, also with the hood opened, and a black and white Mry in a leather vest and apron leaning over under the hood, doing something inside the car.
"That's the repair station for our autocarts," Skyfire smiled when she saw Lucinia looking at it. "When an autocart is broken, we can bring it here, and Dawnbreak will fix it. She studied in Mountain City, where autocarts are made, and she can fix any problem."
They walked around the building, seeing two other buildings at the other side of the street. One was a very small building, the other was rather long, with half of the front being open, giving way into a large floor space with an enormous fireplace on one side and several large tables along the walls, with racks holding tools against the walls above the tables. In the middle of the floor was a large anvil with a vat of water next to it, and a tiger Mry, with deep, bright orange fur and black stripes, also wearing a leather apron that went from her upper chest all the way down to her feral forepaws, was holding a glowing piece of metal between tongs onto the anvil, hammering on it, sending sparks flying everywhere. She stopped for a moment to wave with the paw in which she was holding the hammer when the three Mry and the Kattin passed by the shop.
"That's Fireglow, the metal smith," Sunfire explained. "She can make anything from every kind of metal." She smiled at her sister. "You walk on to the school with the kits, sis, I'll talk to Fireglow while I'm here anyway and ask her to make a bow for Lucinia from the silver blocks."
"Alright, we'll meet you outside the school," Skyfire nodded with a smile.
Sunfire nodded and gave a wave with her paw, stepping into the smithy, while Skyfire led Fleetfire and Lucinia further down the street, which opened onto a large open space paved with the same flat grey stones. Skyfire pointed out a few of the other buildings as she walked across the large square; the herb shop next to the smithy, and the weapons shop next to the repair station. A larger shop on the right of the square, next to the small herb shop, had a few stalls in front of it, displaying crates of fruits and vegetables, and next to that was a smaller shop of which the door was open, showing a calico Mry, white of fur with orange and black patches, laying on her feral chest and tummy on a low table, sewing a shirt from a piece of yellow fabric while humming a tune to herself.
Lucinia saw how more adult Mry were accompanying younger ones to the large building that was sort of wrapped around the corner of the square. The light silvergrey Mry named Windsong was standing in front of the building, waving at Lucinia as Skyfire led her towards the building. The other young Mry also greeted Lucinia and Fleetfire cheerfully as they stepped closer.
"This is the school," Skyfire said. "Miss Windsong is the bard and teacher of Viola Town, and she teaches lessons together with miss Dreamweaver, who's our town's story-teller."
"Miss Dreamweaver tells awesome stories!" Fleetfire chimed in. "Even if you're not in our school yet, you should really come here at story day and listen to one of miss Dreamweaver's stories! They're amazing!"
"I want," Lucinia nodded with a smile. "I like stories."
She looked up when the Mry with the light skyblue and lilac fur stepped out of the school building as well. Skyfire let Fleetfire walk up to her friends together with Lucinia while she herself stepped over to the skyblue Mry, talking to her softly. Every now and then, they looked over to where Lucinia and Fleetfire were talking and giggling with the other young Mry. Eventually the light blue Mry nodded and shook paws with Skyfire, who walked back to Fleetfire and Lucinia.
"Well, miss Dreamweaver will be happy to take you into the school at the start of the new Season, sweetie, and she agreed that it would probably be better to have you in a separate class for the first few Seasons until you're all up to date on Mry culture and history and everything," she smiled.
"Awesome! We'll be in class together, Lucie!" Fleetfire said happily.
"You will indeed," Skyfire nodded. She leaned over to press a soft kiss upon Fleetfire's forehead. "Now, have a good day at school, Fleety, alright? Doctor Healsong will bring you home, like usual."
"Okie dokie!" the yellow and orange tabby Mry said cheerfully. She gave Lucinia a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You have an awesome day too, Lucie! Have fun exploring the town with Skyfire! There's lots of cool stuff to see!"
Lucinia giggled softly.
"I thank you, Fleet Fire. You have good day too. I tell things when you back home."
"Great! That'll be fun!" Fleetfire smiled. She turned her head around with her ears perked when Windsong clapped her paws and called all the young Mry to attention. "Well, gotta go now. Bye! See you later!"
Turning around, she joined her friends who were all walking to the main entrance of the school building, following Windsong and Dreamweaver inside. Lucinia and Skyfire looked at it for a moment, then the storm-grey Mry turned to Lucinia with a smile and took the Kattin by a paw.
"Well, let's show you around town a bit, sweetie. We'll wait here for Sunfire to come back from the smithy, but I can already show you a lot of things. Look..." She gestured around her with her free paw, indicating the large square they were standing on. "This is our town's market square. When there's a market, Mry from the shops here, and traveling merchants, set up stalls all over this square to sell their goods. It's always very busy and very nice, and you can find and buy things that are not usually found in this valley." She pointed at the small building next to the school along the long side of the square, and another building next to the school at the short side of the square. "You already saw the tailor shop; that's where Dapplepatch makes clothes, from fabrics and from leather. She also makes belts and pouches and the backpacks and side bags we wear to carry things in, and protective carrying bags for musical instruments for instance, and sheaths for weapons and such. That other building there is the bread shop and bakery; Morningcloud is our baker, and she makes delicious bread and cookies and cakes."
Lucinia looked over at the bakery and stuck her nose in the air, sniffing deeply. Indeed there was a smell of freshly baked bread drifting out from the shop's windows.
"Smell nice," she smiled with a soft purr.
"Yes, the smell of Morningcloud's baking can make you really hungry," Skyfire chuckled softly. "And see that big building next to her shop? That's the inn. We can go there to have a drink and talk with others, and to listen to Windsong play and sing or Dreamweaver telling a story, and there's also a few rooms where you can sleep or cuddle with someone. They're smaller and cheaper than the rooms in the hotel, and usually only used for one night, but they're very comfortable."
"And you get a nice view over the creek from the rooms in the back," sounded Sunfire's voice from behind them.
They both looked around, and smiled at the honey-colored Mry stepping up to them.
"Ah, Sunfire, you're back," Skyfire chuckled. "What did Fireglow say?"
"She was impressed with the quality of the silver blocks. It's not gonna be a problem to make a very nice bow out of one of them, and she'll make arrowheads and buckles for the straps of the quiver out of the other block I gave her," Sunfire told them. "Have you talked to Windsong or Dreamweaver yet?"
"That's good," Skyfire smiled, nodding her head. "Yes, I spoke with miss Dreamweaver, and she'll take in Lucinia at the start of the coming Season, putting her in the same class as Fleetfire for a few Seasons to let her catch up with all the culture and history and stuff, and then Lucinia can join the others in the regular class."
"Good good, that's all taken care of, then," Sunfire said. "Here, you know what? Give me those swords and the roll of satin, and I'll go talk to Dapplepatch and to Eveningstar over in the metal shop and see what I can trade them for, and you can show the kiddo around town."
"We'd best go together, sis. I was thinking we might get some clothes and an iron or wood bow for Lucinia with some of this, and both Dapplepatch and Eveningstar will need to get her size. Besides, it'll be nice for her to pick out some things she'll like herself," Skyfire brought up.
"Sometimes that noggin of yours works half decently, sis," Sunfire grinned. "That's a good idea. Alright, let's go."
They turned and stepped into the small tailor shop next to the school building to talk with the calico Mry, who was now sewing sleeves to a blue shirt. A good trade was made for the roll of purple satin, and although there of course were no clothes that were really suitable for a Kattin as all clothing was made for Mry, Dapplepatch offered a long grass green shirt she had once made for Healsong, which was so large that it came down below Lucinia's hips like a short dress. After taking the little feline's sizes with a tape-measure she had hanging around her neck, Dapplepatch promised to alter the green shirt so it would fit Lucinia like a decent short dress, and she let the Kattin pick out a few more items, like a belt in blank leather that went quite well with her pale cinnamon-colored fur, and a small backpack in fine white leather. Lucinia also found a hat she loved very much; a small half-ball of light blue cotton with a wide, floppy brim and a very big, luscious blue feather stuck behind the darker blue cotton band that adorned the ball of the hat.
Stepping out of the tailor store, Skyfire and Sunfire took Lucinia down the street that ran in front of the inn. On the left were several large cottages; on the right was a building that, judging by the rolls of sausages and such displayed in the window, couldn't be anything but a butcher shop. While they were there anyway, Skyfire bought some meat for dinner, and Lucinia bought a spicy sausage to nibble on while she followed the two adult Mry around town, beguiled by the herbal smell of the sausage.
A small side street ran between the butcher shop and another shop that was closed down, the windows shuttered; it had apparently not been used for quite a while. Skyfire walked into the side street a little way, pointing out another small side street and a few buildings. The building on the right, flanking the stream, had a gigantic water wheel, and there were lightningbolts drawn on the door and the walls.
"Remember that prickly invisible stuff we make our lamps burn with that I told you about?" Skyfire smiled at Lucinia, who nodded with her mouth full. "It's made from the movement of the water in that building with the big wheel over there. That other building, with the small wheel, is the grist mill; that's where the grain and corn and wheat that's grown on the farms outside of town is ground into flour and all. Morningcloud sells it, and she also uses it to bake bread and cookies and so with. That really big building next to the mill is a warehouse where we store supplies, like grain and corn from the farms, and stone from the quarry which you can see on the other side of the stream, and processed timber from the lumberyards that are also outside of town, near the marshland."
"The lumberyards are not in full use, though," Sunfire added. "There's no one working there every day, it's more that when one of us has a need for timber, like planks to build something with, they go to the lumberyard, use the tools from there to cut down a tree in the forest, and process it into planks and such in the lumberyard building." They walked back down the small street, and Sunfire pointed at the empty, closed-down building across the street from the butcher shop. "This is why the lumberyards are not in full use anymore. This building is the carpentry; it used to be operated by Moonglow, Fireglow's sister, but she died a few Seasons ago, unfortunately. It's really a shame, because Moonglow used to make amazing furniture like cabinets and closets and tables and such; they were so good and so beautiful that even Mry from other towns came to Viola Town to buy them."
"Yes, Moonglow's carving work was renowned," Skyfire nodded. "She made Fleetfire's walking staff, for instance."
They walked further down the street, passing a number of large cottages that were on the right and the left of the street, until the street ended at a wide road running from left to right along the town. The road was easily wide enough for three cars to ride on side by side, and it also was paved with the flat grey stones. Halting on the corner where the town street connected to the road, Skyfire placed a paw on Lucinia's shoulder and pointed with her other paw down the road to the north-east, where it crossed the stream via a wide, low bridge and ran past a very large building and through the gap between the mountains enclosing the valley. Right in front of hem, across the road, was a field of very short grass with several neat rows of flowering trees; wide, round trees with pink flowers all over them, and a few rows of narrow trees with strange bulbous trunks and purplish flowers on them. More to the left, rows of fresh green conifer trees fenced off fields of tall green plants that calmly swayed in the breeze. Two narrow paved streets ran towards the end of the valley in between the fields.
"Look," Skyfire smiled. "Over there is the main entrance to Viola Valley, and those big buildings are the quarry, where they get the stone that all houses are built from, and the streets are paved with. There's also a clay pit, near the stream, see? They get clay from there that is made into bricks, and also into vases and urns and pots and stuff, and it's used to cover the walls of the houses with to make them look smoother. That big road opposite the buildings leads to the lumberyards." She pointed to the neat, straight rows of flowering trees right in front of them. "That's the fruit orchard. In Grow Season, those big round trees get full of apples and cherries and pears, and those weird thin trees get oranges and lemons on them."
Just as Skyfire was explaining that to Lucinia, a Mry wearing a blue shirt and a straw hat appeared between the trees, pinching away flowers here and there from some of the thin trees. Her fur was a light russet orange, paling to white on the chest and tummy of both her anthro upper torso and her feral lower body, and random patches of white were all over her anthro upper and feral lower back, sides, tail, arms and four paws. The left front foot and right hind foot of her feral paws, and her right paw, were also white, and there was a white spot over her muzzle and right eye. Skyfire giggled softly.
"Ah, and that's the orchard keeper, Applesauce."
Lucinia snorted a giggle, looking up.
"What?"
Sunfire grinned a bit, giving her storm-grey sister a playful swat over the ears.
"Don't teach the kit such silly things, you weirdo." She winked at Lucinia. "That woman's real name is Orangeblossom. But Skyfire is half right; everyone always calls her Applesauce, because she makes delicious applesauce. She doesn't mind if you call her Applesauce, either; she thinks it's rather funny, and she even calls herself that."
"See, so I wasn't teaching Lucinia anything silly," Skyfire chuckled, sticking out her tongue at Sunfire. She turned to Lucinia with a smile. "Applesauce lives in the farm at the end of the orchard, and her fruit is sold in the fruit store in town. You can't see it from here, but those two streets lead to the farms on the other sides of those fields, and around Applesauce's farm, she has a whole lot of berry bushes, too. Lots of different berries; cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants, you name it! And she even has a few banana trees, and she grows pineapples and grapes and several kinds of nuts, too! The soil in this valley is very nutritious, see, and at the very end there is the marshland, which gets the most sun because there's almost no mountains there, and all those fruit trees grow like you wouldn't believe down there."
"Yes, and on the other farms, they grow what you can see in those fields behind the conifer trees there; grain and corn and wheat and barley, and closer to the farm houses there's big vegetable patches where they grow carrots and lettuce and cabbages and beans and onions and garlic and several kinds of herbs, and actually too much to sum up," Sunfire said. "Those two farms are operated by the largest family of Mry living in Viola Valley, the Flower family; Daisyflower, Sunflower, Flaxflower, Orchidflower, Irisflower and Reedflower."
"And don't forget their little sister Cauliflower," Skyfire giggled.
"Oh hush, you weirdo," Sunfire sniggered, giving Skyfire another playful swat over the ears before looking at Lucinia. "They do have a little sister, but her name is Cloverflower, not Cauliflower."
Lucinia nodded with a soft giggle. Munching on the last piece of her spicy sausage, she slowly licked her paw and rubbed her whiskers, canting her head a bit in thought.
"I notice..." she said slowly, looking up at Sunfire. "Last part of name same, then they sisters? Like, they all called Flower, is sisters. You Sun Fire and Sky Fire and Fleet Fire, is sisters. Miss doctor Heal Song, miss teacher Wind Song, is sisters. So, last part of name is same, then Mry sisters?"
"Very clever!" Skyfire smiled, stroking Lucinia's hair. "Indeed, sweetie, when the second part of the names of two or more Mry are the same, then they are family, usually sisters, or mother and daughter. Or brothers, or mother or father and son, of course, in the towns where also male Mry live."
Lucinia nodded again, smiling while she took Skyfire's paw. They calmly walked back into town, this time following the street that ran in between two rows of large cottages, while Sunfire explained that on the back side of the Flower farms, facing the marshland, Reedflower took care of several unusual beds of sugar reeds and such, and that next to the Flower farms, close to the side of the mountains, was one other, smaller farm where a Mry named Dualtone herded several kinds of animals like cows and goats, of which the milk, and the butter and cheese made of it, was also sold in town.
Once more reaching the town square, they turned right and walked to the metal shop next to the large hotel. All kinds of items made by Fireglow in the smithy were sold there; tools for all kinds of jobs, from gardening to wood working to stone cutting, parts for the cars the Mry drove, and weapons, mostly swords and daggers and such, but also bows made of several types of metal, and different kinds of wood. Even though Lucinia had never held a bow before, she needed one to practice with as it was a craft she would need to learn, and with the help of the white with silver tabby patches Mry named Eveningstar, the shop's proprietor, they selected a nice small shortbow of beech wood with a decorated copper grip in the middle for the young Kattin, along with a brown leather quiver. Lucinia beamed when Eveningstar complimented her on the cute blue hat she was wearing.
All done in the town, the three of them stepped past the hotel and through the narrow street that ran along the side of the hotel, coming out on the street along which the large houses were. A brisk walk later, they were back at the house at the outer west corner of the town, going inside to make and have some food. The town was not very big, but after walking all through and around it, it was time for lunch.
