"It's time to get up," a voice said as I felt my shoulder being nudged roughly. However, my mind was still imprisoned within the throes of my beauty rest and failed to connect these words with the need for action on my part. I was quite happy when the pest finally left me alone. But suddenly, something slammed into my chest. The tremendous force of the blow knocked the air right out of my chest. "Ooofff!" I gasped as my body went into an emergency fight-or-flight mode. Fully awake now, I opened my eyes and saw a furry foot on my chest. As my eyes followed from the foot up the leg, along with the torso, and finally to the head, my suspicion was confirmed—my assailant was none other than Kalistra!

I glanced at the pop-up message and it read, "-5 Health." Ouch. "Couldn't you try to wake me like a normal person?" I grumbled as I slowly pulled myself off the ground. My back was stiff and my neck was sore from sleeping on the hardwood floor.

"I did. I nudged you gently on the shoulder but you wouldn't wake up. I don't like to repeat myself," she sniffed and turned her face away from me. With feline grace, the cat girl jumped back to her feet. "Follow me if you want breakfast," she said. Kalistra slid open the side panel and entered the narrow hallway.

Since I wasn't provided with a bedroll or blanket last night, I had decided to wear my studded leather armor for warmth when I slept. And it took a few hours of counting sheep before I managed to fall asleep in such horrible conditions. I did unclip the scabbard from my belt, though, when I went to sleep and I quickly reattached the scabbard before I left the meditation room.

Once I stepped out of the room, Kalistra slid the panel back into place. The heir of the school pressed a hidden button on the wall and slid the panel to her right.

Purple-yellow rays of light shone into the hallway along with a cool morning breeze. My brows knotted when I realized that it was not yet dawn. "Why are we up so early?" I asked while stifling a yawn. I needed my morning coffee.

"While I would love to keep you locked up inside the dojo until our journey tomorrow morning, I understand that you have a number of things to tidy up before you leave town. For example, how long did you rent your room at The Noble Lady?" she asked.

My eyes bulged at the question. Kalistra was right! I paid for seven days of room and board at the inn, and there was a good possibility that I won't return to Tregome by the seventh day. I needed to say goodbye to Amelica. The thought made me very sad. But then I realized why the cat girl had woke me up so early today; this would allow me to spend a little bit of my precious time with Amelica before her morning shift started. In other words, the cat girl did me a big favor. "Thank you, Kalistra," I said with heartfelt sincerity. Beneath her fickle exterior, Kalistra had a heart of gold.

"You can thank you by walking right now," she hissed. The cat girl grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the courtyard.

"Um, is it okay for you to be holding my hand?" I asked timidly. I didn't want to be punished and forced to run laps around the dojo again.

Kalistra's eyes lit and her white fur straightened as she suddenly remembered why it was taboo for her to hold my hand. She immediately released it as if it was a poisonous snake. "Please keep up with me," she said and started running on all four paws, heading for the exit.

I ran hard to keep up with her.

My teacher stopped in front of the door; she opened the heavy door and tapped her foot impatiently while waiting for me to walk through the doorway. Once I stepped out into the street, she slammed the door shut behind me, probably waking up the entire neighborhood. I saw Kalistra's tail dangling happily in the air, and I knew that she did it on purpose. What an evil minx!

Without casting a glance back at me, Kalistra returned to all four paws on the ground and started running north.

I ran at full speed but barely managed to keep her in my sight. However, the cat girl had to stop at the end of each intersection for incoming traffic; this allowed me to catch up with her.

We continued with this start-and-stop routine for several blocks until we arrived at The Noble Lady. When we entered the common room, it was empty.

Hearing the door shut, someone yelled from the kitchen, "Sorry, our kitchen is not open yet! Please have a seat!" The voice was very familiar.

Kalistra and I traded looks as we started to walk across the common room.

Finally, Amelica walked out of the kitchen. "Oh, you're back milord!" she said in surprise. Her beautiful face quickly turned angry. "Where were you last night? I was so worried because I was certain that you didn't know about our town's curfew," Amelica said as she placed her hands on her hips.

Kalistra raised her paw to draw the angry woman's attention. "It was my fault. My dad and I needed to talk to Lawrence yesterday and we kept him out past curfew. We should have sent him home and then wait until today to discuss school matters with him. Please don't be angry with this idiot," she requested sincerely while poking my cheek.

Amelica frowned at the cat girl but finally relented. After all, her son, Gendun, was an apprentice at the dojo; if the mother made Kalistra mad then the instructor could easily turn around and make her son's life more difficult during his apprenticeship with the school.

I mouthed a silent "Thank you" to the cat girl, but she pointedly turned her face away and instead navigated her way past the empty tables to take the one where I usually sat. I turned my attention back to Amelica. "Can we talk upstairs?" I asked quietly.

The barmaid nodded and started to turn back toward the kitchen when she finally noticed Vern standing in front of the kitchen door.

"Is everything alright?" the orc grumbled.

"It was just a misunderstanding," Amelica smiled reassuringly.

"What are you having for breakfast, young lady?" the innkeeper called out to the seated patron at the back of the room.

"Since Lawrence is paying for breakfast, I'll take a chicken noodle soup," Kalistra replied and grinned at me.

"The soup isn't ready yet. We didn't expect to serve breakfast before our six o'clock opening," the orc noted as he read the time on the clock above the exit; it was roughly fifteen minutes to six. "But the soup is almost ready. If you're willing to wait another five minutes, you can have the first serving from our pot. In the meantime, may I offer you warm milk with honey and biscuits as appetizers?" he suggested.

Kalistra's eyes momentarily flickered to me and then back to Vern. She grinned broadly as she nodded in agreement. "That would be purr-fectly fine," she replied and started purring.

I groaned inwardly. On top of the soup, Kalistra will make me pay for appetizers? And why was she purring? Heck, I didn't realize that she COULD purr. It was so creepy! Kalistra acted like a teenage girl so often that I forgot she was also a cat person. OF COURSE, she could purr when she was in the mood, like now. This girl obviously loved to take advantage of me and enjoyed doing so very much. But considering the fact that she had just bailed me out with Amelica, I owed the cat girl whatever she wanted for breakfast. Hopefully, it won't cost more than a gold coin; I was not confident that I will be reimbursed for whatever expenses I incur during my journey on behalf of either the dojo or the church. Thus, I needed to save my coins for unexpected costs during the mission. "Please make it two soups, Vern. I'll be right back," I promised. I looked at Amelica and pointed at the steps.

She nodded slightly.

Vern grunted and returned to the kitchen.

"I need to go back to my room," I said nonchalantly to Kalistra.

The cat girl turned her head from myself to Amelica and offered me a knowing grin. "Sure. Take as much time as you want, milord." She waved her paw dismissively.

The two of us blushed at the innuendo. I hadn’t planned on doing THAT. Looking straight down at the floor, I practically ran for the stairs. When I started climbing the steps, I heard my girlfriend walking right behind me. After I reached the second floor and stood in front of room “F,” I fished my room key out of my waist pouch and unlocked the door to my room. I waved for Amelica to enter. Once she was inside, I entered my room and closed the door behind me. We had many things to discuss in a very short period of time.