Vhalar 36th, 718
Qit'ria sat on a crate, overlooking the ocean from the ship that her, Caza, and Oonah had taken from Volta, on their way to Andaris. Qit'ria hadn't talked much during their entire departure, her mind focusing on the objective. Get Yeye back from these so called "Mantis" people. Make them regret ever considering taking her father. And find her mother. And kill her. That woman was nothing but lies upon lies. Qit'ria knew it had all been too good to be true. Her mother had taken advantage of her father's good nature, used him as bait so she could go after Qit'ria too.
But that still left a hole in her logic, one that she was refusing to acknowledge.
Why hadn't her mother taken her? She'd proven more capable than Qit'ria. The huntress ignored this gaping concern as she watched the smooth ocean pass her by. At least she didn't get seasick anymore. Enough time spent on Enrick's own ship she supposed. She wondered how he and Ellen were doing. She hadn't even said goodbye to them. She hadn't said it to anyone. Desnind was no home of hers at this point. Just a painful memory, just like before. There was a small grunt from the basket by her side, and she looked down at her daughter. The little girl was yawning, and Qit'ria knew it was time to put her down for a nap.
She hopped down from the crate, looking around, she didn't see Oonah, though there were many other people. They weren't avoiding her as much as those in Desnind had. She'd been called cursed, from a cursed family. The people on the ship were under the impression she'd been attacked by a mage and was heading to Rynmere to seek help. They thought this because that is what she explained to them, albeit in her broken Common. Probably one of the few times her poor language skills actually helped her case. That and holding a baby, with no husband present. The pity given was generous.
And what that meant for Qit was that people mostly left her alone. And she was fine with that. She walked toward the cabins, keeping her head down, carry Caza in her basket, and slipping through the door. Slinking down the short hall to her cabin, she saw the tom cat that patrolled the ship, and clearly did a great job ensuring there were no mice or rats. She watched the cat sidle down the hallway, walking past a few other people moving about, going completely unnoticed by them. And Qit knew now how she'd get around Rynmere. Her self form might be twisted by her magic, but her animal forms were still whole.
She put Caza to bed in her cabin, still not seeing any sign of Oonah. Damn woman had serious wanderlust and was always off somewhere. Once she was sure Caza was situated, Qit'ria set about her plan. Ever since she learned how to blend forms in Desnind, it opened up an entirely new world of possibilities to the woman. Time to try it out again.
She closed her eyes, and tapped into the totems she had on her person. There was her aye-aye mouse on her wrist, the ganditlip on her thigh, the batcat earrings, and then her mask and cloak she kept assimilated within her body, and of course, her self totem around her neck. She didn't want to make a big scene, so the batcat and bear were out. This wasn't in the water so ganditlip was out. Aye-aye mouse and skitterer though... This gave her an interesting idea. She walked over and opened her cabin's door just enough for a small animal to get in and out.
She reached out her essence into both totems, began pulling out their forms. She started to mingle their forms, keeping a mental image in mind as she went. Mouse form as base, though to call it a mouse was an understatement. The Aye-aye mouse was truly a rat. She applied the venomous spines of the skitterer in place of the big front rat teeth. She replaced the rat's eyes as well, for the skitterer had much better vision. She considered applying a shell but was worried that would make her too immobile or slow.
With this blended essence created, she began applying it to her own body, assimilating her clothes as she went. She broke down every bone, sprouted fur, reshaped her skull, reorganized her shrinking organs, until finally, the Gasping Mouse was formed. The pain was still there in the transformation, yet Qit'ria found it oddly comforting these trials. Sniffing at the air, she adjusted to the new, smaller perspective and the world where colors were different. Time to bait the trap.
Qit'ria scampered over to the door, making sure to make plenty of noise with her scratchy rat feet. She sniffed out the door, then peered out. Down the hall, she saw it. Pure white, fluffy, and an angry ball of murder. Tim; the ship's cat and first mate of the Victorious. It was stalking way down at the other end of the hall. So Qit'ria slipped out of the door a ways, and then let loose a squeak. The cat didn't do anything different. A few more squeaks and the cat continued to meander about. Qit'ria could feel the fear the rat had for cats, but she took in a deep breath. She echoed the aggressive nature of the skitterer and quelled it. She scooched closer to the moseying cat, squeaking again.
Was this cat deaf or what?
And in that moment of unfocused pondering, Tim turned and was sprinting right at her. He'd heard her the first time, and was luring her out. She turned tail and ran back for the door. But Tim was fast. She got her body through the door, but Tim snatched her tail in his mouth. Qit'ria just managed to get her body around the door while Tim tugged and tugged at the tail, trying to pull her back through. She felt her body begin to be lifted upward and new she'd be done for if she let that happen. Instead, she curled back and bit through her tail in one clean go.
Pain shot through her, for the tail is so sensitive as she discovered. But as the tail disconnected Qit'ria huddled against the door, waiting. And soon, Tim poked his head through the door, looking for the rat. And that's when Qit'ria struck. She pushed against the well oiled door, and it swung shut pinning Tim's head in place. Tim immediately tried to pull his head backwards through the gap, finding himself stuck. Qit'ria could hear the scrambling of paws as he tried to find more purchase.
And before the first mraw could escape his maw, Qit'ria leapt up at his throat, sinking her venomous "fangs" into his throat. She held on, hanging there while Tim thrashed about. She tasted his blood, felt as he slowed in his movements, the poison kicking in. Tim coughed, gasped, and sputtered until his body dropped to the floorboards. Qit'ria let loose of Tim, and backed away from him. She squeaked once in satisfaction, and began the change back to her Sev'ryn form. She opened the door, staring down at the dead feline, and the tail she'd lost nearby. She stopped down and picked up both and carried them inside, shutting the doors.
Qit'ria quickly set to work, carving up the body. She kept the pelt and bones separate from the meat and organs. Qit'ria cut the pelt into several long strips, and proceeded to make bracelets, using the bones and blood in the same process she'd used to make her aye-aye mouse bracelets. They weren't especially pretty, but functional was always what Qit'ria strove for. She made four bracelets from the corpse, and closed her eyes as she began to meditate with them. She poured her ether into the bracelets, keeping a perfect image of the animal in her mind as she did. Her spark was quite pleased by this new addition. Two new forms acquired since Caza was birthed, the spark was beginning to be more appreciative.
As Qit meditated, she considered her plan in Rynmere. With this, she could move around essentially unseen. Who paid attention to cats in a city? Qit'ria had been in enough cities to have noticed plenty. Amaris had like 50 in her house after all. She wondered if she could talk to other cats, while in cat form. She'd have to test that out when she got there. Because if she could, there was potential to use them to her advantage.
Once the totems were done, she slipped one on, storing the others in her domain bag. She felt bad about wasting food, but she wasn't about to start a fire on a wooden ship. And she couldn't give the food away, someone might realize that it was fresh and could only come from a few things. So she slipped up topside, staying away from any other people, and dropped the meat, organs, and leftover bits of the cat into the ocean. She wiped her hands on the outside of the ship, only now noticing that the normally darker hairs on her body where white now. She sighed. It seemed every totem she took on, left its mark on her body. At least this one wasn't so bad.
Then curiously, she pulled out the band of her loincloth a bit, and realized those hairs were pure white too. And no longer curly, but short, straight, and soft. This made Qit'ria giggle a bit, as she returned to her cabin to check on her baby.
