fandomtownies | The Gig, Sunday

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firekeeper

The Gig, Sunday

The dance had been fun- especially since no one had tried to kidnap her this time, unlike the last festival she'd been to. And yesterday, with the flowers (she'd made Joan read the cards to her) had been nice too.

So it was a very cheerful Firekeeper who set about doing her chores and then sprawled with Blind Seer on one of the bales of hay and proceeded to relate the events of the dance to the horses.

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If they could help, then helping certainly couldn't hurt, and if they couldn't help, then all she would have wasted was her time. That was Alice's reasoning, at least, as she made her way into town looking for the gig.

Stables and horses, and Dinah following behind her ankles as always.

"Hello?" Alice called, glancing around. She wasn't entirely certain where it was she should be, exactly.

Cat, Blind Seer informed Firekeeper lazily, not bothering to move. He wasn't supposed to hunt pets, so he generally paid them little mind.

"Hello," Firekeeper replied with a nod as she caught sight of Alice.

"Good afternoon," Alice said, holding her hands behind her back. "Am I to understand there's some sort of veterinary service here?"

Dinah was hesitant of the scent of wolf, and decided to linger back behind Alice a fair bit.

"Is, yes," Firekeeper confirmed, trying to place what it was about the girl that seemed familiar.

Francine's roommate, Blind Seer supplied. I recognize her scent.

"I not have any formal training," she admitted. "Only that born of need."

"Formal training is at times overrated," Alice said easily. "Need usually means that one knows the practical approach, if not the one considered proper."

She was intrigued by the girl's odd patter of words. She wondered if she should mimic it, out of respect, but that would perhaps seem mocking.

"My cat is ... old," she explained, instead. "She's tough, but she's had a rather difficult life, I fear. She moves slowly, some days, and eats less than she did before. I don't know that she's ill, exactly; perhaps I've no good reason to bring her here. I was only hoping if someone could see that she's all right."

"I could ask," Firekeeper offered. "Is, usually, the best way to find out such."

"You could speak with her?" Alice said, eyes growing wide. "About anything, or just specific to possible ailments?"

That would be a useful skill to have, wouldn't it? She would have the most fascinating conversations with chipmunks. Well. Presuming that chipmunks weren't horrible conversationalists.

"The language of beasts is being easier for me than any human tongue," Firekeeper admitted.

She didn't know much about the conversational habits of chipmunks, other than the fact that they got very defensive if one stepped too close to their food hoard. It didn't seem to matter much to them that she wasn't particularly interested in nuts and seeds.

"Do you suppose you could teach it?" Alice asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "I should love to converse with animals, but I'm usually limited to those who speak English."

"I am not knowing," Firekeeper admitted. "You is not the first to ask this. I am not being sure if the failure was in their learning, or my teaching."

"Languages are always difficult to learn," Alice considered. "You should hear my pronunciation for Latin. It is said to be dreadful."

She knelt down and began scritching behind Dinah's ears. "Would you like to talk?" she cooed. "This girl might have far more interesting things to say than I ever do."

I will not bite, Firekeeper said to Dinah. Nor will he, wolves though we may be. It wasn't, possibly, the most reassuring way to go about things, but she wasn't really all that good at reassuring.

Dinah had not been expecting that. She stared uncertainly at the wolf and the wolf-girl, lingering close to Her Alice's ankles.

Wolves eat, she said. And they are cunning.

She had not quite ruled out the possibility of this being an elaborate trick.

We are, and we do, Firekeeper acknowledged with a nod, because it was the truth. But not those who live among humans.

I have already eaten today, Blind Seer offered, baring his teeth in a wolfy grin. And even if I hadn't, a tiny thing like you would hardly be worth the effort.

Firekeeper rolled her eyes and punched the wolf in the shoulder. "He not being very polite," she explained to Alice.

Alice laughed, gently. "One should imagine that's the prerogative of wolves," she said, kneeling down to run her fingers over Dinah's back.

Dinah hissed, arching her back to let the fur stand up. Just so that the wolf knew she meant business.

That established, she could continue talking to the wolf-girl. I will trust you. But I will make you bleed if I must.

Really, the wolf could make short work of her, but it never helped to look weak before predators.

Really, Firekeeper would've expected no less from a cat, proud creatures that they were. She held out one hand, gesturing for Dinah to come closer.

So tell me, then. Does your human friend have cause to worry?

Dinah approached slowly, sniffing carefully at the wolf-girl's fingers. Definitely a girl, and not a wolf in some strange disguise, though she had the scent of that other wolf on her.

Curiosity satisfied, she huffed. I'm old. The hunt is slower, and my leaps are lower to the ground.

It was thoroughly undignified, to lose one's prey to aching joints.

Still, the human shape housed a wolf's heart. Metaphorically, anyway. "It is as you was thinking," Firekeeper relayed to Alice. "She grow older. No illness there."

"Oh, thank goodness," Alice sighed. "Perhaps I worry too much. I hate to see how she's changed."

She hesitated, not sure if it was rude to ask for veterinary services to double as note-passing, but if the request was offensive, she could apologize profusely.

"Will you tell her that I'm sorry?"

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The Gig, Sunday

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