Chapter 2

Chisara laughed quietly. "Isn't it a bit hypocritical to call me thief when you stole from me?"

"If I was saying it as an insult, yes," answered Archer. "But I wasn't so, no. And I wouldn't say I stole from you; I would say we stole from each other."

"Same thing. By the way, I'm Chisara. It's always nice to meet someone who shares my profession."

At that point Kamjin realized that Chisara was no longer following him and turned back to shout," Hey, Chisara, are you coming? What are-" He broke off when he saw her having a companionable chat with someone who had a knife at her throat while she had her own knife at her throat.

Out of the corner of her eye Chisara saw Kam yell to Tozak and point frantically at her.

"A friend of yours?" Archer asked.

"No. Actually, I just met him today. He's overreacting a bit. So, why don't you just give me back my coin purse and we'll both be on our way."

"I don't think so. I believe, my fellow thief, that we are at a stalemate. For neither of us is going to give back a purse without getting our own first."

"True, I suppose we'll just have to stand here all day."

"Chisara, what are you doing?" Tozak asked coming up beside the two women.

"Not now; I'm busy."

"Chisara," he said sternly.

Chisara sighed, "What?"

"What you're doing may seem perfectly harmless to you, although truthfully I can't see how. But, you're going to scare away my customers. So, would you two please lower your knives? Then you can both sit down and work out your differences."

"We don't have any differences," Chisara said as she sheathed her knife and held Archer's purse out to her.

Archer sheathed her own knife and took her purse then returned Chisara's to her. "How did you know I would give it back to you?" she asked.

"I didn't. It wasn't important anyway," Chisara answered. "Let's go sit. Lunch is on the house."

"Says who?" asked Tozak.

"Come on, Tozak," Chisara pleaded. "I'm your good friend and Archer almost got robbed. We should at least get a free meal."

"You're shameless, Chisara," he answered.

"I know. Bring me some spaghetti. What do you want, Archer?"

"I'll take some potato soup with cheese. Thanks, Tozak."

"Bring us some garlic bread too," added Chisara.

Chisara, Archer and Kamjin sat down at the table Tozak led them to. Kamjin ordered a medium rare steak and Tozak left them alone.

"What were you guys doing?" Kam asked for he had hung back out of earshot while Tozak had handled the problem.

"Nothing," said Chisara. "We were just talking."

"We were having a business discussion," said Archer.

"What kind of business?" Kam asked. "Because it looked like you two were going to kill each other."

"I have no idea where you would get that impression," Archer said innocently.

"You're a very good liar," Chisara commented.

"I know," Archer said. "I'm lying to you right now."

Chisara thought about this for a second then raised her eyebrows. "That's an impossible statement. For if you were lying you would say you weren't and if you were telling the truth you would still say that you weren't lying."

Archer laughed, "Exactly."

"I'm sorry I asked," said Kamjin very confused.

At this point, Tozak brought them their food and they began to eat. Chisara shoveled her spaghetti in her mouth greedily, barely pausing to breath. She caught Archer and Kamjin staring at her and asked, "What?" as she wiped sauce off her face with a cloth.

"You know," said Kam. "Most people try to make a good first impression with people they've just met."

"Not me," Chisara said. "First of all, I'm not most people. Secondly, if I act differently when I first meet someone then it'll take them that much longer to really know me. And thirdly, if people don't like me the way I am that's their problem, not mine."

"Very true," said Archer. "I agree completely."

"If you really feel that way," Kam said challengingly. "Take your cloak off. If you don't care what people think then you don't need to hide under it."

Archer looked on confused as Chisara, eyes narrowed, contemplated Kam's words. "Fine, I guess you're right," she said finally standing and removing her cloak to reveal not only her cat ears but also a long orange cat tail.

"I've met a few cats before," Archer said. "But they all looked human except when they transformed. Why don't you?"

"I'm not one hundred percent feline," Alexis answered as she sat back down. "I'm only twenty five percent feline and seventy five percent human."

They continued their meal in silence until Archer held up a piece of bread to her shoulder and a mongoose stuck his head out from behind her hair. He took the bread in his small paws and ate it.

"How cute," crooned Kam.

Chisara looked at Kam oddly the turned to Archer and asked, "Is he…or she your companion?"

Everyone born in the Conap Islands received a companion at birth. No one knew why. A companion was an animal who could speak telepathically with a person and a person and their companion were bonded and would stay together for their entire lives. If one died the other would not but the grief that it caused often made the other wish that they were dead. Most people had only one companion but rarely some would receive two or even three companions.

"Yes, he, Goose," Archer answered. "Is my companion. I also have two dogs a Husky and a Golden Retriever. The Golden Retriever is a boy named Kogane. The Husky is a girl named Kagaya."

"Three companions? Is it a lot of work? I have only one companion," Kamjin said. "She's a golden eagle. Her name is Latsa."

"I don't have three companions," Archer corrected Kamjin. "Kogan and Kagaya are pets not companions."

I also have only one companion," said Chisara. "But Naomi…oh crap! I forgot."

Chisara jumped up and went to the bar where Tozak was standing. "Hey, Tozak. I need ten raw steaks," she said tossing him her purse that contained about fifty gold pieces.

Tozak tucked the purse into his apron and gave Chisara the steaks wrapped up in paper. She accepted them and ran out of the tavern grabbing her cloak on the way. She almost tripped going out the door but steadied herself. She continued running until she reached the forest at the town's back. There she stopped and knelt down next to a majestic orange and black tiger. She opened the paper so that the tiger could eat the steaks.

"I'm so sorry Naomi. I got distracted. Why didn't you call me?"

It's so unusual for you to socialize that I didn't want to disturb you, Naomi told Chisara mentally as she devoured the meat.

"I can see where you get your eating habits," remarked Kamjin who was standing directly behind her with Archer.

Chisara jumped, startled and turned to them. When she did they saw that she looked different. Her skin was covered with light orange fur. She also had whiskers on her face and claws on her hands.

"You look even more like a cat now," Archer commented.