"Oh there you are Diana!" Said Sarah.
The cat-girl quickly scampered to the warm fire-lit room sheepishly, feeling a bit bad for leaving Peter. She had wanted to spend more time with him, but the day seemed to go so quickly. She glanced around the furnished carpets of the inn, a common room of sorts with a bar and tables. She felt aroused by the aroma of food rumbling her stomach. "Sorry I'm late. I was playing with Peter..."
"Heh," chuckled Tom "that's fine Come on have a seat. Got some nice sea-bass here." he gestured to a chair slightly.. propped up for her shorter form.
Diana climbed the chair with a short hop of her bare feet. She gave a shy glance around, already missing Peter. "Thanks."
"I managed to score a nice room with the innkeeper. You get your own bed and everything while we wait for this wolf-friend of yours."
"Thanks..." Diana smiled the smell of the fish too enticing as she had already picked up the sea-bass steak, with her bare hand no less. The sauce coating her whiskers making her sneeze.
Tom and Sarah shared a wry chuckle. "Seriously, this cat-girl can make anything cute." Tom whispered to Sarah.
Sarah smiled a bit relaxing in her chair. "That she can." This was.. nice. The comforts of this world could be a bit rustic but it was pleasing nonetheless. Though as she looked at the food she felt a bit uneasy with the fact that she didn't actually require any organic food. Still, she did enjoy being here. Wherever Jon had ended up, she hoped he was okay and even enjoying himself. Knowing what he was like, she imagined he was probably exploring the world.
Suddenly, the door swung open, the fire flickering at the unexpected draft.
Diana felt her ears twitch and she felt somehow uneasy. She instinctively arched her back a little, her whiskers twitched as all gazed to the robed figure. However, this was brief as she started to register just what these odd smells were. Spices, pollens, trees.. forest stuff? The robed figure came in, with barely the hint of a sound even to Diana's acute sense of hearing. The sheer absence of any sound from the floating presence made it almost ghostly to her cat senses, though it appeared nobody else was taking note that it was unusual.
"Oh? Lady Brook?" The innkeeper enquired.
The woman released her hood. Though she had silvery white hair, her skin was remarkably smooth. Her eyes seemed bright with moonlit blue. She seemed quite old, despite being in good shape. "Mister Denson, I trust all is well? How is the family?"
"We're all well here. Kevin seemed a bit out of sorts eating and Mary is working hard cleaning the inn, bringing in customers we're doing quite well with the warmer weather."
"I'm so glad. I'm very sorry to hear what happened to your wife my sincere condolences."
"I.. thank you. It's been a few years I'm fine now. I suppose I do worry about Kevin the most, though his sister seems to have taken a motherly role in his upbringing of late. It is good to see you m'lady. Do what do we owe the pleasure?"
"I was reminiscing it has been a long time since I have been home."
"Well, please feel free to take a room. Any room you desire. I'll have a meal cooked for you free of charge."
"Ah you are too kind, but I will provide what coppers I can." The woman slowly took the stairs up, again with not a sound. Diana had been watching her like a hawk, to the point that her eyes had turned completely black. She was making an odd sound, that was somewhere between excitement and caution- which to a cat seemed to be almost the same thing. Again, not even the barest hint of a sound-
Then as she turned slightly, Diana saw it; a huge thorax that would normally be on a spider. Its shiny surface flickering the firelight of the inn. She gasped a bit and slid down slightly under the table, catching more glimpses of her strange body. The woman had eight legs, spread slightly around her under her robes. She just didn't notice from being so high up the chair but now it was so obvious! The woman could move in any direction with not a single turn, yet seemed to be trying to emulate human motions-
"Who is that?" asked Sarah. She had seen the spider-woman's lower half and was mostly curious.
The innkeeper smiled as he provided some more sauces on the table. "Her name is Lady Brook. She- well- she's a healer of sorts. Not quite on the league of a Wizard mind, more of an alchemist. She knows the ways of trees and herbs."
"So that's what I was smellin'" thought Diana sheepishly. It was so odd to have such a mix in her mind.
"Ah.." Sarah smiled. "She sounds nice."
"Oh, she is. Though she didn't start off as a spider!" he chuckled.
"Hm? I hate to pry but what's her story?" Tom suddenly asked interested.
The innkeeper looked a bit reluctant. "Well- It's not really my place to say, but I suppose its well known enough. Lady Brook was once a young boy here.. one of the descendants of Robin's Heath."
Diana's ears perked up at this. "W-What! Really? She- was a boy?"
"Yes miss, one who was quite wealthy as I recall the story from my father. When the disease struck her, she became a spider girl. She spent ten years and all of her fortune to find a way back to go back to her old self. I don't know if she ever did find a way mind, but one day she simply accepted her life- well- as most do. She met another spider and had many children I think she's a great grandparent by now."
"W-Wow." Diana gasped. "Did she- I mean- could she have turned back?"
"I've no idea missy and to be honest it's not really polite to ask." he glanced up to the stairs. "I think anything in this world is possible, but all things have a price maybe it was just too expensive for her. She gave away all her gold to charitable causes and lives in the woods now. People go to her for aches or pains free of charge... Many in the town benefited from her aid."
Zoe wasn't too sure where to go. Green grassland, stretching as far as the eye could see. The six new appendages- plus seven if you counted the tail was a little tricky to work out. Stretching her four legs upward, she wondered if she could use the wings to fly up. Experimentally, she attempted to beat her wings but while she felt lighter she didn't feel like she was getting enough lift. "How in the world could these wings lift me up anyway?"
From a physical point of view it didn't make any sense. Her body had to be way too big. Perhaps she was just a lion with wings and a human head. Some strange mix of parts of animals that shouldn't really go together. The shimmering image of the water seemed to convey though that her animal parts -did- fit together. She wasn't some Frankenstein's monster; she was whole and somehow normal.
"I have to fly..." she realised quickly. If she didn't she would be walking miles and miles, possibly away from fresh water or could starve before she got anywhere. Bracing herself, she concentrated on flapping her wings again. She hunched her legs downward, her tail curled outward. She felt the ground leave her huge paws in a sudden upward thrust- "A-ah!" She gasped as she dangled her legs, losing their posture.
She fell back onto the grass, falling ten feet. However her massive paws and lion body seemed perfectly adequate to fall from that distance, leaving curious impressions on the ground. "Wow that was.. something." She glanced around sheepishly, somehow feeling oddly embarrassed at falling despite having wings. She almost wished someone was around to mock her.
"Come on you can do this!" She moved her wings again, this time making sure to tuck in her legs the moment she felt the sudden up thrust. This did help, making her feel more like a floating bus then a dangling fly. She rose quickly, the grass fading from view. She saw the tops of trees and more of the grassland. "I- I'm flying.. I'm really flying!"
She glanced slightly to each wing, their motions somehow lifting her huge body. "Jon.." So Athena was right. She had a brother, and he had gone to a place so far away it removed removed all memories you ever existed. "I hope.. Athena can still remember me," she thought.
"There's a road there..." She eyed curiously. A dirt road, not used often. Where there were roads, there were people.. cities, towns, villages.. or something. It seemed like the best place to start.
Jen slept for quite a while through the night. Maggie slept and.. she thought she dreamed something. The vague impressions of it seemed so.. strange. She had dreamed she was back home- only she was still a harpy. She was going about her normal life, everyone treating her as if being a harpy was completely normal. It was surreal now that she thought about it. Even Maggie was there, going to school, an adopted sister-
She slowly dismissed the images, sliding Maggie back onto the nest. It was kind of nice to feel a sense of her old family. Perhaps her dreams were just telling her that she was starting to feel that with Maggie.. though she did miss her old home still the idea of bringing Maggie with her.. could the harpy be happy there? Would she be happy there if she was stuck.. or.. could she turn back human? Maybe she could turn Maggie into a human too though that thought came reluctantly. She liked Maggie as she was!
She blinked as she saw something slid under her door. It was a letter?
"Hm..." she picked it up. "To the great singing bird Jen" She shook her head. "I guess that's me what the-"
The paper had a heart on it.
Dear Jen. I've only heard you sing since yesterday but I'm your biggest fan. I think you are the most beautiful girl in the world and wondered if you would be up for a date? I'll pay for a worm-pie as I heard harpies are fond of them. If you want to meet me, I'll be at the Dragon's Horn Tavern. Lots of love, your secret admirer. PS. I'll still be cheering for you no matter what!
A lot of emotions went through Jon. This was clearly a guy, smitten with her. She didn't know what to do! What to say- well- what could she say? This guy was trying to meet her for a freakin' date?! Worm pie?! Worm pie?! "Urgh!" She groaned in exasperation. "Why!" She tossed the letter aside.
"No way- there's no way in absolute hell-" How could anyone even think that! She- she wasn't some- some- the whole thing just grew and exploded in her head. "Well whatever. It's not as if I have to go." So some person wanted to meet her- there might be quite a few that did but- no she couldn't deal with this right now.
