Anne sighed slightly and looked down at the stone in her hand, then at the papers on her desk. It had been an.. Interesting week. Jonni was still drawing in the crowds, so the zoo was doing quite well. And Karyn had taken to her new job working at the zoo incredibly well. Anne was more than a bit surprised at that point. She was pretty sure that none of HER wishes, either purposeful or accidental had made Karyn perform her duties so well.
I guess she's just naturally good with animals. Maybe this place was a perfect job for her after all. Looks like she found a home. Anne thought to herself. But that brought her to another small problem, and the other person who had found a "home" here.
Jonni was doing rather well, under the circumstances. She was turning into a rather doting mother, taking good care of the kittens. But it was also obvious she was more than an ordinary leopard. As a matter of fact, Anne had had to be a bit careful about that, and had made a small wish to "make sure that no one who doesn't know about Jonni notices anything unusual about her."
But for the most part, she hadn't made any wishes about Karyn and Jonni. As a matter of fact, she had been extremely careful and remarkably restrained in using the stone since she got it. She was still feeling out its powers, and only using it for minor things thus far. She didn't want to accidentally make a foolish wish like the previous owners had.
Shaking her head, Anne came back to the matter at hand, glancing down at the sheets of paper on her desk. Something somewhat unexpected had happened, which might cause a few complications. The zoo was planning to take Jonni's kittens away in another few days, once they were strong enough, and hand rear them for a while.
Jonni had been an excellent mother so far, but the establishment thought that taking the kittens would give them a slightly better chance to grow up strong and healthy. Plus taking them away from her early might help her conserve strength for her next heat cycle. And since she had been so helpful to the zoo and the species, they were hoping to keep her enrolled in the breeding program. Normally that would be a good thing, but under the circumstances, it would cause a few problems.
The first of which would be that when they remove Jonni's kittens, she would no longer be a "mother." As far as the zoo was concerned. Which meant she would turn back into a he. A human he. And probably a not very happy one at that.
But Jonni was doing wonderful things for the zoo, and the crowds loved her. Plus Anne had expected her to be around for a few months to wean the kittens at least. It would be a shame to loose her so soon
So Anne found herself in a bit of a dilemma. She didn't want to be cruel to poor Jon, even though she had never known him as anything other than a leopardess. But she expected her to stay longer, and she WAS doing very useful things. Of course, Anne was still feeling out the stone, and didn't want to make any big wishes just yet either. But maybe if she could do something NON magical?
