The Cat

Ona was in the lead, holding up her hand and motioning this way and that, directing Russ and Fitz into the proper position. They were each on different sides of their adversary, slowly closing in. With bated breath Russ waited for the signal.

Snap.

The sound of Ona's signal rang clearly through the small portion of the park that they had found the missing cat in. Fitz dove for the cat while Russ waited for the instant that the feline would choose it's direction. Her finger brushing the cats fur, Fitz called out, "Tagged it! You finish it off, Russ!"

Seeing the direction that the cat chose, Russ dove, wondering why Fitz was talking like they were in battle. Much to his dismay, it turned out that Russ had underestimated the tiny beasts agility. It stopped in it's tracks, watching Russ faceplant in front of it. After he went to the ground with an "Oof" the cat condescendingly walked over him.

"I hate cats." He grumbled as he felt the cat leap off his back. With a sigh he pushed himself to his feet to regroup with his party, only to be greeted with the sight of Ona silently laughing, while petting the cat in her arms.

He looked over to Fitz, who looked equally dismayed. In unison they turned their gazes, just short of contempt, onto Ona. The smile on her face dropped as she looked in between her party members. She offered a weak smile Fitz, but got yelled at in return.

"How come it just cuddles right up to you? Ms. Special over here just has all sort of tricks, huh?"

"Hey, hey. We came here to get the job done. We did this for money. Ona got the job done." The silent girl's face brightened at his defense, "I do understand how you feel though. What was our whole plan even for?" Russ finished, causing Ona's face to fall once more.

Seeing that she was down, Russ offered her a smile, "You're awesome Ona." He didn't say much, but she could tell that he meant what he did say and her smile returned.

"Yeah, Ona, it's not your fault that the cat likes you. It's just a bit frustrating. In the future I'll make sure to take my frustrations out on him." Fitz jerked a thumb at Russ with an evil grin and Ona pumped a fist in the air.

"Hey! What the heck was that? Why not take your frustrations out on a pillow or something? And you!" He met Ona's eyes, "What's up with you riling her up?"

With a mischievous look Ona looked to Fitz, and they shrugged at each other. "I'm just here for the money." Russ groaned, "I don't know if this is worth all the fuss."

Ona raised an eyebrow at that and stuck the cat in Russ's face, promptly getting my licked. "Definitely not worth it." He decided. Ona rolled her eyes and Fitz decided to call his bluff.

"Then leave our party. I just wanted one party member, so I got more than I bargained for, and Ona is more special than twenty of you, so I don't mind. That is, if you are going to be such a downer. Forget the money! We are doing this for adventure."

"I guess I could just leave. That would almost make things too easy. I didn't ever plan on jo-" Russ stopped cold when he met eyes with Ona. There was a look in her eye, as if she were scared, and she was shaking her head at him almost imperceptibly. "Are you okay?"

Glancing up, Ona saw that Fitz was watching her. She smiled brightly and nodded, giving a thumbs up.

"So, you really do want to leave the party? We have have to take the cat to the guild anyway, it won't take long to kick you out."

Russ looked closely at Ona and spoke carefully. "Actually, I think I'm going to stay a little longer if you'll have me."

"Yes! I knew you would stay!" Fitz celebrated, not questioning his motives. Meanwhile, Ona gave him a very slight smile, it was a barely a twitch of the lips, but it filled him with warmth.

"But you were the one who was telling me to leave."

"That was only if you didn't straighten up. I had faith." She said matter of factly.

"Whatever you have, it's killing me." He said, looking up at the sky exhausted.

Ona interrupted their bickering with a wave to get their attention. She pointed at the cat that was now sleeping in her arms and then pointed the direction of the guild.

"How did it fall asleep with all of this guys complaining?" Fitz marvelled. Before he could fire back she continued, "Ona's right. We should be getting back to the guild."

With that, Silent Voice returned to the guild with their heads held high to turn in their very first completed quest. They easily divvied up the meager reward and went their separate ways. At least, Fitz did, and Russ tried too, but just outside the guild, where they had decided to split up, a soft hand grabbed his own. He looked at Ona in surprise, for the first time noticing the pure nut brown hair that framed her fair face. Her eyes were colored deep dark brown like the bark from an really old tree. They both stood rooted in place, staring into eachothers eyes and he got the odd sense that Ona wasn't normal. No, that she was ancient.

"Excuse me." An adventurer brushed passed them to get into the guild, and the spell broke.

"Did you want something, Ona?" Everything that he had sensed about her a moment before was gone. She looked nervously down at her feet and shrugged.

"You... don't know if you want something?" He tried to clarify. Sheepishly, the girl nodded her head.

"You really don't make sense sometimes, do you know that?" Russ let out a sigh, which was becoming an all to too common occurrence after joining Silent Voice.

In response to his latest question Ona nodded again, only this time she looked crestfallen.

"Look, why don't we go get something to eat?" Russ said, rubbing his temples, "After all, I don't want money just to sit on it. They make chairs for that... not that I can afford one. That is aside from the point though! Let's go eat and maybe you can decide if you want something or not."

Smiling once again, Ona giggled silently as Russ stumbled through proposal. With a nod, the two of them started walking together down the street.