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She h, the animal had brown eyes Rue didn’t think cats could have brown eyes But then, as she to question anyone else’s eye colour? Given hers were an odd sort of yellow

Quesnel raised his wrist and took aim

"Wait, stop" Rue put a hand on his arm above where the weapon was strapped and pushed down Quesnel resisted He was re Rue took a moment to be impressed – he didn’t look physically fit

Rue and the cat stared at one another

The lioness blinked

Rue blinked back "I don’t think she intends to hurt us I don’t think she means to hurt anyone"

The cat tilted her head back and forth, gaze sliding between the three of the ly fluid rabbed Rue’s hideous parasol up in her ed out of the tea-shop by way of one of the front s Which were not open,crash resulted in several ned outside in the asseh the crowds there, parasol firmly clutched in her teeth

Rue was not ay beast! That’s ardless of showing ankle to the entire tower, and gave case

Quesnel and Priistered her iht up in the tea things and each other so that by the time they reached the brokenof the tea-shop, both lioness and Rue had vanished into the milieu of the Maltese Tower

Rue chased the parasol and the cat through the crowd The assembled personnel seemed mainly annoyed by the disturbance A feere quite upset by a raly accessory in her jaws – but their concern seemed more to do with the risk to the parasol rather than the presence of the lioness Rue also garnered dirty looks After all, since she was chasing after the beast, they assumed it was her lioness off-lead The cat relaxed into an easy loping pace, fast enough so that Rue could not catch her but slow enough for her black tail tip to be ever beyond Rue’s reach, like an extre lure Rue wished one of her father’s pack were nearby – if she could steal wolf form for a while she could certainly catch the blasted creature Not that any olf could withstand being up so high and so close to the aetherosphere

The lioness dodged between two food booths – one which dealt in fish and chips, the other s of curry Behind the stands was a shanty town of dockworkers’ hovels led between and above the h, blissfully unaware of the i with skirts hiked up – and no blooh slus and Rue paused, suddenly aware of her surroundings There were only a few people visible but she had the distinct impression of many eyes upon her This was someone’s home she was about to enter, without invitation Da madly Vaain, there was a lioness inside with her parasol! If anyone could think of a better excuse for barging in uninvited, she’d like to hear it