Chapter 8

The cat halted as Ren stopped by the door.

"Next room, she said as she opened and stepped inside."

He followed her in. It'd been two weeks since she came back, and he had kept following her around, sleeping in her bed at night and sitting by the table as she ate. So far, she'd only done what the witch told her to. Once, when she woke up in the night, he'd followed her out, but she'd only drank a glass of water and gone back to bed.

He went to sit in the corner, watching her sweep. She had started to talk to him shortly after she returned. She'd told him about her family and what had happened to them and why she had come. He didn't reply to her, of course. She didn't know he could speak, or understand her. He suspected that's why she had begun sharing her thoughts with him to start with.

"Almost done, she told him."

He watched her put the broom back in the corner and take the rug to shake it. The time spent with her hadn't turned out as he thought it would do. At first, he'd suspected that maybe she was a powerful witch who already knew magic. How else could she have found her way back from the field? But it wasn't as he thought. She'd followed her star, she'd told him. The one she'd received as a divination when she was young. He hadn't expected that, but it would explain how it could override his spell. Those divinations were more powerful than most people thought.

"Time for lunch."

She closed the window and turned to him. Despite himself, he'd slowly started to warm up towards her. She was... kind, he thought. Once, and he wouldn't admit this to the witch, in a moment of absent-mindedness, he had even let her pet him. He'd got up and hissed at her once he'd realised his mistake, just to make sure she didn't think it would be a common occurrence.

"Are you coming?", she said as she stood by the door.

He got up and walked out, and he heard her murmur,

"What if the ancestors were right..."

He glanced at her. It wasn't the first time he'd heard her saying that. He didn't know what she referred to, and she hadn't told him anything about it.

"But then, what do I have left?"

She closed the door absent-mindedly and turned to return to the kitchen.

"Of course..."

She halted.

"The ancestors told me I didn't need magic, I had something else... And the witch told me that magic with hatred in my heart wouldn't lead to anything good. So then what?"

She turned to face the cat.

"They always stay in me, that's what! I still have the memories, I still have the remembrances of what we shared. Those can never be taken from me."

She smiled and rushed down the stairs, and the cat followed. He didn't understand what she was talking about, but she seemed to have come to some sort of conclusion. What had she said about with the witch? What was the hatred and magic she'd regretted? He followed her down to the kitchen, where she excitedly spoke to the witch.

"I'm happy you found it", the witch said.

Ren smiled.

"I will keep cleaning!"

She ran out and this time, the cat didn't follow her but stayed in the kitchen.

"She seemed to have found something, " he said.

The witch watched the door she'd left by.

"She did..."

He went quiet for a moment.

"She mentioned something about magic and hatred that you'd told her, and how it wouldn't lead to anything good."

The witch turned to him, suddenly fearful. Had he said something wrong?

"Oh... That was a long time ago."

She turned back to the cauldron. What was going on?, he thought.

"I..."

She sighed.

"It was before your time. It... was the reason why I wanted to learn magic. To avenge my family. Only... It didn't turn out as I wanted, and I hurt many innocent people."

She'd never told him this.

"I'm sorry... I... just thought that maybe you would leave if you knew it."

"Leave?"

He jumped up on the table next to her.

"Why would I leave?"

"Because what I did was wrong."

"So? I'm still your friend."

She turned to him.

"Would you have stayed even if you knew this before?"

"Of course."

She smiled and must have forgotten herself because she reached out and petted him.

That evening, as they sat by the dinner table, the witch said to Ren,

"I can teach you magic now, when you don't have hatred in your heart."

Ren looked at her.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then I will use it for a good cause."

The cat kept following her around after that, but this time, he did it because he liked her company. After some days, the witch told her that he could speak, and she looked at him surprised before smiling and going up to hug him. He didn't know what was the most embarrassing, the hug or having the witch see it.

They quickly became friends after that, and Ren stayed with them, even after she'd learned magic. One day, as the witch was getting older, she brought Ren to the kitchen one evening.

"It's time for you to have this."

She put the key to the tower in her hand.

"It's yours, you'll be a good witch after me."