Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 20

Teela was quick on her feet and within seconds she had convinced her owner that she had to relieve herself and that she did not want to go alone. I was surprised when the Reeve asked one of his men to go with her, which brought a scowl of displeasure from Teela. She stated her case that she did not want to relieve herself in the woods with a strange man watching her and that she would feel safer if Sir Tausin would accompany her. I guess his jealousy of others leering at her forced him to give in to her; he mentioned to his men that he would return shortly. He took Teela by the arm and led her into the woods well out of view of the road and the constables.

I stayed behind a large tree until the two of them were close by and then I moved into view. I apologized for the way that I had to coax Teela and the Reeve away from the group but I knew it would be better if we met in secret not knowing whom in the area that I could trust. I was so surprised when both Teela and her owner almost ran each other over trying to get close enough to give me a big hug. There we were, two teenage women and one of the most powerful men in the shire standing under a tree, crying in a big group hug. For the first time in days I felt truly safe, and truly a part of a friendship. I knew then that I made the right choice to return to the castle and my friends.

When we broke the hug I expressed my condolences and started to go over the events on the night I left the castle and leading up to today, but the Reeve put his finger to my lips and said, "Later Kitty, there is no time for that now". I stopped talking and listened.

The Reeve explained that things were pretty complicated right now being that Lord had Hetch been murdered. He let on that he believed that it was me that had put the sword through his chest but did not come out and make the accusation. We went on to discuss how I would get back to the castle and that he had no plan prepared to get me inside at the moment.

I told the Reeve that I could make my way back to the castle on my own and that I would meet up with him and Teela in a day or so. I let him know that I had a way into the castle where I would not be detected. I do not think that he believed me, but nodded and went back to his men as one of them were calling for his attention from the roadside. I spent a moment or two with Teela after her owner was gone. We did not say much, just hugged a lot, dried the tears from each other's faces. We hugged tightly, and then kissed each other as we turned and went our separate ways.

I watched as my friends got into the coach and the driver headed off down the road toward the castle. It was a good ten-mile ride or so by coach, it would take me a bit longer through the forest. Once they were out of sight I moved carefully and quietly away from the road and used my collar to remove my clothing before I transitioned to my feline form. Back at the Osaka Eugenics academy, they liked to keep us physically fit and a hike of ten miles was an easy accomplishment, as it would be here too, but I was in no great hurry to get back to the castle. I was enjoying my time out in the wilderness and I was not looking forward to returning to the drama that waited for me inside the castle walls.

The trip to the castle was uneventful. I could have hiked it all in the same day but took a leisurely pace and camped out over night. It was a bit colder than the previous night and instead of building a fire and sleeping on the ground, I choose to climb into a sturdy tree and sleep on a thick branch in feline form. Sometimes it is great to have your own fur coat for those chilly nights. In the morning a group of ladies passed by my tree, they were all dressed in black dresses of similar design as the white dresses that are the norm in Kreet. Given the change in color, I had a feeling that this was in regard to the death of Lord Hetch.

I wanted to change into human form and join them but with my hair color and skin tone I would be very out of place and was afraid that I would become the topic of conversation. I doubt that I would learn much if I had to keep fielding questions about myself. The road that the women were on was a winding road that followed the foothills of the Kabho mountain range. I had found a trail that cut out some of the twists and turns of the road and I made it to the edge of the clearing that surrounded the castle sooner than I had planned. I approached from the North and waited at the edge of the forest until night began to fall.

There were no search lights to illuminate grassy approach to the castle and under the cover of darkness it was easy for a dark colored panther to make it unseen to the castle wall. I knew where I wanted to make my entrance; it was just a matter of finding the stream that I located from inside the castle. It took me about an hour or so to find the culvert that carried the stream under the castle wall. Once I found the culvert, it was easy for me to slink under the wall and follow the stream to the Reeve's garden. Once in the garden I could see that no one was home. I suspected that once again they were at the bathhouse, which gave me the idea to transition to human form and slip into the bathing pool in the garden. The wardrobe collar deployed my backpack and it provided the towels that I needed for my bath. The water was still warm from the afternoon sun, but the air was getting cooler as the night progressed.

I did not spend a lot if time in the water as that was cooling off rapidly. I climbed out of the pool, wrapped one towel around my head and was drying myself off with the other when Teela and her owner entered the garden from the side gate. I was working the towel over my back in a sawing motion with my arms behind me when they came in. The Reeve was the first to enter. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw my naked form in front of him. I could not help but giggle as I caught both him and Teela staring at my exposed breasts and hairless little kitty. I quickly brought the towel around to cover my torso. Teela was smiling and shaking her head while her owner just stared at me until I was covered. My best response to their entry was to bow and say, "Good evening Sir."

His response was, "How did you get into the castle and into my private garden?"

I pointed to the stream running through the garden and then explained how the stream came in from outside the castle. I went on to remind him that I had mentioned this before on my first visit to the garden.

He did admit that he did not take my words seriously on this matter at first, but he did now and vowed to resolve this in the morning.

I unwrapped the towel from my hair and gave it a final dry off, then removed the towel from around my torso. This brought a groan from the Reeve and a snicker from Teela. I feigned shyness as I reached into my backpack and retrieved and donned as simple white cotton dress. I raised my hands above my head and did a turn as a model would at the end of a runway. Teela clapped for me, but her owner asked me to take a seat and be serious as we had much to discuss.