Chapter Twenty-Six: The Sun, the Cat, and the Light

"Of course it isn't lost, Detective. You shouldn't make baseless accusations. But that damn cat..."

The man inside the doorway gritted his teeth, his expression twisting as if the cat had devoured his entire livelihood. "Get that cat out of here. I am never, ever helping anyone look after an orange cat again."

"Very well. Where is the cat?" Shad asked. He wasn't particularly fond of cats, but for such a generous commission, he wouldn't mind carrying one through the streets.

"On the roof." The man pointed upward, his grimace deepening. "Ever since that detective dropped it off for boarding, this cat hasn't let anyone touch it easily. It has scratched my wife and Miss Cindy at least twice. It refuses to eat cheap cat food, and it constantly bullies the other pets here. I've run this place for years, and I've never seen such an aggressive six-month-old kitten... At this hour, it must be up there sunning itself! Take it away, I can't take it anymore."

Shad pretended not to hear the man's complaints. He stepped back from the doorway and looked up at the three-story building. "How do you expect me to climb to the roof?"

"There is a ladder in the courtyard that goes from the first floor to the roof. I won't go up there—I never want to see that cat again!"

Shad certainly didn't want to climb that high; he took his safety very seriously. Just as he was about to persuade the big-nosed middle-aged man, the man stuffed a one-shilling note into his hand.

"Detective Hamilton gave me one shilling and ten pence to look after it for two months. Here is that shilling back—take it and leave! Don't ever let that cat appear in this alley again!"

The voice was nearly hysterical, causing the children playing in the street and the woman hanging laundry across the way to look over. It was hard to imagine the extent of the psychological damage that orange cat had inflicted upon him.

Shad followed the man through the house to the backyard, which was filled with empty pet cages. The man steadied a metal ladder, and Shad cautiously climbed up to the rooftop.

The roof was cluttered with trash and debris; it was a mystery how these items had been transported up there when the only access was a ladder. In the southeast corner of the roof, the only relatively clean patch of ground, Shad saw the cat, lazily sprawled across a metal pipe, basking in the early summer sun.

It was indeed a young kitten, its body as soft and limp as a puddle of water draped over the pipe. It was not large—in fact, it was rather scrawny. Its fur shimmered faintly in the sunlight filtering through the mist, a sign of good health.

Yet, rather than an orange cat, it looked more like a white cat wrapped in a warm orange blanket. Only when the cat stood up did Shad realize that the almost dazzling orange-yellow was, in fact, the true color of its fur.

The cat stood upon a discarded metal pipe, one end of which was propped up by a broken sofa cushion, giving the cat a vantage point slightly higher than the surrounding clutter.

It rose to its feet, back to the morning sun, and fixed its amber eyes on Shad, warily sizing up the stranger. Shad had no experience with such animals, and given the middle-aged man's warnings, he worried the cat might pounce.

But this cat, which shared the name "Mia" with its owner, didn't seem particularly fierce. It observed Shad, and knowing he was being watched, Shad tried to appear as friendly as possible, silently reminding himself of the cat's value.

"I'm here to take you to your owner, Miss Mia Sang-Gold."

He found a steady footing among the debris, crouched slightly, and clapped his hands together with a deliberate smile. As expected, his suspicious behavior earned no response from the cat.

"Miss Mia Gold."

The first attempt had been in the standard "Northern Kingdom Common Tongue," or Derarian. This time, he added a local Tobesk accent—a skill he had picked up over the last two days. "I am here to take you to your owner, Miss Mia Gold."

The orange cat's small ears twitched. It raised its right front paw to lick it, set it back down, and continued to watch Shad with bright, piercing eyes.

Shad pursed his lips, checked his surroundings to ensure there were no taller buildings nearby, and extended his right index finger. "Look."

A silvery light flickered on his fingertip. The orange cat's amber eyes widened immediately. It opened its mouth slightly, stood on the rusty metal pipe, and leaned forward, whiskers trembling as it gazed at the light.

"Miss Mia Gold."

Shad continued, slowly approaching the cat. He stretched out his left hand, suppressed his anxiety about dealing with "wild animals," and gently scooped it up with one hand.

The kitten was not heavy—at least, not yet.

The cat continued to tilt its head, watching Shad's right index finger. After the light faded, it made no attempt to escape his arms. It leaned against Shad's chest, batting at his glowing finger with gentle swipes of its paws, seemingly fascinated by the "new toy."

"Good."

The detective exhaled a long sigh of relief and stood up, ready to leave. The young orange cat, little Mia, squirmed restlessly but did not struggle excessively.

"Not fierce at all, quite well-behaved, actually. It seems I have a knack for winning over animals."

Shad thought to himself with satisfaction. Just then, he noticed something lying beneath the pipe where the cat had been resting. Holding the cat in one arm, he bent down to pick it up with his right hand and realized it was a box of old Rhodes cards.

To play Rhodes, one needed a full set of 54 cards; special cards could be swapped in based on suit and rank, as the backs of all Rhodes cards shared the same pattern.

The box in his hand was nothing special—much like the set he had seen the three men using in the tavern. The designs on the cards were extremely simple; they could likely be bought for a few dozen pence.

Seeing it was nothing important, he tucked it into his pocket. Then, balancing the cat, he carefully climbed back down the ladder into the courtyard.

Seeing that Shad was truly taking the cat away, the big-nosed man nearly wept in front of him.

After leaving Purple Iris Alley, Shad didn't wander around with someone else's cat but headed straight for Miss Gold's home. During the trip, aside from a brief "purr-purr" sound at the start, little Mia only pawed at Shad's sleeves and chest, never attempting to flee.

Since Miss Gold was willing to pay such a high price to find her cat, she was certainly no pauper. She lived in a quiet residential neighborhood in the south of the city called "Sandro Avenue," where every house had its own small garden and a nameplate on the gate.