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_ Tales From the Kingdom of the Red Sun _

Series 1

The Cat Who Dreamed in Opal and Diamond

I'm going to be trying a slightly different format this week, mostly because I've been hammered at work and as a result, have little time to do any writing, but fear not! You will get your update for this week. And if it goes well, I may try doing it on a continuing basis.

The first installment will be on Wednesday followed by another 1000-1500 word update every day until Saturday where we'll switch back to Duchess Diqune's story.

Also, as a side note, this marks the halfway point of this particular series! Thanks to everyone who's favorited and followed this story, I hope you'll find it interesting as we continue on and I (try to) get better at serial storytelling.

-The Author

Installment 3.0

E isa was squatting atop a pylon that jutted up from the dark waters of the dock like some kind of finger. The steady sloshing of the waves against the pillar was comforting and she had caught herself more than a few times letting her guard slip.

Dangerous. Dangerous and stupid.

The Heperon ship was small, no bigger than a fishing boat flying a flag that hung loose from the prow like a weeping willow branch. She could tell it wasn't one of their trade ships simply by the way everything looked so used, the silver inlaid hull was tarnished in many places and nets hung in loose tatters from the edges of the deck. For a people so concerned with appearances and putting one's best foot forward, it was the nautical equivalent of rolling out of bed before dawn and strolling down the boardwalk in the clothes you went tavern hopping in the night before.

The question was why? Why would the Hesperons send a ship like that?

"Haven't seen one of their kind around in a while," a throaty female voice said beside Eisa.

Eisa jumped and almost fell off the pillar. She spun to see Michelle standing there cloaked in shadow, her caramel colored snout pointing at her, eyes alight with mischief. "_Egods_I hate when you do that."

She chuckled a soft mirthless laugh that sounded like rusty daggers across Eisa's oversensitive ears. A sudden flash of fear swept over her as she realized the coyote was using the shadow instead of coming out beside her. She must have heard Eisa, somehow, she must have known. The woman's bright amber eyes flicked towards the fishing ship again as she drew her hood back across tumbling waves of copper hair, the sight of which made Eisa's heart ache. "So, planning a score?"

"Ah-- ahm. . ." She glanced back. "Yeah, I think so. Want in?" The words stung even as they left her mouth. She was planning to rob the vessel so she could run. So she could run from Daxton _and_Michelle. She had pinned the entire idea of a score of star iron on Michelle and now, standing in front of the only woman who had taken her in with no reservations, who had _loved_her with no regrets, she felt tiny. A grain of sand at the foot of a giant.

Michelle didn't deserve this. Especially not from Eisa.

"I don't think so. . . So, how'd the meeting with Daxton go?"

"Uh-- f- fine."

"Mmm. . ." the faintest growl roiled in her throat but her voice was casual. She never raised her voice or got upset, part of why Daxton's Thieves' Guild had never caught her, part of why they lived in fear of her. She didn't get mad, she got even. "Did they hurt you?"

"N- No. This is all show," she motioned to her injured shoulder. It was a superficial cut she had used to escape notice from the guards when she was running from one of the Guild's members.

"You sure?"

"I'm fine, really. Just a cut so I could get away."

"Mmhm. . ."

Eisa fidgetted under the woman's pointed stare. She was a wolf in coyote's fur, able to unsettle or render her heart a pool of goo in her chest with nothing more than a look. Looking back, she hadn't fallen into those eyes nearly enough. Now that was all going to come to an end. "M- Michelle. . ."

"Hm?"

She swallowed. "I've done something horrible. I-- I--"

Michelle slipped from the shadows, reaching out a hand to caress her cheek. She stopped short and a subtle smile pulled her lips back over a broken right canine. "You will do as you always have, don't look to me for the answers or think _I'm_going to hold you back."

"But--"

"Shh, kitten. . ." The words rolled off her tongue like velvet. "No one can find me. Especially now."

Eisa's stomach clenched tight. "I didn't want it to happen--"

"I know, kitten. . . I didn't either."

She took a deep breath.

"Accidents happen, kitten. Life goes on, now. . . You have fish to catch." The coyote stood and pulled her hood back up, turning to the shadows once more like a whisp of smoke. Eisa couldn't do anything to follow her, she knew it, and yet she reached out as though she could take it all back, undo her weakness. She wanted it. Not just for Michelle.

"I love you. . ." was all she could manage.