Amelia's Cabin
The decor of this treetop cottage is vintage Sylvanian, with plenty of fretwork, carved vines and gargoyle faces on the beams and furnishings. Supplemented the small windows are glass skylights that let in plenty of light, especially over the small dresser and bed. A cramped writing desk takes up one corner, next to a door leading to another part of the cabin. The bed is Kadie-sized, consisting mostly of an ornate dark wood frame and a large overstuffed cushion for the mattress. Shelves on the walls display various knickknacks and a heavy rack over the bed holds Amelia's reinforced wooden staff and nasty looking weapon consisting of a foot-long iron spear blade and axe-head with spiked hammer tail on a five foot long pole ending in a stone cudgel. A standard hardened wood boar-spear sits at the very top of the rack. A standard ceramic pot-bellied stove sits in the corner across from the desk.

Amelia's cabin seems almost foreign to the Kadie since she had been spending most of her time at the Wingnuts. But … she received word Zahn was going to stay the night at the castle to try and see if he could either somehow end or get information on some strange singing Clover claims to hear when alone and that he would report what he learned in the morning. So … Amelia spent the night in her own place. It's disturbingly uneventful and her night was dreamless. As daylight slowly creeps in her window, the Kadie awakens.

Getting out of the small bed, Amy works out some kinks in her back. "It never seemed so cramped before," she mutters. Waking up alone is also something she barely remembers. She gives her room a critical looking-over, thinking ahead to the cabin she'll eventually have to design and build at the Wingnut compound. "Wow… nothing in here is new," she realizes out loud. Aside from the weapons on the walls, everything else was more or less inherited with the cabin.

Amelia could swear she hears someone whisper in her ear, "So?"

A big black Kadie tail becomes suddenly bigger as it poofs out in alarm. Amelia spins around in place to see if anyone is sneaking up behind her.

Nope, nothing seems to stand behind her. However, she does seem to catch a flash of something red as she spins.

At the flash of red, Amy immediately grabs at her hair. "Grrr," she grumbles, wishing she actually had a decent mirror. She goes to the tiny dresser and tries to find her old hand-mirror – really a piece of broken mirror glued to a wood backing.

The little mirror is rather awkward to use, alas. She does manage to make out what looks like a bright red stripe that runs from the tip of her nose back between her eyes and over the center of her head.

"Okay, that's… that's just not right," Amy mutters. A streak in her hair she could deal with, but right up the middle of her face? She pulls off her nightshirt and twists around to see if the stripe actually reaches her back.

Oh, it does. It goes right down the center of her back and even down the center of her tail, right up to the tip.

Amy nearly strains her neck before she returns to her bed, holding her tail across her lap and… nearly breaking down in tears. "My tail!" she whimpers. "Why my tail? Why not… anyplace else other than my tail!" She wonders if she can dye it out. Black is easier to match than her lighter fur colors.

"Now why would you want to do that?" Amy hears a voice whisper in her ear. "Don't you hear the call?"

The Kadie stiffens, and asks, "Okay, who is that? Are you my… extra spirit? Because I know Stephan wouldn't be sneaking around in a girl's bedroom."

"Don't be silly. I'm you," the voice mutters, "Even if you try to hide me. But … the call has given me a chance to get past the wards you placed on yourself."

"The call?" Amy asks, still talking out loud to a voice in her head. "You mean… that test of Natasha's? Or are you talking about something else?"

"The Khatta? No, the style is different. The song it weaves in the fabric of the world is of a different tone," the voice comments, sounding a bit similar to some of her old lectures from Isolde, really. The kind that was often used when Isolde thought she was asking something silly that she should just know.

Amy twitches her tail. "For my inner voice, you're sure strange. If I'd really become a full witch, I'd sound like this, I suppose," she says. "But can't you be a little more specific?"

"Not without more control of my body," the voice claims, "If you were to say, give yourself completely I might be able to learn more… "

"Hah! Fat chance," Amy says, crossing her arms in front of her chest and scowling. "And this better not be because I lost my virginity either."

"You don't trust yourself very much," the voice chides.

"I don't want to become a monster," Amy declares, and then shakes her tail in front of her own face. "Just look at this! It's red! Change it back to normal!"

Amelia notices now that her claws are red too. They stand out from the surrounding black fur. Before the 'voice' can comment, there's a loud banging on her front door!

"Who is it!" Amy shouts angrily at the door.

"Your future bother-in-law!" comes the shouting voice of Gunther from the other side of the door. "You going to sleep the entire morning away or what?"

"Gunther?" Amy calls, heading for the door… then pausing to put her nightshirt back on first. "What are you doing here?" she asks as she opens the door.

"I'm like the wind, I'm everywhere!" Gunther claims and puffs up where he stands outside the door. "I … hey, did you lose a bet with Emmett? Someone striped your head!"

"Never mind that!" Amelia snaps. "Did Zahn send you?"

"Nope! You'll never guess in a million years who sent me," Gunther says and grins in that annoying way only Gunther can.

"I'm not in the mood for guessing," Amy sighs. "But… your mother?"

"Nooooooooo," Gunther teases as he rocks back and forth. "The rat."

"Djivan? Is it news about Lili?" Amy asks.

"I guess so. He was a bit cryptic about it. Worried, too," Gunther notes, "He was being serious. Said to get Amy and make sure she was armed."

"Right," Amy says. "Wait out here while I get ready," she adds, and starts to close the door.

"Hey, your butt is striped!" Amelia can hear Gunther call out as the door is closed.

"Stop looking at my butt!" Amy yells back, and sorts through her clothes for sturdy, combat-friendly apparel. "Oh… the stripe… " she remembers, and sits down. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Alright, I know you want to come out, but you can't go changing my colors. That just makes me angry. So pull back until we can work something better out, okay? she thinks to herself.

"But these are your natural colors," the voice claims.

"That may be, but I don't have time to come up with a reason for them," Amelia mutters as she gets dressed. "It's… magic. And I need to know how to use it before you start being obvious."

"And I guess killing anyone who questions you isn't an option?" the voice asks, sounding a bit disappointed, "Not even a little red?"

"No! No killing and no red!" Amy says, loud enough to be heard outside. "The whole killing people thing is why I keep you bottled up! So if you want to see daylight someday, you need to forget about that stuff."

"Is there someone in there with you?" Gunther yells from the outside. "I'm pretty sure I can break this door down… "

"How about red eyes?" the voice asks hopefully.

"Be patient Gunther!" Amelia snaps. Calm, calm, she tells herself. Don't get angry. The red likes it when you're angry. She finishes dressing, and straps on her sword first before getting her halberd. "No… well… not right now, but red eyes might be okay later. No red where it shows now, though. And never… ever… on my tail."

"Oooh, just no red where it would show. Right," the voice says, nearly giggling, "Done."

Amy pauses, and checks her tail. She's not about to undress to see what's red now. "No time to deal with this," she mutters, and opens the door. "Okay, where's the rat? At the camp?"

Her tail is back to normal. Gunther peers at Amelia for a bit and says, "Aww, you washed the stripe out. It was cool." And of course, the little voice says to Amelia, "See? Kadies respect red."

"I'm cool enough without makeup," Amelia claims. "I've never heard you say Liliana was cool. Besides… I've got wings dyed onto my back. That's way cooler than a stripe."

"Liliana is just weird," Gunther points out, "And yeah, the rat is in the camp. He couldn't find Olivia earlier, so you were the next choice on his list."

"I wonder where the mouse is hiding then?" Amy says, and heads down the ladder. "I hope she hasn't vanished now too!"

"She's probably with her horde," Gunther claims as he just climbs down the tree itself. "Want me to go look for her?"

"Not yet," Amy says. "Come with me in case I need to send you off with a message." She then heads along the path back to the Mint Road, her stomach grumbling a bit from skipping breakfast.

---

Gypsy Camp
Various wagons (in various states of repair) are clustered on the commons of Cataract Village. At one end of the loose grouping is a stage for dancers and others to perform, while behind that and weaving through the middle of the group is the space where the gypsies themselves come together, often filled with laundry lines, cookfires and the very young or very old among them.

The walk to the Gypsy encampment is quick and quiet, thanks to it being fairly early. The only difficulty, really, was Gunther periodically pulling on her tail to check it for red fur. He never found any and was, of course, disappointed. The camp is dead early in the morning, well, save for the Skreek who is pacing back and forth in front of his wagon.

"Djivan," Amelia says when she's in range. "What have you found out?"

'Bout time!" Djivan snaps as Amelia approaches. Scowling, he tosses a torn rag towards Amelia and says, "Dis."

Amy reaches out to catch the bit of cloth. "Um… what is it?" she asks.

Now that Amelia is holding it, she can make out just what it is. It's definitely part of the gauzy clothing Liliana normally wears. The worrying part is that it's torn in several places and the dried brownish stains look like blood spatter.

"Where did you find it?" Amelia amends her question.

"North o' here, in the woods," Djivan answers. "She liked ta hunt out in that area. Found it in a small clearing, along with lots of broken branches an what looked like blood spray from a fight."

"How far north?" Amy asks. "Past the castle, or more to the west?"

"More to the west. No' past the castle," Djivan clarifies. His tail flicks and snakes as he resumes pacing. "When I get me hands on who 'urt her, dey gonna be sorry," he growls.

"We don't know that this is her blood," Amelia says. "Where there any houses nearby? Plenty of people live out in the woods."

"Didn' see any houses," the rat answers. "I tol' 'er to no go off alone like she does. Tol' 'er she might get hurt."

"Mmmm," is all Amy can comment. "Take me to the spot where you found this," she says to Djivan, then tells Gunther, "Go tell Isolde that I'm looking for Liliana and that she might be hurt."

Gunther salutes, declaring, "Yes, Lady Stripe!" The Kadie zips off.

"Lady Stripe?" Djivan has to ask. "Dat kid been around too much glue or sumthin'?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Amelia says. "And do you have anything to eat? I burned too much energy the other day."

"We kin grab some food before we leave de camp," Djivan remarks. The Skreek proceeds to draw and check some rather sharp-looking knives he's got strapped to his arms via armbands. In her head, Amelia hears the idle comment, "You know, the call came from the north… "

"Where in the north?" Amelia asks herself quietly, and turns to look off into the woods. "Can you still hear it?"

"That depends… " the voice comments, "On if you'll let me."

Amy sighs and rubs her temples. "Yeah, and what's involved in that? I'm not letting you have control of the body. That's probably what got Lili in trouble, if something… summoned up her demon."

"Gettin' a food headache?" Djivan asks as he walks by Amelia and elbows her. "C'mon, let's get you some taters an' get moving." The voice, meanwhile, says, "You just have to quit forcing me away. I can't listen if you don't let me."

"Just do it in a way that doesn't draw attention," Amy relents, and follows after the Skreek. And what calls to demons out in the woods, anyway? she wonders to herself.