Prologue
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“Devil for a silver pound, anyone?”
A lioness merchant called out to the crowd from her stand.
A burly man approached the stall, “Here here! I’ve got a pretty penny to pay if you’ve got what I need.”
“What you need? I’m afraid you’ll have to elaborate,” seeing a customer, a wide-spread grin stretched across the merchant’s face, extending from her muzzle to the ends of her ears.
“Just a small, tiny, little thing,” the man huffed a laugh, he voice deepening as he spoke, “an enchantress.”

The lioness’s eyebrow quirked up, “Hmm! You’re one of those buyers. I’ll get everything ready for you.” She winked, and left to the warehouse.

Behind closed doors, the lioness’s face fell. Her nose wrinkled as if she’d inhaled a pile of dung.
“Goddamn it,” the lioness muttered, kicking a pile of boxes.
Broken glass clinked, echoing throughout the warehouse.
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.
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The man stood alone, looking at the stand.
It was horrific.
Small bird cages encased large creatures. Spined Felidae, Bat-winged Frogs, eyeless horn-billed monkeys and that was not the worst of it.
‘Terrible time to be a chimera,’ the man thought quietly to himself.

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Chapter 1
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Across the street from the man, a large, obese chimera cat, endowed with lavish jewels and grand silks, bartered with a stall owner.
“Now see here! I’ve been in the business far, FAR long than you have,” a young lady waiting in line gasped as the cat pointed a scrutinizing index finger right up the stall owner’s clean-shaved chin. “I know VERY well that this, this DISASTER!! is not worth another SECOND of my time.”
With every word, the pointed finger drew closer, and closer to the stall owner’s nose.

Yet, contrary to the lady’s expectation, the stall owner simply sighed. Patting away the cat’s furry hand(paw?), he passed an apologetic glance at the young lady (waiting in line).
The cat caught on this. Enraged, she shrieked, toppling over in a much-too dramatic display.
“FINNY!! Finny! Oh, FINNY!”
The stall owner’s back slouched down as his fingers elegantly supported his head, the other hand propping his arm up in an exasperated sigh.

…The young lady swiftly decided to exit the scenario, not forgetting to take her newly weaved basket along.
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Away from the disaster that was the stall owner and over weight cat, the young lady walked step by step to the market square, where an extravagant marble fountain sat. The lady invited herself to the public benches beside the fountain, resting her basket on her lap.

From the basket, an alluring scent of freshly baked bread enticed her appetite closer and closer.
Licking her lips, the young lady opened the basket, unwrapped the bread from the cloth around it, and took a much too small bite. Her teeth scratched against each other, sliding across the bread.

“Tsk.”

The next time around, the lady widened her bite, finally digging into the soft, fluffy interior.
‘Ah… how tasty,’ the woman thought, indulging herself in another bite.
Bite after bite came as they went, soon enough leaving her with a full stomach and an absence of bread.
How sad.
No more bread for her today :(

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Chapter 2
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From a dark alley, mysterious…creatures lurked among worn crates and splintered wood. A cat, black as night, had watched as a young lady, seated on a bench, ate her bread.
The cat licked its nose, “…bread…?”
To its left, a little kitten appeared. Fur mangled and matted, it yowled for its mother.
The ‘mother’, the black cat, hissed.
“I’m not your mother, do not come near me—“
The cat’s resistance only served to fuel the kitten’s courage, and it leaped onto the black cat’s face in defiance.
Startled, the black cat shook its head, flinging the kitten away, and into a pile of crates.
Bam!
Crates tumbled over and— splat! onto the kitten.
The black cat winced.
“…child?” She whispered, her neck craning towards the wreckage.
The cat lowered its head and cautiously approached the site. Perking her ears, she heard the kitten still breathing.
‘It’s alive. And I suppose,’ the black cat flicked its tail, ‘it would not want a mother like I.’
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And so, back to a life of lonesome.
The cat trailed the edges of building tops, leaping from one to another. From stealing food to hunting messenger birds, this black cat could do it all.

She’d overheard a king praising his knight, “A Jack of all trades, you are.”
So, she named herself ‘Jack’. A name much befitting of her talents.
And now this Jack-of-all-trades was now basking in the sun, body stretched and muscles lax. In the depths of Jack’s throat, a rumble arose.
“Purr….purrrrrr…”
And thus this little black cat moved on from earlier’s disaster.

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Chapter 3
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“Mommy! Mommy! Look look look look looook!” A young fox-child, perhaps nine years of age, dashed into the imperial gardens of Nettanyu, “A kitty!’
Behind the child, a fox chimera, no more than 25 years old, watched lovingly as her child raced to the black cat. Her bobbed tail flicked as she proceeded along the path her child had taken, her steps unhurried. The fox chimera folded her parasol, adjusted her crooked shawl, and smoothened her wrinkled dress.
The fox-child giggled with glee as she ran up to her mother, taking her hand and swinging it, “Did you see it? Did you see it??”
“No, of course not. You ran so fast and scared it away,” despite not entertaining her child’s fantasies, her words were as a soothing coax.
“Hehe,” the fox-child grinned, and the fox chimera mother took her child’s hand, leading her back onto the stone-encrusted path.

Together, the pair finished their walk around the imperial garden. By the end of it, the fox-child spared no expense to voice the exhaustion in her tiny feet, and the rumblings of her hungry stomach.
“Mom, what’s for dinner?” The fox chilled swung her mother’s hand back and forth as they returned to the imperial palace.
The mother smiled, “Why don’t you save that question for Mister Chef?”
The fox-child nodded obediently, and gave a small bow to her mother, “Then I’ll be in my room!”
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Behind closed doors, the ‘fox-child’s’ face fell.
“Stupid mom, can’t even register that her dear little daughter has changed,” the ‘fox-child’ took upon a tone of voice that was not mature of an adult, but much too different than that of a child’s.
The ‘fox-child’ sneered, “but I guess that’s a testament to my great abilities.”
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The fox mother, once away from her ‘daughter’ immediately sought for her husband, the Imperial Emperor.
Pushing open the doors of their private chambers, she was met by the view of her husband pacing by the door. As a human, the emperor had faced many challenges while competing for the throne. But nonetheless, he was the one on the throne.

“So? How did it go?” The emperor’s troubled face bore a striking contrast from his usually calm, and collected appearance . He gently grasped the chimera fox’s hands(paws?).
The fox’s face took on a grave expression, shook her head, saying, “She is not our daughter, love. Our daughter is…gone.”
The emperor’s face fell.
He’d had some doubts for the past few months, but a child was always changing… it wasn’t until his wife brought it up that he truly understood the extent of the situation.

He sighed, and collected his wife’s shoulders into his embrace, directing himself to the bed. The emperor sat, and so did his wife.
There they stayed, mourning the loss of their beloved daughter.

Perhaps one day, the family would come to terms.

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