64th Day of Spring, 514AV
Much like her previous Master, Marcus Ahysen, Annalisa was always busy, and that meant that the little Kelvic was left to her own devices for much of the time. The difference between being in Zeltiva and being on the corpse-island of Sahova, Kalina was that the inquisitive little ocelot kitten was not free to explore on the island. This was for her own safety, she was well aware – the girl shuddered as she remembered downing in a puddle of water that couldn’t have been more than half a foot deep. She had learnt her lesson that day, though the was unaware of the curse of paranoia that Annalisa had placed inside of her, leaving it to thrive in the Kelvic’s weak mind.
If anything, the incident had solidified her belief that Annalisa must be right, that she was only safe around the lightning-wielding woman, or when she was kept behind closed doors in her cupboard of a room. It wasn’t that Kalina was dissatisfied with her room – to the contrary, she had never had a space to call her own before, and she was quite happy to remain in ocelot form when sleeping, in order to reserve heat and make the mat on the ground, which served as her bed, feel more comfortable. The issue was that she was alone and this was one trait in which Kalina differed from her ocelot kin: she craved company.
Staring up at the door which she knew belonged to Anna, the young child chewed on her lower lip. She remembered how sometimes her Master didn’t want to be disturbed, and wondered if this woman was the same. But Annalisa was kind, had been from the moment she saved her, and Kalina took comfort in that fact as she willed herself to place her hand on the knob and turn, pushing the door open. As she entered the larger room, she saw the stark contrast between her own room and this one. Leaving the door to the corridor open behind her, Kalina stepped further into the room, moss green eyes wide as she took in the room as a whole.
Anna wasn’t in the room, so the Kelvic kitten decided to wait for her here, and she meandered over to the desk, where she hauled herself up onto the waiting chair. Once there, her small frame just about allowed her to see onto the desk itself, where she saw many papers and parchments, and even a book or two. With little education, she did not understand what they really were, and she grabbed a handful, crinkling some of the papers in the process. Twisting the papers around, the girl squinted as she stared at the remarkable scribblings on the papers, little runes and markings which were completely meaningless to the Kelvic, to the point where she didn’t even understand that she was looking at the written form of speech.
As she pulled a few more papers towards her, a writing charcoal fell to the ground, breaking in half as it did so. Some papers fell to the ground as she tried to utilise her quick reflexes to catch it but she obviously failed. Her brow furrowed and she glanced over to the door, checking, and glad to see that no one was standing there. She climbed down from the chair and ignored the numerous pieces of parchment which were now strewn across the floor, instead picking up only the charcoal, which she returned to the table. Glancing at her hand, she saw that some of the black had rubbed off onto her fingers, and slowly, she put too and too together. A grin formed on her face and she pushed the chair a little closer to the desk and then clambered back upon it, though this time she shifted her legs under her bottom, to give herself some more height. Then, she grasped another parchment from the desk and pulled it towards her. With an inexpert hold, she dragged the charcoal across the parchment, trying to trace the strange runes that were already there.
Her technique was flawed, as she held the charcoal in her entire fist. She had never done this before, and, within a few ticks, her own versions of the letters were clearly much more jagged and wobbly than the ones she was trying to copy, some were not even discernable for what they were, but she continued to try to trace them, sticking with the same paper, though she was aware that the ones on the floor would also suffice, should she run out of space on this one, and the way she was going, it was likely to be soon.
*
