Three

Cyra way laying on her bed when a soft rapping came from her door.

"Come in." She said quietly, knowing the only person who would be knocking on her door would be Blake. He entered the room, brushing a stray lock of inky black hair behind his ear, his soft brown skin glowing in the room's low light.

"Lou said you wanted to see me?" Blake asked, his voice smooth.

"Yeah, sit down." Cyra said, patting bed beside her as she leaned against the headboard. She waited for him to settle in before speaking. "Why was it such a bad idea for Lou to see Pierce?" She questioned nervously, her fingers stroking the little Saethie.

"Just a gut feeling. Lou spotted a Saethie two years ago, sitting on the railing of a hotel in town near where we were working. He tried to shoo the little creature away, but it wouldn't leave. He grew incredibly uneasy with the small ball of fur gazing intently at him for most of the day. He seemed to think something bad was going to happen because of the creature's presence. Nothing did happen, but he didn't seem right for days after that. He didn't seem to enjoy life the same way he did." Blake replied, looking solemn.

"Do you think having Pierce here will bother him?" Cyra asked, wondering if she was going to seek out a new place to live for the remainder of her stay in this city.

"He didn't yell at you, or seem uneasy or anything, did he?"

"No." Cyra responded, biting her lip nervously. "He's not going to kick me out, is he?"

"No, he likes having you around. You can be quite enjoyable, when you want to be." Blake joked gently.

"Oh really now, and how often is that?" Cyra joked back, the mood of the conversation lightening significantly.

"It happens every now and then." Blake smiled, giving Cyra a quick kiss on the cheek. She returned the kiss, but firmly on the lips in stead. "Good thing Lou isn't wanting you out of here just yet, I'm not nearly done with you."

"Is that so now?" She replied, her eyebrows raised with her smile.

"It is." He said, stroking the soft cat-like ears that grew unnaturally from the top of her head. "You know, you never actually told me how you came to have these." He said, his statement questioning her.

"That's because I don't like to tell the story to too many people. If the wrong people heard it, good folks could find themselves in prison or worse. In fact, I am legally obligated not to speak of most of it." Cyra replied, the joviality in her voice gone.

"I won't tell anyone, that's for certain. Are there any answers you could give me?"

"I suppose there is a little I could tell you." She said, taking a deep breath before beginning. "There is a group of people in this world, an army of sorts, though this is much different than any army you would know of, trying to, in short, make the world a better place." Cyra stumbled awkwardly with her words, trying not to reveal any information of a sensitive nature. "This army benefits from having individuals of different talents or persuasions, allowing them to help as many people as possible. They wanted people of unparalleled wit, cunning and agility. Finding none existing naturally in the world, the took it upon themselves to create this sort of person.

"They started splicing different genes from different animals together, finding patterns and combinations that worked. The best results were achieved in splicing human and feline DNA. However, they never did succeed in their task, but they produced several of us that could function within a normal society without attracting too much attention. They trained us for their army, and by the time we were fully grown we were also fully trained to do the work.

"Born into the servitude all others get to chose, several of us found ourselves unhappy with our situations. Many stayed, and a few of us left. Well, left as much as we could. There really is no leaving the army once you're in. You can sort of cut yourself off, shut yourself in, but there's no real escaping it. You're there for life." Cyra paused, looking at Blake's stare of amazement and disbelief. "And that's my story, or at least as much of it as I can tell."

"So you're like part cat?" Blake blurted.

"Yeah."

"Did you get any other feline traits, aside from the obvious?" He asked, gesturing to the soft brown tail poking out from her backside.

"No. I wasn't one of their more 'successful' endeavors."

"So there are others out there with traits similar to yours?"

"A few, though most stay well-hidden. It's part of being in that army, you stay out of sight."

"And you didn't like being in that army?" Blake asked, curious.

"I didn't like the fact that I didn't have a choice. It took me twenty years to realize there was another option besides servitude." Cyra replied sourly. "Now that I have, now that I've left, they're searching for me. I'm not a priority, but they'd like to try and keep me from being a danger to them."

"How could you be a danger?"

"Being in the army gives you... power. Or well, knowledge is a more accurate word. The knowledge that they exist, for one thing, and the knowledge of how they work. I could tell anyone anything at any time, and they don't like that."

"They don't understand that you just want to be free?"

"They see the army as the greatest freedom. In a way it is, but in a way it isn't." Cyra replied, leaning against Blake for comfort.

"Well, I'm glad you're free from them now." Blake said, nuzzling her head gently. "I'm glad that you're here."

"I don't know how much longer I can stay here. A week, maybe two. Depends on how close I feel them getting to me."

"If they're such a powerful army, is there really any being free from them?"

"Not really."

"Then why do you have to move?"

"I have the feeling they don't want me to settle down, get comfortable. They keep hoping I'll come back."

"But you're not going to."

"They're a persistent bunch."

"So what are you going to do?" Blake wondered quietly.

"Keep moving, roaming. Find a new place to stay, and give myself at least the illusion of freedom. What else can I do?"

"Settle down and let them find you. Who says they'll force you to go back in to the army? Who says they wont' give you a choice."

"Blake, you don't know what these people are like."