Serena was so anxious to get home that she almost took off right then. How could Buffy have gone to Captain Vane?
What was she doing?
Serena felt alone, confused, and afraid. Buffy should have told her something about a plan -- if the cat had one that reached beyond joining the pirates ... which well might have been the draw.
The cat should have talked to her about it. That annoyed Serena enough that she decided she would have to finish the work on her own. She didn't need Buffy.
Much.
Serena considered giving up and going home anyway but quickly smothered that thought with a wave of annoyance. Buffy was only her Familiar, after all. If Serena wanted to become a Wise Woman like her mother, she needed to learn to work independently. Wings, her mother's crow familiar, was often gone for months on research outings. Buffy was going to have to learn to do the same. This might be a good start ...
If she hadn't just joined the pirates instead.
Serena spent the next two days gathering information without asking questions, a trick she had learned young. No one told secrets to the Wise Woman's daughter, but she learned them anyway.
Being in such a large town was frightening at first, but Serena soon realized that the number of people helped her blend in. They were used to not knowing everyone, so she could buy a little bread and a hunk of cheese without drawing attention.
She had automatically bought Buffy's favorite kind of cheese and found she could only nibble a little bit without starting to sniff. Serena shoved it away for later.
Serena collected significant information over the next two days and knew it was time to head home. She dared walk closer to the docks on the third day, planning to fly away after dark.
However, a bad storm blew in, and Serena knew better than to test her wings against those winds or her luck against the lightning. Instead, she found a mostly dry spot where the upper floor of a somewhat rowdy inn over-hanged the lower roof, making a cozy spot for her and a few pigeons. She dared just a touch of magic to clear an area for herself and settled in with her cloak pulled up and around her.
She had dozed off but came awake at the sound of voices far too close. The pigeons made more noise than she did, though.
"I can't believe the cat figured out where we'd hidden our private treasure. That was ours! She had no right to turn us over to Vane."
"At least he didn't kick us off without pay," another man said. "But it ain't right. The cat is taking over, and maybe we're lucky to get out before she's in charge."
"Captain Vane will regret listening to her, even if she does spin a pretty tale about villages with no protection."
Serena shivered at those words. Buffy liked Bay Village, and everyone was friendly to her. No one demanded that the cat lose the ability to fly, even when she made things inconvenient.
If another miserable storm hadn't blown in, she might have taken off right then and headed home with the news. The men had settled in to sleep, still mumbling about the trouble but not ready to go out into the cold and wet to teach that cat a lesson.
Despite herself, Serena worried about Buffy and these evil people. She had never considered it before, but she realized that cats had never understood much about the trouble with making enemies. For cats, it had seemed normal. They had friends, and everyone else couldn't be trusted.
Serena spent most of the night curled up in the little wet spot and took off before dawn for fear of being spotted. She didn't go far because the wind grew worse. Damp and miserable, she found what refuge she could in the spots between buildings -- at least the ones not already taken by the plethora of people who had nowhere to go.
Serena liked the town less and less.
She wandered toward the dock just as the sun rose on a gray, windy, wet day. Having been so upset about Buffy, Serena realized that she'd learned almost nothing about the pirates. From what little she had heard, they were going to at least supplement their pirating with raiding villages. She wondered if even Norco would be safe.
She could not wish them ill, so she wished them wisdom instead.
When she saw Captain Vane and one of his men walking toward her, Serena almost panicked. However, there was no reason for the man to know her since she carefully covered her wings. She kept her step steady and nodded when the two stepped aside for her. Polite pirates.
They had stopped talking when she neared and remained silent for a few more steps. That gave Serena time to find and climb a rickety ladder -- no room to fly -- on the side of what appeared to be a warehouse. From there, she bundled up her cloak and unfurled her wings. The Captain and his man had gone two buildings down and paused under a canopy.
Serena landed quietly on that roof and snaked her way to the edge above the covering where they stood.
"She was right about the weather," Vane said. "I am not saying we would have sunk in it, but it might have been close. I am glad to be in a snug port for a day or two more."
"And what if a patrol ship comes in?"
"What if one does? We've nothing to hide -- well, except the Wise Woman's shipment, and I've got that in my secret compartment. Do you think the locals will turn us in? We are as safe as we could be, Tunis. When the weather clears, we head for Bay Village."*
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