Femme Feline

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 7th July 2026

Characters: Telemon
Description: Telemon is adopted by a new feline
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 3, day 19 of Turn 13

Telemon could already tell from the yowling on the other side of the door that Taiga was not happy about something.

"There, there, Taiga dear, I'm coming," he promised as he opened the door to his office. Sitting on his desk was a small, lean, black and white blotched feline, and she was very loudly making her opinion known.

The object of that opinion was sitting on the floor of the office, fluffy, large, and a mottled brown, her tail lightly tapping the floor as though there was nothing to be concerned about anywhere in the world.

"Oh, how did you get in here?" Again. The final part of that question should have been "again" because this particular feline seemed to keep finding ways into his office. Doors could not contain her. Windows did not deter her. Telemon was beginning to wonder if there was some secret feline network that ran in the walls of the Hold because she had an unerring ability to appear whilst his head was turned. "Are you certain you aren't a firelizard in disguise? Popping out from /between/?" he asked in light jest as he approached the feline sitting on the floor.

From the rafters, Ena, the actual firelizard, cheeped in disagreement. Or disgust. It was hard to tell.

Telemon's aging, redwort stained hand gently pet the intruder. With her human now here to handle the issue, Taiga ceased her complaint and began cleaning her paw. "Surely a lovely one like you has an owner?" he queried to no one who could truly answer. She never looked unfed or unkempt. But why did she pick his office to inhabit?

He scratched her under the chin and then straightened. He went over to Taiga and did the same, though she sniffed his hand warily at first. At least he wasn't returning to his office in the middle of a fight. Taiga was old, somewhere around fifteen Turns, and quite set in her ways. She liked his lap and solitude. Maybe she had decided that this newcomer was just not worth the trouble so long as she kept her distance.

Still, this was closing in on the dozenth time that this particular feline had shown up. He was beginning to wonder if he should just adopt her. What would be the difference? A collar and more of her around officially. "Would you allow that?" he queried Taiga, who, of course, could not answer in a meaningful way but would absolutely let her opinion be known in other ways.

Taiga was in his lap before he had fully seated himself, insisting on attention. The other feline rounded the desk, her tail twitching calmly as she watched them. She meowed softly. "Now, now, I can only pet one of you and she was here first," he said. First, yes, but not forever. Telemon could feel the signs of aging on her: the bonier shoulders, the fur a little less lustrous, gray in places it hadn't been before.

Taiga settled into a contented purr while her owner became lost in thought. If the two of them could tolerate each other, then why not adopt this newcomer? She obviously wanted to be here and not wherever her true owner was. His fingers slipped under the worn leather band around Taiga's neck. Making a collar was an easy enough ask of the tanner. Figuring out a name would be harder.

He looked back at the mottled brown feline, who was now watching something invisible on the wall. She looked like freshly turned dirt and clay. Loamy but with color. Like banded rock in some places. Wasn't there an old term for that? Climate zones. Something about climate zones. Alpine was mountainous. Desert was arid. Or maybe that was just what the land in general was called?

He snapped his fingers as it came to him. "Terra. Ah, yes, terra. Odd word but words can be odd in their etymologies I suppose." Indeed. Why was a feline called a feline and not something else?

"We'll leave language to the harpers," he told Taiga as he gently lifted her and placed her back on his desk so that he could stand up. Terra. He'd think on that. Give it a few days to see if anything new developed between them before making it formal. He went to wander over to his workstation, intending to make another batch of salves for the seacrafters, when there was a hurried knock on his door. "Come in," he called calmly.

The door opened. "Master Telemon, there's...oh, hello?"

The adoptee-candidate feline looked up at the winded man and meowed. It was a curious sound. It brooked the question of "why are you charging in here?" She sat as immovable as a boulder. Telemon had a sudden feeling that if he hadn't granted entry, his potential new charge would have been an absolute menace to the man in some form.

"It's alright," he assured both feline and supplicant. "What can I help with?"

"Brayda's baby is coming. You're needed," the man said. His eyes dropped down to the feline in front of him, who was swishing her tail back and forth and pinning him down with an unwavering golden stare. "Did you get a new feline?" the man asked.

"The feline has gotten me, it appears," Telemon answered as he reached up to retrieve his birthing bag. "Come on, Nasen, you know that no one ever truly adopts a feline. A feline adopts a human."

"Wouldn't know, Master, I'm allergic."

"Consider yourself lucky then," Telemon answered. He gave Taiga a passing scritch on the chin and then reached down to scratch the other one behind the ear. "Behave, you two," he ordered as he strode out. He had a feeling he would return to a great many opinions about that later.

Last updated on the September 2nd 2026

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Femme Feline