Puss in Boots: The White Eagle

V - The Guests

The afternoon the Spanish pair of cats spent together wasn't too short. Before they could notice, it was dawn already. The orange sun slowly started to dip and disappear under the horizon. It was obvious that night was coming. And not some ordinary night. The Polish night especially – quite colder than what they encountered back in Spain where the flowers were blooming and plants were growing no matter what due to abundance of sun and warmth.

They both began heading back to the tavern, with smiled on their faces. Here Kitty caught exactly three pigeons, all by herself in the foreign lands more or less unfamiliar to them.

„See, Senorita? I told you you could do it." Puss spoke to her when they were walking between the tables.

„Oh, Puss, you always know how to motivate me the right way." She told him and dipped his hat down in one swipe of her paw.

Nevertheless, they both went close to the counter and looked around. None of the tables had Paweł next to them. They looked up and down, left and right, yet still couldn't find him in the dining area. It looked as if the Polish cat has just disappeared into thin air.

However, Puss didn't give up and located wooden stairs leading to the upper floor. He tilted his head towards them and made his way upstairs, Kitty following his footsteps right behind him. The stairs lead them to a corridor with multiple doors on each side. However, one of the closest doors was slightly open, just enough to see the light coming from inside. Out of curiosity (even though it's the curiosity what kills the cat), Puss looked inside the room.

From the small fraction, he took a peek inside and could not believe his eyes. Inside the room there were a few lit candles shedding light to the whole room. In one of the corners, there was a mediocre-sized wooden bathtub which certainly looked like a flat and wide barrel. Next to it there was a stool with all of his equipment – his belt, cheap boots, and cape. But inside it, there was not anybody other than Paweł Mieszkogradzki himself, relaxing and sunk so deep that only his head was peeking out. He seemed to enjoy it all, having his eyes closed and breathing slowly.

This was literally a cat enjoying water. They both got slightly amused by this rather rare sight. After all, neither of them had any pleasant memories with water. Or even any cat they knew.

Puss gently knocked on the door and this only caused Paweł to open his eyes and look at the direction of the sound.

„Is it you both? Come in, come in." He spoke reluctantly and continued to enjoy his bath.

Therefore, Puss pushed the door open and entered the room, Kitty following him right behind. He just tilted his head at the sight and asked:

„Uuuh... Are you relaxing there, Senor Polaco?"

Paweł just slowly smiled and slowly nodded. „Tak. Did you want anything?"

That was when he supported himself by grasping the edge of the bathtub with his left rather muscular arm. Suddenly, Puss felt an urge to try out what Paweł was doing and thus he dipped his paw into the water, hoping it would be cozy, judging from the Polish cavalrycat's perspective.

It wasn't cozy at all.

Dear reader, listener, whoever, have you ever fallen into a pool right after sunbathing? Or maybe held an ice cube in your warm hands? After all, this is what Puss felt at this moment. An excrutiating pain made by the cold.

He retaliated immediately after realizing that the water in which Paweł was relaxing was actually freezing cold. He grasped his paw in a slight pain, yet didn't wince or say anything at all. Paweł looked at him in a slight disbelief.

„How can you..." Puss asked in shock and even slight anger. „The water's literally FREEZING!"

„It is just my preference. Doctors say it does well to the heart." And that was when Paweł started slowly emerging from the water and walked out of it. With all the water soaked in his tough fur, he looked very odd. However, he immediately grabbed a blanked and began wiping the water out of himself quickly.