Into That Wild Blue Yonder

6. Gathering Up Loose Ends

Colm roused to the feeling of Purrty's coarse tongue scratching against his scalp through his hair as if she wished to drag him out of bed by force. He rolled up with a yawn and hard sniff to clear his nostrils and gently patted her head. She had woken him just in time to get to Starcloud early, beating the crowds and hopefully the elf woman.

Colm stretched out a bit and put the necklace in his pocket so no one would see it on the way. Purrty climbed up his back while he put his boots on and laid herself over his shoulder, "asking" him to carry her back to her usual area of operation by the tavern. As Colm got up to leave, he looked over to the windowsill and saw the piece of the map sitting there and hesitated before leaving.

He decided to grab it and hang onto it in case he figured out what to do with it and made his way out. With one arm on Purrty to keep her in place on his shoulder, he walked amongst the tired citizenry as they finished work and let the exhausted workers pet the kitty as they walked by. Colm didn't love the attention in his direction, but if they were just looking at Purrty and not him, he could manage.

Purrty stuck to Colm's shoulder as he walked up to Starcloud, though he couldn't take her inside. She seemed intent on staying with him tonight, though. Colm thought it odd that she would want to spend a full day with him, but appreciated the gesture.

"Sorry, cat, gotta put you on the ground," Colm said sadly as he tried to pry her off. "Law says no strays inside restaurants."

Purrty meowed her discontent at Colm when he finally got her off, but seemed to know and rubbed his leg before running into the nearby bushes. Abelard didn't have issue with her, but Colm didn't want to do anything that might get him in trouble and close his favorite and only tavern. He appreciated being able to just get drinks at the tavern without being overly bothered by tons of random people.

Colm stepped through the door and glanced through the room. He arrived slightly earlier than usual, so the tavern had not yet filled up, and he could clearly see it was safe to enter. He sighed his relief and approached his usual seat at the bar to a surprised Abelard.

"Early?" Abelard asked. "Making up for yesterday? You showed up late and then ran off."

"Situation."

"I could tell. I didn't say anything."

"Thank you."

Abelard poured Colm a drink and slowly slid it over, looking the young man up and down, trying to determine what was going on. Colm took a relaxed sip of his drink and stared at Abelard as he looked the young man over.

"Uhhh..."

"Lay it on me, kid," Abelard said, leaning on the bar. "What did you do?"

"Nothing terrible," Colm replied. He took another sip and Abelard smiled.

"You do a smash and dash?" Abelard asked. Colm choked on his drink a little.

"What?" he asked between coughs. "No, Abelard, I did not 'smash and dash'."

"No shame if you did, I'd be intimidated too-"

"Abelard."

"Alright, alright," Abelard conceded. "But seriously. Why is she after you?"

"Well, I may have something that I didn't know was hers."

"Uh huh."

"It may have something to do with the job the other night."