A House Filled With Night
Stray Cats and Stray Hearts

Everyone in the House understood there would be no peace once muffins ran out. Fiske got especially jumpy, and nobody wanted to deal with an unstable Fiske. For weeks after Celemine’s appearance (not to mention the debacle at Lady Katrien’s manor), no one dared suggest another outing. But the muffin famine was becoming too much to bear.

That morning, at breakfast time, all watched—half in horror, half in fascination—as Niko silently smashed his scrambled eggs into the form of something that appeared to be a droopy mushroom. Fiske, already rattled by the appalling lack of muffins at breakfast, began staring Niko down, fidgeting and tapping his finger on the table as if he had a spasm in that hand.

“Niko,” he snarled, eyebrow twitching.

Niko looked up, his mouth hanging open, the word oblivious practically stamped onto his forehead. As he did, a corner of his egg-sculpture buckled and plopped down onto the table with a quiet squelch.

Fiske exploded. “What have you done to the food?!” he screeched. “Don’t you know some chicken worked really hard to poop that out, you ungrateful brat?!”

“Fiske’s snapped,” whispered Casimir.

Niko’s mouth slowly snapped closed. “It’s…it’s a muffin. I was making it for you.”

Fiske threw his hands in the air. “I know what it’s supposed to be, but it’s not, see?!? It’s not! That sad, drippy, yellow thing is mocking me! Don’t you realize what you’ve done?!”

“Well, then!” Sylvain exclaimed suddenly, standing up with a tight smile. “We’re going into town today.”

“Oh, really?” Fiske breathed. “Can we get muffins?”

—

“Alright, everyone,” Sylvain instructed as they arrived on the outskirts of the city. “We’ll meet back here at nine o’ clock. No one get into any sort of trouble. No one go anywhere by themselves. This isn’t the time. Remember, we need to take care of each other right now. Got it?”

There was a begrudging murmur of assent as all the brothers slipped the hoods of their cloaks over their heads. It suddenly occurred to Runa that it must be extremely difficult to blend in with their strange appearances—unusual hair colors, not to mention unearthly eyes. She had become so accustomed to them, she almost forgot.

After much debate, the Sons of Midnight decided it would be safer to bring Runa along rather than leave her alone at the House. She was, however, strictly instructed to stay with at least one of the brothers at all times. Most of all, she was to avoid “snakes, suspiciously hooded figures, sharp rocks, dashing young men who are actually devils that threaten you to tell them secrets, and strangers.”

They entered through the city gates, and Runa was immediately overwhelmed by familiar sensations. She stopped walking and closed her eyes, letting the sounds and smells rush back to her. A morning in the city. She had forgotten what it was like. Sure, it was filled with clamor and sweat, but there was always that distant sound of a minstrel singing an old folk tune, or the faint smell of bread baking. She missed those things.

Someone grabbed her hand—Niko.

“Miss Runa, you can’t get lost so quickly. Stay beside us.”

Looking up, she found that she had already been separated from the Sons of Midnight. Niko dragged her along through the crowd until they found the others.

Torin frowned. “What happened? Where were you? Did you get lost?”

“Calm down,” she replied, waving him away. “I’m fine.”

He said nothing more, but fell in step one pace behind her and hovered just so as they went on.

For a while, they simply migrated from stall to stall, systematically checking every item off their list. Soon enough, the younger brothers grew tired of grocery shopping and split off into their own rogue group. Runa followed—partially because she could tell Torin wanted to join in the fun (but was loathe to abandon his self-appointed bodyguard duty); mostly because Fiske had grabbed her by the arm and forced her to come along.

“Keep them out of trouble, Runa,” Casimir called as she was dragged away.

Her head bobbed up and down, both in affirmation and from the force of Fiske’s tugging.

“Ah! Freedom,” Fiske sighed, once they had been separated from the two older brothers.

“Don’t you feel bad for leaving them to do all the grocery shopping?” asked Runa.

“Bad?” Torin snorted. “Sylvain loves groceries.”

“What about Casimir?”

“Casimir hates everything except sleep and music,” said Fiske. “But he probably hates fun most of all, so he’s better off with Sylvain.” He stopped walking. “Hey, let’s go terrorize some little kids!”

Runa’s eyes popped.

“Sylvain said not to cause trouble,” Torin answered smoothly.

“And you listen to Sylvain all of a sudden?”

“I usually listen to him.”

“Pfft, usually listen? Don’t lie. You’re just saying that because you want to look responsible in front of Runa. But Runa wants to have fun, too. Don’t you, Runa?”

“Um, actually, I—”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Fiske was already off in another direction, Niko trotting behind. Torin sighed but followed, Runa tailing along with him.

“Fiske, wait!” he called. His exasperation gradually melted into something like a smile. Then he was laughing, running after them. “Fiske!”

He grabbed Runa’s hand and ran.

By the time they caught up, they found Fiske and Niko with a small group of boys. They were all gathered around an old, metal laundry tub that had filled up with water from the last rain. The boys huddled around it, playing with paper boats. Fiske and Niko bent down to watch, looking like very large boys next to the others.

“That one will get to the other side first,” said Niko, pointing at a small boat.

All the children denied it, saying it would definitely be last, because it was always last.

“Bet me your flute,” Fiske said, pointing at the small, wooden instrument one of the boys had tied around his neck.

“And what are you going to bet, sir?” he demanded.

Fiske couched down to look him in the eye.

“Hm…what could I bet?”

He reached into his pockets and finally pulled out something small and brown.

“How about this?”

The boy rolled his eyes. “You’re trying to pull one over me, aren’t you? That’s nothing but an acorn!”

“Is it?”

Fiske shook it, and something rattled inside.

The boy put his hands on his hips. “Look here, sir. I might be a kid, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid! I’ve played with acorns before, and I know they all got another baby acorn inside them!”

“Well, then you should know that this sounds nothing like a baby acorn. Does it?”

The boy’s eyes narrowed. Fiske shook it again; smiled.

“…Fine. You’ve got yourself a deal, sir. But if you’re trying to pull one over me, my dad will come beat you up.”

They raced the boats, and Niko’s little boat won. Fiske cheered.

Runa sighed and leaned in toward Torin. “Niko messed with time again, didn’t he?”

“Niko? Never.”

The kids were shouting in amazement that the puny little boat had actually beaten all the others, but they kept their word and gave up the flute. After Fiske had played a couple of songs on it, he gave it back to them, anyway. He also gave them the acorn, which apparently had a tiny, glittering crystal inside. Runa had a feeling that Fiske’s version of “terrorizing” children was just an excuse to play with them.

“Oh! Cat.”

She looked up and saw Niko approaching, his eyes fixed upon something just behind her. She turned. The feline had appeared just beside the crates where she stood, rubbing its back along the edge of the wood. It had tufts of messy fur in orange, white, and black, and it looked slightly dirty.

Niko knelt down and called to it, holding out his hand patiently. He looked massive compared to the little animal.

“Give up,” said Torin, “You’ll never get that stray to—”

The cat approached Niko and nuzzled his hand. He scratched behind its ears. It was already purring.

“Can I pet it too?” asked Runa, coming over and crouching opposite Niko.

“Of course.”

“Why are you asking for his permission?” grumbled Torin. “It’s not like it’s Niko’s cat.”

Runa and Niko both ignored him, busy with the cat. After a few minutes, the two sat down next to each other on the side of the street, while the cat settled into Niko’s lap. Fiske was still playing with the boys, and Torin had gone over to join in the fun. The peacefulness of that moment gave Runa a chance to think. Ever since he had rescued her from Ennis back at the ball, Niko seemed to treat her differently. His attitude was almost opposite to what it had been when she first arrived at the House. Almost as if he didn’t hate her anymore.

“Niko…” she said, slowly.

He stopped scratching behind the cat’s ears and looked up at her expectantly.

“I never thanked for saving me that time. So, thank you.”

He looked away again, replaceing a good distraction in stroking the cat’s back. “Of course. You’re part of our family now. I always protect my family.”

Her eyes widened. “Do you really mean that? You think I’m a part of your family?”

He looked back up at her, eyes large, candid, matter-of-fact. “Why wouldn’t I? That’s what everyone else thinks.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes, everyone.”

“But I thought you didn’t like me.”

He shrugged. “I guess I didn’t, at first. But when I saw how much you care about Torin, and how much he cares about you—how much all my brothers care about you—I knew I could trust you.”

“Niko…” She didn’t know what to say. “Thank you,” she said again, finally.

“Hey.”

The pair looked up. Torin was standing there, arms crossed, watching them.

“Oh. Hi, Torin, how long have you been there?” asked Niko.

“A whole minute.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t notice you.”

Torin turned away, mumbling, “Neither of you did, apparently.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Never mind. Fiske took off that way.” He motioned down the street. “We need to go replace him before he gets into trouble.”

Fiske wasn’t exactly an easy person to replace. After a few minutes of searching, they couldn’t replace him anywhere. They were just beginning to grow worried when he popped up from behind with a loud, “Hi, everyone!”

“Fiske, where have you—”

In a flash, he grabbed Runa and took off, running down the streets as fast as he could. She could hear Torin and Niko shouting, running just behind them.

“Fiske!” she gasped, doing her best not to stumble and fall. “Where are we going?”

He turned a sharp corner, zigzagging so that they would lose the others. He looked back at her and smiled.

“Come with me, I need your help!”

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~ A/N ~

Frankly, I want to pet Niko’s cat, too.

Also I want to say thank you again to ALL OF YOU who leave comments and like my story and do your wonderful things!! You are marvelous and I love you - mwah <3

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