Josh frowned down at Kit’s pocket and gave it a light nudge. It wasn’t all that common for people to keep fish in their pockets, was it? That seemed rather odd. The shape also wasn’t like a cut of fish at all, and much too hard.

His toy! Kit had stolen his toy! Josh turned his head to level a glare up at the future villain already displaying tyrant traits. “How dare you,” he grumbled, standing on Kit’s chest to make sure he had the man’s attention. “That toy was mine.”

Kit gave Josh a generous scratch under the chin with one hand just under Josh’s tail. “As you can see he loves attention,” Kit teased. “The vet we have mentioned it could be related to his qualities as a luck cat, though I honestly think invisible luck isn’t really luck at all.”

Henri sat back in his seat and looked over the papers again. “I saw that in here. Korat, right? Not a common breed, but not exactly rare either. The luck rumors are just myths and old stories. The vet report says he’s not a kitten, though? He looks very young.”

“We guessed at two to three years old based on behavior, size, and mana,” Kit explained. “It’s possible he was mixed with a smaller breed. He seems to still have some kitten-like features so I’ve still been thinking of him as a kitten.”

Mrrrrr. That sounded almost insulting but those fingers knew how to hit that spot just right. They were a big distraction!

“The staff have taken a liking to him,” the Duke interjected. “We’ve been limiting his contact until you could take a look just to make certain we didn’t interfere with the investigation. Those who do see him are quite taken by him.” He opened up a drawer and pulled out a box. “This is the invisibility collar he was wearing. The magic on it is very thin. Between the gargoyle and the passage of time I think tracing the caster will be difficult.”

Henri took the box and opened it up. He pulled out the black strip of cloth and examined it. “As I’m sure you both know, I got the position of Imperial Knight for my investigative skills rather than military power. My magic lies in seeing what others can’t and in finding things. Even if the mana is gone I should be able to see some trace of what happened.”

Josh pulled himself away from the distracting hands and started pawing at Kit’s pocket. “That’s my toy, and you stole it,” he whined. “I want the fish.” This was also a very important situation and Josh couldn’t afford for wandering hands to keep him from knowing what was happening. He’d already lost track of some of the conversation already.

His mouth was also watering in anticipation of the snapper.

“My magic is rather boring to witness,” Henri said as he set the collar back down inside the box. “Could I trouble you to take this back with me? I’d rather not waste your time on trivial matters.”

“Of course,” the Duke said with a wave of his hand. “Feel free.”

“Well then. That just leaves a few investigative spells that I need to cast on the little cat there - nothing too invasive, just a few checks to see if he has any special talents or if he’s hiding another form - and then that’s all on my side. I’ll take your report and the collar back to the palace and we will continue the investigation from there.”

“Actually, before that,” Kit said while shifting Josh around, “I was wondering if I might ask you a few questions about an unrelated topic.”

“Of course,” Henri shrugged. “I’ll tell you what I can. What’s the question?”

The Duke started fiddling with the tea service and put together a plate of snacks he handed over to Henri while Kit asked: “I made a report on my last raid about some oddities in the rebellion. I was wondering if any progress was made in the investigation?”

Henri let out a low scoff that was almost too quiet for Josh to hear. He gave a half-hearted pat to the bulge in Kit’s pocket and turned one ear towards the knight. “I took the liberty of looking into the recent incidents you’d been involved in thinking you might ask about an open case. You’re asking about the wolf village, right?”

Wolf village? Wolves were big supporters of dragons and stood beside Drakon in the future. Kit picked up Josh’s front paws and held them still, so Josh tried to nose his way into Kit’s sleeve. Wolves were scary in their own right but nothing was scarier than a dragon.

“There was clearly a family of rabbits living among them unharmed,” Kit said as his fingers tickled Josh’s belly. “It seemed unusual.”

“Wolves eat rabbits,” Henri said drolly. “There wasn’t anything unusual about finding them near a wolf habitation. The case was closed.”

Kit frowned. Even Josh had to twitch his nose at the oddness. Kit had said they were living together. That was different from ‘near each other’. Predators and prey didn’t share a home. If they were talking about the rebellion then that meant they weren’t really discussing wolves and rabbits. They were talking about people like Josh. Beastkin. That was different. Beastkin were just another type of people with different magic.

But that wasn’t the discrepancy Kit picked an issue with: “Wolf beastkin eat wild rabbits or animals they’ve trapped. They don’t eat other beastkin.”

Shock took over Henri’s face for a minute. Josh almost wanted to stick his tongue out at the man. “Are you suggesting - you can’t believe you found a village of cannibals?”

Kit pulled Josh’s nose from his sleeve and settled the kitten back on Kit’s legs with the little kitten nose pointed right at the snapper. Josh’s mouth watered. “Of course not,” Kit said over Josh’s head. “I’m suggesting predator and prey were living together.”

“That’s impossible!” the knight laughed with clear relief. “These are beastkin, your lordship. Hardly more sensible than beasts. They’re slaves to their beastly natures. The only reason those rabbits were still alive when you got there was because the wolves hadn’t had an opportunity to eat them yet. A wolf won’t hunt unless he’s hungry. To be honest I think killing prey beastkin is more like mercy than murder. They’re smart enough to know they’re constantly being hunted, but don’t have the brains to avoid danger and live happily. You did those rabbits a favor.”

“What an absolute jerk!” Josh hissed. He fumed at the ignorant Imperial Knight who wasn’t even smart enough to continue his investigation and instead got sidetracked by this rot! “Let’s throw you in with a bunch of murderers and see how well you like it! To the front lines with you! You’re no different from an ant boasting to a lion, you sloppy, weak, sorry excuse for a pile of mud!”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Kit said, and Josh could hear the laugh in his voice.

“You! Don’t tell me you agree with that buffoon! I know babies smarter than that doofus!” Josh hissed.

“It seems the little one is getting restless, though. Perhaps we should move on with the spells?” Kit asked gently.

“Oh, right,” Henri agreed quickly. He shoved the box with the collar in his pocket and stood up to do his tasks. He wrote the spells in the air with his mana and Josh could tell just by glancing that they were sloppy and rushed.

“What nonsense,” Josh grumbled. “I’d rather have the fish.” He turned his butt to the knight and went back to trying to push his toy out of Kit’s pocket. The knight was useless. Absolutely useless.