Magic Cat Academy: The Adventures of Momo

The Winter Solstice

"Well, that topic has never been brought up, hasn't it?" she replied bashfully, "And six is basically four months in cat years."

"Now that you mention it, it is strange that you don't seem to age. But that compared to you being out of the ordinary in general is so trivial, I forgot to notice," Varee added.

"Two years is a long time, and four is even moreso. You were born before us and had done well surviving that much. It was nothing short of impressive," Teris stated, "When you confessed to being a sorceress, you were dealing with so much stress and anxiety, I thought you were overwhelmed by the world way too soon. Yet in as short as a day, you proved yourself to be more mature than I initially gave you credit for."

"B-but didn't I..."

"Fear and trauma, those are ageless," Varee licked the other cat affectionately, having picked up the habit of comforting Momo with gentle intimacy from her mate, "You have been in an arduous battle, and have been fighting until now. What's more important now is that there is a chance to end it - for now, forever, it doesn't matter to me. Won't you take it to sleep in peace alas?"

"Sleep in peace... That does sound like a good dream," Momo mused, "I will... give it a shot then. Can you root for me, like you did back when I was participating in the Candy Cup? Can you... please?"

Teris could never forget the look in her eyes at that moment, even as he approached the end of his short feline life. Momo was timid and easily freaked out, sure, but she was never the one to plead. Yet when she looked at him with her eyes wide and her dark pupils almost overtaking her yellow scleras, her ears flattened against her head and her tail twitching in anticipation, and she couldn't help her breath accelerating along with her heart.

Such was not the normal behavior of a hunter, nor a survivor.

"This is an immensely large step in her life, dear," Varee told her mate and offered the smaller cat another lick, "Of course we will be right behind you - not physically, maybe, but if things don't go right, know that we'll be here. So for my sake as well, keep your chin up, your ears alert and your eyes sharp. Then I can be proud that I have taught a sorceress!"

"Send a voicemail whenever you need it. I think you'll get to learn to use that soon if you're studying their method of delivering magic," Teris nodded, "Are you going to Goldi?"

"R-right, let's talk to her."

~

That day, "Momo Avian" came to life.

Among all the sorcerers she had managed to track down, only one was born with a proper given name and family name, which was Frodo von Schwartz. As for the others, they all had to give themselves a name at some point so that their contacts may have something to refer to with, or was named by nearby humans.

Momo... She couldn't remember when she started carrying this name. Was it Muffin who gave it to her? Or one of the ghouls? She wouldn't even be bothered if it was a different name or none at all, because before this life with so many open possibilities, her sole goal of survival needed no such means. Time had changed, however, and she now carried Goldiha's surname. As the Academy only accepted verified witches, the yellow witch would act as her guardian - a mother, in fact.

In her wildest dreams - in one of them, at least, she had dreamt of knowing where she came from. Early memories were always fuzzy, and hers was no exception. On less exhausting days, she wondered if her birth parents were sorcerers or ordinary cats, if they were slaughtered or still alive out there, somewhere.

She wondered if she was a lost child, or merely discarded.

Those thoughts never had time to linger for long, however, not until she had a firm roof above her head. By then, her dreams had already shifted. She wouldn't admit that she had thought of her imaginary mother with resemblance to Goldiha, but really, how could she not? When she started settling down, she expected the worst, always on edge and ready to run, but the witch was more than kind - she was so nonchalant, everything around her seemed harmless.