Chapter Text
There was something familiar in the witch before him. But he knew he had never seen them before. He was sure of it. You would remember somebody who gave you this feeling of strange wrong-rightness that he couldn't put his paws on.
Like a limb cut off and longing to be reattached to the whole.
Like a branch missing the tree it came from.
For only the briefest of seconds, he contemplated that the witch under the mask and hood was that of his own. But he quickly dashed that hope away. He had long since gone off to join the other witches in the coven and had to leave him behind.
'You are wild magic,' he was told. 'And wild magic is not allowed in the Emperor's Coven.'
But he wasn't wild!
He used to live in a house. Slept on a pillow that was just his and ate out of a bowl that had his name on it. Curled up on the lap of his witch every evening. He was the furthest from wild!
Yet he was left alone in the woods.
Maybe it was the loneliness that brought him closer to the witch. Maybe that's what the strange feeling was.
He approached. Careful and cautious.
The witch saw him and then tilted his head to the side as if he was confused by what he was seeing. Could it be that he was feeling the same thing, too?
"That's unusual," he said. The sunlight glinted off the golden mask. It was hard to look at him.
"I get the feeling that..."
He inched closer. Little claws dug into the soft grass as he waited.
"No."
He shook his head, then glanced behind him.
"Get out of here, palisman," he said, pushing his staff forward with a warning. "You get a chance this time."
He took a step closer to the witch.
"Go while I am feeling generous."
He scurried away. There was something in its tone that set the fur on his back on edge. His staff sparkled with red energy. It didn't feel right. It didn't. He didn't know this witch, yet, this felt like another rejection.