Chapter Text
Today was building up to be a bad day. He burnt his tongue on the porridge, hit his head on the shelf, and to top it off, Madraya was in a bad mood and threw Aleksander out with the vague order to make himself useful.
He at least tried to catch a squirrel, but even with Shadow’s hunter skills, they were unsuccessful. So instead he started gathering small branches, to feed later to the fire and keep them toasty in their small hut.
After going back for enough wood to build a third pile, he came across a little girl, lying in a sunspot. She had a soft smile on her face and the way she stretched and sighed reminded him a lot of his furry little friend.
He wasn’t the only curious one, since Shadow quickly bound up to her to investigate. He gently sniffed and nuzzled her neck, startling her before a peal of laughter escaped. It was too late for Aleksander to hide since her eyes immediately alighted upon him, so he awkwardly smiled at her.
“Hi, is this your cat?” She chirped enthusiastically as she jumped up and shook out the blue dress she was wearing.
He opened his mouth to answer, but after bouncing on her toes, she quickly shot out another question. “You're our new neighbour, because I don’t remember seeing you before, and I know everyone in our village!”.
Shadow winding down between his legs gave him the courage to finally speak up. “Yes, I just moved here with Madraya and Shadow here,” he said as he bent down and proudly presented the feline.
She laughed, gently booping her nose on the cat’s, “That is an excellent name; he is indeed sneaky as a shadow. I didn’t notice him until he tickled me here” she said as she chucked Aleksander under the chin. A surprised giggle escaped him and he hid his red face in Shadow’s soft fur, suddenly feeling quite shy with this forward young girl.
He mumbled, still hiding his face, but she didn’t seem to hear him.
“What did you say?” She asked, as she cocked her head to the side.
“I said that he is actually called Shadow because I didn’t know he lived with us because he was hiding in the shadows until Madraya told me to feed my cat so he would stop stealing her food”.
She nodded sagely “Aah yes, that is how it was with my pet rabbit as well. We don’t adopt pets, THEY adopt us”.
After sharing a conspiratorial smile, she suddenly hit herself on the forehead. “Oh bother, I forgot I was supposed to come back quickly to help Mama with the laundry after getting some fresh air. I should get going,” she exhaled sadly.
His face fell as well; he didn’t want to let her go after having just met her.
“Do you want to meet again tomorrow?” She rushed out quickly while hiding her mouth behind her braid.
“Oh, that would be great,” he answered with a relieved smile overtaking his face.
As he watched her run home, stopping every few feet to wave at him, he marvelled at his luck to have such a wonderful day after all.