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Fenris hadn't thought much of it, the first time he saw the little golden-striped cat following him own a dark alley. It wasn't an unusual sight, one of Kirkwall's feline population traveling through Lowtown. But when he noticed, a few minutes later, that the cat had trailed him clear up the winding path he took to go home? That was more concerning.
He had pushed the thought from his mind, though, slipping into his stolen mansion with stealth he didn't often show around his companions. After all, it was just a cat. There wasn't much harm one stray cat would be able to do amidst the corpses and mildew, and even then, it would have to find one of the upper stories' broken windows to get in.
- - -
Fenris woke to a soft sound, a gentle rumble from something in his room. He blinked his eyes open, searching the room for the source of the sound, eyes widening when his gaze landed on that volden cat, now curled on the hearth of his fireplace.
"Fasta vass," he murmured, pushing his blanket aside to climb out of bed. He couldn't leave the cat there, not knowing the hearth must be cold by now. "Come along," he murmured, carefully picking the cat up, frowning at it's light weight. "All skin and bones and trying to freeze to death when there is a warm bed big enough to share."
The cat stirred at that, slowly waking in his arms, ts gentle purr only stopping once it seemed to fully realize where it was. In an instant, it went from relaxed to tense, eyes wide, a soft, scared mewl in the back of its throat.
"Shhh," he murmured, letting one hand trail softly down it's back. "I just wished to move you somewhere warmer. My bed is big enough to share."
The words only seemed to scare the cat further, as it pushed itself away, trying to wiggle its way out of his arms without using its claws.
He frowned as he wrestled with the small beast in his arms. It wasn't hard to win against the amber-eyed beast, but he didn't want to hurt it, or force it to stay with him. "Won't you be still? Venhendis, you are nearly as flighty as-" his words trailed off as he took a closer look at the cat. "But no mage would follow me home, would he?"
The cat fell still, pointedly looking anywhere but at Fenris as they tried to curl themselves into as small a bundle of fur as possible.
"Festis bei umo canavarum," Fenris mumbled, his hands gently petting the creature once more. "If you are Anders, well- It does not matter. You are a bundle of fur and bones. You will share my bed, and in the morning, you can explain why."