Harley had to run for her life that night. That vendor had it coming to him though, treating the animals the way he did. Most of the people of the city’s black market were too confused to react as a set of wolves, some exotic birds and a couple of monkeys were released from their cages and left to their devices. The mother wolf attacked the vendor and bit his face off. Good riddance, Harley had thought.
Now she was making her way back to the Boar’s Best Inn with three wolf puppies (the mother had been shot) and an egg she had picked up from the stand as well. She felt like there were probably a lot of people on her trail, but the streets behind remained empty.
Finally she reached the inn, it was mostly empty now. The Princess wrapped the wolf puppies in her cloak, and hurried on inside to the room she rented here with her friend.
As she slammed the door shut behind her back, she caught eye of the bedroom… that was in complete ruin.
“AZRAEL!”
She put the wolf puppies down and secured the egg before she looked for the baby lynx. He was huddled under the bed. The sheets were torn up and a part of them was soaked in urine.
The wolf pups caught the scent of the feline under the bed, and softly howled at it. Harley threw her hands in the air: “Will you just shut up!”
Harley had only gotten Azrael from that same black market earlier that day. He was way too young to be without a mother, and the other animals weren’t in very good shape either. Though she paid for the baby lynx, she decided to go back later to release the other animals. And this is what she had ended up with. One dead wolf, monkeys and birds loose in the city, and a set of wolf babies next to the young lynx. It was quite the mess.
A few days later, and Harley was back at the Castle with her small petting zoo. She decided to leave the wolf pups in the care of Gerrit, as he is the Prince of Wolves after all. He would know how to take care of them best. Harley was too busy with Azrael to really be able to take care of any other animals anyway. The young lynx was quite the handful. He was still nursing, and Harley had to teach him other things that baby lynxes had to learn.
Safe’s to say, the bed sheets were ripped up quite a few more times.
Azrael was growing fast and Harley tried hard to teach him how to hunt. Their main target had become mice. But one thing was hard for the Princess, and that was that she wished she could communicate with her lynx a little better. She was more used to dogs when it came to animals, and the King didn’t always have time to help her with her growing up feline.
Her desire to be able to speak to Azrael grew bigger and bigger. He was catching his own mice now too! So, she traveled back to the city of Cheal’Nic, where she was sure to find a solution to her problem.
It should be mentioned that Cheal’Nic is the largest city in the Kingdom, and people are no stranger to magic here. If you were to compare this place to an Other World city (as we like to call it here in the Kingdom) you might say it is our world’s New York.
Cheal’Nic is a place of opportunity, a city where you can find it all (and lose it too), a place where dreams can come true! (It’s true, the biggest toy store in town, Dib’s Whizzles and Fizzlings often sells life-size Kip plush toys. Now who wouldn’t want one of those!?)
So, the Princess returned to the Boar’s Best Inn, her number one place to stay in the city, and made her way to the Magic Emporium. She had often come here, if only to meet up with her friend Steve, who worked here. He was brushing the dust off his bright blue employee robes as Harley walked in with Azrael in her arms.
Taken aback for a moment, he greeted her, making sure to keep his fingers far away from the big paws of the feline.
“What can I do for you today Harley?”
“Can you make him talk?”
“Wh.. make who talk?”
“Azrael!” she held the lynx out to him, who yelped.
“Uhm… I guess so?” he pulled his notepad out of his pocket and flipped through it. “I’m sure we have spells for that… We’d have to enchant something with it though… perhaps a collar?”
Azrael had been wearing a simple collar that Harley had meant to replace anyway.
“Perfect! If I get a collar will you guys be able to enchant it so I can communicate with him?”
“S-sure…” Steve was always a little overwhelmed by Harley’s enthusiasm.
The following day she returned to the Magic Emporium, after having a fine leather collar crafted by one of her friends in the marketplace. The Dwarves in the back of the Emporium worked their magic on the collar.
And that’s when the floodgates opened.
Azrael was a little shy at first. Nor did he know very many words. But the young lynx picked it up left and right on their travels. His flood of words ranged from “Mommy mommy mommy!” to Harley, to babbling about mice, to expressing when he had to go poop or when he was hungry. Until the first day he said ‘shit’.
“Azrael! We don’t say that, it’s a bad word,” Harley had said.
“But you say it too,” replied the young lynx.
“Well… yes… but it’s bad, okay? Next time, just say… say poopie!” the Princess was at a loss for words, saying the first thing that came to mind.
Azrael tilted his head bit while staring at Harley.
“Okay! Poopie, poopie, poopie, poopie!”
Little did Harley know, this word would stick to Azrael forever.
