Hurtling through the air, I faced my palms to the ground and began concentrating. A fall from a three story window would most likely break or at least sprain my legs, and any injury I sustained would render me incapable of escaping my pursuers. But, what if I could somehow break my fall?

Praying to all the gods I knew, and making some up that I didn’t, I commanded the air above the ground to push upwards, hopefully slowing my fall. A light breeze floated upwards, then, just as I resigned myself to a few broken bones, I crashed into a cushion of air.

Though a bone-breaking impact was avoided, the air was driven completely out of my lungs as the air released me to fall on the floor. The winged lion, completely calm, mewed in exasperation as it climbed on my shoulder and stood on my chest, staring down at me. It tilted its head. “Now why would you go and do something as stupid as that?” its innocent eyes asked me. The animal had no sense of urgency, it seemed.

Heaving air back into my lungs, I painfully picked myself up from the ground and began a mad dash towards the main road. Behind me, I heard the commotion in the smuggler’s building as the door burst open, the bruisers piling out as they scrambled to run after me.

Ducking and weaving, I made my way through the crowded night market. Behind me, I could hear a string of curses and profanity as the two bruisers brute forced their way through the crowd, forcing those in their way aside. Despite having to shove their way through a crowd, my pursuer’s size and strength began to tell, as the noises slowly got closer and closer. They were catching up!

Realizing that I needed to do something drastic or I would be caught, I say an opportunity. Running past a particularly dense group of people to break the pursuer’s line of sight, I ducked into a nearby alley, back pressed against the wall, and held my breath.

Luckily, the two men shoved right past where I was hiding, pushing their way further into the street and away from me. I slid down to a seat on the floor, the adrenaline pumping through my veins slowing down and the exhaustion from my flat-out spring catching up to me. Turning towards the animal on my shoulder, I spoke. “Well, I guess we can go home now, buddy” I rubbed the little lion’s head. “I guess I can’t just keep calling you buddy anymore, can I?”

The baby lion eagerly nodded its head, looking at me expectantly. After gazing at it for a second, I decided. “You’re going to be Tsune,” I told it.

“I- ahem. I like that name a lot, papa!” Tsune’s voice cracked a bit, and then settled into a high pitched voice.

“Papa?”

“You gave me a name, so you’re my papa!” Tsune rubbed her head against me.

“Oh, alright, then…”

“…”
“Wait, you can talk?”

“Not before. But you gave me a name, so I can talk now!”

Grinning, I slowly got back on my feet. “Well then, Tsune, why don’t we head on back to my parents?” I couldn’t wait to see my father’s face when I told him he was a grandfather now. If I could get a word in edgewise from the inevitable scolding, that is.

Hopping onto my back, Tsune once again curled up on my shoulder. Making my way through the crowd, I kept a lookout for the pursuers. Just because I shook them didn’t mean that they couldn’t catch me on their way back, so I kept a careful lookout.

Just as I was about to walk down the road to the inn, Tsune stiffened on my shoulders. Sniffing the air, she whispered in my ear. “Hide! The bad men are near.”

I immediately ducked towards a nearby group of onlookers, who were currently watching a gambler try and win a shell game. As the crowd laughed at yet another loss from the gambler, the two men walked behind me. Fighting every instinct I had to move, I remained stock-still and forced out a laugh as I watched the gambler angrily accuse the game host of cheating. If I ran, they would see me.  Without movement, I was just another person in a crowd.

A few nerve-wracking seconds passed, and I finally turned around. The two men had walked back in the direction of the slaver’s building. If they hadn’t tried to catch me and sell me into slavery, I would have felt bad about what their vindictive boss was about to do to them. Hands in my pockets, I made sure Tsune was on my shoulder before heading back to the inn to face my parents.