Josh twitched his nose as he stared at the open door. There was a great debate going on in his mind and it all centered on that door.

Option one was to transform into a human, close the door, and then use the available time to search Kit’s rooms for evidence of the dragon evolution. Any trace or hint should give him at least a notion of a starting point for when the Imperial Guard eventually came and he was kicked out.

The trouble with that option? There was a chance he would be seen and there was a chance Kit would question why the door was closed when he’d left it open.

Josh’s nose twitched again. Kit never questioned when Josh opened or closed the window. The pane for that was inside the ward, though, and simple enough for a cat to maneuver by accident. The door opened outside. “Drat. I don’t even know if I could close it. It’s outside the ward,” Josh groaned. He scratched at an ear absently.

Option two was to explore as a cat. It would limit how much he could figure out since reading would be a challenge. He could manage reading mana in feline form just fine - the characters floated in the air and he could feel their shape more than see them, really - but ink on paper stayed flat and wasn’t the same.

Curious as ever, Josh let out a quiet “meow”.

Almost instantly a maid was peeking her head around the doorway. “Oh my, so cute!” she grinned. “Sir Morrison didn’t mention how adorable you were.” She came inside for a moment and held out her hand for Josh to sniff. “Would you like some pets?” Josh gave her hand a few obligatory sniffs and then submitted to a few chin scratches.

“Okay, enough,” he said after a moment, turning his back to her. “I have important things to do and you’re distracting me.” She wasn’t even Lady Catnip!

The maid was content enough to leave Josh alone. Unfortunately for him she took the time to clean Kit’s room while she was already inside.

Ugh. If he didn’t start exploring soon Josh would end up napping again. Who knew how long the Duke’s generosity and Kit’s plush imprisonment would last? In a few days Josh might just find himself with the barn cats!

“I’m a lot healthier than when Mr. Gargoyle caught me, though,” Josh said as he flexed his small claws. His belly wasn’t empty and his mana was reasonably restored. “I bet I could make it to the desk. And there I can sniff out anything dragon-like!” Josh was mildly proud of his kitten nose. It was far superior to his human one.

It took a great deal of concentration and calculating to find the right spot. He checked from several angles, dismissing a few which would result in banging his head on the underside of the desk or dangling from an unstable perch. Once he was certain of where he wanted to land he crouched down low to the ground, kneaded his paws to warm up his muscles, and then pounced!

“Yeah!” he cheered, grinning brightly and waving his tail high. He’d managed to successfully jump up onto the chair. “I’m awesome. Okay, desk next.” This one wasn’t as troublesome. He climbed onto the arm of the chair and perched there delicately for a moment before stepping over to the desk like walking up stairs. It was a bit of a balancing act and didn’t involve any jumps. Once on the desk he sat down in a bit of a slump. “What do dragons smell like?” he wondered.

The maid wandered over again and gave him a light pat on the head. “Have a good day, kitten,” she said as she passed. A quick glance showed she had finished changing the sheets and cleaned up all of Kit’s laundry. She hadn’t dusted or picked up anything he’d left out, though.

Josh drooped further as he realized there was no way Kit would leave important dragon research out where the staff would see it.

Sniffing around wasn’t going to get him far when Josh didn’t know what he was trying to find. He wasn’t a dog! Kit’s shoes just smelled like sweaty feet; the books smelled like ink and leather and parchment; the desk smelled like wood and oil; the curtains smelled like dust and pollen; the wardrobe smelled like wood and dust and old paint.

Josh cocked his head to the side as he considered the wardrobe. As a human Josh couldn’t see the top of the furniture, and the maid hadn’t made a single move towards it. Josh could feel a bit of mana around the doors - the spell that kept Josh out, Kit was so good at warding! - and he couldn’t tell if that magic went to the top or not.

Would it be a good hiding place?

Kit was incredibly tall. While Josh couldn’t see the top of the wardrobe, it wouldn’t be out of Kit’s reach. And Kit was skilled in two types of magic: warding and hover magic. He would learn the skills of his dragon form later, after his evolution, so at the moment he was probably limited to variations on those two spells. Hover magic would easily get Kit to the top of the wardrobe.

The journey to the top was tough with only four small paws. Josh was moderately skilled at jumping and climbing for a kitten. But a kitten wasn’t a full grown cat. His stamina fell partway through climbing the curtain. He had to perch on the top and yawn, clean his paws, and stretch out muscles that were a bit sore. His toes in particular were protesting. He’d been holding on by his claws for far longer than expected. The angle of the light in the room said he’d taken most of the day to get this far.

Josh walked carefully along the curtain rod. About halfway across he felt the sting of disappointment: he could see the top of the wardrobe was empty. Dust collected in the corners to prove it hadn’t been touched in at least a few weeks.

He could still check it for mana, though, and see if there was a ward. So Josh carefully continued on his journey. Just as he was about to reach the end his back paws slipped from the curtain rod and josh let out a cry as he scrambled to stay on. His claws dug into the curtains and he heard the fabric rip. Wah! “I’m going to fall!” he cried out, the words so rushed together they probably didn’t make sense.

Big hands pushed his back end up, and Josh scrambled to the more secure footing of the wardrobe. He crouched down in the center of it with a slight trembling shiver. Who cared if there was dust in his fur? (Okay, he did care about that. As soon as his heart stopped shaking he was going to wash every last bit of it off. And then he was going to hack up a disgusting hairball because blegh. Gross.) This was the last time Josh tried an adventure like this!

“Having fun?”

Josh looked over and saw his ‘rescuer’ was Kit. The man was high enough that his arms were perched on the edge of the wardrobe and his head was just inches from the ceiling. Kit looked at Josh with eyes that were laughing and a small grin that made Josh want to spit fire. “You’re lucky I don’t swat you,” Josh grumbled. “It isn’t funny! I was really scared! And now I’m dirty and dusty and you already touched my butt again. What am I going to tell my future wife? How can I even get a future wife with this dark history?”

“Awww, poor baby,” Kit laughed.

Josh sighed. Kit couldn’t understand a single thing Josh said, so what was the point in even protesting when those hands reached forward to cradle Josh up again? “I didn’t even find a single clue about a dragon’s sneeze,” Josh complained, “and here you are using hover magic to float up and see my shame.”

“There you go,” Kit said as he set Josh down on the bed. “Maybe not so high up next time, okay?”

Josh put his head on his paws and glumly stared at the wall. Kit’s words probably meant there was something to find in the higher reaches. Josh wasn’t particularly thrilled about that. “I’ll find it,” Josh promised. “And then I’ll scratch you for hiding it so high up.”