“Stupid Other World Rozer,” Caster mumbled under his breath.
“What did you call him?” I asked.
“What he is,” Caster said, looking up at me with big eyes and licking his lips.
“What is that?” I asked.
“He’s your dog and you don’t even know what he is,” Caster rolled his eyes. “Sheesh. Maybe the squirrel was wrong and you’re not very smart.”
“I can dump this tuna straight into my mouth,” I said, threatening to tip the tin.
“You wouldn’t!” he said and let out another full body meow. “That is mine!”
“Tell me what you said,” I held the tin up higher as Caster rose to his back legs and tried to lean into my arm to get at the open tin.
“Other World Rozer. It’s what sort of dog he is. I guess they just call them Rozers over there. They don’t come over here often, but when they do it’s usually because they wandered away from their mothers. Usually, they try to live with wolves or coyotes, though.”
That gave me a lot to think about and something to ask around for too. Snowy had always been just Snowy despite being carried to me by a wolf in a snowstorm. Sure, he had some quirks and seemed to know more than the average dog, but most shifters vastly underestimated the intelligence of domestic animals.
“NOW FEED ME!” Caster meowed.
“One second. Let me get a plate. I don’t want you to cut yourself on the---”
“I’M ALREADY DEAD!” he screeched.
Relenting, I gave him the tin and grabbed Snowy’s bag of treats from the top cabinet above the stove. I put the pot on while the cat ate dainty bites of his food. I sank into my chair and gave Snowy a treat while Caster took his time eating the blessed tuna.
“Are you going to tell me what you want me to do about your human or not?” I asked, wondering if I should make something caffeinated this late in the day.
“Can’t right now. I’m eating,” Caster said and I sighed.
Yep. It was time to put on some coffee. I put the pot on while the cat ate dainty bites of his food. By the time the pot was done, and I sat down he had eaten about half the tin and was licking his paw in post-meal bliss.
“His name is Era. He was my human for twenty-five years. I know you can’t tell it by how I look but I’m old. Well, was old anyway. Era is sad.”
“Twenty-five years is a long time,” I nodded, waiting for the feline to continue.
After a few minutes of silence passed, I asked him what he would like me to do for Era.
“His mate isn’t here,” Caster said.
“Obviously,” I nodded.
“Fix that.”
“And how would you propose I do that?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You’re the one with bloody thumbs not me.”
“What do you know about his mate?” I asked, leaning back in the chair and taking a long drink of my coffee. Its sweet acidic flavors on my tongue were the only thing that kept me levelheaded. It was the sort of coffee that always touched your soul on that first drink.
“He doesn’t live here, but we were supposed to go across the ocean on a boat this week. It’s been on his calendar for months. We were going to take the boat because last time we flew, I got sick all over my carrier. It was horrible. It wouldn’t stop coming out and—”
“I get it, but take the boat to where?” I asked.
“To the other side of the world. There is a new art school opening up in this artsy fartsy town. They’re famous for dragon queens or something like that. He was going to teach technical nature drawings because that’s what he does. He looks at plants and then makes pretend plants on paper. They’re fake, though. They don’t have a scent.”
“Glitter Bomb? Drag queens?” I tried.
