Ser Meartin spit out a single word, “Bah!” before he pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and staggered over to the cabinet where all of the drinks were. The panther rose to her feet and followed him; her paws silent on the stone floor.
For the first time Terync noticed that her fur seemed to shift in color with the light. He had always simply thought of her having a deep purple coat, but now he noticed that it changed slightly between blue and red. She was rarely seen except at the more formal events, but every cadet knew about her even if there was disagreement on where the Commandant obtained her.
Some said that the panther was a gift from a Ylveryan shaman, one of their high religious muckety mucks as they were sometimes called by the more intolerant of the Tehynshins, in return for the Commandant’s assistance during a tense land dispute when he was serving as a field knight. Others claim that the panther had stalked into Ser Levenstone’s camp one evening and, instead of fleeing or battling the creature, the knight instead sat down at the fire and stared the creature down until morning, when the panther’s spirit broke and she agreed to serve as his pet.
The most ridiculous of the origin stories for the Commandant’s pet panther was that the panther was a magically enchanted woman, with the majority speculating that she was the Commandant’s one true love turned into a panther by dark Ylveryan magic.
None of those stories really hooked Terync. He didn’t know the truth of the matter anymore than the other cadets, but he knew a series of gossipy tall tales when he heard them.
Now, watching the panther slowly stalk Ser Meartin as he sloppily mixed himself another cocktail, he felt certain that there was something mystical, almost surreal about her, as if the more ludicrous stories held a grain of truth to them.
“Let the poor man to his misery,” Levenstone muttered, waving his hand dismissively. “I cannot imagine the pain he is trying to drink away.”
“More shame than pain, I’m afraid,” the lady replied in a conspiratorial whisper after a moment in thought. “He feels that this is all his fault, somehow.”
“I thought you could no longer…” the Commandant waved his head in a circle about his head.
The lady shook her head, “I have known him for so long, these are just things I can pick up on from his body language and his general manner.”
Terync desperately wanted to cut in and ask just what in the world was going on, but he maintained his composure and tried to parse it together based on the cryptic conversations going on around him.
“I am sorry,” the lady said, looking at Terync directly and placing her hands in her lap. “I can tell how confusing all of this is for you and we’re not helping things any.” She gave a sharp look at the Commandant and raised an eyebrow, as if speaking with him in some silent language.