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A fog was thick in the achingly early hours of the day. It hung between the trees in the forest and nearly covered the ruins of an old castle, only the crumbling spires left above. All seemed quiet, the nocturnal hunters having slunk back to their shelters, but the animals of the day were yet to awaken. A pair of red cat ears seemed to appear out of the fog, followed by long red hair pulled back into a braid atop the freckled face of a girl. Her deep purple eyes squinted into the fog, trying to see ahead.

"This golden flute had better be here, or I'll give that urchin a piece of my mind." She grumbled as she climbed towards the remains of the castle. She was dressed quite simply in a pair of breeches with a brown vest over a white shirt. A red tail twitched behind her as she drew nearer to the castle. Rumor had it, the castle was haunted by a dreary spirit. Ceilibell looked up at the castle looming above her and dismissed the thought of restless spirits. It seemed empty and abandoned to her.

Inside the Old castle, a homeless anthro slept, covered in layer upon layer of moth-ridden blankets in the driest spot she could find. Her ears twitched as she heard the voice from outside the castle but she didn't wake up yet.

Ceilibell stumbled through the fog until she came to a gap in the outer wall. She stepped through into a room that looked like a parlor. Everything was covered in layers of dust and spiders webs. She looked down a hallway that lead away from the parlor. There were a few sconces to hold torches. She walked down the hall, having only one direction she could go.

In that hall was where Natalia lay sleeping... or, where she was sleeping until she heard Ceilibell's footsteps, her sensitive ears pricking forwards ad her eyes flashing open, then shut tight again.
The shark/fox hybrid let out a quiet but audible whimper and cowered beneath the blankets, holding her tail tightly to her chest after quickly covering herself with the blankets entirely.

Ceilibell paused and her hand went instinctively to the knife hidden in her shirt. She'd never used it on a single living thing, and it was doubtful that she would start now. She saw something huddled in the shadows, and after closer inspection, realized it was a person. She relaxed her hand and let it fall back to her side. "Hello." Ceilibell was surprised that someone was living here.

The shivering form beneath the heaps of blankets didn't dare respond and just hoped the neko hadn't discovered her and was rather talking to someone else.

She glanced down the hall. It didn't seem like anyone else was here. She crouched down next to the shivering form covered by blankets, a little closer but not enough to make them nervous. "Are you all alone?" She asked quietly. She wondered how long they'd been here.

The poor anthro let out a little cry when she realized that she was the one being spoken to.
"P-please don't hurt me..." she whispered, figuring that's the only reason why anyone would be there. She curled up into an even tighter ball and sealed her eyes shut, bracing herself for a hand or fist or foot to make contact with her.

Ceilibell's eyes softened. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you." She said in a comforting tone. "I just came here looking for something. Why are you out here all alone?" It seemed a little chilly in the castle, but the amount of blankets still seemed a bit excessive to her.

Two fox ears and then a furry shark head popped out of the blankets and looked up timidly at the bard, "You're not?" she asked with a quiet whimper, "I'm alone because I don't have anyone..." she admitted with a little cry then sat up, "What are you looking for?"

"A flute." Ceilibell said with a smile. She was surprised to see that the girl was something more than human like her, although more furry. She had the look of more than one animal too. She sat down next to her. "Sorry I woke you up. I wasn't really expecting anyone to be here."

(anthro and neko are different )

"That's why I live here... No one thinks there's anything but ghosts so nobody comes here... Nobody can hurt me if nobody knows I'm here," she looked away timidly then removed the blankets from herself revealing that she was literally wearing just an old potato sack and it didn't seem like there was anything else at all. She nervously held her furry, shark tail to her chest and glanced up at Ceilibell, "I know where a flute is."

((Sorry, I edited the post ^^))

Ceilibell dug through her pack when she was the anthro was so poorly dressed. She handed her a skirt and blouse. "I don't really have a lot of clothes, but I can spare these." She hoped the girl would let her take her back to a town to buy her better clothing. The mixture of shark and fox was interesting, and Ceilibell had never seen anyone else like the girl sitting next to her. Her red ears perked up at the mention of the flute though. "You do?" She'd been half expecting to end up empty handed.

"Th-thank you..." she said and disappeared beneath the blankets to change into the fresh clothes and then she poked her head out again and scooped up one of the blankets then wrapped it around her.
"Yeah... I can take you to it.," she said and started leading the bard down the hall.

Ceilibell followed quickly, her tail twitching behind her in excitement. She'd been searching for the golden flute for a while, and felt lucky to have found it before another treasure hunting bard.

She turned down another hall that seemed to be a dead end.
"It's one of these," she said, pointing to the candle sconces. She got on her tip toes and tried pulling one but it didn't budge so she moved to another.
Once they found and pulled the right one, two bricks would slide out of the way, revealing the golden flute of Ceilebell's desires.

"Hmm..." Ceilibell looked down the row of sconces. "I'll start at this end and we'll meet in the middle." After several tries, one of the sconces gave under her hand. "I think this is it!" Two bricks in the wall moved, revealing the golden glint of the flute behind them. She gingerly pulled it out and brought it to her lips. Ceilibell closed her eyes and played a simple scale. The sound rang out pure and she grinned.

Natalia smiled shyly, "I-I guess that's all you're here for. Do you want your clothes back?"

Ceilibell shook her head. "Keep them. You need them more than I do." Sunlight outside was starting to disperse the fog. "We can get more in a town." She knew a couple of towns that were more nonhuman friendly. Hoping the girl would accept, she carefully put the flute in a special clip on her belt.

Her eyes widened with fear and she shook her head, "N-no! I don't want to go back to any town!" she whimpered and stepped away from the bard.