“Water spout!” someone yelled and the people along the shoreline ran in the direction of the Red Wizard Capital. A small tornado spun a short distance into the sea. It disappeared a couple of minutes later. Enchanter Carly of the Surf was standing on the beach as the sun was setting. She lowered her hands as a smile crossed her face. Turning towards the south in the direction of Calista’s Citadel she walked alone, glancing back every once in a while.

A half hour she spotted something in the sand off in the distance. At first Carly thought it was some seaweed that had washed up but as she got closer she realized it was a cat. The waves were creeping closer to it by the second. She held out her hands as if to do a spell and waited a moment. A slight twitch came from its front paw. Carly ran up to the animal and discovered its eyes were swollen shut. Taking off her coat she wrapped it up and saw some bloody cuts on its back. There weren't any bite marks on the animal and there were no tracks around the area.

Carly took her home. Around the clock she hand fed and gave the cat gently sips of water. The reddish orange cat gazed into Carly’s eyes. Carly whispered, “you belong to me now. I will call you Mineral because you are red and strong like iron and orange like quartz or a diamond.” Mineral softly purred and rubbed her head on Carly’s hand. “If I ever find who did this to you I will kill them.” Mineral purred louder.

Several weeks later Mineral sat on the window ledge as Carly was berating one of her errand boys. She needed to get a message out to one of her pirate ships and was mad it was going to take so long. “If only I could fly out there and deliver this message myself,” she whined. Turning towards the window she saw an orange parrot sitting on the ledge. “Where did you come from? Where is Mineral?” she asked. The bird squawked and before her eyes it turned into her cat Mineral. “You’re a shapeshifter!” she exclaimed. “Can you fly this note out to the captain?” The cat turned around again and transformed back into a parrot.

No one but Carly knows that Mineral can shapeshift. Many think Carly has two pets. In Carly’s office there is a large bird cage on her desk as well as a soft cat bed. Sometimes during the day a cat or a parrot can be found perched in a window in the tower.

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