Caution of Curiosity

“Amira, get back here!”

Curiosity grabbed the small marbled tabby by the tip of her tail and gave a couple playful tugs as the tiny kitten finally halted, realizing he had definitely caught up to her. “You’re so jumpy today!” she snapped.

“Jumpy!?” The spider monkey gasped at the accusation, defending himself immediately, “You know I don’t—”

“—Fear anything? Mmhmm, yeah, well, you’re acting like my brother.”

Curiosity gasped again, knowing that was the deepest of insults from the little menace. “The ‘scaredy cat?’ Really?”

“Yep. What are you scared of?”

The dark primate frowned, not sure how he could explain to a small kitten the dangers even he had to fear, “Sometimes people are dangerous not because they’re stronger than others, but because they…” He had to think. The monkey scratched his naked chin with his long nails before continuing, making Amira laugh before he finally finished with, “They aren’t afraid of repercussions. You’d never want to disappoint your mother, would you?”

“Never! Well…I mean, sometimes I pick on my brother.”

Curiosity chuckled, “Yes, we have exceptions. What if you didn’t have your mother or father to please, though?”

“I’d have…the law!” Amira beamed.

“What if you could fight off the law?”

The kitten stopped grinning once she realized the monkey was serious. She flattened her ears, her bright orange eyes wide as she exclaimed, “I’m scared just thinking about it!”

“Yeah, I’m afraid of someone like that.”

Amira shook her striped head, at first looking concerned, then just inquisitive, “Aren’t you also like that, though? Who are you trying not to disappoint that keeps you from being scary, too?”

Curiosity frowned, his brow furrowing as he looked down at the tiny kitten. He thought it might be too silly to answer, It’s you, little one.

He instead said dejectedly, “I’m also afraid of your mother’s disappointment.”

Amira burst out laughing again, which in turn made him laugh, too. The two kept walking through the Unending Labyrinth, the small kitten again picking up the pace. She adored running through the jungle, always trying to catch it in the middle of shifting its ground so she could make note of how the trails changed. Curiosity couldn’t help but be impressed by her passion for learning, she wanted to master the Labyrinth’s magic and learn to predict it, he definitely could see her doing so. He was never going to spoil the fact it mirrored the shimmering threads of the barrier above. She could never see it anyway, since the canopy hid the sky. It was an advantage he had only due to his control of the former queen’s artifact.

That was something that might not always be the case, though.

He wasn’t surprised to see Amira led him right to the 'Cesspool of Magic,' as he liked to call it. “This is supposed to be impossible to find unless you have the cube, Amira, you need to tell me your secrets.”

The kitten grinned ear to ear and fluffed up with pride as she answered, “I know you feel it too! The ground beats like a heart, and it’s always flowing here!”

Curiosity’s brow furrowed as he indeed did not realize it. He pressed his hand down on the earth, feeling the beat he became so accustomed to, but thought he was alone in feeling the sensation. “You feel that too?”

“Yeah...I first felt it when I fell asleep on a tree root here, but then I tested it by feeling for it when you or Mawm would take me here, and it always led here, it always pointed toward where we were going.”

The spider monkey’s pelt twitched, fear setting in that she obviously couldn’t have been the only one that figured that out either, and if she was, he needed to make sure that information wasn’t shared.

“Aren’t you proud of me? You look upset.”

He quickly shook those fears away, that wasn’t fair to her. “Of course I’m proud of you, Amira…” Curiosity sighed, crouching down so he was at eye level with the fluffy kitten. He looked deep into her sienna eyes and was so grateful she had her mother’s eyes. They were full of life and wonder, filled with the potential of so much power, but there was a warm aura behind them, like her father. “Sadly, your knowledge could hurt this Labyrinth, as there are people who want it to no longer have the heartbeat you and I feel.”

“Like Signal.” Amira seemed to have seen the look in his eyes when he saw her orange aura. He had a special look of concern apparently.

What a strange thing to not refer to him as your Pawpaw. If that doesn’t say anything about him…I don’t know what does.

The spider monkey sighed, not wanting to admit it, but she opened up the window and he was going to take it, “Exactly like Signal. He does not support magic, you know that, right?”

“Or my mawm coming here.”

Curiosity nodded. “You’re not supposed to, either, you know. You can’t keep sneaking in here when I’m asleep.”

Amira’s ears flattened again, until her eyes slowly drifted to the pool. Curiosity watched as her eyes glowed as they reflected off of the pool’s magic, and realized she was just going to ignore him when she said, “I thought maybe because I didn’t have magic, he’d be okay with me, but…it didn’t help. I wish I was a mage, I could blame that for why he doesn’t like me.”

The primate swallowed nervously, admitting, “You need to realize that just associating with magic, or wanting to be here, is enough of a reason.” He tried not to talk poorly of the kit’s father, but his eye began to twitch just trying to hold back. He still sometimes found scorched earth when the Labyrinth shifted, exposing plantlife he hadn’t yet recovered since Signal burned the mage's work to the ground.

“Magic would be a good excuse, though. Then I’d really give him a reason!” Amira whipped around to face Curiosity again, bristling from head to toe with excitement.

“You’d give him a reason?” Curiosity’s eyebrow arched.

The fluffy kitten bubbled up with excitement, clamoring, “Yes! I’d wield the cube! I’d cast the biggest spells to make all the trees huge! I’d have the water splash him when he walks by! I’d make the wind carry his whispers and grumbles around!”

The spider monkey grinned, loving that idea.

Amira was encouraged by the grin, yowling, “And I’d have a mage name like you!” 

Curiosity’s eyes widened, which made Amira quickly stiffen and sit down with a mumbled, “I’m sorry—”

“No, don’t be. Amira, don’t apologize.” He heard her think it from time to time, things like, I wish I had a cool name like Curiosity, which he thought was adorable, but he never registered it as an actual desire, nothing more than a silly fleeting thought from the child. “What do you imagine your mage name to be?”

Amira’s reserved look faded away instantly as she beamed, “Chaos!”

Curiosity burst out laughing. “What about Caring?”

“No!” Amira cried in disdain, “That sounds so much like Mawm!”

“Did you know my original mentor was named Compassion?”

“Compassion? Wait, what? All these names sound alike.”

“I like the matching theme.”

“Okay, fine. Calamity!”

“No, no, he’s still around.”

“Careful!”

Curiosity’s face scrunched up with disapproval. “You are anything but Careful, Amira.”

“Aw, come on! I’m very careful getting in here. It sounds like Caring, it’d be perfect for me and Mawm!”

Curiosity laughed, a title then popping into his head. “You know, I’m giving it a good mindful right now. Caution.”

“Caution?”

“Yeah, something about it just strikes me as you.”

Amira’s brow furrowed, looking incredibly serious as she seemed to think about it, too. “I like it. Caution, apprentice of Curiosity?”

“Ah, yes, Caution of Curiosity, my darling apprentice.”

“It’s me!” Amira’s tail shot up with excitement.

“No, no. It was all a jest of a topic. Your mother is going to kill me when you go back spouting that.”

“More like Signal will.”

The two both startled at the voice of Audio, who looked at the two with her ears flattened and tail lashing. “What are you doing? Did you take my child?”

“No!” They both exclaimed defensively. Curiosity then added, “I should have probably brought her back sooner, though.”

“Instead you’re giving her mage names!” Audio spat.

“No! I asked!” Amira cried, hurrying back to her mother.

Audio seemed to soften once her kitten was safe by her paws, but then turned her amber gaze onto Curiosity. “I can’t keep coming down here. Any time I leave the treehome for an assignment or to help someone, I always have to come all the way here because at the first word she knows I’m gone, she treks all the way here by herself a whole day’s journey away and one day she’s going to get hurt.”

Curiosity dipped his head, nodding, “I should have paid more attention.”

The tan tabby seemed to be surprised by the remorse, but she still remarked, “Do you think you can make this girl a mage? Did you see the Advisor successfully mentor anyone besides yourself? What do you have to show for it?”

The words cut like a dagger into Curiosity, something else was bothering Audio, but he couldn’t bring himself to pry after the insult. Instead he growled, “Nothing.”

“That’s not true!” Amira yelled, but was quickly ushered into the trees by Audio.

“I’m going to be picking my remedies here and leaving. Please make sure none of my other kits wander in here.”

If you or your husband were adequate parents, I wouldn’t have to watch them for you.

Audio whipped her head around and snarled, making Curiosity realize he actually said that out loud.

“We’re done here!” Audio snapped, leading her kitten away, her tail lashing before it disappeared in the brush with her.

The spider monkey winced, sitting still until he knew they were far gone from the Cesspool of Magic. He shuddered once he knew they were gone out of earshot, awkwardly making his way back to the pool. How could she be so upset with him? What had happened? He was surprised every time Audio spat venom at him, it was like night and day from how she treated the Shadow Advisor. So he might have laughed a couple times she brought up the graphic, gruesome, grotesque way he was murdered, but how else could he respond? Curiosity submerged himself as he let the realization of his stupidity sink in, blowing bubbles into the water as he exhaled deeply. He lifted up his head and stared up into the canopy. Caution of Curiosity…that was fitting in more than one aspect. The primate pressed his head against the soft earth outside of the pool and groaned. He was so stupid. Everything was going to be ruined again.

What do you have to show for it?

“What do you have to show for it?” Curiosity repeated, the words haunting him.

“Nothing. You need to stay away from that family.”

Curiosity looked up into the canopy again, hearing the voice of Adversity, the one he feared.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Out of everything, this mage was the biggest reason he needed to keep everyone else out.