Unexpectedly turned into a cat, Kat falls into Middle-earth with the mission to prevent a death. In a feline form she can only communicate with the elf Legolas - and that he is such an attractive specimen is certainly not helpful...
A humorous (but...
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"If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember."
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
3. Language Studies
It was hard to measure time with the overcast sky effectively hiding both the moon and the sun, but when it eventually became slightly lighter Kat supposed it was day, and now they were finally taking a longer break to catch some sleep.
While the others made their blankets ready, Kat explored the area to see if she could find some water. She sniffed her way to a dark puddle in the center of a patch of swampy ground, it smelled fresh but tasted rather muddy. But it was better than nothing.
Her heightened senses were one of the benefits of this body, she figured. Besides an amazing hearing ability and night vision, she now had an excellent sense of smell. Her cat's nose did not divide the scents into pleasant or nasty like a human's would, instead it treated them analytically like a scientist, labelling them and storing them in a huge mental library.
If any of the Fellowship would get lost for some reason, she knew she would easily be able to track him – and just by thinking of them she could even after this short time recall every person's individual scent.
A rustle in the heather made her snap to attention. By its own volition her body tensed, making ready to pounce, and before she knew it she had jumped on an unexpecting field mouse and caught it under her paw.
Good grace, what was she doing? She quickly retracted, seeing the poor thing desperately trying to escape, but then her paw lashed out and hit it again.
No! She was not going to toy with mice! And she would not eat it, cat or no. There must be another way. Disgusted with herself, Kat returned to the others.
The hobbits were just crawling in underneath some dry scrubs and the taller people had covered themselves as best they could with their cloaks and hoods. The elf stayed awake to watch over them in case of danger and Kat joined him, rolling into a ball in his lap. Another of those things her cat's body would just do, like it were the most natural thing in the world to cuddle up with a stranger.
When he began to stroke her back she heard herself purr and got an irresistible urge to tramp his thigh with her paws. She could not help herself, and soon she was happily kneading the hard muscle, leaving tiny holes in the wool of his hose.
If you are going to do that, at least pull in your claws, he complained.
A bit abashed she obeyed, but it felt too good to stop.
Scratch under my ear too, will you?
Soon sleep caught her, exhausted as she was by all the strange experiences this day had brought.
