They had arrived near Buckland and thought it best to camp out for the night before entering the Shire. Once they got their tents set up and were sat comfortable next to each other, Malethion turned to face her.
“I have a very serious question to ask,” he murmured. Bethrelfin looked at him, an eyebrow raised. His face was solemn, void of his usual smile. After their very long conversation at Bree about the nature of their relationship, she was worried that he had changed his mind. He pointed towards Dumpling, who was already curled up in a ball by the fire.
“How did you manage to teach your cat tricks?” Bethrelfin let out a laugh, slapping his arm. Malethion’s serious face turned into a grin as he fended off her slaps.
“Do not do that to me again,” she laughed between slaps. He quickly grabbed her arms and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Seriously though, I have never heard of a cat being able to do tricks.” Bethrelfin rested against his side as he put an arm around her.
“It was a long journey to Rivendell. I spent most of our rests speaking to her and wondering if she could understand me. I started realising that she did understand certain gestures, patting the ground or my lap for her to come over and rest there. So one evening, I looked at her and asked her to sit.” Malethion chuckled.
“She didn’t at first. Stubborn little thing. But after a couple of tries, she did actually sit,” Bethrelfin continued, smiling fondly at the memory. She had spent the rest of the night seeing what else Dumpling was capable of doing, quickly finding out that she understood a lot more commands than Bethrelfin thought.
“I have a feeling she never bothered doing them because she was so hard-headed,” she said with a laugh.
“Like her owner then,” said Malethion, yelping when Bethrelfin slapped his chest. Malethion looked at Dumpling and called out her name. Dumpling opened her eyes, staring at him curiously.
“Go on, talk to her. She took a liking to you, I think she’ll listen,” said Bethrelfin. Malethion put out his hand and Dumpling quickly got up and went to rest her head on the palm of his hand. He scratched her chin before uttering, “Sit.” Dumpling let out a meow and sat down. Bethrelfin looked at Malethion, his face agape in wonder. “Lie down,” he muttered. Dumpling cocked her head to one side before laying down near his arm. “Give me your paw.” Dumpling sat up and put her paw into his hands.
“Incredible,” he murmured, slowly petting her paw. Dumpling butted her hand with his head and started purring.
“Come on, give her a more challenging command,” Bethrelfin urged him. Malethion looked at their tent before turning to Dumpling and saying, “Okay little one, can you go get my pipe from inside the tent?” Dumpling stared at him inquisitively before removing her paw from his hand, trotting over to his tent and sniffing around. When she actually took the pipe in her mouth and trotted over to Malethion to give it to him, Bethrelfin laughed at his face. It was a mix of pure shock and fascination. He took the pipe from her mouth and Dumpling meowed happily before settling next to him.
“I have no words,” he finally managed to utter as Bethrelfin calmed down from her laughter.
“She also responds to whistling, though you have to tell her what you want before doing it. I have a strong feeling that mother enchanted her with some form of elven magic to be able to understand so much,” she said, reaching out to pet Dumpling’s head. Malethion shook his head.
“You two never seize to amaze me.”
The next morning, they were up in the early hours of dawn, packing up their things to finally enter the Shire. They were about finished strapping their things to their mounts when Dumpling let out a meow. Bethrelfin crouched down next to her.
“What is it little one?” she murmured, scratching her back. Dumpling meowed once more, still staring at the trees. Bethrelfin looked to where she was looking to find that two men were eyeing them quite curiously. She quickly went for her bow but found that she had already strapped it to her elk. She stood up as the men revealed themselves from between the trees, one of them twirling a dagger in his hand. She heard Malethion curse under his breath. She felt a surge of panic. She couldn’t get to her bow in time before they would both be upon them. She quickly picked Dumpling up and murmured in her ear.
“Run into the trees. When I whistle, attack them.” She put her down, giving her a scratch on the head before Dumpling turned and bolted into the trees. The men laughed.
“Even your cat knows what’s good for you. Now, how about you turn in whatever gold you have and we’ll leave you in peace, that sound good?” said one of the men. She looked to Malethion, who was looking at them warily. She noticed he already had his hand raised towards their pouch of gold. She shook her head at him, then turned to look at the two brigands. She put two fingers in her mouth and let out a high pitched whistle.
The men stopped in their tracks, looking at her in confusion. They were about to start running towards them before a flash of black, white and ginger rushed into them, knocking one of them off their feet. Dumpling turned to face the other man, leaving deep scratches in his legs before biting his ankle. The other brigand tried to get to his feet, but Dumpling wasn’t done with him yet, pouncing on his back and digging her claws into his skin. The two brigands let out a scream before both of them tried to get away from the ferocious being that was clawing at their bare skin. The two quickly ran back into the trees, Dumpling still running after them and hissing.
One heartbeat later, she came strutting out of the forest, a piece of one of the brigand’s trousers in her mouth.
Malethion was the first to break, laughing uncontrollably. Bethrelfin soon joined him as she picked Dumpling up and planted a kiss on her head. Wiping tears from his eyes, Malethion went up and also gave Dumpling a kiss.
“You two never seize to amaze me,” he said, trying to catch his breath. Bethrelfin smiled as Dumpling meowed back in return.
