"Careful," Kitty murmured as she reluctantly released Atiq to allow him to sink down into the stretcher. She took his hand and squeezed it gently with a small smile. "Of course you will."
She leaned in as though to kiss his cheek, the movement habitual to the point of automatic--but she drew herself up short. Awkwardly, she changed the touch to a quick nuzzle against his temple, then pulled back.
Wayrin, still watching them with that odd combination of amusement and irritation, gave another sharp call, and the stretcher started to rise back up into the trees, lurching slightly in a way that made Kitty's heart seize before it evened out.
"C'mon, princess," Wayrin said, and as she turned with a frown to ask him why he was suddenly calling her that in Essyrni rather than his own tongue, she saw he'd already shifted over. She rolled her eyes and fell forward onto four paws, giving an affirming little huff when he cocked his head at her questioningly.
She may have been a pampered "housepet", but she could still climb a damn tree.
Wayrin's eyes narrowed and his ears perked forward in a feline grin, then he was leaping up into the lowest branches, gliding up the trunk of the tree so smoothly his pelt rippled like liquid gold. Kitty had the unfortunate feeling that she did not look quite so graceful as she bounded up after him.
Despite her unfamiliarity with truly wild surroundings, they were still up to the first platform before the stretcher. Kitty was so concerned with making sure that Atiq was getting to the top safely that she actually didn't notice the people around her until she'd padded over to the pulley system being used to winch the stretcher back up into the tree and peered over the edge with a low, concerned growl in the back of her throat.
Then the whispering started.
"Melisandre."
She started as she felt a hand between her shoulders, and turned her head to see Wayrin had knelt beside her in his human shape, his touch light and cautious against her fur. He jerked his head to indicate the group of half a dozen or so people that had gathered around them--one a man probably ten or so years his senior who was still winching up the stretcher even as he stared at them with wide eyes.
She shrank back against the jaguar's side instinctively, fur and fangs melting away to soft human skin as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Why--" She licked her lips and glanced up at Wayrin before she whispered, "Why are they looking at me like that?"
Before he could give an answer, the stretcher came to a slightly jerky halt, and her attention once more snapped to Atiq. She moved forward quickly, already reaching to help him up--and every other shifter in the tree lurched back, some with their teeth bared, as they realized he was human.