Several crossbowmen up on the walls have reflexes better than their ability to understand - what kind of accent is that, Isger? - sudden cats, and three crossbow bolts fly in his direction before he's finished his sentence.

Varanthe dodges the bolts and shoots the crossbowmen a grumpy expression. "Hey! Not a demon! Do you want your food or not?"

Enough of the relevant people process what he said in the first place and some folks come to disencumber the oxen and the - cat. Cat familiars aren't supposed to be able to talk!

:o

BIG cat!  Like her, but big!

Noor and Her Human stop in the middle of going in to get food when the Big Cat appears.  (And also some oxen, but she's seen oxen before.)  She jumps down and cautiously slinks closer through the horrible cold wet stuff, trying to sniff out whether Big Cat is friendly or not.

That... doesn't smell like any cat she's smelled before?  He doesn't especially smell angry, but she runs back to Her Human anyway and puffs up big in front of his ankles, and hisses a little just in case Big Maybe Cat gets any ideas.

Technically he's an eidolon, not a familiar, but no one knows what an eidolon is, so it would only confuse them more to say so. He sniffs and lets them take the bags off him.

Oh look, a little kitty! Does she want to play?

Noor is going to shelter behind Her Human's legs for a moment, actually, and peek out suspiciously at Big Maybe Cat, but she doesn't hiss again?  How obviously is he offering to play?

Varanthe, freed of his load, starts to conspicuously stalk the smaller cat. As soon as she notices him, he flops onto his back.

Then she will stalk cautiously out from behind Her Human and a little bit closer.

Stalk stalk stalk.

She raises a paw tentatively, as if to bat at him (although not quite close enough to actually do it), and then she'll change her mind and ZOOM away very fast!

Aha! She will play! He chases after her. When she is cornered, he will gently bap her and once more flop over and prepare to wrassle.

He is being so so careful not to hurt the bitty kitty.

"Noor!  Noor, don't bother the-" Her Human starts to call her back, but then changes his mind and doesn't give the actual come-back-now signal so she can go play.

Noor is NOT being careful!  Noor is very fierce!  But she knows the difference between wrassling and real fighting.  She grabs onto the bapping paw with both of her front paws (claws safely tucked away) and tries to kick at it with her back feet.

Yesss ferocious kitty. Dodging her back paws, he rolls back and forth and nips her on the shoulder, then the flank. Look, you are leaving yourself open here, and here!

Well then, what if she lets go and scrunches up on his chest and tries to bap him right on the nose?  How does Big Weird Cat feel about that?

Ack! My nose!

He flips over and sits on top of her and starts grooming her face.

At some point during these proceedings someone alerts Commander Artigas and he comes out. "Did you say you were one of the archmages' familiars?" he asks Varanthe.

Ack!  She is not a baby kitten, she is almost grown!  And her face wasn't even dirty!  She mrers in protest and wriggles ineffectively.

As far as he is concerned, she is a very good baby kitten.

When the commander appears, Varanthe floats up to meet his eye level and attempts to look dignified. "Yes, Archmage Ione. I have a manifest, one moment..."

He briefly rummages in the unloaded bags and produces a sheet of paper bearing a neatly itemized list.

"Thank you." He reads it to see if anything on it is irregular.

Hmph.  

Once he lets her up she'll head back over to Her Human and settle on his shoulder with affronted dignity.

Khalida is a few moments behind the commander- she heard the news when someone fetched him and started to follow, then dashed back to grab her bowl and the piece of ptarmigan she was saving for Noor.  She pauses once inside the courtyard where she's hopefully out of the way and just- stares.  The cat is hovering.  And talking.  She's heard rumors of some really powerful familiars being able to do one or the other but she's never seen one, let alone both.

Everything that would be expected for three weeks supply is listed and accounted for (less one live ox, but up one already-butchered carcass wrapped in waxed linen and packed in straw.) There are also some extra sundries added by the archmage herself - a few cakes of soap, some dried fruit and hard candy, several rolls of bandages.

Well allocating those is going to be really annoying but he can hardly complain about it. "Thank you," he tells the archmage's familiar. "Is there anything we can do for you while you are here?"

Varanthe very nobly does not ask for treats. Even though he is pretty sure he can smell a treat.

"No, that's okay. I'm going to go hunt demons unless you need me for more things?"

"I do not believe we need you for more things. I think you are slightly likelier to have luck in your hunt going east than west from here, at this time."

"I will go east!"

Well, first he will sniff in the direction of treat smell. Just in case.