3: Footprints in the snow

Cor woke up to his brother bursting through his door, saying his name over and over.

Afraid something had happened, he sat up.
"What?", he asked sleepily, while Corin was still shouting his name.

"It snowed last night!", Corin sang happily and pulled away Cor's blanket.
"Hey!", the older one protested while he jumped up to get his blanket back.

Corin laughed, and ran away with it, towards the window.
Cor started chasing him, but when he reached the window every thought of the blanket disappeared.

He stopped running. Everything, every tree, every little blade of grass, every cobble stone was covered with white stuff.

"That's snow?"
Corin stopped next to him, a bright smile covering his face.

"Yup", he said, while Cor's blanket was still in his hands.
Almost absently, Cor grabbed it and turned to his bed quickly.

Corin groaned.
"Anyway, let's go outside", he said, already walking out of the room, but Cor said:"We'll eat breakfast first, Corin."

Corin sighed, and right before Cor walked into another hallway, his brother was gone, and Cor knew exactly where he had gone.

After breakfast, Cor found his brother in a niche behind a suit of armor.
"What on earth are you doing-"

"Shhh", Corin made.
"Can you go outside with me? I'll show you."

Cor was a little bit nervous about what Corin wanted to show him, but he still got dressed and met Corin outside the castle.

Corin pointed to the ground excitedly and Cor spotted small footprints in the freshly fallen snow. Well, actually it were paw prints, but Cor had no idea what animal left what kind of paw prints.

"And now you want to know where-"
"Where they lead, who left them there and why someone walked there, exactly", Corin said.

Cor sighed and Corin took it as a "Of course I'm coming!"

And so they followed the footprints for a while.

"Can we go back inside?", Cor asked for the third time, freezing in the cold.
Corin shook his head.

"I want to know what the footprints mean", he said, inspecting the snow for more.

Two minutes later, a forest began.
"I won't go in there", Cor said, thinking about how freezing it must be in there.

"Oh come on, please!", Corin said, but Cor declined again.

Corin shot a short glance between the trees, and Cor heard a quiet:"Ohh!"

"What?", he asked.

Corin grabbed something gently and turned around to face Cor, but his eyes were fixed on the thing in his hands.

It was a cat.
A very small cat.

All the thoughts about the cold disappeared from his mind, and amazed he walked to his brother and the cat.

"We should take it home", Corin said. "It's too cold out here."

Cor nodded. "But maybe its mother is here somewhere?"

"Then why did it walk from Anvard until here, completely alone?"

Cor didn't know an answer, and they took the kitten home.

"Where have you two been?", a voice asked, when they were entering the castle, Corin hiding the cat under his cloak.

Cor spotted his father looking at them expectantly.
"Exploring?", Corin said.

"And what is under your cloak, Corin? Please don't let it be a rat again", the King said.

"A rat?", Cor asked quietly. "Really?"

"It was cute", Corin said and shrugged.

"It was certainly not cute, Corin", Lune said.

"Uhm, it's not a rat", Corin finally answered, and that made Lune even more suspicious.

"It is a cat, though", Corin finally admitted and Cor made himself ready for a stern talk.
"It was ice cold and it was completely alone!", Corin defended it.

"Can I see it?", the King asked.
Corin opened his cloak and the cat, already a lot warmer than before, looked around, almost interested in its surroundings.

Lune walked towards them, inspecting the cat.
"Can we keep it?", Corin asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I suppose...", Lune said slowly.

"What shall we name it?", Corin asked excitedly and left Cor completely unprepared.

"Uh", he said.

"It's a feline, if you want to know", Lune said, not being able to look away from the cat, and not really helping his son.

"Come on, cat names are easy. It's not like we're going to name her Margaret", Corin said, and the cat meowed.

Corin looked down at it.
"What? Margaret?"

The cat meowed again.

"I guess we will call her Margaret now", Lune said looking down at the small cat, meowing again.

"Well then, welcome to the family Margaret", Corin said, brushing his fingers over her head and Margaret meowed again.