"Peach!"
"Woof!"
The white Cat immediately turned to look at him.
Though she had said "woof," anyone could tell it wasn't a dog's bark. Her voice was thin and clear, babyish and lilting, more like "wah" crossed with "awng"—nothing like a normal dog's bright or deep bark.
"Come here!" Chen Shu beckoned to her. "I'll teach you the proper way for a Cat to speak!"
"Woof?"
Peach crawled over to him, puzzled.
"Repeat after me."
Chen Shu leaned close to Peach and slowly enunciated:
"Cat~"
"Meow?"
"It's Cat."
"Meow?"
"Cat. C-a-t, Cat."
"..."
Peach fell silent for a moment, then tried:
"Aow?"
"Close enough. It sounds a lot like aow." Chen Shu patiently coached her. "Just remember to put a c sound before at, and you get Cat."
"Cat~"
"That's right, that's right." Chen Shu grinned and nodded repeatedly. "That's the proper way for a Cat to speak."
"Cat~"
"Miss Peach." Chen Shu curled his hand into a fist and held it by Peach's mouth like a microphone. "Are you a puppy or a kitten?"
"Cat!"
"That's right, that's right..."
Chen Shu was thoroughly satisfied.
He checked the time. It was nearly noon, and sunlight poured down outside, setting the Mirror Sea glittering.
It was a clear, sunny day in the Jade Capital too.
The skies had cleared after the snow.
Sunlight turned the snow dazzling white. Not a cloud or bird could be seen overhead.
Zhang Suannai and Wu Eiwei had agreed to fight in the woods behind the Jade Peace Temple. Since it was a private match, applying to use the Military Academy's grounds would have been awkward. And though those grounds were quite good, they still fell short of this vast stretch of forest.
The group members found a small hillside and made it their spectator