After the mass ended, Elder Attar quickly vanished through a side door of the hall.
Xiao Xiao waited patiently for quite a while. Only after the citizens and cats had all left the hall did he realize that the old man was not going to see him after all. This left him somewhat puzzled.
If he truly did not wish to see him, there had been no need to make him come to this hall to listen to his mass.
If he did wish to see him, why had he vanished without a word after the service?
Could it have been because he had taken notes in the hall, and Elder Attar had considered it disrespectful toward His Highness Bastet? Or had the old man received an oracle from His Highness Bastet during the service, telling him not to help them?
The small-statured wizard stood where he was, clutching that black notebook as he considered every possibility.
Fatty Xin's round face poked out from behind the curtain. His luminous blue skin was shrouded in the curtain's shadow, lending him an extra touch of postmodern mystique.
He looked around.
"Just you?" The fat man sounded astonished. "I saw everyone else leave. I waited forever, and you still hadn't come out... Where's Elder Attar? Didn't we come to ask him for directions?"
A withered walking stick poked out from beneath the fat man's arm. Behind it stood that hairless old cat, its skin pale and wrinkled all over. It looked at Xiao Xiao, its pupils dilating in the shadows like black almonds.
"The Elder already knows why you have come." The familiar yet grating voice echoed through the hall. The old cat kept a straight face as it looked expressionlessly at the two visitors. "The Elder has already given you his answer...