Ravish Me, Oh Great Wizard King!!!

Jana pulled her large brim hat down around her face and walked with purpose into the MagiKat Coffee Shop.

It was past 8 pm but there were still a handful of people sitting inside the coffee shop enjoying the ambiance and the scent of fresh roasted coffee.

The shop itself had so many elements of the savanna that for a moment, Jana felt homesick. There were the scattered bamboo woven tables with the grass woven chairs. On the walls were colorful decorative masks made from the savanna's dense blackwood and on the floors were natural mats woven from savanna sisal.

"Don't tell me we have a sister come way out here just to have a cup of coffee." A voice called out from behind the coffee bar.

Jana smiled. There was no way to hide the scent of a panthera from another panthera, not even with the strong smell of coffee permeating the air.

It was the owner of MagiKat Coffee Shop.

She was an older lioness with touches of silver on her brows, giving her a distinctive look. The lioness wore a utilitarian white apron over what looked at first to be the basic black mage bodysuit but upon closer inspection, was actually an Overlord bodysuit.

What in the world was a panthera doing as an Overlord?

"Come. Have a seat. First cup of coffee is on the house." The panthera behind the coffee bar poured a cup and set it in front of Jana.

"I am Katrina, owner of this local coffee bar," the panthera waved her hands around the place. "Welcome to the MagiKat Coffee Shop. Or should I say, welcome to Topaz."

"Much appreciate your hospitality. My name is Jana. I am from Marble Savanna."

"Weren't we all?" Katrina laughed. "Although when I was last there, it was called Amber Savanna."

"It's since been changed to allow us to have equal representation. We were even given one pantheran Advisor spot for the Queen's Court in Diamond."

Katrina gasped. "Did we now? That is good news. How did that happen?"

"We got a good and fair Queen is what happened."

"And who's our new Advisor, or do I even have to ask?"

"You're looking at her." Jana grinned.

"Well lookie you." Katrina laughed. "So what, pray tell, brings a sister this far out into the wilds? Did your…" she glanced at Jana's soul bracelet, "...man bring you out here?"

"Lord no." Jana laughed. "I'm out here just doing a bit of...sightseeing."

"Where's your man?" Katrina paused her action of wiping down the bar. "Is he a dwarf? An Ashryan?"

Jana laughed. "Why does it have to be a dwarf or an Ashryan?"

"Sweetheart, you know it's dangerous for us to be out and about without a dwarf or an Ashryan to protect us. My man is an Ashryan who works for the Academy. He's one of the professors at the school. That's the only reason why I'm here and nobody bothers me."

"My man is a bogwarg."

"Oh no, you did not just say that!" Katrina's mouth opened wide with shock. "Why in heavens are you even mated to a dog??? We are freaking cats honey!!!"

Jana laughed. It was the first time she had spilled that information out and to a panthera at that. Of course, this was the classic reaction and one that she expected.

"Is he at least...built?" Katrina gave her a sidelong glance.

"Like a BEAST." Jana purred and the two women laughed with delight.

"Okay so I don't exactly know why you're here so I'm just gonna chat with you like I normally chat with my regular customers. If you hear anything you like, just ask me more and I'll try to ad-lib a bit, 'k?"

Jana nodded, bringing the cup of hot coffee to her lips.

Bingo!

For the next two hours, in between serving customers, Katrina began talking in her chatty voice about everything under the sun.

"So, we've been having all this strange hot weather that comes and goes in random flashes. In certain spots, it even gets frost and hail, and then a few minutes later, it's hot enough to fry bacon again. There is some kinda freaky magik going on around here, that's for sure."

Jana nodded. "We haven't been spared either. We had a major blizzard over the winter that hit Jade and the surrounding areas. It killed thousands of people. It was magiked into being as well."

Katrina began polishing the glasses. "We've also been seeing around town, these strange people in black suits who called themselves Mage Elites."

She paused polishing and spoke in whispered words. "They walk around town looking as if they own the place, as if they're better than all the other mages, all because they got some fancy BLUE hair."

Katrina sniffed. "I tell you, my man has RED hair and he's just as much an Ashryan as those blue hair people." She clucked her tongue. "We just happen to be living in the south where we got more red hair and yellow hair people. That's all."

"Not to mention the green hair, green skin celadons, right?" Jana added.

"Well, those green people aren't exactly considered Ashryans because, let's face it, they can photosynthesize. That's a bit beyond what the Ashryans would consider to be normal for them."

"That's true."

"And of course, there was the Council of Mages vote that just happened yesterday afternoon." Katrina set up coconut shells that had their tops chopped off and poured hot coffee into the opened tops.

"The result was a big fat 'No', so now everyone is all nervous about what's going to happen." She placed the coconut shells on the bar and a server came and took them over to a group of young students sitting by the window.

"What was the vote about?"

"Let me tell you," her eyes widened surreptitiously. "It's one of those things that make you go HUH???"

Katrina scrunched up her face. "Basically, this is how it goes. Those creepy folks in black suits, the Mage Elites want to move our fighting forces out of Topaz and into their Magelands."

"Magelands? Where's that?" Jana sipped her cooling coffee.

"No clue. It's one of those don't-ask-don't-tell situations." She looked down at Jana's coffee. "Let me refresh that coffee for you so it's warm again."

"Thank you. So they were asking you for troop reinforcement. And in return, what were they going to do?"

Katrina poured another mug of coffee and replaced the cold coffee mug. "They were going to assist us with the issues surrounding the widespread weather disruption that is going on all around Topaz."

"Well now," Jana smirked. "It's a good thing the heads of your Council voted against it, isn't it? That is just about the jankiest sounding offer I have ever heard."

"Right?" Katrina rolled her eyes. "My husband told me that after the 'No' vote, all of us needed to get ready for some serious backlash. He made me put on my black mage bodysuits."

She looked down at her own suit, "But you know, it's been so long since I've done any kind of mage work so I couldn't find my mage suit. All I have is this old Overlord suit that I had when I was younger."

She grinned toothily. "I just put an apron over it and hope nobody looks too hard, 'cause they are gonna be wondering what in heck is an Overlord doing running a coffee shop."

"You are still not in full uniform, warrior." Jana gave Katrina a piercing look.

CLINK

She placed a metal object on the bar in front of her. It was a triple retractable knuckle blade.

"Thank you so much for your delightful company. Please consider this as payment for your delicious coffee."

As Jana stood up, Katrina threw a napkin over the knuckle blade on the bar.

"Wait. Jana…"

Jana turned back to the older panthera.

"You are the Princess Janera Ndiaye of the savanna, aren't you?"

Jana nodded.

Katrina placed her hand over her heart and bowed. "I give greetings to my Princess Janera Ndiaye, descendant of the Lion Clan."

Jana quickly waved her hands in protest.

"You just gifted me the Lion Claw of the royalty." She whispered, glancing back at the item that she had hastily thrown a napkin over.

"I am hoping you can use that to keep yourself safe." Jana whispered back. "You have no weapons on you at all, but at least you should know how to use the Lion Claw. These are very rough times Katrina."

The older pantheran nodded. "Yes. I was extensively trained on how to utilize the Lion Claw. Thank you so much, Your Highness."

Jana nodded. "I must go now. Take good care of yourself, and if you should ever make it back to the Savanna, look for me."

As Jana left the shop, tears filled Katrina's eyes. She turned back to the bar area and slipped her hand under the napkin.

It was still warm from where the Princess had touched it. The smooth metal curves with their retracted blades felt familiar and at the same time exotic.

Katrina's tears spilled over.