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Once upon a time there was a sorcerer named Leaks. He lived all alone in the forest, for those other cats--like him--loathed and feared him: they believed he was evil; thought he was a monster. Alone in the woods, amongst the trees and the sounds of the animals, he learned to depend on no one but himself, and without interruption, he managed life well enough.

Then, one day, he heard the sound of a lute. It came through the trees like sunlight, and Leaks was afraid of it. Whence did it come? And why? The music haunted him through the long days and the even longer nights, until at last it became a part of the forest sounds, like the chirping of the birds, and Leaks even learned to love it--until he found the cat responsible for it being attacked by monsters.

For reasons unknown even to Leaks himself, he rescued the wandering bard. His name was Shui.

Shui was nothing like the angry fools who shunned and ostracized him. Expecting to be reviled, Leaks was met only with curiosity, and the two lived together in the woods--Shui playing his lute, Leaks practicing and reading--until the point where one might even say the two became friends. They grew close, each accustomed to the other's company. Like Shui's music, Shui himself became a part of Leaks' forest. The magician had never known what it was like to have a friend before.

Then, Shui was murdered by his rivals. Leaks wondered only where his friend had gone--why he had left--and when he would return. Day after day he waited, but there was no sound of the music he had come to crave, no sound of the voice he had come to love. At last, pride swallowed by fear and longing, he left his home in search of the musician, only to find that those who shunned him were no longer content not to see him: they wanted him dead.

They set the forest on fire to burn him out.

Though Leaks escaped, he was plagued, consumed, tormented by the idea that it had been Shui who had betrayed him to his enemies. How else could the other cats have known where he lived? Bitter, betrayed, alone, Leaks' mind turned to thoughts of destruction.

And Shui had a son...

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