Boots by Angel Martinez

underbrush. The house and grounds appeared quiet today, no gatherings, no guests, just as he had hoped. He had known about the owner for some time, but had never felt the need to approach before.
    It wasn't that he was afraid, certainly not, but anxious about the outcome? Yes, that was only sensible. Willem needed him to accomplish a few, simple things, whether he knew it or not yet. He needed housing, that first and foremost. He needed patronage and a new love interest to inspire him. If the patronage came with the friendship of powerful people, that would be all the better.
    These things had to be approached carefully, though. He never had been at his best with females.
    "Yorukaze, your transgressions cannot be overlooked this time." Amaterasu had spoken softly, but the sun goddess's face was stern.
    "My lady, give me but another chance! It was a mistake, a moment's indiscretion! Any punishment you mete out, I will gladly accept!" Even while he protested, he knew it was too late.
    "A dalliance would be indiscretion, Yorukaze. But this is no dalliance. You have broken your oaths, not once but three times. You overstep, my kasha, your arrogance driving you to believe that you are wiser than Lady Death herself."
    "He was too young! He had such promise!"
    "You are banned from these precincts and stripped of all but the most rudimentary magic. You will learn humility by serving humankind in their world, serving their petty needs and desires, only gaining some of your strength again when you are claimed and leashed."
    "My lady, please! You cannot be so cruel! I only did what I thought right and just!"
    Perhaps that hadn't been the wisest thing to say. She had flung him from her kingdom with such force, he lay senseless for a number of months thereafter. He had served faithfully since, though he had little choice with the compulsions set upon him. An instrument of the gods' whims, sometimes the humans he served were contemptible, sometimes they shone with inner strength. For good or ill, he helped them gain what they needed, which was not always what they believed they wanted. When they took back what they had given, he was free, or when they expired, likewise.
    Free. He snorted. It was always a hollow, bitter, short-lived freedom, stripped to nothing but cheap conjuring, left to his own devices only until the spirit winds called his name again.
    So often, he had served men of ambition, men who shaped the course of those around them. To serve someone like Willem was unusual, someone so...
    He hesitated to say ordinary. It was less than accurate. Someone of such narrow influence, perhaps, though Willem was young. Who could say what events he would affect eventually?
    Getting as bad as the boy, sitting in the damp brush, ruminating. He shook himself and pushed his way through the blackberry bushes to stride across the lawn on two legs.
    The house sat in a large clearing, surrounded by flowerbeds and an expanse of lawn, still green this late in the year. Here and there, sculpture dotted the landscape, everything from a classically inspired male nude to an abstract kinetic construct.
    A young woman stepped out the backdoor, red plastic bucket in hand, her golden hair cascading to her waist. She stopped a few feet from the steps, reached into the bucket and began scattering birdseed on the lawn. Songbirds converged on her, settling at her feet, tugging at strands of her hair, completely oblivious that a predator stalked out of the woods.
    Kasha's stomach growled at the banquet before him, but pouncing on the young lady's breakfast guests to devour them would have been a dreadful first impression.
    "Good morning, miss!" he called out when he reached polite hailing distance. "I wonder if I might trouble you for a few moments."
    She turned his way, cornflower blue eyes widening. For one heart-stopping moment, he wondered if he had erred.
    "Oh, what a cute kitty!" she cried out as she placed her bucket down and rushed toward him. "Oh, my