Misunderstandings

by Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

The Inn of the Last Home was quite busy that night, the rumor of a sale on Otik's spiced potatoes have spread all throughout Krynn. The many who have actually ate them weren't going to pass this up, not even if a black dragon stood in front of their path. The others who never tried them- the poor souls of Krynn didn't know what they were missing- found this the best oppertunity to give it a try. Besides, they heard from friends that the spiced potatoes were legendary, almost as well-known as the Heroes of the Lance. It was too bad the sale was only a rumor. Even if it were so, the rumor was great for business. All those who came, decided to stay and eat since they made the trek all the way there, though they were quite disappointed.

Caramon emerged from the kitchen carrying a full tray of dwarf spirits, heading for the table, occupied by six burly humans, near the back of the room.
"Here you go" Caramon said, placing the tray on the table, the foam from the dwarf spirits clearly flowing over the top of the mugs onto the tray.
"Is there anything else you'd like?" he added.
"No, that's it. Thank you" one of the guys said, hiding his dissapointment that the beautiful Tika wasn't the one serving them.
Caramon smiled and headed for another table on the other end of the room. This time, it was occupied by four beautiful maidens.
"Here he comes" one of the girls whispered to the others, surpressing a giggle.
"Are you really going to do it, Katelin?" another asked, her eyes gazing on the incoming warrior.
"Yes" Katelin answered, her heart beating faster as Caramon got closer. Caramon, now at the table, totally unaware of them talking about him, asked them about what they wished for.
"Good evening ladies" he said, his voice making the four women queasy with delight "What would you like?"
"Um...four orders of Otik's spiced potatoes" Katelin said, her voice practially failing her. She giggled silently to herself, thinking of something else she wanted other than the spiced potatoes.
"Is that it?" he asked, his gaze on the most beautiful of the four, Katelin.
"Yes. Thank you" she answered, unable to continue to look into those beautiful, caring eyes.
Caramon smiled and headed for the kitchen.
"Why didn't you do it, Katelin?" a third girl asked once Caramon was out of earshot. She had been quiet until now.
"I couldn't. I was too nervous" she answered, her heartrate now slowing down to its normal speed.
"Are you going to do it when he comes back?" the fourth girl asked, now joining in on ther conversation.
"Of course"

Chapter 2
^^^^^^^^^

"Boy, it's so busy tonight" Caramon said to his gorgeous wife, Tika. Tika nodded in accordence, smiling sweetly. The big warrior wiped the sweat from his forehead with a piece of cloth. He and Tika were in the kitchen and the heat from the stove was getting to him. Tika didn't even notice the heat. She was too busy cooking a whole batch of spice potatoes.
"Do you need any help, honey?" Caramon asked, placing his big hands around Tika's slender waist and kissing the nape of her neck.
"No, I can handle it. Besides, I'm finished" Tika answered, turning the fire off of the stove. She quickly took hold of a large plate and placed the spiced potatoes on it.
"Here you go" she said, handing him a plate.
"Thank you" Caramon said, kissing Tika full on the lips. He then reluctantly turned away from his lovely wife and headed back out.
Once out of the kitchen, Caramon headed for the table.
"Here you go" he said, placing the large plate in the center of the table.
"Thank you" Katelin said. What she did next caught Caramon by surprise.
Before the big warrior had time to react, she got out of her chair and hugged Caramon tightly, enjoying the warmth of his body.
Inside the kitchen, Tika realized she forgot to give her husband some forks. She quickly grabbed hold of four forks and rushed out of the kitchen. She was shocked to see what was happening in the back of the room. She was infuriated to see Caramon hugging this woman. Actually, it was the woman hugging him, but Tika was too angry to notice. Besides, Caramon's back was to Tika, blocking off her view of what was really happening. Tika quickly turned to a man, seated by the bar, and asked him about who that woman was.
"Who's that my husband is hugging?" she asked, her voice harsh, pointing towards the table. The man was momentarily taken aback at the coldness of her voice. He quickly turned his head to where she was pointing and immediately recognized who the woman was.
"Oh, that's Katelin" he answered
"Katelin" she said "I'll remember that name"
Tika headed back towards the kitchen, Katelin's name remembered.

Chapter 3
^^^^^^^^^

"Please, I'm married" Caramon said, shocked to realize that a beautiful woman was hugging him tightly.
"I just wanted to thank you" Katelin said, not letting go "For bringing our food"
"You could've just said so" Caramon said, gently breaking out of Katelin's embrace. He was scared that Tika might come out of the kitchen and notice what was going on. He quickly turned his gaze around, towards the kitchen, hoping against hope that Tika didn't decide to come out, getting a eyeful of what had just transpired.
Good, Caramon thought, she didn't see what happened.
Caramon turned his gaze back towards the table and realizes that he forgot to bring the forks.
"I'll be right back" he said. He turned around and headed for the kitchen.
"Ha" Katelin said, once Caramon was out of earshot "I told you I'd do it"
She held out her slender hand in front, happy to have won the bet.
I wonder what that girl's name is, Caramon thought. She is pretty. But not nearly as pretty as Tika. He placed a hand on the door to open it. Right when he was about to go through the door, a man grabbed hold of Caramon by his arm, quickly catching his attention.
"Caramon" the man said "It's me" Caramon looked at the man intently and immediately recognized him. It wasn't a man who grabbed his arm, it was a kender.
"Tas!" Caramon said, shocked to see the kender. He quickly picked Tas up off his tiny feet and hugs him with his massive arms, sqeezing the air out of the hapless kender.
"Hi Caramon" Tas said, gasping for air between words "It's good to see you"
Caramon placed the kender back on his feet and gently patted Tas on his topknot. It's been quite a while since the two met, what, about several years.
"How are you doing?" Caramon asked, quite happy to actually see the kender.
"I doing great!" Tas said "How about you?"
"Just fine" he said "How did your trip back home turn out?"
"Oh, it was great" Tas said "I met this really cool minotaur that was lost and the two of us had this great adventure. You want to hear about it?"
"I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work" Caramon said, quite happy that the excuse was legit. He knew that once Tas started talking, he'd never stop.
"Why don't you stay a while?" he asked, hoping they could catch up on what was going on around the world. It seemed that since Caramon and Tika took over the business, they never got out much after that. Caramon hoped that Tas could confirm some gossip he heard through costomers who were speaking too loud and was overheard by the big warrior.
"I'm sorry" Tas said sadly "I have to leave in a few minutes. The reason why I came here, besides to say 'hi' of course, was to ask you of a favor"
"Sure, what is it?" Caramon asked curiously.
"Well, I have this cat with me. And where I'm going, I don't want to bring her along withg me. If I did, there might be a chance I can't keep her. So, I was wondering if you could take care of her, just for a week"
"I can't. Tika wouldn't allow me"
"Why not?" Tas asked.
"Tika is allergic to cat hair" Caramon answered.
"Don't worry. The cat doesn't shed" Tas said, smiling "At least she hasn't shed recently"
"Well, I still can't. I'm sorry" Caramon said, feeling depressed that he couldn't help. He really wanted to help.
"Pleeeeease" Tas said emphatically, his eyes wide, making actually look cute.
"I can't" Caramon insisted
"Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssssseeeee" Tas said again, this time with much more emphasis.
"Ok. Fine. If you just stop that"
"You mean saying pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssseee"
"Yes" Caramon said, placing his hands over his ears.
"I'll go get her" Tas said, already on his way out of the inn "She's outside. I'll be back in a sec"
Tas exited the inn, leaving Caramon to think out his plan. "Ok" Caramon said to himself "I'm going to have to keep this cat out of Tika's sight for about a week. That's shouldn't be so hard. I can can leave it in Raistlin's room since Tika never ever goes in there. I can feed it when she's asleep. And since Tanin, Sturm, and Palin are out on an adventure, it'll be a lot easier to hide it"
Tas came back through the door, a small white cat in his arms. He walked up to Caramon and handed him the cat and a small bag of cat food.
"Thanks Caramon, I really appreciate this" Tas said. He then gently caressessed the cat's head and spoke "Don't worry. I'll be back real soon. You just let uncle Caramon take good care of you"
Tas turned to leave
"Wait" Caramon said, causing the kender to turn back around to face him.
"Yes, what is it?" Tas asked.
"What's the kitty's name" Caramon asked once he had Tas' attention.
"Oh. Her name is Katelin"

Chapter 4
^^^^^^^^^

The inn was now empty. It was way past closing. Caramon was busy wiping the tables with a rag, glad that the inn was actually closed. He had been on his feet for many hours serving customers, tending back and forth between tables. He was sat down in a chair, the legs almost breaking out from under his weight. He breathed a sigh of relief, stretching out his mighty arms. Tika, finished with cleaning the dishes, emerges from the kitchen.
"Are you finished?" Caramon asked, getting back out of his chair, continuing with his share of cleaning.
"Yes" Tika said "I'm going to sleep. Goodnight"
Tika turned towards the stairs and headed for the bed, not even bothering to kiss Caramon goodnight. Caramon was totally unaware that she knew what had happened, he thought she was just so tired and just wanted to get to sleep as soon as possible.
"Goodnight, honey" Caramon said, his voice so sweet and endearing, almost making Tika forget about the incident. She continued up the stairs.
"I'm going to have a word with him when he comes to bed" Tika said to herself, just soft enough that Caramon wouldn't hear.
"Good. When she's asleep, I can sneak into Raistlin's room and feed what's her name.....oh yeah, Katelin" Caramon said to himself, continuing with his cleaning.
It was very late when Caramon was finished with his cleaning. He took his time, hoping Tika would be asleep when he went up. He slowly walked up the stairs, it creaking loudly under his massive weight, and headed for the bedroom.
Once in front of the bedroom, he slowly opened the door, praying that the hinges won't sqeak, waking up Tika.
I have to see if Tika is asleep so I can feed Katelin, Caramon thought, opening the door very slowly.
He entered into the bedroom and carefully tipped-toed up to their bed and breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Tika was sleeping soundly, the slow rising and falling of the sheets giving him a sure sign. Quietly, he tipped-toed his way back out and closed the door behind him. He then proceeded towards Raistlin's room.
"Here kitty-kitty" Caramon said, holding out a small tray of cat food. He quickly gazed around the small room for the cat, but couldn't see her. He repeated himself again and this time there was a response. Caramon clearly heard a meow from behind one of the storage boxes.
"Katelin" he said softly, hoping his voice wouldn't wake Tika up "Come out and eat"
The name seemed to do the trick. Once Caramon called out the cat's name, she responded, coming out of hiding. Slowly, she came forward, towards the big human and the tray of food. She sniffed the food.
"Go on, eat"
The cat trusted Caramon and started to eat the food ravenously, finishing the dish within moments.
"Boy, aren't you're hungry" Caramon said, reaching his big hand forward to pet Katelin. The cat quickly took a step back, frightened at the sudden movement.
"I won't hurt you" he said, keeping his hand still.
Katelin slowly inched back up, her gaze on the hand. She then careful sniffed it. After a brief moment, Katelin jumped up onto Caramon's hand and ran up the length of his arm, stopping right by his neck. The cat then gently started nibbling on his eat.
"Hey, that tickles" Caramon said, giggling. He quickly took hold of her and held her in his hands "See. I'm not such a bad guy" he added, holding Katelin near his body to keep her warm. The cat gently purred and then rested her head against one of Caramon's thumb and went to sleep.
Caramon walked on over to a small sack of hay near the back of the room and gently paced Katelin on it, hoping he wouldn't wake her. The cat never woke, she was fast asleep.
"You're so cute, Katelin" Caramon said, gently carressing the cat's head, making her purr louder in her sleep. Caramon stood up and gazed at katelin for a few minutes before he turned around and left the room.

Chapter 5
^^^^^^^^^

"Katelin, where are you?" Caramon said peering into one of the bushes. Nothing. No cat.
How am I gonna explain this to Tas, Caramon thought. He trusted me with his cat and what do I do....I lose her.
It was an accident, though. What happened was Caramon had opened a window in Raistlin's room to let in a cool breeze of fresh air and Katelin ran out through the opening. It was strange considering that Caramon have opened the window before and Katelin never jumped out. To be precise, he opened them six times out of the seven days he had her.
Tonight's the night Tas gets back, he thought. Damn, I should've never opened that window.

"Katelin, where are you?" he said again, checking another bush like many times before. This time, Caramon got lucky. He heard a meow from one of the nearby bushes. Caramon quickly ran over to inspect. He carefully parted the foliage.
"There she is" Caramon said to himself, recognizing Katelin, her coat now looking red against the setting sunlight. He was shocked to realize that Katelin wasn't alone. She was walking along side a black stray cat, a little bit larger than she was, indicating that the cat was a male. At that moment, Caramon realized why she ran out like that. She was in heat.
"Katelin" Caramon said "Come here"
The stray quickly ran away, frightened from the big warrior's voice, leaving Katelin alone with Caramon.
"Come here" Caramon said, extending his hand non-threatenly.
Katelin immediately realized that it was Caramon and quickly jumped into his hands, immediately falling to sleep like the many times before.
"Thank goodness I didn't lose you" Caramon said, breathing a sigh of relief. He was terrified that he wouldn't find her. Now that she was safe, Caramon felt much better.
How am I gonna explain that she's pregnant, he thought. I better worry about that when Tas gets back.
Caramon turned around and headed back towards the inn, Katelin hidden under the cloak he was wearing.

Chapter 6
^^^^^^^^^

Tika stared out the window at her husband, watching as he went from bush to bush shouting a name that was inaudible to her since he was so far away from her. From where she was, it sounded like he was calling for his brother.
"Why would he be calling for Raistlin?" she said to herself. She was quite perplexed at her husband's recent behavior's. For the past seven days, he came to bed much later than before. Maybe he was avoiding her. Suddenly, Tika realized who he was actually calling for. He was calling for that cheap floozy he was hugging a week ago, Katelin. She totally forgot about that incident. Now that she remembered, Caramon was in big trouble. She quickly grabbed hold of a skillet, the same skillet used to bash draconians, and headed for the front door to confront her cheating husband.
"Boy is he gonna get it!"

Chapter 7
^^^^^^^^^

Caramon was just outside the inn when he heard a voice from a bush behind him.
"Caramon" came a voice. Quickly, Caramon turned to face towards where the origin of the sound came from. He immediately recognized who it was. It was Tasselhoff.
"Tas!" Caramon said, about to hug the kender. He quickly stopped his urge sqeeze the air from Tas when he realized that he was carrying a sleeping Katelin under his cloak.
"How did everything go?" Caramon asked.
"It went great. I got the chance to meet Earwig. You remember, my cousin. You, Raistlin, and Earwig solved this mystery about missing cats. Well, he and I went all over Mereklar, finding items that people dropped. They can be so careless. You want to see"
"You went to Mereklar?!?" Caramon said, his eyes widening.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Mereklar cherishes cats. You would've been treated like a king there if you had a cat who liked you" Caramon answered, angry that he did all this for nothing.
"Yeah, I know, but there was a chance that I had to leave her there with the the other cats. And I didn't want that"
"Oh" Caramon said, embarressed at getting upset at the kender.
Tika was now behind the door, waiting for Caramon to enter back into the inn so she could teach him a lesson. She leaned her ear against it to hear what Caramon was saying.
"How was Katelin?" Tas asked, concerned over his cat "Did she give you any trouble?"
"Oh, Katelin was great. I had no problems with her. She followed everything I said. I really liked it when she nibbled on my ear and fell asleep in my arms. You know what, I got even Katelin to eat right out of my hand. She's so cute that I wanted to hold her close to me all day"
"Did Tika find out about her?" Tas asked, changing the subject.
"No, she didn't. Thank goodness. She would've killed me if she found out I was hiding Katelin in Raistlin's room"
Behind the door, Tika gripped her skillet tightly, her knuckles now turning white. Caramon continued on with his conversation, totally unaware of Tika listening in.
"Um, I have to tell you something" Caramon said "Something you wouldn't like"
"What is it?" Tas said, concern in his voice.
"Well.....I think Katelin's pregnant"
"What?!?" Tas said, shocked at what he just heard.
"First off, I take full blame for it. It was all my fualt. I was careless. It was an accident. I never meant for it to happen"
That was enough. Tika was beyond the boiling point. She heard enough. She quickly opened the door and faced the shocked Caramon. She then raised her skillet and..................

There, another fanfic. I hope you liked it. First off, I would like to thank Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Without them, I would've never been able to write this. Please send comments if you have any. I would really appreciate it. I wrote this to try and take a crack at a story-format comedy. I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors.

PS- If you ever want my other fanfics, I'll e-mail it to you as soon as possible. Please note that I'm on-line only seldomly.

Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

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