Creature Feature: Duck, the Cat, Loretober Day Thirty!

Duck is Clara's large, mixed-breed cat who likely had a magical ancestor at one point due to her size. She is brown/ orange, has amber eyes, and is pretty smart, seen more as a family member to Clara rather than a pet.

When Clara was an early teen, she found a waterlogged sack snagged on some river reeds near her house. Someone from town decided to cull a litter of kittens his barn cat gave birth to by bagging them up and tossing them down the river. One had managed to claw out of the sack but was choking among the duckweeds, too tired to pull herself to shore. Clara immediately scooped the kitten out from the water, wrapped it in her apron, and (after checking the bag only to find her drowned siblings) took her home.

Ava was at first skeptical at the cat's arrival, thinking it would be kindest to end it's suffering, but once she saw Clara openly weeping, Ava conceded and allowed her to attempt to save the poor thing. The kitten, now named Duck, made a miraculous recovery under Clara's tender care. For many years now, she has been keeping mice out of the cottage and guarding the garden from potential grazers who visit from the nearby forest. She is much too intelligent and independent to truly control, but Duck's clear affection for Clara, and her enjoyment of inconveniencing aunt Ava, made Duck an integral part of their lives.

When Duck first meets Kree, she stayed on guard, unsure of him and his giant wings. But it only took a few bribes of Kree's leftover kills to warm her up to at least tolerating him coming around now and then. When Clara decides to officially move into Kree's nest, Duck stays with Aunt Ava, but she still gets to see Clara again when she returns to Aunt Ava's in the winter. By the time Laurel is born, Duck would have already passed away, her body honorably burned and her ashes scattered around the cottage garden.