Ariel

My name is Ariel. I come from a hidden place where the villagers and almost no one else knows about me or the others. It's a place where men are born with the power to transform into animals, and we are filled with blessings and good fortune. I came in the form of a beautiful black cat and looked for a human to care for. I took very good care of him, but he died because he was old. I was left alone in his house, still in cat form. But one day, out of nowhere, a beautiful woman arrived crying for the man. Through her tears, she said, "I miss you, Daddy." That's when I knew she was his daughter. I came out of hiding, still a cat. She stroked me and took me to her house near a village. She didn't yet know that I could transform into my original human form. She fed me and became my owner. I knew then that I would live only to take care of her, but I felt lonely and sad that she only saw me as a cat. So at night, I would transform into a man to watch her sleep, so that she... She would wake up and see me, and today it happened. While she was asleep, I was by her side, stroking her sweet brown hair. "Hello beautiful, you look so lovely sleeping ," I smiled, and she was startled to see a man like me. "Don't worry, beautiful, I won't do anything to you. I'm... I'm the cat..."