Noir is an intelligent black cat with amber eyes who lives in a warm, watercolor-like world. His favorite spot is the top of an old bookshelf in his owner's study, which serves as his private 'castle.' One afternoon, Noir's owner discovers a mysterious golden bookmark—a magical item that causes the story within a book to slightly overflow into reality. When a sudden wind carries the bookmark out the window, Noir embarks on his first adventure outside the house. Following clues through the town,
Noir the Cat and the Vanished Bookmark - Episode 15: Noah
The strong Mediterranean sun painted Malta's streets honey gold.
From the Upper Baraka Gardens atop Valletta's hills, the deep blue Grand Harbor spread out in perfect view. Among the tourists watching white cruise ships pass to and fro, a shadow slipped beneath their feet.
Glossy, short black fur. A body trim as a nobleman's. When the cat lifted its head, a tourist caught their breath.
Amber eyes gleaming in the sunlight, burning with fierce radiance.
"Beautiful eyes, aren't they?"
An old local man sitting on a bench had spoken. His deeply lined eyes crinkled kindly as he placed cat food from his pocket gently on the ground. The black cat ate with practiced ease, purring contentedly.
"These days, this island is called a 'cat's paradise' from all over the world. But it wasn't always that way. There was even a time when cats were nothing but pests to humans, just ominous shadows."
The old man's gaze toward the distant sea seemed to contain images from the past.
"This is a story from before Malta was called the cat island—an old love story between a 'ship's cat' who traveled the world's seas and an 'island cat' who lived nobly on this island. The reason today's Maltese cats are so courageous and so affectionate... the answer lies here."
The old man's hoarse voice dissolved into the honey-colored stones.
The clock's hand began winding backward more than 150 years.
*'With an Amber Sail Raised to the Honey-Colored Island'*
Mid-19th century. The large British merchant vessel *Lady Iris* broke through the heavy waves of Grand Harbor and entered port.
Perched on the cathead at the ship's bow, gazing down upon the sea as if embodying the majesty of the British Empire itself, was a black cat named Noah.
Noah was born a ship's cat. Exterminating rats within the vessel and keenly sensing approaching storms, he was revered by sailors as a "black cat that brings fortune." The cook shared fresh meat with him every evening, and he slept in the captain's cabin. That was Noah's daily life, his world.
"Oi, Noah. You look bored again."
The voice from behind belonged to Barnaby, a large tabby cat with a torn ear—an older brother figure to Noah who had weathered countless storms and would soon retire.
"Word is the ship will drop anchor for a while for repairs. But Noah, don't go near the local strays, even if you go ashore. Those guys are starving, filthy, and live in a different world than us ship's cats."
"I understand, Barnaby. I'm the king of the sea. The dry land's hard soil is a bit too rough for my pads."
Noah narrowed his amber eyes and lightly scampered down the gangway. He thought it was merely a brief distraction during a tedious stay.
The harbor market was alive with activity and the stench of fish.
As Noah walked through the honey-colored limestone alleys, a sudden, violent shout rang out.
"Thieving cat! I'll kill you, get out of here!"
Wood from a fish crate flew at him.
What fled was a cat of surprising beauty, with pale honey-colored fur. Her name was Elena.
Her emerald green eyes, though pursued by humans, shone with a nobility that refused to yield to fear.
"Hey, foreigner. If you're going to gawk, get out of the way!"
Elena slipped past Noah like the wind, diving into a narrow gap between walls. As Noah stood bewildered, a nimble tabby cat sprang from a nearby trash bin—Tony, Elena's childhood friend.
"Well, well, fancy fur on an unfamiliar face, young master."
Tony circled Noah, sniffing as if appraising him.
"From a British ship, are you? With a collar and everything—what does a human slave want here? This is our territory. Get back to your ship."
"I am no slave. I'm a ship's companion."
Noah's fur bristled in threat, his amber eyes sharpening. The air grew tense, but at that moment Elena emerged from her hiding spot.
"Stop it, Tony. We'll be in trouble if the humans find us. ...And you, high-and-mighty ship's cat. If you want to live on this island, be careful not to dirty that pretty fur of yours."
Elena spoke coolly and disappeared with Tony into the depths of the alley, leaving Noah with an unfamiliar quickening in his chest.
That night, ignoring Barnaby's warning, Noah slipped away from the ship again.
Valletta under moonlight was silent, a stark contrast to the daytime clamor—a massive sculptural maze.
Using his keen sense of smell, Noah tracked the honey-colored scent from the day. He climbed a steep slope and reached a corner of the city wall, where a bell-like voice called from above.
"You're quite an odd cat. You could eat safely and deliciously on a ship."
Looking up, Elena walked precariously along the narrow edge of the wall, the moon at her back.
"I've seen the world's oceans. But nowhere have I found a cat with your color. I wanted to know you."
When Noah looked directly at her with his amber eyes, Elena's emerald gaze widened in surprise for a moment, then fell away with a melancholy expression.
"We're different from you. We don't even know where tomorrow's food will come from. Humans are fickle—kind when they're in good moods, throwing bread crumbs, but throwing stones when they're not. Living on this island means fighting constantly."
Elena said this and began walking. Noah followed silently.
Elena led him to the Upper Baraka Gardens on the island's highest hill and the quiet alleys of the ancient capital Mdina. The honey-colored stone walls washed in moonlight cast long shadows of the two cats.
As they walked, footsteps echoed. A local resident was approaching.
Noah, as usual, prepared to approach with his tail raised in greeting. But Elena's sharp voice cut through.
"No! Hide!"
Elena dragged Noah by the scruff into the darkness. Moments later, the man spat dismissively at his feet and passed by.
"I can't believe it... On the ship, humans are the best companions. When I approach, everyone smiles and pets my head."
"This isn't the ship. On this island, cats are just shadows. Unloved, merely background."
Elena's words carried deep resignation and, from it, a strong independence.
"But," Noah said softly, placing his black paw over Elena's honey-colored one, "I think you're beautiful. I can tell from how you walk that you love this island. While I'm here, I won't let your shadow be alone."
Elena stared at Noah's paw resting on hers, then turned away shyly.
"...You're quite the optimist, sailor."
Her tone was blunt, but her emerald eyes swayed gently, like the night Mediterranean. That night, in a corner of the honey-colored maze, the distance between the two cats truly closed.
As the British ship's stay extended to weeks, Noah and Elena's secret nocturnal meetings increased. Just as they began accepting each other's ways of life, a damp, ominous darkness began covering the honey-colored island.
It began with an unidentified large cargo ship from the east. On the night it dropped anchor deep in Grand Harbor, from the warped cracks in its hull, a swarm of abnormally massive and ferocious "foreign rats"—creatures even island cats had never seen—silently crawled ashore.
The rats quickly infested the harbor's grain warehouses. But that wasn't all. They scattered filthy plagues unknown to the island throughout the city.
"Children have fevers." "A market worker collapsed."
Screams and spreading disease erupted across Valletta, and peace shattered in an instant.
Fear transformed into blind hatred.
"It's the cats' fault! Those thieving cats brought disease from somewhere!"
Baseless rumors spread like wildfire. The market people took clubs and torches, beginning a merciless "cat hunt." The kind butcher who threw fish scraps the day before now had wild eyes and swung an iron pipe.
"Damn it, they've all gone crazy...!"
Tony ran desperately through narrow alleys, covered in mud and blood. Island cats fled from the relentless human assault while simultaneously fighting a massive swarm of giant rats with bared fangs emerging from night's shadows. The honey-colored labyrinth that had been their sanctuary transformed overnight into a gruesome hunting ground.
One rainy night, deep in the city's garbage heaps, Noah found Elena—battered and torn.
Her beautiful honey-colored fur was shredded, blood seeping into the cold rainwater. Though breathing heavily, her small body trembling, her emerald eyes still shone sharply against the approaching rats.
Noah couldn't help but rush in front of her, embracing her body, and letting out a sound wrung from the depths of his chest.
"Elena, we've reached our limit. Come to my ship. If I ask the captain, I can guarantee your safety absolutely. This cruel island, this betrayal of cats—we should abandon it!"
Noah's desperate plea was genuine. For someone who knew the world's oceans, there was no need to cling to a single island.
Yet Elena, struck by cold rain, weakly but with claws digging so hard they broke, slowly shook her head.
"No, Noah... This is our island. Tony, the old cats who can't move—they're all living desperately here. Even if humans forget us, we won't forget this island. I could never live only to escape on a ship and survive in comfort...!"
Elena's words carried the absolute pride of an island cat and of Elena herself as an individual.
"You're unreasonable! If you die, pride means nothing!"
Noah shouted fiercely, his voice mixing anger with fear of losing her.
The heavy rain created a cold wall between them.
Though they loved each other deeply, the decisive difference in their worlds mercilessly tore their hearts apart. With hopeless despair clutching at them, the "morning of departure"—the limit of Noah's stay—rushed inexorably closer.
The night before *Lady Iris* would sail, the captain, noticing something wrong with Noah, locked him in the safe cabin.
"Noah, are you really going to that island cat?"
In the dark cabin, the old tabby Barnaby had soundlessly leaped onto the window frame. His one-eared face held an unprecedented seriousness.
"If you leave the ship, you won't be the 'black cat of fortune' anymore. Just a starving stray."
"I don't care, Barnaby. My amber eyes were made to catch mice in darkness. But more than that... they were made so that honey-colored light never disappears into darkness."
Seeing Noah's burning eyes, Barnaby smiled crookedly.
"The British Empire's ship's cat loses all dignity. Now move."
With dexterous paws, Barnaby unfastened the cabin's skylight hook, loosening the frame.
"Go, Noah. Don't let a mere land rat best a British Empire ship's cat."
With Barnaby's confident voice at his back, Noah didn't hesitate, leaping into the night Grand Harbor.
*Splash!* The cold, pitch-black sea engulfed Noah entirely. Ordinarily, water was abhorrent to cats. But Noah's heart held no fear of the cold—only single-minded urgency.
*(Wait for me, Elena...!)*
Noah desperately moved his taut limbs, parting the waves. Barnaby watched silently from the deck's shadow.
"Honestly, every one of them gets crazy over land females..."
Barnaby twitched his torn ear irritably and sighed softly.
Noah was young. His body was strong, his fangs sharp. But with thousands of giant rats swarming, strength alone wouldn't suffice—something the battle-hardened old cat knew well. He couldn't let that youngster die recklessly. It was his awkward pride as an older brother.
"Oi, rookie. Lend a hand."
Barnaby called over a young ship's cat cowering in the shadows with a sharp cry, then indicated an old fishing net and bundle of sturdy hemp rope collected at the deck's edge.
"Take this to shore. Teach those island cats that an Empire rat-catcher doesn't work with fangs alone."
The weight was difficult for his aging body, but Barnaby's eyes remained sharp. Together with the young cat, moving carefully to avoid human detection, he traversed the mooring ropes and, shrouded in darkness, silently came ashore at Malta's walls.
While Noah ran straight to Elena, Barnaby dragged the heavy net with his companion, quickly observing the harbor's geography.
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