Chapter Text
Though dawn had not yet even struck, Kitty was wide awake gazing out from their quaint tower. Purr had gained the habit of waking with the sunrise early in her life, first to follow along with the routine of her knight through his preparations of the day, and to bade him farewell before his long days of work- with the wizard, this became a trained, strict routine that tainted all the comfort she knew from the warmth of the morning.
Even though that brightness of the sunrise and all its unfamiliar yet beautiful colouration brought strained recollection of purr’s past, Kitty was growing to accept it- to love it, even. She had begun to latch to it, that glimpse of a connection to her past joy- to her knight, catching the dawn each day and witnessing it until the sky drew into a settled, consistent blue.
As it did so, he set about preparing for the day, snatching a few still-hot cod from her campfire and tearing into them with ease as mew vaulted out of the window and onto the gabled roof of Katie and his’ home- dropping the bones first into some shrubbery at the side before hopping down, landing with a gentle puff of disturbed dirt. Their kingdom mates had not yet roused, as such the song of birds dominated the airspace, the peep-peeeping of the kingfishers particularly vibrant amidst their diving for minnows in the surrounding depths of the moat.
With the dawn’s reprieve from chaos, Kitty often tended to the fields- a task that was not familiar to her, though similar enough to the art of hunting. She allowed others to handle the creation of the wheat into bread, though, with only just beginning to understand the art of cooking food as to avoid illness. Today did not feel like a day that they were inclined to handle the wheat, feeling antsy with a need to get out and stretch her legs, bounding along dirt pathways and out of the gateway into the outer territory of the red kingdom.
The crickets buzzed and scampered as they padded through the grasses, dew catching on purr’s boots as he allowed himself to relax and attend to her ingrained feline instincts, head ducking as she began to scamper and pounce after a particularly large insect. Purr did not mind as her mittens grew damp, pressing against the ground to give him leverage in the pursuit, eventually succeeding in trapping the bug between their grasp and the damp soil, scooping it up into mew’s hold with a pleased hum.
Kitty’s feather bobbed with his head as she stood, feeling the insect poking at the gaps between their thumbs, buzzing against her skin as it squeaked out high-pitched chirps. Purr smiled with pride at her catch- a task much harder with her present form, far less adept to hunting prey. A soft giggle left their jaw as she let it scrabble about for a short moment, before opening up purr’s hands and letting it spring back into the cover of the grass, observing its swift escape.
A shifting of grass was audible behind her, a footstep and the dragging of layers of fabric against each other. Kitty tilted his head back, pleased to find it was just Cherri, and turned to greet her with a wide grin. “Hello princess, you are up early.”, a glance toward the sky confirmed this- the sun was still low in its path.
“I couldn’t sleep.”, she was sheepish, fiddling with a comfortable idleness with a lock of her hair, “I’ve been trying to figure out my magic… still not there just yet…”
Kitty nodded, shifting closer with a customary bonk of her nose against Cherri’s shoulder as he passed to hop around her in a small circle, “You are getting closer. Learning takes time, you do not grow from little kitten into big cat just overnight. Perhaps you are just going about in a way that does not work for you.”
Purr hummed, her metaphorical tail flicking with thought, eyeing the clump of oak trees ahead, “We climb.”
“Huh?”
“Break and relax is important to learn- kittens do not always pounce at prey, they take time to lounge in sun, and bat mother cat’s tail. You climb tree with me and have fun.”
She seemed hesitant, but eager to follow as Kitty padded ahead, easily hooking an arm on a sturdy branch and pulling himself into a tree. “Your knight is not here to pull you back by the scruff. Join me!”
Urged on by Kitty’s playful whining, the princess relented, hiking her dress up and jogging toward the oak that seemed to have the best chance to guide her ascent; with low hanging branches each of a reassuring thickness. The bark was thankfully smooth enough as to not tug or snag at her overskirt, avoiding the risk of tearing the expensive fabric as she scaled the crown into the upper foliage, until the limbs grew too thin and young to support her.
Cherri sat back in the ridge where the branch met central trunk, stabilising her body with a hand against bark as she chortled out with gleeful laughter. This was soon joined by Kitty as purr hopped across the adjacent canopies to settle in the princess’ tree, giggling softer though still with a wide, toothy expression of happiness.
A comfortable silence eventually settled over the two as they lounged in the tangle of wooden offshoots, eventually broken by Kitty.
“How does magic even work?”
“It’s complicated, I suppose. My tutors tried their hardest, but their knowledge of the ancient texts were never truly substantial for my understanding. I think…”, the princess tried to make sense of long dragging lectures and elaborate vocabulary, “Magic is something all beings have, held within the innermost part of someone, their core… or soul, or something. Mages are those who are able to access this, forming a link between the non-physical soul and the physical world through visible magic. This magic is influenced and moulded by the mage’s soul, which is why there are different types of magic held by different individuals.”
Kitty considered this, purr’s head tilting, “Hm. You are smart for a little kitten, you explain very well, even if you say you did not understand.”
“Oh, uh, thank you. That’s… very kind of you.”
Mew hummed in return, her head dipping briefly before he gazed back toward the kingdom, “Perhaps that is enough play for now. Your knight will be about soon looking for you.”, the rogue wound themselves between obstructing branches and easily dropped back onto the ground, soft against purr’s leather soles.
The princess smiled, though as she moved to begin her descent the perceived distance to the grass left Cherri fearful and moving with a shakiness and uncertainty that wound up with her grasp slipping from the bark. She was sent tumbling forward with a short yelp, fabric snagging on the wood and leaving her trapped dangling in the winding offshoots.
“Oh drats it! Hold on, I will gets you out.”
Cherri flushed with embarrassment as Kitty slunk around her in the branches, delicately freeing her dress and limbs from the grasp of the offending plant, eventually getting her to a point where the princess was able to lower herself the remainder of the way down and settle back onto solid ground, where the rogue soon attempted to follow and drop out of the canopy.
It was unnoticed that purr’s trailing scarf had become taut in the branches, catching and leaving him breathless at the sudden harsh pressure on their throat, panic immediately overwhelming mew’s senses. He could hear as Cherri scambled toward her, pulling the fabric further back for a moment as she worked to free the rogue, sending them both toppling down onto the grass as she succeeded.
Kitty could see the wide, dull gaze of her knight, overwhelmed with the scent of iron that barraged mew. They couldn’t tell where fur became skin, whether the ground beneath his paws was sun-speckled grass or the cold, dark stone of a wizard’s tower. His mind was overwhelmed, urging purr to run and hide, to fight and slash and hiss, to make the soft touch on purr’s skin- surely another trick of the wizard- bloodied and cold, unable to harm further.
But… it couldn’t be. The hands around her were warm, expensive fabric brushing his skin, scented of florals and sweet fruit. A hand was gently holding the back of purr’s head and pressing him toward their collarbones, the other on their forearm, tracing gentle circles.
She could feel their heartbeat, the vibrations from the warm figure’s throat, speaking toward Kitty even as the words fell on deaf ears. Mew focused on the buzzing, unnoticing their growing calm as the speech grew ever more legible, until it was blatant that this was princess Cherri, not the wizard. Kitty was safe, on the exterior of the red kingdom, within the half-shade of the oak trees.
The rogue blinked, slowly drawing back from the embrace, looking to the concerned expression of the other, “There you are- are you… okay now?”
Purr silently reached to fiddle with the hem of her vest, assessing the situation, “I am sorry. That was…”, he drawled off, uncertain what to say. Cherri interjected in the pause. “It’s okay, you don’t need to apologise- your scarf got caught…”
Kitty nodded, her hand raising to bring the offending length of yellow fabric over their shoulder to purr’s front, staring at it.
“Hey, I have an idea- stay still.”, Cherri stood and circled to the back of the rogue, taking the fabric from mew’s paws and binding it up into a quaint bow. When she stepped back, two loops and the end length hung no further than Kitty’s mid-back, far less obstructive.
“There, now you’re less likely to risk catching it on anything!-”
“Oh.”, It took an extended moment for Kitty to make sense of the act, before a strained smile grew on her cheeks, standing and spinning toward Cherri to wrap her in mew’s arms, humming in lieu of bright purrs, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Kitty. Any ti-”
“Princess Cherri!”
The mentioned squeaked, twirling out of the embrace to face Apo, who trampled in pursuit of her charge, “You can’t just disappear on me while I’m asleep- I didn’t even know you left!”
Kitty snorted, before deciding to save Cherri from the reprimands somewhat, “She has been with me, not alone. There was no danger.”
The knight considered this before sighing and relenting, “Okay, okay. But at least wake me up first next time if you’re leaving so early!”
“Okay, okay, I will.”
Seeing this as her time to leave, Kitty hopped between her paws for a moment and then bounded off in the direction of the blue kingdom. Mew had a lion to pester.