Chapter Three

    In the morning, Sarah awoke before Chryssy did. The morning air was cold in the room, talking could be heard from a room nearby. She carefully got out of bed, shivering from the cold air as it grazed over her just enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand. The two voices sounded familiar, one of them was for sure Jade, but she couldn't quite tell who the male voice was. She felt a chill up her spine when she finally recognized it. Hazel. Sarah really didn't want to see the tom, ever. She hesitantly got ready for the day before going out there, of course Hazel was the first to see her. "Good morning Sarah, is your sister up as well?" He sounded.. Kinder? Well not really, he just seemed to be talking softer. "No.." he hummed in a slight response before speaking again. "Well, go and wake her. I have time to take you two to the human world so you can go and get some items you want to take back here with you. If you take your phone, I will have you know texts do not travel across dimensions, so don't try anything," He explained to her, staying over by Jade. His nose was twitching a bit. Right, he's a cat. He can probably smell her fear. Sarah gave a slow nod before going back into the room and shaking her drowsy sister awake. Chrysanthemum groaned in annoyance "Five more minutes...." Sarah continued to shake her until she sat up with a groan "Whaaaaat?" Sarah sighed in relief that it hadn't taken longer. "You need to get dressed, Hazel's here."
    She instantly bolted up and got herself ready. Seemed she didn't like him too much either. Once she was ready, the two sisters went out there to face him. Hazel seemed calm still and he opened a portal. "Don't throw up," was all he said before entering it,  his long fluffy tail swishing behind him. Chryssy went through first, Sarah paused. Jade gave her a smile "It's fine honey, go on through," she seemed to be truthful so Sarah went through and regretted it. She felt sick to her stomach as they traveled through, Hazel was the farthest ahead, Chryssy close behind him. Once they made it through this horrible tunnel of stomach turning, she could see the familiar place. The kitchen. Chryssy rushed off to her room, starting to pack her things. Sarah slowly went to her room and grabbed her backpack. Taking out her school supplies and started packing other belongings into it. She packed pictures, clothes, sporting goods that would fit. She got another bag, a bigger one, and started packing it as well. Sarah packed more personal belongings such as books, games, electronics, a few toys. Sarah had packed almost everything in her room that she wanted to keep, she got up and went around to the kitchen. She opened the pantry and grabbed a bunch of her favorite snacks as well as going to the bathroom and taking her toothbrush and toothpaste. She soon brought her bags out, Chryssy in the process of doing so when Hazel reopened his portal. Once she made it over, the three of them went into the nauseating portal. On the other side, he reclosed it and wished Jade and them a good day before leaving. Jade calmly helped the girls put their belongings away in their room, having a casual conversation with Chrysanthemum. Sarah left the to talk and picked up the book she had been reading yesterday, she sat down and flipped to page 53.
'-Teleportation is one of the easiest magics that cats are able to perform. They just need the coordinates of the area and use either their mind or a snap of their fingers to open up a portal to those coordinates.-'
She got an alright understanding of it and left that page, she paused before reaching page 82 and started reading there instead.
'-Herat is a being of beauty, prosperity and purity in cats culture. She is the protector of the aether realm that cats of deserving nature enter once they die. If the soul is impure it will be left in limbo or end up within the protection of the cursed, Diabolus. Once a member of Diabolus's realm, a cat is no longer able to be a cat because of that world's atmosphere. So, their body is forced into breaking and morphing into disturbing figures that complete tasks for Diabolus.-'
    Sarah slowly closed this book and picked out a different one for now, she'd come back to it later. She was now reading a book about this kingdom, and the other kingdoms. She had barely begun reading it before she was interrupted by Stump. "You're up early!" he meowed. "Yeah... we had to talk to Hazel," his ears perked in interest "Neat! His a nice guy, but I should probably get to what I wanted to ask you before you get annoyed," he chuckled. "I was wondering if I could take ya to work with me, give you a bit of a tour," he finished. "What about Chryssy?"
"She went with Haze to work in the gardens,"
"Oh uh, I guess I'll go?"
"Great!" Stump meowed, he grabbed her hand and lead the way out of the house, telling his mom what was going on first. They went back to that guard post outside of the caves and Stump got on some armor and other equipment, he summoned a weapon, a scythe, and sheathed it before clipping it to latches that were on the back of his armor. He explained that it was easier than summoning when guarding. Sarah saw a black and white tom who was decked up in different armor from Stump, possibly indicating some kind of rank. "I'll be accompanying you Clawsender," he meowed simply. Stump held in a groan "Yes Sir," he meowed to him. The three slowly set off through the marketplace to start off with, the new tom stayed quiet as Sarah and Stump chattered quietly. The tom soon told Stump to pay attention to his work and their talking ceased. Soon, Stump and this Sir guy went into a building while Sarah waited outside. Sadly, her peace was interrupted by a small click of a tongue and paws gripping, relaxing, and regripping her shoulders over and over again. Sarah pushed the cat back and whipped around to see who it was. "Woah woah, no need to be fiesty! Is that how humans treat their friends?" Lezah inquired with a smirking chuckle. She cringed away from him more as he slowly looked a little less amused with this. "So, shall we do what best friends do and talk?" He meowed with an annoyed grin, his tail was lashing around behind him. Sarah still didn't answer him. "Welllll, maybe we could play a card game, hm?" He meowed lifting his own mood and getting to full cockiness again. He held a few cards in his hand, Sarah noticed the cards had her name on the back. "Well?" He was very impatient with her.  Stump and the tom came out and she felt thankful, knowing at least Stump would help her! Sure enough, Stump and him both drew their weapons. "Hello Dorfonze, up to the usual?" Sir meowed, abhor in his tone. He put away the cards with a snap of his fingers quickly. "O-Of course not Mask! I'm just talking to my dear friend, Miss Orelander!" he chuckled, seeming on edge. Lezah seemed to shrink in the presence of this tom, paw clutching onto Sarah's shoulder tightly as he stayed scrunched near her. The tom was practically hiding behind her! Sarah quickly shoved his paw off of her shoulder and hid behind Stump, who put his scythe away. He, led her away as Mask yelled at a stumbling and limping Lezah, the grey tom of a creep was soon gone. "Sorry about him, he tends to bribe someone to take part in his business and then screws them over moneywise... not sure what he wants from you, but it can't be good," Stump explained to her. "Has he never been jailed for scamming?"
"Oh he has! Oscar always bails him out though. Oscar's the only business partner to not get screwed over. He doesn't get arrested cause he doesn't actually do the scam, he's just the bodyguard... I'm surprised he wasn't with Lezah today, the two are almost inseparable!" Sarah felt grateful that she hadn't met this Oscar guy, if he liked Lezah, he had to be just as bad.
    Mask rejoined them, his weapon gone as he started to lead the way around. Sarah just simply tried to admire the evergreen forest. The pine smell was stronger as they left the market placed onto a new path. She heard the slight pitter patter of Mask and Stumps paws. Small birds could be heard chirping within the trios calm silence. In the distance the sound of a pounding waterfall sounded, Stump leaned close to Sarah and whispered to her. "We're headed to Opal Falls, I think you'll like it!" the toms dark tail swished around excitedly, contrasting to Mask's light tail that smoothly flowed behind him. It reminded her of the feathers of doves she used to see at the parks back at home. The black and white tom glanced to them, his nose having a slight twitch to it. Did he smell something off? Sarah glanced back to Stump to see if his was twitching as well. But Stump was calm and seemed to be focused on listening to their surroundings. She slowly tried to see if she could smell anything, she could smell the tang of natural water and wet earth. She didn't know if she loathed it or loved it.
Once they arrived to the falls, Sarah was once again awed by the beauty of something in the Kingdom. There was a large rippling pool of flowing water, surrounded by mounds of rock filled with opals, many waterfalls of varying sizes cascading down the sides of the iridescent rocks. Her trance was snapped by a simple sneeze.
"Bless ya sir,"
Mask mumbled something in return and continued to walk around the path, heading away from the gorgeous falls. Stump carefully took hold of Sarah's arm and brought her along with them on their duty. As they left the area, she could hear tired parents leading their kits to Opal falls so they could play in the perfect waters.

    Sarah was very quiet as the day went on, she was pretty tired, she also felt quite homesick. She wanted to be in her own house badly, but didn't know how the cats might react to it. Would they get it? How complicated are these cats really? She almost hoped she was in a coma. But sadly, the harsh reality was that Chryssy and her were going to be stuck here forever. Wasting away in a kingdom far away from their home in the human realm. It made no sense to her as to why any of these cats were so nice, a small part of her yelled for her to demand Hazel let them go. Sarah knew that would never happen. A pit sat in her stomach as she thought about King Hazel with his disgusting eyes, cold stare, his way of talking to others. UGH, she couldn't think of anything positive except for his fur looked REALLY soft! She hated his kinked whiskers, that golden color, the dullness hye brings everywhere he goes! She was infuriated by everything to do with Hazel, even his name was dumb! Who thought Hazel would be a good idea for a grey cat? Nonetheless a male one too! It just all wanted to make her scream angrily at the top of her lungs. Why did he always look so formal all the time? He works in his own room! He could relax and wear pajamas like a normal person, but no! Why did Hazel have to be so flippin extra?! He didn't have to take them, he could have just left them at home! What was he doing in their home in the first place?!

Sarah paused, looking around. She realized that she was alone, off the path, deep in the pine forest. She had wandered off during her mental rant. "Oh no oh no oh no!" She looked around the trees frantically, she couldn't be lost! She couldn't be alone! "I-Is anyone there?!" she called out. Sarah frantically began running as she looked for any sign of the path, the sun was close to its highest point, it was almost noon. The forest was silent and cold as she raced through it, she ran faster when she heard what sounded like gunshots. Sarah yelled in surprise when she tripped over the root of a tree and tumble down a hill, she could feel the pain in her head again, everything was spinning. She knew she was no longer moving, but couldn't tell if she was looking up, down, left, or right. Suddenly she heard a voice, she couldn't make out what it was saying until it got close. "Hey, Hey! Lil lady, you alright? Why'd ya go a runnin?" All Sarah could see was a red and black blob. She felt something pick her up and start walking, she closed her eyes and waited.
When Sarah reopened them, she was laying on a bed, in a cozy looking room. She could smell food being cooked in another room. Cautiously, she got up and opened the door, standing in the kitchen was a very tall cat, his fur was long and dark. The tom wore a red flannel and what looked like old work pants. "Your up? That's good, I thought ya really did in on your head there," he meowed, he sounded like he'd been in the country a long time, if he were human, he'd probably be a Texan or something like that. "Did you.. Carry me?"
"I sure did darlin'"
"Thank you.... What are you cooking?"
"Somethin' I caught, I was huntin when I found ya. In short words, Deer,"
"Oh.... If you don't mind me asking.. How tall are you?"
He calmly looked to her, amber eyes watching her calmly. "I'm seven feet and five inches lil lady,"
Sarah blinked at that slightly "Woah, your tall," he chuckled at that and went back to cooking
"What were ya doin out in them woods alone?"
"I wandered off the path.."
"Ah... Which group were ya with?"
"Mask and Stumps,"
"Hmm, don't got their contact info.... Ya alright if I call Crane? It's his lunch hour,"
"Uh, yeah... "
"Alright, go ahead and have a seat ma'am."
    Sarah quietly thanked him and walked to the living room, she slowly sat down onto a comfy chair and looked around. She heard a bark and quickly looked at the border collie next to her. "I thought cats don't have pets!" she called to the tom. "That's just Ellie, she ain't a pet. She can leave whenever she feel it, I only take care of er if she asks," He explained. "Same with the farm animals, but they like it here. I give em what they need, and in return they let me off the old,"
He explained. Sarah looked back to the collie, and then glanced to the couch. Small fluffy shapes squirmed around, Ellie returned to them when a whine was heard. Puppies, there were four delicate puppies that the collie gently sniffed. She looked to the black cat again, his tail calmly twitched as he plated food. "Ya hungry?" she shook her head no to his question. Once he sat down, Sarah talked to him again. "What's your name? I'm Sarah..." he finished eating his first bite and answered. "Timber, Crane'll be up in a bit to get ya," he meowed to her, he seemed to be a very relaxed cat.

    After a while, there was a quiet knock at the door. Timber huffed and heaved himself off his spot on the couch next to Ellie. He opened the door, letting the much smaller tom in. "Afternoon  Crane, she's wait'n the living room for ya,"
"Thank you Timber," He meowed calmly, the two were very different, one was tall with a deep voice and the other was very small with a high pitched voice. It wouldn't be hard to mistake Crane for a small child except for the scar over his eye. Sarah got up and walked over, she thanked Timber as well before Crane and her went on their way. They walked down a simple dirt path, staying silent for the first few minutes. "How's your head?" he asked, looking up at her as he adjusted his glasses on his little face. "It's fine now, I just have a headache."
"Hmm.."
He hummed, seemingly thinking now as they continued to walk. His stub tail would occasionally bob a bit and his ears sometimes gave a little twitch. "Sorry you had to get me on your break.."
"Hmm, oh? It's fine Sarah. It's just when I have coffee, nothing else. I eat only at dinner time," He explained to her, his fur around his neck was ruffled from turning his head in that turtleneck sweater of his. There was another pause in their conversation as the dirt path became stone. "Do you know what routes Stump and Mask were on?"
"No... sorry,"
"It's fine, I'll just bring you back to the lab and have you stay with Duck. It shouldn't be boring to you hopefully, he's on security duty,"
"Security duty?"
"He's to watch the security cameras in the kingdom, more specifically the cameras in the big or well known areas,"
"Which areas?..."
"Some rooms of the castle, mostly the entrances and the royal hallway. Primrose Gardens, Raspberry Library, a few bars, the marketplace, the prison, and some other stuff. It's not hard to watch them all, it might sound like it though,"
"Oh.... What kind of things do you do in the lab?"
"A lot, basically everything, but at the moment we're focusing on genetic studies,"
"That's cool... hey uh, do you guys have any sports?"
Crane was quiet as if thinking for a bit. "We know what they are, they just aren't a big part of our society. I think the most sporty kingdom is Probably the Sandite's, even if they're always drunk. But the kits do have fun playing a few human sports, it's quite funny to watch them fail at accurately playing,"
He hummed, ear flicking casually. Sarah didn't want to risk annoying him, so she decided to stop asking questions. She also felt pretty bummed out about the sports thing, she really liked sports, they were so much fun back at home! As they walked, buildings began to slowly come around them, they were now in the marketplace. Per usual, cats were talking to each other loudly and Sarah had to work hard to keep up with Crane in this large crowd. When they reached the area where the guard station was, she saw a worried Stump running towards them, Mask staying where he was and waiting for them. "Oh my Herat! Sarah are you okay? Did you get hurt?!" he hugged her, she blinked and carefully patted his head "I'm fine.. I'm okay, just wandered off," she assured. Stump quickly turned his attention to Crane "Where'd you find her?"
The stubby tom looked to him and simply meowed "She wandered off to Timber's farm, that's all," and with that he started on his way, not stopping for anymore conversation. He must really want that coffee. Stump quickly lead her back to Mask, the black and white tom didn't look too pleased with her. "Let's go," He muttered, leading the way down a path Sarah hadn't gone on yet. "Where are we going?" She asked Stump. "We're headed to get some lunch at the pub." he explained with a flick of his ear. Sarah hummed slightly in acknowledgement, walking carefully next to him. It didn't take long for them to get there. Inside there were many cats, most of them drunk and loud, they seemed to be having a good time talking to each other though.
    An employee had the three sit down at a table and let them order after looking at the menu, Mask was the only one who got alcohol considering he was the only legal one out of the trio. There was mostly silence between the three of them as they ate, Mask watched outside the window, glass in paw. In order to break the awkward silence, Stump started talking about the training him and Tawny were doing with Gorse. It was something he seemed very passionate about! "Stop your blubbering, Gorse ain't nothing special," Mask huffed to the dark tom in annoyance. The younger cat just paused and stared "How can you say that he's nothing special! He's awesome, and so nice! He's even in line for the throne!" He chirped in defense of the chubby tabby. Sarah just awkwardly watched her hands while the air got tense between the two. Mask rolled his eyes and huffed before sipping his booze. "I don't care if you think he's all that. He's an annoyance to everyone," He grumbled to the younger tom. "That's rude! You shouldn't say things like that at all, even if you're drunk!" The dark tom meowed angrily at Mask. The black and white cat didn't seem to care at all. "Why should I bother being nice when he's not here? It doesn't matter, not like you'd ever tell the dope what cats say about him," Stump paused with a frown. "Wouldn't you want cats to talk nicely about you?.." Mask scoffed at that and sipped his drink again. "It doesn't matter what cats say about me, they can't change the fact that I'm general!" he chuckled finishing his drink. He set the glass down and got up, walking away to go pay the bill. "Well somebody should," Stump grumbled slightly, settling down in his seat.