I yawned as morning light filtered in through the blinds of the window, onto my face. I looked over to the bed next to me to see Ferra sound asleep, the rise and fall of her chest visible in the light.

I sat there in silence, staring at the ceiling until a knock was heard at the door. I slipped out of the bed and opened the door to be greeted by Stump.

"Ayyyy! Was up?"

"The ceiling,"

"Heh! Right. Your with me today, I'll be in the living room waiting for ya,"
He said dashing off down the hallway.

I closed the door after his tail disappeared around the corner. I went to grab some of the clothes Jade had gotten for me and Ferra.

I quickly got changed, brushed my hair and teeth. Then went to the living room where Stump waited. He was sitting on the couch until he noticed me and hopped up.

"You ready to have some fun?!"
He asked excitedly.

"Yup,"

"Purr-fect!"
He said purring at the begging of the word.

'Looks like another joke lover like Hazel,"

I thought following Stump out the door. He started talking to me.

"Okay so we're gonna go to Thunder first, he's gonna help sharpen my scythe. Then we're going to stop by and talk to Spotted and my sis. Lastly we'll do the most important thing of all. Guard duty with Gorse and Timber! Got all that Sarah?"

"Yup,"

"Good!"
He purred continuing down the road that led to the blacksmiths.

As soon as we got there, I could smell the fire and molten metal. I guessed they had normal weapons and then their magic ones. We both entered the dark building, heat clouding up into my face. Stump bounded up to a counter on one end of the building and rung a bell a few times. A loud pounding noise had been ringing throughout the building until Stump rung the bell.

A door opened up from behind the counter. The brown tabby was covered in soot and ash, his green eyes seemed to pop because of the darkening of his fur.
"The usual please!"
Stump purred summoning an almost transparent amber scythe and placing it on the counter.

"Will do,"
Thunder said grabbing the weapon and taking it to the back again.

I remembered this guy from when Jade first showed me and Ferra around, he was in the garden with Spotted and Hazel Jr.

I looked around waiting for Thunder to do whatever the usual was for them. There were various weapons and shields on wracks. Some cheap, some average priced, and some were expensive. My eyes wondered back to the brown cat.

Stump was pulling money out of his pocket. They were small crystals, four pink ones and a blue one. They weren't that big, probably about the size of a quarter.
"Is that what you use for currency?"

"Indeed it is my non-cat friend!"
He purred setting the crystals onto the table carefully.
"Since we're the mining kingdom we are in control of the currency within the kingdoms. All of the crystals are in these caves that we live in." He explained enthusiastically.

I nodded showing him that I got all of that processed.

"Hey, what's your favorite color Sarah?"
He asked out of the blue.

"I like green."

"Heh, cool! I think that's Hazel's favorite. Mine's orange!"
He purred as Thunder re-entered the room and handed Stump his scythe.

"Thanks Thundy! Monies on the counter!"
He said happily de-summoning his weapon and grabbing my hand leading me to the door.

"Have a good day Stump,"

"You to!"
He purred before closing the door behind us.

"Off to the garden we go!"
He purred dragging me along behind him in the direction of the castle.

When we got to the garden there were several cats there.

Autumn, Duck, Hazel Jr, Hazel, and Spotted.

Stump bounded over to his sister.

"How's the flower growing going?"

"Good! How's the scythe sharpening and stuff?"

"Great as always!"
He purred. Their conversation drifted away from my attention as I walked over to Spotted, who was tending to some flowers.

"hi,"
I said to her hoping to start a good conversation.

"Oh, hello!"
She purred looking up from her work at me with blue eyes.

"What type of flower is that?"
I asked pointing at a black flower.

Spotted looked down at the flower with a smile.
"This pretty is a Black Dahlia,"
She purred.

I smiled at her.
"It's a pretty flower,"

"I can't argue with that!"
She giggled continuing her work.

I guessed she was done talking and wanting to work so I looked for someone else to talk to.

Stump and Hazel Jr were talking to each other, Autumn and Duck were drawing in the same place they were last night except Hazel is watching them.

I then noticed that Hazel was smoking.

Smoking a cigar to be specific.

I was surprised, it's not often you see a cat smoking. Though I shouldn't be shocked about anything around here any more anyways since these ARE magic anthropomorphic cats.

I walked up to Hazel.

"Why are you doing that? It causes cancer,"

"Got my reasons kid. I know what this stuff does,"
He replied still watching the other two cats draw. Spotted huffed in annoyance as if she's heard that before.

I looked down at Autumn and Duck to see what they were drawing.

It looked like Autumn was showing how to draw birds.

I didn't get most of what was scribbled down. Looked like notes about proportions and shading, also a few rough sketches.

I decided it would be best not to interrupt them. I looked around for where Stump was, and saw him towards the back talking to Hazel Jr still.

It looked like they were finished, since he was walking over to me.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah,"

He grabbed my hand again and led me towards a direction I haven't been before.

"Hey Stump, you know how we're in a cave right?"

"Pfft. Yeah!"

"How come it looks like we're in the daylight?"

"Just look up!"
He purred.

I did as he said to see millions of beautiful glowing crystals on the ceiling.

"Woah....."
I breathed out stunned by the luminescent shards.

"Pretty right! Heh, though I work up on the surface so all we're gonna be staring at is farms, guard posts and pine trees!"

"Ok,"
I said following him since he finally let go of my hand.

We soon reached the entrance to the cave after at least an hour of walking and a few pit stops to talk to some cats.

I only caught a few of their names.

Hope
Feather
Cloud
And Rust.

Outside I saw that Stump wasn't kidding when all you'd see outside were pines, farms, and some small stone forts. I assumed the forts were the guard stations, I saw a few of these in the cave system earlier.

Stump lead me to the largest guard post and opened the thick wooden door. It had a mixture of strong scents, pine needles, food, and a hint of alcohol.

When I got the chance to, I looked around. The inside of this building had tables and chairs, and weapons hanging on wracks.

"What's this place Stump?"

"This is where guards wait to be assigned a post or stop by for break hour,"
He explained walking up to a bar counter.

"Thought it would be nice to have my first breakfast here with you!"
He purred sitting on a stool.

I smiled.
"I appreciate that Stump!"
I said siting next to him.

A few seconds later a cat came out of a door behind the counter.
"What drinks are you two wanting today?"
Asked the Siamese tom cat.

"We'll just have water. You can probably tell we aren't old enough for alcohol Azurite!"

"Heh, sorry Stump, the job requires me to ask,"
He said placing down two menus for us.

I picked up the menu and opened it up, it was filled with various breakfast foods and a few pictures of them.

Azurite came back with two glasses filled with water and set them down.
"Straws?"

"No thanks!"

Azurite nodded in acknowledgement before going back to the other room behind the counter.

"What are you getting?"
I asked Stump, looking over to the brown tom cat.

"I think I'm getting........ The Omelet with extra cheese, how about you?"

"A chopped salad probably,"

"Heh, cool,"

Azurite came back to us with a little note book to write our orders down.
"Have you decided?"

"Yeah! I'll have the omelet, of course with extra cheese!"
He purred as Azurite jotted that down.

"And you?"
He asked turning to me.

"Could I have the chopped salad?"
Azurite nodded writing that down as well, he then went back to the other room.

"So what was life like at your home? I don't go to the surface much. When I do it's for work, not sight seeing,"

"Oh, ot's kind of like this except we have pets and stuff,"

"Oh, uh. We never really tried having pets, everybody's always busy,"

"Oh, I guess that can be a problem," I said looking around at the other cats, before returning my gaze to Stump.

"Hazel's never busy,"
I said remembering how Hazel hadn't really done much as far as I had seen.

"Well, um. I'm sure he is at some points. I like to think he's a fast worker!"
He said enthusiastically.

"Yeah! He does a great job. He's amazing at work, drinking himself away!"
Someone yelled over to us.

Stump glared at the black and white cat.

"That's not true and you know it Mask!"

"Yeah, and I'm a she-cat!"
Growled the tom cat sarcastically.

Stump started growling, a slight swish noise was made as his tail swiftly slashed around.

"Hazel's a great King!"
Stump objected.

Mask started laughing, that's when I realized his probably drunk.

"Yeah your right,"

Stump faltered.
"Huh?"

"He's a better King than Gorse will be! He's a kit trapped in an adults body! He'll never be able to uphold his fathers rein, he's too happy and oblivious to EVER be a real ruler of any kind. I'm still baffled that he's general. The only reason he's even able to keep that title is because of his father! We'd be better off with an entirely different lineage! Hazel is poisoning himself, Gorse is too stupid, Crane is a thing, Autumn's a paranoid mess, and Timber's a giant! I say the family line should end and let a new family to be royalty,"
Mask ranted with hand gestures.

Stump growled angrily about to say something, but the black and white patched tom cat wasn't done.

"Also, Hazel isn't even decent enough to find a queen for us! He's too self absorbed to care about what we all want,"
Mask finished.

Stump looked like he was ready to launch at the older drunken tom.

He again was interrupted when Azurite set down our food plates and looked from Stump to Mask.

"Is there a problem here?"
He asked sternly.

Stump quickly nodded.

"He insulted the entire royal family!"
He complained pointing to Mask who had returned to drinking.

Azurite nodded.

"Sorry for the inconvenience,"
He said walking around to our side of the counter and walked over to Masks table. He whispered a few things to him and then went back behind the counter again.

A few seconds later Mask left as a drunken, tired looking mess.

Stump scowled for a little while as we ate. I took a sip of my water and looked around wondering if anyone inside had noticed the argument. I soon thought back to what Mask had said.

'What did he mean when he referred to Crane as a thing? Crane's a nice guy. Right?'

Stump and I finished eating and he placed down crystals, one larger than the others was set to the side. I assumed that was Azurite's tip.

Stump and me went outside and he led me to a guard post farther out from the cave.

Next to the post was a tall black tom with piercing amber eyes that looked almost red. The cat was definitely taller than the other cats I've seen. Next to this cat was Gorse happily waving to us.

When we got to them, Gorse instantly started talking.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay! I thought a marshmallow ate you or something!"
He exclaimed hugging us.

"We've been waiting, where have you been?"
The larger cat asked quietly.

"Sorry Timber, there was a small hold up at the rest stop,"

Timber huffed, probably annoyed by the fact we're a little late.

A/N

Wow! This is the longest chapter I've ever written XD!

Sorry there was a wait, I'm on vacation in Washington Dc right now <3

But I hope this chapter makes up for the lack of updates.

Also if your wondering what an Azurite is |
V