I stood next to Stump as Timber and Gorse stared at a map.

"Alrighty, so Mask and Hope are at point field, and Galena is at blossom meadow."
Gorse said pointing to the two places.

Timber nodded.

"We'll head from opal falls down to lava springs,"
Timber replied tracing the path. Gorse simply smiled and nodded in agreement.

The both turned to us and the ginger tabby happily pointed towards the south.

"We're gonna head over there!"
He purred parading off in that direction afterwards.

Timber slowly followed after, much quieter than his brother. Stump smiled at me and flicked his ear to signal to follow him as he ran to catch up to Timber.

I looked at the map really quickly before running after the three.

Stump, Timber, and I lagged behind Gorse as he happily lead the way.

The scenery was simple but nice, pine trees covered the area as far as the eye could see and snow settle nicely on the pines.

I shivered as a cold breeze shifted past us, thin cloud strips floated in the pale sky. The sun was half hidden by one of the larger strips of cloud.

We soon reached our first destination.

Opal falls.

The area was a large array of stones filled with small pools and waterfalls. Inside the stones were clear to see, patches of opals.

With the positioning of the sun just right, the opals would reflect the light right into the water. This clearing all together was just a beautiful sight to see. The wildflowers complimented the opals well with the random, yet beautiful colorations.

We patrolled miles around Opal falls before we regrouped back together and went towards the next location.

As we came closer, the air became thinner, smoke condensed, and hot.

The smoke caused me to go into a coughing fit.

Timber and Stump continued on not noticing the problem. But Gorse stopped and looked over his shoulder at me before he turned completely and speedily paced over to me.

"You okay Sarry?"
He asked patting and rubbing my back a little.

"Yeah,"
I coughed out with a nod.

"There's just a lot more smoke in the air, I'm not used to it,"
I said in between coughs.

I could tell in his large soft brown eyes that he wasn't buying it.

"Stay here!"
He chirped to me running off into the smog.

I could here the faint murmur of talking.
Timber and Stump must of gotten pretty far ahead without us.

Soon I could here the pitter patter of the fluffy ginger tabby running back over.

He huffed leaning on a rock for a few minutes before going back to running towards me.

"Ok *huff* I'm taking *huff* you back to Ja-*huff*de's house *huff*."
He meowed mean while gasping for air.

'The smoke must be taking it's toll on the cats to,'

Gorse took my hand and he led me back towards what I assumed was Opal falls.

After a long while of walking, we made it back to the main guard post. There was a large clock on it, according to the clock it was time for lunch.

"Do you want some lunch Sare?"
Gorse asked with a slight tilt of his head.

I nodded my head happily obliging. I was hungry after all that walking.

Gorse smiled brightly and opened the door, he quickly lead me to the counter.

The place had more cats in it than it did this morning. Those that noticed Gorse tipped their head in respect before returning to what they were doing.

Azurite wasn't at the counter anymore; instead a pale white female cat with pretty chocolate colored patches, in the rooms lighting she looked a little pink tinted.

Gorse and I sat down next to each other.

"Hello, can I get you two anything to drink?"
She asked in a tired tone setting down our menus in front of us.

"Yes please!"
Gorse purred loudly.

He leaned in really close to her.

"Apple juice please!"
He whispered to her playfully.

She chuckled finding this funny.

"Alright Gorse,"
She said turning to me.

"What can I get you lil' muffin?"

"Just a water ma'am,"
I said glancing at her name tag.

It read out 'Petalite'

'Pretty name,'
I thought as she wrote down me and Gorse's drink order's.

Petalite disappeared through the door behind the counter like Azurite had done this morning.

Gorse began tapping his claws on the polished wood in a simple happy tune.

I took that as an opportunity to get a better look at some of the others in the building.

There were a few cats talking at the table.

I recognized Mask and Hope chatting.

I met Hope earlier that day in the market place with Stump. Now that I thought about it, her and Mask look almost identical except for the fact that she has blue eyes and he has green ones. Maybe they're related?

I looked back at the counter when Petalite set down me and Gorse's drinks.

I stared at his Apple juice in the glass, to be honest it kinda looked like alcohol , but it didn't have the same husky scent.

'Maybe he wants the others to THINK he's drinking the same stuff as them...... If so, why?'
I thought taking a sip of my water.

"Would either of you be interested in hearing about today's specials?"
Petalite asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"No thanks!"
Gorse purred.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order,"

Gorse was scanning through his menu, while I picked up mine and opened it to look through the different foods.

He set down his menu a few minutes later, while I myself, was still looking through it.

After the large meal we shared for lunch together, we walked through the town towards Jade's house. On the way there we were engaged in a long conversation about milk and cucumbers.

Why milk and cucumbers and milk you ask?

I have no idea.

When we got to Jade's house, Gorse stepped up and knocked on the door. We waited for at least twenty minutes with still, no answer.

"She must still be at work,"
He mumbled before his face lit up really brightly.

"Maybe you could spend the night at my house?!"
He chirped out excitedly, bouncing on his toes.

I shrugged happily with a "Why not?"

He pulled out a sticky note and pen from his pocket and started writing something.

As soon as he was done he quickly clapped the sticky note onto the door.

I read it quickly before Gorse started leading me away towards the castle.

'Hiya Jade! Don't worry about Sarah's absence from your snugly home, she's having a slumber party with me! So you can rest assured she's completely safe, and I solemnly swear I won't make taco waffle hybrids (even though it's very tempting) with her.

-Gorse <3'

I giggled at the message as I thought about it over and over again.
'How old is Gorse? I know he's Hazel's son, but how long ago was he born. He has a job and everything, but he reminds me of the kids that lived in my neighborhood,"

When he slowed down I decided to ask him.

"How old are you Gorse?"

"Heh! I'm twenty! Since I'm the heir, that means I'm Hazel's eldest son! Though my siblings were only minutes after because, ya know. Cats!"
He purred.

"How old are you Sarah?"

"Oh, I'm only 13,"
I replied as we walked together.

"Cool!"

He said as we entered the castle.

We walked down various halls and passed Hazel's room, I could here the slightest hint of grumbling from inside. He must be working or something in there.

Gorse opened up a door not to far away from his fathers. The room had was nicely lit, had stuffed animals almost everywhere in a neat arrangement and a soft carpeting for flooring. Majority of the decorations colors were different shades of purple.

I walked into the room and slid my shoes off, setting them by the door as Gorse closed it.

The rest of the day consisted of doing puzzles and playing card and board games.

Gorse had set up a large pillow and blanket fort for us to sleep in. It was warm and cozy.

At some point before I fell asleep Gorse grabbed me in his sleep like I was a teddy bear. His soft melodic breathing soothed me to sleep.

Suddenly Gorse and me jolted awake in terror as a loud blaring alarm went off, red lights flashing under the door.

"G-Gorse, what's going o-on!?"
I stuttered out, scared out of my mind.

It wasn't very reassuring to see Gorse's face, he seemed just as terrified as I was, maybe even more so.

The only reason I could see him was because of the eerie red alarm lights flickering on and off.

"S-someone set off the kingdoms alarm!"
He stuttered out.

I took another look at him, his pupils were slitted in a fearful way and his ears were plastered back onto his head.
His tail tucked around his body and all his fur on end. I could even feel him shaking uncontrollably next to me.

Soon we heard shouting, some panicked, and some angry.

Suddenly within the swarm of voices Hazel's voice boomed out angrily.

"AR MENCAI SERTNA VIC!?"

This made Gorse flinch away from the door and try to hide deeper inside the fort as the alarm blared on.

All was silent.

The alarm was gone.

The voices were gone, except for a faint murmur.

The murmuring started to turn into panicked chatter, before it rose into an uproar of angered shouting.

"SOMEBODY BETTER HAVE AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS! DON'T MAKE ME ASK AGAIN!"

Hazel's voice echoed into the room.

This was the harshest tone I've ever heard around here.

To be honest, Hazel sounded pretty terrifying, I couldn't even imagine about how terrifying it must be to actually see him angry.

Though to my surprise, nobody paid attention to him and continued their angry rants.

That was until a loud ear piercing gunshot rang out, silencing the crowd.

"WHO ACTIVATED THE ALARM!?"
Hazel's voice growled, though it almost didn't sound like him.

'Did he shoot someone?! Wait, no! Sarah don't jump to conclusions! Hazel wouldn't just shoot some random person, maybe he shot the gun to get their attention? Though not in a place where it's hurt someone. Yeah, that must be it!'

More silence.

Soon an uproar of accusations started up.

"SILENCE! One at a time for Star's sake,"
Hazel said, anger sliding away from his tone.

I stopped listening and crawled in deeper after Gorse. I lay down next to him, I could tell he was still shaking terribly.

I grabbed into a hug.

"It's okay Gorse, it's over,"

I whispered to him, to my relief it calmed him down and he fell asleep again hugging me.

A/N

Well that happened!
Anyways here are two name explanations :3

Galena:

Petalite (polished and cut):