FOR LOVE OF A PRINCESS
CHAPTER 11: The Discussion
Jake led the way into their tiny cramped apartment. Feral wrinkled her nose at the mild fustiness of the odor but said nothing. Nothing says male like musk, she shrugged mentally. Other than that, it was surprisingly tidy if dull.
An old beat up couch with a truly awful floral design graced the small rectangle living space. There was really only room for that a scarred coffee table, a small three-legged end table, a single lamp with a barrel shaped shade, and, of course, a huge but very old TV set. She suspected most everything here was from the salvage. The old oak floor was partly covered by a very worn, but still serviceable, persian rug. The kitchen was a small cubby with the usual compact fridge, four burner stove, microwave, and sink with only a few cupboards. A very short hallway led to a single bath and two bedrooms opposite each other. She had not been up here except once when Burke and Murphy used to live here. Then it was a pigsty plain and simple.
"Love what you have done to the place," she commented, taking a seat at the couch.
"It's not much obviously," Jake grimaced. "But it's home." He grabbed a plain wooden chair and set it across from the couch and sat down.
"Not like we had much choice in accommodations," Chance huffed dropping with a thump on his end of the couch.
Jake jumped up again and went for the phone on the wall. "What does everyone want for dinner ... I will order."
"I would prefer a roasted tuna sandwich with milk, if that's possible," Feral said demurely.
"Heck yeah, this place we order from can get us sandwiches, pizza, Chinese, Thai. It's very electic that way," Jake smirked. "Chance?"
"Oh a pizza is fine, you know what to put on it, buddy," his partner said lazily.
"Gotcha, one pie with anchovies, sardines, pepperoni and mondo peppers," Jake snorted dialling the number and placing their orders.
While he was busy, Chance leaned sideways, folded his arms across his chest and eyed the Commander. "Well, drop the fake appearance there Feral."
Eyeing the tom back, she sighed and released her glamour. Chance whistled making Feral blush all over again.
"Man, if I didn't see this with my own eyes I would never have believed how much of a fox you are, Commander ... I mean ... Princess Rainstar," Chance said, giving the now revealed she kat an assessing look that had more than a glint of the carnal in it.
Wow! What a looker. She would stop traffic wherever she went, Chance mused to himself. He knew he shouldn't just stare but he had never seen anyone quite as beautiful as her except for Callie but the deputy mayor was fair while Feral was definitely dark in a smoky, mysterious kind of way.
"Okay, our food should be here in about thirty minutes," Jake said returning to his seat and plopping down. "I don't know Chance ... I think her appearance is more of a distraction than a help for this serious discussion ... no offence, Princess."
"None taken and you are right which is why I have not chosen to be female at all," she snorted looking annoyed but inside she was rather liking all the attention especially from the yellow tom.
"Nope, she stays like this," Chance said firmly, reining his obvious appreciation for her female form. "I want honesty and looking at the male image will keep me thinking of an Enforcer I'm not too happy with right now."
Jake's eyebrows rose in surprise but he shrugged. "Alright, I can concede that might be an issue for me too. So what is this favor you want from us ... uh ...what would you like us to call you. Princess Rainstar seems too formal at the moment."
"My real first name is Ulena. Yo may call me that," she decided after a moments hesitation. It seemed appropriate now and it would be nice to hear it after so long absent.
"Ulena ... Ulysses ... smart choice. You wouldn't have to work too hard to remember it when you wrote it down but why 'Feral'?" Chance asked.
She shrugged. "On my travels to this city I encountered a small colony of feral wild cats. They were fierce in the defence of their small territory and I felt really bad using magic to keep them at bay. It terrified them yet still they tried to force me to leave. I found their bravery quite refreshing, so despite really liking my temporary campsite in a cave, I respected their need for me to leave. I never forgot the incident and decided the term 'feral' was appropriate for me as well."
"How so?" Jake asked, frowning.
Smiling faintly, Feral leaned back in her chair. "Because to my people, my behavior ... running away and staying away would be considered a serious failure of character and upbringing. We tend to call that 'going wild'. Those that break the rules of conduct especially females can be severely punished by short term imprisonment without food and/or whipping, while males are simply banished from the kingdom."
"That's barbaric!" Jake hissed in anger.
Feral simply shrugged. "It simply is our way. Of course, we were unaware of any other way of living so accepted our lot in life."
"All except you," Chance interjected. "You apparently decided you weren't going to live that way, planned a way to escape, and simply did it. Now that takes a lot of guts. Weren't you around eighteen when you did this incredible thing?"
"Yes."
"But what made you realize that their had to be something better outside your kingdom? You just said, your people had no other compairison to what something else might be?" Jake pressed.
"Oh but unlike the common folk I was royalty. That meant I was privy to much more outside information than they were. We got many travellers to our lands most from within the mountain range well all lived within. But on rare occasions, we would get the odd person from outside the mountains. Those visitors were immediately hustled into the castle proper and brought before my father. Because I made it a habit to be lingering around the throne room in the shadows, I was able to learn many interesting things. My father and council members were afraid of these visitors and had them escorted out of our kingdom swiftly using the threat of imprisonment or death to ensure they never returned. My father may have wanted to keep our people ignorant but I was not sheep and would not heed the warnings to never think or talk about the visitors. Instead I realized there was much more to the world then the nine kingdoms. And was more important to me was the information that females were more autonomous there. None were property of their fathers then husbands. That to me was a nirvana I needed to see for myself."
"Wow! You must have been a real firebrand back home," Chance whistled in admiration.
Shaking her head, Ulena snorted. "Oh no, I was the good girl, the one who did all that her father asked and more. Because if I was biddable on the surface, then I had the freedom to do what I pleased even to getting myself a broader education than allowed, and training as a warrior."
Jake laughed and shook his head. Before he could comment though the bell announcing a visitor at their gate chimed from the kitchen.
"Yes! Our food is here. Be right back!" He jumped from his seat and headed downstairs at a run.
"Like I said before you are one sharp she kat, Ulena," Chance said.
"Why thank you. It's nice to be appreciated for being smart rather than being considered a smart ass," she said archly.
"Ouch! That is harsh. Is that what most males thought of you?"
"Lord Firelain did. He felt I was a harridan and needed taming to make a more biddable wife," she growled, memories of what that tom said and did burning in her despite his amendable behavior now. She had to work hard to not let her past memories of that damn tom color their current working relationship.
Apparently that very fact was on Chance's mind as he asked, "Then how are you getting along with him right now? He has had to eat crow now that he can't just haul your ass home and now must actually listen and obey you on your current plan to make your father come here. I could tell he wasn't happy but he did seem to be resigned to follow your lead in this need to change his mission plans."
Using a finger to rub her temple to ease an incipid headache, she sighed. "Surprisingly, he's been much more accepting than I remember of him when I was young. Then he had been harsh and cruel."
"You don't suppose that belief was what a kitten might have thought back then. What if you went back in your mind with an adult's assessment, would you feel the same about him?" Chance asked, curious. He knew from experience that what he thought was true of someone when he was young turned out to be something totally different when thought back on as an adult. In fact he was rather ashamed of what he'd thought of a particular uncle and his rather harsh behavior when Chance was only ten. But later as an adult he had since learned the tom had suffered much heartache and had only wished to prevent Chance from experiencing the same. Only his methods were wrong but his intent had only been to teach.
Ulena blinked in surprise by this bit of thoughtful insight from this tom. Frowning she did as he asked and went back through her memories of the times she was forced to interact with Lord Firelain. Yes he had been harsh in his assessments of her but he never punished her or forced her to accept anything he had said. She was shocked. It seemed her original feelings had been one of hatred because this tom had wanted to discourage her and, to her, seemed to be putting her down for wanting to know more of the world when he discovered she had been listening and questioning things she should not be paying attention to as a female. But in reality, it appeared the lord had only been trying to prevent her from being ostracized or punished severely by her father which did happen on occasion but not as often as it should have been, she now realized. Lord Firelain had never told her father of his extracurricular antics.
Coming back to herself, she noted Jake had returned and was setting the food out on the coffee table before her. As she reached for her sandwich and drink she answered Chance.
"You are right, Chance. Though he didn't approve of me or what I was doing, he never betrayed me to my father who would have punished me more severely and often had he but known what I was up to. Lord Firelain shielded me. I am most ashamed of my unreasoning hatred of him."
"Don't be hard on yourself, Ulena. I did the same when I was very young. In your case all you saw was someone trying to stop you from exposing yourself while allowing you to grow as you wished. He is to be commended for his restraint," Chance said, taking a couple of big slices of pizza onto his plate then taking a healthy swig of his drink.
"I have misjudged you. There is a thinking brain in that muscled head of yours. Never would have taken you for being that astute about kat nature," she smirked, taking a healthy bite of her sandwich.
"Ha..ha... very funny ... not. Anyway, so now you two are getting along enough to form a plan that will work and a message that will convince your father you mean business?"
"Yes, we are acting as two adults though only because I remained as male when we spoke ..."
"That's hardly fair," Jake objected, finishing one slice and beginning on another as he joined into the discussion once more.
"No, just listen...Jake. You two will listen to what I have to say female or male. However, due to his lifelong training as a male in our society, he cannot see me as anything as a female with no right to her opinion nor the ability to make such decisions in the first place. That is just plain biology and training."
"Ah, yeah, you're right. I read about that some time back. Fascinating article it was and more true than I had thought it would be. Made me change how I behaved around females despite the fact we do try to treat them as equals. However, as male we are trained to see females as the weaker sex and feel a strong need to protect them sometimes against their will. That is the behavior I am trying to refrain from while still showing the respect I was taught to give females."
She nodded. "I can see how that might be construed by a female as controlling or over protecting but trust me, Jake, it really isn't the same as how my people treat females. Yours is much milder."
"Hearing how Lord Buthead acted with Ms. Briggs and then you when you revealed yourself told us that," Chance snorted. She laughed at his description of the normally stuffy lord.
"Okay, as much as I find all this really fascinating and you in particular, Ulena, we really do need to know what it is you want us for. Of course, we both know we are involved in the possibility of war if your father's enemy does attempt to go through with the plans you seemed to think he's scheming, that of trying to take over all the kingdoms then head outward, causing the threat of spreading violence and chaos to all the advanced cities and countries of the world," Jake said.
She clutched her glass in suddenly tense paws. Hearing Jake speak so openly about the fear she had for the world only made it more certain in her mind. Everything she had managed to glean from her spies told her King Bertol was a megalomaniac, much like Dark Kat. Except unlike that omega, the king wanted the whole world rather than just a single city.
"What I need you two to do is be my emissaries. You will take my message to my father. The Turbokat will bring terror into his heart and hopefully give King Bertol pause when he sees what kind of power he is facing outside those mountains."
"Wait, you want us to take the message to a place that uses magic?!" Jake looked horrified, "We have no defence against magic. We would be sitting ducks. In their terror they could easily take us out and once they realized that despite how advanced we look magic is our Achilles heel!"
"Yes, I'm aware of that which is why Lord Firelain and I will be coming up with a larger than normal shield that will protect you from their spells. However, let me assure you that if you remain hovering above the castle more than a hundred feet, none of their spells will be able to reach you anyway. Unlike MadKat or Pastmaster, our magical abilities are not that far ranging. It's more personal in nature, meaning we can take out someone a few miles distant from us but not someone who is in the next castle over. That isn't to say we don't have certain more skilled wizards that aren't capable of affecting the weather, sending arrows farther than they normally would be able to reach, or enhance someones abilities, temporarily, to be stronger than normal because we do but they are rare and few in all the nine kingdoms. Which is why the ones we have in Glanascol surround the king and roam the kingdom. And that is why we will make a shield for you for that contingency as the king does have a pool of wizards with such skills."
Jake scowled, "It would have to be a very good shield before I would be willing to risk the Turbokat against magic, Ulena."
"I know you are brave Jake so I will excuse what sounds like cowardice coming from you." Jake bristled in anger. "No, you are right to be doubtful. You have been extremely lucky in your encounters against magic users so I know you have a legitimate concern about going up against it again. Trust me I do not want to lose either of you nor your incredible jet. But you are the only ones I feel could succeed in forcing my father to come here even if its only to satisfy his curiosity about just what is outside his world."
"But wait, didn't you say your father made a habit of deliberating blocking out anything to do with the outside world whenever those travellers visited him? Wouldn't that make him more reluctant to come outside when he saw us?" Chance asked, frowning.
She froze. Would her father actually refuse because he's afraid? Her heart sank. She realized she had no idea if that was his mindset or not. She simply didn't know her father well as he kept his distance from her all her life. "Fuck!"
Jake blinked in surprise at her use of foul language.
"I just realized I don't really know."
"How is that possible? You grew up there in the castle with him?" Chance asked, confused.
"I may have grown up in the castle but my father was never a real parent to me. He kept his distance and allowed only my mother and other females to rear me. Even when I began haunting the throne room, he still refused to acknowledge my existence."
"Well hell, then you wouldn't know if what you saw was fear or something else that made him refuse to entertain anything or anyone outside your world," Jake said worriedly. "This makes things a bit more dicier than you thought it would be."
"Yes, dammit. I need to probe Lord Firelain's thoughts on this ..."
"But didn't he say he had been disgraced and not in the king's company for some time?" Jake reminded her.
She rubbed her temples, the beginning headache was now a migraine. "Yes, about five years but still he should know more about the king than I and can make an educated guess of his mindset during those times."
"Well I certainly hope he was more involved at the time to know because your plans may be all wet," Chance said, shaking his head.
She groaned and stood up. "I have to leave. Thank you for dinner. It's already late and I have to see if Lord Firelain is still up so we can have a private chat. Once I know what's what I'll be in touch as soon as possible."
The two toms had stood up as well. They made to escort her outside but she stayed them.
"I can leave from here. See you both tomorrow." With that she muttered foreign words softly, her body glowed briefly then she was gone.
They stared at the spot she had stood for a long moment.
"Damn! What an awesome way to travel," Chance said, voice hushed.
Jake just shook his head. "Yeah, she can travel like that but never did. Imagine the number of times she could have headed off disaster if she had been open about who and what she was?"
"True, but as you said, she didn't dare."
"Yeah, so now we wait and see if she is still going to try and go ahead with that hairbrain idea of hers," Jake said, disgruntled.
"Aw come on, buddy. We live for adventure. However, in this case I don't see us ducking this issue. It might be delayed by some rather major stumbling blocks but if she's even remotely right about this dickhead Bertol, then we're in for the fight of our lives," Chance said more seriously as he helped his partner clean up.
Jake sighed. "I know, Chance, I know."
"Then what are you really upset about?" His friend asked, knowing something more than lack of information and the mission was on his partner's mind.
"Magic! It's magic that has me worried. Yeah, she says she and that lord will come up with a shield but it is us who must prove it will work and I, for one, don't want to do that during the mission itself. How can we help if war breaks out if we're dead? Or if we get lucky and escape how do we fight it once it comes calling?"
Chance sighed and shrugged. "I don't know buddy. I really don't know anything about magic except its an unfair advantage and we aren't wizards. This is where we will just have to trust Feral. And don't that sound odd coming from me. But I have to remind myself this isn't the Feral we know at all."
"And that's another thing ... we have no idea what her capabilities are! Oh sure we have seen her use some magic now but what else is she capable of? What are all of those knights capable of? We have no idea and yet we are expected to face it with no intelligence at all on it." Jake shook his head, his face set in stone. "No, I will want full disclosure and demonstration of exactly we will be facing before we take this mission at all."
Chance eyed his friend for a moment then nodded. "I agree. That is infinitely sensible since I'm not so keen on suicide either." He glanced at the clock. "Shoot, it's too late for Scaredy Kat!" He complained.
"But not too late for David Litterbin," Jake smirked, flicking on the TV and finding the channel he wanted.
With a grumble of annoyance, Chance dropped down on the couch too. "Yeah, but he's not nearly as funny." Jake just snickered.