As soon as Kokoro spoke, a crow gently landed on top of the pole. It preened its feathers a little before turning toward her. "My my, what a pretty young girl," the crow said.

Kokoro squeaked and fell backward, landing hard on her bottom. "T-t-that crow just s-s-spoke to me…" she stuttered.

The crow cocked its head and stared at her. "I see. You must be new to this." It hopped off the pole and fluttered to the ground, landing at her feet. "Miss, you have come to a place that is a refuge for objects with a soul."

"Huh…?"

"When someone creates something with all of their heart, that something is given a soul. Everything here was given a soul by the person who created them."

"Oh…" Kokoro was starting to get used to the crow speaking, which worried her deeply. "So, are you the stone crow on top of the pole?"

"Yes. My name is Toto." The crow smiled. "How do you do, Miss?"

"Uh, well…"

Suddenly, a loud, gruff voice interrupted her answer. "Who's the kid Birdbrain? How'd she get in here?"

Kokoro and Toto turned to look at a fat, white cat that had just entered the tiny town the same way Kokoro had. The cat was unusually large, with a very wide girth, and its left ear completely brown. But the reason Kokoro paled was because, not only had the cat been the one that had talked, it was walking towards them on its hind feet.

Toto scowled at the cat. "You have no manners at all, Fatso," he replied bitterly.

The cat growled and raised his paws, waving them threateningly at the bird. "Who're you callin' Fatso?"

The crow rose off his perch and swooped down, barely missing the cat's smallish head. "I called you Fatso, you fat marshmallow!"

"Shut up you dumb chicken!"

"You're so stupid you can't even tell the difference between a chicken and a crow!" Toto swooped again, this time his claws scratching against the cat's ears.

"Try that again, Birdbrain!" So Toto did it again, and the cat hissed in anger.

Kokoro watched in frightened awe as the two talking animals bickered like little children. She was still desperately trying to sort her confused thoughts.

"You really want to know why she's here, ask her yourself, idiot!" Toto said as he landed again on his pole and smoothed out his feathers.

The cat stuck his tongue out at Toto before stalking toward her. "How'd you get in here?" he snarled at her.

To say she was intimidated was an understatement; Kokoro was terrified of the cat. "Uh, I-I don't know."

"You don't know? You don't know? What are you, stupid?" The cat crossed his arms at her, and Kokoro frowned.

"Now, Muta, leave our poor guest alone. I'm sure she's had a very trying day." Everyone turned toward the voice and not for the first time that day, Kokoro's jaw fell open. Strolling toward the group was the cat figurine she had seen in the window of the little green house, right before the sun had plunged below the roofs of the tiny houses. For a cat he was quite handsome, and very gentlemanly. He was defending her, after all.

Kokoro gazed at the cat as he stopped in front of them and removed his hat. He held it against his chest and tucked his other arm behind his back. "I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, owner of the Cat Bureau. Pleased to make your acquaintance, my good lady." He bowed before her, and Kokoro felt her cheeks grow hot.

"Wow, you're cool," she said, amazed.

The Baron replaced the hat on his head and smiled. "Thank you. Now, I assume that you have a problem."

Kokoro snapped herself out of stupor. "Uh, y-yes! Yes, I do have a problem, I think."

He smiled again. "Then you have come to the right place Miss… ah, I don't believe I know your name."

"Oh!" She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to introduce herself, after the Baron had been so polite. "I-It's Kokoro."

"Ah, Miss Kokoro." He lifted his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmmm. I believe that name suits you to a T." Kokoro felt her cheeks heat up again. "Please, come inside, and we can discuss your problem over a cup of tea."

"Oh, sure, that'd be great!"

"Wonderful. Follow me then." The Baron headed back towards his green house. "You two may join us as well," he said, addressing Toto and the other cat.

"Thank you Baron," Toto replied happily, but the cat, whom Kokoro assumed was 'Muta', simply grunted.

The Baron threw open his double doors and entered. Kokoro stepped aside and let Muta enter first. Toto hopped up onto the balcony and entered the house from there. Then, she knelt down and furrowed her brow. It was going to be a tight squeeze, but, as it turned out, she was small enough to scoot inside without too much trouble.

"Sit wherever you like," the Baron said, hanging his coat, hat, and cane on an old-fashioned hat stand.

"Oh, okay Baron," she replied. "Uh, may I call you 'Baron'?" she asked as she sat down on a large, green trunk next to the door.

"Of course," he answered, picking up a teakettle. "Most do."

Kokoro smiled as she looked around the room. It was quite spacious, actually. There was a cabinet with a shelf on one wall, and next to it was a small table with a basket of apples and lemons and several jars on it, and on the bottom of the table was a rack full of bottles. Beside that was a tall blue-and-white cabinet, like a pantry. There were lots of plants and clocks scattered around the room, brightening the already cheery room. On the back wall was a desk with a lamp, a feather pen and inkpot, and a towering stack of books. Actually, the entire back wall was lined with shelf upon shelf of books. She wondered what was in all those books and why a cat would need or want so many books, but she did approve. She loved to read books too.

"It's so cute," she murmured. "Just like the doll house I had when I was little."

"What do you take with your tea?" Baron asked, pouring the steaming tea into a teacup. "I have milk, lemon, honey…"

"Oh, milk please!" she chirped happily. Even though most of her day had been lousy, just being in Baron's little green-and-white house with all the books was cheering her up.

"Here you are," Baron said, handing her a teacup.

Kokoro gratefully accepted it. "Thank you."

He nodded, then turned to the cat on the couch. "How about you Muta?" he asked, holding the kettle.

Muta crinkled his nose. "Nah, your tea tastes like boiled grass to me."

"Anything with class is wasted on your unrefined taste buds," Toto remarked. Muta glared at him.

Kokoro tentatively sipped her tea. The warm liquid gushed down her throat, warming her entire body. "It tastes like ginger," she murmured. "Baron, this is the best tea I've ever tasted."

Baron looked pleased as he poured himself some tea. "Then you're lucky," he replied. "That is my own special blend of tea, so it changes every time. I can never guarantee the flavor."

"Then I must've gotten ten bad kettles," Muta complained.

Baron ignored him as he walked over to his desk. Kokoro guessed he must have gotten used to Muta's complaining and the cat and crow's bickering, judging by the way he disregarded them so easily.

"So, Miss Kokoro, tell me about your problem," Baron said, lacing his fingers.

Kokoro drank the rest of her tea and set the cup in her lap. "Well, after school, I went with a bunch of other kids to go clean a river. I was taking a break when I looked down and in the water was a very shiny rock, so I picked it up and put it in my pocket. After a couple more hours, we went back to the school, I changed, and then I took a shortcut home through a grove of trees. While I was walking, I saw a flash of light—"

"You're seeing things? Baron, this girl's obviously nuts," Muta growled, folding his arms.

"Now Muta, let her speak," Baron admonished. "Please, continue Miss Kokoro. You said you saw a flash of light."

She still wasn't quite comfortable when the handsome cat defended her. "Uh, well, I saw a flash of light and I turned around but there was nothing there. So I started to walk again, and then I saw the light again, but I still couldn't see anything, and just when I was about to start walking again, something pulled my hair. I looked, and there was this… tiny person with butterfly wings pulling my hair."

"A tiny person?" Baron asked, the curiosity obvious in his voice.

"Yeah! She was pulling on my hair and yelling 'Give it back, give it back'. I screamed and fell, and then more of them came. They were all screaming at me and pulling my hair and on my clothes, so I took off running. I thought they'd go away when I entered the city, but they didn't, so I ran down a bunch of allies, and across a roof, and then I was here. And the little people and their screaming had disappeared."

"I see." Baron took a sip of his tea, and then he looked up at her again. "Do you still have that stone with you? The one you found in the river?"

"Oh, yeah. Why?"

"May I please see it?"

"Sure!" Kokoro turned and reached into her pocket, pulled out the stone, and handed it to him.

Baron took the stone in his hands and held it up to the light. Muta and Toto were both leaning forward, trying to get a better look at the stone. Even Kokoro leaned forward, though she already knew what it looked like.

The cat carefully set it down on his desk and tapped it with his pen. Black ink drizzled out of the nib and onto the rock, but it all slid right off, staining the wood of his desk. He placed his chin in his hand and rapped the stone with his knuckles. He then turned around and grabbed several books off the shelf behind him. He flipped through them, but the longer he turned the pages, the more furrowed his brow became. "Hmm, that's interesting," he murmured.

"What?" Kokoro asked, curious.

"Did you see?" Baron lifted his pen and dripped ink on the rock again. Like the first time, all the ink slid off. "The ink slides right off, but we are able to hold it," he said, replacing his pen. "It's not transparent, but when I tap it, it sounds hollow." To prove his point, he tapped the rock with his knuckles again, and the resulting sound was hollow. "And there is no rock like this in any of my books, nor have I ever seen one like this. This is very interesting indeed."

Baron picked up the stone, walked over and handed it back to her. "Well Miss Kokoro, I have developed a theory. I think you were being chased by fairies, and this stone you found must belong to them."

Muta and Toto looked skeptical. "Fairies, Baron?" Muta said, unconvinced. "That's the best you can come up with? I think you're losing your touch."

"I hate to agree with the fatso, but Baron… fairies?" Toto asked.

Baron however looked unfazed at his friends' doubt. "Well, she described them as tiny people with butterfly wings." He then turned to look at Kokoro again. "Did they say anything to you, besides 'Give it back'?"

"Um, well…" Kokoro racked her brain. Had they said anything else? Maybe… "Um, yeah, I think they did, right before they disappeared."

Baron looked very interested as walked back over and took out his pen and a sheet of paper. "Do you remember what they said?" he inquired eagerly.

Muta shook his head. "You're readin' too much into this Baron," he said, standing up, walking over to Baron's cabinets and opening them.

Kokoro tapped her chin and tried to remember. "Okay, um, I think they said 'Ji… uun… seru mi… oro kei… tatsun… shi ko… keikei… alune.'" She sighed. "I don't know what any of that means though."

But Baron looked excited. "Muta, will you get that light green book down from the top shelf for me?" he asked as Muta bit into an apple. Muta did as he was asked and handed the book to Baron, who began flipping through it and scribbling things down on the paper.

Finally, he held it up, but his excitement had faded. "Assuming that you didn't leave anything out, and adding in a few small words so it make sense, I believe they said: 'If you do not return the stone by sunset, we will find you and take you to our queen, and she will decide your fate.'"

"So it was a threat," Toto said, nodding grimly.

Kokoro couldn't help it: she began to cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed. "I-I-I don't wanna go to the queen!" she wailed. "I-I-I just f-f-found a rock in a r-r-river. I-I-I didn't m-m-mean to do anything wrong!"

Suddenly, she saw a square of white in front of her nose. Baron was holding a white handkerchief in front of her, looking very apologetic. "Please don't cry Miss Kokoro," he said, reaching out and dabbing at her tear-stained cheeks. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you. Please don't cry."

Kokoro took the handkerchief and wiped her eyes. Her throat started to loosen, and her sobs faded away as her newfound friends looked on, clearly concerned.

When Baron was satisfied, he turned around and walked back over to his desk. "Well, now that that is all settled, I think it's time we do a bit of research."

~*~