Puss, in his former lives, was never marriage material. As much as Kitty loved him, she always knew that. She said yes because she wanted to convince herself she was wrong, but in the end she had to face facts. He was the legend, the ladies' man, the perpetual flight risk. Never a husband.

In his current life, Kitty's still not sure what he is, but she starts to piece it together when she meets his friends.

The first is a little ogre with a bow in her hair who comes running out of a hollow tree the second she catches sight of him. She yells his name and giggles. His face lights up as he picks up two sticks off the ground. He tosses one to her, which she catches clumsily.

"En garde, niña!" he yells, and the sticks clack against each other until he raises his just high enough that the little ogre can poke him in the belly. He collapses to the ground and wretches. The little girl and Perrito laugh. Puss lies on his back, closes his eyes and folds his paws over his chest.

Kitty smiles. "Shall I avenge you, mi amor?"

"No need," he says, opening one eye. "It was an honorable death."

The little ogre notices that she's in the presence of a cute little dog, and is more than happy to rub his belly. Another ogre, probably her mother, comes out of the house to investigate the noise. She starts telling her daughter to be gentle, but stops in her tracks when she sees Puss and Kitty. Puss gets up and removes his hat.

"Princess," he says with a polite nod.

Kitty's eyes widen, but there's no time for explanations, because the ogre princess swiftly leans down to hug Puss and ask what brings him here, where he's been. A donkey pokes his head through the window and yells to inform them that Puss is absolutely coming in to catch up and introduce the new guys. Another ogre inside suggests that the donkey might refrain from inviting strangers into someone else's home, but when he comes to the window and sees Puss, he allows it. The princess scoops up her little girl and leads them in, and it's only then that Kitty notices the dragon sitting behind the house. She gasps and reaches for her sword.

Puss takes her paw and says, "She's one of us."

In a word, this group is…eclectic.

Their host sits with his daughter on his lap and one of his sons on his shoulders. The other little boy is playing with a donkey-dragon creature on the floor. Because of course the donkey and the dragon are married, of course they have hybrid children, of course these are the "old friends" Puss was talking about. But so far none of them have drawn a weapon, so Kitty doesn't complain. She sips the tea they gave her and listens to Puss' story about how he allegedly reformed three wayward kittens back in Spain.

"...Orphans! No one to guide them, no one to protect them. Of course they followed the path of evil, they had no one to teach them better! Not until they met Puss in Boots!"

Kitty raises an eyebrow. "And you're sure you have no relation?"

The others at the table look at her, and she realizes it's the most she's spoken since she arrived. Everyone starts to laugh, including Perrito, though Kitty knows he doesn't understand the joke.

The donkey points with his hoof and says, "I like her!"

There's a storm late that night. Kitty doesn't wake up at first. The armchair in the front room is oddly the most comfortable thing she's slept on in weeks. At some point she hears Perrito whimpering and her eyes slowly open. Puss isn't next to her. She sits up. There's only a rumpled blanket in the spot where Perrito fell asleep by the fire earlier.

Something horrible has happened – one of them is hurt, or worse. The ogres poisoned them. She doesn't feel any effects herself, but it doesn't eliminate the possibility. Or Puss was injured and has been hiding it from them. Or Perrito is being taken again, somehow, by someone.

She jumps off the chair and her eyes dart around the room in search of anyone she may need to fight.

She finds nothing of the sort.

Thunder cracks outside, and Perrito whines again. She hears Puss shush him gently, and thoughts of a plot against them fade from her mind. She picks up the blanket and follows the noise under the dining table. Puss sits against one of the table legs with Perrito curled up on his side.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Perrito," she says, and wraps the blanket around him.

"I know," Perrito says. "I know it's stupid."

"Who told you that?!" she demands.

Puss gives a quick nod. "Don't worry. We'll kill them."

"No, nobody told me," says Perrito. "But it is, isn't it? It's a noise; it's not like it can touch me."

The noise comes again, and Perrito pulls the blanket over his head with his teeth.

"A dream cannot touch you," says Puss. "Your feelings cannot touch you."

"But they can be terrifying," says Kitty.

Perrito pokes his snout out of the blanket. "You think so?"

They exclaim over each other in the affirmative.

Slowly, Perrito pokes his whole head out of the blanket. "Well," he says. "To tell you the truth, it's not just the –"

Another roll of thunder outside. Perrito whimpers and buries his face in Puss' side. Puss wraps a protective arm around him.

"I don't like the rain," comes the muffled voice.

Puss and Kitty look at each other with wide eyes. Puss pets Perrito's head with his free paw, and Kitty notices him shift position against the table leg. She has no idea how long he's been sitting like that. She goes back to grab a couple of cushions from the chair. She gives one to Puss, and he wedges it behind his back. She puts the other one on the floor right next to Perrito and lays her head on it. She tosses one corner of the blanket over to Puss, and they spread it out so it just covers all three of them.

She wakes up in the morning to see Perrito lying peacefully on his back. He stretches out a paw and rolls over on the side facing her. Puss is still slumped down against his cushion. The sky is calm.