Chapter 27- the rainbowberry and corona-flower quest goers' rest stop and departure to the Rainbowberry Orchard Cloud and the Narnian Sun

Asgard Sky City

The Rainbowberry quest group which included Kushanku, Paddy, Alexandrite, warrior mouse group Sordward, Shielbert, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Squea'tagnan, and Rattus the warrior Talking Rat, his adopted Lightning Pika brother Mjölnir, and Rattus' band of warrior Rats had also arrived at their destination, Asgard Sky City via the Bifrost Transporter and were on the outskirts of the city with their escort group with some of them being Cloud-Men, Cloud Birds and a species of strange citation-like creature called a Sky Whale. As soon as they had arrived at the city which was the biggest city of the Skylands which formed much of the Sky Domain, they had been met by King Cumulus and the gatekeeper of the transporter from the land to the sky, Heimdall. Then Cumulus led the group to their escort group who then led them to the outskirts of the city to prepare them for their trip to the Rainbowberry Orchard to harvest some rainbowberries for the Nine-Realms Potion, High King Peter's antidote. The group going to the Narnian Sun, among them Kobaruto, Kushanku's Bakeneko brother-in-law and some of Kushanku and his siblings' own offspring, Miidori, Sunstone, Moonstone and Merida, had travelled with them through the Bifrost Transporter but they had been escorted to another area of Asgard Sky City by some Poptart Cats, another species native to the Sky Domain and can fly, leaving behind a rainbow trail as they did, to prepare for their transport to the Narnian Sun. However, before leaving, they had said goodbye to Kushanku's group, especially Miidori and bade them good luck, the rainbowberry quest group doing the same to them. Then the two groups went their separate paths.

The leaders of the escort group were Azurefeather, a Cloud Bird and a large male Cloud-Man named Cirrus. The Cloud-Men (and Women for the females) were tall, white, fluffy creatures made of cloud. Their 'skins' were pure white though some also had grey, silver and even some sunset colours such as pink, yellow and orange. One fairly tubby Cloud-Man in the escort group had this colour palette. The Cloud-Men's eyes were black with white pupils, similar to many Slugcats back on land. The Cloud Birds resembled blue swans with slender heads, long necks and blue bodies. However, their wings and tails were made from cloud like the Cloud-Men's skins. The males were more azure coloured than the females and had a set of spiky peacock-like feathered atop their heads. Azurefeather had the largest set. The females, however, did not have this crest. The Sky Whale was a large whale-like creature. Its body was shaped like a cetacean's with its body tapering to a tail but instead of fins as in sea whales, the Sky Whale instead had large insect-like wings and a tailfin. Sky Whales lived between the clouds and glided through the air, pushing themselves along with their large wing-fins. Their diet was large floating sky algae and other sky plants. Like most other creatures in Narnia, the Sky Whale had two forms, the dumb variant, which was totally blind and had no eyes, and the Talking variant, which did have eyes though they were poor. Both variants relied on echolocation to get around. Cloud-Men and Asgardians kept pods of dumb Sky Whales as livestock similar to how farmers kept herds of cows or other animal back on land.

Kushanku and company were having their presentation about the Rainbowberry Orchard and the rainbowberries themselves. Unlike the Narnian Moon group who will be using a crystalline screen, the escorts instead used a more old-fashioned whiteboard fixed to a floating mini-cloud and a pointer stick. Cirrus was leading the presentation.

"As you Landfolk will know," said the Cloud-Man, the tip of his stick pointing to the drawings of the rainbowberries which came in a variety of the seven rainbow colours, "Rainbowberries are near-impossible to grow in land soil of your domain. They require VERY specific conditions, an EXTREME level of care and at least one thunderstorm to grow, just like the fire flower from the Narnia Sun."

As he said this, Sordward raised a hand and Cirrus pointed to him to ask his question.

"So where is the Rainbowberry Orchard up here?" asked the Mouse.

"It's across the Rainbow Bridge near King Cumulus's castle," replied Cirrus, "and I'm just coming to that right now."

Sordward then prepared to listen with the others as the Cloud-Man opened up the intro to the Orchard. "The Rainbow Orchard is the only place where rainbowberries are grown in LARGE numbers. Rainbowberry occurrence anywhere else in the Sky Domain and Skylands is EXTREMELY rare. Thus the Rainbow Orchard on the distal end of the Rainbow Bridge from Cumulus's castle is ONLY main source of these precious and rare berries."

Cirrus then moved his stick's point lower down the board as he then began to talk about the Orchard Cloud, the location of the rainbowberries. "The rainbowberries of the Orchard Cloud grow in golden pots at the foot of a giant rainbow which is the indicator of the Cloud's location. However, the garden is guarded by three Guardian Gates which are VERY dangerous. Those gates exist to keep anyone seeking to pick those rare, magical berries for evil purposes from touching them..."

As he spoke, the Sky Whale, a male or bull who hovered nearby due to his size (Talking Sky Whales were smaller than their dumb counterparts), took over and began to introduce the three Gates, "the first gate is called the Rainbow Gate. It keeps an eye out for any intruder that dares take the chance in accessing the garden and if any intruder is detected, it will shoot them down with an electrical energy blast that will either maim or kill them."

A MASSIVE gulp of fear jumped from the listeners as many of them swallowed a lump in unison. Mjölnir felt his skin crawl.

"Sounds incredibly daunting," whispered the Lightning Pika nervously. However, Kushanku silenced him with a stern "Shh!" and Mjölnir obeyed. The Sky Whale continued.

"The second gate is the Riddle Gate which will give you a riddle to answer for passage. You must answer the riddle correctly if you want to pass through this gate. If you don't, the Riddle Gate will not allow you passage. Then finally, the third gate leading to the Orchard garden itself is the Golden Post Lightning Gate. This gate is the main generator for a powerful lightning force field enclosing the Orchard garden and must be shut off with some keys hidden around the outskirts of the garden's hedge. If you try to hack into the Golden Post Lightning Gate, it will strike you down with a blast of powerful lightning that may be severely injurious or fatal..."

The listeners shuddered at this as well. Then a serious look formed on Cirrus' face.

"So you MUST be careful in that area," the Cloud-Man said, "the Rainbowberry Orchard Cloud and its garden may seem like a picturesque place on your land to simply go out and have a picnic but it is VERY deadly. Those rainbowberries are NOT for your own personal use and if you try to consume them for personal gain, they will have quite the opposite effect to your plans."

"It's a bit like those apples from the Garden of Youth back on the land where Queen Lucy and her group are headed," said Alexandrite.

"If you eat even a small piece of those apples for yourself," said Padparadscha "Paddy", "You'll get what you want but with additional consequences."

"These exclusive ingredients for the Nine-Realms Potion are indeed VERY dangerous," said Azurefeather, "That is why they are kept in VERY specialist areas and guarded by VERY specialist individuals and forces, such as the Cave Guardian of the entrance of that Treasures of Vanity Cave on the Lunar Moon, the only place where lunar mushrooms, another Nine-Realms Potion ingredient, grows."

Shudders travelled through the bodies of some of them, among them Beaver, Cyllene and Beni, especially Kushanku and a Rabbit member who was a descendant of Faline and one of the more sensible ones. After all, quite a few of this Rabbit's relatives had chosen to go on that quest and the Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity was indeed an incredibly perilous area. Then Cirrus finished the presentation, discussing the safety rules the group must abide to while visiting the Rainbowberry Orchard Cloud and then dismissed the gathering. Then he commanded the quest goers to the dining area to have a bite to eat before their journey to the Rainbowberry Orchard.

The meal served to the quest goers was in the form of a pick-and-choose buffet and the foods served were foods from the Sky Domain. Among these foods was dumb Sky Whale meat, leaf pads from sky blue lilies, a type of blue plant that grew in the Skylands and resembled the lilies back on the land but were blue instead and floated in the air; and cloud cheesecakes made from cloud-candy which was part of the cuisine of the Cloud-Men and Cloud Birds. Kushanku picked a slab of Sky Whale meat with some graspers and put it on his plate. He then selected a few more foods from the buffet and left to a table resembling solid clouds, sat down with Alexandrite and the Mice and began to eat. As he dug in, he saw Alexandrite with her chin in her paw staring worriedly into space.

"Something bothering you, Alex?" asked he. Nearby, Sordward, Shielbert, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Squea'tagnan continued to eat their meal selection, some sky cow cheese and skycress, two more foods exclusive to the Sky Domain.

"I've been thinking about Malachite and the other kidnapped kids, Kushanku," replied Alexandrite rather worriedly, "I just hope they are okay and wherever they have been taken, found..."

The Sky and Sea helpers have that part covered, Alexandrite, in their tracking of those boatmen," said Sordward as he held a slab of sky cow cheese.

"Indeed," said Squea'tagnan with his mouth full of skycress, "King Cumulus is keeping track of their progress..."

"Manners, Squeak'tagnan," rebuked Kushanku as the Mouse talked. Squea'tagnan then stopped talking until he had swallowed whatever he had in his mouth. After all, talking with your mouth full was not very good manners. After swallowing, Squea'tagnan spoke again, "As I was saying, King Cumulus is keeping track of their progress," his face then fell, "but still, the Sky spies are still struggling to find the boatmen's destination..."

"But there is one bit of good news. According to a Poptart Cat and two Flying Rods from one of the groups," said Athos, "where the boatmen are headed is DEFINITELY out in the Eastern Ocean. However, the question is, is that destination an island or a ship?"

"After all, their last sightings of those boatmen and their victims are largely concentrated in an area of the Ocean," said Porthos. Near him, Aramis munched on some sky cow cheese. As he said this, a female Cloud Bird came by.

"Well at least we are getting somewhere, Land Folk," she said with assurance, before a scowl formed on her face, "But a spy group consisting of Cloud-Men and Cloud Birds had lost some individuals to some flesh-eating living shadows thrown at them by some of those kidnappers when they tried an attempt at rescuing their kidnapped victims. King Cumulus had relieved that group of spy duty so that the surviving injured can be treated and the rest, a break from the shock..."

"Those 'flesh-eating living shadows' were Umbra-Fleas," said Kushanku, "In small amounts they are not a bother but in large clouds such that they resemble airborne shadows, they can be VERY dangerous and can consume you alive in seconds."

"A team of Poptart Cats and Great Blue Windrunners have once studied those flesh-eating shadows," said the female Cloud Bird, "They managed to capture a sample of them during their visit to your land during the evil White Witch's reign over it. Thankfully, they didn't get caught by any of that Devil Woman's cronies and had returned here via the Bifrost Transporter before it had to be shut off to protect our lands from the Witch's armies, being turned on only to transport any kidnapped victims to their rightful homes like the Moon Viscacha and Baku to the Narnian Moon. Anyway, the team of Poptart Cats and Windrunners then brought back these fleas-eating shadow fleas and kept them in a special, impenetrable container to allow them to breed into a big enough shadow-like colony."

"Then they studied the Umbra-Fleas' feeding habits by feeding them various meat," said Shielbert.

"Yes and they had found that those colony-gathering shadow fleas consumed those meat samples, stripping it to the bone often in seconds," said the Cloud Bird, "Then after a few more tests, they killed the colony with a special gas to ensure that they NEVER escaped and bred in our domain. That is how we learned that these Umbra-Flea creatures were dangerous."

"They're deadly to large living creatures such as us," said Kushanku, "If you don't react in time, they'll devour you almost instantly."

As he said this, Mjölnir came by, a scowl on his face. Not too far away, Rattus was discussing with his Rat companions about the impending trip to the Rainbowberry Orchard while eating some sky cow cheese and Sky Whale meat. Kushanku gazed down to the Lightning Pika.

"Problem, Mjölnir?" the colourful Nekomata asked. Alexandrite and the Mice also gazed down at the Pika who then replied with his scowl.

"I've just been thinking about the Cartoon Shadow Cat back on the land," said he, before his red cheeks began to give off sparks as rage against the creature began to boil within him, "Once we have got the rainbowberries and we're back on the land, I'm gonna go after that VILE creature to avenge the death of my biological family," he then gazed down at his war hammer strapped to his belt and released a hiss as ideas at what he would like to do to that black shadow beast boiled in his mind. Rattus then issued an apology to his Rat group and walked over to his adopted Lightning Pika brother, his front paws covered by his battle gauntlets.

"Mjölnir, bro," said the large brown Talking Rat, "THAT would NOT be a good idea. The Cartoon Shadow Cat is a POWERFUL beast."

"Indeed," put in Kushanku, "You saw what it was capable of back on Cair Paravel Beach. It had me under its mind control such that I was a temporary foe towards you and our Four Monarchs, remember?" he then shuddered as memories of that mind possession by the Cartoon Shadow Cat came flooding back as he mentioned this. THAT had been one of the most traumatising experience the Nekomata had EVER had, not counting the horrific traumatic events that occurred during the Age of Winter before the Exodus to Archenland when he had been a mere kit. Still, Kushanku could NOT believe what he had put the Four Monarchs through, such as striking Queen Susan across the face and turning King Edmund against his own brother to the point of him nearly killing him. However, it was not his fault for he had been the Cartoon Shadow Cat's puppet and mouthpiece and it was THAT monster that instigated the fight between King Edmund and High King Peter in the first place. And during that confrontation, Mjölnir did try and get to the Cartoon Shadow Cat but he had been distracted by the Tentasects too often much to his UTMOST frustration. But unknown to the frustrated Lightning Pika, this had been a good thing since he would have likely been badly injured or even killed if he tried to take on the sly Cat Beast. Despite this, Mjölnir continued to vent.

"I would have ZAPPED that animal dung-stuffed Umbra-Fleabag if I had had that chance," snarled the Pika fiercely, jolts of electricity jumping from his cheeks as vengeful anger flared within him similar to a very similar electric rodent from another world whenever it got angry. He then reached for his war hammer, pulled it from its belt and held it in the air, "Or better, HAMMERED THAT SLIME CAT INTO THE GROUND, ZAPPING IT with EACH HIT and then TORTURE IT WITH MY ELECTRICITY. I wanna MAKE THAT DUNG BEAST FEEL THE AGONY of MY FAMILY MEMBERS THAT IT HAD KILLED AND EATEN!"

"Mjölnir, quell your temper THIS MINUTE," said Azurefeather nearby, "You were QUITE often like that when you were younger and you came here to perfect your use of your lightning war hammer under the training of the Lightning War Hammer users consisting mostly of Cloud-Men."

"Yes, your temper flare-up is NOT helping for one," put in Sordward.

"And you're makin' a scene for another, especially with your electricity," put in Rattus, "Now QUELL THAT TEMPER OF YOURS or MY UNDERLINGS WILL DO IT FOR YOU!"

And as he said this, some of his Rat comrades came forward, two of them holding a large towel-like cloth poised to tie up Mjölnir and restrain him. Though this seemed like a cruel thing to do, the Rats did not want their leader's adopted brother flying into an electrified rage and this had an effect. When Mjölnir saw the restraining cloth, he obeyed and left.

"Excuse me," he murmured and packed away his war hammer and exited the room, a Cloud Bird following him to comfort him. Soon, sobbing exploded from the adjacent room as Mjölnir broke down. Everyone else resumed obtaining their meals and eating. Then Cirrus looked on with sympathy.

"I lost my brother to that Cat Demon beast while we were visiting your realm," the lead Cloud-Man escort said, "We were only teen Cloud-Kids and we were helping to get the food to the food black market in the country of Narnia to help the afflicted inhabitants. Unfortunately, we were attacked by some sort of Dog-like creature and it attacked and devoured my brother and injured my father."

"Dog-like creature?" asked Rattus confused while his Rat comrades flinched at the sound of Mjölnir's sobbing, two even leaving for that room to comfort the Lightning Pika.

"It's a Cat-like creature, is it not?" asked Shielbert.

"The Cartoon Shadow Cat has the ability to shapeshift," said Alexandrite, "or change the shape of any part of its body including its face. It once became a 'Cartoon Shadow Dog' to confound and evade a search-and-destroy Eagle group according to one of the Eagles and it still sometimes takes the form of a Dog."

"Devilishly clever crony of the White Witch, it is," said Kushanku in a low, angry growl, "Especially in seizing control of other creatures to use as its mouthpiece and puppet, that being more effective on Feline creatures such as me, Paddy and Alexandrite..."

The latter two Nekomata nodded in agreement to this. Then Kushanku decided to change the subject and smiled at the meat on his plate which resembled a crystalline slab made from crystallized, solid clouds. "By the way, this Sky Whale meat is delicious. So you actually keep pods of dumb Sky Whales like livestock?"

"The Cloud-Men, Asgardians and other inhabitants of this domain do," said the Sky Whale.

"We have skydocks in which we keep our pods," explained another Cloud-Man, "it is sort of like your paddocks and pens where you keep your land livestock, except the skydocks are open and enclosed in a MASSIVE force field to stop the Sky Whales from escaping. It also helps keep pests that attack Sky Whales such as the Stalker-Flies, giant insects with a sharp beak, from attacking our pods."

"And then when it's time to harvest a Sky Whale for its meat, you take it to a slaughter spot," said Paddy with fascination. Alexandrite left and peered into the room to check on the still-sobbing Mjölnir as he was comforted by the Cloud Bird and two of Rattus' comrades.

"Yes, and this is how we do it," said a Cloud-Woman, "We choose a Sky Whale we want to slaughter and harvest the meat and we guide it to a special facility that uses electricity."

"It is important that we kill the creature via a quick death," said another Cloud-Man, "as it is cruel to give the dumb beast a slow and painful death and we do so via a powerful electrical shock from special electrical generator spheres of the slaughter facility. Then once the Sky Whale is dead, its body is dragged away by the butchers to be processed into the meat that you are now eating."

"Interesting," said Kushanku with a fascinated smile, "sort of similar to the way we slaughter our livestock like cows and sheep before harvesting their meat, except we use blades instead of electricity."

"We also have hunting parties that hunt wild Sky Whales using the aforementioned Stalker-Flies to guide us to a selected Whale and then having the assistant hunter Flies bring that Whale down via their method of using their sharp beaks to target their flotation sacs," said Cirrus, "But due to how brutal that method is, it is less common and we took to raising dumb Sky Whale livestock instead with the more merciful method of giving them a quick death via a massive electric shock."

"I've read in a book about the flora and fauna of the Sky Domain about how Stalker-Flies bring down Sky Whales," said Squea'tagnan, "and the way they do that made me flinch; their method of bringing down a Sky Whale is very brutal. Stalker-Flies are social insects like ants, aren't they?"

"They are," said Azurefeather, "They build their hives in the trunks of sky cedars and have a caste system with a breeding queen and various workers like your land ants. When Stalker-Flies go to hunt their prey, like a Sky Whale for example, a scout group leaves the hive to seek out a target. Once they find a target, they mark them with a scent and return to their hive to alert the colony. Then the hunter swarm flies out, follows the scent and then swarm the marked prey, working together to bring it down."

"In the case of the Sky Whale, they target their flotation sacs with their sharp beaks, don't they?" said Squea'tagnan.

"Yes, and they continue to do so until the Sky Whale becomes unable to keep itself airborne any longer," said Cirrus, "When previous Cloud-Men generations discovered this method, they set to domesticating the Stalker-Fly to help them hunt for pods of dumb Sky-Whales, training the scout caste individuals to seek out a target and the hunter caste to bring down that chosen target via the method their wild counterparts use."

"It's like how some of our species back on our land use dumb birds of prey to catch game," said Kushanku.

"I've also read that some Sea People species use predatory fish to herd fish-livestock and to catch prey fish out in the Eastern Ocean," said Squea'tagnan, "I know the Sea-Fish People are amongst the species that use those methods."

"Similar method I suppose, but in the water instead of the air," said a Cloud-Man with a smile. The others murmured in agreement. Then Kushanku changed the subject. "I sure hope that Miidori and the others with her are going to be alright going to the Narnian Sun to retrieve the Corona-Flower ingredient for the Nine-Realms Potion."

"Few visitors have EVER visited the Sun," said Azurefeather, "Among the few are the great Kitsune Gandalf and his wife Seresute, the first Narnia Chroniclers who went to the Sun to get some fire-flowers to grow back on the land as well as study the Sun's flora and fauna."

"Are there any native inhabitants on the Sun aside from the usual flora and fauna?" asked Rattus. As he spoke, Mjölnir returned after releasing enough emotional pressure to stability but he was still tearful. The female Cloud Bird and two of Rattus' comrades followed him. Cirrus went to the group and guided the Lightning Pika to a chair so that he could rest.

"There is one species," said Azurefeather, "They're called Sunlings and they resemble fiery fluff balls with eyes, a mouth, legs and antennae. They lead a simple way of life and dine on some of the plants that only grow on the Sun such as the sun berry. One Sunling guards the Corona-Flower garden."

"The Sun's flora and fauna is quite fragile that is often targeted by those with evil intent," said the Talking Sky Whale, "so it has a guardian, the Rainbow Serpent who ensures that any visitor going to the Sun are NOT going to use ANY of the plants for evil schemes."

"That colourful Snake will be meeting a familiar face when Miidori's group goes to the sun via the Flying Saucer," said Kushanku with a smile.

"Familiar face?" asked Cirrus as he checked over a still-sniffling Mjölnir, Rattus and the other Rats coming in to do the same.

"Kobaruto, our Bakeneko brother-in-law and husband of the late sister of Kushanku here, Ryn, helped to rescue the Rainbow Serpent from becoming part of the White Witch's wardrobe and menu when he was a kit back in the Age of Winter," said Alexandrite. UTMOST revulsion and outrage tore through the Cloud-Men, Cloud Birds and the Sky Whale with some of them drawing in gasps.

"You're kidding us," growled Cirrus.

"THAT is TOTALLY..." began Azurefeather but he trailed off, unable to think of an adjective to describe Jadis' intentions for the Air Guardian of the Narnian Sun. However, the lead Cloud Bird looked up with no surprise in his scowl. "Why are we reacting in UTMOST flabbergast, anyway? The White Witch was, after all, the EVILLEST being to EVER exist in all of Narnia."

"Indeed," said Cirrus, "And speaking of Jadis and her minions, we have had some of those horrific monsters visit our domain and a band of them have, to our UTMOST horror and flabbergast, captured the Rainbow Serpent."

"But I'm SO glad that your Bakeneko brother-in-law and his friends have managed to rescue the Sun Guardian," said the Sky Whale, "But to think of what the Witch would have done to that poor creature is beyond-unfathomable."

"It would have been one of the WORST crimes to kill the Guardian for use for your own selfish and vain gains," said another Cloud-Man, a Cloud-Woman.

"Kobaruto, together with Dionaea and the others who managed to rescue the Serpent, have been awarded handsomely and hailed as heroes for their bravery," said Alexandrite, before her gaze turned to outside, "So I wouldn't be surprised if Kobaruto and company get a fairly straightforward pass from the Serpent if it sees our Bakeneko brother-in-law."

"Have you ever ACTUALLY had any of the White Witch's cronies visit your city of Asgard?" asked Sordward.

"We very nearly did," replied Cirrus, "Some Harpies, among them the horrific and HIGHLY immoral Incubi and Succubi, tried to set foot in Asgard Sky City but King Cumulus and his army managed to drive them away."

"After that, Cumulus sent a SEVERE warning message to Jadis back in your country that there will be DIRE, and I do mean DIRE, consequences if ANY more of her minions EVER approached the Skylands again," said the Sky Whale.

"And a war between our country and yours would have ignited," said Kushanku with dread.

"I think that's what the White Witch wanted," said Paddy, "She wanted to continue her conquest beyond the boundaries of our country to other domains, starting possibly with the Sky Domain and Asgard Sky City. I'd dread to think what would have happened if she managed to get hold of here..."

"We have had some traitors join the Witch's side from here,"said Azurefeather, "Many of them were Ice Giants. They tried to spy on the Skylands for Jadis but King Cumulus found out and banished them to your country and they became part of the White Witch's army."

"Her police force to be exact," said Kushanku, "Either the search-and-capture squads or tree spies with the Slender-Men, Siren-Heads, Mimicbirds, the traitorous Dryads and other creatures perfectly suited to being spies and reporters."

"So in a way, we WERE at war with your country because of the White Witch," said Cirrus, "Which is why we Cloud-Man assistants of the food smuggling project had to come home and the Bifrost Transporter shut off to prevent Jadis' cronies from using it and transporting to here or the other domains. The only time we used the Transporter was to transport certain individuals quickly from that winter cursed land such as some of the kidnapped and captured Narnian Moon creatures from there to here in the Sky Domain."

"Did you Cloud-Men assistants tell the food smugglers that you had to leave?" asked Squea'tagnan.

"The Beaver leader did actually," said one of Cirrus' comrades, a Cloud-Woman, "He told us to return to the Skylands as he saw how dangerous things were becoming for us Sky and also the Moon visitors, especially after what happened to Cirrus' brother and father at the clutches of the Cat Demon creature you call the Cartoon Cat, and between the Narnia country and the Skylands. King Cumulus also commanded all Skyland visitors to come home from the land right away and that prompted us Cloud-Men and other visitors to obey."

"King Cumulus did all that to prevent a potential all-out war between the Skylands and your country," said Azurefeather, "Though some had been unable to obey and had to seek shelter in Gandalf and Seresute's underground base until further notice."

"But now that the Golden Age Prophecy in your land has come true and the White Witch has been vanquished by the Golden Lion," said Cirrus in a happier tone of voice, "We are now able to visit your country without fear of any potential war threats igniting between us."

"There are still some surviving minions of Jadis running around in our home country but our Four Monarchs have sent search-and-destroy groups to hunt them down and either destroy them or imprison them depending if they surrender or not," said Kushanku, before his face fell, "But unfortunately, High King Peter has been plunged into a life-risking situation."

"Hence why you have come here to get some rainbowberries for the only antidote capable of treating his poisoning," said Cirrus, "Martian from the Moon has informed King Cumulus of your situation and has ordered us to prepare to meet you and take you to the Rainbowberry Orchard and the other group to the Narnian Sun to get some Corona-Flowers, two of the exclusive ingredients for the Nine-realms Potion."

"We are also dealing with these kidnappings as you are well aware," said Athos, "Furthermore, all expectant mothers and mothers of Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures that lay eggs, with nests of eggs had been escorted to designated shelters at King Edmund and Queen Susan's command and stay there until the last remnants of Jadis' minions are dealt with. My wife Peony who is pregnant and due to bear our pups on the ground, told us via communicator screen."

"It will be good for the safety of those who are unborn, whether in the womb or in the shell," said Azurefeather, "Anyway, we've discussed enough. Let's finish our meal and prepare to go to the

Rainbowberry Orchard Cloud."

The others nodded and resumed finishing their food. Mjölnir did the same after taking some time to console himself. Hen as soon as they had finished their meal, the group left the room and prepared to head off to their destination, some female Cloud Birds and Cloud-Women clearing away the cutlery and crystallised solid cloud plates.

At the same time, Miidori, Kobaruto and their team, who had also finished their meal, had left Asgard Sky City and were now at the Flying Saucer port, simply called Asgard Flying Saucer Port. Their escorts were a group of Poptart Cats and Talking Great Blue Windrunners and a few Flying Rods. The Poptart Cats were a species of magical cat. Their bodies were pale orange and their coat appeared to be glazed with coloured icing. In males or toms, this 'icing' was a fuchsia pink while in females or queens, the 'icing' was purple. Sprinkle-like markings decorated the 'icing' coating. The heads, legs and tails of both the Poptart Cat sexes were pale grey like Kushanku's head, or white or a combination of the two. Poptart Cats walked on all fours like Regular Talking Cats on the ground but unlike Regular Talking Cats, Poptart Cats were able to fly. When they flew, they left behind a colourful rainbow trail. Poptart Cats had an evil counterpart, called Waffle Cats and these cats had a yellow body with a waffle pattern of darker yellow spots, black faces, limbs and tail and left behind a monochrome-bow when they flew. Waffle Cats were simply corrupted Poptart Cats who had defected to Jadis' side on the ground, similar to how the Kitsune who fell for the White Witch became Nogitsune. Though some Poptart Cats had moved to the Land Domain, the Magical Cats were native to the Sky Domain. Poptart Cats could interbreed with Regular Talking Cats, Nekomata and Bakeneko to produce hybrids though this was very rare.

Kobaruto's half Bakeneko son and daughter, Neelix and Fleur, have decided to remain on the land to help keep the young safe from the kidnappers back in the country of Narnia. Neelix had joined the search-and-destroy teams while Fleur had joined in helping the expectant mothers to seek their designated shelters. Furthermore, Fleur was pledged to be married to a Bakeneko tom, that tom having proposed to Fleur only a few days ago. However, the wedding plans will have to be put on hold until the crises had been sorted. Neelix and Fleur had hoped that their father would return safely with his group from the Narnian Sun with the Corona-Flower for the Nine-Realms Potion, High King Peter's only antidote, along with Kushanku and company with another ingredient for the Potion, the rainbowberries.

Kobaruto stood with his nieces Miidori, Sunstone, Moonstone and Merida and their group which included a Snow Leopard, several Magical Lynxes (who had magical abilities like telekinesis and X-ray vision), three Tanuki, two Rattlebacks of the grassland variety, a lizard-like Cryptile and several pig-like Scrofa, at the hangar housing a number of Flying Saucers. Flying Saucer ports resembled typical airports but instead of planes, Flying Saucers were housed instead. There were Flying Saucer ports elsewhere in the Sky Domain and on the Narnian Moon as well and there were even a few on the Land Domain too. As Kobaruto and company stood near one Flying Saucer, the one they will take to fly to the Narnian Sun, the group's lead escort, a male Blue Windrunner, stood before them. While the four-winged Stork-like Bird began the introduction to the last leg of the journey to the Narnia Sun, the other Windrunner escorts with the Flying Rods and the Poptart Cats prepared the Saucer for the journey.

"As we approach the Narnia Sun, we will come across the Rainbow Serpent, its guardian," said the lead Windrunner, the Sun quest-goers listening intently, "When we meet it, you must be respectful towards it as it is a very noble guardian that dedicates its life in protecting the Narnia sun and its flora and fauna. It will examine us to see if we have any evil intent on setting foot on the sun and tasking its exclusive plants like the fire-flower. However," his gaze then travelled to Kobaruto, "since, Kobaruto, you participated in its rescue from the clutches of the evil Devil Woman back on the land when her minions captured the Serpent, you will be a familiar face to it."

Kobaruto formed a proud smile on his muzzle as he remembered that event. However, it had been VERY risky and Kobaruto had been lucky and Aslan-blessed that he had managed to escape the wrath of the Witch and her comrades. The Windrunner returned his gaze to the group as a whole. "Then once the Rainbow Serpent gives us the green cloud (green light based on the use of traffic-clouds in the cities of the Skylands including Asgard in public roads; there were flashing clouds that shone red and green similar to our electrically powered traffic lights for our world's roads), we will be travelling to the Narnian Sun and landing where the Corona-Flower Garden is. There, we will be greeted by a tribe of Sunlings who will then take us to the garden. However, that garden has a booby trap-rigged passage that you MUST pass through to reach it. The Sunlings will explain that in more detail to us when we get there."

Chills ran through Kobaruto's group as they heard this and Kobaruto quivered slightly. Then the Windrunner smiled and clapped his wings together.

"You all get what I've said?" he asked. When they all nodded, the four-winged Bird smiled in satisfaction. "Good. Now let's board the Flying Saucer and head off to the Narnian Sun."

With that, the group followed their escorts as the Flying Rods and Poptart Cats started up the flying vehicle. The door-ramp was already opened and Kobaruto and company boarded the Saucer via that entrance. Then as soon as the entire group including the escorts were onboard, the drivers of the vehicle closed the ramp and the door and within moments, the Saucer lifted into the air with a strange whirring sound. Then the vehicle floated away from the port and flew off into the air, heading for the Narnian Sun.