06.26.22 - Meeting the Royals (Peytrice)

Shadow Mother returned to us after seeing the guards were taking us into the gates peacefully. On the way to find the One-Armed-Shadow, the guards told us that Mr. Duke Vaccaro was here visiting the Princess. Purrgatory was very tall and crazy like Cat-Tanin, but we were told there were no slaves here. Looking around, there were lots of banners that were pink and blue and a lot of the symbols of Bast on the buildings. The guard leading us was wearing those colors too, but the closer we got to the palace the guards started wearing purple and gold because they were the royal guards.

We were greeted at the door to the palace by a grey and black spotted cat person who told us his name was Sunshine Upon The Grass, and he was the official viceroy of the palace. He made a bad face when he saw us and told us we needed to take a bath while we waited our turn to meet the Princess, so he took us down to a big cavern with some hot springs. There were lots of pools flowing down from a big pool and there were some cat people sitting in one. Marko and I jumped into the one with the cat people in it, but when we stopped splashing they were already gone. Also, the water around Marko turned a weird muddy color that took a long time to go away.

The whispers told me that Klaub had found a pool of his own to sink to the bottom of to take a little nap. They also told me that Shadow Mother had gone to the biggest pool since it was the warmest. There he found some giant water bugs who were guarding a shiny glowing necklace towards the bottom of the pool. When it was time to go, Mr. Grass gave us some very fancy black and orange clothing because those are supposed to be Marko’s colors. Mine didn’t fit quite right so I made some alterations, but when I was done Mr. Grass seemed disappointed.

We were led further into the palace, until we reached a room with lots of pillows and were offered snacks while we waited for the Princess to be ready to see us. After we had our food, Mr. Grass came back to take us to see her. The hall along the way was filled with lots of statues of the cat people who had ruled the empire before the Princess. At the door, we could hear raised voices coming from Basket and someone Marko said was his dad.

The whispers told me that Mr. Vaccaro was saying that no matter how many adventurers they sent out the rest of the royal family would not be found because Bast was angry that they had freed the slaves. He said it had been four months and it was time to let them go. That is when Marko ran into the room and gave his dad a big hug. The room was huge and at one end there was a big chair at the top of a whole bunch of seats, and there was the One-Armed Shadow, the Horned Shadow and the Biggest Shadow standing in front of us. We ran in and gave them their letters from Rahjeet so that they would remember like Shadow Mother would. I am told by the whispers that Marko remembers his time growing up here like Jerome did, but that because Klaub and I are special we don’t get any more than those we have already made. Princess Basket got her memories back and immediately started to make preparations to go to Moonfall Keep to save her parents. She told Bene, Klaub, and I that we were in charge while she was gone, but promised she would be back. 06.26.22 - Meeting the Royals (Basket)