The Cat Returns

[regalduchess]

Duchess woke back in Paris as if no time at all had passed, but she knew better than to write off her experiences in the castle as a dream. She's not sure why it sent her back; perhaps it realized that she, as a mother, had a duty to her kittens? No time has passed except the time it took to sleep. She woke with her kittens clambering over her and babbling happily about the rising sun. She spent the day watching them, spent some time with Adelaide (who she had missed terribly) and finally, almost reluctantly, curled up with her kittens in their basket to sleep.

She woke in the castle again. This time, though, it was not in the aviary but in the throne room. It seemed to realize that she much preferred that to screaming birds.

Instead of getting upset over it as she had at first, Duchess now knew that the castle was (possibly) considerate enough to not keep her away from her kittens for long, in their perspective at least. No matter how long it may seem for her she was glad for that.

She stretched, found some fish in the kitchens for breakfast, and wandered around searching out what had changed in her absence.