We're back with the same four from the last story.

The heroes have set up camp; read on.

 
It took a couple minutes after Becky Joy opened her eyes for her vision to come back into focus. Her head ached; it brought memories of their recent battle to mind, although Becky's memories got cloudy about the time she got knocked out by the Paladin.

Two things occurred to Becky as her mind started to uncloud. First, it was still cold. She could smell and almost taste the distinctive mountain air. She also took note she was in a small tent, that seemed to have been set up quickly, designed to be put up or taken down at a moment's notice.

Becky let out a sigh, and slowly sat up. Her arm ached, and the room was still spinning. She could hear all kinds of commotion outside her tent as well. Becky took a deep breath and then coughed several seconds. Oh, right. Paladin must have tried choking her at some point. Wonder why he let up?

Becky stood up, or tried to, but lost her balance and immediately plopped back on the bed again. "Ahh... better take it slow, I guess. I don't like slow, though," Becky admitted, whining a little "Slow is too too.. slow."

Jen bruskly pushed the tent flap aside to peek in. "How are you feeling?" she asked. Her black and red cysuit looked pristinely cleaned and her collar was stiff. Her shoulder-length red hair was tightly pulled into a ponytail and sported few visible bruises remaining on her face.

"Beat up," Becky answered, not looking up at first. She slowly looked up at Jen, then let out a sigh of relief. "Cattaras's okay? Good, I was worried!"

Jen smiled. "Heh. Cattaras will be fine. Our cysuits help us heal fast."

Becky smiled large, but looked perplexed. "Wait.. I thought big Catt was a catboy not a space elf! I musta hit my head harder than I thought..."

"He's an anthro tiger. Anyways, stay put, you need your rest." Jen let the tent flap fall back into place as she stepped away.

"Wait!" Becky called out. "What about Queen Aleenie and prince kitty baby?!"

Jen paused at the question, then returned. She opened the tent flap again. "I don't know," she admitted. Then turned again to stomp off.

"Oh, okay," Becky whispered after her. "Maybe she doesn't like prince kitty babies..."

Outside the tent was a bustle of action as the rest of the group Fumblies had brought with him were setting up a guard rotations while others worked on see what medical aid they could provide. One of the goblins in his company came over with a report.

"Sir, I have done what I can to heal those injured in the attack."

"Thanks Martin." Fumblies replied with a smile before he let the goblin medic get back to work.

Catt still limped a little as he exited his own tent. His cysuit still had a little bit of its magic to perform. He smirked a little. Jen would have given him a long sciency explanation for the suit's healing properties, but right now 'magic' was his speed.

The smirk dropped. Speed, he thought. Today he'd been caught off guard, out classed and because of that even his best speed hadn't been enough to keep Jen safe! He growled, more at himself than at anything else.

Jen appeared at his side and gave him a long and loving kiss. "Don't be so hard on yourself, tiger."

Meanwhile, Fumblies looked around the camp to see Tus and Jumbo as they strolled the perimeter with the other two Brutes that had accompanied the Blood Clan force. He had made sure he headed this way as fast as could manage as soon as he heard about the kidnapping. It hadn't been difficult to catch up with the other adventurers once he had determined their travel route. As his eyes moved around the camp Fumblies saw the huge form of Cattaras embracing the elf Jen. With a sigh Fumblies headed their direction.  For the moment Catt wasn't aware of his approach, having better things to do.

"He hurt her. He hurt you He… he damned near kill-"

Jen interrupted Cattaras with another kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and explained over her link, "A close call, and perhaps giving my life in the service of my Queen is my job. But," she broke off the kiss and smiled. "We are still alive and I have yet another wonderful day to be with you."

Fumblies made it over to the couple and waited for a moment to see if either one noticed him. He had his arms over his armored chest while he thought about how things were going to progress from this point on in the search. It was another voice which caught their attention, however.

"Hey, guys," Becky Joy's voice called out. "You two look better than ya did earlier. Yay, I found you!"

Jen rested her head on her tiger's chest, glancing at Becky and Fumblies. "Thought I told you to rest."

"I can't!" Becky protested. "I don't got crayons and I don't know who is gonna get me a drink if I get thirsty. Plus, I wanted to see if your big kitty was okay with my own eyes!"

Fumblies shook his head at Becky's words as they showed she was the same as he had always known her to be. "Glad to see you are doing much better. What can you tell me about what happened?" Fumblies asked with a hint of gruffness in his voice.

"It sucked!" Becky answered instantly. "And 'much' better might be pushing it.. Hi, Fumblies! How is the Fumblies Command doing today?!"

"It is doing good. As you can see my guys have the camp well in hand." There was pride in Fumblies voice as he spoke.

Catt purred, letting go of Jen for a moment and kneeling with his friend Becky. "And now that you know, off to bed, squirt."

"Kay," Becky said, yawning. "You're probably right.. but wake me up when ya find something.. "

Fumblies watched as Goblina came up to help Becky back to her tent. As she returned to her rest, his eyes returned to the hulking form of Cattaras wondering how this would turn out due to some of the tension the pair shared.

As Catt rose from his knees after seeing Becky off he spotted Fumblies and his grin faded. The two of them had never been on more than professional terms ever since his recruitment into the Feline Empire. It had irked him no end that the 'talents' Fumblies had shown his sister had had nothing to do with fighting.

He shook his head. Didn't help matters that he'd stolen away the only other eligible (and hot) feline in the Kingdom! Of course, that had all been before Jen.

"So what can you tell me about the ambush?" Fumblies asked as he attempted to keep any personal bickering to a minimum in light of the bigger picture. He had an idea of what had occurred from what he had came upon but he needed to find out anything that might not have been evident at the tail end of the fight.

"Queen Aleena, Catrina and Dash were captured. We - Cattaras, Becky and I - tried to intercept, but were unexpectedly given our own tails. The kidnappers then ran off, presumably using other means to transport their captives than they themselves used. I really can't guess at their motivations at this point." Jen explained. She placed her hands on her hips and frowned.

As Jen gave her report a goblin ran to Fumblies and stopped to catch her breath. "Sir, there is a group of troops heading this way." The goblin stopped speaking and she breathed deeply. "They are still too far out to determine who they are."

"Thank you Val. I will be along in a minute." Fumblies replied as he sees another goblin running towards them franticly. The goblin came to a stumbling halt and gasped out, "Sir, the Zoran squad team returned early. They said they spotted .. Him.. out there. Just standing alone. Right out there, not moving a muscle. Just.. Him."

"Thank you Jax." Fumblies replied to the goblin. He turned to look at Cattaras and Jen to see their reactions to the news. Afterall, their reactions would determine how this matter was approached.

Cattaras wasn't there although seeing this, Jen and Fumblies had a pretty good idea where he'd gone- and neither seemed happy about it.
.

Sadly, we don't see Fumblies again until the Finale. It's also quite a few pieces until we see Becky again. Back on this piece for a moment; the voter enjoyed how Becky's silly, humor oriented bits work well with the more serious tone between Cattaras and Jen. Plus, of course, we touch lightly on the extensive history between Cattaras and Fumblies, which has been there since not long after Fumblies joined Catrina then-newly formed Feline Empire. We'll see more Becky in a while, but first up are Blackeagle, Wildfall & Mary, Sassy Snake and more.

If you read Season one and two, you know who "He" is. If not, we'll come back to it closer towards the end of roleplaying for this mission.