7 And Thus, With Too Much Exercise, I Die

"No."

"I didn't even tell you my idea," Coco pouted.

Laon narrowed her eyes and flattened her ears, "No."

"Coco, I know you're all convinced that this is Sunny, but she said herself that it was a game she and her friends used to play," a cougar I recognized but whose name I couldn't yet recall pointed out.

"She doesn't even know if they were her memories or if one of her friends came up with it."

"I think she's her too, how else would she have taken out the guard," Elly offered.

"See, and Laon, you said yourself that she understood what vikin meant," Coco pointed out.

Laon let out an exasperated sigh before turning her chilling purple gaze on me where I stood between Kegan and Spiltz who seemed a little too tense for the current conversation. "Well?" Laon asked.

"Well, what?"

She gave me an exaggerated eye roll, "Well, what do you think, do you think you're her?"

"Honestly I don't know, I mean I know I know things there's no way I could know, but shouldn't there be some test so you would know for sure?"

"Yep and we just ran it," Vern said stepping into the room followed by Carniva through a side door. Carniva stepped into the center of our circle while Vern hit the lights. Tapping a holographic screen on her forearm she swiped a display into the air in a rotating circle around her so we could all view it as she spoke. "As you can see here her medical results indicate the injury in her leg however they do not indicate any injuries to her arm or side," she stated as she enlarged a brain scan.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Laon asked.

"We're getting to that," Carniva promised.

"Yep, so shut it," Vern snapped, strutting to stand next to Carniva. "Her brain's pain receptors indicate the leg injury however as you can see these pain receptors are lit up like Talons Festival," she gestured at the image illuminated a section of nerves.

"These indicate that majority of her pain was centered along her right side," Carniva said with a smile,

"Which as some of you may know is where Coco impacted those trees."

"So?"

"So, Snarly, Sunny and Coco's empathic link is the only possible explanation," Vern said, walking over to flick Laon's nose. In response, Laon promptly tried to bite Vern's finger. Snatching her hand away, she pinned growling Laon with a glare until she backed down.

"So that's it then, Inaya's definitely Sunny?" Kegan asked, wringing his hands.

"Yes, although I don't know why you're questioning it cause it'd be your tail on the line if she weren't," Vern stated.

"Speaking of which, we'll discuss your potential demotion later," Laon said, with a teasing grin.

He feigned sheepishness, looking at the floor.

"This is great and all, but we still have a lot of problems to solve," the cougar said, stepping out into the circle, "I mean, she hardly remembers anything, skills or otherwise."

"Fauna's right, it's not like we can just announce that the Catgirl's back, I doubt she even knows how to shift let alone run the planet," Laon seconded, shooting me a look.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, she's right, I have no idea how to shift or use fields and I'm not strong or fast like you guys," I sighed, "And I don't know how to get back to there."

"Well, that's simple," Spiltz said, draping an arm across my shoulders. Kegan snorted when I flinched and Spiltz shot him a look that was somewhere between triumphant and warning, either way, I didn't like it and shrugged his arm off. "All we have to do is retrain her the same way she learned before an-"

"No," Laon and Coco said in unison.

Coco rolled her eyes at the lioness before continuing, "We will not be training her the same way again, we barely survived that once and that was when she had our abilities."

"So we dumb down the training regiment from 'will kill you' to 'will jog muscle memory'."

"Spiltz has a point," Vern piped up, "It's not like we're starting again from scratch, the knowledge is in there, it's just a matter of breaking it out."

"Oh no, Vern just agreed with Spiltz, the end must be near," Fauna joked, making Elly giggle.

"Laugh it up, I know where you sleep," Vern snapped, glaring at the two of them.

"Calm down, Vern," Carniva said softly, placing a soothing hand on Vern's shoulder, "Threats don't help things and if it helps I also agree that Spiltz is on the right track."

Vern scowled at Carniva for a moment before huffing and storming back through the door they came in, grumbling, "Do whatever, I don't care, I have more important things to worry about."

Coco rolled her eyes.

"So what's the plan, boss?" Fauna asked.

"I guess we retrain her," Coco said.

"Ooo," Elly exclaimed, hopping from foot to foot, "Can I teach her how to fly?"

"How about we focus on teaching her how to shift before we move on to something she needs to shift to be able to do," Laon drawled as Fauna smirked.

"Fine," Elly huffed, "I'll run training drills with her."

"I'll teach her to shift," Carniva offered with a gentle smile.

"Great, I'll teach her to hunt," Fauna stated, flashing me a grin.

Laon rolled her eyes, "Oh and Coco will teach her about being a queen and Vern will teach the science behind it all and I'll teach her to fight and then we'll all live happily ever after."

The sarcasm practically dripped from the statement which means there's no way it wasn't payback when Coco shot her a smile, "Perfect, now that everyone knows their roles, go check in with your respective staff and sort out a time for Sunny to come in, I want a schedule in the next hour and someone pass along the message to Vern."

"You do realize we have duties to uphold, we don't have time to train her," Laon hissed.

"Well," Coco said in a sugar-sweet voice that did not match the steel in her eyes, "Guess your going to have to make time cause this is now your top priority, and that's an order, General."

Laon growled, whipping around opening a portal and storming through.

I glanced up at Spiltz as the others opened their own portals and left. He smiled, "She'll come around, just give her time." He reached to touch me again but hesitated and drew back his hand. He opened a portal and gave me a wave before stepping through. I looked over at Coco, she smiled, "It's all going to be alright."

Her ears flicked up and her expression turned serious, "I have to go, Kegan will take you to your room." She walked over and ruffled my hair before opening her own portal and disappearing through it.

"And then there were two," Kegan said with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes with a smile, "Let's go."

Kegan walked to the back of the door and held the door, "Madame."

I laughed as I walked through. I stepped into a hall with dark stained hardwood floors and as far as the end of the hall and around the corners in both directions, a long red rug, embroidered in gold with gold trim ran down the center of the floor. The walls were the same shade of deep red as the carpet with gold designs of leaves. There were also small windows spaced every foot down the length of the hall so natural light from the setting sun gave the corridor a soft glow. Stepping up to one of the windows I could see down into the courtyard where a training group fought in the pit, a few gardeners tended to the trees and flower beds. Further away I spotted what appeared to be a tour group viewing the various sculptures.

"It really is beautiful," I said, turning back to him. He nodded his agreement before gesturing to my right.

We began what I would soon learn to be a ten minute walk to my room because no one ever mentions how unreasonably large castles are. We walked for the first few minutes in silence before asking the question that had been eating at me for a while, "What up with you and Spiltz?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean or you wouldn't suddenly be so interested in the detailing on the walls,'' I said, spinning so I could walk backward in front of him. He looked up at me for a moment and I raised my eyebrows expectantly. He sighed, "He just gets on my nerves sometimes, he's constantly acting like he's so much better than me but the only reason he has a higher rank than me is cause he kinda dated the Katrena 2000 years ago."

I frowned at this, "I'm sure he has his reasons and he has had a lot of experience as... Katren?"

"That's right."

"Cool, anyway what I mean is it's not like he's ignorant."

"I know but he didn't work for what he has, I worked my way up through the military but he and his brother got fast-tracked to the top just because they knew the right people, especially in Spiltz's case, I mean, he was just there for the other planets to think we had it all but everyone knew she cheated on him left, right, and center, she didn't really even want him," he growled," but as soon as she's gone, he's acting like he was her one and only and they would've been mated in a couple of years just so he isn't thrown out of his castle."

I stopped in my tracks, forcing him to as well, "I cheated?" He gave me a guilty look but nodded anyways.

What else had I done? Was I a terrible person? Does that mean I'm still a terrible person? The thoughts started piling up as I tried to remember what else I'd forgotten about myself.

Kegan grabbed a hold of my shoulders, forcing me to look him in the eye, "Listen to me, you're not a monster or a whore or any of the other crap your thinking, this was a long time ago."

"I thought I told you to say out of my head," I growled, trying to turn away as I felt the prickle of tears in my eyes.

He held me in place leaning down to look me in the eye, "I'm not reading your mind, I'm reading your face, you aren't like that anymore, ok?" He searched my eyes for something for a minute before letting go. He began walking again with me trailing a short distance behind him, an uncomfortable silence filling the time. Eventually, he stopped in front of a light pink door with a cursive sign on the door that read 'Katrena's suite.'

He turned to face me once again, "Look, Inaya, I can tell you don't believe me and I know there's nothing I can say to make you believe me, your too stubborn for that, just promise me you won't beat yourself up about it too much. It was literally 2000 years ago and everyone makes mistakes." I nodded, not meeting his gaze and reached for the crystal door knob. He sighed and turned away calling a goodnight over his shoulder.

I opened to door onto the biggest bedroom I had ever seen. It had to be at least 600 square feet as it held a full living room on the left side and an enormous, intricately carved four poster bed with a canopy that was stained a creamy white. The room was done in shades of cream, gold, and pale peach. Walking into the room and turning to take it all in. The room was bathed in a rich light from the setting sun which I had an uninterrupted view of out the floor to ceiling windows the lined the opposite wall. A desk pressed right up against the glass was the only thing on the wall of windows so there were no shadows cast into the room.

I spun in a slow circle, with my hand clasped over my mouth. I headed over to the window wall to look out and take in some sun. I was grinning from ear to ear as I explore to rest of the room before eventually collapsing onto the bed. I let out a sigh as I sank about three inches into the plush duvet. A thought came to mind and I stood back up and took a few steps across the room. I then took a running leap into the middle of the bed, squealing a little as I bounced a couple times. I closed my eyes contently, tension I didn't even know I had leaking out of my body. I just lay there enjoying the silence until I heard the door open and I shot up.

A woman I didn't recognize entered and walked over. She sat down on the edge of the bed and just grinned at me. I glanced to the side, confused and a little uncomfortable as she just continued to stare with a smile on her face. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" asked frowning a little.

She looked confused for a moment but then laughed, "Oh right, I forgot." She stood up and began to shift, turning into a far more familiar face before jumping back up on the bed.

"Oh sorry, Speed, I didn't know you could, you know, do that," I said and she chuckled as she ploded up the bed, flopping down next to me.

"How are you handling everything?" she asked, stretching out her neck and laying her head head in my lap.

"Umm, it's a little overwhelming to be honest," I said, unsure of what exactly I should do now.

Does she want me to pat her head?

After a couple moments of debate I decide to risk it and gently stroke her head. She let out a small sigh and her ears flicked, "It'll get better, don't worry about it, once the girls get you on their little training regime you'll be back to your old self in no time." She glanced up at me for a second before saying, "You must be hungry."

She bounced up and took a couple ginger steps to the edge of the bed and hopped down. She trotted over to the wall and stood up on her hind legs to tap a panel with her paw. She twisted her head around to look at me, "What do you feel like?"

I shrugged, "What is there?"

"Anything you want," she replied with a laugh. I bit my lip and thought. She sighed after a moment or two, "Cooked or raw?"

"What do you mean cooked or raw?"

"How do you want your meat, cooked or raw?" She flicked her tail impatiently as I wonder whether I could even digest raw meat with throwing up.

"Cooked, definitely cooked."

She nodded tapping something on the panel, "Right, land, sea, or sky?" She elaborated at my confused expression, "Do you want something that lives on the land like a mammal or a reptile, a type of fish or amphibian, or a bird of some kind?"

"Uhh, land I guess." I said, wringing my hands. Speedet fired off a few more questions narrowing down exactly what I wanted till we eventually decided on a steak platter. The food arrived via terrified looking servant only a few minutes after Speedet had hit send on the request. We chowed down and made light conversation mostly about how I was handling everything and about life back home. I told her about college and my family back in Minnesota and about how I'd always dreamed of having a big family and lots of close friends. She filled in some gaps on exactly what she was. She clearly wasn't a whatever the rest of them were but she certainly wasn't a normal feline.

"I'm what we typically call a companion cat," she said, licking her paws after her meal. "When a Zonoya's parents decide they're ready, they are permitted to bond with a cat of their species."

"A cat, like, one from earth?" I asked, putting another mouthful of the best steak I'd ever eaten in my mouth.

She thought for a moment, "I suppose so but the ones here live a lot longer."

I nodded, "So are we supposed to be mind linked or something?"

"Not really, it's more of what you would call a soul link than a mind link, our lives and abilities are bonded together so it allows me to live as long as you do and allows me to shift into a biped form. It also allows you to access my strength, making you stronger and faster than you originally were. In short, it makes me more civilised and you more wild hence creating a symbiotic unity that makes us friends, family, and all at the same time, one creature." Her ears flicked a couple times and she shook her head, "I don't know if that makes any sense, I've never really had to explain it before." She stood up, "You're probably tired."

I opened my mouth to protest but she turned away from me and the atmosphere in the room changed and I kept quiet, a little instinct inside of my telling me she didn't want to talk about it. She walked towards a small archway in the wall and looked back at me, "I'll be in my den if you need me at any point in the night." She turned and disappeared into the hole. Still a little confused as to what exactly just happened, I finished my meal in silence.

Unsure of what to do with the plates and too exhausted to be bothered finding out, I just left them and climbed into the massive bed. Sinking into the soft mattress, I felt the excitement of the day in the form of a slow ache which I hoped would dissipate with sleep. Drifting off I sensed that I wasn't alone somehow, something or someone else was in my mind. I tried to open my eyes but lapsed into unconsciousness before I could manage. The last thing I heard before darkness claimed me was the faint humming of a familiar tune and a whispered "Goodnight."

***

"This is where I die, I got myself into this mess so I will deal with the consequences, leave me, save yourself."

Elly raised an eyebrow at me as I lay on the ground, "We only started 4 minutes ago, you can literally see the camp right over there." She gestured to the military base we had just left. I sat up, groaning, mainly because she was right, I was probably being a bit ridiculous. But in my defense, it had been a long morning.

I'd woken up to find tiny creatures fluttering around the room, and immediately freaked out, as one does. Once they managed to pry me out from behind the wall of pillows I dove behind, they explained that they were Emps, a genetically altered breed of Imps that were developed to assist with the upkeep of all magix imbued structures and their residents in the Galisis region. I'm still a little unclear on exactly what that means but I was pretty sure they were the fairy version of house elves. The two assigned to my room were a professionally dressed male and female named Cyr and Detten.

Cyr did my hair, brushing it out and twisting it into a french braid, which he somehow managed to not only accomplish in under five minutes but also got it to lie flat with no bubbles, a feat I had not in my 19 years of life, managed to accomplish even once. Even now hours later, I didn't have a single fly away. He'd then gone through the drawers of the dresser and reappeared with a simple black choker and put it around my neck.

Meanwhile, Detten had disappeared through a hatch in the wall and came back out through a full sized door next to the bed. She was carrying an outfit on a hanger, floating on tiny wings through the air as though her load weighed nothing. She'd laid it on the bed before heading for the panel Speed had used the day before to order food. She entered something before fluttering back over to hover in front of me. I realised she was carrying a tiny tablet which she scrolled through. "You need to eat breakfast, then in the next five minutes your escort will arrive to retrieve you and take you to the highlands to assist with the morning hunt per Ms. Amermalls request. You are allotted exactly 1 hour then you will be taken to the Lab for a 2 hour time slot with Dr. Crax and Dr. Ballead. You have a 30 minute period for an 'on the fly' lunch on your way to your lesson with Commander Shures. You then have a 40 minute rest period in which we will prepare you for the council meeting. You will continue to shadow the Crimson until dinner. You will eat with her then report to the library for a 15 minute session with Dr Hart then you will have night training in the basin with General Huntress. Any questions?"

Yes, who are those people?

I found out that Ms. Amermalls was Fauna when I was expected to catch a zebra with no equipment and the vast amount of directions I was given on this was to feel the ground and sense the animal's life force, follow it to its source and destroy it, which was a delightful image at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Dr. Ballead apparently was Vern, who I'm very sure did not like me nor want me there despite the insistence from Dr. Crax, a male panther, that she was like this with everyone. They attempted to teach me the science behind their ability to fly but even though I was the top of classes at college, I was so hopelessly and completely lost they mind as well have been speaking a different language, which at times they were.

As for right now, I had just learned that Commander Shures was Elly. We had begun with a weird meditation exercise where she had me stand and breath while she spoke to me. "Relax your mind," she'd said in a calming voice, "Reach down inside and visualise swimming deep below the surface." I followed her instructions, breathing deeply as I did so. "Good, now swim up," she instructed. I did as she said but found myself swimming up and up in an endless sea of blue. After a few moments Elly put her hand on my shoulder and I opened my eyes. She smiled, "Don't worry about it, let's try something else instead."

So, now here we were, jogging through the woods. Well, she was jogging, I was trudging along behind her, emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted.

I hate exercise.

"Pick up the pace, Sunny, we haven't got long and I still want to give the tree course a couple runs," Elly called back.

Huffing, I caught up with her, "What is a tree course?" She just smiled and kept going, long blonde braid swinging behind her.

I am officially deciding I don't like that answer.

"Elly?" I asked, warily, "what is a tree course?"

She picked up the pace.

Oh no.

"Wait, Elly!"