Mountie sipped the last of her mocha, threw it in the trash, and wandered aimlessly around the halls of the Castle. The evening light filtered through the windows, casting odd shadows and patterns on the walls. The day was coming to a close, and the sun quickly disappeared behind the horizon. Night settled over the castle, making everything unreasonably quiet. Mountie yawned. She felt tired, but caffeine still coursed through her veins. Too many mochas before bed.

Mountie decided to head to her room anyway, despite not being tired. On her way, she ran into Lia.

"Lia! It's been a long time. I've missed you. Thank you for saving me in that tunnel." She pulled her into a hug, simultaneously yawning. "Goodness, maybe I am tired."

The Silv'ry Wanderer was lying in the grassy central area of the courtyard, enjoying the evening. It had been many long weeks since the battle, where her strike party had successfully invaded the EVUL Overlord Booky's Tower. Much to her relief, things had died down since then, giving her time to train and hone her skills.

Now, after an afternoon of working with her rapier, she was relaxing, watching her horse Sandy and her gryphon friend who was named Helios chase each other around the courtyard. Growltiger, the kitten Mountie had rescued from the Tower, was lounging in the grass next to her, looking lazy. Since coming to live at the Castle, he had at least doubled in size, probably due to the mice currently taking up residence in the stables.

Looking around at all her growing collection of animal friends, Silver muttered, "What is this? Have I suddenly become the Castle Zookeeper?"

Growlie rolled his yellow eyes at her and yawned. "Not suddenly, Sil. You've always been the Castle Zookeeper."

Silver threw a wad of grass at him, and he jumped up, looking annoyed. "What?" he meowed. "I was only joking."

Not long after she returned to her room, Lady G returned to roaming the halls. On her way, she stopped by the room where she had last seen Lu and Mountie. They were gone, but now Lady A (A1) was in their place. "Oh, hi Lady A!" she exclaimed. "I saw Mountie, and I don't know if you know it but Lu was here awhile ago. Where is everyone else?"

Lady A1 took a final gulp of her coffee, and placed the dishes back on the counter.

"I dunno. Whose you?"

A very nervous girl dressed in a light green tunic and brown leggins walked slowly down the road, in her hand was a flyer she had found at the post office, her name was Jedine and she was a combatant turned pacifist, she stopped at the solid gold gates and sighed "well here goes nothing" she remarked under her breath, and she quickly walked through the gate into a beautiful and spacious courtyard with a fountain in the center of it. she smiled and walked over to the fountain and sat on the edge of it to rest.

"Well, what do we have here, a new arrival?" Button hopped up onto the fountain next to the new girl, and sniffed her inquisitively. "Yep, couldn't have been here more than five minutes. Where you from, stranger?"

"I am come straight from my home near the monastery dear cat, I was never part of the monastery however I always sympathized with the monks, I hope to be a friend of the Lady A, " here Jedine held up her flyer "I hope to help the Lady A in her fight against the Evil tower, please dear one could you take me to the Lady?"

Button shook her head.

"The Lady only recently has locked herself into her rooms," the cat lowered her voice, "a new game is supposed to start soon, and I'll wager it starts tomorrow, as the Queen's practice is to lock herself in her room the evening before a game begins. That way, she won't be tempted to give out clues to anyone."

Jedine sighed "oh well then dear cat, could you take e to her assistant or someone else I could talk to? I do so wish to know if I will be welcome! after all, I also need to..." here the girl broke off mid-sentence "well where should I go then? and I don't suppose you have any tea? my sist-" here she stopped herself again "my parents won't let me have coffee before breakfast." Jedine looked up suddenly and smiled "Talia!" she cried happily a majestic peregrine falcon soared above her head, Jedine pulled a whistle out of her pocket and blew on it. At the sound of the whistle the falcon circled slowly down till it perched on Jedine's arm. "So dear cat, what about taking me to see someone hmmm?"

Mountie was on her way to get a glass of warm, steamed milk before bed from the coffee bar (since it was a good alternative to caffeine), and she cut across the courtyard to do so. The sound of the fountain met her ears, and it was always a comforting sound to hear. She also heard the sound of voices, and her face lit up as she saw the new arrival. She quickly cut across the courtyard to Jedine and Button, her steamed milk forgotten.

"Hello," she said excitedly. The caffeine always made her exuberant. "I'm Mountie, and who might you be?"

Lady G looked at Lady A1 and gave a slightly puzzled smile. "Well, you would be you -- at least from my point of view."

Talia screeched at the sound of Mounties voice and flew up into the air "I am Jedine, pleased to meet you Mountie, do you suppose you could help me find my way around? I am starting to get cold standing here." here she sneezed loudly and sniffed and I also seem to smell some yummy coffee, although I don't suppose I should have any as I didn't have breakfast today and coffee always makes me hyper.

Button smiled slightly.

"Oh, I am the second-in-command," she winked. "Hi Mountie."

~~

A1 looked at Lady G.

"Well, I'm most indubitably not you." she observed.

Jedine looked down at Button in confusion "But, but your a cat! how can you be her second-in-command?" Jedine looked up at her falcon and whistled the bird swooped down and landed on her arm "well its about time you called me down" pouted the falcon Jedine shrieked "you TALK!"

"It's lovely to meet you, Jedine." Mountie looked up at the dark, starry night sky. "I'd love to show you around, but it's getting late and that would be better suited for the daytime. So shall I show you to your room, and tomorrow, I can give you the full tour of the castle?"