Chapter Text
It was a standard assignment. Not even supposed to be that dangerous. Princess Alessandra Belagomba was well aware that her personal guard were only armed with wooden swords.
This wasn't to say they were useless. Far from it! The three kittens had been terrors locked up for the safety of the entire castle back when working as the Whisperer's henchmen. They had even defeated the famed Puss in Boots (albeit by a trick from the now named Gonzalo) back when Princess Alessandra hired him to get her crown jewel back from the Whisperer.
No, their claws and own Cute Eye routine were enough. The tabards and wooden swords were just a sort of warning to those they faced. As were their own feathered hats and boots. Meant to call to mind the cat who had trained them.
Of course since coming into her service and putting their powers to the good of her kingdom, her own guards had built upon that training, but it was clear how much they still admired Puss in Boots.
In more subtle ways than when Princess Alessandra had overheard Perla scolding a guard twice her age and using "If Sir Puss knew of it he'd call you Idiota twice!".
It was unclear if the kittens had learned to speak since coming to the castle or just begun speaking more now that they felt more comfortable.
Either-way, speaking to one's guards was a needed thing, and it helped that the kittens could give a report at the end of the day. Usually taken up by Perla, who seemed the spokes-kitten for her brothers.
It also helped Princess Alessandra know that her her commands were fully understood. "Now, my distant cousin is not known for being too difficult, still, he is uppity and I trust any disparaging remarks he makes, especially when discovering his escort to the castle will be kittens...shall be...ignored", the princess said cautiously.
All three kittens had learned how to read their monarch's face by now and could translate. Please don't claw his eyes out when he insults you since he will insult you.
"Understood Princess, we shall be gracious", Pela swept off her hat and bowed, a move her brothers copied. All three kittens had not only learned (or again begun?) to speak, but become familiar with a formal way of addressing that was honestly only different than what the Whisperer had required of them in that it wasn't fear motivated.
For her part, Perla liked the princess a lot now that they served her. If all three of them had taken to Puss in Boots as a mentor, the Princess Alessandra Belagomba was like a female mentor...sort of.
She didn't go out and fight her own battles, but then you couldn't really expect a princess to do that, and she was a good sort and taught Perla all about pampering.
Replacing her hat, Perla turned to her brothers. "Alright boys, lets go get the stuffy noble!" she said. Gonzalo chuckled and they all made their way towards the front doors, which two more of the human guards opened for them.
Perla and Gonzalo had to admit, it was pretty important feeling. Timmy seemed more interested in the clouds as they walked outside.
One horse did for all three kittens and after hopping aboard, they rode off to go meet and escort this fancy noble's carriage.
"You're cats...not even grown cats...". The man raised an eyebrow and literally seemed to look down his nose at them, not seeming impressed.
Princess Alessandra Belagomba hadn't been kidding about this relative of hers.
"Yes Sir", Perla said.
"Well, I'm sorry I don't understand...", the nobleman went on, "are the real guards coming behind you, or...?".
Gonzalo's paw went to his wooden sword, and Perla placed her own paw over his to stop him. No beating this noble with a wooden sword wouldn't kill him, but they were supposed to get him back to the princess unharmed by either bandits...or themselves.
Maybe if Timmy wasn't currently chasing a butterfly they would look more impressive...
"We are the real guards Sir", Perlas said, "Princess Alessandra Belagomba's personal guard".
The noble grimaced. "My, she has fallen on hard times".
Perla figured it was time to go before she took a shot at the noble. "We'll ride ahead, follow us sir!".
As they strode over towards their horse once more, Gonzalo smirked. Maybe only he and Timmy could tell by their sister's stiff words and manner how much trouble the noble was in. "I could save up my hairballs, leave a present for him before he leaves", he whispered.
Perla smirked, then tried to look serious again. "Maybe he'll leave us alone once we get him to the princess, let's see first", she said. Gonzalo chuckled again and as Perla made her way onto their horse he turned to make sure they didn't lose track of Timmy. "Timmy, come on we're going!", he called before gripping the horse, Boots', stirrup to crawl up after his sister.
As he did so, turning from one direction to the other, he thought he caught a slight...something off in the trees behind him. It was just a blur and then it was gone. He paused with one paw on the stirrup and tried to get a better look, but the woods seemed still.
Still it gave him a bad feeling. Gonzalo was shaken from staring into the trees as Timmy crawled over him to get onto Boots' saddle. "The butterfly went home", he announced to his siblings. Perla gave him a smile and didn't comment that neither she nor Gonzalo had worried about if the butterfly would follow them or not. She then glanced down to her other brother who had yet to mount.
"Gonzalo, you coming?", she called.
Gonzalo shook his head. "Y-Yeah, sorry". He glanced one more time into the still woods before climbing up. "I thought I saw something but...now I don't", he reported as he sat behind his sister.
Perla gave the woods her own scan. "I don't see anything".
Gonzalo seemed to let out a breath at that validation that his sister didn't think anything was up. "Yeah, probably Timmy's butterfly going home. Come on, let's go".
They galloped off, leading the carriage the insulting noble was in towards Princess Alessandra Belagomba's castle. They traveled far enough down the road to notice the rhythm of Boots' own hoof beats as well as the three horses pulling the carriage, so when more hoof-beats than those sounded, from both sides of the woods, all three kittens perked up and glanced about.
Perla saw a black horse come out of one side of the woods while Gonzalo saw another from the other side. "That...I do see", Perla told her brothers.