black ocean, cold and dark

He had been waiting for her. He had appeared here not long ago, asleep in a tree of all places. He didn't know why and frankly, he hadn't much cared. All he cared about just then was his ass. Why? Well, because his ass, as nice as it was, was in great danger. Why? Because if he didn't find Queen Kitty, he would be skinned alive and made into her throw rug by the King himself.

Aleksei did not want to become a throw rug; not for the King, the Queen, his father. Not for anyone. So, after finding his ungainly way down from the tree, the Royal's Knight went about looking for his charge, annoyed that he had to do so at all. Ekaterina was impossibly frustrating, though he would never reveal such feelings to her. In the Queen's presence, the ginger knight was cool and collected, flirtatious (when wasn't he, though?) and smooth, if very slightly goofy. It wasn't that he tried to get under her skin, but it was fun when he did. For him, at least.

Huffing into the morning air, Aleksei continued onward walking through the glade in what felt like a never ending search.
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Ah…

The sky in her effortless, glorious blue. With waves of wispy clouds that circled like foam in a freshly poured cup of coffee. Her mind’s eye spun it with a spoon and watched as it swirled in endless spirals. A playful giggle or two, a child stuck in limbo.
A dreamy sleep still stuck in her head, still dripping from her ears it seemed. Lost in the trance of teleportation,

or perhaps it was transmutation.

For she did feel.. different? All limbs still twitched when she willed it, tail and ears wiggling at her whim. Yet something was off, something strange and delightfully twisted.

It took a few conscious blinks for her to realize she was awake and not still in her slumber. The world and all its worries soon racing back to catch up to her, hitting her like a ton of bricks. The child fled at the sight of stress, though the queen would persist. At least, whatever of her still remained.

The young woman gave a slow rise, each paw slowly bracing underneath herself until she stood tall and noble. Her eyes would survey the land after a moment of gathering herself, where they widened at the unfamiliar scenery.
No mountain crest looked like home, and every scent was an adulterated form of home. It wasn’t right, was she lost? How did she come about being so gone?

A look of worry would take over her expression without her knowledge as she padded deeper into the woods, seeking something of home. Any sign that she wasn’t so entirely displaced.

The flash of a ginger pelt took her eye, to which she turned and pursued. The visage of a man amidst the tall grass and distant trees. She studied him awhile, partially out of a beauty of vision. She tried to stare at things that were beautiful like this longer, to burn them into her memory. It hardly ever worked with all the worrying she was made to do, but it was nice.
Her turned his head, and suddenly Ekaterina's expression soured. It was the guard, the one that thwarted many of her attempts on her husband merely by his presence. The Empress was never sure if he was on their Emperor's side, though it was easily assumed to be so. How many times could she have already been at the helm, leading, if this man had not stood and watched and listened. 

“Aleksei.”

Her voice interrupted the silence of the glade. If he was going to be out here with her, in god knows where, he might as well stick with her like he had before. She knew how treacherous the open wilderness could be, even if it was someone she despised.

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Ah. Her scent. Aleksei veered to follow it, grumbling inwardly as he stepped into the forest after her, noting the prominent scent of elk. “Kat!” He would call her name as he spotted that ass of hers, grinning slightly as he enjoyed the view. He would quicken his pace though, before she turned around so as not to catch him looking. “There you are, little lady. What are you doing out here?”
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