The queen was silent as the Marshal spoke, and she considered him for a moment, and then the other two guardsmen. One of the men had slash wounds from claws on his face, and the Marshal himself looked as though he was bleeding from bites and claw wounds as well. The second man, however, had a broken nose. Not an injury obtained from a cat. Her eyes narrowed slightly but she said nothing of it. If it was important she would find out soon enough. So Narissa just smiled again. "Then by all means, Marshal. Commence away. It'll be night soon and I must return to the castle now. Before the King starts looking for me." She nodded at her guardsmen before turning her head and walking through the arched doorway, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

~~~

Sam watched the cat as she spoke. She introduced herself as Dorothea, as a princess. Of a place called Eldonia. The name meant nothing to Sam, and she felt a chill as she was forced to accept that she was as far away from home as she could possibly be. It then became relatively easy to accept that Dorothea was actually a human who had become a cat. By magic? Of course magic existed. Of course the cat was actually a princess under a spell. Sam listened with an expression that gave away how overwhelming this was to her. Learning about the doorway she had been brought through wasn't comforting, either. The doorway that was only open when there was a full moon on the other side. In her world. Sam was finding it hard to breath. She was in another world. By now it was morning back in New York and door was closed, trapping her here. Where there were kingdoms, castles, princesses, men in armor, and apparently magic. Like something out of a story book. 

Getting her answers had done nothing but make her more uncertain. And afraid. Sam wasn't used to feeling like that. She was cynical, clever, and able to take care of herself. Here in this world though she felt lost and confused. Dorothea was promising to help her get home. Sam just had to trust her, and start walking before they got caught. 

Sam was skeptical, as usual. She had to trust a cat. A princess technically, but one who was stuck in the body of a cat. Dorothea was stuck. A bit like how Sam was stuck in this world. At this thought she closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and gathered up whatever nerve she had left. There wasn't much, but there was enough. Sam opened her eyes to meet the cat's gaze and nodded in agreement. She reached forward to lift Dorothea off of the branch and set her back on her shoulder. Then she turned and started walking. "My name's Sam," she told Dorothea after a moment. "Sam Shea. It's nice to meet you. I suppose. So this Marshal guy. I'm guessing he was the blue eyed one who was giving the orders." There were a few more moments of silence as she walked through the trees and then she glanced over at the cat again. "Dorothea? If you're the princess and the queen's men are chasing us...then they're your mother's men right? Why would your mother need you to disappear? Did she do this cat thing to you?"