The King's Remorse

Memories

There, slinking along the edge of the room, is the green cat I'd seen earlier.

"You," I murmur softly. The cat jumps, tensing and pressing his side against the wall.

"What's your name?" I ask. The cat's tail curls between his legs. He watches me through grey-green eyes. I tilt my head, waiting to see if he'll answer.

A group of maybe twenty Guard and Soldiers march into the room, bringing with them half a dozen people who appear to be workers from how they immediately get to work fixing the doors. About half of the Guard and Soldiers form a barrier to protect King Garonda XIV.

"Speed it up. We don't have all day," one Guard barks.

"If you wake My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV, there will be consequences." None of the workers respond, instead vigorously nodding their heads and making sure they never break stride- the door must be fixed in as little time as possible.

I look back to the wall where the green cat stood. I'm surprised when I still see him there, watching the workers with an expressionless gaze. He tries to open his mouth, and his shoulders slump when the leather strap stops him. His face falls, and he turns away.

"Hey," I call. The green cat looks up, meeting my gaze, and he freezes.

"I'm-I'm not gonna hurt you. It's not like I can break free anyways." I snort humorlessly.

"Hey, look there. The cat's talking to an invisible person. He's hallucinating!" I ignore the Guard and Soldiers as they start snickering.

The green cat meets my gaze but looks away a second later. He shifts on his paws.

"What's your name?" I try again. The green cat looks at me. I can see the wheels turning in his head. What's he trying to figure out? He continues staring, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Finally, the green cat breaks his gaze away. He frowns at the ground. When he looks back up, I frown as well. What's he doing? Is he gonna tell me?

The green cat begins to tremble again. One of his hind legs starts to morph, blending in with the marble wall behind, but it's back to normal just as soon as it started. He paws at one of his ears. Then, he looks up at me with cautious, fearful expectation. He's tenser than he's ever been before. I tilt my head to the side.

"Are you telling me your name?" I ask slowly. He nods, pawing his ear again. His jaws try to part, as if to speak, but the leather strap prevents him from forming any words.

When he lifts his gaze to mine once more, he looks more uncomfortable than terrified, but the green cat still continues to tremble and his tail remains between his legs. He paws at his ear once more.

What the hell does that mean? What's he trying to tell me? It's just a green ear -like the rest of his body- with a little tuft of fur at the end. My body's too tired to do this much thinking. But I want to know. Is it worth it to spend the energy on forcing myself to think? Will I have enough energy to get through the rest of the day? Not that I'm gonna be doing a whole lot.

"And would you look at that: the cat's still talking to himself." One of the Soldiers snickers, nearly losing it.

"Shut up!" another Soldier hisses in a whisper. "My Sovereign, His Excellency, His Honor, His Highest of all Highnesses, King Garonda XIV does not wish to be disturbed! Imagine the consequences if you're the guilty one who spoke too loud!"

"Oh, yeah. You're right! That would be the most terrible thing that could happen!"

The workers, Guard, and Soldiers are gone after another ten minutes. They leave the doors reattached and sparkling in the sunlight streaming through the windows. The green cat stands stiffly, still pressed closely to the wall. He continues to try to tell me what his name is, but I just can't quite get it. It's on the tip of my tongue, just out of reach of my grasp.