Dovefeather was panicking, but it was only making things worse. She was getting more and more stuck the more she struggled, and it wasn't until she heard the bat's voice that she paused, still vibrating and sinking into the mud-- because even in death the kitten could not turn off her bees.

She listened, however, to Tal'at, and he seemed to make enough sense; the whole, flailing around thing was only making things worse. Like. A lot worse. SO MUCH WORSE. The kitten fell still, one paw still above the mud, the rest of her slowly slipping deeper and deeper-- her tail managed to stay mostly above, but still... She was stuck.

She stared up at the bat, eyes wide and fearful, as she took a few shallow breaths, the mud pressing against her sides.

"Okay-- okay, I'm done panicking! Now get me out of here, please! Oh All Mother..."

The whole situation was terribly frightening for the little kitten-- she was sure she would be dead if the little bat just flew off. Thankfully he seemed like a nice guy... But of course, he had the All Mother's gift, she was sure of it. Just what that meant for Cetus and the swamp, she had no idea.

Tal'at listened to the cat stop moving, but her panic was still apparent. With a sigh, the bat flew over her head and spoke carefully and calmly, "I am helping, I am here. Right here see? Land on head. Very careful now." He told the kitten, his mind reaching out to feel her heart beat as he slowly but surely reached out his hind toes to her head, brushing her ears. He slipped down on top of her, trying to get purchase on her body, his wings flapping hard to keep him from just plopping on her-- this had the side effect of batting at her ears, but hopefully she could put up with it for a little--

ACK.

The bat fell straight off of the cat almost immediately, whether from the mud or the feline or his own clumsiness-- hard to say. Mud splashed over his fluff coat, clinging to his body with an icy chill. No wonder she was losing her head. He shook his head, shivering.

"It is alright-- one moment now, I am fine, just let me..." He tried to keep her calm as he attempted to get back on top of her and drag her out... somehow.

Fisher was walking through Cetus, going on a hunt for Fallah and Black. The murky, damp air carried many scents, all mixed together, mostly the nasty gas smog of marshland-- but he was growing accustom to even that. He was starting to love his birthplace all over, beginning to even thing it as home after all this time. The nightmares he used to get about the mist were even declining, a moment of peace in the furry little noodle's life. With his two best friends back, what was the worst that could happen?

He sniffed about, his ears twitching as he came across the oddest sight: a small kitten, not much bigger than he was as a baby, and the tiniest goddamn "King" he had ever seen. How had they gotten there? It just didn't make much sense, all things considered, but he pushed that aside as he approached them. It looked like they were struggling in the mud-- how they had gotten that far into Cetus in the first place was beyond him-- and his coat was just as muddy as theirs so they almost looked like an unlikely marsh family.

"Um, hey there," he greeted as he hopped up on a root, finally announcing himself to them. Had they really not noticed him at all? "Do you need help?" He asked, tilting his head at them, blinking calmly. He nearly slipped off of his root as he leaned forward to sniff at the kitten, and got hit in the face with a bat wing, forcing him to recoil with a grunt.

"Jeez, hold still, will ya?"

Dovefeather squealed as the bat landed on her and promptly fell off, started batting her with his wings, and in general making more of a mess of things than actually helping her out. She was about to yell his ears off when a new voice caught her attention, making her stop and stare. Upon the root, suddenly, was a very big creature. Dovefeather had no idea what it was-- some kind of misshapen dog or cat. It was long, with a sort of lengthened bear head and-- well, frankly, it was weird.

"Oh, hello! I'm Dovefeather! And this is Tal'at! Please help us, I got stuck in the mud and I can't get out and it's very scary, very very very scary."

She insisted, her ears laying back against her skull. Tal'at was on top of her again and she felt herself sinking, but for once she decided not to do anything-- just sit there and wait, hoping that someone could save her because she knew she was beyond helping herself. Hopefully one of them, or both of them together, could get her out-- but at this point, it was certainly in the All Mother's paws.

Even though Dovefeather was sure that the Monarch's reach did not spread this far, and she was probably doomed. DOOMED.

Tal'at nearly jumped out of his skin as a newcomer came on to the scene, his wriggly body bounding up to them with alarming speed-- although the bat could only tell that it was a larger heartbeat with a long body through his magic, he was aware of the Fisher without even looking up. The mustelid offered to help immediately, much to his relief, and he flew out of the mud and landed on top of the Fisher's face, relief flooding his small form. Sure it was another stranger, but it had immediately offered help so it would be fine, right--

Wait. Tal'at remembered this one's voice. He paused, scouring his brain for the memory, but it seemed to slip away from him. This one was incredibly familiar, almost intimiately so. He tried to remember and shook his head, settling on the creature's head as a hat instead.

"Yes help please, please help her," he asked of the creature, hoping that his size would be enough to help out while he stayed far out of the mud. Of course, if the mustelid ended up stuck in the muck too, there was no help for any of them. Maybe Tal'at could find Dragon, but he knew that since they weren't Children of Rot, they were best left for dead, really. It would be such a shame. The kitten had offered to help him and everything...

Fisher sighed as the bat flew on to his face, begging for help. He distantly remembered the three-word-phrase bat at Cancer's banishment, and quickly shoved the thought away. Tal'at wasn't important, the practically drowning kitten was. He took a deep breath and dug his claws into the roots of the tree, reaching forward with his teeth. Thankfully she was holding still now, so he actually had a chance to help her. He reached over her head and found her scruff with his jaws, grabbing it firmly.

" 'Old on nwrr," he grumbled, giving a huge yank with his muscles. The kitten let out a horrible squealing squeak, but he kept tugging. His body had no problem leaning back against the suction of the mud, but it was holding tight. With a gross, nasty SSSLLOORPP noise, the kitten began to slip loose, and the mustelid, bat, and kitten flew over the root and landed on a drier part of the Cetus swamp, one that had actual, solid ground to it. With a huff and pant, he rolled over on to his belly and got back up, staring imploringly at the kitten and the bat.

"Well, there you go. Try not to get into any more trouble, alright? If you can't navigate Cetus you probably should just make your way carefully to the entrance... I can show you, if you want."

For a good, solid minute there, Dovefeather thought her legs were going to pop off. She waited politely for Fisher to grab hold of her scruff-- which, as soon as he did, she began to vibrate even more with her furious, almost violent purring. The bees apparently loved being grabbed by the scruff-- she was still a kitten after all. And then he pulled, and she felt like her whole body was being torn apart. Eventually, however, the mud did give way and she went flying over the Fisher, taking him and her new blind bat with them, landing with a thump on more sturdy ground.

Despite almost dying, she only had one thing to say:

"That was fun! We should do that again! Blessed by the All Mother, I thought I'd never get out, but wow that was so cool! I went flying for a few seconds! And they say cats can't fly, ha!"

Dovefeather was purring as she pressed up against Fisher, licking some of the nasty muck off of his cheek-- gosh, he was a mess-- Oh! Tal'at was even worse. She laughed, twisting over to him, and began to groom the mud off of his form.

She cast a glance at Fisher when he spoke his skepticism, snorting slightly.

"Don't worry, we got it. We're going feather hunting now!"

Note to self, Tal'at thought, never trust a noodle heartbeat to wear a hat gracefully.

He lay in the dirt, bushels of grass and cattails poking up around him, the breath absolutely knocked out of his small, freezing form. What had even happened? He was dimly aware of a kitten purring like a washing machine filled with quarters (whatever that meant) and then suddenly, being groomed. It wasn't like when Eve preened him, and even in his daze he couldn't imagine that it was Eve. It was something else... The cat, he supposed. It did warm him up, thankfully, so he allowed it, closing his eyes and listening to the conversation around him.

Feather hunting... Right, he wanted to get nesting supplies... To make a nest with Eve. That would be nice. He exhaled, exhausted, as a kitten licked at his cheek. Absently, he groaned and pushed her away with his wings, getting upright. He supposed they better get a move on if they wanted to find some stuff before Eve got back from her trip to the place where Mangos and lovely fruit was. Part of him wished he was there, but...

"Yes we should... We should go. Thank you Fisher--" Where had he found that name from? Perhaps he had just plucked it out of many he had heard. "--Let's go Dovefeather. Lead the way."

Fisher blinked at the pair of them as they brushed off Dovefeather's near death experience and gave a lazy quadrupedal shrug, shaking his head as he turned away. He wasn't sure honestly what they were all thinking, with their crazy all too eager "feather hunt"... But whatever it was, he wanted no part of it. He shook out his thick brown coat and splattered mud everywhere, hopping back over the root the way he had came in the first place. He had rats and deer to hunt, if he could, so off he went, slipping back into the fog of the marsh.

"Good luck then, I guess I'll see you around," he told them over his shoulder as he went, his paws walking almost daintily on the muck-- he had webbed toes made for snowy terrain, and it worked just as well on the thicker parts of the marsh, though he did have to pick around the puddles and ponds of reed-filled water. This place suited him just fine, even if the kitten didn't belong. Hopefully the bat would keep his weird Orb-Eye on her and they wouldn't get in anymore trouble, because he wasn't going to help them again. He had more important fish to fry. Get it. Cause he's a fisher.

;; fisher exit!

Dovefeather watched as the mustelid wandered off into the mist, his brown furry body becoming a blurry shape before long. She grinned, flashing her crystalline teeth at the over-sized weasel as he vanished, her tail swishing slowly. Tal'at was insisting she hurry up, but for a moment, she just wanted to See where he was going.

"See you later, friend!"

She cried after him, letting loose a loud giggle as she got to her paws and began to purr nice and loud so her blind friend could follow. Time to get the show on the road. She glanced once more at the Divine, squinting her eyes, reminding herself not to forget this foreign tree-- it meant something, it was connected to the All Mother, she was sure of it-- and then darted off into the fog.

"Come on, this way Tal'at! I think I hear something over here! Maybe it's a bird!"

The kitten mewled so loudly as they went that even the deafest of birds would hear her meowing. There was a reason why she never did any hunting-- she was remarkably bad at it. She hopped over root after root, wiggling under a fallen tree, leading the way to the All Mother knew where-- if Tal'at was lucky, she would scare a few birds into dropping some downy feathers in their frantic wake to get away.