"Um, Azora, I don't think this is such a good... eep!"

Mittens squirms. She tugs, and she pulls. She struggles with every ounce of her kitten might! All that gets her is a stern look and a magical swat on the butt. She squeaks and goes limp as she's dragged helplessly through the hallway toward the most obvious trap in the universe. It's weirdly comfortable, being carried by the scruff of her neck. It's a strange sensation, helpless and safe at the same time. And it makes her continued squirming all the more heroic. 

The thing that stung the most in all of this is that Mittens could tell exactly what Azora was thinking. Curse or no curse, it's not like she'd suddenly become an idiot. It's just, Mittens knew she didn't care. That total confidence that she was more than good enough to get past the trap and get what she wanted anyway. The bratty, selfish insistence that this belonged to her in the first place. She might not have been this [i]bad[/i] about it, but it still felt like staring at a reflection of her younger self. A reflection that was dragging her into danger, that she was powerless against. Stupid Azora, getting to be so tall. 

"J-just think! Where did the others who took the apples go? We need to figure out a smarter way to--"

"Kitty if you don't quiet down I'm going to pack you so full of snakerchiefs they're going to start slithering out your ears. Is that what you want? [i]Mew mew mew, I'm sorry princess! I'll be such a good girl like I promised, you're my best friend![/i]"

Mittens blushes. She didn't have to smoosh her face and move her lips for her like that.

Her emerald eyes dart across the room, back to Kazelia. Her last hope for sense in all of this. It's no good, she needs more time to figure out the point of this room and find the hidden way through it. And there's only one way Mittens can see to buy that time for her. 

"Mew!"

...Honestly, thank goodness. For the first time, thank goodness for these curses. Without their subtle tug and pull, this would never work. Mittens paps her paw on Azora's shoulder and stares into her face with the brightest, cutest, most soulful eyes she can manage. 

"Please," she begs in a voice as sweet as sugar, "I just wanna protect you! Just... just let me go first! A-and if it's safe, you can follow! It'll be like a test!"

Sharp eyes try to pierce her soul. Azora holds Mittens at arms' length and looks up and down every inch of the princess trying to shine through the cat. And, it's weird. Maybe Mittens' eyes are playing tricks on her, or maybe she's so desperate for something to put her hope in that she's forcing herself to think it means anything. But she could [i]swear[/i] Azora's expression looks conflicted for a second.

"Do you promise me you won't take the Caduceus? No matter what, you won't use it or run off with it?"

Mittens hesitates. She looks back down to the end of the corridor, where Kazelia is staring at her with a definite edge of worry behind her bespectacled eyes. It's hard to tell from this far away, but is she shaking her head? Mittens smiles. 

"Of course I promise. Aren't we friends?" Mittens turns her head just enough to where it's hard to tell whether she's looking at Kazelia or Azora, "I'm counting on you! Alright?"

She hops away and reaches for the Caduceus before her stupid cowardly heart can make her flinch away from it. This is the final step to finish casting her spell. She hopes. 

Before her paw can close around the staff there's a flash of blinding blue light. When it fades, the only sign that Mittens had been there at all was a jingly green collar dropping noisily to the floor.

[Talk Sense with Wisdom: [b]9[/b]]