"... We have to find shelter! Now!"
Fiona, anxious, jumped off Tornado while speaking firmly, scanning the surroundings for a place to hide.
Puss, still calmly holding the black horse's reins, looked helplessly at her.
"Fiona, we already know about the..." he was about to speak, but the anxious Fiona had already spotted a cave in the distance and ran toward it.
Helpless, Puss could only urge Tornado to gallop quickly toward the cave to check if anything inside could harm the girl before she jumped in without even looking, in her fear of being seen in her ogre form.
With Tornado's gallop, in just moments they passed Fiona, who was running ahead, and reached the cave.
Puss dismounted and went inside, and only a few seconds later, a huge brown bear came running out at full speed.
"GRRAWW!" The bear roared in fright and vanished into the distance.
Fiona soon arrived and looked speechless at the bear fleeing so fast, before glancing at Puss with gratitude for caring about her and once again protecting her.
Meanwhile, farther away, the fleeing bear peeked from behind some branches at the two, powerless.
"Man, people just aren't polite these days. If you just wanted a place to sleep, you could've asked — the cave had space for everyone," the bear grumbled, rubbing his backside, where the clear imprint of a boot sole was still stamped into his fur.
But then his eyes caught sight of a huge red figure approaching the two, and they seemed unconcerned, even friendly with it, which made his lips twitch.
Without hesitation, he turned and left nonchalantly.
"Look for the bare necessities... the simple bare necessities... forget about your worries and your strife..."
…
Looking at Fiona, who had gathered some large slabs of wood and blocked the cave entrance, Puss couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Fiona, you don't need to hide your other form, we already know you're cursed," he said helplessly.
His words made her stop while carrying a large piece of tree bark, her gaze lowered.
"I'm sorry, Puss, I just don't want anyone to see that form — it's my shame," she said with slight discomfort, stepping into the cave while sealing it with the last piece of tree bark.
"Fiona..." he called, not knowing what to say.
"Good night..." Those were her parting words, as Puss heard her footsteps retreat deeper into the cave.
Turning to Aurora with a helpless look, he only received an equally helpless shrug from the dragon.
With no other choice, he had to let it go.
"Well, Aurora, I'll hunt something for us to have for dinner."
He said, scratching his head, and with her nod, Puss whistled, and Tornado, who had been grazing some grass farther away, immediately turned toward him and ran.
"Neigh!"
With a leap and a graceful pirouette, Puss landed on the running horse's saddle on his feet and disappeared into the forest under the dragon's gaze.
…
And so, the days passed as the three grew more familiar and closer to one another, but every time evening came, Fiona sought a place to hide, and up to that point, Puss still couldn't convince her otherwise.
He wasn't an ogre like Shrek, able to lessen the shame she felt at becoming an ogress, so even though he knew about the curse, she didn't want him to see the form she was so embarrassed by.
The journey through the forest lasted several days, and nothing noteworthy happened. No encounter with some deepweb Robin Hood or anything fantastic — just the three walking together… err… actually four, but Tornado had become just a third… err… fourth wheel in the story.
Of course, maybe the fact that a giant dragon was walking with them had scared off potential trouble.
The upside of the calm journey was that they could focus more on getting to know each other better.
At one point, Fiona wanted to walk barefoot and called him to join her.
Shrugging, Puss tossed his boots into Tornado's saddlebag and leapt down beside her, walking side by side.
Aurora had no footwear, so she had always been walking barefoot.
Fiona smiled as she felt the grass under her delicate feet.
"You know, in the tower, I didn't have many places to walk — always alone, always locked away. This simple feeling of walking on the cool grass, seeing these beautiful meadows… makes every second you took me out of that tower worth it." She smiled sweetly at Puss, a hint of amusement in her eyes — she still wasn't used to seeing him barefoot like that.
Puss lifted his head, revealing his green eyes beneath his hat, and smiled softly at her.
"I'm glad to see such a beautiful smile on your face," he said sincerely.
His words made her shy, and she turned her face away, a small smile forming uncontrollably.
Puss turned to Aurora, who was looking a bit down, and winked charmingly at her, which, surprisingly, lifted her spirits with just that simple gesture.
But inside, Puss was starting to feel a bit helpless.
"Ugh… taking care of two women's feelings while openly flirting with them is harder than I thought. Luckily, Aurora isn't too demanding, but I still need to give her the attention she deserves so I'm not being unfair to her feelings," he thought with an inward sigh.
But he didn't regret it; he was having fun too.
As they walked on the grass alongside the wide dirt road, they saw the path turn rocky while the forest scenery faded into the background.
Puss stopped, making everyone stop as well.
"The journey from here will become monotonous and more difficult. It'll basically be rocks and snow until the forest appears again. So I think it's best if Aurora takes us, of course, if it's not a problem for her," he explained, while putting his boots back on after tapping his foot with his front paw to clean it.
Fiona also put on her small green shoes, feeling a little disappointed. She had been enjoying the walk.
"Hrrrmmm…" Aurora growled softly and nodded, saying there was no problem in taking them.
But someone didn't seem to agree.
"Neigh!" Tornado shook his head frantically.
He hadn't liked the experience of being grabbed in a claw and carried through the sky. If he hadn't been weak and dehydrated at the time, he would have fought for his life right then.
Puss's mouth twitched at hearing the horse's complaint.
"You want me to let you go on your own?" he asked, understanding the horse's intent.
"Neigh!" Tornado nodded firmly and thumped his front hoof against his chest, confidently asserting himself.
Puss rolled his eyes at him and climbed onto Aurora's back.
"Come on, Fiona," he said, turning to her.
But Fiona frowned at Puss and was about to scold him for leaving the poor horse behind—until she saw him wink conspiratorially.
Then she felt embarrassed for having thought badly of him and climbed onto the dragon helplessly.
Soon, Aurora took flight, while Tornado stayed there watching them, their figures growing smaller in his vision.
With Aurora's flight, it took only a few minutes to cross the mountain—something that would have taken hours.
"Aurora, land over there, at the end of the rocky path. We'll camp and wait for Tornado there. If he takes too long to arrive, we'll go back to get him," Puss asked gently, stroking her scales.
"Hrrmmm…" Aurora closed her eyes happily at the gentle caresses, and soon lowered her altitude, landing on the ground moments later.
Fiona jumped down from her, turning to Puss with an apologetic look.
"So that was your plan. Sorry for not understanding earlier. I thought for a moment back there that you didn't care about—TORNADO?!!"
Fiona, who had been apologizing, suddenly froze upon seeing a black horse beside her looking at her curiously, and she screamed in surprise.
Puss massaged his forehead with a slight headache at the sight of his idiot horse using his ability.
"Ugh… I figured this might happen," he said helplessly.
He knew Tornado had such an ability, but no matter how hard he tried to teach him to use his teleportation actively, the horse simply couldn't understand it well and seemed completely unaware of his own bizarre power.
Puss had simply not gone farther because he feared Tornado wouldn't activate his ability and would get lost. But it seemed he had been worrying too much.
"H-How did he get here?" Fiona looked at Puss and asked, still stunned.
Aurora also looked confused and curious.
"Err… well, Tornado has the ability to teleport wherever he wants, but he doesn't know he has this ability, nor does he understand it, so he only uses it instinctively. He probably wanted to get to my side on land, so when we landed, he must have met the conditions for using his ability and arrived here. Well… at least that's what I imagine," Puss scratched his head, lifting his hat a bit while explaining his theory, though even he wasn't certain about it.
Fiona looked surprised at a horse with such an impressive ability, while Aurora—though curious—wasn't very surprised. Her life as a magical, fire-breathing dragon was stranger than a teleporting horse.
Seeing that Tornado had arrived, Puss gave up on the idea of camping and climbed onto Aurora again to leave the snowy forest they were in.
When they landed, once again the black horse was there, making Puss roll his eyes.
Thus, their journey to Far Far Away was close to being completed.