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Retracing his steps from the night before, Sabe kept his claws out and ready. It wasn't needed. No assassins leapt from the trees, no traps slipped out from underfoot. He soon found himself at the foot of the HQ doors and pushed them open very carefully, the doors making a swishing sound as they slid across the floor.

Stopping at the opening, he waited until his eyes adjusted to the early morning gloom, even more pronounced indoors. Was there someone in there, in the shadows...someone waiting?

It felt like ages before life manifested in the hall; Sabriel winced as a highpitched squeak made itself known to his ears, painfully so, which set all of his fur on edge. It took effort to stay in one place while the source of the noise showed itself.

And that source was...a stroller? And a woman pushing it. Not very threatening. But he remembered them from somewhere, whoever they were, and that was enough to prove their guilt. A little of the feral light he'd lost in the long wait came back to his eyes and he let out a low bubbling growl in response to Delphi's cry of 'Itty!'.

It would have seemed ridiculous, a toddler (albeit quite an angry one) attacking an adult, but he didn't care. Here was the lady that had stolen Prince, and she wasn't going to get off easy.

Why was she hiding the stroller? Sabriel looked even more tense and highly suspicious as Kay edged sideways to block Delphine from view, moving somewhat closer to the two. Was that were she was hiding Prince? How stupid did she think he was??

"Shopping." Sabriel repeated quietly, disgusted. That was another good one. "Give 'em BACK." he demanded, stepping closer yet again. If she gave him another excuse... "Give Prince back!"

The atmosphere in the room - his own anger, the quivering in Kay's voice, Delphi's sobbing - was enough to drive anyone insane. When Kay took a step forward, Sabriel automatically pulled back, trembling from an onslaught of differing input. Attack, she's hiding something! Sabriel insisted, but the cat in him backed down from the confrontation, anxious and confused. What to do?

But what Kay said broke the final straw. Of course she knew who Prince was - she HAD to be the culprit, but then, she was condemned from the beginning.

"LIAR!" Sabriel snarled, pushing back all the other feelings and focused on anger. He closed the distance by pushing off on the slippery floor, leaping at her with all claws extended. And that meant a whole lot of claws...all aimed at Kay, fueled by nothing by blind fury.

Sabriel landed heavily on Kay's back, claws gouging deep into her shirt and possibly her skin, momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected her to fall to the floor, and messed up the landing badly. But the stunning didn't last for long. A growling, snarling whirlwind of fury, he clawed at any part of Kay within reach, tails whistling and cracking wherever they could as well, only thinking about doing as much harm as possible. He was hampered somewhat by having to cling to her shirt at the same time, but didn't care. NOBODY lied to him and got away with it!

Delphine had an advantage - the fishkitty had never been on his mind, and if she was, had left it completely now.

Flinching briefly when the hard rattle whacked him across the back, Sabriel nonetheless ignored it, struggling to keep Kay's hands away from him. She wasn't going to win this! She wasn't - a stream of ice cold water drenched him like a shock; his fur shot up, he gasped and hissed with a sound like sizzling water itself, letting go of Kay at the same time.

He rolled back across the marble floor, shaking with the horror of it, and sprang to all fours facing Delphine. But, all fluffed up with rage, Delphi was too intimidating to think about tackling at the moment. He was cold and angry and cold and wet and he did not like it one bit, and wanted out of there now.

Not taking his eyes off Delphine, or Kay kneeling on the floor, Sabriel started backwards for the door.

Sabriel bristled at that. And what did she call stealing Prince, hmm? But now wasn't the time. All he wanted to do was curl up and dry off, and then come back and get the lion back from them. Thieves and liars. That was all they were. Attempting to regain his compusure, he resheathed his claws, and, breaking eye contact, went slinking out between the doors.

Once out of sight, he sped up and fled for the lake - to camp, to dry off, to plan.