Jason was thankful that Puck put an arm around him because he sorta half dozed in his head but was snapped awake at the place around them. He stayed close to Puck,mostly either to make him be quiet or to sorta feel safer himself.

"Well," the witch said, curling bloodless lips to smile at them. Crooked yellow teeth flashed in the light like jagged bits of bone. "What do we have here? Three handsome boys, come to visit a poor old woman. And if my eyes don't deceive me, that's Robin Goodfellow I see before me. The last I saw of you, you stole my broom and tied my house's legs so it fell over when we tried to catch you!"

Ash repressed another sigh. This wasn't starting well. He should've known Puck had already done something to earn her wrath. But at the same time, Ash had to fight the urge to smile, to laugh at such a ridiculous thought, the house falling on its face in the mud because the Great Prankster had tied its feet together.

Jason was a little caught off guard by the smile and didn't have the will to laugh nor suppress the bubbly rose gold that bubbled in his freckles,replacing laughter of their own that he couldn't do.Sometimes it's like his emotions had a will of their own with the scales. He gingerly nudged Puck's side subtly with an elbow when he realized Puck had taken her broom stick and...well that wasn't something you'd want to do. He would have poked his back with his tail instead but didn't dare shift...not right now at least. But at least he wouldn't die if he did anymore.

Ash kept his expression neutral, as it was obvious the witch was not amused in the slightest. "What do you have to say for yourself, villain?" she continued, shaking her butcher knife at Puck, who ducked behind Jason in a pathetic attempt to hide, though they could hear him trying to muffle his laughter. "Do you know how long it took me to repair my home? And then you have the bravery to leave my broom at the edge of the forest, just to prove you could take it. I've half a mind to stick you in the pot and feed you to my chickens!"

"I apologize for him," Ash said quickly, and those sharp black eyes suddenly turned on him. Ash held himself tall, unafraid but still polite, lest she decided to lump him together with two behind him. "Excuse this intrusion, old mother," he continued formally. "I am Ash of the Unseelie Court. And I need your help, if you would hear me."

The witch blinked. "Such manners. You were not raised in a barn like that one, I see." She stabbed her knife in Puck's direction, wrinkling her long nose. "And I know who you are, son of Mab. What would you have of me? Be quick about it."

If Jason hadn't heard Puck trying to smother laughter he would have gladly been serious and kept Puck safe but since he seemed to be having a little fun with it he didn't.He wasn't going to get his tail kicked for a while,he'd rather heal from his wounds and have these as scars rather than more any worse than these were already going to be. He let Ash speak,not about to do something wrong and slip up with his words.

"We're looking for someone," he said. "He was rumored to be traveling through here, through the Bone Marsh. We thought you might know where he is."

"And what makes you think I know where this person is?"

"Not a person," Ash corrected. "A cat. A cait sith. In some tales, he's known as Grimalkin. And in some tales, he's been rumored to keep company with a powerful witch out in the swamps, whose house stands on chicken legs in a fence made of bones."

"I see," said the witch, though her face and voice remained expression-less. "Well, I admire your tenacity, young prince. Grimalkin is not easy to find in the best of times. You must have come very far to seek him out." She peered closely at him, narrowing her eyes. "And this is not the first place you have searched. I can see it on your face. Why, I wonder? Why does he come so far? What is it that he desires so badly, to risk the ire of the Bone Witch? What is it you want, Ash of the Winter Court?"

"Would you believe the cat owes him money?" Puck's voice came from behind Jason's shoulder, making Ash wince. The witch scowled at Puck.

"I did not ask you, Robin Goodfellow," she snapped, jabbing a clawlike finger at him. "And you had best watch your tongue, lest you find yourself neck-deep in a pot of boiling snake venom. Right now your friend's civility is the only thing keeping me from skinning you alive, and you will be silent on my land or you will leave. My question was for the prince."

Jason nudged Puck behind him with an elbow,frustrated orange only on the edges of his freckles for about 10 seconds before it was smothered by dark purple then they turned a calm medium lavender.

"I am a prince no longer," Ash said softly. "My service to the Winter Queen is done, and Mab has cast me from her circle. I am dead to her."

"Regardless," the witch said, turning back to Ash with her piercing black eyes, "that does not answer my question. Why are you here, Ash-who-is-no-longer-a-prince? And do not attempt to mislead me with faery riddles and half-truths, for I will know, and I will not be happy about it. If you wish to see this Grimalkin, you must answer my question first. What is it you seek?"

"I..." For a moment, he hesitated. Maybe the witch knew this, maybe she was just curious, but saying it aloud suddenly made it all the more real. "I want to become...mortal," he said in a low voice. "I promised someone... I swore I would find a way to survive the Iron Realm, and I can't go there as I am." The witch raised an eyebrow, and Ash drew himself up, fixing her with a cold stare. "I want to become human. And I need Grimalkin to help me find a way."

"Well," said a familiar voice behind them, "that is an interesting request."

Ash whirled around. Grimalkin sat on an overturned bucket, a bushy gray cat with his tail curled around himself, watching us lazily.

"Oh, of course!" Puck exclaimed. "There you are. Do you know what we've been through to find you, cat? Have you been there the whole time?"

Jason looked to Grim,wondering if he usually was so hard to find then why he'd come around a lot during their last adventure,but he was was worried still about Ash becoming mortal and more worried as it would mean he'd be human...human.One of those whom still rejected him and often hated and,though mostly just a group,hunted him.

"Greetings, prince. I have heard that you were looking for me."

"If you knew, why didn't you come to us?"

he cait sith yawned, curling a pink tongue over sharp white teeth. "I have grown rather bored of court politics," he continued, blinking gold eyes. "Nothing ever changes between Summer and Winter, and I did not want to become embroiled in the endless bickering of the courts. Or the games of certain Dark Muses."

Puck winced. "You heard about that, huh? Word travels fast." He shook his head at Jason and grinned.

Grimalkin ignored him. "I wanted to know why you were looking for me, to see if I wished to make myself known. Or not." He sniffed, cocking his head at Ash. "But this request was definitely not what I was expecting of you, prince. How very...interesting."

"Foolish, if you ask me," the witch stated, waggling her knife in Ash's direction. "Does a crow become a salmon simply because it wishes to? You do not know the first thing about mortality, prince-who-is-not. Why would you want to become like them?"

"Because," Grimalkin answered before anyone could say anything, "he is in love."

"Ahhh." The witch looked at Ash and shook her head. "I see. Poor creature. Then you will not hear a word I have to say." I gazed at her cooly, but she only smiled. "Fare ye well, then, prince-who-is-not. And Goodfellow, if I see you again, it will be to hang your skin over my door. Now, excuse me." She gathered herself up and tromped down the steps, taking a swipe at Puck as she passed, which he deftly avoided.

Ash didn't like the way Grimalkin continued to stare at him, a hint of laughter in his slitted eyes, and he crossed my arms. "Do you know a way for a faery to become mortal, or not?"