Lin says "That looks much better."

"Thank you."

Lin says "What's with all the re-arranging?"

"Just an idea I had while I was shrunk down. The room looked really bare from that angle."

Lin says "Then what are you going to do with the empty wall? More bookcases?"

"No. I am making something for the kids."

Lin says "Is it for the kids, or is it for you to play on?"

"Can't it be both?"

Lin laughs and then comes over to kiss me before she goes back to sorting through the books. I turn my attention to the blank wall and begin building the mother of all cat trees. It goes from floor to ceiling and from the front of the cabin to where the nest is.

However, that doesn't look quite right to me, so I raise the nest and put a platform under it. That looks better, so I add some tunnels in the platform that connect to the cat tree. Then I also extend the cat tree to above the nest, now it looks perfect.

Well almost, I go through and add ramps everywhere so that Albion isn't left out. The four kids have been sitting watching me and waiting for me to finish so they can try it out. When Lin looks up from her books and sees the cat tree she bursts out laughing.

Lin says "Ha ha! Sure, that is just for the kids and you aren't going to play on it!"

"Bah, you are just jealous!"

Lin says "You know what, you are right, I am jealous. Why don't you teach me to shapeshift and make me a collar so I can play too?"

"Making you a collar is no problem, but how is your knowledge of anatomy?"

Lin says "It is fairly good, why?"

"To shapeshift you need to picture the creature you want to become in detail. Meaning you need to know how the muscles and organs work."

Lin says "In that case, a normal animal shouldn't be a problem. Just don't ask me to turn into a drake or something like that!"

"I won't, don't worry. Turning into something more powerful than you has side-effects."

Lin says "You sound bitter. Did you learn that the hard way?"

"Yeah I did. Alright kids, you can go play."

The four kids let out happy sounds and rush to start climbing the cat tree. Meanwhile, I start teaching Lin how to shapeshift and what to watch out for. Once she knows how it works, I send my mana into her mind and help guide her.

She decides on a large cat, very similar to a panther, and then I help her get the image right. Once she has the image down, the shapeshift activates and she changes form. She starts trying to get used to having four legs while I work on making another collar for her.

When the collar is done, I put it on her, and she shrinks down to the size of a kitten. Seeing the trouble that Lin is having, Nala comes down from the tree to help. With Nala showing her how to move her body, Lin quickly learns enough to move around.

I shrink back down and head onto the tree to join the kids in their game of tag. Nala continues to help Lin, while the rest of us are playing 3D tag on the cat tree. Eventually, Lin gets good enough at moving that she can start exploring the cat tree.

However, she is smart enough not to try and join in the game of tag, but Nala does. Thanks to all the playing recently, Mulan and Mushu have gotten much better at moving around. They no longer move like babies and can mostly keep up with Nala and Albion.

Neither one can fly yet, but they figure out they can glide for short distances. That allows them to get to different parts of the cat tree and makes up for their disadvantages. All in all, the game is pretty fair and a huge amount of fun for everyone.

After a few hours I break away from the game to start cooking drake meat for dinner. At first the others don't notice, but soon the smell of cooking meat ends the game. When Lin ends the shrink and shapeshift, her face is absolutely glowing with happiness.

"You certainly look like you enjoyed yourself."

Lin says "Yes! I can't even remember the last time I had this much fun!"

"And you were making fun of me earlier!"

Lin says "You're right, I was. Just because I had a lot of fun doesn't change the fact that you built the tree for yourself as much as for your kids."

All I can do at that point is laugh, Lin obviously isn't going to admit that I was right. Besides, seeing her so happy is worth letting her win a simple argument. Even though I really did build it for the kids, it will give them something to do when I am busy.

Not to mention that the cat tree also serves as an obstacle course and can help with their training. Mulan and Mushu are already showing improvements in their coordination thanks to it. Considering we are on a ship and there isn't much room to run around, this will keep them in shape.

After eating dinner the kids are too tired to play but not tired enough to go straight to sleep. So, Lin settles them in the nest and starts reading to them from one of her books. While she is doing that I decide to finish renovating the room, mainly the bedroom.

There is some empty space between the bedroom and the gate platform, so I expand the bedroom. Not only that, but I make the walls into real walls instead of privacy screens. I also add an actual door that locks, considering our nighttime activities, privacy is now a concern.

With the extra space, I add a private bathroom and basically turn it into a suite. Since there is extra space, I add some more bookcases for Lin to use. She will probably need them considering how many books we stole from the academy.

By the time I am done with the changes, the kids are all asleep and Lin is waiting for me. From the smile on her face I am guessing that she approves of the changes. Or maybe it is just the fact that I kept her in mind when making the changes.

Lin says "Well, it looks like you made it through the first day without getting bored. What's next?"

Instead of answering, I walk over, pick her up, and kiss her as I carry her into the bedroom. Soon enough Lin doesn't have the breath for anymore smart mouthing. I don't suffer even a hint of boredom for the next few hours before I fall asleep.

When I wake up in the morning I feel great, and I go out to feed the kids breakfast. As soon as the kids are done eating they immediately go to play on the cat tree. I don't think that they are going to get bored of the cat tree anytime soon.