Chapter Fifteen

The lord of this place was known as the Vashmatallafinisthia, and while his title was terrible to pronounce, his given name was even worse. I shall not mangle it here, but suffice to say that after a pleasant meal of crumpets and jellied eel, he kindly permitted me to call him Vashie.

-Lady Chatterwick’s Journey

That night, Maria and Tia decided to rest when they found a cat-sized hollow beneath a fallen oak. Tia slipped back into her Felis-shape as soon as they came to a stop, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“Oh, that’s better! I don’t know how humans can stand walking on only two feet all the time. It’s exhausting, and if you slip even a little, you’re down on the ground before you know it!” She licked the backs of her paws and began cleaning the soft, fluffy fur of her face and ears.

Maria laughed,  using her teeth to tug open the knapsack that Tia had dropped when she shifted form. She nosed out a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese, and a few small boiled eggs that hadn’t come from chickens. “I don’t know, but my little brothers and sisters always seemed in an awfully big hurry to go from four legs to two. I’m not sure Jonas ever crawled, actually. He may have gone straight from scooting around on his bottom to running all at once. Of course, it was only so that he could start following everyone else around, and getting in their way.”

She wrinkled her nose at the memory of her youngest sibling clutching at her skirts with his perpetually sticky fingers. Somehow, though, in spite of the number of times his tattling had gotten her in trouble, she’d still give almost anything to scoop up his warm, wiggly little body, and kiss his curly golden locks.

Tia paused in her bath. “Oh, that one. I got too close once, and he pulled my tail! His sister was much better, but she only ever wanted to dress me up in doll clothes. Kept telling me she had ‘pwetty dwesses’ for me, if I’d only come closer.” She snorted derisively and licked her side. “As if I would.”

Maria giggled, pushing the bag of eggs carefully so it tipped, spilling some of its contents onto a relatively clean leaf. She took a nibble of salted egg, sighing happily. “Evangeline wants to dress everyone up. I agreed to have tea with her for her third birthday, and by the time she was done dressing me, I looked like a walking wedding cake topper. She wants to be just like Mother, but she’s not very good at it yet.”

Tia bit into a round cheese, picking it up and trotting back to her spot with her chin lifted proudly, as if to display her trophy. She took a dainty bite, then said, “Are all human families as large as yours? There aren’t many families in the castle, even among the servants, but I didn’t see any other with so many children.”

Maria shook her head. “Some are, but I don’t think it’s very common. Mother says she came from a large family, and she wanted lots of children. I think three sets of twins was a bit more than she was expecting, though, and when the last two were both twins, well, she said enough was enough, and she wasn’t going to try for triplets.”

“I’d think not. Nine is a large family even among the Felis.” Tia snorted, then coughed as the snort made her choke on a bit of cheese. “We often have two or three kits at once, but not always, and mothers usually stop after two or three litters.”

“How many siblings do you have?” Maria asked, curious. Tia didn’t talk about her family much, but it sounded like it wasn’t small.

Tia tilted her head, thinking. “There are four older than me. Kyle, Tom, Ari, and Tobias. I’m the only girl. Mama tried for another after me, but she got Leo instead, and she said that was enough.” She looked down, pushing the cheese away with a paw as if she suddenly wasn’t hungry. “Leo is two years younger than me, but he went on his Proving last fall, and got his adult name already.”

Maria picked up an egg and went over to sit next to Tia, leaning comfortingly against her friend. She dropped the egg by Tia’s cheese and licked the other kitten’s shoulder comfortingly. “You’d have had your name ages ago, if you’d just told your family you could shift. In fact, didn’t you say you shifted at just five? You’d have been way younger than any of them!”

“Shifting at five would have been quite an accomplishment.” A dry voice came out of the dimness beneath the bushes lining the rambling river. Both kittens froze, the fur lifting from their backs as they spun to face the intruder. A cat stepped gracefully into view, chocolate paws followed by gleaming ivory fur. Her nose, ears, and tail tip were also dark, while the long, pale fur of her body almost glowed in the soft moonlight. Blue eyes turned to illuminated sapphires in the dimness.

Instantly, Tia flattened to the ground, lowering her head and tucking her tail between her legs. Maria thought her friend might even have whimpered, and instinctively, she stepped between the smaller kitten and the stranger.

“Who are you?” Maria demanded, back arching as she glared daggers at the larger cat. “What do you want?”

Slowly, the Felis, since that was what she had to be, stalked around Maria. Maria shifted to keep her body in front of Tia, who still cowered on the ground. When the invader completed her circle, she sat on the ground in front of Maria, tail curled languidly around her paws, clearly unimpressed by Tia’s posturing.

“Who am I? Hmm. Shouldn’t I be asking you that? After all, you’re the one who has invaded our territory. You’re not one of our Felis, and I know every one by sight and by smell.” The adult cat’s words were curt, but her amused tone took the sting out of them. She glanced at the trembling pile of kitten hidden behind Maria.

“I do, however, know Petunia. Therefore, I will answer your question, impertinent kitten. I am Griselda. I watch over this place.” She tilted her head expectantly, clearly waiting for a return of courtesies.

Maria felt her fur subside slightly. Griselda certainly didn’t seem threatening, for all that Tia was obviously terrified of her. Maria wasn’t sure why her friend would be frightened of a guard on patrol, but perhaps Tia had broken some rule that Maria wasn’t aware of, and was concerned about the consequences. Plus, Griselda had overheard their conversation, and would undoubtedly let Tia’s family know that their daughter had been lying to them for years. That was probably enough by itself to explain Tia’s reaction.

“I’m,” she hesitated before omitting her title, “Maria. I’m just, um, visiting.” She felt the last of the fluff leave her fur as Griselda chuckled warmly.

“Visiting, is it? I see. But from where? The nearest Felis community besides our own is… Well, let’s just say they’d never have taken such a young kit on such a long journey.” She tilted her head, then stood, slowly moving toward Maria with a graceful deliberation that kept the princess frozen in place. Lowering her head, the beautiful Felis sniffed at Maria’s fur, though Maria was abruptly aware that where there was a nose, there were teeth, and they were far too close to her throat.

They stood still for several heartbeats, with Maria frozen in place as the much larger adult cat took her time investigating the newcomer to her territory. At last, Griselda wound her way around Maria, leaning close so her tail briefly wrapped around Maria’s body. This strangely ritualistic greeting complete, she moved back to sit very precisely in the spot she had vacated far too many long moments before.

Though Griselda spoke to Maria, her brilliant blue eyes were locked on Tia’s shivering form. “Welcome, then, Maria, friend of Petunia. How is it that such a young human finds herself here, and wearing Felis fur, at that?”

Once Tia finally managed to speak, the entire story came tumbling out in a torrent. To Griselda’s credit, she didn’t interrupt, even when Tia admitted to turning Maria into a Felis, or when Tia told how she had transformed in order to save Maria from drowning. At the end, all three cats fell into a silence so profound that the frogs and crickets who had grown silent during their conversation began to sing once more.

“So,” Griselda said, finally. “Young Petunia has lied to her family for six years. Upon being offered an opportunity to prove herself, in spite of her apparent failings, she managed to bite one of the humans she was sent to watch, which led to that human being placed in mortal peril.”

Tia, who had relaxed enough the stand partway through her recounting of their adventures, lowered herself to the ground again. Maria’s ears flattened, and it was all she could do not to hiss at the cause of her friend’s obvious distress.

“It’s fine! I mean, yes, she lied,” Maria stumbled over the admission, but rallied, “but she had a good reason! And yes, she bit me, but it was my fault, because I dropped my book on her, and then grabbed her. You probably would have bitten someone in that situation, too!”

Tia put a paw on Maria’s wildly flicking tail and hissed, “Stop helping!”

Griselda snorted and patted her mouth in a way that, if she were human, could have been interpreted as attempting to cover a smile. “Well then, young princess,” the Felis said, “what do you think should be the consequences of Petunia’s actions? Should we all simply ignore them? Assume that she is properly repentant, and move on?”

She stood, stalking sinuously toward Maria. When she got close, she lowered her voice to a low growl. “Believe me, you have no idea what sorrow and strife Petunia’s failure to shift has caused her family. Something like that cannot simply be swept away with an ‘oops’ and an apology.”

Maria hesitated, torn between a human urge to raise her chin in defiance, and the feline instinct that showing her throat to a powerful predator was not a good idea. Finally, she crouched slightly, giving way grudgingly before the larger cat’s overwhelming presence.

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “But she’s my friend. All the bad things that happened to me because of her were accidents, but all the good ones were intentional. Whatever this Grimalkin, or her family, or whoever, decides, I’ll stand with her through it.”

The Felis stepped away gracefully, eyeing Maria thoughtfully. “I think you would, at that.” She shook her head, something about her stance seemingly suddenly almost… pleased? Satisfied? She sat down again, in the exact same spot as before, as far as Maria could tell.

“It’s a good thing, then, that I know how to solve your current predicament, little princess.” Maria gritted her teeth at the condescending phrase, but remained silent, wondering if the older cat could be telling the truth. Griselda went on, her voice almost teasing. “Now, all you have to do is go home.”