Chapter Five:
Homecoming
“…and two strays snuck into the middle of the fray and snatched her away!” concluded a visibly worried Munkustrap. Old Deuteronomy nodded wisely. The cats had come to him after the ‘incident’. Demeter stepped forward alongside her mate.
“He’s going to harm her, I know it,” she declared, shivering at the thought. “We have to do something!” There were general murmurs of agreement amoung the cats.
“We would like to know your thoughts on the matter first,” Munkustrap continued. Old Deuteronomy was silent for a moment. It was a tricky matter that needed much thought. He spoke slowly and deliberately.
“I would not take any action just yet. Eventually we will go and find Nefret, but remember this: Nefret is Macavity’s daughter. He has every right to see her. He will not harm her.” That part was said with extra emphasize to calm the jellicles’ nerves. “Start a search if you like, but wait before you do. Father and daughter deserve some time to get to know each other.”
*****
Darkness. That was the first thing Nefret noticed when she awoke: utter, complete darkness. She involuntarily cried out, and suddenly a pair of eyes appeared at her side.
“Is something wrong?” asked a calm voice.
“It’s v-v-very dark,” Nefret replied, obviously frightened.
“Ahh,” the voice said thoughtfully. “I had forgotten that ye wouldn’t be used to the dark. My ‘pologies, Mistress Nefret.” A steady paw touched her left shoulder and led her out into a hallway. There were bright circles of light every so often, giving off just enough light for her to see the other cat. His coat was smoky grey with thin black stripes. His light green eyes held nothing but kindness and gentle humour in them. There was a long dark scar over his right eye, but it did not seem to impair his vision any. Nefret got the impression that this was an old cat; his head and tail tended to droop, and his coat was beginning to get ragged and torn.
“How did you know my name?” the kitten asked quietly. The cat grinned.
“Yer father told me. Come, we’ll go see him now.” He motioned her towards an adjacent tunnel. “Aye, he took me aside and told me to look after you until you awoke. He’s lookin’ forward to seeing you.” Nefret digested all this information.
“What’s your name?” she asked curiously.
“I be the cat Raddlebain, m’lady, an’ a faithful friend an’ employee of your father’s,” the grey cat said proudly. Nefret giggled.
“I like your accent, Mr. Raddlebain, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” She giggled again, causing Raddlebain to laugh.
“You sound like a prim an’ proper young queen, you do, but there’s some spirit in ye yet!” Nefret laughed. This was not at all what the other jellicles had led her to expect.
“Where did you get your scar from?” she asked, returning to her earlier seriousness.
“It’s a long tale, m’lady, but in short…” A gleam appeared in Raddle’s eyes. “It was around the time when I started working for Macavity. Solitaire had been with us for a couple of years, so yer father wanted to do something in celebration. The rest of us agreed to help. Yer mother was a first rate stray even back then. Anyway, he decided to get something befitting her: a diamond solitaire. A small gang of us broke into the big jewelry store down the street, and we were almost out when the alarm sounded. Pollicles came out from everywhere. We had to fight our way out. ‘Twas a stroke of luck that no-one died or was caught. And that, m’dear, is how I got this scar.” Nefret walked in silence for several moments.
“It is a long tale,” she finally commented. “Do cats fight a lot here?” Raddlebain pondered for a second or two, his tail twitching back and forth in thought.
“Aye,” he admitted. “It’s what we do – but don’t misjudge us, lass. We just do what we do.” The expression on Nefret’s face still remained skeptical. Raddlebain sighed and the two continued walking on, silence once again parting them. Before long they stood in front of a hunk of junk that blocked the tunnel.
“What is it?” Nefret asked.
“The doorway,” Raddle replied mysteriously. He protracted his claws and scraped them in a short, successive pattern against an old hubcap.
“Who’s there?” asked a gruff voice.
“Raddlebain and the mistress Nefret,” he replied. “I have instructions to bring the little miss to see her father.”
“Ahh, well then, come right in. He’s been expecting you.” The hubcap swung back with a mighty creak.
“Right this way, m’lady,” Raddlebain said and led her into a room full of cats. Macavity sat on his ‘throne,’ a pile of pillows. To his left sat Solitaire, who looked slightly apprehensive. A beautiful black kitten with red patches lay in front of her. Off to the side stood another black kitten, except he had a yellow zigzag stripe across his chest as well as yellow stripes on his tail. He was quite handsome, Nefret noticed with a blush.
“Who are they?” she asked Raddle quietly.
“Well, I believe you already know Macavity. The black queen to his left is the Lady Solitaire, your mother…the black and red kitten is your sister Desdemona. The little tom over there is Blackclaw; heir apparent, you might say.”
“Blackclaw,” Nefret whispered, trying to commit the name to memory. Raddle grinned, and approached Macavity.
“Sir,” he began formally, “may I present the Lady Nefret. I believe you two have a lot in common.” That won a few laughs from the other assorted strays gathered in the room. Desdemona only scowled. For Nefret, it was like being at a human foreign royal court, but with no idea of the formalities expected of the visitor. She hesitantly stepped forward, opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again.
“Umm, it’s nice to meet you,” she said meekly. Solitaire laughed, but Blackclaw sighed in boredom and Dezzy’s scowl seemed to deepen.
“Welcome home,” Macavity said gently. “I trust you’re well?”
“Well enough,” she replied, “considering I just found out my family is alive and I’ve just met them.”
“Ah, well, that’s good. Blackclaw, if you would.” The black kitten stepped out from behind Macavity and ushered Nefret out of the room.
“I’m supposed to take you on a tour,” he explained. It was obvious he wasn’t excited (or even happy, for that matter) to have been given this duty. Nefret grinned mischievously. ‘Might as well make it awful for him as possible,’ she thought to herself.
“Then let’s get to it, show me around,” she ordered. Blackclaw frowned and trotted down a tunnel to his left.
“What exactly is on this tour, anyway?” Nefret asked, trying to be as annoying as possible.
“You’ll see,” he replied, not even bothering to look back at her. By the end of the tour, Blackclaw had had it with the stubborn, annoying, curious, and absolutely mind-boggling kitten. “And this is where the kittens practice pouncing and other skills,” he said announcing the last stop on the ‘tour’. Nefret looked around the circular room. Off to the right, written on the wall, was a short list of names, which included both Blackclaw and Desdemona’s.
Walking over to it, she asked curiously, “What’s this?” Blackclaw walked over, and stood behind her.
“Oh, that’s the list of master pouncers.”
“Master pouncers?” Nefret repeated in confusion.
“Kittens who have been able to pounce on and pin every other kitten (cept other master pouncers, of course) and a top-level stray.” A smile lit up Nefret’s face.
“I’d like to be a master pouncer,” she declared. Blackclaw laughed, clearly amused at the notion.
“You, a master pouncer? You’re a jellicle! You’ve never had any training in your life!”
“Fine then, if you’re so sure I can’t do it, then let’s have a go at it, come on,” Nefret replied, her competitive spirit showing through. “I bet I can pin you!”
“All right,” he agreed. Both kittens crouched down into pouncing positions. “Prepare to be pinned!”
“I think not!” she replied, and leapt at Blackclaw. The other kitten easy ducked and chuckled as she tumbled head over paws. “You won’t be so lucky next time,” she promised. This time around, Blackclaw pounced. When the two kittens rolled to a stop, Blackclaw was on top with Nefret pinned helplessly beneath him. He grinned triumphantly.
“Told ya! I haven’t seen a jellicle yet who could pin a stray!” Nefret’s eyes flashed; one thing was for sure, she had inherited her father’s legendary temper. In less than a second, she had flipped and pinned Blackclaw. He struggled, but it was to no avail.
“Not bad for a jellicle, huh?” she said, grinning wildly. Blackclaw mumbled something unintelligible as Nefret released him. He stalked off; she didn’t bother to stop him. She felt she was more than capable of finding her own way. As she exited the room, a voice spoke to her from the black shadows.
“Very good, Nefret. I only know of a few cats that can pin Blackclaw,” Solitaire said as she stepped into the dim light to face her daughter.
“Thank you,” Nefret said quietly.
“I would be careful, though,” Solitaire warned. “Blackclaw does possess a temper, and-“
“So do I,” Nefret interrupted, “so maybe he should be careful around me!” It was mostly a jest, but there was a sliver of truth in her statement. Solitaire laughed merrily. It was a very beautiful laugh, she noted, befitting its owner.
“Something tells me you’ll fit in just fine here.”
“Am I ever going home?” Nefret asked bluntly.
“You are home now,” Soli replied firmly. “You don’t belong with them.”
“Why does everyone here hate the jellicles?” Nefret demanded.
“We don’t hate them, dear,” Soli said, sighing. “It started a long time ago. We don’t hate each other, but we are enemies. It’s hard to explain,” she finally admitted, at a loss for words. “Just try to understand.” Nefret shook her head and walked off in search of better answers.
