I made this as a sort of coda to the classic Sagwa episode, "How Sagwa Got Her Colors".
The warmth of the morning sunlight was the first thing she sensed. It felt so good. She kept her eyes closed, savoring the peacefulness of this moment, which felt almost otherworldly.
Things came back to her quickly then. She had dozed off during her own story, since she knew it better than anyone. Oh well, she'd still heard Mama and Baba tell it before and it never failed to give her the best night's sleep.
She opened her eyes, yawned, and got up. What would today bring? The answer came almost immediately.
"Hey, Sagwa!" came Sheegwa's voice from the sleeping cubby next to her.
"Hey, how did you know I wasn't still asleep?" Sagwa playfully asked.
"You yawn pretty loudly," Sheegwa laughed.
"I do not!" said Sagwa, although she knew Sheegwa was right. She then thought back to the previous night. "So, did you stay awake for the whole story?"
"I sure did!" Sheegwa grinned. "Sagwa, you did something amazing!"
"Oh, I don't know about that," Sagwa said, but she could feel herself blushing. But she stopped the moment she heard what Sheegwa said next: "But Mama said you also did something you shouldn't have."
"She…did?" Sagwa's voice was suddenly much quieter.
Sheegwa continued, "Yeah, but you learned from your mistake, and so did the magistrate, and I really enjoyed hearing it all…"
Sagwa wasn't really hearing her at all now. All she could really take in was what Sheegwa had said before. Had Mama really been…disappointed in her? It had never seemed to be the case. Sagwa could remember it as if it had been yesterday.
After Mama and Baba finished writing the new rules the magistrate had made the magistrate set Sagwa back down (he had been sitting in his chair, stroking her the entire time). "Thank you, Sagwa," he said to her quietly, setting her down on the table with her parents, who had had nothing but warm pride in their eyes the entire time. "I'll make sure the reader delivers these rules to the village at the first sign of sunlight," he said as he left.
"Sagwa, I'm so proud of you," Mama said gently. She had taken over the magistrate's stroking as soon as he had set her down.
"So am I," said Baba. "Are you alright? It looks like you took a nasty fall into that ink."
"I'm more than fine, Baba," Sagwa said. But then she remembered her fear of earlier that day, which seemed practically in another lifetime now. "Mama, Baba," she said softly, "I didn't mean to almost get us kicked out on the streets. I really didn't."
"What do you mean?" Mama asked softly.
"Well, I messed up the rule the magistrate wrote," Sagwa said, "and just earlier today you told Dongwa about how just one small thing we did could get us kicked out of the palace." She sighed. "I swear I didn't mean to change the rule. And it's wonderful now, because stray cats are welcome here, and the people can sing, and…"
"Slow down, little one," Mama said, smiling warmly.
"Sagwa," said Baba, "The reason we said that to Dongwa was because he needed to understand how important our job here is-something he never seems to care about."
"Wait…what?" Sagwa said, surprised.
"The magistrate may be foolish," Mama said, "and he might make bad rules, but he would never throw us out.
"We're far too important to him," said Baba. "Besides, you're just a kitten, so he would know you changed his rule by pure accident. The worst that could have happened would be that you would have had to eat nothing but rice for a week."
"Wait…" Sagwa began. "So all day…I was worried…"
"Oh, Sagwa," Mama whispered and hugged her tightly, and Baba was not a second behind.
Sagwa would never be quite sure if they hugged for a minute or an hour. All she knew was that in that moment, she felt a measure of peace and comfort she didn't know existed.
That moment was still as clear as day to Sagwa a year later, and she hated to think that Mama had secretly been disappointed or even ashamed or her. She needed to hear Mama's side of it.
She found her down in the kitchen having breakfast, (Baba was still a way on a trip delivering a message), and greeted her. "Morning, Mama."
"Good morning, Sagwa!" Mama said brightly. Then she looked concerned. "Are you alright?"
Sagwa had never been good at keeping her emotions under control, and realized her troubled expression must have shown. "I'm fine."
Mama smiled. "Then why do you look so concerned?"
Sagwa sat down beside her. "Well," she said, "It's just that Sheegwa told me that after you told her my story, well, you told her how I did something I shouldn't have." She paused. "I never thought you were disappointed in me or anything."
Mama's eyes grew sad. "Oh, Sagwa, I'm so sorry you found out about that. It wasn't for you to hear."
"Why didn't you just tell me, though?" Sagwa asked quietly.
Mama sighed. "The thing is, I didn't say that because I was disappointed. I said it because I was worried."
"You were worried something that happened a whole year ago?" Sagwa asked, curious.
"I worry that you might not have gotten down from that shelf ok," said Mama.
"Oh…" Sagwa whispered in realization. It wasn't like Mama and Baba hadn't been concerned about her climbing on things afterwards: they'd both made her promise not to climb up on high things again, but not unkindly. In fact, just yesterday, Mama had advised Sagwa against climbing onto the family's sleeping cubbies.
"For the first few months after the incident," Mama said quietly, "I would have this dream where I watched you jump down from the shelf, and you didn't make it into the ink pot. I would always wake up in fear and have to make sure you were still there. There were times I just felt so worried letting you out of my sight again."
Sagwa thought back to the months after the incident. Mama had been as proud of her as ever, but she rarely seemed to leave Sagwa's side. It all suddenly made sense now.
Sagwa walked over to her Mama's side, and gave her a loving nuzzle. "I'll try to be safer, Mama," she said.
Mama Miao smiled. "I know you will, little one," she said, kissing her daughter on the head.
Shortly after that moment with her parents that stuck with her forever, Sagwa and the rest of the Miao family went down to the kitchen. The cook was making fish dishes for them in Sagwa's namesake.
Once they had been served, Baba Miao said, "I'd like to start this meal off by just saying how greatful we are for the life we have. But tonight, we are also grateful for change of heart the magistrate has had. And it's thanks to our Sagwa, who proved what I said earlier today wrong…cats can make a difference."
Sheegwa, who was impatiently staring at her bowl, said, "Why are we waiting to eat? And why does Sagwa look funny?"
Mama patted her gently. "It's a long story, little one. Maybe when you're older you'll understand." Sheegwa nodded reluctantly. She had recently started to walk and talk, but a lot of the world's concepts, such as the rules the magistrate made, were still foreign to her, and more often than not, she would fall asleep when Mama tried explaining them.
"I don't get why we have to paint our faces tomorrow," Dongwa moaned. "Just because Sagwa fell in a pot of ink…"He was silenced by a glare from his parents. "I was just kidding!" he laughed nervously.
Just then, there was a shriek and a crash. It was Sagwa's friend, Fu-fu the bat; he's crash-landed (as usual) onto the table. "I'm ok," he mumbled, getting up.
Flying down to Sagwa, he gasped, "I'm so sorry I never came back, I just got caught up in watching the villagers sing…"
"It's alright, Fu-fu," Sagwa laughed. "I'm not in trouble, I'm a hero. The magistrate loved the singing."
As Fu-Fu gazed awestruck at his friend, Sheegwa cheered, Dongwa gave a somewhat reluctant nod, and Mama and Baba smiled at each other good-naturedly. Mama Miao said, "We're all proud of you, Sagwa. But can I ask one thing of you?"
"Sure, Mama," Sagwa said, grinning.
"Can you not climb up onto any high places in the future? You were lucky on this occasion, but getting yourself in a place you can't get down from is incredibly dangerous. You don't want to get hurt, do you?"
"No, I certainly don't," Sagwa said, nodding.
"Good," said Mama. "Then I think it's time we enjoy our lovely meal. Do you want to join us, Fu-fu?"
"Who, me?" the bat said, pointing to himself. "Um, sure! Why not? It's not like I'm needed back at the cave or anything!"
Everyone laughed, and began to eat, in honor of the day in which Sagwa got her colors.
The End.