Vigilant As A Cat

Ears flat against her skull, she sank her teeth into my throat. I pummeled her belly with my hind claws. Wrenching free, I crouched, growling, tail lashing. She pranced up, forelegs raised, claws out, snarling.

I flowed up, up into human form. She followed me up, arms still outstretched. I jabbed a punch at her face. She dodged it, but not the roundhouse kick that followed.

She fell sideways, back in feline form, and dashed away, weaving between the picnic tables and animatronic band in our father's court. I followed, cat again as well.

She turned at bay against the wall, springing up as woman. I jumped on a table and leaped for her face, claws wide.

Maddy fell backward, into the shadows.

I clung to her, safest in cat form with my sister on the Shadow Roads. She began to run.

I can travel the Shadow Roads, but they do not love me the way they love Maddy. She is a true Princess. The Roads part willingly before her and curl protectively behind her. She runs farther and faster than any but our father the King.

She did not take us very far, this time. We came out of the Shadows in her favorite lost place, a longhouse of our great-grandmother's people. It smelled of wood and packed earth, smoke and sunlight on cedars.

We sat back on a bedframe, leaning against each other.

"I hope don't have to be Queen for a very long time," she said, "but if I ever am, maybe I'll move the Court here. I like it so much better than Dad's Chuck E Cheese".

I nodded. It was fun when we were kids, but now seemed kind of silly. Dad still got a kick out of it, though.

…

Yawning is so much more satisfying in cat form. I woke up where Maddy had dropped us, back in our chair in Dad's court.

I heard their voices before I opened my eyes: Dad and Maddy, not quite arguing.

They stood, not nose-to-nose, we're all too short for that, thanks to our great-grandfather's Mayan genes, but as close as they could get.

"Planning to challenge me, kitten?" he said.

"Gonna step down before you fall down, old tomcat?" Her grin mirrored his, a mouth of sharp feline teeth in a woman's face.

"A Princess for a few months and already you think you can take me." He shook his head sorrowfully. "I am grieved."

"Never, Papa, never!" A true smile, soft and loving, lit her face. She stepped into his embrace. "I'm just … worried about taking your place one day. Since Mom is fae now, I expect to wake up and find you guys off touring the Summerlands."

He smiled too, a distant look in his eyes. I'd have rolled mine if not in cat form. Mom and Dad really are like love-sick teens!

"I promise to provide sufficient warning beforehand." He turned stern. "You need much training before that day …"

"May it be many years away," muttered Maddy.

"It will be. We have work to do." He held her at arm's length. "You are my daughter, but you must swear allegiance to me as Princess to King."

She knelt before him; he held her hands palm to palm between his.

…

I dug the pen against the tablet. My comic about the Merrow being created from Titania's tears was coming along. The swoopy shapes and sea-colors are fun to work with, but so far, the story-line was a bit thin.

The bell on the door jingled. "Dad!" His faint paper and juniper scent drifted before him.

He bent to kiss my forehead. "How's it going? Anything new come in?"

"Just some movie posters. Iron Man and Snowpiercer. Oh, and Pacific Rim."

Might as well get it over with; I took a deep breath. "When is Maddy coming in? I'll need to start showing her how things work."

His forehead crinkled. "Why do you need to do that? Where are you going?"

"She's your heir. She has to learn to run the shop."

He laughed. "She's my heir in the Court, not here. You know she's not even interested in comic books!" His arm slid around my shoulders as he kissed my forehead again. "Eliza likes them well enough, but she won't want to be stuck in the shop when she has a whole Library for her playground. No. Paige, honey, you're the one I'll entrust with the shop." He stepped back, looking me in the eye. "I hope you want to take it."

My heart swelled up. "Yes," I said. "Yes, it's what I always wanted. Well, and drawing comics, too."

"You can do both. Looks like you are doing that now." He glanced at my tablet. "You'll have to work hard, too. But you know that."

"I can, uh, take business classes at the college and … and do some of the stuff you do."

"And next year you can run the shop while I take Mom for a Summerlands vacation tour." He got that goofy dreamy look. "She'd like that."

I rolled my eyes, but things seemed … brighter, easier. Maddy will be a great Queen of Cats one day; she has her Women's Shelter work, too, but the shop will be mine. Not too soon, please, Oberon! I looked down at my mer-folk drawings. Wonder if a little chap-book would sell in the Court of Silences.

…

The gangly tom-cat bristled his tail, arching his back and stepping sideways toward me, growling. I launched toward him without warning, all pointy claws and sharp teeth, and slammed him off his feet.

My jaws met his throat and my feet his belly before he could recover. He wriggled away from me and swelled into man-form.

Bad move on his part! I sighed and shook my head even as I took on fae-form, one foot already swinging round toward his head. He cringed and put up his arms.

"Enough! I yield!" He was just as gangly in adolescent man-shape.

"Varis, what are you smoking? You can't even beat me! What makes you think you can challenge Maddy?"

He kicked the floor sullenly. "I … wasn't thinking." He looked down. "It won't happen again," he said as he slunk away.

"And I didn't have to lift a finger!" said Maddy. "Will you fight all my battles from now on?"

"Don't be silly." I swung a slow kick at her; she caught it gently. "I still have to keep you in line, Miss Princess of Cats!"

So this is my life now: Second in Command to the Heir of the Court of Whispering Cats, fae comics artist, comic book shop manager. What could be better!

End

...

Title from Henry IV Part 1