Dedicated Devotion
After bingeing on Fairy Tale Theatre, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics anime, and of course YarningChick's excellent fanfiction, this story was a perfect fit to be adapted to The Cat Returns world. The Twelve Months, a Russian folk tale, was written by Samuil Marshak. I take inspiration from the original tale, the anime (Mori wa Ikiteiru), and the 1956 Soviet animation. Many lines have been lifted from the Cat Returns anime. All credit belongs to the creators of the works above.
Chapter 1 – The Bonfire
Haru shivered in the cold, biting wind. Her footsteps slipped upon the patches of ice for the umpteenth time causing her to catch herself upon the sharp, frozen edges. Her hands were too numb to see if she was bleeding.
Lin had taken her gloves as she was prone to do with many of her cousin's belongings. Though the rich girl possessed many a fine item, she often demanded the few things her lesser relative owned.
Her aunt, Lin's mother did nothing to abuse her of this notion.
"My daughter must have all of the finer things in life. She'll go places unlike you, you worthless child!"
Haru's heart clenched with revulsion. Stupid girl that she was. She begged her father to let her stay with her aunt as her parents traveled to peddle her mother's wares. With her mother's swift fingers, the woman could weave the most colorful of quilts under her capable hands. It would be of no inconvenience to stay with her mother's sister. The woman even had a daughter her own age. They would be the best of friends! Alas, it had all been a ruse on the naïve child. The woman hid a heart of a demon behind an angelic face.
Her parent's death in a carriage accident gave her aunt, as the only next of kin, free reign over her deceased brother-in-law's household. Not that they had much in the first place – only a small cottage with a garden to sustain them throughout the long year.
The small dwelling was located at the edge of a river, flanked by thick woods. The villagers were wary of the woods. The wall between the worlds was thinnest over there, they whispered. There were mysterious beings and even stranger customs done at the witching hour. Fire and sacrifice, life and death.
She scoffed. The town's leaders knew nothing but superstition. The woods were her sanctuary. She knew of the squirrels that played tag with the bouncing hares, who bickered whenever the bushy tailed animals took to the trees. Haru could even see figures that disappeared with the wind.
The girl pushed on ahead through the snow. They could not help her now.
Violets! Lin demanded the purple blooms even on this, the first new day of the year. Didn't she know that this was the dead of winter and not the blessed spring?
Nearly half frozen, Haru banged her ankle against a tree root hidden deep within the snow. Feeling the force of gravity slamming her into the ground, she knew when she fell this time, she would never get up. They'd find her frozen body the next morning like that poor match girl in the city.
Her shoulder made contact with something solid, but it wasn't the rock hard ice.
Warmth, blessed warmth, and fine, silken cloth. Something breathed in her ear with a start, but she could only concentrate on the newfound heat coming from the figure before her.
The stranger too sensed her need to escape the elements, and wrapped the shivering girl with strong arms, gathering her into a lean chest. The folds of a woolen, emerald cloak shielded the pair from the biting wind like a great blanket.
A man in the middle of the woods, Haru thought, who smelled of tea and honey. Was he as unfortunate in his lot in life as she was to be outside in this miserable weather? She pressed her forehead against a steadily pulsing heart, timing her breaths with its beat.
She could stay here forever, but as much as she was loathed to, the brown haired girl couldn't spend what little time she had left encompassed in an unfamiliar man's embrace. Lin would demand the violets.
Haru took a deep breath in her comforter's hold, taking strength from his unique scent.
Violets in winter…
She could make her way along the southern pass to the dell where she knew where the blooms grew in the glorious springtime. Maybe there would be some dormant seeds that she could grow and sprout in the old shed. That should satisfy her demanding family members.
The small girl pulled away reluctantly but with her mind made up, she remained steadfast and determined. She could do this. The same stubbornness that coaxed seeds to fruit and the cow to milk in the cold could get her through this difficult time in her life.
Haru glanced up at her savior only to encounter an alien, feline face. The moonlight must be playing tricks on her. A cat who was taller than she, wrapped in a green hood! What sort of being was he?
A fairy, one of the blessed spirits who appeared to lost mortals. He must be one of the fair folk. Maybe she could ask him for violets.
He looked as shocked as she but recollecting himself, he bowed over her hand like a gentleman.
"Please," she murmured. "I need… I need to find violets."
The man (could she call him a man?) looked confused but nodded once before disappearing in a sudden flurry of snowflakes.
"Wait! Stop!" she shouted futilely in the cold wind. Was she supposed to stay here? She'd freeze to death before he'd return!
Haru laughed half hysterical and half incredulous. An honest to goodness supernatural being had appeared before her eyes and vanished just as quickly! She was lucky not to be abducted or her heart stolen. Several had disappeared over the years into the woods never to return again. Perhaps the superstitious elders spoke truth.
If these beings existed, things in her life began to make a little more sense.
Small, unexplainable events seemed to aid her throughout the long months. The townspeople called her fairy blessed. A rain cloud just over her parched garden in the heat of summer, a surprise patch of berries where there weren't before, and a tree that seemed to reach its branches out to catch her windborne scarf were some of the things that Haru noticed.
The townfolk saw that her garden produced the brightest flowers and the largest vegetables, but they also saw how much hard work the young girl put into the small plot of land. The same could not be said of her aunt and cousin.
Haru shook her head finally making a decision to return to her original idea of finding seedlings in the dell when the quick fluttering of wings stopped her steps. The dark hue of a crow caught her eye in the whiteness. How unusual for such a creature to be out in this time of night in the middle of a snow storm. She moved towards her intended destination when the bird let out a loud caw echoing in the silence.
The animal flitted amongst the tree branches hopping to shield itself from the bitter cold.
"I might have a piece of bread to give you," Haru offered, digging into her pocket for the dry morsel. She'd often carry a cracker or some roll on her person to feed a hungry stray animal that roamed the village.
The bird cocked his head to the side for one second observing the freezing girl.
"Thanks for the offer, but I have mulberries and tea waiting for me. Now if you'll please follow me, we can get out of this terrible storm."
The girl's mouth dropped open in shock hearing the calm voice, "You can talk? You… you want me to follow you?"
The crow nodded its head in agreement before taking off into the woods. It stopped every so often to ensure the girl was following it.
Haru's teeth began to chatter. Her slight reprieve from the cold was fading fast, but still the bird flew on. Where was her mysterious guide taking her?
There! A flickering light in the distance. Was it a fire?
The welcoming blaze quickened her steps, but she paused in the entryway of a massive clearing in the middle of the forest, wary of being an unwelcomed intrusion.
Eleven figures were gathered around a great bonfire, after the crow flew to his seat. All sat on great white stones except for a tall, old grey figure who stood at the head of the group holding a long, crystal staff. She edged forward towards the strangers trying to get a better glimpse while still staying at the fringes of the circle.
A staff that was made of ice? Wait, were those ears and a tail?
With a gasp she realized these were not humans but larger than life animals. These creatures seemed to prefer standing on two legs than four. So many strange encounters in one day! Had she crossed over across the veil between the worlds? The entrance of the crow had caused the others to turn in her direction.
Curtseying with shaking legs she addressed the gathered reception, "Greetings on this night, honored sirs. If I can take a moment to warm myself by your fire, I promise not to take too much of your time."
"Hey babe." The greying one leered. "Don't you look good? Take as long as you want, sweet thing."
What the…
The one who spoke was the ancient and overweight cat holding the staff at the fire's head. His deep baritone voice couldn't hide his smarmy tone, and his mismatched eyes raked her up and down from head to toe. Near around him were other different colored animals, from snow white cats to the same black crow who had guided her here. Strange, the crow looked much larger now than before in the forest.
A young, tan colored feline raised his motley brown ears. "Why are you out in this abysmal weather?"
Haru raised bright eyes to the assembled crowd, "Violets!" She exclaimed with a sweeping gesture and a dramatic voice. The supernatural beings probably thought her mad so she might as well be as outrageous as she could.
The assembled group looked upon each other in astonishment. The girl must be touched in the head! Who looked for violets in the dead of winter?
She continued on, "My name is Haru. My spoiled cousin wants the blooms so she could appear more fetching to the boys in our town. It's too bad they would prefer her if she had a more civil tongue, but it falls on me to do the impossible." One of the spirits snickered on her right, and she could see he was a very large, white furred cat dressed in a brown cloak.
Beside the empty seat sat a slim figure, alert to her sudden presence. A deep emerald mantle and a feline face of tawny orange, his bright green eyes met her own. Her breath caught. Was he the one who held her in the wind? Handsome and kind, a devastating combination.
The assemblage murmured between themselves pondering her plight. "Poor girl," "impossible task," "outsider," were some of the fragments that drifted into her hearing. She stayed near the fire, too fearful to interject a word.
A snow white cat in a beautiful cloak so blue it matched her eyes bounded up to her.
"Haru! I'd never thought I'd see you here!"
"Do I know you?" Haru asked confused. She was sure she knew a human-sized, walking, talking cat if it approached her in her hometown.
"Yes! You do. We met when we were young, but I'll have to explain at another time."
"Please Cat King, let her get the violets. She doesn't have much time," the feline beseeched him with a submissive tone.
"You'd have to wait until March to find violets," the grey furred elder stated emphatically, but gave the figure in emerald a shrewd glance as he said it. He clicked his tongue turning his head away with dismissal, "It's your problem, Baron."
The other members quieted down to see what would be done and waited with bated breath to hear Baron's answer.
Hi all! I'm back to this fabulous fandom. One day I will write a story where Haru is not stuck in a terrible situation and abused. There's a Howl's Moving Castle reference with her heart being stolen. The initial inspiration comes the Twelve Months version found in William Bennett's compilation, The Moral Compass. I hope I can add to the great writing quality that I usually find in this category and improve from my earlier works. As always, please excuse the grammar mistakes and errors.
This story is complete and I look forward to hearing your thoughts,
Grignard