The products of a crazy little idea of the Foolish Magistrate knowing a Sudrian VIP from the same time frame! :P

I do not own/endorse Sagwa or Thomas.

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

Sagwa, Dongwa and Sheegwa were in the middle of their regular hour of calligraphy practice, when the Magistrate came into the study to see how they were progressing. "Outstanding work as usual, Sagwa!" he remarked, giving her an affectionate scratch behind the ear. "Your artistic skills will surely impress Sir Henry!"

The kittens all felt quite intrigued by this comment. "Who's Sir Henry?" wondered Sagwa.

Dongwa shrugged. "Beats me. Now let's get on with this writing: an afternoon of Kung Fu is calling my name!"

That afternoon, Sagwa met Fu-Fu and Shei-Hu in the palace garden for a game of Ti Jianzi. As they played, she noticed the Magistrate and Tai-Tai strolling through the courtyard together. Tai-Tai looked very high-strung, even more so than usual. "Are you sure it's a good idea to plunge our darling daughters into all this?" she frowned. "It could be quite a culture shock for them!"

"Don't fret, my apprehensive apricot," soothed her husband. "This will be the perfect way to introduce the girls to more of the outside world!"

"Culture shock"? "The outside world"? Sagwa thought to herself. What's all that about?

"Sagwa? Hello?!" It was Shei-Hu. "Hey! I've kinda been calling your name for the last ten seconds! In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a game here!"

"Oh, right! Sorry!" Sagwa called back. The trio resumed play, but Sagwa's head just wasn't in the game. After several failed attempts to keep the shuttlecock in the air, she sighed, then turned and headed back toward the palace. "You guys keep playing!" she called over her shoulder. "I've got other things on my mind!" Fu-Fu and Shei-Hu exchanged puzzled looks.

That evening, after the Cook had served the Miao family their dinner, he joined the Reader, who had just arrived, for a chat at the kitchen table. "It was so kind of the Magistrate to let us take some time off, while he and the imperial family are away," the Cook said.

Sagwa overheard this, and was so surprised she choked on a mouthful of fish. "Sagwa!" Mama Miao cried in alarm. "Are you alright?" Once Dongwa had given her a few good whacks on the back, Sagwa was alright, but very annoyed. "Mama, Baba," she burst out, "strange things have been happening all day! First the Magistrate mentions this Sir Henry guy, then there's talk of culture shock, and now, on top of those things, the imperial family's going away! What is going on?!"

"Now, now, Sagwa; all in good time," soothed Baba Miao. "The Magistrate has made plans for the imperial family to visit an old friend of his, Sir Henry John Norramby. They met each other long ago, when Sir Henry visited our village."

"Okay," Sagwa replied slowly. "What about this culture shock thing?"

"Well you see, dear, Sir Henry is Duke of the Island of Sodor, off the northwest coast of England," explained Mama. Now Sagwa understood why Tai-Tai had been so reluctant earlier: foreign countries like England were far more "modernised" than China. True, foreigners had visited their province before, but now the Magistrate was actually taking his family to distant shores. It was only natural for Tai-Tai to feel uneasy. But Sagwa didn't feel uneasy at all: she was utterly thrilled by this news. "Wa! The world outside of China!" she exclaimed. "Can we come too?"

"Just about everyone will be going, apart from the Cook, the Reader and Jun," Mama replied. "And as that includes you three," she added sternly, "we expect you to be on your very best behavior, especially you, Sagwa. You don't want a repeat of what happened at Tai-Tai's great aunt's house; now do you?"

Sagwa smiled ruefully. "No, Mama."

"Well, as long there are no fancy pillows or spoiled-rotten cats around, you should do just fine!" Dongwa chuckled. "And if the Sleeve Dogs even try to give you or Sheegwa any trouble," he added, striking a fighting pose, "they'll have to get through me first!"

"Aw, thanks, Dongwa!"

"Hey, what are big brothers for?"

"Now then," Baba said, "let's finish dinner and get to bed early. We'll be leaving on a steamship for Sodor at the end of the week, and I for one want you kittens to be prepared for the change in time zones."

"What do you mean, Baba?" asked Sheegwa.

"I mean it's technically the next day on Sodor already: there's a four-hour difference in time between here and there. So it would probably best if we all got some extra sleep from now until we leave, just so we won't feel too tired."

Wow! Sagwa thought, as the Miao family resumed eating. A whole new place in a whole new time zone! This'll be great!

The end of the week arrived quite soon, but to Sagwa, it seemed to take an eternity. All the villagers who could came to the harbour to see the imperial family off, and were warmly addressed by the Magistrate. "A very fond farewell to you all," he called, "and my very best of wishes until our return! Zaijian!" The villagers all applauded, and then, with a mighty blast of its whistle, the steamship cleared the dock and headed out to sea.

While the imperial family settled into their quarters, Sagwa, Dongwa and Sheegwa ran off to explore the ship. Dongwa, being the daredevil that he was, convinced his sisters to sneak into the kitchen with him to steal some shrimp; but they only succeeded in getting chased out by a very disgruntled chef. "You and your harebrained ideas, Dongwa!" snapped Sagwa, once she had caught her breath. "They're gonna get you, Sheegwa, me, or all three of us into some serious trouble one of these days! Believe me: I should know!"

"Oh, lighten up, Sagwa!" scoffed Dongwa. "He wasn't that mad!"

"Dongwa, get real! He came after you with a wok!" a familiar voice called from above. The Miao siblings looked up to see..."Fu-Fu!" Sheegwa cried delightedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd tag along to this island you kittens told me about the other day, just to see that you don't get into too many scrapes," the bespectacled bat explained as he landed next to them. "And by the look of things, I was right to do so: boy, was that chef angry!"

Dongwa rolled his eyes. "Gee; all of a sudden it's 'Educating Dongwa Day'!" he muttered. "I'm gonna go see if there's anywhere I can practice some Kung Fu on this ship!" He walked sulkily away, while Sagwa, Sheegwa and Fu-Fu all laughed.

"Fu-Fu," said Sagwa as they made their way along the deck, "there's something about your plan I don't get: how are you supposed to find food or a roost on here?

Fu-Fu rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, I hadn't really thought of food," he admitted sheepishly. "But I have been roosting from the ship's mast!"

"But what if it rains?" Sheegwa objected.

Fu-Fu slapped himself in the forehead. "Great bats in the belfry! I just can't believe I didn't think these things over! Oh well; I guess I'll just roost under a canopy if it rains. But enough o' that; what am I gonna do about food? There are hardly any bugs out here!"

Sagwa sighed. "I hope you can get by on table scraps for two weeks or so. Baba says that's how long it'll probably take to reach Sodor."

"Two weeks of table scraps?!" shrieked Fu-Fu. "Oh, I'll never survive!" He gave a feeble moan, then fainted and fell flat on his back.