"I cannot believe you managed to pull this off."
"Why?" Honor Harrington's voice was almost painfully innocent, but her eyes were full of devilry, and Eloise Pritchart squashed an unladylike snort. "I'm a head of state extending an invitation to an allied head of state. It's all perfectly proper, Madame President."
"I'm sure it is, Steadholder Harrington. I'm sure it is. And was the fact that it was bound to give Sheila and your entire company of armsmen fits a consideration or a side benefit?"
"A side benefit, of course," said Honor cheerfully. "Welcome to Harrington Steading, Eloise."
Half a dozen furballs bounded up to meet them, and Honor knelt in a tumble of 'kittens as they welcomed her home - but Eloise had frozen, stock-still in unadulterated shock, as a much older treecat named for the goddess of the hunt bounded toward her with an ecstatic bleek! of joy.
In the space of ten seconds, the President of the Republic of Haven found herself flat on her back in the dirt, twelve kilos of blindingly joyous treecat in her arms. Something astonishingly like sunlight poured through her, mind and heart and soul, illuminating old wounds and places long dark in a blaze of light and love, and as the tears rained down her face, she knew like the ringing of a bell deep inside her that she would never be lonely again.
Eloise never noticed Honor staring at her in shock and dawning joy. She didn't notice anything at all, in fact, except for the brilliant green eyes glowing into hers as her soul simply sang.
The 'cat wasn't signing. She didn't have to. Resonating along the newfound link was a tumble of ecstasy and astonishment so profound and so healing that words were completely superfluous. All the broken, jagged edges of her battered heart found themselves dulled - never healed, perhaps, but pain of the gaping wounds that had plagued her for so long was blunted somehow, with the sense that the pain was no longer hers to bear alone.
Tears falling freely down her cheeks and soaking the treecat's fluffy fur, Eloise felt as though she could purr herself.
Some nameless time later, an amused bleek brought her out of her daze, and Eloise turned with a trace of horror to look at Sharp Claw.
The treecat looked back at her, and there was no pain in his eyes. *You are my friend, Truth Seeker,* he signed calmly, as Eloise's heart squeezed tight. *And I will always be yours.* Pacing gracefully forward, he very deliberately licked her cheek, then butted her shoulder with obvious affection before he raced off to join the tumbling pile of 'kittens.
Her sole worry eliminated, she buried her face in the treecat's fur and closed her eyes. "Hello, Michèle," she murmured, the name leaping to her mind unbidden and uncontested. "I've been waiting for you forever."