Helena looked out one of the windows. She loved to see the sun set. Soon it would disappear behind the horizon, she knew. She saw the last rays die out, and looking up.

A few of her cats turned their eyes towards the window, and gazed for a moment absent mindedly, before turning away. Some looked up for a few minutes.

Helena went through her clothes. Instead of looking critically at them, and discarding some as she usually did, she seemed to know just what she was looking for right away. She selected something from among her clothes.

"Black."she said. "Black so I can blend in among the shadows."

Adela, as a black cat, could also blend in. And her eyes and ears could spot things Helena's own couldn't.

It wouldn't do to go out through the door, she thought, so opened one of the windows, and went out through there. Both she and Adela looked around, and Helena began walking away, with Adela wrapped around her shoulders.

Terry watched as someone climbed out the window. It stood still for a minute, just outside the window. Instead of climbing down, it jumped, and in the light of the full moon, he saw it clearly. Oh, no! It was her.

Looking unconcerned, Helena began to walk. She looked calm, even excited. Whatever it was, he could see she had figured it out all ready, like she had said that afternoon. Now she would just have to do it. Add whatever she had wanted so much to her collection.

"Since when does Helena wear black?"he asked himself.

He almost didn't recognize her. That was very unusual for her. Terry had never seen her wearing black. Or grey even. Or dress in something so practical. She usually dressed in only the latest fashion.

This was the first time he'd ever seen her wear something so…ordinary. He'd never seen her without her long, dangling earrings, and combs in her hair. Her hair was pulled back, as always, though. He also saw she didn't go anywhere where the any light could hit her. She kept strictly to the shadows.

He noticed that she had only one cat with her. Usually she took at least two wherever she went. And whichever cat it was, it wore no collar.

That was the only way to tell the cats apart. By learning what color collar, and what charms they wore. Although Helena switched the charms pretty often, she had so many. He'd never ceased to wonder just how Helena kept track, he had no idea. Just as she switched them, maybe she took them off when they slept.

But both the cat and Helena looked perfectly calm. As though they were only going on a mid night stroll. He really hoped they were. And her outfit, maybe it was just because it was dark out, and she liked to dress to…match the night. It could just be one of her quirks.

She walked further away, she seemed to just be wondering. Further and further. The only thing that indicated she had a sure destination was her expression.

"It's a very quiet night."she observed, whispered to Adela. "But still, anything you see or hear…"

Adela purred in response.

Finally, she stopped, and took a seat on what looked like a stone bench. Adela also climbed down from her shoulders, and into her lap. Helena took the cat, and stroked her.

Maybe she really was just taking a mid night walk, and stopped to take a rest before going back. She hadn't really gone anywhere. After this, she would certainly go back. He would be glad to have been wrong.

Even though Adela was wrapped against Helena's shoulders, Helena could see the position of the cat's ears. Adela was obviously alert, and was hearing something behind them.

Helena thought perhaps they were being followed. She contained her own curiosity, and did everything she could to stop from turning and looking in the direction in which the cat's ears were listening.

She knew, however, that it was nothing dangerous. Nothing too dangerous. Otherwise, Adela would already have let her know. It was probably only something that had caught her interest, and of little consequence, so Helena kept going, but keeping an eye on her cat. That the cat seemed so concentrated on whatever it was made had made her uneasy.

"Maybe we'd better go back! Maybe it really isn't safe here."she looked around. "Although I still haven't seen anyone. Maybe we'd better find another route to take."

The cat meowed. Helena turned back.

"Maybe we could ask Mère for help!"she said to Adela. "She would definitely know! If anyone knows, it would be her!"

Terry knew Helena wouldn't speak English. She had only Adela with her, and she always spoke to her cats in Aragonese. They responded quicker to it. So he hadn't really expected to understand a word she said. Merely record and hoped the computer translate, and find out that way.