Ch. 4: Uncomfortable Conversations

Oopsacat was distracted. The little blue-gray kit hadn't seen his cousin Pussywillow for hours, and it would soon be time for lunch at their human's house. And besides, he kind of needed to ask her a question.

Crossing the 'yard absentmindedly, Oopsa was therefore unprepared for anything unusual. Like the fact that he was being stalked with perfectly leonine stealth.

Slowly the creamy tom-kit crept closer to his prey. Closer and closer and-

"Gotcha Oops!" crowed Parfax, springing out of nowhere and pinning his best friend to the dirt, with an "oof" from the latter. "How was that, eh?"

"It's a fine pounce," Oopsa coughed, short of breath. "But Par, would you let me up?"

"Oh," Par said sheepishly, getting off the blue-gray's back. "Sorry."

"S'okay," Oopsacat told him with a grudging smile. "Save it for the mice next time, though. 'Kay?"

"Mm-hmm." Parfax joined his friend as he continued to wander. After a few silent minutes, during which he could not fail to notice Oopsa's constant looking around, the former asked, "So where are we going?"

"I'm trying to find Pussy," answered Oopsa. "I saw her gossiping away earlier this morning, on my way to catch breakfast. But when I came back, the princesses' little circle had broken up. So I've been asking around, but no one knows where she went." He paused. "You don't know, do you?"

"Nope."

Oopsa sighed. "That's what I thought."

"Why do you need to find her, anyway?"

"Oh…um…I wondered who she's going to ask to the Ball." This was a lie, and both little toms knew it.

"Come on Oops.' What's the real reason?"

For the second time in three minutes, the blue-gray kit sighed. "I wanted her to help me out with…ah…"

"Spit it out." Parfax was getting impatient.

"With- I wanted her to give me some advice on how to ask someone out. I don't want to sound stupid." The words came in a rush as Oopsacat's ears flattened in embarrassment.

Par couldn't help smiling. "Sure the grandeur game wouldn't help?" The said game was a particular invention of the creamy kit's, learned from the little human toms he used to live with before sheer incompetence and their roughness forced the parents to put Par out of their house. He now put on a posh voice reminiscent of Bustopher Jones. "I say, my dear, would it be terribly much trouble to allow me to escort you to Sunday's Jellicle Ball?"

"I don't think Rumpleteazer would take me seriously if I used that voice…"

"Ah, so it's Rumple is it?" The pale tom's smile grew to a grin, and his brown eyes sparkled.

Oopsa's ears went, if possible, even lower, and he tripped a moment later…over his own feet. At this, Parfax had to laugh outright. As usual, his friend had gone end over end and landed upside down. Oopsacat, as his name implied, could be rather accident-prone.

So unlike any other tom-kit, Oopsa wasn't embarrassed at this gaffe, for he'd made far too many for such things to be much of an issue. Within moments, he was laughing too. "Dang," he chuckled. "I almost went a whole morning without having one pratfall. I was that close to setting a record."

"I think you already had a record for how long you could go without making a fool of yourself," Par joked between guffaws. "What was it…half an hour?"

"If that's the case I definitely did make a new one," his friend returned, yellow eyes tearing with mirth. "It's been what, two hours? No, two and a half."

"Yeah." The pair continued to laugh, until suddenly-

"Hey guys! Shh!" It was Rosemarine, speaking in a stage whisper as she poked her head out of Jennyanydots' ward. "The kittens are sleeping!"

"Sorry," the two tom-kits stage-whispered back, hastily quelling their laughter.

Rose nodded her thanks and ducked back inside. Oopsacat and Parfax looked at each other.

"To the dryer?"

Par nodded. "To the dryer."

Back in Jenny's ward, Rosie tiptoed away from the door and back to the marmalade queen, who sat just under the window holding two tiny kits: Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, one in each arm. They weren't twins, but might just as well have been, for they both had stripes and splotches of brown in odd places on a white base, and a patch- or in Tumble's case, a sort of ring- around only one of their eyes: Pounce's patch round his right eye, and Tumble's ring round his left. An adorable pair, yes, but more so when they were asleep.

"Did they wake up?" the blue-eyed princess whispered, resuming her seat beside the Gumbie Cat.

"Shifted a little, but they're still out, so the nap wasn't interrupted," Jenny replied, whispering as well. "Here, take Pounci. He missed you."

Aww, Rose thought affectionately as she took the little kit carefully from Jenny, cradling him gently, careful to support his head. He was so small, so fragile. If I dropped him- Bast forbid- he might just shatter into a million pieces.

But I won't- I can't. This little guy's going to grow up and be one sweet bundle of energy, the tawny princess continued her mental monologue. He moves so fast when he's awake- they both do. Just wait'll they get to be old enough for their first Ball. Any princess would want to go with 'em, I'm sure…

And of course, thinking about the Ball reminded Rose that as of today, she had six days left of her own kittenhood. Six days until she would be a queen in her own right. Six days to find a partner to go in with. To dance with…to dance that dance with. Oh joy. Rose's tail switched gradually faster and faster as she felt herself getting nervous.

Because there was only one tom she wanted to be her partner in that dance.

And he was already taken.

Rose was at a complete loss over this obstacle. Gossamew, she recalled, had just calmly finished up her summary of who'd go with whom without knowing how horrible that last neat phrase was. Oh, Rosie knew that one didn't have to dance the Mating Dance, but neither did she want to be the only new queen without a partner.

But then again, what did that title mean? Was the dance only a promise, or did it mean that at the end you had to…to…The little princess shuddered, almost forgetting that she held little Pouncival till he made a little dissatisfied noise in his sleep and wriggled a bit. For a moment she was distracted by re-settling him in her arms. However, once that was done she went right back to worrying. "Jenny?" she blurted suddenly, wincing as she realized she'd forgotten to whisper.

"Shh!" the Gumbie Cat scolded much more quietly. A few moments passed in silence as she too re-settled her young charge. Having completed this task, she continued in the necessary whisper, "All right now, what is it dear?"

Reminding herself to keep her voice down this time, Rosemarine took a breath. "When we do the…the Mating Dance…" She faltered.

"Yes?" Jenny was ever patient.

"Do I have to- to- What do I do?" Rose's whisper became perilously close to a whimper. "I don't even know how it goes."

The marmalade queen grew sympathetic at Rosie's obvious worry. "It doesn't have set steps, Rose. The Mating Dance is a mystery no Jellicle has ever been able to understand. We don't know how, but it just comes to us. The music is the only sure thing. Other than that, it's all you- you and your partner." She shifted to look into the princess' agitated blue eyes. "You'll know how to dance with him, whoever he is."

"Jenny-" Rose's panic was still going strong. "That's the thing. I don't even have a partner."

"Well it shouldn't be too hard to find one." The Gumbie Cat smiled encouragingly. "Who do you want to ask?"

Oh not this again. "I can't, Jen, I can't ask him. Someone else already has."

"Who is it?"

"It's…it's…" Rose cradled little Pouncival closer. Give me strength from this little one's innocence. She had no idea where that had come from, but at this point she couldn't have cared less. "Don't tell any of the others. Okay? You promise?"

"Absolutely."

Rosemarine swallowed and in an almost inaudible tone, barely managed to squeak, "Munkustrap." When Jenny didn't reply, she went on, "Demeter already asked him. And I know there are other toms, but oh Jenny, I can't imagine dancing with anyone but him. He's the only one I trust to-" She broke off.

"To what, Rosie?"

This time the tawny princess couldn't even look. Squeezing her eyes shut, she admitted, "That was my other question. At the end, do we have to…um…do that?"

"Do…what?" Jenny frowned a moment, then suddenly understood. She laughed quietly but hard, shaking so much that Tumblebrutus in her arms jerked awake and began to whine. This naturally set off his brother, and soon both kits were fully roused in bad tempers. The queen's laughter tapered off in the face of their unhappiness. "Oh dear. Well, they slept a little overtime anyway."

After some milk for a bit of lunch, queen and princess set their young charges loose on the floor to crawl around. Once the pair resumed their seats, continuing to keep a watchful eye on the little ones, Rose continued. "Well, even if we don't have to…you know, I still want to know how."

"How what?"

"How it happens."

It was the Gumbie Cat's turn to squirm.

"Just tell me, Jenny," Rosie begged. "Don't try to soften it, just tell." No response. "Please? It would make me feel better if I knew. Medically, you understand. Just the facts." Still nothing. "Please! Pounci and Tumble are too little to understand what we're saying anyway. And I don't want a garbled version from anyone else." Her voice grew softer. "Just this once, and I'll never ask you again."

Jennyanydots sighed. "I suppose you have a right to know…"

"Oh phew, thank you."

"But I'm only going to tell you once, so when I do, listen carefully." The marmalade queen stood and moved to a small cabinet made of an old dishcloth laid over a crate stood on its side against the wall. Folding the cloth onto the top of the crate, she extracted a book and brought it back to her seat beside Rose, quickly flipping to the right page. "Okay. Now…"

An hour of questions and answers later, Rosemarine felt surprisingly calm. Facts always made her feel better about the previously unknown. "So that's it?"

"That's it."

"Well, all right then." The tawny princess gave Jenny a smile of relief and gratitude. "Can I go get lunch now?"

"Of course dear. You've already done extra time with our little ones here, besides." Jenny hugged her young trainee. "You'll be all right, Rosie- you'll find someone. Even if it isn't you-know-who."

"Bye Jen." Rose went to the kits on the floor. "Bye-bye Pounci, bye-bye Tumble." After giving each a kiss on the head, the much calmer princess left to seek lunch and perhaps her brother. And who knows, maybe I will find someone to ask to the Ball.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up; I'm still finding my way around this site, and I was unsure if removing a document meant it disappeared completely. (Yes, go on, laugh at my noob-ness.) But having ascertained that removed documents do not disappear once submitted as stories/chapters, I am now quite at ease. Didn't mean to make you wait so long, Queen-Em! Hope you enjoy. And spread the word, would you?