Chapter 12: Rumours Unraveled
The sun had just decided to peek over the horizon, flooding the Junkyard in buttery yellow light. Only a few Jellicles were up and about, but one trio of cats drew particular attention from the others: an ancient greyish tom, a scarred tigress and a black siamese. The two queens seemed to be doing most of the talking, while the ancient regal-looking tom listened silently, an odd expression on his face. Finally, he broke the silence which followed.
"This story is certainly very different to what I heard from Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer," he admitted. "But it does explain the situation."
Rubena breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.
"However," the old tom continued, "I would like to know this: why would this twin of yours side with Macavity? I understand they're not on the best of terms."
"They both hate me," the tigress said bitterly. "It is worth coming to a truce of sorts to them, as long as they get rid of me. It is sort of a grudging alliance, if you will." and a case of physical attraction, she finished to herself.
Old Deutoronomy stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"What worries me is that their grudge against you could endanger the rest of the tribe," he said with a concerned expression.
"Are you going to make her leave?" Alyzria demanded, outraged. "Just because two obnoxious cats who aren't even Jellicles don't like the look of her nose?"
Rubena snorted. It just so happened that her nose was indeed slightly different to the one which graced her twin sister's features.
"Don't worry, I have no intentions of doing anything of that sort," the tom said soothingly. "I'm just trying to think of a way to keep the others safe."
Rubena hung her head slightly in shame.
"I'm sorry. I brought my problems into the whole tribe."
The Jellicle leader made a vague "forget about it" gesture, a faraway look on his features. Alyzria took her friend by her right arm.
"Let's go," she whispered. "He's off with the fairies - or at least off with the solutions to the insoluble."
Rubena nodded and followed the Siamese.
Almost immediately, they ran into the twins, who seemed quite uncomfortable. Rubena had dreaded that moment, and wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. They stopped in front of the twins, and an awkward silence followed.
"Is it true?" Coricopat asked, his right had hovering over the tigress's shoulder.
Rubena crossed her arms and looked to the ground, a small scowl crossing her features. Then she looked the black tabby straight in the face.
"If you're talking about the story 'bout me and Scruffy, no."
"Please don't take it personally," Tantomile said quietly. "With all those stories flying around, we didn't know what to believe."
There was no apparent reaction from the tigress, who had Coricopats hand resting on her left shoulder.
"Could you tell us what exactly is going on?" Coricopat asked uneasily.
Rubena looked to the side, her arms still crossed, the small scowl still on her face.
"You explain," she mumbled towards Alyzria.
Alyzria looked at her friend in concern. She had never seen her like this... She turned to the expectant Tantomile and Coricopat.
"Here's what happened. You know how beaten up Rubena was when she first arrived here?"
The twins nodded.
"I had to help Jelly, remember?" Coricopat said.
Rubena looked up, but said nothing.
"That's right. Anyway, yesterday morning, after our sparring session, the person who did that showed up - turns out she's Rubena's twin sister."
The twins looked at the silent tigress with surprise. This made sense... obviously Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had seen the twin! Tantomile turned her attention back to Alyzria.
"Was Macavity with her?"
"You bet he was. I almost sliced his throat."
"Wow, someone's having a violent influence on you," Coricopat commented with a grin towards Rubena. A glare from the tigress silenced him, and he immediately regretted his words.
"So basically, Mac and Rubena's evil clone - her name's Callisto, by the way - have teamed up. Apparently they've got a huge grudge against her."
The twins looked at the tigress again, who still was silent. Somehow, neither of them wanted to be near her right how. Tantomile cleared her throat.
"We'll start spreading the news," she announced.
"...try and set things right," Coricopat added in a mumble.
They both bounded off. Alyzria turned to her friend. What was wrong with her? She wouldn't be so upset about an old enemy, would she? Alyzria thought of Rubena as a fairly level-headed cat, even if she did love the fight training they did every morning. The tigress was still looking towards the ground, and Alyzria suspected that she was trying to hide the upset expression which clouded her features. The Siamese placed a hand on Rubena's upper arm, her blue eyes filled with concern.
"Should we do our sparring now?" she asked quietly.
She barely heard the reply.
"I guess so," the tigress whispered. Alyzria thought she had detected a small tremble in her voice.
Alyzria would have thought that her friend wouldn't be trying very hard this time, but she was a little surprised to see the fast, powerful swings Rubena manouvered her blades with. Only after they had finished did Alyzria notice how white the tigress's knuckles were, and how she had to pry her fingers off the handles of her scimitars.
After having a quick drink, Rubena sat down with her back against the stripped wheel of a rusty crane and almost curled up in a ball. Alyzria sat down next to her friend, feeling awkward. Finally she got up and cleared her throat.
"I'll go see if Munkustrap knows," she said.
Rubena looked up at her with unusually shiny eyes.
"He was there when she showed up, remember?"
"Oh, yeah..."
Alyzria sat down next to her again. Rubena stared ahead moodily.
"Go find him anyway," she said finally. "He's bound to be better company than I am at the moment."
The Siamese got up again, wondering if she should really go find the tabby in question. She looked down at Rubena again, surprised how small she looked. Like some protective wall fell down, Alyzria realised. She decided that her friend wanted to be left alone. She quickly kneeled down and gave the tigress a quick hug before bounding off in search of Munkustrap.
The tigress watched the Siamese leave, and finally allowed a single tear to trickle out of the corner of her eye and down the side of her face where it came to rest at her jawline before falling onto the dusty floor. She hated to think about what Callisto would do to her friends when she got her paws on them. Macavity would do his best to defeat Alyzria, who had humiliated him by catching him off-guard. The red ginger also loved to pick fights with Munkustrap. Callisto would go after anyone who was remotely close to Rubena. Old Deutoronomy... Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer... Jemima... Bombalurina... Coricopat... and Tantomile, for that matter.
Rubena swallowed a hard lump in her throat. She wouldn't let that happen. She wiped a second tear away from the corner of her eye and unsheathed her weapons once more, slicing through images of Callisto and Macavity which refused to get out of her mind. Finally, she collapsed and fell into a fitful sleep. Alyzria found her curled up in a tight ball and with swollen eyelids.
