Sorry it's been a while since my last update, but since it's finally the school holidays I'll have more time to write and update. Anyways, I realise I kinda made Sillabub into a Mary-Sue last chapter (Thanx 2 Mystitat for pointing that out) so I'll try and work on that. Also, this chapter is rated T-13+ for some stuff at the end not meant for little kittens ears. Or eyes. Whatever. Anyway, enough rambling. Read on!

"Who is she?"

"Where did she come from?"

"Has she woken up yet?"

"What's her name?"

"Every body quiet down!" Jenny made shooing motions with her paws, trying to clear the crowd of cats that had gathered around the TSE1, craning their necks to see in through the windows. "The poor dear hasn't woken up yet and she is in no condition whatsoever to..."

"Uh, actually Jenny, she's awake now." Jemima, who had been just as interested in the newly arrived queen as anyone else, had slid up to the open window to find her looking around in a puzzled manner.

All talk ceased and Jenny abandoned her attempts at clearing the area, immediately hurrying inside the car to her patients side. "Oh, you've finally woken up dear. How do you feel?"

The queen looked around at the faces staring at her, confusion lighting up her beautiful features.

"I - my leg hurts a bit but I'm otherwise fine. Where am I?"

Jenny smiled warmly. "You're at the Jellicle Junkyard, dearie. My name is Jennyanydots, Jenny for short. This is the Jellicle hospital. I expect you're feeling hungry? You've been out for quite a while."

"Well, yes I am a bit actually. But I don't want you to go to all the trouble of hunting anything for me," she hurriedly added.

"Nonsense dear, Jelly's just gone to get you something."

"But doesn't she have her own family to care for? I mean, will she really have time to go bother with me?" The queen seemed very confused about the idea of cats helping each other out.

"Of course I have time. And even if I didn't have time, I'd make it. That's what tribes do. We look out for each other," Jellylorem had just returned to the car with two fat mice which she put in front of the young queen. "Eat up, dear. What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't. It's Exotica," she said shyly before eagerly starting on the mice, seemingly not caring about her audience.

"Exotica. What a lovely name. Now you just enjoy those while remove the bandages from your leg. It's in pretty bad shape," Jenny said before going about her work.

"So, Exotica, where do you come from?" Munkustrap asked.

Exotica suddenly looked very sad. "Well, I had a mother when I just a kitten, and she looked after me until she died about a year ago. Since then I've been living off the streets, hunting whatever I can find. I'm a good hunter, but it can get very lonely." she said with a small sniffle.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Munkustrap said, indeed looking very sorry that he'd asked.

"That's alright." Exotica went back to her moue, but jumped when Jenny, who had just taken the bandages off the injured leg, gave a cry of surprise.

"Jenny, what on Earth's the matter?" Jellylorem looked up at her friend.

"Her leg! It - it's all better! There isn't even a scratch, but it was bleeding like a river this morning!"

Everyone peered at said leg and saw that this was indeed true.

"But how is that possible? I mean, you just said now that it was very painful," Munkustrap pointed out, looking amazed.

Exotica smiled shyly. "Oh, well you see, I've got healing magic. If I get hurt the wound will automatically heal, but the pain remains sometimes."

Jemima remembered that Misto had said Exotica had desperately requested a healer, and was about to ask why if she could heal herself, but was interrupted by Misto himself who had obviously forgotten any such thing.

"You can do magic too?" he said eagerly, squeezing past the adults to climb in the open window beside Exotica. "I can! I can do lightning, and dissappearing and illusions and stuff!"

She gave the black cat a warm smile that made him blush slightly, causing Jemima to frown.

"You mean you can do magic here? That's great! Every other tribe I've gone to has rejected me because of my magic. But, I expect you won't want me around any longer than neccesary. I'll go as soon as my leg feels better," she said, turning her happy, eager tone into a gloomy resignation.

These words were enough to put Misto into a fit of desperate incredulity "What? You can't leave! You've nowhere to go! Munkustrap won't turn you out, will you Munkustrap?" He turned around to face the silver tabby.

Munkustrap, who had also climbed into the car, put a paw reassuringly on the younger tom's shoulder. "Of course we won't turn Miss Exotica out, Misto." He faced the brown queen. "She's welcome to stay as long as she wants."

Exotica looked at them with tears in her dark eyes. "Really? You mean I can really stay? Oh, thankyou! Thankyou so much!" She threw her arms around Misto in happiness, turning his pinkish tinge a brilliant scarlet.

At this happy note, everyone clambered foward, eager to introduce themselves.

"I'm Pouncival, but you can call me Pounce. This is my brother, Tumblebrutus."

"Tumble. I'm the smarter one."

"That's not true!"

"I'm Victoria," the white queen said regally. "This is Electra and..."

"Etcetera!" the queenkit finished with a squeal. "Or Etcy. And this is J..." Etcy looked around and found her paws were held out to thin air. "Hey, were'd Jemmi go?"

The kittens turned there heads, suddenly realising the absence of their youngest friend.

They looked at each other and shrugged. "She'll probably turn up later," Electra said and they went back to introducing themselves to the Junkyard's newest member.

No one noticed the small black, white and red kitten slinking off into the shadows, and even if they did, they would have to look even harder to see that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

Sillabub felt a dull ache in the pit of her stomach as she stood staring at the door that separated her from Macavity's Office as he liked to call it. She tried to tell herself that it was due to the bad mouse she'd eaten for breakfast and failed miserably, all confidence she'd felt on the streets having evaporated long ago. She didn't want to enter, she wanted to stay out here in the cold hallway and not have to go in and face the wrath of the Hidden Paw, but she had no choice. He was waiting for her.

It was rumoured that the old house used to be inhabited by humans that Macavity had killed just so he could make it his dwelling. Silla wasn't sure if she believed it or not (How could any cat kill a human?), but she wouldn't put it past the Napolean of Crime.

Silla took a deep breath and forced her paw to remain steady as she lifted it to knock on the door. After an eternity of silence in which Silla tried to tell herself that she was a tough street cat who wasn't afraid of anything (again failing miserably. No matter how she acted on the streets, she knew she was still just a scared kitten), a deep voice came from the other side, "Come in."

Gulping quietly, Silla lifted her paw again and pushed the door open.

Macavity was sitting at his desk filing through a pile of papers that Silla knew to be reports from his various henchcats. He spoke to her without looking up.

"Take a seat, Sillabub," he invited, indicating to the wooden chair that was situated on the other side of his desk.

Feeling like a condemned prisoner heading towards the execution block, Silla walked stiffly over to said chair and sat down on it. She kept her head down, glancing up now and again at the Napolean of Crime who didn't seem ready to acknowledge her existence just yet. He instead went on sorting the papers, putting them into two deliberate piles for another minute or so. Silla was beginning to think she would explode from the tension, which was as tight as a piece of elastic stretched taught over their heads, when Macavity finally looked at her.

"You're late," he said. His tone was quiet, but it was enough to send shivers down the spine of any cat.

"Yes sir. I - got distracted." Silla struggled to keep the tremble out of her voice and kept her gaze fixed determinedly down.

"I see. I suppose you know why you are here?"

"Yes. I scr- I didn't complete my mission last night." Silla had a feeling that 'screwed up' wasn't the best term to use in this situation.

"Exactly. Why was this?"

She finally looked up at him. Hadn't they been over this last night? "Because the human kitten woke up and saw me. Her parents would have caught me if she'd kept wailing like that."

Macavity's eyes burned into hers and she quickly looked down again.

"Why didn't you silence it?"

If Silla hadn't been terrified out of her fur, she would have been getting annoyed. "Well, I didn't see the point, sir. I mean, life is more important than a couple of jewellry pieces, wouldn't you agree?" The look he gave her clearly said he didn't agree.

"I, I mean..." Silla gave up. Throwing pride and caution to the winds, she clasped her paws in front of her and opened her big blue eyes as wide as they would go. "Please don't punish me! I'll do better next time, I promise! I won't let anything get in my way and I'll bring back tons of loot! I promise!"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could swallow them back and choke herself with them. Macavity hated weakness, whether it was displayed by queen or tom. And she had just displayed enough weakness to put the youngest kitten to shame.

To her surprise, however, Macavity didn't give laugh and throw her across the room, as he was prone to do. Instead he looked at her with what seemed like a mixture of curiousity and - something else.

"No. I don't think I will punish you. Thieving really isn't your thing, is it?"

Silla was so surprised she was rendered quite speechless. In the Empire it didn't matter if thieving was your "thing" or not, you either did it or die!

She simply nodded. Macavity studied her for a moment before getting up and walking around her. She stood stock still as he circled her chair, looking her up and down. While he was doing so, he spoke to her. "I believe you are quite the little songbird. Is that correct, Silla?"

Silla blinked. It was the last thing she expected. "Ah, if you say so, sir." In truth she really didn't have a clue, but he was obviously expecting the affirmative.

"Sing something for me."

"S-sing? But I don't know any songs."

"Just do anything. Sing!" he clicked his fingers and the chair she was sitting on vanished and she was standing on her back paws feeling, if it was possible, even more petrified than before. Magic of any kind made her very nervous and the fact that it had just been used on her made Silla want to throw up. But that wouldn't do, not when Macavity wanted her to pull a song out of thin air and sing it right at that moment. Silla forced her fear down and thought fast. What could she do? She didn't know any songs, no one ever sang in the Empire. She racked her brain for something, anything that had any manner of tune that went with it. Then, as though someone had whispered it in her ear, a memory came to her.

A beautiful queen was standing over her. Her fur was black and gold in colour and her eyes were the deepest shade of blue. The rest of her features were vague and fuzzy, but that wasn't important. It was her voice that really mattered. The song she was singing was beautiful, clear and full of emotion. Hesitantly, Sillabub opened her mouth and sang,

"Moonlight, turn your face to the moonlight

Let the Memory lead you

Open up, enter in

If you find there, the meaning of what happiness is

Then a new life will begin."

Silla, who had had her eyes closed throughout the recital, opened them to find Macavity was no longer at his desk. In fact he was nowhere in sight. She panicked slightly and was about to look around when a voice in her ear made her jump.

"Don't stop. Keep singing."

She gulped. "But I don't know any more! That's all I remember!"

"Then sing it again." She could feel his hot breath down the back of her neck, making her shiver. However, she was quite surprised to find that the shiver carried no fear with it. Instead, Silla felt a new emotion, something she couldn't place. But she didn't have time to dwell on it.

She began the short song again, feeling more confident with every note. She was so wrapped up in it that she hardly noticed when the ginger tom behind her grasped her gently by the shoulders, didn't budge when his paws started to roam over her body. Sillabub didn't even protest as he pulled them both down onto the dusty floor, but that was when she stopped singing.

She didn't know how long they spent on the cold wooden floor of Macavity's office, but she didn't resist at all, just let him do whatever he wanted, explore where she'd never let any tom go before. For her, no one existed in the world except for the two of them, until he pushed himself on to his elbows and looked at her small figure on top of him. "You're not her," he whispered and without warning, shoved her off him.

She collided with the floor painfully, only just coming out of the trance she'd been in. Suddenly, she felt disgusted with herself, and scared that he's had that type of power over her. Silla looked up at Macavity, who'd gotten up and was pacing agitatedly. She didn't know what to do, if she should try and go back to him or just get out. Part of her, she was horrified to find, didn't want to leave at all.

Swallowing, she finally plucked up the courage to use her voice. "Sir?"

"You're not the same! No one is! No one can replace her, not even her own daughter!" he screamed, seemingly to himself. He seemed to have forgotten that Silla even existed. But his last words had caught her attention.

"Her - her daughter? Y-you mean that my mother..."

She felt his slap across her face before she could get the last words out. She looked up at him, full of fear again.

"Get out. You will never be her." His tone was not one to be argued with it. Sillabub scrambled up and fled out the door. She flew down the corridors and out onto the streets. She didn't stop until she reached the box that she shared with Fanika. Silla threw herself onto her bed and only then did she let herself dissolve in to tears.