I don't hold with this modern rhythm-style singing, Min. We are sea-faring folk. If you must sing, sing a shanty.
-Henry Crun

THE CAT GOES TO SEA

Haru and Baron, as promised, sparred in an empty hall. This time it was full-out, with no concession to safety except the leather straps around their necks, which were supposed to prevent decapitation. She was in a long-sleeved white blouse with large standing collar and her ever-present dun-colored leggings and black boots, while he was in a dark-brown waistcoat, white open-necked shirt with bloused cuffs and black trousers and shoes.

They fought three matches under the eyes of Muta, Toto, Shizuku, and Seiji, who watched from the second-floor railing that girdled the entire circumference of the hall along with some onlookers from the household staff and the Cat Kingdom military. Baron won the first contest. Haru won the second. Now they were tangling for the third.

"What is he doing?" questioned a livid Shizuku, as Baron closed up to Haru and punched her in the solar plexus. She grimaced and crumpled to her knees, looking at him in surprise. Shizuku heard some of the onlookers gasp. "They're not supposed to hurt each other."

"You'd better tell them that," Seiji said as Haru sat back on her haunches and kicked Baron's shins, knocking him off his feet.

The Cat tumbled away from the young woman and they both quickly stood up and faced each other again. This time Haru charged Baron, with that same peculiar whirling dervish motion Shizuku had seen her use while practicing alone on the turret top the day she swam with her.

Baron, with the slightest motion of his cane-blade, deflected Haru's sword and caused it to fly out of her hands. It soared some distance away and clanged as it hit the floor.

"She's lost," Seiji summarily concluded as the Cat brought his blade up to point at Haru's chest.

They all couldn't believe their eyes as Haru defiantly held the steel tip and placed it against her heart. Then she took a step forward, and Baron, who of course had no wish to harm her, was forced to step back, and back, and then drop his weapon as she continued to advance on him.

The acoustics were too bad for the onlookers to understand what the two were saying to one another. All they heard was Haru's triumphant "Hah!" She then backflipped until she reached her smallsword, picked it up, and with an insolent smile made a 'come-hither' gesture for Baron to attack her.

"That was pretty rotten of her," Toto said from his perch on the railings.

"Rotten-schmotten," said Muta, as Baron obliged his opponent and stepped towards Haru, cane-sword once more in hand. "I think she's doing the right thing, and so is Baron."

"What do you mean?" Seiji asked.

"You can't afford to fight fair against the Gang and expect to survive," said Muta.

"I think I understand," Shizuku concurred as the two began clashing swords again. "But this is getting really dangerous. What if one of them loses their temper?"

"Then the other will probably kill him or her," Muta surmised.

"Muta, you're being too melodramatic," Toto cawed.

"Shut up. Who asked you?" The fat cat put a paw to his temple. "Oh, my head. Shizuku-chan, could you please do something about it? Pretty please?"

------oOo------

In the end it was Haru who won, by some more trickery, adroit maneuvering and stamping on Baron's sword, causing him to let go of it. The Cat knelt on one knee in front of her as the point of her blade wavered about his throat. He had been caught trying to retrieve his weapon.

"I yield," the Cat said, breathing hard. "You've won."

"And you agree to obey any command I might give?" Haru asked, looking down imperiously at him.

Baron nodded.

Haru slowly withdrew her sword and sheathed it, then helped the Cat to his feet. Baron retrieved his cane-blade and tuxedo and put one back in its scabbard and draped the other over his arm. Then he bounced his walking-stick off the floor, caught it, and turned to face Haru.

"What is your wish, milady?" he asked as he unstrapped his neck protector, his voice ringing throughout the hall.

For an answer, Haru stepped up to him and whispered something in his ear. The Cat seemed taken aback for a moment, and he and his young lover faced each other like a pair of graven statues, contemplating what they saw in each other's eyes. It was clear to Shizuku that not all the contests down on the floor were over yet.

Baron put a hand to his chest and bowed. Haru smiled exultantly and nodded back, after which the Cat put on his tuxedo and motioned for Muta and Toto to join him downstairs.

Haru let him go, and Shizuku and Seiji followed Muta and Toto down the stairs and joined her. They formed a little throng, while the Cat Business Office agents formed another.

Shizuku was the first to speak. She marked the bright, happy eyes of the younger woman as she asked, "What did you command him to do?"

An impish smile formed on Haru's lips. "Hi-mi-tsu," she spelled out quietly. "A secret for lovers' ears only."

"I'm a lover, Haru," remarked Seiji, boldly putting an arm around his spouse's shoulders. "Won't you tell me?"

Harrumphing, Shizuku caught hold of his forearm and gave it a friendly pinch. "If she won't tell a woman, what makes you think she'll tell you?"

Haru giggled. Shizuku attributed it to the tapering off of her adrenaline rush, the winding down of her system to normal. "I'm sorry, I can't tell both of you. If I did Baron would be dreadfully embarrassed." She excused herself, saying that she had to pack her things, and urged Shizuku and Seiji to do the same.

As Haru walked out of the hall through one of the main doors Shizuku looked at her husband. "Pack? It's only eight in the morning!"

"I don't know," said Seiji. "Seems like a good idea, don't you think? Come on, let's go fix our stuff as well."

"But I've been putting our things away a bit at a time for two days now," said Shizuku. "We don't need to pack much more. And since we're coming back to Fort Lorum anyway, I'm not going to include everything in our bags."

"Oh, does that mean you're going to leave behind that beastly cat topiary you bought in town?"

"Yes, and for your information it's not beastly. It's cute."

"I'm sure it is," Seiji humored her. The horrible green thing in a pot had been why Shizuku had helped out in the kitchen, to let her work pay for its cost. Seiji had resented her absence that morning, because he was up to cuddling with her just then, and had to let a pillow substitute for her warmth and softness... "What do you say to breakfast instead?"

"Sure, lead the way."

The couple walked out of the hall, through the padded double doors Haru had used. Three pairs of animal eyes watched them leave.

"That was really devious of you, Baron," said Toto.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the way you lost to Haru on purpose. What's she telling you to do?"

Baron looked at his colleague and a brow-whisker went up. "I didn't lose to her on purpose."

Toto doubted him immensely, but kept his beak shut.

------oOo------

The Cat Business Office agents went their own ways after holding a little conference about their activities that day, and on the stairs leading back to their room Muta met someone unexpected.

"Ah, Renaldo Moon," purred Edeline Loriel as she clanked down the staircase. Despite the relative darkness hanging around them, she was still wearing her shades. "I was looking for you."

"What do you want?" he grumbled in his most unfriendly fashion. "You're not hungry, are you?"

"No." Edeline smiled at him, and somehow the fangs didn't seem as threatening as they did the first time. "And I can still smell the garlic on you. It won't work, you know. I love garlicky food." When Muta lifted his arm to smell himself—he was just hoping to disgust her enough by his action so she would leave him alone—she added, "I saw you last night with that ridiculous necklace of yours, in case you were too drunk to remember."

"Oh, I remember that." Who wouldn't, when you were in danger of being turned into the undead by the very person who kept trying to force her company on you? "I was on my way to get my things to take a bath," Muta lied, lowering his arm. "The tubs here don't fit me, so I was planning to go to a sentou in town."

"An excellent idea," said Edeline. "Would you mind if I join you?"

"What?" Muta's eyes narrowed. "What's with all the attention, Captain? First you wink at me, then you kept hovering around last night—no, I don't mean that literally, don't frown at me like that. And now this. Look, lady, if you want someone to be chummy with, go see Baron. He's better company than I am."

"I'm not interested in him, Renaldo Moon," Edeline said, coming closer to him and removing her shades, staring up at him with those unnerving black-slitted, whitish eyes of hers. "I was just hoping I could enjoy the company of a fellow outcast of society before we go on that killing spree Lune wants us to do."

"Outcast? But you're the town hero, you can't be an outcast."

"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but I am. The people are afraid of me, just as they're afraid of you. Don't you see it in their eyes, Renaldo? When you walk down the street the children shy away from you. Even the braver ones, their parents discreetly move them away. The same thing happens to me all the time. At least you don't have to go drinking blood and walking around on steel legs."

"I didn't give you permission to call me by my first name," Muta said reproachfully, his enforced disinterest gone, banished by the strangeness of his conversation partner and the truth behind her words. "You're a vampire, you're supposed to drink blood."

"I know, but still..." There was a wholly uncharacteristic pleading look in Captain Loriel's eyes as she said, "Well? Can I join you, or must I seek the pleasure of someone else's company?"

Muta thought about it. What the heck, it'd been a long time since a sexy tabby came up to him and said she wanted his fat bulk in her vicinity.

"Alright. But you bite me and I'll eat you. It might not make things better, but I'll have a revenge one way or the other."

Edeline smiled and shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of it! Let me just get my things. I'll meet you down in the lobby." She sidled past his girth and continued down the stairs. Her feet taptaptapped on the stone. As she disappeared around a corner, Muta shrugged and continued up the stairs.

------oOo------

The sun rose higher into the sky. Lunch came and went. So did one o'clock, two, and three. Four o'clock rolled around, and Toto encountered Shizuku in the main courtyard, which still bore traces here and there of the partying that had been going on last night. There was no one there now, and the entire fort had a hushed, expectant air about it, from the empty courtyard to the quiet barracks, from the alert cats patrolling the battlements to those busily rechecking the necessities of life and survival in their bunks and equipment rooms.

"Konnichi wa, Toto-san," Shizuku greeted him as he glided to a landing beside her.

"Konnichi wa, Shizuku-san. Have you seen Baron anywhere?"

"No. He's probably with Haru."

"That's just it. I've looked everywhere. He's not in our room, and I've already checked Haru's. There's no answer to the door. I even flew past the windows, but the blinds were halfway drawn and I couldn't see anything."

"Hmm. On the roof?"

"No, or I would've seen them immediately."

"The gardens?"

"Not there either."

"Oh? I wonder where they are, then."

"Me too. He's been gone since ten this morning, and since we have a lot to talk about, I'm starting to worry."

"I'm sure he's okay. After all, Toto-san, this might very well be his and Haru's last day together. When Baron gets Louise back Haru's sworn to drop her claim on him. I want to be there when that happens, just in case."

"Oh? Are you coming with us?"

"I'm staying on the ship."

"I didn't know that. But Haru can't give Baron up to the Baroness. She's a crazy homicidal maniac now, from what I've heard."

Shizuku shook her head. "Yeah, but Haru wants to do it that way, and so does Sir Cat."

Toto clacked his beak and blatted, a hideous noise which sounded a lot like a duck getting punched in the stomach while holding a kazoo in its mouth. "Gods, the things people do in the name of love. Thank you, Shizuku-san. I'll go look for him elsewhere." He hopped away from her and then flew off, raising a small whirlwind of dust and making Shizuku grateful that she was wearing culottes instead of the free-flowing skirts she liked.

Shizuku saw him fly off and resumed her walk towards the library. It was a mystery no one would be able to solve, that afternoon or afterwards: just where did Haru and Baron disappear to, that fateful day?

------oOo------

Eight o'clock came round, and the flotilla of Cat Navy ships stood off the brightly-lit piers, ready to hie to the Lonely Isles, and the pirate island in particular.

The docks northeast of the fort were divided in two, one for the use of the fishermen and the civilian population of the town, and the other, fenced-off one for the navy. Four warships and two auxiliary vessels were in the water: the troopships Matatabi and Conquistador, the monitors Longshallows and Albedo, and the supply carriers Grimalkin and Neko-umi Maru. The troop carriers and supply vessels were sailing ships, whereas the monitors were powered by diesel engines.

The entire population of the town appeared to have turned out to see the troops off. Certainly that was the message the filled piers and docks of the civilian section conveyed to Shizuku. Cats were waving, and little toms and tabbies were running to and fro, yelling their 'goodbye, see you again' messages with gusto. There were so many cats packed closely together that one of those standing at the end of a jetty got pushed into the water, where he landed with a splash, and the others had to descend the ladder there and fish him out.

Shizuku was standing at the rail of the Matatabi, waving back at them, like the soldiers beside her were doing. She wondered just what the people of New Lorum thought of them, the human interlopers who had caused the ruckus in the town. It wasn't the first time she had speculated about it.

------oOo------

"Now see what you've done!" thundered Phaecis from his throne. "I counted on at least two days more to set up our defenses. You've provoked them into attacking earlier than I expected!"

The Black Cat, who stood diffidently in front of him, nodded. "Yes, I acknowledge my error," she said formally. "But don't despair. I still have my army ready. All you have to do is say the word, and I'll unleash it."

Phaecis put his white-framed head on a paw. "I just hope your contraptions work. It's too late to abandon this hideout now, and I'm not leaving my people behind."

"Well, we can still harry them. It's just a small fleet. The loss of a ship would be a big thing."

"Yes it would. Do you think I should send the ships out to intercept them?"

"No, their escorts would sink you in a minute. They're more vulnerable when they're offloading their troops. That is the time to strike."

"Have them set foot here? The garrison was bad enough, why add to our troubles?"

"Don't worry about it. I've got just the thing for a pesky bunch of self-righteous cats." An evil smile appeared on the Black Cat's face. "You should just thank our spies for being so prompt in reporting events to us."

------oOo------

The deck kept going up and down, up and down, but Seiji's dinner just went down, down as he leaned over the side of the Matatabi and lost it.

Shizuku rubbed his back. They had opted, just like almost everyone else, to stay out on deck: the air was fresher, and a sliver of moon provided just enough light to see by. She had tried to cure his seasickness with her magic, but it just kept coming back, so she had to stop and let him tough it out.

"Okay now?" she asked as his retching subsided.

Seiji, face pale and perspiring in the moonlight, nodded slightly. "A little," he said.

"Here." A glass of water floated itself behind him. She had gotten it from the galley below.

Seiji took it and rinsed his mouth out. "Thanks."

"And take this." Shizuku handed him a small pill. "You'll never guess who gave it to me."

"Who?"

"Cameron. He's downstairs in the galley. Said one of the cooks developed food poisoning and he volunteered to fill in."

"Well, that's fine." Seiji popped the pill in his mouth. "What is this?"

"Anti-nausea drug."

"Oh."

"Are you sure you don't want to lie down? You look positively green."

"No. I'll get sicker if I do that. I'm fine, dear." He patted her shoulder. "You're so good to me."

Shizuku blushed. After all the sniping and teasing the past couple of days, after all their years together, as boyfriend-girlfriend as well as husband and wife, he could still give her such compliments. She was thankful that in his case familiarity didn't breed contempt, but understanding instead.

------oOo------

Haru was frightened. Not of the upcoming fight, not of the terrors of the briny deep they were traversing, but of Muta and the silly smile on his face. He was standing beside her, with his elbows on a bitt and his head cupped in his hands.

"Muta," she whispered, in deference to the cats sleeping around them. "Muta! What is wrong with you? Tell me! I might be able to help!"

All that answered her concerned entreaty was a dreamy, drawn-out sigh.

Haru wished Toto were with them, since he knew the cat well and could divine what was going on. But he wasn't; the practical crow had immediately fastened himself on the lip of the crow's nest—where else would he be, he had rhetorically asked them as the Matatabi shoved off from the pier—and gone to sleep. His friends, who had a vital role to play in the assault, had also chosen to roost high, among the divisions and curtains and spars of the ship's sail arrays. Baron, too, had elected to retire to a cabin, so Haru had to deal with the incomprehensible giant cat all by herself.

"Are you in pain?" she asked, continuing her interrogation.

"Yes."

"Do you want me to call Shizuku-sensei or Cameron or the doctors?"

"No."

"Why?"

"They can't get rid of this pain."

"Then what are you–?" A smug expression appeared on Haru's face. "Oooohhh. I see. Who's the lucky girl?"

Muta reduced his verbal output once more to a sigh, followed by vague mumblings. "Captain Loriel."

"What? You can't be serious!"

"The stars are so beautiful out tonight," Muta waxed lyrical. Except for the moon and the lights of the nearby ships, it was pitch-black, thanks to the clouds that were scudding across the nighttime sky.

Haru decided to play his game. "Is she as lovely as Baron is handsome?" she asked Muta, leaning on the rail herself and putting her own head in her hands.

"Verily. Oh, the curves under that towel..."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Haru gave Muta a sidelong glance. "Baron's such a good kisser."

"Her fangs are so pointy and sharp," Muta mumbled.

"He's so brave and dashing."

"She's so sexy and mysterious."

"His eyes are like limpid pools you could drown in."

"Her eyes are so dead and white, like the color of bad fish at Tsukiji."

"Muta!"

"Oh, yes, how I loved her saying my name."

"Muta!" Louder this time.

"Oh, yes, Edeline, you're so good..." The cat lifted his head to look at her. "What?"

"You're grossing me out."

Muta paused only to put his head back in his hands. "She never said that to me."

"Don't tell me you really have a crush on that vampire."

"So what if she's a vampire? It'd be interesting to have an undead lover."

"If you don't stop this silly moonstruck talk of yours, I'm going to scream and run for Baron. Can't you see what she's done to you? She's bewitched you!"

Muta smiled again, a sight so strange it made Haru feel as if she were looking at a premonition of doom, a vision of the world's ending.

"Yes," the fat cat agreed. "She's bewitched me. I couldn't help it. I picked her up in my arms—" to Haru's surprise he stood and did just that with her, lifting her up as if she were a baby "—and I kissed her." To her everlasting shock, Muta also did that.

She shoved him away, spitting and cursing. "Yuck! You could've at least brushed your teeth! You taste like fried liver and sardines!"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Haru. I got carried away, I guess," Muta muttered indistinctly, setting her down. He resumed his mooning, which was only fitting considering his name. "Haru-chan, what's a good gift to give a girl?"

"Umm..." the young woman considered, wiping her mouth as she mourned Oh, no, I've just kissed a cat other than Baron! Can this be considered infidelity? The irony of the question didn't escape her as a fleeting image of Machida, smiling and looking his usual handsome self, appeared in her mind.

She became lost in thought for a while. Machida wavered in her mind, and she roamed back to her pre-dating daydreams about them running through a field of daisies and morning-stars. "Flowers. Yeah, flowers. Muta, you've got to give Captain Loriel flowers."

"Really? You're right! Why didn't I think of that?"

Maybe it's because your brain's turned to mush, Haru thought secretly. "Not just any flowers, though. You've got to hide a small cross in them before you give them to her."

If a cat could look perplexed, Muta was it at that moment. He looked down at Haru as if he had been woken from a dream.

"That's not very polite, Haru. Anyway, it doesn't affect her."

"Is she a nice cat, Muta?"

"She seems to be. She never tried to bite me at any time during our stay in the public bath, either."

"Public bath?" One could almost see Haru's ears spring to attention, and her interest perk up like that of a kitten's, who had seen a ball of yarn roll on the floor in front of her. "You went with her to a public bath?"

"Yeah."

"Wasn't it your first date? That's... very unusual. Which bath?"

"Hey, can you blame us? One of us might very well be dead before this same time tomorrow night. The one near the south gate in town, you know, the one with the stars on its noren. Why?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

------oOo------

In the captain's chair on board the Longshallows, Edeline Loriel ran her paw under her chin as she mused. What an unexpected find that Renaldo Moon, or Muta, as he preferred to be called nowadays, was! The reports reaching her had been true: he was large, and not really handsome, and held a none-too-flattering perception of the Cat Kingdom and its inhabitants; he was also awkward and too free with expressing his opinions; and his manners were coarse and did not calculate to please. But they never mentioned that he could remain a perfect gentleman even under pressure, or that she would find in him a hidden repository of wit that seemed to surface only when he was put at ease and didn't have to keep showing his grumpy face to the world. She had tested the first by turning her back to him and asking him to give her a massage, then removing the towel she had modestly wrapped around herself. That she had an effect on him was evident by the way his white fur had bristled and shivered; but massage her shoulders he did, as they sunk back in the hot water of the tub in the private room she had procured for them. She also found the way he kept his nervous stream of chatter up very entertaining. Best of all, he made no move on her, as the other toms did. Instead, when he had finished he simply leaned back against the rim of the tub and relaxed, and she had fastened her towel back on and climbed out of the water to give him a massage herself. The second point, of his being a wit, had emerged later, over glasses of chilled wine and a plate of strawberries. After they had drunk an appreciable amount of the liquor Edeline decided to reward his restraint with a little kiss...

What a find! she repeated to herself. The Renaldo Moon everyone feared, the Fish-Eating Monster, was actually quite a nice person! Oh, there was that peccadillo about him using her metal leg as a back-scratcher, but she had cured him quickly of that notion...

A sudden vibration and surging of the seat beneath her caused her to look up and her eyes to refocus. "Report," she snapped.

One of her bridge crew got on the sound-powered telephone and spoke to the engineering section. The tom listened, then looked at her. "A little problem with the engines, as usual, Ma'am."

"Oh. Just tell the Chief to keep everything together until the assault."

"Yes'm." The cat returned to the horn.

The Longshallows was a peculiar boat. Everyone called the heavy, ungainly, shoebox-on-a-raft vessel a 'boat,' even the crew themselves. The first of a never-continued line of coastal defense craft, she was an experiment in extensive automation and advanced technology. Unlike earlier monitors, of which class her present mate the Albedo was one, she had few crew for her size, but the same amount of armament. Her engines, when they were first fitted, were very powerful and sophisticated, the best money could buy, and her systems were state-of-the-art. Lune's father had plenty of funds to spend at the time of her construction, since he wasn't so concerned about social welfare the way his son was.

Even then, though, the new ship had a lot of quirks. At first she had bad seakeeping qualities, causing her early crew to call her the 'Vomitorium.' That fault was rectified only through expensive redesign and testing. Her guns also refused to fire a third of the time, and were a bear to maintain to this day. She also ran aground once and sank in shallow water twice during her trials, because the cats manning her were confused by her complicated ballast and station-keeping controls, which were supposed to keep her stable in rough weather. Her airconditioning system—so essential in a ship with few portholes and ventilators—also had a tendency to conk out, causing many who worked belowdecks to curse to high heaven and swear to get transferred off the bloody jinx incarnate. The only saving graces she had were the fact that despite all of this she was a veteran, having survived skirmishes with pirates and smugglers up and down the Cat Kingdom coast, and the undisputable truth that she was a tough ship. Cannonballs bounced off her steel skin more than once, and her battle casualties were very, very low, for all her being despised.

Captain Loriel watched as her Officer of the Day looked out at the night through a telescope. It was nighttime, of course, but that wasn't much hindrance to cat eyes; the lack of starlight was. If things had been better, all they needed was a little help from coated glass, which gathered more light than usual, and they could see long distances well in the dark.

"Anything, Papazzo?"

"No, ma'am." The old lieutenant sounded disappointed; she knew it was because the crew was itching to have a go at the pirates, ever since they learned that the Cat garrison on the Lonely Isles had been destroyed, and no survivors ever came back.

"Just as well." Loriel knew Phaecis' three sailing ships wouldn't dare mess with the fleet while they were around. They were raiders, not sluggers. One fusillade from either of the two monitors would reduce them to matchsticks. And no one, not even the audacious pirates of the Phaecis Gang, had the temerity to engage in a long-distance shooting match in the dark. It was useless and highly uneconomical. "Keep looking, though. You never know what tricks the Pirate King may try."

"Yes, ma'am." The Lieutenant kept his vigil.