As she drew further away from her irritating brother, Sagwa's pace slowed considerably until she was walking rather aimlessly through the bustling village; skirting around people's legs as she vied for a glimpse of a small white body. She was approaching the field where people usually gathered to celebrate the Chinese New Year. And over the commotion of humans going about their daily lives, she thought she heard the familiar yowl of a cat in trouble. It came from the other side of the fence; which unfortunately seemed to be lined with thorny bushes...

...But she had to investiage. If it wasn't her relative, it was someone else's. And she shuddered to think of all those who had needed the help of one as curious as she was, but missed out because she had been in a palace. Without hesitation, she bounded to the pokey thorns and searched for a convenient gap in the fence. Her search yielded a board that had been damaged by many rains, and she was able to push the board out and create the hole she needed to access the other side. Ignoring the thorns as they cut her flesh, Sagwa squeezed through the gap and found herself in close proximity to an angry dog, terrorizing a gray cat as it cowered in fear.

Sagwa jumped on the dog's back, sinking her teeth into its ear. Attempting to find his attacker, the dog spun away from his victim as she dug her claws into his face. He attempted to take her off-guard by shaking her off, but she landed on all fours and bit his ankle. He was still trying to recover when Sagwa sped past him. "Come get me, slowpoke!" she leered, and bounded as quickly as she could through the yard. The ground seemed to blur beneath her as she listened to the mutt advance.

There was a trash can by the wall, and even running at full tilt Sagwa could see that she could make the jump onto the roof. She leaped onto the garbage can and jumped again just as the dog crashed into the cans.

"Up here, ding dong!" she taunted, and the dog looked up at her. She crouched in a pouncing position. "You just can't catch me! I'd save my energy if I were you."

The dog struggled up onto the first can and eyed the roof, but suddenly the can gave way, spilling noisily onto its side.

Sagwa looked up to observe the gray cat squeezing through the gap, then returned her eyes to the dog. "As amusing as this has been, I have more important things to do." She turned and trotted across the roof, jumping onto the other side of the fence. The gray cat appeared through the thorny bushes. Stricken by her familiarity, Sagwa froze.

"Nai-Nai?"

"Sagwa, my dear," Nai-Nai chuckled. "I was hoping it was you."

Sagwa bounded forth, pressing her head against Nai-Nai's in a feline embrace. "What are you doing here?"

"Well...we decided that our family is more important than our owners."

Sagwa tried to think through her buzzing thoughts. "Baba will be so happy."

Nai-Nai studied her thoughtfully. "Do you mean what you say, Sagwa?"

"Yes. Of course, I..." Sagwa paused and reassessed her priorities. "Come on, let's...let's find Yeh-Yeh. And then I'll take you to Baba, okay?"

"That sounds fine. Why are you in the village on your own?" Nai-Nai asked, as they began to walk.

"I-I was hoping to steal some fish."

"But you catch your own all the time! Surely you have not caught all the fish in every pond."

"No. No. I, we," she amended, "Also wanted rice, and maybe some...dumplings. You know, just fish all the time, it can get tiring."

Nai-Nai nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I do understand the tedium of repetition. The best thing is to look for the bright side."

Sagwa scowled. "Yeah, well, I have enough things to look for."

Nai-Nai's surprised eyes found hers. "Surely you don't...mean Sheegwa." Nai-Nai stopped, slightly ahead of Sagwa, forcing her to stop as well. "Sagwa, tell me you found your sister!"

Sagwa hesitantly met her gaze. "But I was taught not to lie."

To her surprise, Nai-Nai's eyes twinkled with sudden humor. "To that end, if you were caught stealing, you would not even try to deny it?"

"But I wouldn't steal..." Too late, Sagwa realized her mistake.

"Then I ask again, why are you alone in the village?"

"I...I...had a bit of a falling-out with Dongwa. But it's nothing. Really," she tried to assure her. "I just want to see Yeh-Yeh."

Smiling at her own wit, Nai-Nai broke into a trot and Sagwa ran after her. Nai-Nai led her into a hut, where Yeh-Yeh sat under a table. Several humans milled about the interior of the hut. Unnoticed thus far, Sagwa and Nai-Nai joined him there; stepping over the horizontal beam running low above the floor. He startled when he realized there were two, and grinned when he recognized his granddaughter. She leaned her head into him.

"I'm so glad to see you again."

"And I you, Sagwa. But, where is everyone else?"

"They're at the pagoda...By the lake," she clarified, upon receiving a clueless, expecting look.

"And Sheegwa is still missing," Nai-Nai added, prompting an accusatory glance from her mate.

"Don't look at me like that, we've done everything we can think of," Sagwa told him desperately. "We looked everywhere, I even got attacked!"

"By who?" Nai-Nai demanded.

"I don't know. Some...stranger. A big thing, with horns. And no, my imagination isn't running wild; ask Fu-Fu. He saw it." Sagwa's words ran out when she realized she was rather curious herself what Fu-Fu had seen.

"Scary."

"I'm glad you are okay."

"So am I," Sagwa blurted. "At first I..." Here she stopped, wanting to smack herself. "It doesn't matter. I just have to get you to the others."

The three of them leaped out from under the table and, as one, moved out of the hut and into the village.

"So where exactly have you been looking?" Yeh-Yeh asked.

"Where exactly?" Sagwa repeated.

"Yes."

"Uh, well, Fu-Fu broke us out of the cage and we've been looking nonstop. We searched Lord Vu's palace, the cave with our ancestors' statues, the Magistrate's palace, the alley, the bat cave, the village, the pond, the wharf, the woods, the boats, and the houses on the other side of the water." She looked inquisitively at him. "And Fu-Fu is checking both palaces and the alley again, but if you have any fresh ideas..."

Her grandparents were both unnervingly quiet; and finding daunting the silence of her wise elders, Sagwa felt bolstered to keep talking. "We've even asked the new palace cats, some strays, the frogs...and the bats are helping us, too." She looked ahead and saw a crow sitting on the ground nearby. "But we haven't asked the birds," she added thoughtfully, and began to approach. "Excuse me, mister," her voice broke off when the bird flew away.

"I wonder why that is," Nai-Nai sighed.

Sagwa's eyes narrowed as inspiration struck. She whirled to face her grandparents. "You know where the pagoda is?"

They nodded.

"Good. I have to do something. I'll go to the alley after." And she took off running, mentally thanking her mother for the stroke of brilliance.


It was shortly past noon by the time Sagwa reached her Auntie Mae-Mae's. While not exactly a glitzy palace, the house was big and easy on the eyes. A bench sat in the shade of a flowering tree. Sagwa ascended the stairs leading to the porch, and went through the open arch, turning right to approach the front door. She sat back on her haunches and scratched on the door. No reply came, so she retraced her steps through the arch and down the steps. Hunting around the house, she came to an open window; and leaped up onto the fat sill. The room was empty. Sagwa jumped to the floor with a soft thud and began to walk uninvited through the house. "Cha-Siu?" she called tentatively.

There was a brief pause. "Hello?" his familiar voice called.

"Cha-Siu, I need you," she called, and he materialized in a doorway in front of her, looking in the wrong direction before finding her there.

"Sagwa? What brings you here?"

"An emergency. I need your help."

"What can I do?"

"I need you to pass along a message to other dogs. Tell them that if they see a young white cat with blue eyes and faint markings...leave her alone. Tell them she is the Magistrate's cat and that she's lost."

"Okay..."

"And most importantly, Cha-Siu, have them tell her to go to the alley behind the palace."

Cha-Siu bobbed his canine head in a goofy nod. "Okay, I'll tell 'em."

"Thank you." Sagwa breathed a little easier. "Now if only I could approach birds," she mumbled.

"Oh, I can. I have two bird buddies!"

"Really?"

"Yup. Ping-Wing and Haiyo."

"Great! Tell them," she hesitated only briefly at the familiarity of the names, "To pass along the same message to other birds. Okay?"

"You got it."

Sagwa smiled, feeling for the first time in a long time that progress was being made. "Thanks a lot, Cha-Siu. You have no idea how much it means to me."

"Because it's Sheegwa?"

"Yeah."

"But...I don't understand. I heard you were removed from the palace."

"We were," she confirmed. "But leave that part out. All they have to know is that she's missing."

"So I ignore the fact you are not the Magistrate's cats, and lead them to believe you still are?"

"It's just a little white lie about a little white cat," Sagwa told him. "I'm counting on you, Cha-Siu. I'm running out of hope."

He tilted his head in concern.

She took a deep breath. "I need to know we're not the only ones. Otherwise...otherwise we'll just have to try and move on."

"I see," Cha-Siu murmured. "And in moving on, are you staying in the alley?"

"So what if we are?" she asked inquisitively.

"That doesn't sound like moving on to me."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't need to forget in order to move on," she said, starting to back up down the hall. "If something is really important to you, you don't just forget!" She turned and sped down the hallway. Cha-Siu bumped through the arch and trundled down the hallway, but by the time he looked into the room, it was empty; the window wide open and the curtains blowing in the wind.