"Are we there yet?"
"No," Mama said.
"I can't walk much further!" Ying-Hua insisted.
"I'm hungry!" Yuri added.
The clan stopped as a collective sigh swept over the little ones' heads. "Okay," Mama said. "Let's take a break."
As the other felines stretched their limbs, Dongwa began to wander; looking for food or water. His search led him to a nearby row of tall bushes that had only cultivated flowers; and he was trying to remember if they were edible when he heard something rather large on the other side of the shrubs. He had always wanted to be a tough guy. He had spent his lifetime trying to be a fearsome cat, and convincing himself that he was succeeding. But in that moment, as he heard the beast scenting the air; Dongwa froze.
What more? Why now? His kittens weren't fast runners, and neither was his grandpa! Why was the outside lifestyle testing them so hard?
Then he heard a dissatisfied grunt, and he spun to look at a big group of small cats.
His trepidation blew away like autumn leaves. Deciding not to let them know just how afraid he had been, Dongwa nodded in greeting. "Uh, fellas, is there any food nearby?"
They halted, exchanging glances.
"A test?" one of the cats asked another.
Dongwa felt his confusion transform into something a little less benign when the biggest cat among them stepped closer. "Uh, we don't have the room."
"Well...alright, maybe you should eat less next time."
They looked at each other in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Dongwa rolled his eyes. "Food!"
"Is that it? Nobody, say...sent you here to see how we would handle a spy?"
"What is there to spy on?"
The cat withdrew. "I thought so. Alright. Everybody else, back up; he belongs to me."
Dongwa backed up as well, as the cat appeared to square off on him. Dongwa barely had time to step aside; the cat lunged, and moving quickly, Dongwa sat on him.
"What are you doing?" Baba yelled. Dongwa looked up to see his family running towards them, and his confidence was effectively destroyed when Baba added, "Get off him! What is the matter with you?"
"Really, Dongwa, we raised you better," Mama added.
The cats began to snicker.
"Is that really the best example you could come up with?" Sagwa inquired, as Dongwa joined his own clan. She contemplated for a moment. "Maybe they'd be better off going through the gate."
"He lunged at me!" Dongwa tried to explain.
The cat looked at his own group. "Did he just tattle to his mommy and daddy on me?"
They snickered again.
"It doesn't bode well how little you trust your son," said a surprisingly youthful voice. The Miao cats looked at Dongwa's kittens, but the unfamiliar felines knew who it really was. Wondering just how much he had seen, they appeared nervous. Seeing their heads craned back, the Miao cats looked up to a frightfully skinny tree branch, where a kitten sat; a simple silhouette against the sun.
"Hi, Fan," one of the newcomers muttered anxiously.
The orange kitten climbed down like an expert cat burglar, and it shocked the Miao cats to realize he was even younger than Dongwa's own children.
He lifted his startling green eyes to Dongwa's attacker. "Do you want me to tattle on you, too?"
"No! Please, I wasn't thinking."
"Yeah, I don't recall asking you for a history lesson," Fan told him. He turned his unique eyes to Dongwa. "My father will help you," he said simply, and pointed a cloud-colored paw. "Go that way for two hundred steps, take a right hand turn, you can't miss it."
"Uh, thank you, young one," Yeh-Yeh began.
"Little tip, don't condescend to him―"
"Don't speak for me," Fan snapped over his shoulder.
"Yes, sir."
Sagwa's brows went up. As she and her family began to follow Fan's instructions, she could hear the little guy giving commands to his elders.
"What on earth?" Sagwa mused quietly.
"I want to be like him when I grow up," An-Lin declared.
"Rude?" Baba asked.
"Yup!"
Sagwa looked disapprovingly at her brother. "You see what happens when you sit on someone's head?"
Two hundred steps and one right turn later, they found themselves looking at a paradise for cats. A small group clustered around a campfire, and a bigger group sat by or on the pier, watching as cats paddled through the shallows on driftwood and even pillows. Those who were not in the mood for goofing off or potentially listening to ghost stories were retiring to a house that had been made by tying string around bamboo and wood. It wouldn't stop a determined predator, but it would definitely slow them down. Sagwa looked up and observed the construction in the trees.
"This place is amazing!" she commented.
"It goes to show, teamwork can accomplish great things."
They turned around to look at an orange cat with yellow eyes. For a moment he frowned, observing them. "Have you been traveling a lot?" he suddenly asked.
"Yes."
"Constantly," Sagwa groaned.
"Well, take a load off. You'll be safe here and you'll fit right in."
"Really?"
He smiled, looking around. "When I was a kitten, I was always going from one place to another, too. It became impossible to not come across a stray. So my family and me, we started inviting them to tag along. And one day, we made this," he proudly finished.
Sagwa meekly raised a paw.
"Yes?"
"Um, are you Fan's father?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing, just wondering."
He was frowning again, fighting for the right word to describe his son. "He is a little...seasoned, for his age, isn't he?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Why is he...like that?"
"I told him to be."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on being a father," he added, pausing as a little white kitten came running up to him. "Not right now," he said quietly. As the kitten turned around and ran away, Dongwa noticed the tijensi bird in her mouth. "And I didn't think my project would become so much bigger than me. I thought if Fan was tough, at least he wouldn't get stepped on."
"He didn't," Mama assured him. "You should have seen him striking fear into the hearts of these bullies."
"A black cat with blue eyes? Yeah, that's Wu-Ming. I...I hate that guy."
"Well, if you invited him in, you can kick him back out," Yeh-Yeh began.
"Except my mate invited him, and they're buddies. But he doesn't scare me, so don't let it scare you. I've got more friends than he does."
Dongwa lifted his eyes and noticed the cat was frowning at him again. "Hey, uh," Dongwa began. "When you were traveling a lot as a kitten, did you...ever play tijensi? Maybe in an alley, say..."
"Behind the Magistrate's palace? Yeah." Siao-Po shook his head, beginning to smile. "I knew it. I knew you looked familiar." He stood up. "Well, if you don't mind playing with my daughter, I'd say I owe you a game."
"Yeah. Great."
"Stay as long as you need, folks." He turned around and began walking.
Mama looked at Dongwa. "How cool is that?"
"Hey, one question," Siao-Po interrupted. "Did you only have one sister?"
Dongwa's smile faded. "No. No, I had another one."
"Right! Uh, Shao Fun. Right?"
"That would be me," Mama told him. "Her name is Sheegwa."
"Sheegwa Miao?" he asked, and chuckled. "She's here!"
"What?" Mama gasped.
"What?" Dongwa and Baba echoed.
"She's my mate!"
They gawked at him in silence.
"And...and, Fan," Sagwa finally uttered.
Siao-Po nodded. "Hers."
"Hers?!" Baba blurted. "My little girl? You have got to be kidding me!"
Siao-Po grinned. "I'll prove it to you. Tomorrow."
"Now!" Baba roared. And suddenly all eyes were on him.
Siao-Po scowled. "Did you not just say you've been walking constantly? Don't mess it up now." He began to turn. "She will return, tomorrow," he said with finality. He turned around and walked away; and Dongwa noticed that none of the other cats would dare meet his eyes.
"Oh, Hui-An," Yeh-Yeh moaned, "You came so close."
Sitting on the ground, Mama reached up and comforted him with a paw. "I know," she said soothingly. "Come on, let's eat and get some rest. We don't want to be tired and crabby when she gets here."
The family moved into the depths of the cat camp. And with a full belly, a soft bed, and the excitement of seeing her sister in just several hours; Sagwa lay down, closed her eyes...and tried not to panic.
Author's note: I tried looking up the correct spelling of tijensi, but the results were insufficient. I did my best and luckily it's not the focus of the story. And by the way, Wu-Ming actually translates to no name; I was just stuck. :)
