During the walk back to camp, Sagwa summarized everything that had happened in the past six months. By the time they stopped in close proximity to the other Miao cats, Sheegwa was basically all caught up. She stood quietly beside her sister, looking at faces she thought she would never see again; and tried to retain her dignity. She wanted to rush to her parents like she was a little girl. But she wasn't, and here everybody was watching. There was no secrecy. She had to be who they made her; their leader. Or technically the mate of their leader.

Finally noticing her standing there, Baba managed to take a step back from whatever discussion they were having; and observing his fragmented attention, Mama turned around to look at her daughters.

Holding her head high, Sheegwa strode forward and stopped before them. "Mama. Baba."

They began to move eagerly forward, stopping when Sheegwa dipped into a formal and frosty bow. Looking perplexed, they imitated the gesture; and the three of them surfaced as one.

"It's good to see you," Sheegwa said, keeping a tight rein on the emotions that threatened to affect her voice. She looked over at her grandfather. "Yeh-Yeh. My condolences."

He bowed to her as well, looking equally confused. Sheegwa took two steps backwards, away from her parents; trying to look dominant in Siao-Po's absence...and doing everything she could not to give in to her instincts, disregard the mantle of authority she was expected to assume, run to her parents and bawl like a baby. They would not respect her. And if they couldn't respect her, why would they respect her mate? What would happen to Fan then?

She couldn't risk knowing. They had worked too hard on building him up to be responsible for his downfall. She had to be what they believed she was. So she dismissed her predictable joy at seeing her family and skipped to the important part. "Are you staying?"

"Are we welcome?" Baba asked.

"Of course you are." Sheegwa's voice was frosty as well, and her eyes narrowed. "The entire point of this camp is to unite and support." She turned dismissively away from them, looking out among the cats. "We're having a party tonight," she called. "Make them feel welcome."

A cheer swept through the crowd. As it began to disperse, Sheegwa looked at her estranged loved ones. "Follow me."


Sheegwa took them up into one of the tree houses; and she left her authority at the door. Turning around she finally gave her parents an attack hug that took them by surprise. "I'm so happy you found me! I didn't think you would."

"Are you ashamed of us?" was Baba's response.

"Of course not. I love you!" Sheegwa answered. She sat down and added, "But I couldn't let them know how miserable I was."

"Why not?" Dongwa asked.

Sheegwa thought for a moment. "Do you remember when the Magistrate had guests over? And we would put on our fanciest collars, and instead of playing, we sat in a neat line..."

"Yes, of course," Mama said.

"It's the same thing here. Except these are guests that...never leave." Sheegwa then removed the ancestor's collar, pushing it across the floor in Hun-Hun's direction. "By the way, I found this at a garbage dump. I thought maybe you'd like it back."

Hun-Hun looked at Dongwa's silent, questioning gaze. "Of course I would," she confirmed, and smiled as he helped her put it on. The cats tried not to notice that by removing the collar, Sheegwa had exposed a ring of fur that was brighter than the rest of her body; however it was impossible to not notice that they began checking their bodies for paw prints.

But Mama had to say something. "Sheegwa, I'm sorry, but your fur is..."

"I know," Sheegwa sighed. "But not all of us have pillows; they're a luxury. So I gave mine to Song and Fan."

"A luxury, huh?" Dongwa asked. "I saw 'em being used as rafts."

"It was a choice." Sheegwa shrugged. "As long as they don't steal someone else's, I don't care. There are only two rules here; don't be wasteful, and don't be rude."

"Wu-Ming is rude," Dongwa said bluntly.

Sheegwa opened her mouth to defend Wu-Ming; but as she looked at her brother, all she could think of was how he used to protect her.

She stood up. "I'll go talk to him."

"Well, you better do it quick. He's going to the alley with Jet-Jet," Sagwa warned her.

Sheegwa nodded in acknowledgment and left the tree house.

"I didn't know he was leaving," Dongwa said.

"Are you alright?" Mama added.

Sagwa looked at her and smiled. "Yeah. I am."


Jet-Jet was watching Wu-Ming lead his friends towards him, when out of the blue, Sheegwa tackled Wu-Ming. They recovered at the same time and Wu-Ming defensively raised his claws. Seeing who it was, he quickly dropped his paw. Jet-Jet was prowling up behind Sheegwa to attack her when the cats surprised him by bowing to her in respect.

"Where are you going to in such a hurry?"

"Uh, we're hunting."

"No. You're going to the alley."

"Wha-what makes you think that?"

"Please. You wouldn't steal everything we had just to replace it. Oh, and...Sagwa told me," she added contemplatively.

"What makes you think it was me?"

Sheegwa's smile was feral, her eyes glinting with condescension. "Because instead of going out with dignity, you're tagging along with a guy who was just passing through."

Wu-Ming ducked his head.

Jet-Jet was impressed by this creature. She was tough, she was clever, and she clearly knew how to make it on her own. It was too bad they hadn't run into her at the alley.

"So, you met Sagwa," Jet-Jet began.

"No, I spoke to a melon patch."

Jet-Jet grinned at her wit. "You know, you can tag along too, if you wanna. There's plenty of room, no rules."

"I think the rules are fairly easy to follow."

"That doesn't matter. Rules are for children."

"And what do you call someone who steals, lies, and runs away?" she pressed.

"Hey...if you wanna survive, you do what you gotta do."

"Fine. But if you want to live, stay here."

"Live, survive. What's the difference?"

"It's last night as opposed to last week."

Jet-Jet compared the experiences. Last week was sleeping in mud, eating cold fish, and living in fear while walking from one place to another. And last night was sleeping on a pillow, eating warm fish by a blazing fire in the company of many, and retiring to a pillow under a bamboo shelter. In a way it was like having the palace and the alley at the same time; the best of their world, and a taste of his.

"If you really want to go back to that, go for it. Personally I prefer this life...and I thought you did, too," she added in Wu-Ming's direction.

"To a point, but...it's just kind of degrading, following the same rules the kittens follow."

"Excuse me, you think it's degrading to be a role model for kids?"

If he hadn't been familiar with the look in her eyes, the awkward tension would have scared him.

"The kids'll learn to take care of themselves," Jet-Jet cut in. "I had to. They had to. Siao-Po had to. You will."

Sheegwa tried not to feel too insulted. After all, she was in desperate need of attention. Perhaps it was time to focus less on everyone else.

"Yeah, well, I'm not really sure about the newcomer's kittens," a female cat admitted, and faltered. "Uh, the...melon...balls."

Ignoring Wu-Ming's look of sudden realization, Sheegwa looked at her instead. "Why not?"

"All their role models seem kind of broken, you know? I mean, it's no wonder they were grieving when they got here; they can't take care of themselves. Those kittens are dead meat."

Sheegwa's eyes narrowed as a surge of protectiveness swept over her. She walked up to the member, clandestinely smug when she began to look anxious.

"Those kittens," she growled, "Are my nieces."

She heard a quiet gasp behind her, and turned to see Jet-Jet staring at her. Deciding to blow past it, she spared the larger group one last look. "Do whatever you want," she told them. "I really don't care."

"You don't?"

"Nah. With you gone, we have spare pillows again." Sheegwa turned and carelessly plodded down the trail.

Wu-Ming and his friends moved closer to Jet-Jet, who stood still, deep in thought.

"Hey, we still going?"

He thought about Sagwa for a moment. He would miss her...but he had known Lik-Lik and Wing-Wing longer. They were like brothers to him. Sagwa wasn't even his mate.

He nodded curtly, turned around and took off running down the trail.


"I hope this is good enough," Yeh-Yeh said, pushing the last pillow in place.

"It looks great."

"Welcome to the pack!"

The pillows were arranged in a semi-straight line overlooking the pier. For the remainder of the day, the cats were free to go swimming; but at night, fireworks would be launched to celebrate the fact that a family had been reunited. The party had already started; the fire blazed cheerfully, the mouth-watering scent of frying fish filled the air, and everywhere one went, one could hear laughter. The pack was doing so much to make them feel welcome, their cloying friendliness was edging into annoying. But, it was better than wandering from place to place. Yeh-Yeh crawled onto a pillow and relaxed his old, abused body. It felt so indescribably good to sit on something soft and just do nothing that all of his complaints dissolved. He thought he could sleep again. He could probably sleep through the celebration. Six months of walking. Six months of his life...gone. And that wasn't all that this trip had cost him.

He closed his eyes and lay down, comforted by the crackle of the flames and the laughter of his great-grandchildren. And Sheegwa was here. If he died tonight, it would be fine. At his age, there could be no better moment...

By the time Sagwa entered the camp, he was sleeping. How well could he hear? Was it possible to sleep through the fireworks? She crawled up onto the pillow beside him and for the briefest moment, considered waking him. It would be nice to have a familiar face to talk to. Her parents were hunting, Dongwa and Hun-Hun were teaching their kittens how to hunt, and Sheegwa was...entering the camp with short fur. It would have been easy to mistake her for any other Siamese cat, except the pack was treating her with obvious respect. And judging by Siao-Po's conversation with Hana, the pair were not held in the same regard.

She had obviously bathed. Her coat was as short as it was in her youth, and sparkled under the afternoon sun. Her nails were no longer a horrifying menace. And recently brushed, she appeared smaller. Despite that, she still clearly had a pretty big name.

Now this was the sister Sagwa remembered. Except her mate, son and daughter walked contentedly by her side.

Realizing they were inviting her over to talk, Sagwa slid off the luxurious mound of fatness that she had officially been given and approached them. She stopped before them, observing the expression of detachment in the eyes of what had once been a playful, friendly kitten. "Let me guess...I broke some sort of rule," Sagwa guessed.

"No."

"Although it is proper to show respect to the pack leader," Siao-Po butted in.

"I'm not going to bow to you," she declared. "Respect should be earned. Not given away at the bottom of every trash can."

"I have earned it. It was my idea to take these cats in and treat them like family. Well, if you're going to challenge the authority of the pack leader, you're challenging every cat here."

Sagwa gazed at him a moment longer, then shifted her attention to Sheegwa. "What was it you wanted to speak to me about?"

Sheegwa pulled her attention away from her waiting mate, and stared at her sister.

"I want you to take me to Nai-Nai."

"Oh. Hm. Well, you might be better off asking Baba; his directions are - "

"I'd really rather you show me."

Sagwa studied her sister. "Wait a minute, if you know how to hunt, you know how to track. I smell a rat," she added into the uncomfortable silence.

"Maybe it's your breath," Siao-Po grumped.

"No, I think it's your face." Sagwa turned away from them. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

She walked away from them, towards the largest group of strangers she could see. Turning back, she watched as Sheegwa and Siao-Po left, leaving a trail of dominance in their wake.