Rested and refreshed, the twelve cats continued on what would hopefully be the last leg of their journey; finally arriving at the Dowager's house on the second day of hard travel. The old Dowager let them in and spoke to the cats, completely unaware that they could understand her. The palace was, of course, big; and only furnished for one cat. But after spending so long wandering the streets and sleeping under the open sky, they were just happy to be indoors. Having been born in a modest home and wandering the outside world ever since, Dongwa's daughters were baffled by the royalty of the palace. While the other cats slept, they explored their new home in depth; not wanting to take the smallest detail for granted. With their pack abolished and Siao-Po out of the picture, Sheegwa was able to be herself again; and Fan was able to discover who he was. And at the moment, he was a frustrated young calligrapher.
"I can't do it. My tail's too short!"
Sagwa smiled at the memory his proclamation evoked.
"Keep trying. You'll get there," Sheegwa encouraged.
Her interest piqued, Sagwa directed her attention on her sister. "Did you ever get there? Can you write?"
But Sheegwa shook her head. "No. There was never a point. No owner, no Reader, no scrolls...And I already had so much to do." She sat down on the desk, watching her son struggle with the skill. Slowly, her eyes met her sister's. "Did you really do all that stuff? When you were looking for me?"
"Yes."
"But how? How did you tell the dogs, and the birds?"
"We couldn't have done it without Cha-Siu and Haiyo. And Fu-Fu told the bats."
Sheegwa frowned at the desk. "Where is Fu-Fu? I haven't seen him since I was...locked out," she finished bitterly. She cringed, mentally reliving the worst day of her life.
Sagwa put a tentative paw on top of hers. "I'm sorry, Sheegwa."
"I told you, it's fine. It was just a stupid accident."
"An accident that could have been avoided, if I'd just kept my head down."
Sheegwa considered, tilting her head. "But should it have been avoided? Without it, I wouldn't have Song and Fan." She met her eyes. "Sometimes the bad, isn't all bad."
Fan stood up then, kicking the scroll away. "I'm going to go have lunch!" he declared irritably, and jumped off the desk.
Sheegwa briefly examined her tail as she considered practicing, for the first time since she was her son's age. But for some reason, she felt like it would be embarrassing, even to succeed. She didn't feel like she knew her family well enough anymore to be open around them. So she continued sitting on the desk, in a rather inelegant way that was the exact opposite of the grace and poise they, as kittens, had been expected to assume. Hesitantly, she looked at Sagwa; who in that moment was the sister she remembered, but didn't know. "Do you have anything else to ask me?"
"Yeah. I've been wondering, actually, for a long time, what you did between leaving us and finding Siao-Po."
Sheegwa smiled, but there was no trace of humor or warmth on her face. She shook her head and gave a dry chuckle, then stood up and paced to the opposite side of the desk.
"Okay, I shouldn't have asked," Sagwa deduced. "Sorry."
Sheegwa sighed and turned to face her; and she was quiet for so long that Sagwa thought wouldn't answer. Finally she did, saying, "I worked. For food."
"Oh."
Sheegwa said nothing more, and Sagwa studied her; finally saying, "Look, I know we don't really know each other anymore..."
At the perfect vocalization of her innermost thoughts, Sheegwa raised her shocked eyes.
"But I know anger," Sagwa added. "You're angry."
"No, I'm..." Sheegwa paused, struggling to lower her voice. "I'm not angry."
"You are. I can see it."
Sheegwa's eyes begrudgingly met Sagwa's; whose natural instinct was to brace herself for a tackle.
"It's okay," Sagwa said. "I get it."
"No. You don't. I am mad, but...not at you."
"Well, if not me, then...who?"
"Siao-Po?" Sheegwa offered, her voice trembling. "Me?"
They stood in silence for several heartbeats, until a flutter above made them look up. "Are my ears burning?" Fu-Fu asked. He plopped to a landing in front of them and paused, leaning in and squinting at Sheegwa. "Uhh," he said eloquently. "If I may say so, Shao-Fun, you look younger every time I see you!"
"I'm Sheegwa."
Fu-Fu's eyes widened.
"Where have you been?" Sagwa demanded. "I haven't seen you since the Teller house!"
"I injured my wing." And when Sagwa didn't look convinced, he opened his wing to show her the scar.
"How did it happen?"
"Ah, not important. You're together again and that's all that matters, we should celebrate!"
"We did," Sagwa answered bluntly.
"Huh, sorry I missed it. Well, I'm gonna go say hi to everyone else." He paused on his way to hug Sheegwa. "So glad you're back."
"Uh, thanks." Sheegwa watched him fly awkwardly to the floor, land on his stomach, and walk from the room; then looked at her sister. "Well, at least he can still fly."
Sagwa chuckled softly.
