It was just past sunset by the time Wu-Ming and Yeh-Yeh neared the alley. Hun-Hun waited outside, and she was already observing the former's hair loss and open wounds. "Are you okay?"

Wu-Ming halted. "I'm alright," he growled, and would say nothing more on the matter. He clambered through the gate. Alone with Yeh-Yeh, Hun-Hun turned her eyes to the old man. "What happened out there?"

"Nothing of concern," Yeh-Yeh assured her. He pursued the intimidating alleycat inside with a clear conscience―he had already forgotten. Turning around, he spoke to the back of her head. "Are you coming?"

Hun-Hun tried to smile, but as the scent of the fish carried to her on the wind, she was overcome with another wave of nausea. "I think I'll just wait for the others," she answered, and waited for him to depart before she hastily drew some distance between her and the alley walls. Perpetually donning the ancestral collar, nobody bothered her with anything more offensive than a cursory pat on the head as she lounged in the village. It sure felt good to be back where she had grown up, in the heart of civilization. She was so tired of wandering around. Entering the pagoda, she sat beside the rail and peeked out between the bars, waiting...watching, and listening.


When Sagwa and Dongwa came through the village, there were many less people. Spotting them in the dark from a distance, Hun-Hun clambered down the steps to greet them.

"Did Song show up tonight?"

"No."

Dongwa and Hun-Hun looked at each other and spoke at the exact same time. "We need to talk."

Sagwa began turning away. "I don't," she grumbled, and trotted towards the alley. It was rife with the scent of roasting fish, and slipping through the gate, she saw her parents and grandfather sitting around the flames. The shadow of a sitting cat was cast away from the firelight, and she looked up to see somebody perching on the wall, overlooking the sea.

"Apparently Song didn't come tonight," Sagwa mentioned.

"Calligraphers are kept busy," Baba sighed. "No time for Tai Chi, or dragon boat races... Maybe she'll change her mind."

They began eating their fish, and were nearly finished their meals when Hun-Hun and Dongwa came through the gate. Their conversation had, they sat by the fire, in front of cooked fish waiting to be claimed. Her supper finished, Sagwa leaped up onto the wall and was finally able to determine who it was when she saw his blue eyes and his thin tail. Actually, his tail wasn't the only place his fur appeared thin; and she leaned, looking at his injuries in the moonlight. "What happened?"

He ignored her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Still, he ignored her. She frowned at the reflection of civilization. "You don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't talk. You don't do anything," she concluded, and Wu-Ming finally turned his head to give her a scathing look. Wondering if Wu-Ming really was numb, and not putting on a show at all; she leaped to the floor and rejoined her family. They were talking amongst themselves―Dongwa to Hun-Hun, her parents to each other, the alleycats to each other. Sagwa folded her hind legs and stared into the flames, with no one but Wu-Ming with whom to converse. Until her ache to be brushed and kissed on the nose by one of the Magistrate's girls was suddenly cut into by her father's voice.

"Everyone," he began. "If I could please have your attention."

Sagwa looked up, grateful to have an excuse away from herself.

"I," he chuckled nervously. "I need to apologize to all of you. Last night, Fan asked if he and I ought to get to know one another. He wanted to know if Sheegwa would appreciate it." He hesitated, looking at the attentive faces. "He requested I take him exploring; and despite my better judgment, I took him outside these walls. I showed him the terrain. He said he wanted to know where to run if there was danger," he continued. "And I feared this would happen. I had my suspicions, and I should have trusted my instinct. He is out there now because I chose to trust him. And we had trouble, outside," he continued. "We saw the monster again. I took him into the water and it worked, but I wasn't sure that it would." He hesitated again, finally sitting back down. "I wasn't sure that it would."

The alley was silent, filled only with the crackling sound of the fire. Then Jet-Jet's voice startled him from behind. "Why did it?"

Baba looked over his shoulder, eyes cast to the ground. "He lost our scent."

The cats absorbed his news, while Dongwa tried to absorb his mate's. Moving rather stiffly, he stood up, turned around and retreated into the shadows.

"I have an announcement, too," Sagwa said shyly. "Uh, Fan got...taken by humans. Sheegwa and Siao-Po―uh, were with us," she omissed. "We didn't give up, and I don't think they will, either."

Hun-Hun closed her eyes, both feeling the weight of their information and another wave of nausea. She excused herself and trotted to the gate.