"Aieeee!" Elnor's scream echoed through the chateau. He sat up and swung to smack what he was certain must be some sort of demon creature away from his feet when the room lights flared brightly to life in response to his scream, illuminating. . . the cat?

Elnor stopped in mid swing, not wanting to hurt the creature although she certainly wasn't minding hurting him. He grimaced in pain and bit back another scream, forcing himself to hold his feet completely still.

Picard and Laris, both in their night robes, rushed into the room and froze at the sight before them. The cat had her fangs buried in Elnor's ankle, her front paws wrapped around his leg, their claws embedded deeply into his flesh, while her back claws raked long, rapid streaks down his foot leaving behind trails of green blood.

Elnor hissed again drawing his breath in through clenched teeth, wondering exactly what he had done to deserve this. The cat, for her part, looked even more gleeful than she had when she'd caught and killed the moth. It seemed, though, that Elnor's guess had been right. Only a moving target kept her attention. He forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply, willing away the pain. The cat locked her eyes to his. Realizing the game was over, she released her hold on his foot and bounded from the room.

Laris was the first to move. "Hold still," she told him, "while I get the medical supplies." She was back almost before she left, sitting gently on the foot of Elnor's bed. As she ran a small medical tricorder over his ankle and foot, reading the display on it, she reassured him, "No major damage done. Hold still just a moment more. This won't hurt for much longer." She pressed a hypospray containing an antibiotic and a painkiller against his leg. With a pass over the claw marks with another device from the medical kit, the scratches started visibly healing. Only after wiping the blood off his foot with a soft cloth from the kit, did she look up at him, noting that he was relaxing as the painkiller took effect.

"That wasn't necessary," he said to her. "I can deal with pain."

"I know you can," she replied, "but when you're here, you shouldn't have to."

He looked at her gratefully and said simply, "Thank you."

Picard, who still hadn't moved, shuffled further into the room and took a seat on a chair near the bed. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

"I have no idea. I was asleep and then. . . I have no idea why she attacked me!

"Is this something cats normally do?" Elnor continued, distress clear in his voice. "If so, why would anyone keep them as pets no matter how nice their purrs sound? I swear I didn't do anything to provoke her!"

"No one is saying you did," Picard reassured him. "I have no idea what possessed her to do such a thing. I'm certain Spot never did this to Data!" He thought briefly to himself about what it might have felt like to a cat if a cat had bitten Data. The cat would have been in for a shocking surprise.

Laris chuckled, making Picard wonder if she'd somehow picked up on his thought about a cat biting Data. Apparently, she hadn't as she said, "Oh, I know why she did that to you."

Picard and Elnor both turned to look at her in surprise. "What?" she asked. "This isn't my first cat! Elnor, she was playing."

"Playing!" Picard and Elnor exclaimed in unison.

Laris laughed again, "Oh yes, playing."

Taking in the bewildered looks on their faces, Laris continued, "Playing and killing are much the same to a cat. Their play is also practice to kill." Seeing that her explanation wasn't exactly convincing to them, she asked, "Elnor, when you were a little boy and Jean-Luc played with you, did the two of you not reenact sword fighting scenes from The Three Musketeers?"

"Yesss," he admitted slowly, drawing the word out as if he didn't truly want to admit that such play was also practice for the deadly skills he learned from the Qowat Milat.

He looked at Picard, "But I never attacked you in your sleep!"

"No, you most certainly did not!" agreed Picard.

Laris smiled at them. "Elnor, we noticed she was sleeping on the end of your bed after you had fallen asleep. I suspect you moved your feet in your sleep. Your feet may have even possibly been twitching as you slept." Noticing his doubtful look, she added, "It's a common enough occurrence. Most people never notice they move and twitch in their sleep. Unless they're sleeping with a cat, that is," she said with another smile.

Besides feeling embarrassed that he might have been unconsciously moving while sleeping, Elnor also picked up on something else which caused him even more embarrassment. "You were checking on me while I slept? I'm not a little child who needs to be checked on," he said indignantly.

"Only because we happened to be walking by your room and the door was open," Laris reassured him. "We did not go out of our way to check on you."

Somewhat mollified, Elnor muttered, "From now on, I'm keeping my door shut." At Laris' look, he added, "To keep the cat out, if nothing else."

"You're certainly entitled to your privacy," she agreed. "As for the cat, many people find their company while sleeping to be quite relaxing." At his look of horror, she added, "Just learn to be aware of your body movements even while sleeping!"

Realizing that might not be a bad skill to develop, Elnor said, "Maybe I'll give her another chance. But not tonight!"

Noticing that Picard was beginning to doze in his chair, Laris said, "How about we all try to get back to sleep now?"

As Laris touched his shoulder, Picard woke up enough to agree that going back to bed sounded like a good idea. As they left Elnor's room, Picard asked him, "Have you thought of a name for the cat yet?"

Elnor snorted. "Right now, I'm thinking of something like 'Demona' or 'T'vet', after the Vulcan warrior goddess. Or if I can find a name that means "munches on foot' . . ."

As they left his room, Elnor called for his lights to go out even as he noticed Laris had left his door open. He had to admit that he really did feel more comfortable with it open. In some ways, he still preferred the open design of the Qowat Milat compound on Vashti where only curtains, if that, separated sleeping areas from other areas.