I know I sorta switch back and forth between names, so in case any of you are confused, "Cub" and "Jenelle" are the same person. It's just that only Pride calls her Jenelle and so I switch back and forth depending on who's thinking.

Encoded Message

Do you have my information yet? Before I asked out of mere worry for the ALFF, now I think the info may actually be useful. He has been a good Jr. Sergeant, but he may be more useful if we can convince him to convince someone else to help our cause. Please, please, please find some dirt on our young fighter.

Commander

Kayta was woken by sobs. Her eyes opened to darkness and she sat up, peering around with a margay's nocturnal eyes. Her ears twitched. The sound came from the bunk below her. Listening carefully, Kayta could make out words mixed in with Lark's sobs. Mostly the words were along the lines of "no" and "stop" and "you evil monsters". Kayta leaned over the side of her bed to spot Lark tossing and turning, leaving tears on her sheets. She heard a rustle beside her and glanced over to see Lilika smiling sadly at her.

"It's the only time she talks," she murmured. "Sometimes when I wake up and listen for awhile, I feel like crying with her. And then finding whoever did this to her and throwing him into a cage." Lilika's voice hardened and her eyes flashed.

Kayta decided that the way she'd thought of her friend before wasn't really accurate. She'd thought of Lilika as soft, full of sweet ideals and gentle words. She'd been wrong. Lilika might have gentle words in her, as well as ideals, but she wasn't as soft as she seemed.

Lark seemed to hear them, for she woke with a start and glanced up at them. Her eyes, black as coal in the darkness, seemed almost empty as her pallid face took on its normal emotionless expression. Then, closing her eyes, the winged girl went back to sleep. Lilika and Kayta glanced at each other and did the same.

A small weight bounced onto Kayta's bunk. Kayta blinked open her eyes. When she sat up she saw that the little girl—Jenelle—had climbed onto her bunk and was now regarding her with a smile. "Hello?" Kayta asked uncertainly.

"It's time to wake up sleepy-head," Jenelle told her matter-of-factly. "We've got the breakfast shift again."

Kayta glanced around. Only Pride—the lion-girl, Jenelle's big sister—and Lilika were up. Kayta leaped down from her bunk to land softly on her toes and saw that her assumption was incorrect. Lark sat on her bed, silent as always, and staring dismally at the ground. She glanced up once at Kayta, then down again.

Kayta heard a cheerful giggle as Jenelle continued her route to each bed, gleefully waking each occupant. Shelly tousled to girl's blonde locks; Minnow sat up, rubbed sleep from her eyes and clambered down the ladder; Fry growled and hid her head under blankets. "It's too early," the fish-girl complained.

Eventually the eight girls made it to the kitchen where a lady informed them that "it's oatmeal again, girls." Lilika assured Kayta in a whisper, "It's always oatmeal." They began to move about the kitchen, their work interrupted by yawns and quiet murmuring. The cook did not approve of loud noises. Kayta followed Lilika around, trying to figure out how exactly one made oatmeal.

When they had finished, Kayta helped Pride carry the large pots to a counter facing the eating room. Kayta had not been much help in the kitchen, so she was issued the job of ladling out the warm mess of oatmeal. A few early risers trickled in and Kayta was soon only letting miniscule amounts drip onto the counter from her ladle. The stream thickened to a flood and Fry was sent to help Kayta deal with the inundation of hungry experiments and the one or two normal people that belonged to the ALFF.

One of these normal people grinned as he saw Kayta with her hair pulled back, ladling out the breakfast meal. As he held out a bowl, Ben Rayton asked her, "So, they've recruited you now?"

Kayta made a face. "Not yet and as far as I'm concerned I'm not being recruited by anyone."

"You never know," he said, "It's surprising how good the ALFF is at convincing people."

"What, do they tie you up and threaten you?" Kayta asked. "Because I don't think that would make me any more inclined to join. If they can go back in time and fix their mistakes, then they might be able to win me over. Might."

Ben laughed and moved away; the people behind him were beginning to complain at the blockage. Kayta ladled oatmeal into yet another bowl and watched as he sat. Why, she wondered, did someone who the League had not made into an experiment fight for the ALFF's cause? Maybe she'd ask Lilika. She'd know.

After breakfast the Room 6 girls headed to a small river at the edge of the Camp. Shelly jumped in immediately, as did Fry and Minnow. Jenelle was held back by her sister, Pride, who told her to stay close to Shelly. "If you drown you will be in big trouble," she warned.

Shelly called from the water, "Come on Cub; don't let your mean old sister scare you. You've got two fishes and an otter looking after you."

Pride, cat that she was, stayed out of the water, as did Kayta, Lark, and Lilika. Pride slept in the shade of a nearby tree and Lark brooded as Kayta and Lilika talked. "What Squad is Ben in?" Kayta asked.

"Remember how I told you that 5B is the most active Squad? Well, Ben is probably the most active one in 5B. He's the Jr. Sergeant, but some people—" Lilika didn't have to say who "—think he should be Sergeant. Why?"

"I was just wondering. Lika, why is it, do you think, that he does what he does. I mean, what did the League ever do to him?"

"I don't know," Lilika informed her. "But I think he does it because he knows that the League does bad things and the right thing to do is to try and stop it from doing those things."

"I don't think so Lika. Why would someone spend their life fighting something that hasn't hurt them? It's got to be something more."

"I would, Kate. I'd fight against something evil, even if it hadn't hurt me," Lilika said. "And I think you would too. Cynical as you are, you've got a heart, just like everyone else. If you found a cause, you'd fight for it, even if whatever you were fighting hadn't done anything to you."

Kayta shook her head. She knew Lilika well enough to know that she would not back down now. The margay-girl let the conversation drift to another subject, there was no real point in continuing the discussion for Kayta would also not back down. She hugged her knees to her chest and stared over the water. Kayta knew that she would never fight for a cause that had nothing to do with her. If she didn't fight for herself, why would she fight for someone else?