Hello all! Another chapter, and a surprising one at that. The queen this chapter revolves around is in her early thirties but in my CATS fandom cats get really old without their age affecting their growth. To the Jellicles you aren't exactly old until you reach your seventie's or eighties's, middle aged is around your fifties to sixties. Anyways I had the rest of the story carefully planned and written buuuut, I have decided to scrap all of that and go with the true original plot I had in mind when I first started this. Also there is a bit in there that isn't entirely grammatically right but it's a line by Munkustrap and he's young so I let it slide. Enjoy. . .

Exotica was a lovely dark, short haired queen. She didn't exactly know her past or what breed she was but she liked to think of herself as the last of a once gorgeous breed of foreign cats that came from deep within Egypt. She was a night cat and would often spend all day sleeping, coming out at night when the ky was clear and would star gaze to herself. She was close friends with The Great Rumpus Cat, the hero of all the cats in London, and most of all was friends with Tantomile and Coricopat, the only two cats alive who knew that she was the secret daughter of Deuteronomy besides the wise leader himself.

She grew up in and out of the Junkyard, sometimes living in a dark herb shop deep in London with many other short haired cats of various breeds. She never knew who her mother was personally but her father would tell her that she was a beauty the likes of which he had never seen, dark and mysterious. She disappeared without a trance right after giving birth to her only kit but Exotica was sure she had seen her around the house where she was raised. Deuteronomy said she had bright moon lit eyes and Exotica had seen one such cat with those eyes. But it had been years since that she cat was last seen and frankly the dark queen didn't really care.

She mostly stayed to herself, never really mingling with the other cats of the tribe besides her father and the two twins he had adopted. She quickly took to them, helping her father raise them and her brothers. Munkustrap was the first tom of the father but much younger than her and it came as a shock to the whole family when Exotica wandered back. Deuteronomy took her in with love and an open heart. She would socialize with other cats of the night, joining a group called the Moon Watchers, cats that belonged to people who went out at night most of the time and worshiped the moon.

On one beautiful, clear night she sat alone on a trash pile near her father's den, looking up at the stars and sighed. She suddenly looked down over the Yard and looked at the Mystic twins' den fondly. She suddenly saw movement in entrance to the den, it was Coricopat with a younger looking cat beside him. She looked closer and realized that the other cat was black and shaggy furred. When he stepped into the moonlight she recognized him as the young tom kit whom the tribe had taken in along with his sister. Exotica never cared for the vain ginger queen.

She was about to go and investigate when her tomfriend, a handsome Abyssian cat with cinnamon fur and a large white filled "v" going from his chest to his waistline that was speckled with brown spots, stepped out of their den.

"Exotica!" he called enticingly. "Cassandra's asleep now, would you care to join me in the park? I have a thick blanket." His tone was so suggestive that she grinned and forgot about her adopted siblings' den. She turned to her tomfriend, the father of her eight year old queen kit around the same age as Asparagus Jr.'s young ward Mungojerrie, and hurried over to him. She smiled when she saw his clear blue eyes and he pulled her in for a kiss.

The next morning she and her tomfriend came back to the Yard full of giggles and dirt little secrets between them. Exotica laughed quietly while he slipped back to their den and she happily went to visit her twin friends for morning tea. What she found was an empty den and the smell of a ginger tom. She didn't think anything of it other than that they had gone for a morning stroll or were with her father. After shrugging her shoulders she sauntered back to her den.

Just before she reached her own she heard a scream echo across the Yard. Always one to investigate without being seen she rushed over to where the screams came from. She already saw all the members of the Tribe standing around the entrance to Jellyorum's den, the tabby queen was trying to comfort a crying Bombalurina. Exotica watched from on top a chair sticking firmly out of a pile of trash. Her dark eyes scanned the scene. There was a cat missing, the little one, the scarlet kit's sister. What was her name? Exotica didn't remember.

She saw her brothers, Munkustrap and Tugger hurry over to the Twins' den, and descended from her perch just as they were coming back. They hurried over to her when they saw her.

"Have you seen Coricopat and Tantomile?" Munkustrap asked while Tugger looked around nervously.

She shook her head slowly, "Not lately." She snapped her claws together, "Actually I saw them just last night. They were with that Macavity tom. How has it been for him being back by the way?"

Her brother's blue eyes turned serious, "He isn't back. Him and his sister are still gone. And so are the Twins."

Exotica frowned, "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

Tugger spoke up urgently, "As in they're not here sis!" He said. "They just aren't there and there's no sign of a struggle. It's like they just walked away."

Without a word Exotica took off running full speed to the gate entrance. She remembered hearing voices coming from that direction while she was sneaking out to have a romantic evening with her tomfriend. She came to a halt and started sniffing the ground. She caught a very faint smell of her siblings and that Macavity cat. She reeled back when two more scents suddenly appeared on a spot on the road.

"Everlasting cat," she said. "Munkustrap come here!" She shouted over her shoulder while she sniffed the air carefully this time.

He came over, "What is it?"

"The ginger queen's scent just appears out of nowhere. There's another cat's smell here too, can't really make it out." She sniffed again.

The silver tabby froze in shock. "No, not her. Please not her!" He sniffed and then screamed and shook the front gate violently. His siblings watched in shock. "It's Marisella's scent!" He shouted at them, "She took Demeter!"

"Did she take Cori and Tanto?" Tugger asked quietly.

Munkustrap looked at him and then sat down and put his paws on his head, "Yes. She took them all, and by the smell of it Macavity helped."

Their sister's brow creased and she too fell to her knees, young Tugger couldn't help but start crying. Suddenly his sister looked at them both. She gathered her youngest brother in her arms and looked at the silver tabby.

"You must find them Munkustrap," she said firmly and with authority. "As the Jellicle Protector it is your duty." Her words made him get a grip and he abruptly stood.

He looked at her and then looked towards the other tribe members. He called over the older toms and immediately went out on a hunt for the missing Jellicles. Exotica watched while she tried to help a crying Tugger. She had faith in Munkustrap, her younger half brother. She knew he could do it. She cradled Tugger and pet his fluffy man while she watched the other toms go in search of their missing Tribe-cats.