Tanya sat on Waul's hand laughing at his stories. He had taken her to the roof to watch the sun go down.

" Ugh it was disgusting...there I was surrounded by 3 London alley dogs. I was sure I was a goner! Just as they where about to pounce this very large London night lady in the brothel next to me opened her window and dumped a HUGE chamber pot over their heads."

Waul made a disgusted face. " It is so hideous the way these humans live I mean really! But I did not stick around I took to the roofs and lived to fight another day! " He smiled at Tanya who clapped.

Tanya smiled back at him sadly " When we lived in Russia sometimes it would flood and we'd have to leave everything because the sewage would rise up. Of course once it went down a lot of times the cats would come through and take whoever hadn't been able to make it. The only ones safe were the rich ones. They just paid the cats off."

Waul nodded " It was the same in London my dear. The rich were far removed from the poor and your status was defined by your breeding."

Tanya looked up excited " Were you born in London Waul?! Oh I would love to know what it was like to go to balls an theaters and see a live opera. I saw pamphlets on them sometimes sitting in the trash...it looked so beautiful..." She trailed off at the the look on Waul's face.

Waul coughed into one head and glanced around " You know it's getting late...I really should take you home..."

Tanya grabbed his pointer finger and hugged it. She peeked at him stroking his finger " I'm sorry If I've upset you...I just...I don't know...I want to talk to you and hear about you and I mean...I want to know everything about you that isn't full of you eating mice."

This time Waul chuckled more warmly " Alas that may not e much of a story, but to answer your question...I wasn't born in England...I was bred."

He sat her down and rested his elbows on his knees staring rather moodily out at the darkening afternoon.

Tanya frowned. " Bred? I'm afraid I don't understand..."

Waul glanced at her and smiled rather bitterly " Yes well...I think it only applies to cats and dogs, you see humans are fickle creatures. You've noticed there are different kinds of cats yes? "

She nodded. He leaned forward resting his chin on his arms looking a bit sad and irritated at the same time.

" Humans want their ..their pets!...to have certain qualities...qualities that come from good breeding. Good breeding means the cat...or dog is worth more money and has qualities to attract wealthy masters. They are born with pure and noble blood and come from a long line of bred felines. A pair of cats are bred with the expectation that their kittens will look the same or be of the same breed. Does that make sense?"

Tanya nodded thoughtfully " Yes we saw a little dog once on a leash...it was so small...Mamma said it was special kind of dog and only got to be around other small dogs like it so it didn't get big and we wouldn't see one out in the wild because it was so special it was well taken care of."

" Yes! Exactly!" Waul said sitting up nodded his head " It was bred to be a breed of small dog."

Tanya looked at him a little awed " So you were bred? You have noble pure blood? "

Again that sour look came to Waul's face. " Yes I was and yes I do. "

Tanya frowned " Something bad happened didn't it? "

Waul sighed and glanced around. He really REALLY hated talking about this. He cleared his throat.

" I had no spots or stripes." He said simply.

He glanced at Tanya who was frowning confused.

" I was the runt of the litter. Not only that I had no markings. My sister was quite lovely. Long hair with perfect stripes and my brother was blessed with many colors. They were sold to a Duke and got to visit the palace and see the queen." He grabbed his hat briefly and murmured " God save the Queen" setting his hat back down he began to talk again.

" My other siblings also had lovely stripes and spots on them like my mom and dad. However I was just brown." The fur on his neck stood up in anger " Just BROWN. A plain uninteresting brown!"

He leaned back moodily and stared at the sky " My brothers and sisters were sold to Earls, Duchess's and rich Lords."

Tanya looked at him and put a paw against his hand even though he was lost in memory that he didn't feel it.

" Who were you sold to? "

Waul smiled grimly " I wasn't. I was given away. To a Baron. An impoverished Baron I might add. A country Baron and he expected me to catch and eat the mice and rats that were in the horse stalls! Me! I was raised to be a gentle cat and gentle cats do not eat nasty mice and rats covered in horse manure!"

He had sat up squeezing his paws in anger and teeth clenched as if he could take a bite out of his human master. He blew out an angry breath.

Tanya hugged his toe having moved around to be able to look at his face and the pain there. " Oh Waul! I'm so sorry! That doesn't sound fair at all!"

Waul began to calm down. He sighed. " Yes well it worked out somewhat you see he kept a mistress in an apartment in London and she took a fancy to me and kept me there. In London I learned how to be a gentleman with the finest! I can shoot the wick off a candle at 100 paces, I can sit on a horse even at full gallop, and I was quite a boxer as well as a gentleman. It was there I learned of a my love for theaters and the beauty of some of the finest pipes in all of Europe!"

Tanya smiled up at him sadly " Ive never been to a theater, or opera or ballet. I've heard so much about them though. Poppa played well enough we were able to watch some of the shows in the local villages. When I was a little girl I used to sing to the sound of poppa's violin and he told me one day I could be a great singer If I believed in myself."

Her face fell " Of course, that didn't happen. In America there seems to be hundreds of beautiful singers. My family is poor. I don't have the training or the means to become a real diva."

Waul nodded " Yes my mas...my ma...my human lost most of his fortune at the gaming hells and his mistress dropped him. He moved to America taking me with him and bought a cattle ranch. Now he lives here and travels to the city with his fat wife and their little brat...well.." Waul cocked his head grudgeinly " Alice isn't too bad. She doesn't try to dress me as a baby normally she dresses me as a prince or a king or even a knight and I have to hand it to her she's getting much better at sewing some clothes for me."

He glanced up at the moon and started " Dear me! I need to get you home, the desert is dangerous at night. Spiders, snakes, coyotes all manner of things. Quickly my dear hang on."

He sat her on his collar so she could cling to his neck and he leaped from the roof to a turret then to the porch then hit the ground lightly on his feet before running towards the town of Green River.

Lost in the shadows Clay lay flat on his stomach his eyes narrowed watching the British feline rush away towards the town. HIS town. The town he had intended to live in to get out of the cave. His lips curled up in a snarl. He disliked that British cat on site. However he had much more control of himself then most Lynx so he wrinkled his nose and motioned to his boys to gather around.

" Now boys. Let's stake out that trail right there. I've a mind to have a conversation with this pampered feline. Let's make sure he listens."

The cats all grinned and began staking out spots around the trail as they waited for Waul to make his way back.