CHAPTER 23: The Jellicle Ball And Its Aftermath

Over the next one-and-a-half weeks, the preparations for the ball turned into a full-blown shemozzle. Dance groups fought, Mistoffelees' magic went haywire, chaos erupted and Munkustrap fought to regain order. And in the midst of it all, two queens with highly different agendum derived from the exact same source plotted out their not-so-nice schemes.

Electra's scheme was already beginning to reveal itself. One day, in front of a few of the Jellicles, she was seen to take Mistoffelees' paw and nuzzle him affectionately. The next day, they were seen to slip off into the forest together, and the next, they disappeared into the young tom's den. Rumours quickly began flying around the junkyard about the two cats; however, neither would confirm or deny these suspicions.

At last, the evening of the Jellicle Ball was upon them, and, as Jellicle Cats from far and wide gathered for the tribe's annual night of entertainment, Munkustrap began the proceedings. "Are you blind when you're born?" he sang in a strong tenor.

From then, the other cats gradually appeared and joined in, and soon the main clearing of the junkyard was filled with Jellicles singing and dancing.

Overawed, Tatiana joined in as much as she could, but mainly stayed watching from the sidelines.

During 'The Old Gumbie Cat', Mungojerrie bounded over to his mate-to-be. "'Ow're ya loikin' it so far?"

"Oh, very much," replied Tatiana with a smile.

"That's good," Mungojerrie said, giving her a quick nuzzle and kiss. "'N' it'll only git even better."

Tatiana rested her head on his shoulder, and Mungojerrie slipped his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Oi love ya, Tatiana. Moiy Bella."

"I love you, too, my Jerrie."

"The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat!"

"Oh, no," Tatiana groaned.

Demeter, who was standing nearby, overheard Tatiana and chuckled. "My sentiments exactly."

The two queens and Mungojerrie stayed together throughout the song, making sarcastic remarks to each other about Tugger's egotism.

All too soon, it was time for the first song from the Junkyard Singers. Shyly, Tatiana made her way over to join Jemima and Victoria on the tyre. As the soft music gently filtered through and filled the junkyard, Jemima began singing.

"Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight the withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to blow."

Tatiana then took over the melody for the next verse, while Jemima sang a higher countermelody and Victoria joined in with her harmony.

"Moonlight
Turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up, enter in
If you find there the meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin

"Sunlight through the trees in Summer
Endless masquerading
Like a flower as the dawn is breaking
The memory is fading

"Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And the rose that is fading
Roses wither away
Like the sunflower I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day."

As the last strains of the song died away on the slight but cool breeze, Tatiana saw Mungojerrie smiling lovingly at her. When she re-joined him afterwards, he gave her a big hug. "That was absolutely, breathtakin'ly beautiful," he told her sincerely.

"Thanks." Tatiana blushed underneath her fur.

The two sat together until it was finally time for Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer's number. The entire way through the song, Tatiana found herself in stitches from laughing so hard at the twins' antics.

"'N' there's nothin' a' orll ta be done abou' tha'!"

Mungojerrie flashed a grin at Tatiana, accompanied by a wink.

Soon after the number had finished, Munkustrap began to sing about his grandfather, Old Deuteronomy, and Mungojerrie took the opportunity to slip over to be with Tatiana.

He greeted her with a quick but tender kiss before softly asking, "Well?"

"Really great. I could tell you two had a lot of fun there. And those double cartwheel things – wow! And I liked the exaggerated accents." She grinned.

Mungojerrie gave a low, throaty chuckle. "Well, when Oi sing, Oi usually lose moiy accent a fair bit, so Oi 'ave ta moike up fer it some'ow. Teazer does it for fun, though."

"Mmm, you're going to have to sing for me more often," Tatiana suggested, leaning in for another kiss.

"What? Don't ya loike moiy accent?" Mungojerrie joked.

"Love it. Just never get a chance to hear you sing." She smiled, leaning into Mungojerrie's arms as she listened to Munkustrap and Tugger sing.

As the evening wore on and the main dance approached, Tatiana grew more and more nervous about the entire thing. Just remember what Vicki told you – just go with it. You'll be fine, Tatiana.

And then the music for the main dance began to play. Each cat sang, danced or tumbled his or her part perfectly, until they all came together as a tribe.

"Jellicle Cats, come out tonight!
Jellicle Cats, come one, come all!
The Moon is shining bright –
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball!"

Relax, go with the flow, Tatiana told herself as she took her place in the group.

The cats moved slowly and in unison, and Tatiana followed suit until she felt something happen to her. All of a sudden, she felt lighter, yet more powerful, and her body started moving of its own accord. In a flash of panic, she glanced around wildly, only to realize that everyone else seemed to also have been possessed by the same power. Forcing herself to relax, Tatiana let the power take hold of her, and soon, she was dancing better than she could ever have dreamed. After a few minutes, she felt a tingling sensation in her tail, before everything returned to normal – everything except her dancing capability. For the first time in her life, Tatiana was able to enjoy her dancing without worrying about it.

And then it was time for that year's Mating Dance. As everyone dropped gracefully to the ground, Tatiana timidly made her way to the centre of the group, feeling terribly alone. Not entirely certain of what to do, Tatiana just stood there, trying to hide her nerves. Three minutes passed, and there was no sign of Mungojerrie. Feeling her heart sink into her tail, Tatiana was just about to dip to the ground when a movement caught her eye. Turning, a slight smile passed over her lips as Mungojerrie cautiously advanced towards her…with a red rose between his teeth.

If the other Jellicles hadn't been paying attention before, they were now.

When Mungojerrie reached Tatiana, he carefully put the rose in her collar amidst gasps and cries of, "Oh, how sweet!" and "Sooo romantic!" Then he gently took her paw and they proceeded to dance slowly together. The dance was nothing fancy, mainly consisting of the two swaying together with a few twirls. All too soon, Mungojerrie was effortlessly lifting Tatiana and laying her across the chest of Asparagus Jr., who smiled at the pair fondly. Mungojerrie ran his paws from Tatiana's shoulders down to her hips to claim her, the final act before the two were officially mates. The two then settled down together, and the others moved in closer to form a giant kitten pile.

"I almost began to worry you weren't coming," Tatiana whispered, cuddling close to her now-mate.

"There was no need. Oi love ya too much."

"I love you, too."

Gently, Mungojerrie took Tatiana's paw and found the bracelet he'd given her. Wordlessly, he reached up to his collar and extracted a small, silver object, which he clipped onto the bracelet.

On closer inspection, Tatiana discovered it was a new charm in the shape of a loveheart. It was, however, larger than the other heart-shaped charm which currently resided on her bracelet, and was inscribed with the words 'Jerrie + Bella forever'. Tatiana gasped. Not knowing what to say, she merely threw her arms around Mungojerrie's neck and kissed him deeply.

Mungojerrie wrapped his arms around Tatiana's waist and drew her closer to him. Allowing his tail to entwine with hers, he deepened the kiss, neither of them caring at that moment if anyone happened to see them.

All too soon, the music had started up again, and everyone jumped up to immediately begin dancing.

The rest of the evening went smoothly, including the other two songs from the Junkyard Singers – one which the group had written themselves, and the other was a special song that was close to Tatiana's heart. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Ball immensely, as did Tatiana. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and she was already excited about the next one!

At the end, after Gus Sr. had been chosen to go to the Heaviside Layer, which Mungojerrie explained was a great honour in the Jellicle Tribe, many of the Jellicles came up to Tatiana and Mungojerrie to wish them well for their new life together. One exception was Bombalurina. She didn't like Tatiana, so why should she wish her well?

The other was Tugger. Still jealous of Mungojerrie, he stood off to the side, glaring at Mungojerrie but still managing to look sorrowful at the realization that he had lost his chance with Tatiana. "Oh, Tatiana…I'm sorry I scared you off when we first met…" he whispered regretfully as he turned to go home, his ears and tail drooping in a sign of defeat.

The young, newly-mated couple gazed uncertainly at each other from opposite sides of Mungojerrie's box. Tatiana dropped her gaze shyly.

"So I guess this is where I'll be living from now on, huh?"

"Only if ya wanna."

Tatiana nodded. "Of course I do."

Mungojerrie smiled softly. "Okoiy. But it ain't 'xactly private enough sometoimes."

"Yeah…" Tatiana gulped, nervous about where this was leading.

"But we can orlways go elsewhere if we wanna be alone, roight?"

"Uh-huh. But where?" Tatiana slowly lifted her gaze to meet her mate's.

Mungojerrie grabbed her paw and, pushing down his own nerves, strutted towards the hole in the fence. "The cave."

Within a few minutes, the young couple were standing inside the cave. Mungojerrie turned to face Tatiana and ran his claws through his headfur. He blushed, matching Tatiana's pink cheeks.

"Wow, Oi didn't realoize this would be so orkward," he commented, grinning slightly.

"Me, neither," Tatiana admitted. She shuffled her hind paws uncomfortably.

"Oi love ya, Tats."

"I love you, too, Jerrie."

Mungojerrie stepped closer to Tatiana, placed his paw on her jaw and kissed her tenderly.

Tatiana's eyelids fluttered and closed as she returned the kiss, her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

Gradually, Mungojerrie's nervousness faded away, and his playful side came out. He began to tease his mate by pulling away ever-so-slightly and making her reach forward further if she wanted to say locked in the kiss.

When Tatiana caught on to what Mungojerrie was doing, she began to giggle, instantly forgetting her nerves. At one point when she wasn't quite quick enough to catch Mungojerrie's lips, she whispered to him, "Teaser."

Mungojerrie grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Of course." As he leant forward to kiss her again, he let his tail playfully brush down Tatiana's back before entwining it with her tail.

Still giggling slightly, Tatiana leant back slightly to tease him in return. "I think your name should have 'Teazer' in it somewhere instead of your sister's. It would be much more – fmph!" Tatiana was cut off when Mungojerrie managed to kiss her.

The tom pulled Tatiana closer to him and changed his kiss from playful to passionate.

Tatiana immediately sense the change in her mate's mood and returned his kiss just as passionately, She put her arms around Mungojerrie's neck and pressed her body even closer to his.

Mungojerrie's entire being began to heat up. He left like he was on fire. He felt as he had never felt before. Without breaking the kiss, he swept Tatiana into his arms and gently laid her on the floor of the cave.

The morning sunlight streamed through the entrance to the cavern and warmed the sleeping figures of Mungojerrie and Tatiana.

The latter was the first to stir. The young queen blinked and looked down at her waist, seeing an arm draped protectively over her slender figure. She smiled and turned her head back to look at her new mate. He looked so angelic when he was asleep. Tatiana couldn't help but plant a gentle kiss on the tip of Mungojerrie's nose.

Mungojerrie shifted closer to Tatiana and mumbled something incoherent. One eye cracked open, and then closed again. The other eye cracked open, before Mungojerrie reopened the other one.

"'Morning, Jerrie."

Mungojerrie glanced down at Tatiana and smiled gently. "'Mornin', darlin'." He leant down and kissed his mate lightly. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, I did, rather. Did you?"

"Mmm. Very." Mungojerrie kissed her again, this time for a little longer.

Tatiana broke off first and rested her head on Mungojerrie's chest. "This is nice," she commented contentedly.

"Mmmmm," Mungojerrie said in agreement.

"I think it's something I'm going to get used to very quickly. I like it." Tatiana smiled.

"Oh, good, yer awoike."

Mungojerrie and Tatiana let out a collective groan as Rumpelteazer's cheerful face loomed up in front of them.

"Talk 'bout ruinin' the mood," Mungojerrie muttered. "Teazer, whoiy do ya orlwoiys 'ave such rotten timin'?"

Rumpelteazer grinned and shrugged. "It's jes' a gift, Oi guess."

Tatiana self-consciously moved away from Mungojerrie slightly. "Teazer, what do you want?" she asked, becoming slightly irritated.

The other queen shrugged again. "Jes' wanted ta see if ya 'ad a noice noight."

Tatiana rolled her eyes as Mungojerrie stood and started advancing menacingly towards his sister. "Teazer, ya 'ave two seconds ta git outta 'ere, or Oi won't be responsible fer moiy actions. One…"

"Orlroight, orlroight, Oi'm goin'," she said, putting up her paws in surrender. "But Oi didn't git an answer."

"Go!" Mungojerrie shouted.

Rumpelteazer flattened her ears and took off out the entrance to the cave.

Mungojerrie sighed and turned back to Tatiana. "Oi'm sorry, Tats. She jes' never seems ta git it."

Tatiana pulled Mungojerrie back down to the ground and put her arms around his waist. "She'll learn. Let's just make the most of the time we have without her hanging around, hmm?"

Mungojerrie gave her a slightly-lopsided smile. "Okoiy," he agreed.