One day Sagwa was lying by the pond where her family's catfish relatives lived. A splash of water hit her in the face.
"Oh Uncle Catfish, don't you have any other methods of getting someone's attention?" Sagwa sighed, shaking her head dry.
"Well my fins aren't long enough to tap you on the shoulder." Uncle Catfish joked.
Sagwa just sighed sadly.
"What's wrong niece?" He asked.
Sagwa told him what had happened with Fu-Fu and his colony.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that I always liked that bat." Uncle Catfish sympathized.
"Me too." Sagwa sighed.
"Sounds like you're missing him dreadfully."
"I am, I'm missing him so much that my heart hurts." A tear rolled down Sagwa's face.
Uncle Catfish suddenly smirked.
"Anything else you're feeling?" He asked.
"Well, I feel empty, like a part of me is missing." Sagwa shrugged. "And I've lost my appetite. I'm also finding it hard to sleep since every time I close my eyes I see his face. Why?"
"Because I think maybe you have fallen in love with him."
For the first time in days, Sagwa displayed something other than sadness: shock.
"What?" Sagwa stared at Uncle Catfish. "Why would you think that?"
"Because it sounds like you're suffering from separation anxiety, maybe even a minor heartbreak." Uncle Catfish smiled.
Sagwa thought this over. She was surprised that she had fallen in love with a bat, if it was true. Then she remembered an ancestor of hers, Chien-Chien, who had fallen in love with a fish. That was where Uncle Catfish came from. Obviously, when you were a cat falling in love with a fish was less likely than falling in love with a bat. At least a bat wasn't normally considered dinner.
So she accepted the possibility of falling in love with Fu-Fu, but wasn't sure if it was true. She thought of the past, of all the times they hung out. Literally in Fu-Fu's case most of the time. As she thought of that and of all of Fu-Fu's good qualities she realized that Uncle Catfish was right. But she wasn't sure how her family would take it. Then she remembered that her family also knew the story of their catfish relatives.
That night, Sagwa was the first one in bed. That was because she had skipped dinner entirely. Mama Miao and Baba Miao were next in bed, since Dongwa and Sheegwa had decided to take a quick look at the night sky for Fu-Fu.
"I'm really becoming worried about you Sagwa, you've barely eaten in days." Mama Miao said to Sagwa.
"I know, I just haven't found the will to eat since Fu-Fu left." Sagwa sighed. "You see, I talked with Uncle Catfish earlier today and he told me that I had fallen in love with Fu-Fu. He was right."
Mama Miao and Baba Miao obviously didn't expect to hear this, but they weren't appalled or anything by it.
"So that's why...oh Sagwa." Baba Miao was now really worried: if Sagwa did love Fu-Fu then...then Fu-Fu needed to return to the palace soon.
Dongwa and Sheegwa learned about Sagwa loving Fu-Fu after they reported that there was no sign of him. They were surprised, but slightly happy to hear it. They liked Fu-Fu enough to want him as a brother-in-law but they also knew that this meant that Sagwa would never recover until Fu-Fu returned.