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Chapter 49. Yeah, This Is Home
by Pearl

I've got my memories
Always inside of me
But I can't go back
Back to how it was
Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back
Back to how it was

A good night sleep in her own bed, that's what she needed. In the morning she'd be able to look on all this with a clear mind. The vixen mounted the stairs and began the climb toward her suite on the top floor.

"Ms. Pearl?" The ratmaid's call stopped her in her tracks. "It sure is good to be home, isn't it?"

"Yes, Crystal." The madam smiled wearily her employee.

"I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of helping everybeast get settled in after they broke us out. Not that all of them wanted to be settled in. You should have seen the fit one gentlebeast threw when I tried to get friendly with him."

The vixen shook her head in disbelief. "Wait. Us? The F.H. had you locked up too."

Crystal shrugged. "You were sort of distracted with Sandy so I tried to go into business for myself. It's not as easy as you always made it look. No beast has any gold nowadays to get what they want. Some weasel offered me a bottle of brandy for my services and then the woodlanders popped up out of nowhere and dragged both of us off. I thought I'd be locked up there forever until the sheriff showed up. Fates, I'd follow him anywhere."

"Well, Brull is a little rough around the edges but he's a good beast." And here I let him get attacked in my own establishment. Not that he wasn't egging Antonio on . . .

"Don't worry Ms. Pearl, I remember what you always said about gettin' involved with our own kind."

The girl should remember. The madam rolled her eyes. Crystal had given the Oasis more pregnancy scares then any other female Pearl had ever employed. The vixen often wondered if the ratmaid secretly liked the idea of giving some male the necessity of taking care of her. Then again, maybe settling down like that was just the thing for her.

"I've been rethinking a lot of the things I taught you girls . . ." Pearl began but Crystal interrupted her in a sing-song voice.

"'Sides, Mr. Brull seemed awful worried about you." The ratmaid giggled and sauntered off toward the room that she had once shared with Jade and was now occupied by several of the rescued beasts. She stopped at the doorway however and turned back to her employer more seriously. "I am sorry they didn't find Sandy. I know she meant a lot to you."

The name hit Pearl like a lance to the heart. "Sandy."

The vixen continued her assent of the stairs stopping only once by the door of Antonio's room. She debated with herself for a moment if she should go in and speak to him again but the room sounded quiet so she decided not to risk waking the easily agitated gentlebeast.

It was a relief really, not to have to make polite conversation anymore; to just come here to her sanctuary and wallow in her sorrow.

"Sandy," Pearl breathed the name again as she sank down to the floor next to the kit's cradle. "Where are you? What will I do without you? No." She shook her head and slammed a fisted paw against the floor. "No I can't think that way. You're out there somewhere and I'm going to find you." Tears flowed freely. "I have to find you."

The creak of the floorboard behind her made the vixen gasp a moment before she heard the voice.

"You know, that chair out there on your balcony is a nice place to think. That's why I came up here."

Pearl turned slowly where she sat and looked up at the rat, "Mr. Brull, you've made rather a habit of finding me this way."

The sheriff cleared his throat and apologized. "'Pologies, I just needed a sit down... d'you have any thing for a swelled jaw?"

"No. No. It's quite all right. You're more than welcome," the madam put in quickly to save him from an explanation.

Brull nodded and rubbed the back of his neck with a paw nervously. Then he pointed at the empty crib. "We . . . I'm sorry we didn't bring the kit back to you. You held up your part of the bargain an' we couldn't . . ."

It had been a real struggle not to physically comfort Antonio when Pearl had seen how much the stoat needed a good hug. Now that her resistance was down with the emotion she had already displayed in front of the sheriff, it didn't take much to push her towards her natural tactile response. Before he had finished speaking the vixen rose from the floor, crossed the room, and embraced the very startled rat.

"O thank you. I know you did everything that you could to find her. She means everything in the world to me and you didn't have to . . . but you tried . . ."

The madam wasn't sure if she expected him to return her hug or pull away and run. After a beat she felt a very tentative paw reach around and pat her on the back accompanied by a cough and a mumbled, "S'alright."

"What have we here? I can't say that it's unexpected. After all, why would the good sheriff so far from home risk his own tail unless he was getting something in return?"

"Nelda!" Pearl spun around to face her rival. Unfortunately, she chose to do so on her weak ankle and had to throw out a paw toward Brull to keep herself upright. She wasn't prepared to go claw to claw with her nemesis in this compromised position. "I'll have you know that Mr. Brull went to release those prisoners out of the kindness of his heart."

The other vixen smirked. "The kindness of his heart and the softness of your bed, I'm sure. Come now Stella, I know how the business works. I've been at it longer than you."

"That explains your always open mouth," the rat mumbled, averting his eyes.

"You've never been able to deal with competition." Pearl drew strength from her surroundings. This was her turf and she wasn't going to let Nelda Higgins gain the upper paw. "That's why you offered me a job at the Golden Brush all those years ago, wasn't it? Just wanted me under your control so you could remain the top fox?"

Nelda gasped. "I only wanted you to be among your own kind. . ."

"And then when I made this place better than . . ."

"But you've never been one to give a cat's whisker about what species you . . ."

"You went begging for funding from Sarkleyet of all creatures. . . ."

"WAIT!" Brull came to stand between the two vixens who were now practically muzzle to muzzle in their shouting match. "She's been getting gold from Sarkleyet?"

"For seasons," Pearl answered him shortly before countering her rival. "Sticking to your own species sure worked out great for you, didn't it?"

As if on cue, Zula stepped through the door into the chamber. "What's goin' on up here? I thought I heard shoutin'."

"Stay out of it!" Nelda caught her daughter hard across the muzzle with the back of her paw.

The force of the slap caused the young vixen to stumble back several paces. Both Pearl and Brull hurried forward to see to her well-being. It was then that the Oasis madam first noticed other bruises around Zula's ears.

"How could you do this to your own daughter?" Pearl accused the mother.

"Ha," Nelda laughed coldly. "At least I claimed her. I didn't hide her away and pretend she didn't exist."

The jibe stung but Pearl couldn't argue with it. She left Zula to Brull's care and limped toward the balcony. "I never even told him about his father. . ." His father . . . Troaz . . . Again the vixen pictured her mate hanging from the yardarm of his ship.

"The Ships!" Pearl spun around to face the others, this time ignoring the pain from her ankle. "Marcion's been getting supplies through the blockade! If we could get to them first . . ."

The sheriff picked up on the idea right away and finished her sentence. "We could give squirrelboy a really bad day."