To Dance By the Light of the Jellicle Moon
Demeter danced with the rest of the cats in the Junkyard, her fur flashing black and gold like a lightning storm cloud under the Jellicle Moon. Her striking fur seemed to shine even more brightly under the moonlight than it did during the day. As the music in their hearts swelled, the Jellicles danced more and more energetically until, one by one, they slowed to a stop and sat or laid down to watch the others.
When only a few cats were still dancing, Demeter turned to glance at Bombalurina, her older sister. Bombalurina had told Demeter that she planned to be the one to do the ceremonial Mating Dance at this year's Jellicle Ball with one of the young toms. It was always a pair of young Jellicles at their first Jellicle Ball who danced that particular dance. The last Jellicle queen and the last Jellicle tom left standing when the others had stopped dancing would be the ones to dance together. It didn't automatically mean that they would become mates, although Jellicles in love had danced it together before and, no doubt, would again. Demeter smiled at Bombalurina and prepared to sink gracefully to the ground when Bombalurina winked and quickly dropped down to the ground herself.
Demeter's fur stood on end along her back and her tail puffed out as she stared in disbelief at her smirking sister. Bombalurina! she thought at her sister, beginning to shake nervously. She glanced around quickly and saw that all the other young queens had also already stopped dancing and settled down. How can you do this to me? You know how shy I am... Besides, I thought you would jump at the chance to dance with a tom in front of everyone. I can't believe this. She felt a little betrayed that her mischievious sister would play this kind of prank on her. Now Demeter would have to do the Mating Dance this year! She glanced over at Old Deuteronomy, who nodded encouragingly to her from where he sat near the Tyre. He smiled at the young queen, and Demeter felt immensely reassured. Deliberately smoothing down her fur again, the six-month old queen turned, trembling, to see who she would be dancing with.
Her trapped expression melted into a barely suppressed grin as she saw Munkustrap obviously having a silent altercation of his own with the smugly seated Alonzo. Apparently, he had also been tricked into doing the Mating Dance. Stiffly, he turned to see Demeter and froze.
They stared at each other for a moment as the entire Junkyard seemed to be frozen in time. Then, slowly, they moved towards each other. Munkustrap stretched out a paw, and Demeter rubbed her ears against it.
Demeter's heart beat faster as she slid up alongside Munkustrap, with her back to him. He leaned over to wrap his right arm around her waist from the left, and she leaned trustingly backwards across his shoulders. With his right arm still holding Demeter safely against his side, Munkustrap grabbed her right leg in his left hand and wrapped it around the other side of his waist as he straightened up. Demeter felt weightless, like she was in a dream, as she was lifted by Munkustrap.
The normally nervous and shy young queen felt completely at ease in the 8-month-old tom's strong arms. She reached up with her left arm and wrapped it around his neck, brushing her paw against his ear. As she did so, she wondered if he had ever noticed her, the way she noticed him. She felt his heart beat against her back, and realized his heart was pounding as quickly as her own was. She could barely breathe for being so close to the handsome silver tabby, wrapped around his waist and shoulders. The seconds stretched on into what seemed like hours, but Demeter didn't really want it to end anyway. She'd never felt so exhilarated in all her young life. It seemed like she and Munkustrap were the only cats in the Junkyard for that one brief, beautiful moment.
Munkustrap twirled slowly in a single, graceful circle - the one constant in the Mating Dance, aside from the tom picking up the queen - then slowly, gently, he set Demeter back on her feet. As he did so, their eyes met and she saw the tenderness in his gaze. Does he feel the same way I do? she wondered. Looking into his eyes, she thought he did. His eyes reflected her own understanding as he, too, seemed to find what he was looking for in her eyes. His eyes shined even brighter and he gave her a small, shy smile.
Blushing, Demeter slipped reluctantly out of Munkustrap's gentle embrace and backed away. Still staring at each other, Munkustrap and Demeter lowered themselves to the ground with the rest of the Jellicles. Finally, they looked away from each other.
With the Mating Dance over, the Jellicles started to make themselves comfortable, and snuggled up with one another to sleep. Bombalurina rubbed her head against Demeter's, purring smugly, then slid past her to sidle up to the Rum Tum Tugger. Demeter curled herself up, her heart still feeling as though it might pound out of her chest. She noticed her parents, Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks, cuddled together watching her with love and pride for her in their eyes. The younger Asparagus, the library cat, curled up with his back against Demeter's. Munkustrap, meanwhile, had boxed Alonzo playfully on the ear with a paw and then stretched out on top of him, pinning him down, and he started washing behind one of Alonzo's ears. Tumblebrutus was laying on his back next to them, batting lazily at his brother, Munkustrap's, slowly waving silver tail. Demeter smiled at the adorable sight. Thanks, Bombalurina, she thought contentedly as she drifted towards sleep with the others. That was amazing...
Author's Note: I've got some fanart for this chapter on my website that I co-run with my RL sister, Lysana. To get there, go to my author bio and click on my 'Homepage'. From there, just go to the fanart section and it should be easy to find!