In the feasting hall Eliot took the opportunity to compare Admeetus to his huge kitten. Their coloring was different, but the structure of their faces and bodies was exactly the same.
"He's not really a 'kitten' kitten, is he?" Eliot asked Mozu, pointing to Rhumpus. "I mean, I hope he's full grown."
"I guess," Mozu shrugged. "I just know that he's a little older than Plaetoh and Tughar. He doesn't hang around much."
"Why not?" Eliot wondered aloud, watching the huge black Coricat as he sat close to his slightly smaller father.
"I'm not really sure," Mozu admitted. "I guess he's just a loner."
It certainly seemed that way to the casual observer. Rhumpus interacted as little as possible with the other cats and was ignoring the attentions of a rather flirtatious female whose fur pattern looked like that of a Bengal tiger. "Who's she?" Eliot asked, nodding at the tiger-striped female.
"Oh, that's Rhimara, Bombalurina and Demeetar's younger sister," Mozu grinned. "She has a crush on Rhumpus!"
"I can tell," Eliot said dryly, noting how Rhimara, who was nearly as tall as Bombalurina, kept trying to attract Rhumpus' attention without success. She was momentarily distracted when the music began, and when she turned back, Rhumpus had made his escape. Frustrated, she sat down and pouted.
Admeetus noticed her displeasure and rubbed against her. Rhimara submitted to his embrace and buried her face in his grey and white chest, her shoulders shaking with emotion.
"No, wait a minute!" Eliot cried, trying to piece it all together. "If Rhumpus is the child of Admeetus and Bombalurina, and Rhimara is Bombalurina's sister, then that would make Rhumpus Rhimara's nephew!"
"Ooh, incest!" Pavel said evilly.
"Not necessarily," Jabez said thoughtfully. "This isn't Terra, after all. They probably have different customs."
"They do," Mozu confirmed. "Look over there." She indicated a pair of cats that were almost identical in appearance except that one was a female nursing a tiny newborn kitten, and the other was a larger male. They had a swirly black and white coat pattern with hints of reddish brown here and there, and black eyes. "That's Coricopat and Tantomile, Alahnso's and Cazondra's twins. They're also mates and just had their first kitten, called Quaxo."
"Mmph," Eliot murmured. "Well, each to their own, I guess." He watched for a moment as some of the younger cats began to dance. "Hey where is that music coming from?" he asked suddenly.
"Yeah, I was wondering that myself," Jabez put in. "It sounds like a flute or something, but I don't see anybody playing one."
Mozu just pointed upward. The three men looked up and saw two winged creatures slightly smaller than chickens with purplish blue feathers sitting on low branches overhead, warbling away. "What are they?" Pavel gasped.
"They're called caslikohs," Mozu said. "They always sing at night and the Coricats have a mind-link with them so their singing always matches the cats' moods."
"Weird!" Jabez cried.
"Far out!" Eliot said excitedly at almost the same time. "Are they wild or domesticated? And are there any more of them around?"
"I don't know," Mozu said. "I've only ever seen these two. They don't come out of the trees much."
As she spoke, the caslikohs' song became livelier, and Tughar leaped to the center of the hall and began a provocative dance, drawing many of the females to him. For a while he enjoyed the exclusive attention of the females, then the other males joined in and they paired off, leaving Tughar to stand alone.
He looked around, puzzled. Where is Etsetera? he wondered. She was usually fixed at his side like glue. Then he caught sight of her and snarled. He couldn't believe it! There she was dancing with one of those furless aliens again.
Tughar had always behaved as if he didn't care one way or the other about the little greyish white and brown female's devotion, but now that she was giving it to someone else, and an off-worlder at that, he found himself consumed with jealousy.
He stalked over to the couple and put an arm between them, sneering at Pavel's look of surprise as he drew Etsetera away. She made no protest, though she didn't rub against his chest the way she usually did when they danced, savoring his closeness.
Before long, Tughar found himself distracted by Bombalurina. Though devoted to Admeetus, the red and white, black-eyed beauty liked to dance with Tughar as well because he, too, was a suitable partner for her size and stature.
When Tughar finally looked again for Etsetera, who was usually ready to leave whoever she was with to be at his side, he was furious to see her dancing with another of the Terrans. Unable to contain his anger, he was beside them in two bounds and swiped Jabez across the face with his claws. Jabez fell to the ground with a cry, clutching his bleeding face, uncertain whether the enraged male had gotten his eyes or not.
Tughar turned triumphantly to his beloved, but to his utter astonishment, she hissed and swatted at him. "You brute!" she cried, bending down to put her arms protectively around Jabez.
As if that weren't bad enough, now Tughar had Munkustrap and both his mother and father scolding him. Cazondra knelt to look at Jabez's scratches while Alahnso gave his wayward kitten a stunning blow to the head with the flat of his paw. Confused, angry, and embarrassed, Tughar slunk off to the edge of the hall and sat sulking.
This incident somewhat soured the mood, causing the caslikoh song to turn melancholy and unpleasant, and the Coricats began returning to their homes soon afterward. Eliot had trouble sleeping that night, despite the sleeping elixir Cazondra gave him. Besides the residual pain from his encounter with the pollicle, he was now concerned about his safety with Vyktorea. He had noticed Plaetoh, that big, muscle-bound male who was Munkustrap's oldest kitten, glaring murderously at him whenever Vyktorea showed any affection for him. He hoped Plaetoh would not feel moved to take action against him as Tughar had done with Jabez tonight.
©1999 Delilah