The cats and the moon - I/ TWO TRIBES

1. A night like any other

The Jellicle junkyard was quiet.

It was an early morning, and most cats had not yet returned from their night prowls. Mistoffelees, a small tuxedo cat, rested with his chin on his outstretched paws, watching the junkyard from the top of a junkpile. Jennyanydots, a ginger tabby cat, had just ushered the youngest kittens to bed. Victoria and Tumblebrutus, the two oldest kittens, lay side by side now, enjoying the last few moments of the night before they went back to their human houses. Humans could get so worried if you didn't show up regularly. Most of the Jellicles spent as much time as possible in the junkyard, but they had to go back to their humans now and then to reassure them.

Although sometimes you wished you didn't have to, he thought bitterly.

His thoughts wandered over to the pretty blue-grey queen who lived next door to his human. Her name was Eriva, and Misto liked her very much. Only he had found out some time ago that her human was not treating her as he ought to. This had broken the tux's heart and he had vowed to help her. Eriva was ever so nice, kind and sweet, and she deserved better.

He remembered the first time he had approached her. She had been lying in his garden, hiding from her human in a bush. Normally, Mistoffelees would have defended his territory against this intruder - it was, after all, a house cat's duty, to protect the family who fed them - but the blue-grey queen had seemed so lost he had not had the heart to throw her out. Instead, he had approached her with his tail and ears held low, so as to show he meant no harm. Nevertheless, she had jumped at his approach.

"Are these your humans? I'm sorry, I'll leave..."

She had gotten up and he had been able to notice one of her paws was hurt. She trembled, and leaning on it seemed painful. He had held her back.

"Hey, wait. What's your name?" 

She had whispered "Eriva" then had run off despite his attempts to welcome her. Misto would soon notice that she hated to feel out of place. After a few brief encounters, he found that it was best to talk to her when she was on the street, away from both of their human homes. A neutral territory helped make her feel comfortable.

Gradually, she had opened up to him. It had taken him time to figure out why she always looked so sad and scared, however. She never spoke about it, and always eluded the question when he asked why she was frequently hurt.

Their friendship had built up over the months. Encounter after encounter, they got to know each other, and she had begun to trust him. Once he realised that it was her human who made her this scared and fearful, he invited her to sleep in his garden, but then again it had taken time before she accepted to go there once in a while, when she really was hurt and seeing her human again would put her in danger.

But lately, he had felt there was something she wasn't telling him. Their encounters had grown less and less frequent, and he had eventually guessed that she was seeing another cat. He was glad that she had another friend. But he couldn't understand why she wouldn't tell him about it. It was as though she were trying to hide it.

He hadn't seen her for weeks now. He missed her. And he was also very worried. What might have happened for her to not come see him in such a long time? Had her human gotten her... For good? No, he would have known that. And she hadn't moved out, for he had seen her human several times. Perhaps she had finally run away from him, but he couldn't understand why she hadn't warned him. Did he matter that little to her?

A yell of alarm ran through the junkyard and the tux snapped out of his thoughts. Munkustrap, the tabby grey protector of the Jellicle tribe, came running into the clearing, shouting a single name.

"Macavity!"

Misto was up in a second and jumped off the pile of junk where he had been resting. He and a few other cats gathered around Munk.

"Where's everyone?" Munk asked as only a few of the usually numerous cats assembled around him.

"Back to their humans", his second-in-command, Alonzo, a handsome black and white tom, responded. "It hasn't been a busy night!"

"Of course", Munkustrap muttered. "He knows it, too."

A loud crash rang through the junkyard and all the cats tensed at the characteristic sound. There was no need for spoken orders. The cats all knew what to do. Jellylorum, a golden tabby queen, and Jennyanydots, placed themselves in front of the entrance to the kittens' den so as to protect them. Munk ushered the rest of the cats - Mistoffelees, Alonzo, a black queen named Cassandra, two troublesome ginger twins, Jelly's mate Asparagus, and Munk's own brother, Rum Tum Tugger - behind him and they all stood in tense silence, claws unsheathed, waiting for the attack. Demeter, Munk's mate, was not there. Thank the Everlasting, Munk thought.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon, a tall ginger cat, followed by several henchcats, stormed into the junkyard, lunging straight at Munkustrap. Macavity and Munkustrap had always gotten into fights as far as anyone could remember, and their main enemy obviously wanted the grey tabby dead. Alonzo launched himself at his friend's aid but was intercepted by several henchcats who diverted his attention from Munk. Macavity's forces were much more numerous than the Jellicles, who would soon be overpowered.

Misto was fighting alongside Tugger, using his magical powers - for he was indeed one of the very few known Magic Cats - to hold back their enemies. But suddenly, he lost focus as his attention was pulled to a familiar silhouette among the henchcats...