The cats and the moon - I/ TWO TRIBES

6. Demeter and Eriva

Demeter was staring at Jelly's den, anguish building up in her stomach. Tugger and Bombalurina were flirting again - to ignore their own fear, she guessed. Well, good on them if it made them feel better, but she couldn't stand hearing them talk so lightly when Misto and Munk were maybe dying this instant. She looked over to Mungo and Rump. Couldn't they have run faster to get the tribe? Or sent Misto instead, who could actually teleport?

She inwardly told herself off for being so ungrateful. After all, Mungo had been right: had they not done what they had done, Munkustrap would be truly dead by now. Almost dead was always better than dead. At least now there was some hope.

Her thoughts wandered over to Eriva. From what she understood, it was she who had warned them that Macavity was planning an attack against Munk. She wondered for a moment how she had found out, before remembering how Macavity sometimes treated his captives. Had Eriva gone through the same thing as she had, all those years back? Her eyes scanned the junkyard, searching for the pretty grey-blue cat. She finally found her, sitting alone, cleaning her own injuries, as though trying very hard not to be noticed. She remembered what Misto had said, when he was imploring Munk to help her. She had been mistreated by her owner. Was this why she was so good at blending in the shadows, to the point that even other cats didn't notice her at once?

Demeter finally made her decision. She got up and crossed the junkyard over to Eriva. The grey-blue cat watched her with surprise.

"Do you mind?" Demeter asked.

Eriva shook her head. Demeter lay down next to her and, after a while, Eriva lay down as well.

"How are you feeling?" Demeter asked, a little awkwardly.

"I... Well. I just hope they'll be fine."

"That's... I didn't mean it like that." The gold and white queen was taken aback by this response. "Of course we all hope they'll be fine, but you... Look, I know this might seem awkward but... Macavity has a way of mesmerizing people. I... I've been one of his... Captives, too. And I know... How he may have treated you. So... If you ever want to talk about it..."

Eriva looked at her in surprise.

"You've... Been there too?"

Demeter smiled bitterly.

"Yeah. He does have a way of making you believe you're the only one, huh?"

"Yeah... He... I felt like... I actually mattered to him."

"I know. He's a master at that game. I'm actually amazed you got the nerves to fight him."

Eriva didn't answer straight away. When she did, it was with her head held low and her eyes filled with sorrow.

"Misto", she simply said.

"Oh... I see."

"I was... So hurt. So heartbroken. I thought he would never hurt me, he had said he would get me away from my human. And now..."

She twisted around to look at a few-days-old-looking injuries on her back. Demeter timidly rubbed her head against Eriva's, who looked surprised but returned the gesture.

"And then Misto was there, holding me and promising everything would be okay, he was getting me out of there... There's probably a billion questions I could have asked myself but at that moment it was just him saving me from... From him... Just... The pain on one side... And then Misto on the other..."

"I understand", Demeter assured her softly. She began licking her injuries, then paused and looked up to check it was okay. As Eriva wasn't pushing her off, she continued.

"I'm so sorry", Eriva whispered.

"What for?"

"Even now, I can't help wondering who I should trust... Who's going to hurt me next... I probably should trust you, and Misto, but..."

Demeter stopped cleaning Eriva's wounds for a moment.

"You don't have to. I sure hope you will trust me, in time, but I won't ask you to trust me, or any of us, right away. Just take the time you need. If that's what Macavity has done to you, healing might take time, and that's okay. Don't blame yourself for that."

Eriva nodded thoughtfully and Demeter returned to licking her wounds. They remained silent for a moment, and it was Eriva who asked the next question.

"The others... Will they reject me?"

"Does that mean you want to stay?"

"I... I don't know... I don't think... I didn't even think about it. I have no place to go. It seemed so obvious to me I would just... Stick with Misto..."

"Hey, you don't have to justify yourself. It's fine if you want to stay."

"But... Won't they mind?"

"Unless I heard wrong, which is not absolutely out of the question since I was taking care of Munk at that moment, Mungo already totally told you you're not the only one who got tricked into working for Macavity, or into trusting him. And besides, you saved Munk."

"Yeah, I... Mungojerrie did tell me that... But I didn't, really, or... Not yet..."

"You did all you could", Demeter said softly, laying down beside her so that their flanks were now touching. "All there is to it now is waiting. But don't worry. You'll be fine, and even if the others don't want you, I'll make sure you can stay if you want to."

Eriva rested her chin on her stretched arms, and Demeter mimicked her posture. They lay side by side in silent waiting, sharing the same anguish and the same burden.