It’s a Small Uber World After All
Chapter
Thirteen
Verrath
Some time earlier...
"I cannot believe this is happening," Xandra growled irritably. She was pacing the length of their confinement as she had done pretty much incessantly since they had been put here. Back and forth, back and forth she went, not pausing, or touching the meat that had been put out for them. "Tell me again how I could be so stupid and let myself be caught by mans!"
Her voice had grown louder and louder as she spoke, and a man cub pressing its nose against the surface on the other side of the strange wall confining them shrank back in fear. It ran wailing to its dam, which gave the panther a brief flash of satisfaction. "Why?" she roared, rounding on her smaller companion.
Ginelle licked her chest briefly and said patiently, "We're here because Verrath told us to. She said we are to go represent her at some man gathering taking place here."
"Oh, I see pawfuls and pawfuls of mans, but this is not what I thought we were traveling to. Torran's horns, she didn't say it involved being locked in a man prison! And did you hear what they are calling us? Whatever happened to our names, for Amarok's sake?"
"That's not fair. I'm sure Verrath did not know this was going to happen."
Xandra was not listening. "Verrath is just a she-man. We could have just eaten her and gone back to our life."
"She is not just any she-man. We can't touch her, you know that. Besides, you say you don't even like the taste of man flesh."
Xandra made a face. "I might make an exception. Just let me get out of here..."
Xandra resumed her pacing, and Ginelle was left to sit and stare at the man faces She looked around their prison. It was nearly round, a little peninsula jutting out into a man-made environment on one side, and walled off by a tall, painted wall on the other. There was a cleverly concealed passage that led into a tight space where they were required to spend the nights.
The peninsula itself was surrounded by a deep moat, except right in front of them, where the transparent wall was set up and allowed mans to get very close without being able to actually touch the cats. It was larger than where she had lived as a cub and actually almost nice, but she felt so much more a prisoner here. The moat, they had ascertained on the very first day, was a far jump, quite impossible for Ginelle to do. Xandra, with a sour look, had stated that she wasn't leaving without her. Ginelle was not sure if that was said only out of loyalty, but she found it very touching, considering how angry Xandra was with her.
She felt for Xandra, who had never in her life been in captivity. It must be horrible for her. Not to mention they had been ridiculously easy to catch, due to the fact that they had voluntarily entered their transport cages. Could Xandra be right? Had Verrath tricked them?
Ginelle refused to believe it. She was sure it was all a big misunderstanding.
The trip itself had been a scary and stressful affair that Ginelle did not look forward to repeating. Then, upon arrival, rather than be released like they had expected, they had been brought here. Needless to say, Xandra had been less than amicable. It had taken the better part of one week for her to even speak to Ginelle again. But even so, nearly every word she had spoken since their arrival had fairly dripped with disdain. So far, no-one had rushed to their aid and cleared up this mess - they were stuck.
"Will you stop?" Ginelle said after watching her big companion pace for a while. "It's not helping, you're wasting your energy, and you are driving me insane. Try the meat. It's actually quite good. Fresher than the stuff you haul up trees, anyway." The last was said in undertones, but Xandra interrupted her pacing long enough to give her a flat-eared stare.
"I will not eat man-food."
"Have you noticed how skinny you've become?" Ginelle retorted. "We haven't exactly had good hunting lately, and this is for free. How do you think we'll escape if you don't keep your strength up?"
Xandra stopped and scowled at her front paws. "I. Will. Not. Eat. Man-food," she repeated, slowly and deliberately. Her tail was lashing irritably. Blowing air through her nostrils, she whirled and paced on. Her eyes scanned the man-crowd, who were gawking like the silly beasts they were, as if Xandra was some sort of apparition.
Had they known just who they were gazing at, India's most feared and hated man-killer, known by the natives only as the Princess Of Terror, no doubt the leopard enclosure would have been given a wide berth. As it was, the only thing that kept the black killer from making short work of their caretaker, or attempt to jump the moat again and again, was a spotted leopard just over half her size, named Ginelle.
"You could use a grooming, too," Ginelle told her, taking stock of her friend's dusty, matted fur. Clots of mud were stuck to the panther's belly. Her coat, once shiny and black, now looked almost gray. There was no mistaking it; Xandra was neglecting herself.
The black cat heaved a deep sigh. "I am going out of my mind, Ginelle," she said, so softly that Ginelle could barely hear. "I have to get out of here!" She dropped to her haunches and looked so forlorn that Ginelle expected her to meow any moment.
Immediately, the small leopard was at her side, licking the fur on her neck softly. "It will be okay, I'm sure. It will all clear up."
"I hope you're right." Steeling herself, Xandra got to her feet again. Gone was the lost-cub-look, to be replaced by a stubborn scowl. "Until then," she announced doggedly, "I will pace."
It was Ginelle's turn to meow.
************
"Here comes another herd," Xandra grunted indignantly. "What's so interesting about two trapped cats anyway? Go soak your tails." She chuckled mirthlessly. "But you don't have any tails, poor weakling fools that you are."
Two she-mans had approached the glass and were peering through, the shorter one pointing at her with her mouth gaping open. The panther flashed her a contemptuous glare. Now the taller one came closer also, and it was all Xandra could do not to fling herself snarling and growling at the pane - she had a sorely bruised nose and a tender spot on her brow to remind her that was not a good idea.
"Gosh, Xandra, that's the closest you've come to joking in many sundowns!" Ginelle appeared from where she had been dozing under some bushes.
Xandra seemed about to make an angry retort, but recognized her friend's attempt to lighten her foul mood, and reined in her temper with a visible effort. "Yeah well," she said instead.
She watched as the smaller leopard approached the watching mans. "Ginelle! Be careful! You don't know what those mans are capable of!"
Ginelle gave her one of her don't-be-silly-you're-treating-me-like-a-cub looks. "But Xandra, we don't belong here. Maybe they can help get us out."
"I wouldn't be so sure. It's ones like them that put us in here."
"No, not like these. Look at those blue eyes," Ginelle replied looking back at Xandra, "They are just like yours."
Xandra rumbled noncommittally.
The spotted leopard edged closer to the transparent wall and put her paw against it. She wished this wall was gone, but she doubted even her mentor Mayla's powers would have been strong enough to Sing it away.
She noted the blue eyes staring at her, and returned the gaze with one of her own. Within the Circle, such behavior was considered aggressive, but she knew enough about the mans to realize these were just curious.
"Oh please, that is disgusting," Xandra snarled. "You look like an off-wolf-cub begging for a treat."
"Are you kidding? That's my best flat stare! Besides, it got their attention, didn't it?" Ginelle said without taking her gaze off the dark-haired she-man that looked at her as if she knew her somehow. "You want out of here, don't you?"
Xandra grumbled something that might have been assent. At least she had stopped pacing.
"My looks got their attention," the black feline added belatedly.
Ginelle chortled. "You hardly look a prime example of our kind at the moment. And you smell."
"Why I oughta-"
"Shh. Look at this."
Xandra gaped, watching as the she-man put her paw against the surface opposite Ginelle's. "Why, it looks like it's trying to communicate!"
"She," Ginelle corrected.
"Whatever. Let it- her, let her know we need out of here. Who knows, maybe they do have some intelligence..."
"Hush. Okay, let's see if I've learned anything from Mayla," Ginelle said, and began to Sing the way her ghostly mentor from the Far East had shown her.
She was by no means a Master Singer, but even Mayla, the sternest teacher she could imagine, had grudgingly admitted she had great potential. She just hoped it was enough. Using the concentration techniques she had been required to practice until she wanted to weep with boredom, she focused on putting an idea into the blue-eyed she-man's mind...
***********
"My God, did you know they can make this kind of noise?" Jordan asked, plugging her ears with her pinkie fingers in an effort to make the keening wail more bearable.
"No, I didn't!" Bly was torn between rapture and the desire to plug her ears as well. The noise that had sprung up from the smaller feline's throat was both unusually compelling and positively painful to her hearing. "I mean, Ares can wail with the best of them when he's in heat, but this..." She broke off, at a loss for adjectives.
"Yes. Should we go on?"
"I don't know... think they're trying to tell us something?"
"Well, maybe they've got rampant hormones," Jordan said wryly. "Or they want to know if you taste good with antelope."
Bly was silent for a long time, never removing her hand from the glass where it seemed to touch the cat's large paw. As the seconds passed, the wailing seemed less offensive. She was intrigued, and resolved to do some research on the internet on this unusual behavior.
"Does the black one look a little unhappy to you?" she asked her partner after a while. "Look how matted its coat is - as if it hasn't been grooming. That's pretty weird, for a cat."
"Yeah, I guess," Jordan said thoughtfully. "But then, how would you feel in there?"
Bly heaved a sigh, and straightened slowly. "I'd hate to be them... Come on, let's get going before I get depressed."
They continued on with their arms around each other, Bly looking back once at the two leopards, pensive.
She thought she saw the spotted leopard's mouth move in an almost human way, forming words that she could not quite read. Chiding herself for being a complete and utter fool, Bly shook her head and followed when her partner tugged her towards the tiger habitat.
************
"Well, that was a waste," said Xandra. "For a moment there I thought you had them."
Ginelle's ears drooped. "I was so sure it would work. I wish Mayla was here - she'd know what I did wrong."
"Yeah... I've got to admit I miss her gibberish. But you did well."
Despite everything, Ginelle had to smile at the dour panther's first genuinely warm words since their imprisonment. "I should have done better, though."
To that, Xandra found no reply.
*************
"Does it seem to you that there are a lot of female couples here today?"
Lark was looking around the park in mild wonder. On a normal day, you could see an occasional female or male couple, most not being all that conspicuous about their relationship out here in the public, Today, though, Animal Kingdom seemed full of women walking arm in arm and making no secret of their romantic involvement.
With a passing smile, she noted that they seemed to be one of very few gay couples that actually had a child with them. At the moment, Julia was sleeping in her stroller. Her afternoon nap had been cancelled for this special day out at Disney World, and the little girl had finally given in to slumber when they had left the Magic Kingdom. However, Lark was sure the peace was short-lived. The toddler had been irrepressible most of the morning; she had been walking for a month or two, a whirlwind of energy that was difficult to keep up with. She was also quite a magnet for mischief.
Rayne nodded. "And with a few of them, it's like looking in a mirror," she remarked when a tall, dark-haired woman passed them by, holding hands with a shorter blonde - the young woman might have been strawberry-blonde or even red-haired, though, it was hard to tell.
"Do you think it may have to do with the convention?"
"Ooh, you're going to the convention?" the shorter woman passing them asked, suddenly interested. "So are we. I'm Jordan, this is my partner Bly."
Half suspicious, half intrigued, Rayne accepted the proffered hand. "Rayne," she said shortly.
"I'm Lark," said Lark. "And yes, we are going to the convention. Looking forward to it, aren't we, Rayne?" She looked about to cuff her partner gently in the ribs, but Rayne nodded and smiled before she had a chance.
"So, have you seen anything in here yet?" Jordan asked brightly.
"Ah, no, we just got here," Lark replied in identical tones. "We figure we'll grab a bite and wait for the little one to wake up from her nap."
"Makes sense."
"Why don't you go over to the big cats?" Bly said, startling her partner by speaking up. "They've got a pair of leopards there that are worth seeing."
"Oh, I think we will," Lark said enthusiastically. "Julia loves cats."
"Bly is right, you know." A distant look had entered Jordan's eyes. "The eyes on that black one are still haunting me. And the way they were acting... But I'm sure you'll see for yourself."
"I'm sure we will," said Rayne.
"Anyway, we need to get going," Jordan smiled at the other couple. "We've kept you long enough. Enjoy your stay, and we'll see you this weekend!"
************
After a quick bite to eat, and with Julia once again awake and entirely too alert, Rayne and Lark approached the leopard habitat.
A flock of people was gathered around the enclosure, children hopping up and down and people standing on tiptoe to see above the crowd. Above the low murmur of voices from the gathered people, they could hear the voice of a cast member talking about leopards and their natural behavior.
"These two only arrived here last week," the man was saying. "The black one is Shadow and her little friend is Dots. They came to us all the way from India and were given to us by the New Delhi Zoo."
"Dots? That's cute," Rayne murmured with a sneer.
"Not," Lark agreed. "But hey, it's Disney World."
"Shadow is extremely large for a female, and as you can see, she is also quite aggressive." The man laughed; it sounded slightly nervous.
As if on cue, a flurry of sound sprang up, snarling and hissing, accompanied by gasps from the crowd and punctuated by the occasional "whoa there, kitty" or an "isn't she amazing, people?"
"Can you see anything?" Lark held on to her partner's shoulder to pull herself up on tiptoe, but she could only see the top of the man's head and a flash of black fur at the bottom of her vision.
"Guy's wearing protective clothing," Rayne reported, mildly amused. She had to stand on tiptoe herself, and crane her neck, to be able to see. "I guess he wasn't kidding about the cat being aggressive. I've never seen these guys in anything but those icky-green ranger-type shorts and wearing that Disney-smile." She chuckled dryly.
There was a question from the audience that they did not quite understand. The man's answer, however, reached their ears loud and clear.
"Yes, little Dots seems to be doing well enough, but Shadow's been having some trouble adjusting. The stress has caused her to stop grooming, that's why she looks a little bedraggled. But we're positive that once she's settled in, she'll start taking proper care of herself again. After all, she's a female." The attempted joke drew a few chuckles from the watchers and a pained groan from both Rayne and Lark.
He started on another sentence, but an intense wail that could only come from one of the leopards drowned out his voice. Lark's hands went to her ears. "What the...?"
Rayne said something, but Lark could not hear her. She too, was covering her ears, grimacing.
After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, the leopard fell silent, and after a brief moment of recovery, the crowd bombed the poor man with questions that it was clear he had no answers to.
"Come on, let's get away from all these people," said Rayne, a touch impatiently. We can come back here when the people are gone, so Julia can see the animals." She looked down at the stroller, suddenly realizing that Julia had been suspiciously quiet.
The stroller's seat gaped emptily back at them. Their little daughter was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh no! How can she be gone, we only looked away for a few seconds!" Lark's voice was taking on a hysterical pitch.
Rayne knew she had to keep cool for both of them, although in truth she felt like breaking down and panicking herself. Their baby daughter, lost in the middle of a throng of strangers!
She thought she saw a flash of little legs in between the strangers, and they both went to investigate - without luck.
They separated, expanding their search - without luck. It seemed impossible that a little girl could vanish so completely in the blink of an eye.
"Oh, Rayne, what are we going to do?" Lark dropped onto a park bench and buried her face in her hands. "She can't really have walked all the way out of here in such a short time, she's so little... do you think somebody... took her?" She said it hesitantly, it as if her speaking the words might make them true.
Rayne put her arm around her partner and hugged her gently. "We'll keep looking. She's got to be here somewhere. Let's walk to the exit and report her missing. Maybe someone took her there." She tried to sound hopeful.
Seeing Lark perk up a little, encouraged by her partner's calm, Rayne was glad to have kept her composure.
Their way back to the exit took them past the leopard habitat. Once again there was a crowd of people gathered there, only this time there was no caretaker talking at them. A few of them were pointing, to much ooh-ing and aw-ing.
As the couple advanced a little further, they saw the reason.
"Good Heavens, Rayne, look at that!" Lark exclaimed, grabbing her partner's arm with enough force to make the taller woman wince, pointing towards the leopard habitat.
Rayne had already stopped dead in her tracks, slack-jawed. "You know, maybe these women had it right... Something about these cats..." Her voice was toneless with shock. "I think we need to talk to the park authorities, dear..."
There, sitting right astride that vicious black leopard, little hands latched firmly onto velvety black ears and feet kicking up a storm against the cat's rump, was their daughter, squealing with delight.
***********
"You're sure I can't eat it?" Xandra said as she craned her neck trying to get her ears out of the reach of those infernal little claws. The fact that the little tic seemed to instinctively find all her tender and sensitive areas to pinch unnerved her no end.
"Xandra!"
"Oh, all right! But by Agulaar's tail, if it plucks another of my whiskers, I'm out of here!"
"Well, at least my Singing reached someone," Ginelle said, fighting a grin in spite of herself. "And I think she's absolutely adorable."
"It's a cub," Xandra grunted. "I guess even man cubs have some appeal."
"Kitty!" the toddler exclaimed, clumsily patting the soft fur on Xandra's shoulder.
"Boo," Xandra growled, and the child doubled over with peals of laughter.
"Awww, she likes you," Ginelle said sweetly.
To be continued in Chapter 14 ....