Once they got a bit comfortable with Ajax, a tomcat of a beautiful grey colour that they first wanted to call Silver or Moon, and Luna, a white cat with a few grey spots and strangely slanted eyes, they took them on a trip. The little ones ran around and around, telling each other over and over where what was and where to go. Ajax wasn't even listening much. He knew there would be no independent wanderings for him. He liked the house, warm and dry. Luna, on the other hand, was paying good attention. She tried to remember everything. She wasn't planning on staying. As much as she liked being with the others, and especially liked Orion, she knew she came from somewhere. She wanted to find where she belonged. She wanted to find her siblings and maybe even her parents.

They made it to the meadow where they had last started playing with the red flowers and tall grass. Freya crossed the whole valley to the other side. There were still tyrannosaur tracks in the dirt. She followed them to a high rock, where they disappeared. She looked up to the top. "You can't climb up there." Astra echoed beside her. Freya flinched. How had she managed to get so close behind her that she couldn't hear her? "I'll try." She placed her paws on the rock. She grabbed onto a protruding rock and pulled herself up. She continued up the small outcroppings until she was halfway up the rock. There she got stuck. She had nothing to hold on to and her claws couldn't dig into the hard stone. She lifted her head. She thought. She looked down. Everyone was watching her intently. They were all worried about her. If something happened to her, who would care about them?

She figured they could handle it. Orion was strong, Astra was smart. The others were quite independent now. She moved on. She climbed higher and higher, a great excitement washing over her. She hadn't experienced anything so adventurous in a long time. Always hunting, searching, caring. She caught her claws on a piece of wood and pulled herself all the way up. She stood up and walked over the edge of the cliff top. She stared in wonder at the huge hole. The rock on the other side was even higher than theirs. Perhaps a hundred feet. And though she couldn't quite see the bottom of the hole, she could see enough to understand. There were dozens of dinosaurs moving around in the vast expanse. She could have sworn she spotted the family of triceratops from the playground and the tyrannosaurus that tried to hunt them. She swallowed her mouthful. They'd discovered some lost, forgotten, ancient world. Somehow, in some way she couldn't yet explain, they had managed to get into it, and they had managed to leave it. The Triceratops hadn't disappeared at all. They just didn't go into their cat world. "Wow, that's something." Curious, probing, excited, she drove her gaze over all the newness.

"What did you see there?" "Tell me, what's there?" "What's on the other side?" "Go on, tell us." "What's behind the rock?" the kittens were coming at her. But Freya was silent. She ignored their questions. What was on the other side she wanted to keep to herself. At least for now. "You're not even going to tell me about this?" asked Astra. "Trees, grass, a lake, a waterfall, and lots of animals." Freya answered her. "Animals? What animals?" "Different animals." She replied. "You don't get the impression that someone is following us?" She turned away from her discovery and watched the nearby bushes. Luna started towards it. She ran through it a few times, but didn't discover anything. "I'd say there's something following us too." Orion joined Freya. "I can hear footsteps and smell someone strange coming from that rock." He continued, straightening up as he walked. "I didn't see or hear anyone." Astra said. "We didn't feel anyone." "We didn't see anyone." Nukhfi and Darka joined her. "It's white and terribly furry." Trigger spoke in a low voice. The third ginger male. But he wasn't as ginger as his brothers. More like cream with a few stripes. His eyes were honey-colored, a little shy. He was a lot smaller than his siblings and a lot more timid. He liked to play inside or run around the garden. He was scared to go out and walk crouched amongst the others. "White and furry, huh?" Jam asked him, laughing a little. "How could you see anything? If you're always crouching behind us?" Nukhfi teased him a little as well. "I could if I wanted to and I would." Trigger frowned at his brothers and followed Astra. He snuggled up to her. Most of all he liked the warm bed anyway, petting and sleeping. But he'd seen the white furry little guy. He was sure of it.

"Leave me alone. Get away from me. You hear me? Leave me alone. Come on, get out, get out, shoot, burn from here. How many times do I have to tell you? Leave me alone! Leave me alone, don't follow me. Don't follow me!" Orion's angry voice drifted into the dining room. "What are they doing in the garden again?" Freya asked, just sighing. She couldn't even eat in peace. Those two owed them hell. All they did was provoke. They should have left them in that hole. "I'm sure they just want to play." Astra defended Ajax and Luna. "They're still quite young." she added conciliatorily. It was only after a moment that they both realised that Ajax and Luna were sitting at their breakfast bowls. They looked at the two cats warily. "But, but, we're here." Luna dared to say. "If you two are here, who's there with Orion?" Astra looked out the window towards the garden.

Freya immediately shot up from her meal. Her bowl turned, tilted, and tipped over several times. With a terrifying roar, you could say she crashed out the window. She took off in Orion's direction. She was afraid that one of the animals from the valley in the rocks had gotten to them. That would be the end of them all. Not just Orion's. "Do you hear that?! Give me a break! Go away! Get away from me!" She heard Orion yelling at someone, but she didn't see anyone. She stopped abruptly, bounced, and jumped onto the pear tree. She looked around the garden from above. She couldn't see anything. She saw no one at all. Not even Orion. "I'm going crazy. What's everyone still doing with me? I'm not a cat mom! Do you hear me? I'm not a cat mommy!" he yelled in exasperation, trying to wrestle the blackberry out of the brambles. It wasn't until he succeeded that Freya noticed he wasn't alone. He turned, paw stopping a white, furry ball that had rolled out behind him. "That's enough. Leave me alone!" He shouted, until all the other kittens were startled. The curiously peeking heads ducked again. "What the?" said Freya, jumping down from the tree. The ball untangled itself a little, and Orion's paw was licked by a pink tongue. "No, just no! Do you understand me? Can you hear me? I say noooooo!" shouted Orion. Astra walked out. With raised eyebrows, she watched in utter disbelief at the small, terribly furry, almost all white, kitten.

"I told you something white and furry was following us." Trigger was sitting on the window. "Hm. So you were right, well." Said the half-mouthed Nukhfi. "Yeah, you were right then, bro." Jamil said on the other half of his mouth. Orion grunted, snorted a few times, swung his paws at the ball, shoved it so hard that it fell back into the brambles, and ran inside with a desperate expression. "I'm not a cat mom! When is everyone going to get it!" he shouted angrily. Astra started laughing. Freya stood facing the kitten, not sure what they should do this time. The kitten was clean, fed, happy, healthy and clearly independent.

"She belongs to someone. She has a home somewhere." She said, walking over to the little guy. He sat up and looked at her curiously. Then he looked around for the spot where the big cat he had come to had disappeared. He stood up, scampered over to the open window. Trigger, Darka, Nukhfi and Jam were looking at him curiously. "He's like a fluffy cloud." Astra looked him over. She found him awfully cute. Her kittens were cute too, and especially when they were little they had soft fur, but he was completely different. Nukhfi suddenly laughed. He jumped down and grabbed his tail. "Hey, look, he's all white, but his tail is brown and striped. It's like he stole it from someone." He fiddled with the kitten's tail and laughed. The others started to smile too. "How could he steal a tail?" Trigger wondered. "I don't know, he bit it off and now he's wearing it." Nukhfi continued to play with it. "Leave him." Astra admonished him. But she herself was surprised that the kitten was all white and only the tail was a different color. She ran her paw over his back. She felt nothing but fur. She ran her fingers over them again, pressing down. Only then did she see where his spine was. "It's much smaller than it looks." She said. The kitten turned to look at her. It sat up and licked its paw. "I'm sure he has a mom somewhere." Freya said. She sniffed him. "We have to find her, she'll be missed." She added.

"He can't stay here." Orion protested. "Where else would he go?" Astra asked. "I don't know, I don't care. But I don't want him here." He protested further. Those two were enough for him. He turned at Ajax, who didn't take his eyes off him, and moved away from Luna, who was clinging to him. She moved back up to him. He moved back a little. She moved in behind him again. Astra and Freya stopped watching the white kitten and watched the two of them. Nukhfi stiffened. He could always tell something was wrong. He leaned back and watched Orion move along the bench to the edge with a smile. Subtly, he poked at Jam. "Don't interrupt, I'm eating." He muttered with his mouth full. Nukhfi poked him again. "Look, it'll be fun." He whispered. Jam looked up just as Orion moved away from Luna again a little and dropped down. They all burst out laughing.