This time it was Astra who needed answers. Freya spoke vaguely. But there was much more she knew. When the sun rose, she snuck out of the house, ran through the garden, and headed through the forest to the rocks. She stood for a moment looking at their tops. She didn't even tell all about what she saw beyond them. She considered climbing up and seeing for herself. But first she had to find the big brown cat and have him explain everything about Nigel. Since the tunnel was used very often, she went through it without any problems. She was quite tiny too, she didn't have to crawl or crouch. Being small sometimes has its advantages. She thought, peeking out curiously at a field covered in huge flowers with large yellow petals. She had never seen flowers this tall before. She looked at them with interest. She tried to climb one of them, but when she was almost at the top, the stem began to lean down with her. She was afraid it would break, so she jumped to the ground. The stem righted itself, threw a few petals around, swayed from side to side for a moment, and then stood still. Astra climbed it again, bent it all the way to the ground, and jumped off. She liked the way the petals scattered around and landed around her.


"What kind of kitten are you?" Someone she hadn't even noticed coming asked. She took a fighting stance. "Kitten warrior." A large tomcat with blue eyes poked his head out from behind the stalks. "I'm not a kitten." cried Astra through her teeth, eyeing him warily. "Aren't you? Then you're the biggest little guy I've ever seen." "Tiny? How dare you call me a little one?" Astra ran her eyes over his snow-white fur. "Because you're short." The cat stood up and straightened. Astra rolled her eyes. Not just because the cat was as big as her, Freya, and Orion combined. But also because he was all white, terribly fluffy, and wagged a brown tail with darker stripes. "Who are you, anyway?" she circled him carefully at a respectful distance. He probably looked a lot bigger than he really was and she could handle wrestling him. But she wasn't going to find out.


The cat squinted. "None of your business, but I find you funny, so I'll answer you." He started walking around Astra in circles, too, checking her out. "How many cats did they mix you with?" He asked after a moment. Astra crouched down, hissing at him. Such a provocation. "Just take it easy little one, just take it easy." The cat chuckled. "You have something to say, who did you steal the tail from?" She used Nukhfi's words. He bristled and looked twice as big. She had hit a sensitive spot. "You shouldn't mess with me. I'm having kittens like you for dessert." He pulled out his claws and dug them into the dirt. "I'm not a kitten." Astra crouched down. Completely motionless, only her tail gave away that she was about to attack. "This is my field. I am the master here. You have no business being here. Leave while you can." He stopped and watched her. Eager, claws out, teeth bared.


Astra was ready to jump. To sink her claws into him, bite into his back. Her muscles tensed, all her senses ready. "You've made enough enemies, don't you think?" another big cat appeared beside the tomcat. Almost all white, too, with only a tail the colour of brown stripes. Astra immediately noticed the sagging skin under her belly. She had kittens that had stopped feeding. About the same size as hers, maybe a little bigger. She flicked her gaze from her to him. He pulled back his fur and retracted his claws. He hissed warningly at Astra and meowed something angrily. "Get out of here. A little guy like you shouldn't be here." Said the cat woman. "I'm not a runt." Astra snapped, but she obeyed. She could hold her own against one, but she wouldn't stand a chance against two. She walked back over the field to the copse. Every now and then she turned back to see if she was being followed. The cat stood looking after her. Astra was tempted to go back there and ask. Everything she could think of. But maybe it would be safer to ask Freya. She reasoned.


"How was it with Nigel?" She followed her as soon as she got home. Freya just cracked an eye open. "I was there, behind the field of flowers. I talked to them." She sat down and watched Freya. "Then you know how it is with him." "No, I don't. They wanted to cut me up and hide me for the winter.” Freya opened her other eye as well. “Why should they? She is a peaceful mom cat and the kittens don't even hunt on their own yet. How could they tear you apart, they don't have teeth.” She wondered, starting to fall asleep again. "I spoke to his parents." Astra looked at Nigel. Freya stood up abruptly. "Are you crazy? Did it jump out at you? Who has ever seen it, voluntarily making yourself a dessert? That's the dumbest way to commit suicide I know." she spoke in a whisper so the others couldn't hear them. "I know the stupider ways, but that's not the point now. I want to know how it really is with Nigel.” “So they didn't tell you anything?" She calmed down again when she realized that Astra was safe. "But yeah, they told me a lot of interesting things. Maybe I'm funny, tiny, a mixture of several cats." she started listing and Freya slapped her paw on the mouth. "Enough, stop it. You are grinding bullshit.” she said very sternly. "Tell me something sensible and I'll grind out sensibles." Astra was angry at Freya for not being honest with her. She really wasn't a kitten anymore. She was an adult. How could she be a kitten when she had kittens herself? That couldn't be done.


Freya sighed. "The word reasonable does not exist, but so be it. I'll tell you something. There is a completely different world over there. A world that we here will not understand. They have their own laws. They have their own rules. Their own habits. They live differently. Dangerously. They are constantly moving, before every winter, when the kittens grow up, they go elsewhere, to new hunting grounds, to places where it is warmer." "Okay, I know there are cat gangs like that. But I don't understand how it has to do with…” “You know what's been their custom for generations?” Freya interrupted. Astra just shook her head. "When too many kitten boys are born in the pack, the leader kills and eats them. So that they could not threaten his position. He will keep only his own, whom he will raise as successors, as future leaders. He only keeps kitten girls so he has someone to mate with when needed. He will only keep smart, strong and resilient individuals who will have no problem surviving.” Astra wanted to say something, but honestly, she didn't know what to say. “And now imagine that a son is born to that great and all-powerful leader. A son just like himself, except that he is deaf and stupid. What do you think he will do?” Astra took another breath to say something, but she still didn't know what to say. “Nigel was lucky. His mom was able to carry him away, hide him with another cat, who took care of him until it was safe." Freya finished, settling down to sleep again and closing her eyes. Astra sat there for a while wondering how it was possible for someone to kill and eat their own kittens. That Freya had told her how Nigel had gotten to the big brown cat and that Orion and Trigger were actually messing around didn't matter to her at that moment. Although it finally made her understand everything. Well actually, maybe except for the fact that what was so strange about the other side of the rock that Freya kept it to herself and didn't want to tell anyone.