This Love
I love the queen called Demeter. She's glorious in her golden and obsidian coat, and wonderfully kind and loving on the inside. I'd been trying to get her attention since we were kittens (we grew up together), but she never saw me, for some reason. Eventually, I befriended her sister to try and figure out how to ask her if she would be my mate in the future. I never did get around to asking her about that.
Most of the other Jellicle toms think I'm crazy. I know they do. They ask me why I waste my time on her... but am I really wasting my time on the one I love? She's been through a lot, but they don't seem to care. Why should they? I was the only one who fought to protect her. Granted, she needed protection.
We were both still young at the time, barely older than kittens, in fact. My older brother, Macavity himself, decided that she would make an ideal mate for him. Why? I'll probably never know, and I doubt that I would want to if I did. The only thing I know about his feelings for Demeter is that he kitnapped and raped her. Lust was probably his motivation.
What surprises me is that I was the only Jellicle to hear my beloved's cries for help. Or maybe I was just the only one who cared enough to hear them. Her sister probably would have, had she been closer, but she was several yards away. I fetched Bombalurina immediately, and we ran to find Demeter.
Sadly, we got there too late to prevent Macavity from causing damage to Demeter. I regret that I hadn't gone alone to save time, and prevent my brother from hurting her. Bomba pulled her sister from the clutches of my evil brother, and I moved in to fight him for Demeter's freedom.
My brother and I are fairly evenly matched, though I have more stamina than he. Once he wore down, he retreated of his own will, and I emerged from the conflict without more than a few slight scratches. Bombalurina, Demeter and I returned to the Junkyard shortly afterward. The three of us talked for a while, and Bomba departed. I believe she sensed what words couldn't say between Demeter and myself.
Almost immediately afterward, Demi and I shared a kiss. We had apparently been on the same thoughtwave, although I can't remebmer what that was. We parted shortly afterward, although I repeatedly checked on her that night, to make sure she was alright.
The next night, she caught me checking on her, and we stayed together and talked for the entirety of the night. It was then that I told her everything I had always felt about her, and everything I had done to try and win her heart. She cried during our talk, but her tears were not of pain, they were of joy.
But that night wasn't perfect. Macavity returned to seek revenge. He couldn't find my Demi, but decided that her sister would do well enough for his purposes, so he kitnapped her instead. When Demi discovered this the next morning, I promised to find her sister. She wouldn't see me leave alone, and I promised to take Skimbleshanks and Alonzo with me. Only then would she consent to let me go.
We rescued Bomba, with little trouble from Macavity. His rats wouldn't help him, instead, they quivered with fear, as they almost always do. Her rescue took a long while, though, because it is quite a ways to Macavity's lair when setting out from the Junkyard. I figured that we were getting out of there too easily, when my brother let us take Bomba without a fight.
He, and a group of Pollicles attacked us before we could leave the grounds. We managed to fend them off, with a lot of help from Bombalurina herself, though none of us escaped without injury. We made it back to our home shortly after sundown, and I knew Demeter must be worried sick about us and her sister. She began to cry when she caught sight of us, and ran to hug her sister. Then she turned to me, tears still spilling out of her eyes, and insisted on cleaning my wounds. I let her, not knowing what to do.
I promised her that night that I would never get hurt again. I still don't know how I'm supposed to both protect the tribe and keep my promise to her, but I'm sure I'll figure it out sometime. She and I remained together, and were unofficially mates at the time. Her sister started teaching her more complex dances, and Jelly was teaching her to sing opera. I always managed to find her when she wasn't busy, though.
It must have been over a week later when Macavity returned once more to the Junkyard. This time, he turned his rage on the first Jellicle he encountered, which happened to be a young queen named Etcetera. It was Demeter who jumped into the fray to save her from him. And it was she who nearly killed him. I had to stop her from becoming one of his own, a murderer. I scolded Demi for what she was doing, and I felt like I embarassed her, but I knew in my heart I had done the right thing.
I'm not sure if Demi even knew I watched over her that night. She had returned to her den without me, but I followed her anyway, and watched her sleep until I fell asleep myself.
I awoke long before she did, and I left her den, and wandered around for a while, until she eventually caught up to me. I told her that she had been brave, even if she had wanted to go too far and kill Macavity. It was then that I learned that almost anything said to Demeter embarasses her. We spent that day together, not really doing anything.
The air is still, and a soft breeze just passed by. I have my love in my arms, and I just feel like sleeping...