"We showed that we can kick his butt, just you and me." Na'Vi said, leaning over the table, "If that doesn't tell them not to mess with us, I don't know what does."

  KuliKuli stayed seated, staring at the empty ptter in front of her. Both cat girls were seated across each other at the living room table, the warm flicker of candlelight illuminating them. She didn't move, didn't speak, not even a flicker from her ear.

  Na'Vi continued. "You remembered Tat-tat, that means you can get your memory back. I guess that means Nityri is in there somewhere."

  KuliKuli scowled. "She never left. I'm right here."

  "Sure, but for a moment I believed there was no hope of getting you back."

  Dimyri, who sat next to her sister, shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Now isn't the best time for this, Na'Vi."

  "I'm just pointing out that it's a good thing she could remember Tat-tat." Na'Vi expined, lowering her head with a smile on her face. She inched her head forward, trying to get a peek at KuliKuli's eyes. "I knew that Nityri was in there somewhere."

  KuliKuli looked away. "That's not who I am anymore. I told you this before. Stop calling me that."

  Na'Vi's eyes shifted, her shoulders dropping as she slowly pulled away until she was leaning back in her chair. Her chest expanded as she breathed in before releasing a heavy sigh, getting up from her chair.

  "Sorry, I overstepped. But shouldn't we be happy? We beat that Hunter in a fight, and those metal men need all the friends they can get to stand a chance against us."

  "They have the numbers." Dimyri mentioned in a sad tone.

  "Maybe, but we showed them. If we can handle the Hunter, we can handle them."

  Hearing this, KuliKuli scooted back and stood up, her sister's eyes following her movement. She looked like she had something to say, her lip quivered, and her cws had extracted from her paws as if she were ready to attack. Her friends watched as she turned around, walking without sharing another word. She froze when coming face to face with Felix, her eyes growing wide in a subtle panicked look. But she couldn't hesitate for long, walking past him slowly.

  "I'll be in my room." She whispered, walking up the stairs until she was out of sight. It took a moment ter until they heard a door sm shut, causing the girls to flinch.

  Na'Vi sat back down, paw over her mouth as she shook her head. Dimyri shrugged, scooting her chair in.

  "How much did you hear?" She asked, her tail pulling out a chair for him.

  "I heard enough." Felix replied, shaking his head politely declining her gesture.

  "You think maybe you should talk to her?" Na'Vi asked, looking at him with uncertainty.

  "Give her some time alone, I think she would appreciate that." He said, his hands falling to his sides.

  Dimyri looked up at him. "Where's the fairy?"

  "My room, snuggled up on a pillow."

  She looked down at her p and giggled.

  "What?" He asked.

  "Nothing, well... I've never seen a little creature like her before. Fairies, I never knew people could be that small. You ask me yesterday, I would have thought she was a glitterbug. A tiny woman like that? A pillow must be like the biggest comfiest bed for her to sleep in."

  "And a napkin could be her bnket." Felix added with a smile.

  Na'Vi smiled at that. "A couple of breadcrumbs would be big enough to fit in her hand. She's not a pet but I imagine she wouldn't be difficult to feed."

  "Gd you said she's not a pet, or that would have come off different." Felix mentioned.

  "Yea, how would that even work? She's smarter than she looks." Dimyri pointed out, "Talks funny though."

  He shrugged, slowly approaching the right side of the room. "Takes a while to adjust to it. Have any of you seen Janette's satchel?"

  "Her what?"

  "Satchel, it's her little bag, the brown bag?" He expined, making a square shape with his hands. The two Nekomata's responded with puzzled looks. "She wears it around her with a little sling that goes over her shoulder?"

  "Oh, it's in the kitchen." Dimyri answered, cocking her head toward its direction.

  "Thanks." He said, leaving them as he entered the kitchen next door.

  The door shut behind him as he stepped into a rather messy kitchen. His eyes danced around the rge room with a furnace pilr in the center, noticing a few cupboards left open. Gncing around, he stepped in and heard some movement behind the pantry room. He found the satchel leaning behind the furnace and retrieved it first, wearing it before slowly pushing the pantry door open. Though the room was pitch bck, it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust as the shadow was quickly unveiled to reveal a curvy figure hiding in the corner.

  "Emyri?" He called out in a hushed tone as he stepped inside.

  Emyri spun around, staring up with those beautiful green eyes of hers. Her cheeks were puffy with food, and a sweet-smelling red juice painted her chin and ran down her neck. Her brown paws were stained red, her fluffy tails curled around her legs and waist in an attempt to cover herself. Her knees were up against her chest, as soon as she recognized him, she looked away and turned her back to him.

  "Hey, are you-" He inched closer when he heard a crunch under his shoe. Raising his foot revealed a few nuts scattered around.

  Emyri swallowed and sighed loudly, hugging herself. "I didn't want you to see me like this, dear."

  "Why?"

  She sniffled, holding her paws up and realizing the messy state she was in. "Now is not a good time sweetie."

  She heard him approach her, clearing some space as he sat beside her. He held out a towel for her and offered a kind smile. Reluctant, she snatched it and quickly wiped her chin and breasts.

  "If you were hungry, you could have asked."

  "You cook?"

  "A bit, nothing like Jay. Modest meals are more my thing."

  "Modest how?" She asked curiously.

  Felix shrugged. "Jay makes these meals with all sorts of nuts, herbs, berries, seasoning and whatnot. I don't know any of that stuff, I made do with what I had. I can cook up a bowl of oatmeal and porridge. I can fry meat or cut it up and cook it in a stew, add a side of peas, maybe some bread and a slice of cheese."

  Emyri hummed at the thought. "I don't know what those are, but they sound delicious right about now."

  "Well, what would you eat?"

  "Whatever we could sink our fangs into." She expined with a wave of her paw. "I had a very rge clutter to look after."

  "How rge?"

  "Enough to fill this pce and then some."

  Felix whistled at the image. "That's a lot of Nekomata. How did you manage?"

  Her shoulders sunk as she sat against the wall in thought. "I ask myself that question more than you would know. My mother was in charge before me, all that was good in me came from her. But we were always moving, searching for a pce to call home. It's just us now."

  He sucked in his breath, reaching into the satchel and grabbing Vardare.

  "What's that, a cookbook?"

  He waved it lightly in his hand. "Went to grab this for Janette. I did mean to ask you."

  "About what?" She asked, leaning in.

  Felix stared off, unable to look back at her. "You um, I have been meaning to ask... what happened to their dad?"

  She stayed quiet, subtly pulling away. Now it was his turn to face her.

  "They share the same dad, yes?"

  She nodded, pressing her lips shut as the room seemed to get darker around her. "It's not something I talk about lightly. Why the sudden interest?"

  Felix paused, feeling guilty about the answer. It wouldn't be right to tell her about what Vardare told him and Janette. But the answer could lead them to something pertaining to Perdilius' interest. Then again, he didn't have to ask her. He could have her touch the book and that would be enough for Vardare to take in her memories.

  So why did he hesitate to do so, he asked himself.

  She reached out and pced a paw on his arm. "He was a man with a troubled past, something we can rete to. When we first met, I saw an enemy threatening me and my friends. But there was good in him. He was told to catch me but he chose to help me instead."

  Felix looked at her with wide eyes. "Why?"

  She shrugged and smiled bright. "Because it's him. He's fighting his own battles like us, only he chose to do it alone."

  "Is he..." He swallowed but was interrupted.

  "I don't know, hun. I can't tell you if he's still there. Sometimes I get this feeling, this lingering thought that won't go away. Like a voice whispering that he's still in here." She expined, pressing her paw against his chest. "I want to say yes, he is. He's not a bad man, just a man losing a battle inside."

  "Would he be dangerous to us?"

  Hearing this, Emyri chose to pull away before shaking her head.

  "Was he bad to them?"

  "Never. But he was different then. They wouldn't recognize him, he's been gone for a very long time. I had to let him go." She added in a low voice. "Felix, taking charge isn't easy. You may not like to hear it but it's true. Sometimes you need to make choices that not everyone agrees with, but you do it if it means protecting those that you love. I always have my daughters in my heart, it's what helps me stay strong. You asked me how I do it, they are the reason. I may not always make the right decision, but I do it to keep my family safe, that includes you now."

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek, much to his shock.

  "I-uh, ahem! Th-Thanks." He stuttered, giving up on the idea as he stuffed the book back in the bag. He meant to add something when her stomach growled loudly. They stared in silence as her face turned red.

  "Sorry dear, this old hag is on an empty tummy."

  Felix reached over and plucked a few strawberries from the crate behind her. "You seemed to enjoy these."

  "Sorry for the mess, paws." She chuckled, waving her furry brown paws between them. "Not so easy for eating. You humans have it easy."

  "I wouldn't say that. I can think of a few times in my life where having sharp cws could have helped."

  "Oh they're not sharp." She blurted out, dropping her paws on her p. "We scratch them against trees to keep them this way."

  "I see, so much like... like filing a knife?" He wondered.

  She shrugged. "Oh, I suppose so. I don't know about knives."

  A moment slipped by when she smacked her lips and scooted over to face him.

  "Could you feed it to me?"

  "What?"

  "The berries, the red ones? They're seedy but oh so sweet." She blushed, clearing her throat.

  "S-Sure, no it's fine." He stuttered, pinching a berry between his thumb and index. "I did this for KuliKuli as well, it's nothing new for me."

  What he wasn't ready for was seeing KuliKuli's mother open her mouth and stick out her tongue while staring into his eyes. He froze as he held the fruit up, his body reacting to her posture. Her paws were pced on her thighs as she sat on her knees, revealing her chest to him. Although they agreed to wear some clothes to cover their privates, it didn't detract from how gifted she was in the chest area. The brown fur paired well with her olive brown skin, but it was the eye contact that made him react most.

  He started to sweat when he realized his growing erection coming out to greet her under his pants. When she raised her brow and her eyes gnced down, he panicked and pushed the berry into her mouth.

  "Crap!" He yelped, pulling his hand back as the Nekomata coughed and shook her head.

  Emyri held out her paw and squeezed her eyes shut, pulling her head back and swallowing hard before coughing.

  "Okay -" Her voice was raspy as she coughed hard. "Warn a woman before being so rough."

  "I-I uh, I didn't- " He stammered, waving his hands frantically. "I'm sorry, I nearly fell."

  "Right, right." She replied, clearing her throat one more time. "I didn't get to taste it, can we do one more? Slowly this time?"

  He nodded, wiping his face and grabbing another strawberry. This time he raised it to her lips as she bit down and chewed lightly. A soft purr erupted from her, humming and enjoying this light snack. She smacked her lips and smiled. "Wonderful, much better."

  He fed her the remaining piece before standing up and wiping his hands clean. "If it's a meal you want, I think the others would welcome one too. I'll go ahead and cook up something small so that we don't go to bed with full bellies."

  She nodded in agreement, holding his hand to help herself up. "Of course. I never got to thank you before."

  "For what?" He asked.

  "For taking care of my daughter." She said, holding his hand with both paws. "Especially at a time when she was alone. You could have left her or hurt her, but you didn't. She's fortunate to have found a caring man like you."

  He didn't know what to say, offering a smile in return. She let go, following him into the kitchen again.

  "Oh Felix, can you forget about finding me with a face full of berries? I try not to indulge too much, don't want to get any fatter than I am."

  Hearing this, he paused. "You are anything but. You're not fat nor are you old. You have an appearance that many would kill to be with, and some could mistake you as being KuliKuli's sister. You're not fat or old, Emyri, you're beautiful."

  She beamed upon hearing his words, her tails coiled around her waist as she fanned herself with her paw. "Oh my, you sir have a way with words. But I didn't need to hear it from you to know."

  She turned her back to him, giggling to herself as she reached the doorway. She turned around and fshed a cheeky grin to his puzzled face. "I knew you found me enticing when I noticed your little soldier say hello."

  Now it was his turn, covering up his crotch as he felt his face burn red.

  Emyri chuckled to herself, her hips swaying as she stepped out of the room with a familiar confidence in her. "I still got it."