Chapter 10 – Actions Needed (a Caprenity Chapter)

Our last litter of kittens with their Aunt Callie.

         The normal process after a Grousing Day is a meeting between Queen Agra and the Farmer.  But these meetings are done in that “dream time,” when the Farmer is waking up, but not all the way there. There is a time when the heart and the brain are aware, but the body’s muscles haven’t awoken yet, so it’s the best time for the magic and the reality to meet.   This time, there was a problem.  The Farmer was having so many sleepless nights, that she was more easily alarmed, so that “dream time,” wasn’t long enough.  Queen Agra tried, but as soon as she entered the DreamScape, the Farmer woke straight up, looking for whatever problem she was facing.   Life in the Veil was pretty standard. Though there were differences, having magic available made problems much easier to address.  The Real World was much more troubled, with the government acting without reason, climate change looming and the spirit of the people being so disheartened.  Many humans are not sleeping well, worrying about what they have in their control, and being frustrated about the decisions that they can’t change. This made it hard to find that “magic conversation” happen, so Queen Agra could not meet as she had planned.   But the problems that nature was facing could not really wait.  The Fairy Queen and the Farmer would meet eventually, but things had to change now, and if the Farmer can’t help, it’s up to the magical world to find their own solutions.  This was very hard on the Farmer, as she already was angry that so much was happening without her input, but Queen Agra was going to have to explain the situation later. She had to move now to make things better before they go totally out of hand.    She whispered into the Farmer’s ear “Trust me, you are not alone, but sometimes you just have to trust that it will work out.” Hopefully the Farmer would remember and not get angry when strange things started happening.  

Sir Assinine and the Pigja had already started to address the speeding problems, but the other knights were not able to do as much on their own. That’s why the Round Bale works together.   The most immediate threat that the creatures faced was the hunting cats.  The Farmer could put bells on them, but without being to hear that request, that wasn’t really an option at this time. Queen Agra was going to have to find another solution. 

“I’ll see if I can get the cats to listen to reason,” she said to herself, as she called out to the feline families that lived on Caprenity Farm.  Slowly, because cats will not be rushed, nine cats began to surround the Fairy Queen.  There were red ones with stripes, and black and white ones, and even a few that were patchwork cats, with lots of colors mixed together.  They were all related to each other, so they were very comfortable when they got together.

   “Excuse me, cats.  I would like to have a conversation with you, is that okay? “  But the cats ignored her words, and started batting at the flitting light that surrounded the Fairy.  

  “I’m not playing,” pleaded the Queen. “I really need your help.” 

“We are cats,” said the Queen Cat.  “We help ourselves for the most part. Why should we help you?”

   “I recognize that is your nature, but we all share this land together, and sometimes we have to cooperate for the greater good,” explained Queen Agra.

  “We are fine,” said the cat “What is your problem? And why should we care?”  

  “There are a lot of problems, but the one that I need your help with is your hunting. I know that you are hunters, and that doing so keeps your brains alert.  But the mice, voles and birds that live here are worried. They know there is a natural balance, but there are more cats on the property than there used to be, so there is a greater chance that they will become the prey.  Can you slow down the hunting rate a bit?” 

  “Are you asking us to not have kittens?  Are you asking us to go hungry? If we don’t teach our kittens to hunt then they may starve, and then we would be bad parents,” explained one of the cats.

  “I see your point,” she said. “But I know that the Farmer has had you all visit the doctor so you can’t any more kittens. So, that is really not an issue right now. If a new cat joins the tribe, then we’ll deal with that.  But right now, it’s about having a reasonable ration of hunts, and that is up to you.”  

“If you don’t do this on your own, then I will have to ask the Farmer to do something that no one really wants to happen.  She could put bells on all of you, which frustrates your hunting ability, but also drives the rest of us nuts with the constant ringing. I don’t really want to do that.” 

  The cats looked at each other with disgust and began twitching their tails.  “That is not acceptable to us,” said the Cat Queen. “We can however, try to honor our predecessor, Tuxie. 

He was a terrible hunter, but he was a bit fairer to all of your prey animals. He would chirp whenever he hunted, and when he caught something, he would sometimes announce his victory, and open his jaws.  Sometimes he lost his prey because he was so boastful. We looked at Tuxie as a stupid cat, but he really did a service to all of you because anyone who was slow enough, or stupid enough to be caught by a chirping, bragging cat, didn’t belong in the gene pool anyway. If we do that for awhile, is that acceptable?” 

  Queen Agra smiled, and laughed quietly as she remembered the black and white cat who caught an ermine, doing the rest of the forest a favor because it was truly a challenged weasel.  

“Yes, that will work.  Can we make a “Catatorium,” where you will chirp before pouncing, for a month?  Then maybe that becomes an annual event, which in the long run will provide you with more prey, but give my current charges a bit of a break. Does that work?” 

   The cat tribe agreed to have a “tuxie month.” They could still hunt, but they would warn their prey that they were being hunted. If the prey still got caught, then it was part of the “survival of the fittest,” which is crucial in keeping things balanced in the world.  

The Farmer was a bit confused, but chuckled a lot when she saw the chirping cats, and said to each of the cats  “Tuxie didn’t have any kittens. Why are you acting like that silly boy?”  Eventually she stopped noticing, and the cats stopped chirping, but it did become a yearly “catatorium,” so everyone could feel a little safer.