Moonlight Meetings

Chapter 2

One month had passed since Max had vanished, and Ollie padded out of her house once again. She settled onto the crisp, green lawn and sniffed the grass. An unfamiliar scent drifted into her nose, and Ollie realized that it was one of a cat, though unlike any that she had ever smelled before. The scent was sweet but didn't have any lingering smell of the cat's humans. 

Ollie decided to follow the scent trail and see what she would find. She lowered her head and padded into garden after garden, with the scent growing stronger. Eventually, she found herself in the largest garden she had ever seen, with large trees surrounding her on all sides. With a jolt, she realized that she was not in a garden, but in the forest! 

Suddenly, another cat pounced onto Ollie and raked their paws over her face. Ollie yowled in pain and leaped, only to have the cat pin her onto the ground. She looked up, and saw a white she-cat with pale green eyes. Her scent was just like the one that she had smelled in her garden, and her lip was curled in a snarl.

"How dare you tresspass on my territory!" the cat yowled in fury. She unsheathed her claws, and drew them a few inches away from Ollie's ear. "If I see you here one more time, I'll rip your ears off, you understand?"

Ollie nodded. "May I go now?" she shrieked. 

"I'll escort you," the white cat snarled as she let go of Ollie. 

Ollie stood up and followed the white cat, bounding to keep up with her quick pace. "You're so quick! Can you slow down?" Ollie mewed nervously. She was gasping for air, and her legs had never ached so much before.

To her surprise, the cat nodded. "Sure," she mewed, a friendly rumble sounding from her throat. She slowed her pace so that she was padding on the ground next to Ollie. "At first, I thought that you were a dangerous cat. One that may try to take away my terrirtory. I never thought that you would be a pet!" She looked at Ollie, amusement flickering in her eyes. 

"What's a pet?" Ollie asked, looking at her paws. Was there something wrong with her?

"A pet," the white cat started, "is an animal that depends on humans!" 

"Isn't that what all cats do?" Ollie mewed sarcastically. Then she remembered Max.

The white cat drew one paw over an ear. "No! I don't! I depend on no one!"

Ollie twitched her whiskers in embarassment, and, in an effort to change the subject, she mewed, "I'm Ollie, what's your name?"

"Aster," the cat mewed gruffly. "They grow here in the spring, which is right now!" A light shone in her eyes, and she gestured with a paw at a patch of purple flowers growing near the root of a tree. "These are asters!" Ollie nodded, and looked at the flowers. "Do you want me to show you around the forest?" Aster mewed, and without waiting for and answer, bounded away. Ollie had no choice but to follow.

By the time she had caught up to Aster, Aster was sitting under a large tree, with a little moss nest beneath it. "This is my nest!" Aster meowed excitedly, gesturing at the moss. Ollie looked at it and wrinkled her nose. The one that she slept in was much larger and softer. Aster seemed to notice this, but wasn't too bothered. "I'll hunt two mice, how about that?" she mewed excitedly. "I hear that pets eat rabbit droppings every day." 

Ollie wanted to protest, but Aster had already bounded away. When she returned, she was holding two dead mice in her jaw. She dropped one in front of Ollie and gulped the other one down. "Eat it!" she prompted, patting Ollie's mouse.

Ollie nervoulsy picked it up and gulped it down, only to have an explosion of flavor burst in her mouth. She had never eaten anything so delicious before. "It's delicious!" she yowled excitedly. 

Aster nodded and mewed, "Why don't you go back to your house? You can come back and eat more mice tomorrow." Ollie reluctantly stood up and padded back to her house with Aster accompanying her, which now seemed like a burden rather than a home.