The next day, after breakfast, I had to attend my first ever meeting of the Pride Council. From what Olaf, had told me the day before, all newly adult cats in the Pride got to attend one council meeting, when they were formally introduced as members of the pride, but I would be on the council instead of merely a guest of the council. I also had to bring along Chris, Robin, and Lea as well as Mika, since she was to him what all our ravens were to us.
The council room was a long affair, with seats on both sides, at one end of the room was the door, as well as a place for guests of the council to stand and in the case of my guests, make their presentations. At the other end of the room were four raised seats for the Matriarch, the Guardian, and their assistants. My seat was to the left of Olaf while Anna was to the right of her mother.
Almost as soon as the doors were closed one of the cats to our left stood up and growled. "What is he doing here in that seat? That belongs to Ivan!"
Olaf stood up and growled, "Be quiet Vladimir, you know that a mating is final."
"I will not shut up, that... that thing is a turned cat, I will never follow a turned cat as my Guardian!" He shouted and in his eyes, I could see a burning hatred for what I represented.
On his perch beside me Caspian flapped his wings in agitation and cawed loudly, and I growled low in my chest, feeling my cat getting more than a little upset at the implication that I was any less of a were-cat than Vladimir was.
"You will shut up, and you will hold your tongue Vladimir. We have guests here from outside of the Pride who are here to show us what can be done to improve our connection to the rest of the world, as well as improve our security."
"They are wolves." Vladimir spat, growling, "They shouldn't even have been invited to be on our land."
I stood up at that and growled, "They are also my personal guests, here at the request of the Matriarch and the Guardian. I will not stand by and listen to a bigot like you tell this council that they do not deserve a voice here."
For his part, Vladimir growled something in Russian which was hugely insulting before he proclaimed that he wouldn't listen to anybody that wasn't a born cat.
My own cat was incensed by the comment and I could feel his anger at the implication in the comment, but I controlled it, for the moment and listened as Olaf stood up roaring, since he too had heard the comment and began shouting the other cat down. His language was a mixture of both English and Russian, and some of the terms were less than flattering.
After a few minutes and order was restored, I was formally introduced to the Pride Council.
"Fellow Councillors I have the distinct pleasure to announce a new spirit in our Pride his name is Mark McEwan. He had shown himself to be an upstanding cat and a good addition to our number." Shanna said by way of introduction.
One of the old guard councillors stood and growled. "I agree with my esteemed college, Vladimir. Why should we work to welcome that turned cat among our number? Furthermore, I see that he doesn't sit down where new introductions are normally seated, but instead up there with you and your mate, what is the meaning of this?"
"Fedor, the meaning of this should be clear. Not only is our new cat highly dominant, but he's also already found himself a mate among our number. That mate is my daughter Anna, which means that he is now my mate's assistant until the time when we retire."
"I feel that isn't right, he isn't of the Pride, he wasn't born as one of us. He doesn't know what it means to really be a Were."
"We had similar thoughts before he got here Fedor, but can't you feel him in the bonds, he is as much a cat as you are." Olaf stated softly.
