Still, he thought of Hira, and her soft-pawed ways of maneuvering a skittish soul into pouncing-range. Ashar hadlearned from cats how to make himself part of his person’s space, and how to be charming about the nuisance he made of himself, and how to be just enough underfoot even while one’s feet were sitting down, to tempt a bit of petting and the type of sigh that came with a smile.
(Hoda-auntie’s sputtering he used as a gauge for how far he could press his catlike cuddling flirtations before he got himself snapped with her hand-towel again.)
The other knack he had learned from both cats and aunties was how to wriggle his way into the tangle of a thorny problem, and then make fixing it become everyone else’s problem.
And so, once he had twined his arm through his darling’s to cradle each bowl and guide him in the folding and creasing, once his chin was snuggled against his shoulder and Sami had relaxed enough that Ashar could feel it in the softness of his side and the settling of his breath,thenhe murmured, “So how shall we shelter you and your small cat-goddess from the coming of an inquisition?”
Sami immediately tensed up again.
“I — but — no, it is not for you to defend me, not any of you! I had not brought this question to the community to seek guardians; I sought to hearyou,to reflectyourvoices and needs?—”
“We’re not defendingyou, we’re defending yourcat,” Mreret said, grooming a paw. “Big difference there.”
“And this is what community means,” Ashar told him, holding his hands to steady both his fragile leaf bowl and his unsteady heart. “People who care about each other, who occupy themselves with everyone’s lives whether you asked them to or not — sometimes especially when you didn’t ask, if you have enough curious cats and aunties in your flock. So let me ask again: How can we, of the community whom you seek to support, also support you?”
“I… I don’t know…? But I couldn’t possibly ask…”
“Let me introduce you to one of the foundations of being in community with aunties and cats and bath-house gossip,” Ashar said. “Whether or not you are asking, we are insisting.”
“We aredemanding,”Hoda-auntie said. “Because if some God-Emperor’s zealot thinks he canput down a queen, my towel and I will educate him.”
“Him?” Sami echoed, blinking.
“Tell me it’s not a him,” Basima-auntie said dryly.
“It could also be a her or several they?—”
“It’s a him, isn’t it,” Hoda-auntie said.
“In this particular instance it is a him,” Sami admitted. “With a certain number of background they.”
“All right, who is he and how do we blackmail him?” Basima-auntie said.
Blinking in utter astonishment, Sami said faintly, “Good heavens. That is your very first thought?”
“If he’s a rich Imperial ponce, we don’t have enough gold to bribe him with, but blackmail workswonderswhen they’re all up in their human morality and caring who digs up the dirty secrets,” Mreret explained, tailtip twitching as though she saw a particularly tasty mouse lurking in a dark corner. “What’s his vice?”
“Who is he sleeping with that he shouldn’t be?” Hoda-auntie asked, scrubbing a poor leaf within an inch of shreds.
“Wait, wait,wait,”Sami protested. “This particular gentleman is among the most devoted and morally upright souls I have ever known.”
Ever practical, Basima-auntie looked at Ashar. “Can we pay you enough to get caught in bed with him?”
“That would be agift, not a punishment,” Ashar said, with a certain irritated pride.
“Can we pay someone else enough to get caught in bed with him, then?”
“Still not seeing how he doesn’t just brag about more proof he’s desirable,” Mreret said, clawing a stack of several leaves into shape. “Can we pay someone enough tonotmate with him? Loudly?”
“This is one of the places where humans and catfolk often need to agree to disagree,” Ashar said ruefully.
“Well, he’s got to havesomethingwe can threaten him with,” Basima-auntie said, stabbing holes for the pinning-slivers into the folded bowls with particular emphasis.
With a shuddering sigh, Sami said, “The courtly threats and the infighting are — I find it all so difficult, even before the threat of falsehoods. I would hate to wield a weapon that I loathe. Surely there must be some other option.”
“Do you want to win the catfight or not?” Mreret demanded, exasperated. “If you aren’t going to hiss or yowl or claw his nose, whatareyou going to do?”
“What arewegoing to do?” Ashar said, curving his hand to Sami’s again.
