"Sombra leaves the Farm Country" by Katie R Hinton

“Where are we going, Mama?”

“I told you twice already, Sonvre-kit. We are going to neet an old friend.”

Sombra pranced along beside her mother, doing her best to keep pace. Ever the curious one, she asked another of her unlimited supply of questions. “Who? Am I going to like this old friend?”

“I an sure that you will, Sonvre. She saved ny life once, e long tine ago when your vrother was very snall.”

“Really? You mean when the rats came and tried to destroy the farm?!?” The excitement in Sombra’s voice betrayed the fact that she was talking about one of her most favorite stories. She scampered ahead and pretended to fight with some hideous imaginary creature. “And then just when all hope was lost…” She rolled onto her side and put all four paws up as if she was defending herself with the last of her strength, “…The Key-Keeper came to the rescue and scared them all away!” Sombra hopped into the air and pounced on an unsuspecting leaf, losing her balance halfway and tumbling a little ways ahead.

“Yes, Sonvre. That’s when I net her. While the Key-Keeper was rescuing your vrother fron the rat, she cane to help ne.” She padded over to where Sombra had landed and gave the energetic little kitten a few affectionate licks behind the ears.

“Mama!” Sombra protested, only half-meaning it. Another question popped into her mind. “How much further is it?”

“We are alnost there, Sonvre. Just e little vit nore, and then we are there.”

Sombra got up and shook most of the dust out of her fur. The two returned to walking down the small path in the tall grass, with Sombra scampering to keep up as before. She had never been this far away from the farmhouse before, and was taking in everything around her with great interest. After a while longer, they arrived at a small clearing in the grass.

Her mother sat down on her haunches near the middle of the clearing, and Sombra sat beside her. She was just about to get up and start chasing a passing insect when the grass in front of them rustled and shifted. A small cat, female with the patchwork markings of a calico, stepped out of the grass and came to sit opposite them.

She spoke with a voice as soft and smooth as duckling’s down, “Hello, Kavre. It’s good to see you again.”

Sombra’s mother replied warmly, “As it is for ne to see you, Jenis. It has veen e long tine since you last visited the farn country.”

“Much too long, I’m afraid. Is this the kit?”

Sombra’s ears perked up. Why were they talking about her?

“Yes, she is.” Kavre turned towards her kitten and said, “This is the old friend I told you avout, Nistress Jenis Patchtail, the Cat-guide to the Key-Keeper. Go ahead and introduce yourself, Sonvre.” She purred encouragingly and gave the stunned Sombra a gentle push forward with her paw.

Fortunately, Sombra was not one of those kittens who is frightened by talking to an adult cat that they haven’t met before, so she was only a little bit nervous when she looked up into the older cat’s amber eyes. She remembered what her mother had told her about courtesy, and said, “It’s very nice to meet you, Mistress Patchtail. My name is Sombra.” She dipped her head at the end of this, just as she had been instructed.

“I’m glad to meet you too, Sombra.” Jenis purred. “Kavre, you’ve done well teaching this kit manners. I’ve seen forest-born kits who could learn a thing or two from her.”

“Nayve they will have a chance to do so. Sonvre, can you go practice your grasshopper catching while we talk? This will not take very long.”

“Yes, mama.” Sombra had had her eye on a particularly large grasshopper ever since they had entered the clearing, and she jumped at the chance to catch it. She bounded over near her prey and began stalking it, still keeping one ear tuned to what the two older felines were saying.

“Are you sure that you want to do this, Kavre? You have no obligation to send her to us.” Jenis said, glancing over at the little grey hunter.

“You said the sane thing when ny son was old enough to vegin training. Vut he went and now ny little Nelvun-kit is going to ve e Cat-Guide, just like his father.”

“And he is going to be a great one. But I don’t quite understand why you want us to have Sombra as well.”

“Jenis…I want Sonvre to have the sane chance for a life as her vrother. The people at the farn took all of ny kits vefore they were old enough to learn. All except for Sonvre, vecause she was the snallest one.”

Sombra had been beaten by the grasshopper again. She lost concentration when she heard her mother talk about the others, and her prey had taken that opportunity to escape. As the runt of the litter, she had been half the size of any of her siblings, and the last one to open her eyes. Sombra had been lonely when they left, but she had never understood why.

“Why would they have done that? Kits don’t do very well if they’re taken from their mother that young.”

“Fron what I understand, they were taking then to other farns that wanted good nouse-hunting cats. They nust not have realized how young ny kittens were.” Kavre let out a sad sigh. “I do not think that they will ever ve anything vut kays’th now, or that they would want to if they had the chance.”

Kays’th. Those who have forgotten. It was a name for the cats who had lived isolated from the forest cats for so long that they had forgotten the second speech of cats. All cats can communicate with each other in a way that is thoroughly their own, but the cats of the great forest, and indeed all cats at one time, speak a second language that can be understood by all intelligent creatures. The kays’th had forgotten how to speak this, as well as their own history and the existence of the forest.

Sombra’s mother had explained to her what it meant the day she had asked why none of the other cats on the farm talked. Kavre had learned all of this from her first love, a Cat-guide who had been assigned to her world. He had died in a subsequent rat attack, but she would never forget the things he taught her. As with any kays’th, Kavre still had a slight accent that proved her lineage. Jenis spoke, and Sombra went back to stalking grasshoppers. “There isn’t anything that you can do if they don’t want to learn.” She said, consoling the other cat as best as she could.

“I know, Jenis. That is why I want Sonvre to go with you. The life of e kays’th is not for her.”

Sombra pounced on the grasshopper. It was a smaller one than her intended prey, but a grasshopper nonetheless.

“Alright then. I’ll take her to the forest, and Sombra will become one of us. Does she know what’s happening?”

“I have not told her yet. I was not sure that you would take her.”

At this, Sombra scurried over with her catch. When she reached her mother, she dropped the bug at her feet with a flourish. “I caught one, mama!”

“I can see that you did. Good jov, Sonvre-kit.”

“A fine catch indeed, Sombra.” Jenis added. She looked at Sombra’s mother.

“Sonvre, I know that I have not told you anything avout this,” Kavre began, “vut you are going to go with Nistress Patchtail when she leaves.”

“Where are we going, Mama?” Sombra asked, puzzled by the whole conversation. Jenis answered her. “I am going to take you to the great forest, so you can be trained as a forest-kit would be.”

“Are you coming too, Mama?”

“No, little Sonvre-kit, I cannot go with you.” Seeing the sad look on the little grey kitten’s face, she hastily added, “Vut your vrother will ve there, and so will nany other kits for you to ve friends with. I know that you will ve happy there.”

“Will I get to come back and see you?”

“Soneday, Sonvre. I an sure of it.”

“Ok.” Sombra scooted closer to her mother until grey fur blended with grey fur and there seemed to be but one cat sitting there. “I’ll miss you, mama.”

“Do not worry, Sonvre. You will see ne again.”

Jenis spoke. “We’ll need to be going now, if we are to go at all. Are you ready to go, Sombra?”

“Yes, Mistress Patchtail.” Then, as her mother gave her one last lick behind the ears, she whispered in the language that only cats can understand, the kays’th language that had once been her mother’s only one, “I love you, Mama!” Sombra padded over to where Jenis sat and then the two of them began walking back into the tall grass together. She looked back over her shoulder and saw her mother, sad but somehow happy, sitting with her long, fluffy grey tail curled around her feet.

Just as the grass began to shift in the strange patterns of color and light that Jenis would later explain to be entering the betweens, she heard her mother reply.

“And I love you… Sombra.”

*Note on the Kays'th accent: No, Kavre's accent isn't just a lot of misspellings on my part. The accent in fact consists of several replacements of one sound for another, with "m" becomming "n"; "b" becomming "v"; and an "a" on the end of a word becomming an "e". I'm still not quite sure how this distinctive accent happened, but it works quite nicely for the purposes of the story. :)