Nikita Valesta - Stranger V

The next night, Nikita found herself drawn to the alley where the cats were usually to be found, and as she came closer, she remained in her wolfen form.
She breathed deep as she moved, jumping the crates and climbing from pipe to fire escape to the roof where Lord Mrow would reside. She was mildly surprised to see that he was not there. Careful at once, she stepped into the shadows, moving carefully, and when she came closer, she heard the voices. Lord Mrow was adressing the cats. Nikita descended again. She had caught sight of him over the edge pof the roof - he was down amongst the cats in the alley and she had no intentions of disrespecting him by claiming his seat, so she jumped back down off the roof and walked around the building, taking up her Glabro form, her preferred twolegged form in the Umbra.
As she rounded a corner, she heard another familiar voice, it was the cat from the night before. It was speaking no - it was telling! Nikita listened as she came closer to how the cat was reciting what happened, how Nikita had acted and how she had worked out what needed to be worked out.
Nikita stood at the mouth of the alley. So many alley cats. She had rarely seen them in this number before and Lord Mrow sat at the bottom of the alley, throning over them on a stack of crates, the rugged king of the wild cats of the city of Magid. They were listening, they were all listening, and Nikita could not help it but smile at the story that the grinning cat told.

As the story was done, the cats returned to their usual interaction and as they noticed Nikita, there was a new glint of respect in their eyes. She smiled and straightened her back as she walked through the alley, towards the cats at the end.
Lord Mrow and the black cheshire cat looked at her both and she looked at them. After a moment of silence, she bowed her head towards Lord Mrow. Her chiminage was paid and the Lord of the Alley's tipping head told her that he agreed. The Cheshire cat stood and looked at her, lean and grinning with his bushy tail swishing slowly over the crate he stood on. she looked at him, the Stranger, and tossed her head towards the mouth of the alley. He grinned and purred and together they walked off.

As she returned to the haunt that night, Nikita noticed something. The bookmark was still in her pocket. The little drawing of the Cheshire cat that had adopted the name Neznakomec in respect of Nikitas heritage - it was russian for The Stranger, though it also liked the name Xenos, the same word, only in Greek, reflecting Nikitas tribal heritage. By the time Nikita went to bed, they had agreed on Xenos being its official name, Neznakomec being the name only known between the two... two out of three names, the third being one that the cat refused to share.
It was quite a curious creature, but Nikita felt a unison with it - they were meant to be together, and now she felt it stronger than ever before. It was with an odd grin on her lips that she curled up in her side of the bed and fell asleep