Cyr lay with his chin pillowed on Axa's rump, Oco with her forehead pressed into Cyr's hip, Tef with his feathered wings brushing Cyr's back, and Axa with her cheek resting on Tef's flank, a pile of furry felines sprawled on the grassy ground surrounding the grounds of the Squall of the Sanctum Dream. They were not alone, with Naikoi's furry little terisae body sprawled against Cyr's stomach, Chill's sun-warmed-metal one pressed against Axa's side, Pulsar's plump self snuggled into Tef's thick fur, and As'vor panting with dog-like contentment against Oco. It was a bright, beautiful spring morning: the grass smelled freshly cut, even though Aki never actually cut it; the wind was gentle and sweet-smelling, and the sun warm but not too warm; the only sounds were their own breathing, the soft footfalls of ojee meandering around grazing or grooming each other, and the drone of a bee or two by the river.

In short, it was horribly dull, especially for a quartet of chaos cats, feline demons who's purpose in life was to cause havoc and disaster. But on this perfect spring morning, no one could think of anything to do.

"Maybe we could dump Flames into the river," Cyr suggested half-heartedly.

"He's half Fire elemental, it'd take weeks for him to recover," Axa pointed out. "Besides, Aki would probably be furious with us for messing with her ojee."

"I don't like the river, anyway," Tef commented boredly.

"I do," Oco said mournfully.

"Suppose that wouldn't be good for more than a few minutes' laugh, anyway," Cyr sighed.

"How about just dumping some water on his head?" Tef asked hopefully, gold eyes flicking to Oco. The Water cat snorted a negative, refusing to do any such thing, even though she could.

"We could-- go track down those ojee'ainan," Axa piped up.

"And do what?" Tef scoffed, "bait them until they chase us away?"

"I don't know," the Earth cat huffed.

"At least they're more interesting than the regular ojee," Cyr added.

"Hey!" Axa exclaimed as Chill and Pulsar, both ojee themselves and, though only of childlike intelligence, still quite capable of picking out insult. The former simply turned back her ears and looked sorrowful, while the latter sticking out its lower jaw in an approximation of a pout.

"Present company excluded, of course," Cyr amended, grinning at the two without moving his chin from Axa's furry rear end.

"Good," Axa grumbled, giving her personal tagalong's floppy ear a reassuring nuzzle. "He didn't mean to insult you," she promised the ojee, who seemed to accept that as an apology. Pulsar, much more forgiving and open-hearted, just chirped amiably and snuggled further into Tef's fluff, making the Fire cat twitch and give it a little glare for disturbing the fur. The neuter ojee just purred at him and stroked it back into place and, pacified, he put his head back down again.

For several long moments, they lapsed back into silence, letting the sunlight soak into their coats and shutting their eyes in boredom and a cat's instinctive laziness. It was a drug, sunlight and heat and the steady breathing of another body, turning limbs heavy and thoughts sluggish. The urge to just take a nap until the sun set again was very tempting.

The most restless among them, though, could not be kept in a stupor for too long.

"We could always leave, you know," he said suddenly, lifting his head to look around at his feline friends. "There's a whole planet out there, with all sorts of people, some who've never even seen a chaos cat. I bet we could have fun out there."

"Too much effort," Tef grunted, half asleep with his eyes shut but for a sliver of gold just barely visible.

"Too risky," Oco muttered, glancing past the cultivated pastures warily.

"Too far away," Axa protested, blinking her own golden eyes at him. "What about our friends?" Chill, looking up as well, nodded solemnly.

It was a valid point. The two ojee, the ferojilon, and the terisae all belonged to the squall here at the Sanctum, and consequently Aki, the breeder and caretaker and chaos cat god. They couldn't just up and leave, Aki probably wouldn't let them, particularly if she wanted any of them for breeding. If they tried to leave with them, the unpredictable deity could do anything at all: she might accuse her faithful of stealing them and have them incinerated, or she might laugh and scold them and send them on their way-- without their non-demonic friends, of course.

The promise of excitement and adventure wasn't enough to make them want to break those friendships. Cyr was inordinately fond of the affectionate, curious little terisen Naikoi; she was so much like himself, though she was completely wordless, that it would be like he was missing a part of himself without her. Axa held long, heartfelt conversations with the introspective, if anxious, ojee Chill, and acting as her protector gave her a boldness she otherwise lacked. Tef, though he always denied even the ability to feel such a thing as affection, knew he would miss Pulsar if she weren't tagging along behind him. Oco drew strength and reassurance from the unconditional loyalty the eight-legged ferojilon As'vor gave her.

"There's gotta be something we can do," Cyr complained, slumping his chin back down onto Axa again.

"Go talk to Aki," Axa urged. "Later. She always knows what to do."

"Yeah, tell her how bored you are and have her send you out on some fool errand just to get you out of her hair," Oco predicted. "Or maybe she'll even get you killed."

"You never know what the chaos god will do," Tef agreed midly.

"Well, sure, she's unpredictable," Cyr mused, "but sometimes you've just gotta take a chance. Who knows? Maybe she'll be serious."

"Aki?" Oco scoffed. "Serious?"

"You never know," Tef repeated, shutting his eyes again.

"I think I will," Cyr said then, nodding. "You guys, too! We can all go."

"But what about--" Axa began worriedly.

"Maybe if we ask," Cyr interrupted with a reassuring grin, "she'll let us take Chill and Naikoi and everybody."

"I doubt it," Oco muttered. As'vor licked her face with a cheerful little bark, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Well, maybe," Axa conceded as Chill dropped her chin onto the feline's cream-and-mahogany forepaws; the Earth cat licked her forehead fondly. "There's no harm in asking, anyway."

"Tef?" Cyr prodded, poking the Fire cat with a wing.

"Oh, I suppose," Tef drawled, not opening his eyes and contriving to sound bored. "If everyone else is."

"Good," Cyr grinned, but then yawned widely. It was catching: all four cats yawned, and Oco even arched into a stretch.

"Later, though," Axa suggested, settling back down into the grass as the sun worked its magic again.

"Later," Oco agreed.

"Definitely later," Tef muttered, shutting his eyes more firmly.

"Oh, all right," Cyr sighed. "Later."

Chapter Two

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