Dream Trails - Meeting Maruman

Written by Mistostar

Maruman was bored. His human wasn�t home and he was lonely and bored. He played with his catnip toy for a little while, but realised that getting nipped wasn�t the best of ideas, as he wasn�t sure he could find his way out of the house if he was nipped. He decided to see if his sister was about on the dreamtrails, so he found a patch of sunlight and went to sleep.

Author�s note: I got the idea for the dreamtrails from a book by Isobelle Carmody, also where the name Maruman came from, but not the cat himself.

The dream walker soon found the dreamtrails and thought of his sister to bring himself to her. He found himself at a place he did not recognise at all. He usually knew where she was, but he then remembered that she had moved house, but this place didn�t look like a house. It looked like a junkyard. She looked to be asleep so he slipped his consciousness into her dreams��

�Mar! Mar! Where are you? I know you�re here somewhere! I�ve got something that I have to tell you. Bast! Maruman Dreamwalker!! Don�t make me use your third name to call you!�

�Star! You�re here! I�m so glad, I�ve been bored out of my mind at home, my human is out and I�m bored, talk to me!�

The two cats, one midnight black, one snowy white were in a beautiful park they�d created on the dreamtrails. Their own meeting place.

�Maruman, I�m so very happy. I�ve found a mate, and he is the sweetest cat you could ever wish to meet. I�m about to meet his family, he�s gone to find them, I told him that I really needed to talk to you so he�s left me sleeping.�

�Star I�m happy for you. Where are you? I saw you and it looked like you were in a junkyard, what�s going on?�

�That�s another part of why I had to talk to you. Remember Dad telling us about a group of cats that was his tribe? And how they lived part-time in a junkyard and sang and danced? I�ve found them. I�ve also found Santheocles� our brother. His family name is Alonzo, and he prefers to be called that though. It�s amazing, the only thing that would make this better would be if you were here as well.�

Maruman was a little saddened, it seemed that everything was going well for his sister, and he was still all alone. �I�m happy for you Starflower, I really am. I wish I could meet them, it would be nice to have someone to talk to when I�m awake, and there are only dogs where I live, so I spend most of the day inside. It would be nice to meet Dad�s tribe.�

�I have a little bit more news for you Mar. I�m having kittens! In about two moons you�ll be an uncle. I wish you could be here for the birth, but I know that�s not possible. I miss you Mar.�

�That�s great news! I wish I could be there for you as well, but unless my human moves to Melbourne, it�s not going to happen.� He heaved a great sigh.

Starflower�s dream ears perked up a little �Mar I have to go, my mate�s back with all of his family. Wish me luck!�

�Good luck my sister, be well� Maruman watched his sister fade from their garden. An uncle! He felt his human come home and run a hand down his back so he woke himself up.

Maruman purred loudly and twisted himself between his human�s legs. Finally someone to play with was here.

�Well Sooty � �

Maruman detested his family name, he was pure white, not black. Stupid human

� � I hope you don�t have a girlfriend here in Ballarat. We�re moving to Melbourne. You�re going tonight, I�ve got a friend who has said that she�d take care of you while I pack up. I�ll be down every weekend house hunting. I�ve got a new job and I start in a month. It�s going to be too busy here for me to give you the attention that you need. I�ll miss you, but you need to get used to Melbourne. My friend has two cats herself, so you need to meet them. We�re going to Melbourne in about an hour, it will take me that long to pack up your stuff and a bag for me.�

Maruman wasn�t sure he�d heard his human correctly. They were moving to Melbourne? That�s where his sister was! Could his wish have been granted? He thought to himself that he�d best not get too excited, as he�d heard that Melbourne was a big place, and he didn�t know if he would be near his sister at all But still, he was a bit excited about it.

By the time Maruman�s human had finished packing up his things, and a bag for herself, Maruman was really bored�.. so he decided to play a game of Hide and go seek with her�. Just to fill in time, and remind her that he was a cat, and she hadn�t played with him yet. This went on for about half an hour, making them late to leave. Eventually Maruman was put in his travelling cage and loaded into the car. Not liking to watch the scenery go past so quickly, Maruman went back to sleep.

In Melbourne, at Starflower & Mistoffelees� home

�Well Tux, Snow, I want you two to behave yourselves for a few days.�

Mistoffelees and Starflower looked up at their human, ears perked. What did she mean? Mistoffelees was a bit worried, last time he was told that Starflower had arrived, Another new cat? Sounds bad.

�Tux, you look so worried, don�t be, the cat that is coming is just visiting. His owner is moving to Melbourne from Ballarat and they need a place to stay. They�ll be here later tonight. Be nice to the new cat, don�t get him lost in Melbourne, it�s a big place and his owner will be very sad if he gets lost.�

Mistoffelees and Starflower looked at each other, a new cat? Somecat else to play with? From Ballarat? Starflower�s heart soared, perhaps it was her brother, maybe their wish had come true and he was coming to Melbourne.

About an hour later

Starflower heard a car pull up outside in the driveway. The new cat had arrived! YAY! Maybe it was Maruman!

Mistoffelees wasn�t too sure about this, a new tom, and his mate was pregnant. He was sure this wasn�t good. But what could he do about it? He heard the doorbell ring

Their human was nattering away to the human on the other side of the door. Mistoffelees could smell the new cat, and he didn�t like it.

After a while, Mistoffelees� human brought the other through to the feeding room, called by the humans a kit-chen or something. The new cat was in a cage type thing.

�I�m a bit worried, you�ve got a male and a female, my cat�s male, what if they fight?�

�Tux and Snow are pretty nice cats really�

Inside the cat cage, Maruman�s ears perked up. His sister�s family name was Snow. He remembered that she thought her family name was just as stupid as his was, somehow they got mixed up�. Maybe�

�I don�t feel comfortable letting Sooty out though�

Now Starflower�s ears perked. Sooty was Maruman�s family name� Could it possibly be�

Eventually Maruman�s human relaxed enough to put his cat cage on the ground. She didn�t open the door though, after all there was another tomcat in the house.

Starflower couldn�t contain herself any longer. She bounded over to the door and excitedly asked �Mar? Please let that be you in there�

Naturally all the humans heard was a meow and some purring

Maruman crept around so he was looking out of the door �Star? Is it really you?�

The siblings went nuts, one on either side of the door.

�I don�t like this. Is that one the male? Or the female?�

�That one�s the girl� but Tux doesn�t seem to be reacting, and I�d say that he and Snow are mates, but he�s not threatened, strange. It�ll be safe to let Sooty out though�

Mistoffelees wasn�t reacting because he�d watched his mate perk up at the new tom�s family name. He was a little upset about it, and then he heard her greet the new cat. He thought she didn�t love him anymore.

So Maruman�s human let him out of the cage. Maruman and Starflower went nuts when they could see each other properly, they raced through the house, pouncing on each other�s tails. Mistoffelees sadly walked into the warm room with the fire and sat down. She didn�t love him anymore.

Eventually, Maruman and Starflower slowed down, came into the warm room with the fire and collapsed, Maruman on the rug, and Starflower over Mistoffelees� legs.

�Mar, I�d like you to meet my mate. I�m so very happy that you�re here, but I sense my little Misto is feeling unloved. Maruman, meet the Magickal Mister Mistoffelees! Misto, I�d like you to meet my mirror twin, my littermate, and the only brother that I thought I�d ever know, Maruman Dreamwalker. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, I love you, you�re the father of my kits but he�s my brother, we haven�t seen each other for some time, his human picked up and moved to Ballarat.�

Mistoffelees heard this and was pleased. She did still love him after all, he wasn�t going to have to fight with this cat for his mate. He looked carefully at his mate�s brother. �Pleased to finally meet you, Star�s told me a lot about you. Sooty? You�re name�s as stupid as Starflower�s is. Are you sure that they didn�t mix you up or something?�

Maruman just laughed. �pleased to meet you as well. The amount of times I�ve heard that from Star it�s gotten so that it�s a standing joke to us now. Are you really magickal? I thought only Star and I were. What can you do?�

�Mar, I told you that he was magickal, don�t you believe me?�

�I�ll believe it when I see it Star. No offence Mistoffelees, but you can�t be too careful, besides, this is my sister we�re talking about here, and I need to know that I can trust you, I�m the only family that I know of that I trust of her�s.�

Mistoffelees just laughed �Maruman, I can see that we�ll have to introduce you to Alonzo as fast as possible. We�ll have to take you to the junkyard tomorrow.�

�How are you planning on doing that? They�ll lock the doors on us you know.�

�Mar, Mistoffelees� a magickal cat, he�s mastered translocation. And you know that that�s something that we�re still working on. Window�s doors, locks, no problem.�

�And you trust him?�

�He�s my mate Maruman, I trust him with my life.�

�Well if it�s good enough for you then it�s good enough for me I guess�

The three cats spent the rest of the night becoming acquainted, but what happened next is another story.

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