Water tumbled from the clifftop, splashing in the pool at the base. The water droplets sparkled in the morning sunshine. Six cats were sitting in the grass nearby.
“You all heard Jax’s speech last night,” Chantel stated. “Our ‘mission’ here has become a little better defined. For us, it simply means we keep doing what we’re doing, but with some extra duties thrown in.”
“To manage all that, we need to get a little more organized. We need to form a team. We need to handle all the things related to the drawings, carvings, and anything else that needs recording or interpretation.”
“We need a team leader. We’re going to be working on many different projects, and someone will have to keep track of it all and make sure we have what we need to get the projects done.”
“And what you’re trying not to say,” Nicole said, “is that you are the best cat for the job.”
“Yeah, Mom,” Gabby added, “Why don’t you just say it?”
“Because I want to hear what you guys think,” Chantel answered.
“Okay, that’s easy,” Nicole said. “Should Chantel be team leader, yea or nay?”
Nicole, “Yea.”
Star: “Yea.”
Gabby, Nixie, and Jen, “Yea.”
“There you go,” Nicole said. “You’ve got the job.”
“Okay, first of all,” Chantel began, “Jen, are you okay with being on the team?”
“You bet, if you think I can help,” she replied. “I don’t want to screw anything up.”
“You’ll do fine, and you’ll learn a lot.”
“Let’s see where we are then,” Chantel said, looking at Star and Nicole. “I know you two finished your initial sketch of the drawings. How did that turn out?”
“They turned out well. They have all the important details but none of the shading or colors.”
“How hard is it going to be to make copies of those?”
“Believe it or not, quite easy,” Star replied. “Cisco found a drawing in that box from the Hidden village, of a device made for just that sort of thing. It’s a pivoting framework of four strips of wood that are pinned together at various points. The end of one strip is pinned to the tabletop, and a drawing stick is attached to the end of another strip. Where two strips are pinned together in the middle is a pointer.”
“It all sounds very complicated, but it’s really simple. You move the pointer over the lines of the original, and the drawing stick draws the same line on a new sheet of paper.”
“So, you’ve been making copies of your sketches?”
“Not us. Cisco trained Taniki’s kids, Dev and Kali, to do it. They’ve been working on that when they’re not helping their mom at the cookhouse. Stony built them a couple of copy tables. They set those up at Vitto and Del’s place, who were happy to keep an eye on them.”
“Vitto and Del have kind of become grandparents to us kids,” Jen explained. “It’s nice being part of a big family.”
“The copies have turned out well, with Vitto and Del making sure the kids don’t miss any of the smaller details,” Gold said.
“That’s great,” Chantel said. “And what about the colored renditions of the drawings?”
“That’s going to take a few more days to finish,” Nicole said, looking to Star for confirmation.
“That’s right,” Star said. “Of course, Mom and I will have to make any copies of those that we need.”
“Do you think we need to find some more cats to help with that?”
“That depends on what else you’re going to have for us to do.”
“For right now, we need to finish up with our work at the cave. Then I want to make a trip to the Teacher’s village with a copy of the sketches for my Mother and to see what she’s found out for us in the libraries.”
“Del and Vitto want to return to Falling Waters to talk to their relatives about the ‘missing army’ from the drawings that Nixie told them about. So, Star and Nicole, as that’s your home village too, is there anyone you think would be a good addition to our artistic research team?”
“I can think of a couple of cats who would be interested,” Nicole said, “but either Star or myself would have to talk to them in person.”
“See, that’s the problem I’m having,” Chantel said in frustration. “Everything we want to do interrupts something else that we should be doing. We definitely need more people.”
“Anyway,” she continued, “there’s another project that our team needs to take care of.”
“As you know, we found the History Tree. The site has seven tall stones carved with intricate symbols similar to the badges or amulets that we found at the Hidden village. I want to take our whole team to the site to make sketches of the carvings and paintings of the whole site from various angles.”
“And of course, we’ll use all our expertise to interpret what we see there. I imagine that will take at least a week to accomplish. I’m sure Jax and Piper will want to go with us to do some mapping of the area. I’ll be talking to Jax about that.”
As the three cats walked along the forest trail, Gabby nudged Nixie. “Did you show Mom your drawings?”
“I didn’t know if she’d be interested,” Nixie replied quietly.
“Are you kidding? They’re great and really unusual. You’ve got to show her,” Gabby insisted.
“What are you two whispering about?” Chantel asked, glancing back at Gabby and Nixie.
“Let’s stop here for a minute,” Nixie said, spotting a nice grassy spot by the stream.
“Studying the symbols in the drawings, I started seeing things,” Nixie explained. “Not the symbols themselves, but what they represented. For instance, looking at the cats planting the tree, I could see the cats themselves, not the symbols, but the real cats.”
“Finally, I borrowed some paper and colored chalk from Star and Nicole. To tell you the truth, I never knew I could draw like that. Anyway, here’s a drawing I finished just last night.”
“What do you think?”
Chantel held up the drawing, admiring the soft textures made possible by using chalk.
“I love the shading of the cat’s plush fur,” Chantel commented. “Her dark paws and ears accentuating her golden fur is beautiful. Is this really what you saw?”
“It is,” Nixie replied. “I don’t know how, but I’m sure that is what she actually looked like.”
Gabby was looking over her mom’s shoulder at the drawing. Suddenly, she froze, grabbing her mother’s arm.
“Mom!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you see it?”
“Don’t I see what?” Chantel asked, looking around to see what had Gabby so excited.
“Mom, look at the cat in the picture!” Gabby said. “Look at her face!”
“What are you talking about… Oh my! That can’t be possible!”
Turning to Nixie, she asked, “When were you at the Teacher’s Village?”
“You mean, your home village?” Nixie asked. “I’ve been a lot of places, but I’ve never been anywhere near the Teacher’s Village. Why do you ask?”
Holding out the drawing, Chantel said, “This is a picture of my mother.”
“No,” Nixie said with certainty. “That is the cat in the cave drawing.”
“Things have definitely gotten weird,” Gabby said with a nervous laugh.
“Have you shown anyone else your drawings?” Chantel asked, still gazing at the cat in the drawing.
“Gabby’s seen a couple of them, but I just finished that one last night,” Nixie replied.
“Would you mind showing me the others?” Chantel asked.
“Not at all. They’re back at my place at the village,” Nixie replied.
Back at the village, Nixie brought out her drawings and explained which of the cave drawings had inspired each one.
“It was like I could see the scene in my mind, almost like a memory, but very clear and detailed.”
“It was a little shocking at first,” Nixie laughed, “but then I just relaxed and enjoyed the experience.”
“Actually, the most surprising thing was when I tried drawing what I was seeing.”
“Who knew I could create pictures that beautiful,” Nixie said, almost to herself.
“They’re so realistic, they almost give me the chills,” Chantel said softly.
“I think Isis should see these. Would that be okay?”
“No problem if she’s not busy,” Nixie replied.
“I’ll go find her,” Gabby said, heading for the door. “Be right back.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Isis said, leaning over to look at one of Nixie’s pictures. “You see these images in your mind when you look at the cave drawings?”
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” Nixie said. “But that’s only part of it. I didn’t even know I could draw, let alone be able to create pictures like those. Star and Nicole say that, with the use of colored chalks, they’re called ‘Pastel Drawings.’ Apparently, it’s a style.”
“Well, that’s another hidden talent that’s revealed itself in the valley,” Isis grinned.
“And you say that this looks just like your mother?” Isis asked Chantel.
“Yep, that’s a picture of my Grandma alright,” Gabby answered.
“That looks just like my Mother,” Chantel said, “right down to the facial markings and the ear tips.”
“And the color of her eyes,” Gabby added.
“I’m not sure what to think about this,” Isis said. “But I’m pretty sure that you should talk to Adriana about it.”
“You’re right, I do want to talk to Mom about everything we’ve found here,” Chantel said. “It’s actually good timing. We’ve got a copy of the sketches ready to go.”
“So, what do you think, Gabby, do you want to go see your Grandma?”
“I’d love to,” Gabby replied. “But you know full well that our ‘team’ has a ton of stuff to get done. I think I should stay here and help. Besides, I want to see what Nixie draws next.”
“Okay, I’ll get with Jax and start putting together a trip to the Teacher’s village,” Chantel said.
“While I’m doing that, you two need to get some sleep. We already put in a full night at the cave.”