Four months later...

Lloyd stepped out of the cave and took in a deep breath of fresh air, then let it out again just as slowly. He rubbed his chin where his beard was beginning to get thicker. He had never dreamed since arriving on this island so many months ago that he would discover a new species of animal....and one that so closely resembles humans! There was so much he wanted to be able to remember forever. He still can't understand the cathuman's language, but he remember'd the day when it was able to easily pronounce his own english! Ever since that time, he had changed his goals from learning the cathumans launguage to teaching it his own! From there, the communication level between them soared! Lloyd was just amazed at how fast the creature learned English!

The cathuman didn't know anything about himself; where he had come from, why he was there, or even what his name was. So Lloyd decided to give him a name- Deuteronomy, or Deut for short. The cathuman seemed to like this name and gave his approval with a nod. Lloyd taught him about who he was and where he had come from. He described life growing up in his family and many other things. The two had learned to trust each other and respect the other as well.

But the biggest moment for both of them came when Lloyd found another circle with edging marks on it, just like the one that opened the door to Deut's room. When he spotted this, he told his new friend and the cathuman was just as eager to see beyond the door as Lloyd. When the door opened, they found another gray cathuman. This one looked to be as old as Deut, but a little skinnier. The two waited a full day before this one woke up. They named him Gus and Deut conversed with him in their own language and acted as interpretor for Lloyd. Once again, the cathuman didn't know anything.

Again, they found another symbol and yet another room. The place seemed to be full of rooms! They went from one room to another, just opening the doors and looking to see who was inside. The cathumans had fur of varying colors. Lloyd saw red, yellow, grey, brown, black, white, calico, solid colors, tabby striped, and so on. Some of the cathumans were even found to be in the rooms together. Lloyd and Deut determined that the only reason they could think of was that the cathumans who were together must be related.

There was a red female they named Bombalurina with a yellow and black tabby which they called Demeter. In another room were two calico's that looked almost exactly alike. These two were named Tantomile and Coricopat. Another room revealed kittens, or children- whichever way described them best. There were three of them and named Pouncival, Carbuckety, and Tumblebrutus. The next room revealed a female they named Jennyanydots. After that were a couple more youngsters. These two were dubbed Victor and Victoria. Another female was in the next room and named Jellylorum. Sillabub and Jemima were in that room.

They finally came to what they thought was the last room. Inside were two males. They couldn't determine the ages of these two. They looked small enough to be youngsters, but didn't quite look like youngsters. One was completely black from the tip of his ears to the tip of his tail. The other one looked like him, but had some white on his left leg, his right wrist and hand, his chest area and his face. The one thing they did notice, was that this room and Deut's room had the same markings, while the rest of the rooms had slightly different markings in them. Because of this, Lloyd and Deut determined that their rooms must have special meanings to them. But the meanings were was beyond them.

Each of the cathumans woke up and were greeted first by Deuteronomy, and then by Lloyd. This had given Lloyd the opportunity to observe that all the cathumans seemed to be familiar with each other, but as soon as they saw him, they hissed and became nervous until Deut calmed them down and reassured them. Once everyone had gathered into Deut's old room, Lloyd told them as Deut interpreted how he had come to find them and awaken them. They all found it interesting, and they all seemed to be baffled as to why they were there and who they were. It seemed no one knew.

Then Lloyd invited them to step outside of the cave for the first time. He went out first and noticed that it was night time. He felt a little disappointed because they wouldn't be able to see much. At least there was a full moon out so that they could see a little of the island they were on- even if there was a little bit of fog forming. The cats stepped slowly out of the cave one by one and seemed transfixed by the full moon. What happened next was fascinating to Lloyd. All the cathumans seemed to begin to chant. What made it fascinating is that they had done so with no cue from anyone, and they were all chanting the same thing!

"Jenical khatz che loth mena. Jenical khatz che ne che na. Jenical loohn mas listh mas fal. Jenical cheha me Jenical maale." On it went for the next few minutes and grew in intensity until they broke out in dancing for awhile and then they suddenly stopped! Each one began to look around for something or someone until they were all facing Deuteronomy and raising their hands towards him and lowering their heads. After a moment of silence, he spoke in their language and they all looked up confused. They talked amongst themlselves and since it was in their own language, Lloyd took a moment to ask Deut what it all meant.

"Roughly translated, it means "Jellicle's come out tonight. Jellicle's come one come all to the Jellicle Ball." Lloyd's brow furrowed as he tried to think on this, but couldn't make sense of it.

"I don't understand. Was this some sort of spiritual ritual? What exactly is a Jellicle?" He didn't think he had said it very loud, but obviously many of the cathumans had heard him and glanced in his direction when they heard him pronounce the word "Jellicle". Deuteronomy thought for a moment and shook his head. "I can only guess that Jellicle is the name of who we are. As for the spiritual connotations," he paused for a moment and spoke again, "Quite possibly you are right. But I cannot describe exactly what was expected."

Lloyd glanced at the tribe, yes tribe describes them well he thought. Then he glance back at Deut. "What were they looking to you for? Do you know?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I told them that I have no choice for them this time. What I was supposed to choose, however, I am unsure."

Lloyd was about to ask another question when the cathumans seemed to turn their heads as if they heard a noise. Then Lloyd heard it. A slow rumble and then a louder rumble as if stones were falling to the floor. Then they saw movement within the caves. Lloyd thought that all of the tribe had been outside. So who was this then? After a minute a figure emerged and a little bit of uneasiness rippled through the Jellicles. This was another cathuman, ginger in color. He was tall and thin, but well built. His fur was a little longer than some and looked unkempt, though considering how long all of the Jellicle's had been asleep, Lloyd didn't blame them. This male looked at Deut and spoke. Deut conversed with him for a few minutes before turning to Lloyd. "This one seems to have woken up without our help. He awoke alone in his room and had to find his own way out. Apparently, he found the symbol and pushed his way out.

The two named him Macavity and began to invite him to join the others, but he remained aloof. The tom (as this is what Lloyd was beginning to think of the males as. Since they were so cat-like, he began to refer to the males as toms and the females as queens), moved towards the side of the mountain just watching everyone. This made some of the queens and kittens in the tribe nervous, but they soon learned to ignore his gaze.

Chapter 6