Princess

Huh. Rupert knows nothing about the world. He is a mere whippersnapper, too young and vain to know much at all. Though, kitten or cat, they are all young upstarts in one way or another, in comparison to me.
But I am the Princess.
Grand Dame. Matriarch of this family and watcher over all.
And I know many things.
At 88 cat years, I am very likely the oldest cat in Eressos, perhaps even Lesvos.
Extensively travelled, worldly wise and deeply perceptive, I know the mums better than anyone.
I have watched Littlemum grow from a childling to a young woman. And Bigmum has grown too. Fatter and 17 human years older.
But I digress.
I heard Bigmum and Littlemum talking. They forget that I can understand.
And only I know why the mums have had sad bad feelings across these recent times. And why they try to count us at every meal-time. And why they worry and call if any are missing for very long.
I know that it not just cars and poison and stoning that hurts the cats, or makes them disappear.
The mums have been feeling deeply sad and dark inside their hearts because of what the bad boy did to one of us. One of our ‘disappeared’ has not disappeared. He has come back to haunt the boy who did such an unspeakably bad thing.
The mums said the story of the Eressos Cat Murder is all over the world. People have seen pictures of the terrible murder of one of the local Georges (all the red and white outsideys are called George), on that Puter thing that the mums sit in front of so much.
And the sadness is not only for what happened to George, but that they have lived close to, and known and liked the bad boy since he was a childling. They thought he was one of the good ones. And now things have changed forever in their hearts and they are sad that the liking and the trusting has gone.
And we hope that George will haunt him and all the bad boys for a long time to come.
Though they probably will take no notice, I will warn all the family not to trust outsidey people, but I will spare them the details.
I shall not venture outside the garden wall - I never have, and I will continue to purvey all around me from the balcony, where I know I will be safe.