Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 39

Memoirs of Kitty Siam - Herding Cats.

As the leader of the group knelt and prayed before me, the other members of the group did the same and within seconds their chants synchronized and became a soothing rhythm. I respectfully padded past each of the naked praying humans and from time to time I would stop and take a sniff at them. The smallest and I presumed the youngest of the girls broke out into a giggle when my whiskers brushed softly against her cheek. An older girl that appeared to be her sibling quickly ordered the giggler back into prayer and she immediately obeyed. I gave the young girl a soft approving tap on the shoulder with my paw before moving past her to the next girl.

I felt like I was a commanding officer inspecting my troops as I moved past each of the prostrate humans. I had been on the other side of such inspections many times back at the academy on Udon. Of course I did not take names or put the locals on report for uniform violations, but I did come across several things that made my little kitty take note. As I passed by the men with their heads pressed to their hands, I was able to take a good look at a few very nice dangly bits between their legs. Considering my observation, it was expected that the Alpha male of the group would have the most impressive physique and sexual equipment and I was not disappointed. He was truly built like a Greek god above and below the waist with a skin tone that would be normally seen on the sub continent of Asia. Some of his crew was almost as equally impressive, but then there is a bit of a difference between impressive and massive.

I gave all of the males a bit of an extra look over while I knew that they were not looking at me. I gave the females a good looking over as I was beginning to see them as my competition for the attention of these gorgeous male specimens. The females were considerably shorter than the males, and while on the petite side, I could see that they had great muscle tone which at this point is surmised was from work in the fields and or other such labor intensive occupations. I was hoping that I would get the chance to see how and where these people lived.

My musings and inspection came to an end as I padded up to the still praying Alpha. In feline form I had no words for him other than a soft approving mew. With just the slightest sound from me he looked up from his praying position and we met face to face. I could not help myself as I looked over his handsome features; I so wanted to kiss him but the best I could manage in my present form was to press my nose against his then playfully lick his cheek several times.

It seemed as my attention turned to the Alpha male, the rest of the group stopped chanting and turned their attention to me and their leader. My licking their leader's face brought a round of giggles from the women. I was waiting for the Alpha to verbally silence them or backhand me, but instead his lips emitted a soft chuckle. To me this was an indication that he probably led his people through wisdom and personality instead of forcing his will upon them as an authoritarian leader would. I was beginning to believe that my initial assessment of the males being soldiers my have been in error given the behavior that I was observing up close and personal. I had had enough exposure to soldiers and military types since I left Osaka Eugenics that I would be content if these men were nothing more than simple farmers, foragers or fishermen.

After I got my licks in so to speak I backed off and moved away from the humans to let them get back to their washing and preening. I moved under a large shade-providing tree away from the water's edge and it seemed that the humans took that as a sign that they could get up and they did. The women wrapped themselves in soft silky sarongs that covered from their hips to their knees while everything from the waist on up was left bare. The men dressed as well and donned a silk wrap similar to the sarongs that the women wore. The garments that the men word covered them as well from the waist down but covered a bit less than the women's garments did. I suppose the shorter length was to allow the men more mobility while they went about their occupations.

The bathers went about packing up their belongings as I made myself comfortable. From time to time I would catch the members of the group looking at me, until the leader spoke up and addressed the women of the group. At this point three of the younger women came toward me and took a kneeling positions in a circle around me. If I could I would have laughed out loud as I had this image in my mind of the three of them giving me a flea bath then taking me home and asking their village elders if they could keep me. Instead of the dreaded flea bath, the women produced brushes from the simple cloth handbags that they carried and began to thoroughly brush my fur. They started brushing in long strokes from my head to my tail, each taking a turn then allowing the next woman to take a stroke with her brush. I have to admit that I had never had such papering like this, nor had my fur ever been brushed. I was beginning to think that I might just forget about the problems of the galaxy and move in with these people and stay a cat forever.

I think that the women enjoyed brushing me as much as I enjoyed the attention. What also got a lot of attention was the solid gold collar that I was wearing. It was said in ancient times that women are attracted to shiny objects and that theory was more or less proven with these three. They talked amongst themselves as they brushed me and from time to time the UT would pick up a word or two now and then and it seemed that the gold collar was the main topic of conversation.

After the brushing and the gathering up of belongings had finished the group gathered under my tree and began walking toward the path that I had followed earlier. As they walked the members of the group kept looking back at me as if expecting me to follow. Some made gestures with their hands that I took as a signal to join them, and so I did.

The group moved on down the path and I straggled behind to kept a watchful eye on my new human friends. A few minutes into our trek two of the women fell back to walk with me. They talked to me as if they expected an answer while they confided in me about their relationships or their desires for the perfect match with the perfect man. I suspect that they were in some way wanting me to grant their wish or to pass their desires along to their deity. At least that I what I gathered that they were talking about as the UT was still having a lot of trouble understanding their sentences. Unfortunately for the women, I had no such power or influence with their god or any of the gods that they would pray to. After a while I tuned them out as the group's loose formation became even looser and I was able to get a good look at the Alpha male's back, backside and strong legs. All interest in what the women were saying was totally lost to me now as many impure thoughts filled my furry little head.

Our journey took us to a small village that was about a fifteen-minute stroll from the cove by the waterfall where I met these humans. As we entered the village there were more chants of, "Mandira billi" and more prayers being offered by kneeling villagers. The village its self was made up of thatched roof buildings constructed of rammed earth in a similar style to those on the island of Rontara. It was clear that there was an Annunaki influence here as well from the look of the buildings and the layout of the village. In the center of the village there was a small pyramid with steps on four sides that led up to a shrine with several statues on each side of the raised platform. I call this a shrine, as it was much smaller than the temple that I lived under and was also much smaller than the temples on Rontara. This was after all a small village and a small shrine seemed much more appropriate than a large elaborate temple.

The group of villagers that I had accompanied from the river stopped in front of a hut that I gathered belonged on one of the village elders. The leader quietly announced him self and spoke for a few minutes to someone through the open door. A few minutes later an older gentleman emerged with a woman equal to him in age. The villagers parted as the village elder approached me. He made several circles around me, checking me out and running his fingers softly down my back while softly chanting. Again, I did not understand his words but I was able to pick out the phrase, "Mandira billi" in his repeated chant. My attention was focused on the old man to the point that I did not notice the leather lead being clipped onto my gold collar by the old man's woman.

Startled at suddenly being leashed I looked up at the woman and hissed out my disapproval at her actions. My hissing only got me a sharp tug on the leash from the old woman, which jerked my head sharply toward her. How rude I thought that a temple cat should be treated this way, but I remained passive to see how all of this would play out. I was so tempted to use her legs as my scratching post, but realizing that there was no serious threat to me I kept calm and let things play out as I watched and learned.

I tried to listen in on many of the conversations around me in an attempt to determine what they had in store for me. As the cacophony died down the village Elder's woman handed my lead to one of the girls from the lake. I did not understand the instructions that she was given but from what I could gather from the UT, it was her week to tend to the shrine and being that I was a creature that should reside in a temple, my care and keeping fell to her.

From her looks I got the impression that she was about my chronological age give or take a year or two. She was a beautiful teen; her skin was the color of caramel or perhaps several shades darker. Her long lovely hair reached down to her waist and she had it gathered in front of her and wore it as a sash that came down from her shoulder and covered her ample right breast, which allowed the left breast to remain bare. She was much wider than me but her build was muscular, proportional and full figured. She was built perfectly for working in the fields or other sorts of manual labor, which showed in the roughness of her hands. Her build and features were similar to that of the other women in the group.

When the meeting of the villagers split up my keeper took a tight hold on my leash then dropped to one knee beside me and began petting me softly as she tried to comfort me with her soft voice. I did not understand what she was saying but she repeated the same word over and over and each time she would draw her open palm toward her chest. I took this to mean that she was introducing herself to me as "Sneha." I had a feeling that she was not going to try to harm me, of course I was not worried for my safety at all as I was sure that should I be threatened that my retracted claws could be deployed quickly enough to defend myself.

After a few minutes of caressing my soft black fur Sneha stood and began walking and I willingly followed along. We made our way down the main street past the small shops and a rather large open air market across the road from the polished marble steps leading upward to the village's shrine. The villagers turned to stare at the pretty young girl leading the large dark panther down the street. As we passed the shrine my keeper placed both hands together with palms touching and pulled them inward toward the center of her chest then bowed toward the shrine in a show of respect. I stopped when she did but as she went to continue on her way I made a movement toward the shrine's steps as an indication to her that I wanted to visit the shrine.

She mumbled something in my direction and gave my leash a gentle tug. This was when I decided that my keeper was going to learn the first rule about cats, and that rule is, "Dogs come when they are called, cats come when we want." I resisted her tug and then she repeated the movement and tugged a little harder. It was said long ago in ancient Egypt that the temple cat is a magical creature, so I summoned up a little of that magic in the form of my wardrobe device. As she tugged a third time I mentally instructed the device to remove and reinstall my gold collar. The request was carried out faster than a human eye could detect what was happening. The result was that when she tugged on my leash, to anyone watching it would seem as if the clasp on the leash passed through the solid gold collar.

The clasp at the end of the leash made a soft thud as it landed on one of the paving stones of the street we were standing on. Once free of my leash I started a slow deliberate walk toward the shrine and began ascending the steps. It took my keeper a second or two to realize what had happened before she charged off toward me with the leash in hand. I looked back over my shoulder at her as I kept my paws moving, not bothering to slow down as she cried out, "Mandira billi, Mandira billi" in a pleading manner as if she wanted me to stop and wait for her.

I was drawn to the shrine as we passed and knew that I had to check I out. The construction of the shrine was what had intrigued me enough to want to break away from my keeper. Everything that I had seen in the village had been constructed out of wood, rammed earth, and thatch, yet here in the middle of this village was a shrine constructed out of white marble which reminded me of the temple on Rontara. Somehow I felt that in some way this shrine was connected to the temple complex, which got me into exploration mode. Of course you know what they say about cats and curiosity, right?

As I climbed the stairs I looked over the temple and noticed that it was very similar to the other temples that I had found on other worlds that had been abandoned by the Annunaki, except that there was a difference at the center of this shrine. Standing at the center just at the back of the alter was a large crystal obelisk that protruded through a rectangular opening in the center of the roof. At the top of the obelisk was what appeared to be a crystal dome that begged a closer inspection on another day when my keeper was not pursuing me.

Sneha was relentless in her pursuit of me, and I was having such fun eluding her. Just when she thought that she had me I would leap over a marble bench, dart behind a pillar, or slink under the alter. She was in very good shape and gave it a valiant try, but I could tell that she was becoming frustrated with me so a few times during the chase I let her catch me and clip the leash back onto my collar. Of course when she turned to lead me toward the steps I released myself from the leash and made another mad dash about the shrine. I think that Sneha learned a valuable lesson that day about the folly of attempting to herd cats.

During my dash around the shrine I visually took in the many carved and decorated stone panels that decorated the shrine, as well as the neatly arrange wreaths of flowers that adorned the statues and obelisks. There was meaning in the carvings but at the moment there was no time to decipher or translate the words and glyphs. That task would have to wait for another day. On my third trip around the shrine my gaze fell upon what I was searching for... a simple stone rectangle embedded in the marble wall behind the alter. I was tempted to transform to human and activate the panel but I was not prepared to let Sneha in on my little secret just yet.

Sneha had finally run out of steam and flopped down on her butt on the floor in front of the alter. She held the leash out to me in a futile attempt to coax me to come to her. Eventually I did join her but only after I made my way around the shrine one more time. I was better able to check out the carvings, writings, and such placed about the shrine now that I was not running to avoid Sneha and her leash. The shrine was well preserved and the carvings and writings were in mint condition given their age. I could tell that certain images and passages held special meaning for the villagers as evidenced by their smoother texture. To me this indicated something sacred that prompted the villagers to place their hands upon the various carvings. I would observe later on that the villagers would touch and image with their hand then touch that hand to a specific place on their body as if they were drawing a specific blessing toward them. For these areas to be worn so smooth this practice had gone on for many generations.

I made my way back to Sneha and she let out a sigh of relief when I curled up next to her and allowed her to once again attach the leash. I hoped that she had learned her lesson about how not to take care of a cat. I think that if I had been in human form I would have broken out with the mad giggles but in feline form there was no way for my keeper to know how much fun I had had at her expense. Even though I behaved like a real brat while she was chasing me, she took it well and I could tell that she was a good person. I promised myself I would be nicer to her in the future as long as she did not try to choke me with the leash.

We spent a while together in front of the alter. When Sneha finally caught her breath she positioned herself on her knees with her chest, palms and forehead pressed tightly against the floor and began chanting her evening prayers. We were at the part of the day when afternoon became evening and this was the time of the day when the village stopped what they were doing and joined in prayer. Throughout the village the people dropped to their knees, faced the shrine and began to chant. As the chanting continued the villagers became synchronized and prayed as one single voice. I could not help be moved by the melodic nature that the chant became as the shrine was surrounded on all four sides by praying villagers.

When the chanting concluded Sneha and I made our way down the steps of the shrine where I was handed off to her older brother Raffa. Being that Sneha was the keeper of the shrine, it was her duty to organize and lead the procession of lamp and cauldron lighters. Her brother did not seem to thrilled that I was thrust into his care but he took it well and was kind enough not to yank my leash or try to kick me as he led me back to the hut that he shared with his sister. Of course if he did kick me I would have been more than happy to tattoo his tanned and very muscular legs with my claws or teeth.

I suppose the dwelling was more of a house than a hut but it had similarities to a hut in its construction. The structure was a single story dwelling built of rammed earth and heavy timbers that supported a thatched roof. There were two sleeping areas separated by bamboo walls located off of a common dining and social area. In the center of the social area was a fire pit that was vented through the thatched roof by a hollow stone column. There was a separate area or bathing that consisted of a shower head connected by a crude pipe to a manually filled water tank that was filled from the outside of the hut. I normally do not deal with potty issues but this time I will just say that there were many latrines scattered through out the village, which contained crudely constructed ceramic flush commodes.

Raffa left me in the common area while he went to wash up for dinner. When he left the room I jumped up on his bed and made myself comfortable. When he returned to retrieve a clean white silk sarong from his room he snarled at me before chasing my furry little panther butt off his bed. As I made a mad dash for his sister's room I was hoping that I had left him a bit of fur on his mattress to remember me by. Raffa thought nothing of parading himself naked before me as he made himself ready to join the rest of the village at dinner. I thought nothing of ogling him as he went about his preparations. I have to admit that Raffa was quite a specimen of masculinity and as I watched him dress I found myself thinking of transforming and having my way with him right then and there. Unfortunately his sister interrupted my impure thoughts as she returned from her duties at the shrine.