The young female watched as her kittens played in the garden. If you could call it playing. She never remembered playing that way with her brothers and sisters. They would rough house, tumble, bite and jump on one another. She chuckled; it’s a wondered she survived kitten hood at all. Her babies were a puzzle to her however. She had never seen them play fight at all. They were lively and curious, but never rough or loud. They seemed to function as one but at the same time had two separate personalities. The male was strong and
the more vocal one although neither kitten had much to say. He was clearly the leader and even at that early age had a quiet, gentle authority about him. The female was timid and nervous. The slightest noise sent her into hiding. She followed her brother like a shadow and clearly adored him.

Maybe it was because they were twins she thought. None of her brothers or sisters looked alike and all of them were of different sires. This was her very first litter and she had been with only one male. He was a neighbor cat who often had called on her as a young adult. When she came into her first season he mated with her and then guarded her throughout her pregnancy and kept all other males away. It could be that the kittens took after him because he rarely spoke. He had a silent strength about him. He always seemed to know what she wanted or was thinking. He was gentle and patient. Mystery seemed to surround him. She knew nothing of him except he just appeared one day and swept her off of her feet. None of the neighbor Jellicles  had seen or heard of him before he appeared to her. He stayed until the kittens were born. He had checked to see if she was all right and then inspected the kittens one by one. As soon as he was satisfied that his family was in good health he stepped back and gazed at his mate. As their eyes met she knew that he had to leave and she accepted it. It was as if something they had both had to do was now finished. She knew he still cared about her, but she also knew he couldn't stay. He would be with her in spirit. He had given himself to her and the gift was two new lives. She knew she would never see him again in this life, but he was forever a part of her soul. Every time she looked at her son and daughter she saw him before her. They both had his silver and ebony stripes and deep golden eyes. Those eyes could catch you and pull you into another world. She often caught the kittens staring at one another as if they were speaking. They always knew what the other wanted or was thinking. They also knew what she was thinking. She had just to think about calling them and they would appear as if by magic. Truthfully there was magic about her children, or at least something she could not explain. The only thing her babies seemed to have inherited from her was her long fur and her love of nature.

Her mate used to laugh at the way she would lay among the flowers and smell them. He would lay in the sun and watch her for hours as she played in the garden like a kitten. The sun would glow about him like a halo, his fur would look like soft flames.  When the kittens had been born he had given them their names, Apollobus and Lilliwisper. It had been the last thing he had said to her before he disappeared.

As the kittens grew she saw more and more of her mate in Apollobus and she saw herself in Lilliwhisper. The little male became strong and bold and female who was a diminutive mirror image of her brother became a nervous little wisp of a kitten. She spent much of her time hiding in her brother’s fur. It never bothered  the mother that her baby seemed to run to her brother rather than her. She sensed that it was supposed to be this way, like it was ordained in some way. Both kittens respected and adored their mother. It was just they had a special bond that she was not capable of sharing with them.

So as she watched them play she somehow knew that they were here for a special reason, that they were not just ordinary Jellicles, as if any Jellicle could be called ordinary. She closed her eyes and felt the warm rays of the sun, which was now beginning to drop behind the trees. It was moments like this when it felt as if her mate was still there beside her. His warm fur rubbing up against her like the sun’s breath upon her face. As she opened her eyes she saw her children in the last rays of the setting sun. Lilliwisper was rolling in a bed of flowers and Apollobus was watching her with adoring eyes. The sun danced upon his fur like flames. She smiled, life was so sweet.