Leadership

As they approached the vicinity of the shed where their stray colony was, the sights became familiar to him. These were the paths that he had taken before, when he was simply a cat. He found some comfort in this familiarity, and this encouraged him to keep on walking.

Upon reaching their destination, he left the bag somewhere secure, before transforming into a cat and going into the shed. He was still a little nervous, but it had to be done.

As soon as most of the cats in the shed heard and saw him, they flocked to him in greeting.

"Ryne? What a surprise!"

"Oh wow! Welcome back, Ryne! How have you been? Do you still remember me?"

"Hey! Has it been hard living outside the city?"

"Please, tell us some stories about the human world!"

He was overwhelmed with the positive reception of these cats, despite giving no notice of his arrival. He expected them to reject him or not even remember him, but here they were, greeting him. He didn't know who to answer first or what to even tell them.

Just then, a familiar voice was heard over the din in the shed.

"So… He's here, huh?"

It was Hugma, who began to approach Ryne, Nini, and the others, who had just arrived. The group of cats who were eagerly greeting the newcomers fell silent and parted to make way for him.

"Some nerve actually coming back here, Ryne," said Hugma.

"Look, Hugma, I'm the one who invited him here. Maybe you forget," said Nini.

"Oh, look, and you're still hiding behind Nini. Just like old times."

"Why you-"

Ryne stopped Nini from fighting Hugma and moved forward to face him. It wasn't because he didn't want to look bad in front of everyone, but rather because he didn't like seeing Nini's efforts and concern being put to waste because of this person. To him, the way Hugma acted was as if Nini wasn't even actually in front of him, and was only used as something like a shield.

"Please, let us get our facts straight," said Ryne. "Nini, along with Fonmi and Prauza here, risked their lives to get to me and take me here. I can't have you taking notice of my faults right when you haven't even acknowledged the achievements of our fellow cats."

"And what have they achieved by bringing you here?"

Normally, Ryne would have flinched at the statement and said nothing. But he knew what he was there for, and it wasn't for anything trivial.

"Steps closer to solving a problem that you're simply ignoring by hiding away here. Ignorance is not going to help, not when the issue is actually bigger than you think," he answered. "Pet cats have already started to disappear under humans' noses, did you know that? What about us strays whom no one will know about except for each other? Tell me, how successful is this attempt of yours to prevent casualties right now?"

Hugma wasn't able to answer. He thought he would be able to hide it, but quite a few from the group have disappeared in the past night. He's certain that the other stray colonies out there would have some members missing as well, as much as he would like to not admit. He didn't quite count on who he thought was the weaker male to notice and call him out on it.

"As I thought. I apologize for this sermon, but we only came here because we were worried. Otherwise, we would already be doing something else right now," continued Ryne. "Now, I don't think that there's much sense in staying where one is unwelcome. I will be taking my leave, at least."

He turned his back without any hesitation and left the shed. He was followed by Prauza, and then Fonmi, and then Nini, who looked at Hugma with pity one time before leaving.

Ryne went back to his human form and put on his clothes.

"Well, that put him in his place," said Nini, while Ryne was in the process of dressing up. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but I didn't really want to do that…" replied the human/cat, feeling a tinge of regret. "I was actually thinking of talking with him about something else. Now I think I just blew my chances."

"Trust me, we'll have to find a way to get him around to our side before he even thinks of listening to you. He's not even the type of guy to think."

"As much as I hate to admit it, it really is his weakness…"

"So, where to now, fearless leader?" Prauza asked the man, amazed by his earlier move.

"I-I'm not the leader in this… I mean…" Ryne blushed heavily out of embarrassment.

"I believe you are. I wouldn't be following you around otherwise. I'm a free spirit, you know."

"I also think you've been leading us well so far," said Nini. "If anything, I won't hesitate to call you out if I think you're going the wrong way."

"I'll leave you to put it that way, then…" said Ryne, still a little nervous from what he did earlier. "In the meantime, I believe we should think about our next move somewhere else."

The four cats went off in search of a pet-friendly place to stay. It took a while, but they soon managed to find an inexpensive inn that was also willing to accommodate small animals as long as they were looked after. They were led to their room, which was simple in furnishing but clean.

"Here's the key to the room," said the staff who accompanied them as she handed the key to Ryne. "Aww, those cats of yours are just so cute and well-behaved." She gave each of the three others a few strokes from their head to their back, which they took well.

"Uh, thank you," said Ryne as he received the keys. Part of him wished he received pats on the head by the lady as well, and maybe even sniff her pleasant scent, but he had to pose as a human this time around.

The staff left them alone, and Ryne closed the room before putting his bag on the floor out of everyone's way.

"Well then, let's take a look at what we know so far."