Comfortable

"Do you know how to fish? I feel that I must eat fish today", Liliana said one morning.

"Yes, I do, actually", I said. I wondered if the sudden desire for fish had to do with her pregnancy.

"Excellent. If you follow the stream where we do our laundry then it will join a few other streams to form a pond. Trevor likes fishing there", Liliana said. "If possible, I would like to have it for lunch".

"That shouldn't be a problem, so long as there are fish in the pond. Should I do it instead of the laundry?" I said, barely hiding my enthusiasm.

"Of course. You can find Trevor's fishing gear in the tool shed outside", Liliana said.

"Oh, I won't be needing that", I said dismissively. Fishing with a pole was too slow. It removed all the enjoyment from the activity. Liliana raised her eyebrows questioningly, but I ignored it and focused my attention back on finishing my breakfast.

Although I treated Liliana casually like I would treat my sisters, talking to her that way was also a test. I kept feeling the need to verify that she was indeed sincere, that I could trust her not to treat me the same way most humans treated my kind. So far for the past few days she has passed every little test that I gave her, but I still found it hard to fully trust her.

As soon as I was done with cleaning up after the meal I fetched a bucket and headed out to the pond Liliana told me about.

"I'd like to see how you manage to fish without any equipment", Liliana said when I was about to exit through the back door, and so she accompanied me and showed me the way. We had to walk along the bank of the creek, and in many places the path was slippery, so I supported her as she lumbered along with her large belly until we finally reached the spot.

I helped Liliana sit down on a log at the edge of the water.

"This is where Trevor likes to sit when he's fishing", she told me.

From what I could hear and smell it seemed there was no one else around, so I removed my dress, leaving me wearing only a shift and undergarments, which I rolled up as far as they would go. Then I waded into the water as deep as I could without getting my clothes wet. I leaned over and put my hands in the water, palms open and facing each other, but with a space between them. Then I stood still and waited.

The fish scattered when I entered the water, but after a few minutes of stillness they started approaching again. I waited until one of them was well within reach and grabbed at it with both hands, but it managed to slip away. I resumed my pose and waited again. Then next time I succeeded.

Liliana clapped.

"That's a nice catch. How did you learn to do that?" she asked, impressed.

"It just comes naturally", I answered, and it did. As a cat-kin it was normal for us to enjoy stalking and catching prey, and we were faster, stronger, and stealthier than humans. Even humans could do it with training, but for us all it required was to try a few times on our own, even without any instruction or example to follow, and we could easily become competent at it, and we were naturally inclined to try.

I put the fish in the bucket. It flapped around for a while before going still. Then I went back and hunted a few more fish. It was a small pond, and none of them were particularly big, but it was more than enough for a meal for the both of us. The remaining fish I put in the ice box to save them for another day.

Liliana seemed very satisfied with her meal, and I got to play instead of doing laundry. I wished every day could be so enjoyable.

After breakfast on Saturday was over Liliana said that she had a surprise for me.

"From now on I'm giving you a day off every Saturday", she told me while watching me closely, no doubt hoping to catch my reaction. I felt a grin forcing its way onto my face.

"Really!?" I squealed. "Thank you mistress. I mean, thank you Liliana". In my excitement I forgot for a moment that she didn't like the title. Liliana didn't react to my momentary lapse and instead seemed to be very satisfied with how I received the news.

"You'll still have to prepare breakfast and supper, though", she added, but that hardly dampened my enthusiasm. Without lunch, laundry, or house-cleaning I'd have a block of around 8 hours of freedom every weekend. Immediately I knew what I wanted to do with that freedom this time: to visit my family. I haven't seen them since our tearful farewell on Sunday, and I've been too preoccupied with getting used to my new home and duties to visit them. We've always lived all together in father's house. We've never been apart like this before and I missed them dearly.

I quickly finished cleaning up our breakfast dishes, then sped upstairs to change into nicer clothing before rushing across the village to father's house. When I arrived mother and my cat-kin siblings were there, but father and big brother Mark were gone on a business trip, which wasn't surprising. They were forced to stay home all winter due to the weather, and also sometimes in the spring and fall. Summer, however, was the one season when the roads were always open. Even when it rained it wasn't enough to make traveling dangerous.

I was excited to see them, and they were excited to see me. With father, Trevor, and Mark out of the house there was very little work to do, and Emma, father's only human daughter, who was raised by mother from infancy after the old mistress Lily's death, was practically one of us. We spent a pleasant few hours cooking, eating, talking, and playing together until it was finally time for me to go home.