Claire woke up too soon again when she thought she heard someone calling her name. She could feel Solomon moving next to her, and sat up to check what he was doing. Claire was greeted with a good morning by her best human friend. She caught the apple that Kate had thrown to her. She must have given Solomon something to eat as well, because he was chewing on it.

“Oi, don’t you know not to feed the wild animals?” Claire asked then bit into the apple. “What if it develops a craving?” She stood up; a bit unsteady on her feet and stiff after sleeping where she’d slept. “It could try to break out of its cage just to find more.” She undid the lock on the cage from within, and stepped outside next to Kate. “What would you do then?” Claire took another bite of the apple and grinned with her mouth full. Solomon stretched in his cage, noticing that the door was open and lay back down to sleep. “Oh, and there’s Solomon too.”

“Thank you for waking me.” She said with a sly smile, and to show how much she appreciated being awakened early in the morning she pulled Kate into a tight hug. Claire rubbed her cheek against Kate much like a cat would. She mostly did it to tease her friend, because she knew she smelled even more like a tiger than usual, both the smell and the hay she had on herself would be on Kate too now. “It’s such a nice gesture.” 
Claire locked Solomon’s cage back up after she’d hugged Kate. She felt a pain run through her right shoulder, an old scar that still made itself known every now and then. She gritted her teeth, and didn’t move for a moment. 

“Well, I better go clean myself up, not that it usually helps for long. If at all.” 

Some would say she’d adopted too many of the characteristics of her cats. Elena in particular didn’t like her tendency to sleep as much as they did if she wasn’t given any tasks to do. However, she also had the constant smell of tiger or lion in her clothes. At least she hadn’t given up being human completely yet, which was what mattered in her opinion. If she felt like it she could probably have escaped with her kittens and lived happily in a jungle. That was a silly dream, and she’d miss some things with human society, like Kate and the food.

“What are you gonna do now?” She grinned. “Train with your manly assistant, I bet.” Claire stretched her arms above her head. “Thankfully, I’m 
so experienced and respected with my feline assistants that I barely need practice.” 

That was just bragging, because they’d always find some way to mess with her carefully planned routine unless she kept them in line with regular practices. Elena had been furious with her once after she’d been too laid back, and it’s resulted in a disorganized performance.

Once Elena had made sure everyone was either up or had been notified that if they weren’t up in the next half hour they’d need to find a new job, she returned to her own wagon. She needed practice herself. She wanted to make sure that the show tonight would be unforgettable to everyone attending. 

She would check on the performers later the same day, but they should already know the schedule and order, so there wasn’t much she needed to do for now. Elena soon found herself distracted by her book.