Akhi stretched out comfortably along the brick footpath of his family's garden, basking in the warm spring sun. New buds lined the branches of the bushes and the vines were once again starting to creep along the wooden slat fence. Ever since Noah's rescue, the Benvenistes were content to let their cat explore outside by himself. In their eyes, Akhi had more than earned the privilege.

    He listened as he heard three robins whistling from a neighbor's yard. Alaric and his family must have spotted lunch. Akhi smiled to himself and rolled his body over towards Halima, who was lounging agreeably next to him.

"You sure you won't reconsider?" he asked.

Halima slowly blinked her eyes open. "I already gave Lupo my answer," her mouth curled into a relaxed smile. "Besides, I've been part of a group for a while now. It's time I found out what it's like being on my own for a little bit."

Akhi nodded and placed his left paw on Halima's back. He clenched his right one privately. It still ached. It felt unnatural to not have claws.

"I could lay here on these warm bricks forever with you," Akhi purred.

"Then you'd miss your party."

"It's a ceremony, not a party," he responded.

"Same thing," Halima said as she reached out a paw onto his belly and began to scratch.

"Hey!" Akhi stood up abruptly, trying to suppress laughter.

Halima grinned and sat up on her haunches.

"Don't you have to get going, anyway?" she asked.

"How do I look?" Akhi held his head up in faux confidence.

Halima furrowed her brow and pursed her lips together before licking one of his ears to suppress a few errant hairs.

"Not too bad."

"I'm nervous," he admitted.

"Just don't forget us little animals," she responded. "You know, when you're out saving the world and all that."

He smiled. The two cats headbumped each other before Akhi proceeded towards the wooden hatch hidden beneath the holly bush. He looked back at her as he opened the door upwards with the paw that still had claws.

"Good luck, housecat," she winked at him from across the garden.

Akhi walked down the familiar tunnel. Just before the grand meeting room, Akhi paused and took a deep breath. Be at peace with the things I cannot change. Focus on the things I can. He exhaled and proceeded into the room.

There were two lines of animals sitting on their haunches, facing each other. Although it was difficult for all twenty of the Philadelphia Gibborim to sneak away midday, most of the phalanx had shown up for the induction ceremony. After all, it was the first cat to be honored with membership since before any of the animals in the room were born.

"Gibborim," Hilo barked from the end of a receiving line. "Attention!"

In unison, both lines of animals stood up silently and continued facing each other with symmetrical precision.

Akhi walked between the receiving lines. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

He stopped at the end, where Commander Lupo and Misha were waiting for him. The Labrador retriever's good eye glinted in the candlelight. Akhi quickly glanced at Misha's weakened back leg, before staring straight ahead. His canine friend beamed with pride at him.

"Akhi of House Benveniste," commander Lupo boomed. "For your bravery in protecting your human family from danger, we are here to offer you entrance into a sacred circle."

Akhi's chest puffed out.

"Do you, Akhi of House Benveniste, swear to be the guardian of your human family, from this day until your last?"

"On my paw," Akhi announced loudly.

"Will you protect them, should your claws go dull and your teeth fall out?"

"On my paw."

"Will you help guide them, should your eyes turn white and your hearing fade?"

"On my paw."

"Will you love them, as they have loved you; by taking you into their home and making you a part of their family?'

"On my paw," he belted.

"Then it is my honor, as commander of the Philadelphia Phalanx, to name you Akhi Nightstrider, a Gibbor of the Circle of the Paw."

The room erupted in cheers and barks. Fauzia squeaked raucously from atop Hilo's back, waving one of her swords in the air.

Commander Lupo lifted a belt over Akhi's head and let it slink over one of the cat's black shoulders. Engraved on one side of the belt was the sigil of the Gibborim: a tiny circle with four scratch marks above it.

"One more thing," Misha said. "There was something I found in the burrow's armory." She nodded to Fannie, who held a cloth-wrapped bundle in her muzzle. The fox approached Akhi and laid it on the floor in front of him. Gently, she used a paw to unfurl the wrapping.

Inside was a set of  silver-white metal claws that glinted gold as the light from nearby candles flickered. Holding the blades together was a leather strap and some sort of small mechanical contraption with a coiled spring.

"These have been squirreled away in a chest for as long as I can remember," Misha explained. "The burrow's records state that these were ancient claws belonging to one of the first feline Gibborim. The blades came from a piece of the moon that broke off and fell to earth generations ago."

Akhi stared in awe at the animalmade claw before him. Despite its age, it seemed as sharp as anything he had ever seen.

"It was apparently part of a pair. One for each forepaw," Misha continued. "But the other one has been lost to the sands of time. They were called the Moon Claws."

"I made some adjustments," Fannie said to Akhi. "As a thank you."

Akhi slipped the leather wrap around his injured right paw and used his teeth to tighten the strap.

"Try flexing your paw, as if you still had your claws." Fannie explained.

As his paw flexed, the three metal blades of the artificial claw deployed, almost in the same position as if Akhi had never lost his at all.

"You can push the blade heads against the ground to retract them," Fannie offered.

"Thank you," Akhi said with true gratitude in his voice.

"Make sure you keep them here, in the burrow, until needed," Commander Lupo chimed in.

Akhi nodded obediently.

"Now, everyone," the commander continued. "Let us remember that while this is a celebratory occasion, the long shadow of the Pharaoh hangs over us. Thanks to Akhi's intelligence, we now know that the Legion were arming the Mejay for purposes unknown to us." A silence fell over the crowd.

"Tomorrow we go back to the business of protecting the society that took us in. But for today," he started to smile. "We toast the newest addition to our phalanx. Akhi Nightstrider!"

"Akhi Nightstrider!" the Gibborim cheered.

"Fauzia has made honeyed nut milk for everyone," Lupo yelled.

Ecstatic barks rang out through the halls of the burrow.

The group of animals broke rank to congratulate Akhi. He was suddenly encircled by over a dozen dogs and a hamster intent on speaking to him in person. He quickly felt overwhelmed. Through the crowd, he spotted Misha, talking and laughing with Fannie. He excused himself from his fellow Gibborim and walked over to his friend.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked.

"We were just talking about you," Fannie answered with a smile.

"Misha, I just wanted to say thank you." Akhi slowly blinked his eyes in vulnerability.

"I knew you had it in you, Akhi Nightstrider." Misha emphasized his new moniker. "Now, go back to talking with your new phalanx. We'll have lots of time to talk by ourselves back in the house."

Akhi smiled before leaving the two canines to talk amongst themselves. He took a deep, slow breath before walking back to cavort with the crowd of Gibborim that were waiting for him.

    After the cheerful celebration, and the discreet exit of most of the Gibborim through separate tunnels, Akhi found himself back in the garden with Misha. They had remembered to close the secret door and hidden it with a layer of soil to keep it that way.

The two animals began walking up the newly installed ramp to the doggie door, installed to fit Misha's permanent limp.

"Mish, I'm sorry that I caused this to happen," Akhi said to his friend. "That you can't walk normally because of me."

Misha stopped in the middle of the ramp with a look of surprise on her face. She headbutted Akhi.

    "Akhi, I'm alive because of you," she smiled. "Noah is alive because of you."

"But Roman never would have found..."

Misha cut him off with a shush.

"You can't change the past and only the Great Canidae knows the future. The only thing you can control is to try to be the best version of yourself going forward."

Misha quickly looked backwards at her injured leg. "And besides, there is no such thing as normal. We're each traveling on a different path in life."

Misha gazed up at the clear blue sky with the afternoon sun.

"I'm just grateful to have more days with the people I care about," she closed her eyes and let the sun wash over her fur.

"I'm grateful to have you too," Akhi admitted.

    "Let's go inside and check on them."

    The two friends strolled through the doggie door and walked through the kitchen. They passed a half-eaten can of Shmuckey's ocean blend cat food in a bowl next to a full bowl of kibble. They sauntered over to join their humans in the living room. The family was playing on the yellow rug when Akhi came over and sat next to Noah. The boy began to pet him softly on his head. Misha rested her head on Abigail's lap, who vigorously rubbed behind the retriever's ears.

"Akhi home! Akhi home!" Noah said excitedly as he leaned over to hug the family cat. Akhi purred and stretched out along next to the boy.

Jacob and Abigail laughed at their son's precocious exclamation. 

"Noah," Jacob began to comment. "His name is Cagney, not Akhi."

Akhi's eyes shot open and his body stiffened. He looked over to Misha with confusion on his face. Misha looked back at him with an all-knowing grin as Abigail scratched the top of her head.