When the jackal became a boy, it didn't convince her that he didn't have fleas. Boys were grosser than jackals even. But the pretty lady said neither of them had fleas and Bast knew what that meant. It meant she wanted them to stop talking about fleas.
Because she liked the pretty lady, she'd stop. For now. But later? She was going to tell the jackal boy she didn't have no stupid fleas! He did!
“I can run faster than him,” she assured her new friend. Bast didn't even need to see him run, with two legs or four. It didn't matter. Nobody could beat her. She was Bast. “I can run really fast this way,” she boasted proudly. “but I'm even faster the other way.”
With that, Bast did something she hadn't shown the pretty lady yet. In the blink of an eye, the little girl was replaced by a lean, young sand cat. Bast twitched her tail, pleased with herself.