| abstract
| - The night sky is the first thing I see when I open my eyes. It's a deep bluish-purple color, and tiny white stars dot the surface like blinking lights. It's looks like something conjured out of a dream. Something fantastical, something magical. Something unreal. But it is. Getting out of my nest quietly, I walk over to Blizzard's nest silently. I hover over him, studying his features - white fur that get illuminated silver in the moonlight, and I know that when he opens his eyes at my call, the ice-blue depths will warm me up like nothing else ever has. "Blizzard." I whisper, shaking him slightly. He doesn't wake up, but he smiles. "Bliz, wake up." He doesn't budge, but I know that he's awake. And he knows that I know it too. "Bliz, stop it. Come on!" I shake him harder, and he's stifling laughter now. "Blizzard, I swear -" he opens his eyes, and a wave of calmness washes over me. "Come on." I say, pulling him up. "What brings me the joy of talking to you, Rainbow?" I poke him with my tail. "Oh, shut up, Bliz." "Ah, Rain. What are we going to do tonight?" I start running. "I have something to show you." "And why can't we walk?" "Just because you're lazy doesn't mean I have to be lazy too. Come on, Bliz, or I'll turn back right now and make sure you stay awake all night." "Fine." I hear his pawsteps hit the ground as he races after me, and I don't stop until I reach my destination, which happens to be up one of the many hills surrounding the valley. I smirk when Blizzard finally reaches me atop the hill. "And that is how a she-cat beats a tom, even though toms are supposedly better." I stick my tongue out at him as he rolls his eyes. He walks up to me, and I turn around, showing him what I wanted him to see. The valley is below us now, and I can see everything. The woods, the sleeping cats of the band. "We should probably make a den for ourselves soon." Blizzard observes. He's right - the leaders are the only ones without either a half-finished or fully finished den to sleep in. "But I like waking up to see the stars." "The you can sleep by yourself in no den. So when snow starts falling, you can freeze to death while we're happy inside our den." "Oh, shut up. But it's quite beautiful, you have to admit it." Blizzard glances at me smiling. "Of course, Rain." We sit there in silence for some time, and I get up when I see the cats start to stir. "Come on, Bliz. The cats are awake." He gets up, and we both start walking back to the make-shift camp. ~ "Okay, Flare." Fire says as we all gather around her rock. "What is this supposed to do?" Flare shrugs. "I honestly have no idea. Holly just told me what it looks like." "Fire, didn't Holly tell you what to do?" "I... kinda forgot." "So by 'kinda', you mean you forgot." "Oh, shut up." "But telling the truth is good." Fire rolls her eyes. "As if you always tell the truth." "Fire, I -" "Okay, guys, seriously! Now, Fire, what did you remember from what Holly said?" "She said that it would help invoke the Ancestors to help us." "And how's that supposed to work?" Blizzard asks, worriedly. "I think that's what we're supposed to find out." I say, jumping onto the rock. "Ancestors! Holly! Now! Can you hear me?" I call out to no one in particular. I can feel the cats turning to see me, staring at their leader who looks like she's doing something crazy. "Rainbow!" Fire hushes me, signaling the others to go back to their work. "What were you thinking? Screaming out to the Ancestors could make Holly get in trouble!" "Wait - so you're saying that Snow hasn't punished Holly yet? That's unexpected." "Rainbow - stop." Flare says quietly, and I find something inside me start to feel guilty. I guess I have been stupid. "Okay, so we need to find another way to invoice the Ancestors." Blizzard says. We're all silent for a moment, but I can tell that they all feel the same way I do - I don't have any ideas. "I got it!" Flare says. "Fire, remember how you were able to call on Holly before?" She says, her green eyes shining. "Yeah, I remember." Fire nods her head. "What about it?" "So if you were able to call on Holly then, maybe you can call her now!" Flare says, jumping up. But Fire shakes her head. "But I didn't exactly call on her. Holly just kind of appeared." "But you could always try... right?" "I guess, Flare." But Fire doesn't sound very enthusiastic. So I decide to step in. "Flare, why don't you try calling Holly?" I ask her. She just blinks. "Why would that work though?" "Because we're being technical here, it's kinda you rock. Just saying." "So if I use the rock..." "…then you might be able to call Holly!" Flare smiles at me, and the earlier guilt melts away. For some reason, Flare just seems to have this effect on all of us. "Really?" She asks, looking slightly overwhelmed. To my surprise, both Fire and Blizzard nod. "Flare, Holly came to you, so you might be the only one who can use the rock." Fire says, tapping her with her tail affectionately. "Come on, Flare, go for it." Blizzard shoves Flare lightly towards the rock, and she takes a step forward. "Holly, can you hear me?" She whispers, stepping onto the rock. "Holly? Snow?" There's no answer. "Flare, speak a bit louder." I say gently. "But no too loud." Fire says, shooting me a look. "Holly? Where are you? Can you hear me?" Flare calls out to the sky, her eyes scrunched. "Flare -" Blizzard starts, but she cuts him off "Holly, help us, please." Flare whispers, her eyes still closed. "You can't go back on promises to help us." "Uh, Flare? They didn't promise to help us with this, they promised to send in the Future Selves in for Fire's idea..." "Oh. Fine." Flare opens her eyes and steps off the rock. "Any other ideas, guys?" "Maybe I should do it." Fire says, stepping onto the rock. "Fire, how can you be sure, though? It didn't work for me, or for Flare." I point out. "Holly did pretty much come to me before, so it might work." Fire retorts, and I sigh. "Okay, fine. Good luck, Fir." Fire closes her eyes as well, and looks up. "Holly? We need help. How do we use Flare's rock? Please, Holly, please..." She trails off and opens her eyes, looking up at the clouds. I look up too, hoping to catch a glimpse of … I don't know to be honest. But hopefully something. Fire jumps off the rock. "Guys, it's not working. We probably have to do something first. I don't know what to do." she shakes her head. "Wait." Blizzard says, and we all turn around. "What do you think, Bliz?" I ask. He gives me a smile before walking up to Flare's rock. "Look at these." He says, pointing to the little symbols in the rock that Flare carved out. "What do the look like?" "The first one is a rock." Flare says helpfully. "That's probably this one." "And the next one?" Bliz says, waiting for answers. "That looks like some cat giving a speech to many other cats." Fire says, pointing at the symbol. "And the last one?" "That looks like a pool of water." "So now that we know what the symbols are, let's make an inference. So we've already got the rock, and that's the first symbol in there." "But there's two more." I say. "Exactly, Rain." Blizzard nods his head. "If we have the first one, we might need to do something that relates to the next two symbols." "But the second symbol is a cat giving a speech to a bunch of cats..." Fire starts out. "… so we have to do the same?" Flare asks Blizzard, her eyes questioning. "That exactly is my point, sister." ~
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)