Shifting slightly he stretched out, feeling the sand scratch deliciously against his skin through his fur. Squirming back and forth he finally settled, heaving a huge sigh of relief, the sand bathing doing wonders for his heat-stricken body.
It had been a few days since he had met one of the pride’s rulers, Nyota, and obtained permission to rest and recover at its boarders. He had managed to hunt enough small prey to calm his hunger, and had been shown the nearest water source. While it wasn’t like the lushness of the Pridelands, where hunting had been easy, it was no more difficult than back home, so Sliabh was perfectly comfortable. He planned to leave in a few more days, after he had recovered enough strength to get out of thie desert-like area he had stumbled upon. Nyota had been kind enough to point the way towards more hospitable lands.
Yawning again he closed his eyes, preparing to nap for a while until the day’s heat dissipated. Suddenly he felt the strange sickening lurch that always accompanied his visions and the world around him wavered like a mirage. Wincing at the sheer strength of it he carefully sat up, knowing that in his vision, he could move but his body would remain prone until it passed. Standing, he looked around. The landscape was almost identical, yet the sun was in a different position, low in the sky with night’s first velvet shadows creeping along the distant hills. After a moment he noticed a shadowy figure stood to one side. As soon as he did, she grew solid and substantial, a deep midnight blue with brighter blue markings. Certainly he did not recognise her, but he did recognise the cubs milling about at her feet. Each and every one looked like a tiny version of him. As he watched their numbers swelled then diminished, only to repeat, an indistinct number of them wandering about her. Feeling a brush of fur against his own legs he looked down, and the same tiny cubs looked up at him, walking about under his belly and around his legs. Each one so like him with only tiny differences… Their numbers varied but they remained. After a moment he looked back at the female with his mini-me cubs, but she had already turned around and was slowly walking away form him, back into the pride that had to be her home.
“Wait!” His voice echoed in his ears as he jerked up, legs stuck out stiffly along the ground and his body covered in sand which sluiced down his flanks at the sudden movement. Struggling to his paws he shook the fine grains from his coat and looked towards the pride’s interior. But of course there was no blue female with her collection of indistinct cubs. Heaving a steadying breath he frowned at his own paws, ignoring the pang that filled his chest. The sand about him was unmarked. He was alone.
The vision had lasted a long time as the sun now hung in a different part of the sky. His mouth felt like paper and sweat made the sand cling to his coat. Gazing towards the boarder he mused on what he had seen. Surely there was only one interpretation… but he was leaving soon and wasn’t about to break his agreement by trooping into the pride’s home and searching out that female…
Puzzled and unsure of what his vision had tried to show him he settled back on his haunches. He would have to hunt soon, regardless….
