The Calling (12) : A beautiful melody drifts on the air from somewhere far away. The vocals are in a language you don’t quite recognize, but feel somehow familiar to you. Something about the song calls to you, but no matter where you go, the song seems to sound the same distance away. The longer it goes on, the more emotional the song becomes--and the more emotional you become. Something about the song is possessive and consuming, like it’s all you can think of. Something resonates in you as the song crescendos, and the feeling is at its strongest--be they good, bad, anything, but suddenly the song fades, and there’s only an emptiness inside of you. The feeling of loss is strong, and can leave someone feeling emotionally numb. Someone out there was calling to you, and you couldn’t find them.

Dari was home alone one night and getting ready for bed. As he curled up in his little comfy cat bed, made for him by Aunt Dria, he soon began to hear a lullaby in his ears. It seemed to come in from the open windows from far across the city. He laid his chin on the side of his bed and relaxed his ears, closing his eyes as he did - just listening to his mother's sweet lullaby. Mama? MAMA!

His eyes popped open and his jaw dropped. Could it be? And then he was entranced by the song. It was in the old language they used back in the court. And she seemed to say to him; Come to me, my child. Come to me. "I'm coming! Im coming!" His tiny heart raced as he jumped from his cat bed and sprinted to the cat door. The song was so beautiful, all he could think of was finding his mother.

As he was coming to the door of the apartment, he found that Drew and Drew we now coming in, hands full of groceries. He shot past them, nearly tripping Drew. "Dari - what the?" Cried Dria.

"Gotta to find my Mama!" He called back to them and just kept going. Somewhere deep down done he knew they were sharing looks of confusion; his birth mother and father had been dead for millennia, and he had Bonded with Drew, who was also Eternal Sailor Etamin of Hieroglyphics, and called him Daddy; so, who-?

Dari's only thought now though was the lullaby ... and his mother. The lullaby seemed to be more powerful now and yet it was fainter. He had to find her. His trotting turned into a pure sprint, and he just kept running and running. City blocks and road flew by, and then he stopped on a little hill on a farm. The song floated around him, even taunting him, but didn't seem to stop here, nor go ahead.

So instead, he sat on his haunches and watched the horizon, feeling like he had lost her once more. As the sun started to rise, he sensed Drew come up and sit beside him. Drew stared at the horizon as well, while scratching behind Dari's ear.

"I sensed your state, as you ran by. So, it seems, you were bewitched by Holiday Magic?" "Uh huh." Dari didn't react." "It happens to us all." Dari's focus did not waver from the sunrise. Drew looked sadly in that direction for a few moments, Then, he softly spoke these words to Dari, "With my travels and experiences, I have learned one truly important thing. With those of us who live our way of life, we will never truly die. We will see her and your father again someday." He stroked Dari's head, who then nuzzled his hand.

Dari turned to Drew and said, "Let's go home. I can't imagine how worried Dria must be." Drew chuckled and nodded. They began their way home.

Not too far from they had sat, a young pregnant Egyptian Mau Mother Cat awoke and immediately went into labor. She produced only one kitten, a she-cat, who could have been a younger version of Dari's Mother.