"We could just keep staring at the stars," she said softly, laying next to him, on her back, the ground cool and damp beneath her. Her bright eyes looking to the dark night sky. How long had it been since they were in the quiet, in the quiet like this? She peered to him over her shoulder in question, his eyes still looking upward, perhaps for answers she did not have. But it was quiet, and he did not answer. "What bothers you this night, Murasame?"
"I think of home, of…my parents," he said not moving his eyes from where they stared. "I do not know how they are, since we have left, I've tried to take an avian as a messenger, but none come to cease long enough to grow a bond. Perhaps it is beyond my abilities, but, I just wished I knew how they were, don't you?" he asked, again, not moving his eyes, just speaking. His dark fur nearly making him invisible in the night, the moon hidden by clouds above.
"I think, or would hope, that they would be happy, just as I hope my parents are, that my siblings are, it has been so long, yes, but hope, even in distance, even, in silence, is what keeps bonds strong, if you are able to keep hold to it, if the heart is strong, I suppose," she knew he was bothered, and did not quite know what to do. "Sometimes, I think of our children, how they are, they must have families of their own by now, they must have, it has been so long, so long indeed, Murasame."
"You miss them, don't you?" he asked, his eyes finally pulling away from the night sky to look at her eyes shining back at him in the minimal light, and she nodded. "I miss them too, but our time there, back home, is done. Time wheres on, things happen, circumstances change, and individuals are driven to new location by new bonds and interests, this is what happens, this is what happened with us. When we left, they were strong, and they will always be strong, I am sure of it."
She was quiet for a long while and looked up to the stars again, leaned close to Murasame and lay her head on her chest, closing her eyes, breathing deep, hearing the drum of his heart beat on as hers did the same. THey were two but one, bound by love, family, and adventure. To think, they had come so far from home to come here, and it was truly beautiful. She loved him everyday, and loved the new experiences and lessons learned. Sometimes she yearned for home, but tonight was not one of those nights, she just yearned to be close to him.
They lay in the moonlight as the stars shifted above them. The night sky was full of stars, the silence encompassed both their forms. Their breathing, though light, was the only audible noise near them as even the grass blades did not move so much to make a rustle. They stayed close to one another, relishing in one another's heat, side against side, backs on the ground, staring up. ONce in a while one of them would raise a paw to point to hte sky to one thing in particular, a glimmering star, something shooting across hte night sky, or a face they believed they saw in the night sky clouds. It was a wonderful feeling, being here, the bother of them, so close yet so far from everything, everyone, and both wondered if they had been back in the pridelands, how quiet it truly would be. How much alone time they would truly have with one another. Perhaps not so much, as both remembered the hustling and bustling cubs that were frequently pouncing within the grasses, hunting hopper bugs by pride rock. There were so many lions there, so many noises.
But here, there was peace, quiet, serenity, and the welcomed it into their eyes and hearts beneath the starry sky.
"Do you think anything will change? You know, in the future?" Tearh asked, watching a star shoot passed her eyes up above.
"Perhaps, but only for the better, my darling, and no matter what, we will always find one another, and will always be with one another. That, I promise you."
They were both tired, beneath the stars. Before, back home in the pridelands, they remembered sneaking off in the nights to meet each other, run amuck in the grasses, by the watering hole, but now, all was quiet. They were mates, loves to one another, parents as well, though their children lingered far from their being.
"Do you ever think you will want more?" Tearh asked, in all honesty. She turned to look at him, her stomach meeting the dew covered ground, her eyes sought his once more.
He turned to look at her, staring into her eyes, and smiled, pressed his forehead against hers, made eye contact, and then closed them as he took a deep breath, "We will have a family again, and they will be strong, just as you are, just as I am, just as their grandparents and all that will teach them the way here. Here is a new start for us, Tearh, and new beginnings bring new breaths into the world, why not us?"
They smiled at one another, kept their eyes closed and stayed with their foreheads pressed against one another, while together in the dew covered grass, beneath the star lit sky. THe moon peaked from behind the clouds that littered the black canvas above, and appeared to smile full and bright. Though they had been here for some time, this was only the beginning. Now, only time would tell if certain events were to take place, and if new paws were to step onto the ground beneath their forms.
In silence they smiled, and beneath stars, were encompassed by the sweet serenity of the Ela way and life.
(1009)
