Running concurrently with Pray for Me Now

Leaving her senshi to her own explorations, Cuan had picked a direction and simply begun walking. She wasn’t all that worried about getting lost given that she had no plans on leaving the trees. And the trees were thick and plentiful. Occasionally, she would claw a mark into the trunk, careful to expose lighter wood pulp so that she could see if against the darker bark. As she walked, she looked at everything around her. There was life here. The green of new leaves and even little pops of color that meant flowers was fascinating to the kitten. She and Saiph were likely the only ‘animals’ on this planet, but everything else was brilliantly alive. If she paused and sniffed, she could smell a sharp, green scent interspersed with sweeter. Almost spicy notes. It was amazing, frankly. Not at all what she was searching for, but it was wonderful to see. Smell.

Whatever.

As the kitten explored the trees, she caught a darker, damper smell. It reminded her a little bit of the caves near the reservoir at home. Did that mean there were caves here too? Saiph had told her about meeting Almadel and his claims of having been here and finding enormous bones… No. No. She was not going to let herself think about things that could live in caves. It was silly and counterproductive. Besides, caves could be very interesting. Cuan had a half-formed idea of what she was looking for and well… she’d be the most likely to find it within a cave. Following the scent, Cuan crept through thick underbrush before eventually finding an opening within the earth, big enough for a grown adult human to go through. Considering for a moment, Cuan focused and shifted into a more human form. She wasn’t sure what was past the threshold and she wanted actual hands to hold onto things, just in case.

Crouching, she carefully went inside and gave her eyes a few moments to adjust. Only to find a perfectly serviceable, if rough, path. Well. That was convenient. She could see little beams of light scattered here and there, likely from cracks in the rock above. Tiny root tendrils even dangled from the earthen ceiling. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to take a more human form for this, but she’d come this far and human legs were faster, sometimes, than tiny kitten legs. Carefully walking down the path, Cuan was grateful that her vision was still catlike. It made seeing potential trip hazards much easier.

And it showed her a soft glow further up that she wasn’t sure that human eyes would have seen. Following the glow, she finally came to a tall chamber. Long dead and fossilized tree roots formed arches and columns above. And in the center of the cave was a strange patch of broken crystal. It was the crystal that was glowing. Hurrying forward, Cuan knelt to examine the patch, eyes narrowed in thought. Coming to a swift conclusion, she shifted back into her cat form and closed her eyes, concentrating on the little pocket of subspace that was her own. She’d stored a few tools and the projector there in the hopes that she’d find what she needed. Carefully tugging the projector to the crystals, she chose a small one, opening the projector and examining the mechanics. She could easily wire a crystal into the works to test her theory. Doing so, she turned the projector on and smiled triumphantly as the Sa1ph hologram appeared, moving smoothly.

“How are you feeling, my dear?” she asked the hologram. She waited patiently for the program to run its own diagnostics.

“Detecting adequate power for now, Cuan. How may I assist?”

Only adequate power, hrmm? Well, that wouldn’t do. “Nothing, dear. I’m testing some things. Thank you.”

No glitches in the visuals or vocals, that was good. It appeared that the crystals were the power source she needed. Removing the small crystal, she eyed the patch and finally selected a large specimen. Attaching it to the mechanics, she blinked as it seemed to shimmer for a moment, merging with things. Wiring everything back into the projector, she found herself praying, to whom she couldn’t say, that this would give her what was needed.

“Sa1ph, dear,” she said clearly, “Please run a diagnostic.”

Once again, the ghostly form appeared and smiled, nodding as it replied, “Certainly. Internal diagnostics indicate quite sufficient power, though not limitless.”

Cuan thought of the way the crystal had halfway merged with everything and nodded. Made sense. And she didn’t need limitless, she only needed enough. Feeling satisfied, she swept the remaining crystals away, scattering them throughout the cave. Then, she placed the projector carefully, unobtrusively. Sa1ph could stay here until Cuan could bring Saiph in.

“Very good,” she purred. “Sa1ph, please power down for now. I’ll be back soon.”

Word Count = 809