Post by wynnyelle on May 28, 2008 21:43:45 GMT -5
Tawny, peppered paws stepped silently over the forest floor, back paws placed exactly where front ones had landed moments before. The paws were attached to long, spindly legs that carried a thin body, one that looked almost too thin. Huge ears swivelled and twitched atop a head that seemed too small for the body. Ghafula's honey eyes watched the line of the horizon far beyond where his prey rustled and hid. The serval had worked out an uneasy existence in the fields and forests just beyond human settlement; his brief days living under the twolegs' roof felt faraway and faded now. He was a strange cat with his future ahead of him--and that was why he had returned here.
He knew he had grown. Shot up like a weed, growing to tower over any other cat he had come across--but it didn't surprise him. All along, it never really had. He had always known he was different. He was a cat like they were, but that was where it ended. He would never truly be one of them.
Then why did you return? asked the voice in his mind. Ghafula didn't have to wonder why. He knew. He had returned because there was one cat in all the world who had made him stir in a way he had never stirred before, and maybe never would again. Rhianna.
Ghafula saw up ahead the place where he had encountered her the last time, all those days ago. How many moons had it been? His long strides circled the now empty place in the grass, a place now long devoid even of her scent. She had rejected him as though she had never seen him before. Then why was he back anyway? Maybe it was because hope waxed brighter than logic. At least it did, in his heart.
The edge of the woods was where he stopped. He knew that he was as close to her now as he was going to get without opening his mouth and calling for her. Ghafula raised his head to the day and when he spoke, it was a plaintive, gentle howl punctuated with chirps.
"Rhianna, I don't know if you can even hear me, wherever you are...but I'm back. I don't know why I'm back after what happened last time. But I know you are of two minds, and in a way, so am I. Part of me says to run far from here and never return. Find my own kind somewhere out there, or die looking for them. But I feel closer to you than to the world out there, beyond where I've grown up. I'm calling to you now, to the song of gazes we sang on that day we met, far back in the year. I'm not sure what I'll get this time from you, but I want to try."
He stopped, and waited to hear her answer. Even if she spoke from a long way off, he would hear her. He sat down and as the wind lifted his fur, he waited.
He knew he had grown. Shot up like a weed, growing to tower over any other cat he had come across--but it didn't surprise him. All along, it never really had. He had always known he was different. He was a cat like they were, but that was where it ended. He would never truly be one of them.
Then why did you return? asked the voice in his mind. Ghafula didn't have to wonder why. He knew. He had returned because there was one cat in all the world who had made him stir in a way he had never stirred before, and maybe never would again. Rhianna.
Ghafula saw up ahead the place where he had encountered her the last time, all those days ago. How many moons had it been? His long strides circled the now empty place in the grass, a place now long devoid even of her scent. She had rejected him as though she had never seen him before. Then why was he back anyway? Maybe it was because hope waxed brighter than logic. At least it did, in his heart.
The edge of the woods was where he stopped. He knew that he was as close to her now as he was going to get without opening his mouth and calling for her. Ghafula raised his head to the day and when he spoke, it was a plaintive, gentle howl punctuated with chirps.
"Rhianna, I don't know if you can even hear me, wherever you are...but I'm back. I don't know why I'm back after what happened last time. But I know you are of two minds, and in a way, so am I. Part of me says to run far from here and never return. Find my own kind somewhere out there, or die looking for them. But I feel closer to you than to the world out there, beyond where I've grown up. I'm calling to you now, to the song of gazes we sang on that day we met, far back in the year. I'm not sure what I'll get this time from you, but I want to try."
He stopped, and waited to hear her answer. Even if she spoke from a long way off, he would hear her. He sat down and as the wind lifted his fur, he waited.
