© 2002-2024 Ally
Published on stormrise.com on May 8, 2002.
Part 1

Seas of endless silver eyes stared down on the world beneath the two moons, ever watchful, ever caring of the small habitants of the strange and feral land. Two sets of eyes gazed back; one pair as amber as the dying fire, the other a swirling violet of the very storm threatening to break far in the east. Neither pair betrayed any fear towards the stars towering over them, unaware to the idea of pondering their own insignificance.

The night was warm enough to jump in the stream and play "catch-the-leapers" and dunk one another until breaths were taken in large draughts. It was warm enough to strip down to loincloths, bashfulness and modestly meaning nothing in the oblivion of youth. And it was warm enough still to race, dripping wet and screeching, clothes trailing behind like colorful tails, to the large field surrounded in honeysuckle and violets, and collapse down into the natural depression in the ground. Chests heaving with laughter, short of breath from the run, Quill and Tobin curled up next to one another, fingers intertwined. Eventually, their breathing returned to normal, occasionally synchronizing until Quill got fidgety and rolled around, only to find a more comfortable position and settle down again.

It had been three winters since the cubs had lost their dams and sires to the raging hailstorm that had run through the Hurst. Quill had found solace in her agemate, sharing his pain, sharing his thoughts. The two had become closer than close, physically and emotionally. They were inseparable; you could rarely find one without the other, or as Wildlight liked to say, "They're like two burrs in a boot." If one laughed, the other would soon follow suit, and when one was crying, the other one would often be found feeling just as melancholy. Sure, they were friends with the other cubs. Dizzy, Bearcub and Dawn were their friends, but it just wasn't quite the same. Despite their obvious personality differences, Quill couldn't imaging her life without her little healer.

The last few moons had been busy for the cubs, what with summer fast approaching and all the new places to explore and foraging parties needing little hands to get into small places. But the two friends had somehow avoided their elders on this particular night and they soon did one of Quill's favorite things to do with Tobin. Watch the stars. After exclamations of finding familiar patterns in the stars, and finding new ones, the cubs soon began to merely stare. Turning her face away from the lights in the sky, Quill looked at Tobin's profile as he continued starwatching.