Moonlit rolled her eyes. Markliam was trying to be funny again, she knew that. Yesterday he tried to convince them that he was an expert jumper. Now today he insisted that he was fluent in another language. She seriously doubted that anyone could be so talented at only twelve years of age.
"I can too," Markliam argued.
"What language?" Gorian asked.
"Ancient feline."
Moonlit laughed. Okay, so maybe he was a little funny. Ancient feline? Gorian shook his head, but Moonlit could tell that he was hiding his own laughter. They sat under the roscby tree, eating a picnic lunch her mother made them. She doubted even her mother knew ancient feline.
"Speak it," Gorian ordered.
"What?" Markliam asked.
"I want to hear you speak the language."
"Well I may be a little rusty."
"I want to hear it."
Moonlit watched as Markliam looked up as if he was searching his brain. After a few seconds he seemed lost. She knew he did not know the language. He was such a liar.
"You don't know it," she told him.
"I do so. I just don't know what to say. Give me something to translate."
"All right," Gorian said. He thought for a second while Markliam and Moonlit waited, "Try 'Tuanni is an old dog who cannot learn new tricks.'"
"Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow."
"That's just nonsense!" Moonlit argued, "You just made up a word and repeated it several times."
"Meow," Gorian replied, grinning.
"Meow meow meow," Markliam said back to him.
"Meow meow meow meow?"
"Grow up," Moonlit told them. She stuck out her tongue at them but laughed soon after. The wind picked up, detaching more leaves from the branches as Gorian and Markliam looked on.
"Gorian, want to try to get me a roscby fruit?" Markliam asked.
"Sure," Gorian replied. He bent his knees, twirled his tail just a little, and concentrated. Once he was satisfied, he leaped off the ground, extended the claws from all four of his paws, and attached himself to the bark.
"Do you want one too, Moonlit?" he asked.
"No thanks," Moonlit said smiling. She doubted he could reach the top. No one had been able to, not even Markliam, the 'master' jumper.
Just as she predicted, one of Gorian's feet slipped. His front claws hung onto the tree, however, and he was able to maintain his balance. Cautiously, he let his front left paw move forward and attach itself a little further up the tree. The other paws followed. He continued this pattern until finally he reached the top.
"Gorian!" Markliam yelled, "You did it!"
Gorian laughed, "One roscby fruit coming down."
Markliam caught it and thanked his friend. Moonlit merely watched, impressed with Gorian's feat. But Gorian no longer looked down at them. He was glancing out over the village.
"Do you see anything interesting from up there?" Moonlit called to him.
Gorian looked back with a large grin. His blue eyes were far away and the wind slapped through his teal hair fiercely. He was enjoying himself and his new experience, Moonlit figured. He probably wanted to stay up there for a while longer.
"You're not really looking at anything up there, are you?" Moonlit asked.
"Actually, I see my dreams," Gorian answered.
"This isn't a dream," Moonlit heard from far off, "This is the past. I remember all this."
"Some furres are able to dream of their past."
"How strange."
"Gorian?" Moonlit called, "Is that you?"
In a flash, her environment changed. She was no longer by her tree and Gorian and Mar vanished. Instead she was in the field behind Kaelin's hut. She looked around for her friend, hoping what she heard was not a random thought in her dream.
"She heard us," she heard Gorian say, "What should we do?"
"Gorian?" she called again, "Where are you?"
"She is seeking you," replied another voice.
"Who's there?"
"Its me, Moonlit," Gorian replied. Moonlit whirled her head to the direction of his voice. She looked to the back of Kaelin's hut and watched the head of a blue haired furre peak out from the corner. It was Gorian... but he looked different.
"Are you really Gorian?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said as he approached her. He gave her a casual smile, but she was unsure. His smile was the same, but his hair was blue and his fur was teal...
"You're a vamp!" she concluded, astonished.
"Not quite," Gorian laughed, "I'm this way because of a vamp's ambition though. But I'm not one of them."
"Are you a hunter then?"
"No," he answered as his smile disappeared.
"You're lying," she hissed, "I can tell. This is my dream and I can feel what you feel!"
He stared at her for a few seconds. There was something he was hiding, she knew that. But watching Gorian's eyes water made her realize that something horrible had happened... something he was hoping to forget.
"Moonlit," he whimpered, "I killed someone."
Gorian sat down in front of her and leaned toward the ground. Her friend was weeping. She forbade him to go vamp hunting with Mar and Chloria, but he did anyway. She thought that she should not give him sympathy, but she did. She knelt next to him and embraced him from behind.
"What happened, Gorian?" she asked.
"It was so fast," he croaked, "We left Chloria and followed Cyiet, the poet and his friends into the mountains. We were lead by two explorers: Moraine and Gelae. They were gracious enough to let us join them.
"We weren't going to hunt the vamps," he continued, "We just wanted to see where the colony was. I was hoping, that as soon as we did, Mar would see that it was impossible to take on and would go home. But somehow the vamps knew we were coming. They came to our camp... they were shooting arrows everywhere.
"Gelae was shot first. We all took cover. Mar saw his crossbow in the grass among the shooting arrows and went for it. A vamp rushed him. I went to help..."
Moonlit rubbed his back, but Gorian seemed oblivious to it. She watched as a tear descended his cheek and fall on his hand. She knew what had happened to him before he even continued the story.
"I shot him. The vamp was fighting Mar, so I shot him. I tried to save the vamp, but I got shot in my shoulder."
"I hate him." she said.
"Hmm?"
"I hate Mar," she explained, "I realize that now. Look at what he has done to you. You became his best friend and he makes you ..."
"A murderer," Gorian finished.
"He never even used his crossbow, has he? He went to be a hunter, but suddenly decides that he didn't want to after all, is that it?"
"Yeah..." he whispered, "But I can't blame him for it. Look at what he had been through. He witnessed his family's murder. That carries a great deal of weight."
"But must we be punished for it?"
Gorian sighed. He looked up at the sky, as if waiting for something. Moonlit followed his gaze, but she saw nothing but clouds. She assumed that rain was coming.
"This is your dream?" Gorian asked.
"Yeah," Moonlit answered, "Why?"
"I noticed that you were able to control it."
"I've learned how to since my nightmares started."
"Nightmares?"
"Its a long story," she told him, "I'd rather not get into it right now."
"If this is your dream," Gorian pondered out loud, "Can you create a night sky ... I mean ... the way you see it?"
Moonlit smiled and a second later it was dark. In her mind, she painted the black background with stars. For each star Gorian noticed, she illuminated it some more. Just like many times before, he was staring at his grandfather's constellation... and dreaming.
"The stars are always brighter when I'm with you," he said.
"When are you coming home?" she asked.
"Soon," he replied softly, "With or without Mar, I will come back soon."
"I've missed you. Ayem, I miss Mar too. And Kaelin hasn't been the same since you two left. For someone who's always the same age, she sure has been looking old lately."
"Yeah," Gorian sighed, "And I miss ginger ale."
Moonlit slapped the back of his head. He laughed. It was great to hear a genuine laugh from him again. But that moment did not last long. The sky started to flicker. The ground began to disappear.
"What's happening?" Gorian asked.
"I'm waking up," Moonlit said sadly, "That's something I can't control."
Gorian shook his head. He was flashing and flickering too. Everything in this dream was. The trees along the horizon was vanishing and Kaelin's hut was already gone.
"I don't want you to go," Gorian said.
"I know. Come back home soon, okay?"
"Aren't you curious at all about how I got into your dream?"
Moonlit grinned as her world fell apart, "I assumed you found Allegria Island."
A second later, she was laying in her straw bed, smiling. It had been days since she last smiled. She almost forgot how it felt, even though that happiness was short. There was something she needed to do today, but she had to wait until noon before she could attempt it.
It was time for spiritual answers.