Spring 15, 514
-The Apartments-
The ground was cold. Dirt floors offered no comfort to her sore limbs and aching body. She felt a trickle of blood, drool, or mabye a stray tear run from her mouth. Her whole face was numb. She didn't bother to wipe it off, didn't have the energy to. Above her was the rough scuffle and pitiful cries of her brother, she tried not to imagine what was happening. Her heart ached the most. The room was distorted, strange in a way that everything was sideways and upright at the same time. Then the crude stairs leading up from the cellar rose into the air like a wave and came rushing toawrd her. Somehow she found the strength to throw her bound hands in front of her face--
Myra opened her eyes and her breathing slowed steadliy. Reality set in as the dying fire crackled quietly in the fireplace beside her and she was reminded that she was safe at home lying on the hearth. The stone was beginning to get cold. It was only a dream. Another goddamn dream. She rose to her feet slowly, winter made her bones ache. The cat stretched her limbs out fully, splaying her toes and straining her neck ending with a shake of her butt for good measure. She yawned. Milo, her ferret, began to stirr and chitter in his cage. Momma was awake and it was time to play! It took a while to get the little bugger used to her true form. For weeks after she got him when she would let him out in her apartment he would merely cower behind her chests and hiss at her. Now though they were two peas in a pod. She padded over to him and let him out, nudging the lock open with her nose. The dark brown ferret burst through the door the second he saw it come undone, leaping for her forehead and scampering up to rest between her ears. There he did a crazed dance and rocketed off of her head onto the floor and dashed off somewhere to commit mischief. She laughed a deep purring laugh, the kind lions make. He never ceased to cheer her up.
As a rule Myra never though of her childhood, something of only a few short years ago, but the nightmares served as a cruel reminder. Although they didn't come too frequently any more... when they did come it was just too much. She wished they wouldn't come at all and wondered if they would ever stop. Something told her they never would. Thoughts of her brother creeped into her mind as she plodded over to the door her back pack rested beside it and she used her maw to open the top flap. Inside was 3 days worth of rations. 4 more were tucked away inside her personal chest at the foot of her bed, but those were only for emergencies. The backpack also contained a few more items: a map of Sylrias, a belt she had bought for herself but decided was uncomfortable, and also her worn out clothes she would need later in case Faela intended on talking to her as a human seeings how their people forms were stark naked (clothing was important to the humans and such so they couldn't risk being seen by them). Dangerous things happened after dark.
Sometimes she and Faela didn't need to verbally communicate, Pavi was slowly starting to come to her. That and they had known each other for so long now the hunting would go smoothly with what little communication lions and their smaller cat brothers and sisters shared. She was her only friend though and she put up with her haughtiness so she liked she. Her friends from the group of travelers moved on long ago. They came and went, she had only seen a couple of them since her time staying in the city and she dearly missed them. She had other friends of course, Milo went without saying, Pounce when she came around, and Tinymoon could be called a friend as well but only because she was forced to tolerate him. She was lonely though, something seemed amiss from her life. She pushed the thought away to dwell on another day.
With everything in order Myra decided it was probably time to resume her post on the hearth. She observed they were going to have to get more firewood this trip as well, she was down to the last log which she threw on the embers. No windows made it hard for her to tell what time it was but she assumed it must be at least sundown, very rarely she woke up early in the day and if she had overslept to nightfall surely Faela would have woken her. The log began to smolder and she laid on the chilly hearth to patiently wait for the cat Kelvic's arrival. Milo popped out from behind her bed and sideways ran towards her, she flicked her tail at him and he chased it, nipping and dooking gleefully. She pondered what it would be like to be a ferret, so damn jolly all the time. Myra purred, bad dreams forgotten. Where IS that cat?