Sand Between My Toes
By the time they'd gotten to the cove it was evening. Wow, had the time really gone by so fast? She supposed it made sense and it really wasn't anything to feel ashamed of that they'd covered such a swath of territory already. The sun was bright and orange as it descended toward the horizon, casting a gentle warm glow across the beach. Like the loner had said it was covered in black sand. Natha stretched out her toes and lightly needed at the sand which was warm from the sun shining on it all day. "Ahhhh, this feels good. I like it here quite a bit. I will say one thing for Boreas there are a bunch of interesting places here. What brought you to this land anyway, Tamsyn?"
Higher up in the sky she could just see the stars beginning to shine. They started gently at first, twinkling softly like little sparkles in the sky. It was beautiful here. Near the horizon she could just make out a particularly brilliant star, or was that a plant? Yes, come to think of that she was pretty sure that was Venus though her astronomy skills weren't as practiced as she wished they were. Still there was always time to start stopping and appreciating the world around her.
Knight
It was getting pretty late in the day by the time they found the obsidian beach, but she was almost glad that they had arrived when they did. The sunset looked even more dazzling against the unusually dark sand. She smiled gently at the feeling of the sand moving between her toes and sure enough, her paws seemed to disappear and melt into it. She nodded in agreement when Natha commented on how Boreas had lots of interesting places, the feline echoing her own thoughts. She settled down onto her haunches in the sand to enjoy the sunset and watch as the stars began so slowly come into view.
Her ears flicked a bit when Natha asked what brought her to Boreas and she didn’t respond right away. Today had been such a nice reprieve from the constant depression she had been dealing with as of late and she rather just keep her mind in the moment rather than bring up her past, but there really wasn’t a good answer to that question without at least touching on it lightly. ”Um... To make a very long, sad story short... My family disowned me and sent me away so I needed to find a new home.” It was a very vague rendition of what had happened, but it was hopefully enough to paint a bit of the picture. Not that she necessarily felt like she needed to explain herself to Natha, but it seemed like they had become some sort of close acquaintance in this whole process of exploring so she felt comfortable saying that much.
She was quiet for a moment longer, listening to the mix of the waves crashing against the shore and the rustle of the palm leaves near by. She looked down at her paws and watched as she shuffled her feet further into the sand, making it look like her legs and formed into the sand with her coat’s matching coloring. “How did you come to live here? Do a lot of felines live around here?” she asked, glancing toward Natha before looking back up at the sky again.
The sounds of the waves washing up on the shore was incredibly relaxing. There was a gentle, warm breeze swaying through the trees and she gazed out at the waves. They moved in to the shore then out again, almost like the ocean was breathing. Natha laid down like a sphinx in the sand, enjoying the warmth on her belly. "I love how the sand retains heat." This would definitely be a good location to keep in mind when autumn's chill graced the land. She gazed out at the mountains in the distance before her gaze turned skyward once more.
Tamsyn spoke and Natha frowned. She hadn't meant to go digging up any dark memories. "Shit, I'm sorry. Well, I hope you can find a good place to call home. There are a number of packs in these lands but I can't say I know much about them." Obviously, being a lynx she didn't pay to much attention to the going on's of wolf packs, only enough to know where the borders were so she didn't get attacked.
Her eyes drifted to the sky, eyes scouting through the stars as she instinctively sought out the northern star. She found the large bear and using it as a starting point found the tip of the tail of the small bear which was the north star. It shown out brightly despite the sun still competing for light on the horizon. "I've been living here because the territory is familiar to me. I haven't met many cats yet though, unfortunately." She expected her gang to be along eventually, hopefully before winter but for now it was just her.
Tamsyn was quick to dismiss the cat’s apology with a shake of her head. ”Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault. I haven’t decided if I want to join a pack or not... A pack was kind of the whole problem to begin with and I’ve kind of enjoyed being free to explore like this... But who knows, only time will tell.” One ear turned toward Natha when she spoke and Tam could certainly understand the reasoning behind staying somewhere that was familiar. It was one of the reasons that she had hung around her old home for as long as she did after her father banished her. She had never been farther than the borders of her old community’s territory before then so going anywhere else felt like a daunting task. Now here she was, exploring everywhere across Boreas. Sometimes it was hard to remember the small victories in her life with everything else weighing her down.
The stars were becoming more and more visible as they eased into night time and Tamsyn spent a good bit of time tracing out the shapes they made. ”Do you know much about the stars? I’ve heard you can navigate by them, but I’ve never had someone teach me how.” There were a few things she had figured out on her own or had learned in the few lessons she had gotten as a pup, but most of it was still a mystery.
Natha nodded. "I mean, I might be biased as a feline but I prefer living by myself. It gives you more freedom. Though a nomadic band has a certain appeal to. I know there are a few bands of wolves but again I don't know much about them other than they move and have no permanent territory." Perhaps if Tamsyn could find one that suited her she could settle down with one. Or hell, she could even start her own. But for now Natha felt solo was the way to go. Packs and groups really only became useful when winter set in.
A few clouds were forming low on the horizon as the sun continued its descent, the sky shifting from golden amber to red as it fell further and further down below the horizon. Soon it would be dark but it wasn't that bad. As the sun departed the stars grew brighter and a crescent moon illuminated the sky. The waves continued to crash upon the sandy shore which was now nearly jet black in the fading light.
Her eyes fell again on the stars, tracing constellations and looking for familiar ones and noting the absence of others. She turned to Tamsyn. "I know a bit. If you want I could teach you how to find the north star. Its one of the few points in the sky that stays to the north so if you can find it then you can determine the direction your facing."
Tamsyn fully agreed with Natha’s preference to be a loaner - at least for the time being. She was curious about the idea of a roaming band of wolves since that was a new concept for her, but she also wondered how she would even find them if they were never in one particular place. Maybe she would have to ask around and see if anyone knew about them... It might be a good compromise if she could find one she could trust.
When Natha confirmed she knew a bit about astrology and could teach her something of it, Tam smiled and nodded in agreement. “I would love that. Is that one we can see now?” She looked back up at the stars and started trying to pick out constellations though the few clouds that were drifting across their view. Information and teaching moments like this had been few and far between thus far in her life so she was so excited to have someone teach her like this, even if it was just a little something.
Natha nodded. "Yes, the north start should be visible any time of year. What you want to do first is look for the big bear. It's a collection of seven brighter stars." She glanced around trying to figure out how best to explain what Tamsyn should look for. She used one of her paws to clear a flat space on the sand in front of her then using one of her toes she drew the constellation of the big bear. "It'll look like this, you can sort of see the base there." She pointed, hoping to give enough of a frame of reference for Tamsyn to orient herself. "Do you see it? The four stars for the base of the body and the three coming off it is supposed to be a tail. Don't ask me who decided it was a bear. I've never seen a bear with such a long tail!"
Tamsyn’s ears perked forward to listen closely to Natha’s explanation. She started trying to pick out the bear shape until her friend began to draw the shape in the sand. She had to agree that the shape the stars made didn’t quite make what she would have imagined as a bear shape, but seeing her rendition of it did help her find it in the sky. Tam smiled and her tail wagged happily against the dark sand. ”I see it! I agree, no bear I’ve ever seen has had a tail like that.” She laughed lightly and for a while she was just happy to be learning and spending time with someone kind enough to teach her. ”That’ll be so helpful to know later when I’m out exploring again.” Her mint green eyes scanned over the other stars curiously, commenting, ”I wonder how many other constellations there are... It feels like there’s an endless number of stars. Do you know any others?”
Natha nodded, pleased when Tam saw the big bear. "Great! Ok, so the two stars that form the front of the bear, follow those down and it will lead you to a bright star that forms the tip of the Little Bear's tail. See, the stars form the same constellation as the big one just smaller. That tip of the Little Bear's tail is the north star. I have trouble just picking out the Little Bear yet so I use the Big Bear to find it." With practice Natha hoped to be able to pick out the Little Bear right away and then find the north star more quickly from that.
"Hmmm… I'm sure there are a bunch of them. I remember Orion from my childhood, he's the warrior cat who walked on two legs but you only see him during the winter." Natha settled down, tucking her paws underneath her body and resting her head on the ground. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night. Tomorrow if you want we can cross over that mountain range through the Dreamer's Col."
Tamsyn was content to lay here and let Natha teach her about the stars for as long as she could possibly hold the feline’s attention. She nodded occasionally during her explanation to show she was following along with the mini lesson. Her eyes traced the shape of the larger bear and followed it down to it’s smaller counter part till her eyes locked on to the star that she new knew as the North Star. Even just that little bit of knowledge felt like a big deal to her. This like this were out of the question for her to learn as a young wolf and now it felt like she had so much time to make up.
If Natha had let her she would stay up all night just asking questions and trying to pick out shapes in the stars, but she knew they needed sleep as well - especially if they were going to continue their explorations the next day. ”Sounds like a plan to me,” she responded with a smile as she settled down onto her stomach and rested her head on her paws. For a while she continued to stare up at the North Star, practicing looking away and then trying to find it as quickly as possible to teach herself where it was. There were so many stars around it that she could see why Natha tended to use the larger bear to find it. Eventually Tamsyn drifted off to sleep and for once had a peaceful, dreamless night.