Page 130 of Sun Warrior

“Bast, may Chloe lie beside you?” Mari asked the Lynx, feeling slightly foolish.

To Mari’s surprise, the feline instantly got up and padded over to her. She sniffed at Chloe, who lifted her head and sniffed Bast right back, wriggling her fat little body along with her wagging tail and licking the Lynx on her nose. She sneezed indignantly, then made her coughing noise before curling up at Mari’s feet and looking expectantly at the pup.

“So, I’m thinking that’s a yes,” Mari said, sending Antreas a look.

“A definite yes,” Antreas agreed.

Mari plopped Chloe down close to the Lynx, and Bast set to grooming the little canine as the pup wagged her tail, flopped over on her back, and yawned mightily.

“Thank you,” Mari said to the Lynx. “I had no idea you were a good babysitter.”

Antreas laughed. “She is—but only when she wants to be. That’s how felines are.”

“She’s really very beautiful,” Mari said, taking time to study the Lynx. “I especially like all that fur around her face. And those black things on her ears are pretty.”

“Ear tufts,” Antreas explained, “actually serve a purpose. They help catch sound. Her hearing is almost as sharp as her eyesight.”

“It’s interesting. I thought Mama and I knew so much about the world. I was wrong, though.”

“Wait till you meet the Wind Riders and their equines. They’re unexpectedly beautiful.”

Mari heard a change in Antreas’s voice, and she shifted her attention from his Lynx to him and saw that he was staring downstream where Sora and Danita were beginning to dance out the letters of their names.

“Unexpectedly beautiful, huh?”

Antreas turned his gaze back to Mari. His smile was wry. “Yes. Unexpectedly.”

“You know, I believe Danita has the power to draw down the moon, and not just channel it like she did last night,” Mari said.

“Of course she does.” Antreas didn’t miss a beat.

“Well, you sound pretty certain, especially for a guy who’s never drawn down the moon,” Mari teased.

“I am.” Antreas didn’t so much as crack a smile.

“How?”

“Bast told me. And Bast is never wrong.”

“Never wrong, huh? What about the fact that she obviously has chosen Danita as your mate?”

There was a long pause, broken only by Bast’s rolling purr.

Finally Antreas spoke. “Like I said, Bast is never wrong. Annoying, yes. Wrong, no. Now, if you’ll please excuse us, my Lynx and I were on our way for a run. We should get to it.” He picked up the complaining Chloe and deposited her on Mari’s lap before disappearing into the forest.

Bast stood more slowly. Mari was almost certain she heard the big feline sigh. She padded to Chloe and gave her one more lick, then licked Mari’s hand, too. Mari grinned and, tentatively, reached out to stroke the Lynx’s head.

“Wow, you’re even softer than you look,” Mari told her.

Bast chirped happily, licked the pup again, and then silently melted into the forest after her Companion.

Mari resituated Chloe, this time tucking her inside her tunic, like Sora had taken to doing. Almost instantly the pup fell asleep. Mari felt her eyelids get heavy as well as she watched Sora and Danita dance, lifting their arms joyously to the sky.

Oh, Mama,Mari thought sleepily.I wish you could be here to see this—all of these different kinds of people and animals coming together to make a Pack.Mari closed her eyes, and as she drifted to sleep the wind blew through the tree boughs above her, whispering,I am here, sweet girl.… I am watching.…

***

Mari’s dreams were usually disjointed snippets of pieces of her life, mixed with bizarre things—like Rigel sprouting wings and flying—that could not exist in the waking world.