Reunited [Kyonna and Oshe]

[stormiday]

“There was no one there. ‘Mom? Mommy, are you there? ‘She called, her voiced echoed through the house. ” A young tan tabby she-cat spoke with a ring of pain in her voice, trying to capture the fear and pain in the kit’s voice of her favorite story she could tell. The saddening tale of a kit trying to find her family that mysteriously left. If only the crowd around her knew the twisted memory behind the story. The memory of the Story-teller herself, her tale of not knowing where her family was. Her birth family at least, having her real family give her up, and the family that loved and cared for her never being open enough to tell her the truth. The tabby shook away the memory that haunted her an drove her to find the truth and focused herself back to the crowd and her story.

“She searched each room, and they are all empty. Having no evidence that someone was in there. She flopped herself on the bed her mother used to sleep on, and cried. Her tear staining the linin pillow. She called out once more for her parents, waiting a moment before burying her face into her mother’s pillow, her own tears streaming down her cheeks.” Kyonna’s pale ice blue eyes scanned the crowd in front of her. She was amazed how her stories attracted cats of all ages. Young and old, rich or poor, tales seemed to bring them together and forget their differences.

[icyreflections]

Oshe held out a small piece of parchment in front of his nose and squinted as he trying to decipher his own handwriting. The notes he took upon it were written in extremely small letters and numerous of items were crammed into the small surface. Earlier that morning he had visited Francis, his sage mentor who sent him on a journey to find two books that they would need for upcoming lessons in addition to various scrolls and scriptures and ingredients that he was running low on. As a page, it was Oshe’s responsibility to do what was asked of him by his mentor- and he was more than happy to oblige. Oshe loved Francis like a father and deeply cared and respected him. Although the young Siamese tomcat usually disliked heading into town to do some shopping, he was able to convince himself that it was for the better good- if Francis needed something, Oshe would retrieve it. It was the least he could do to return the silver tabby’s kind acceptance and sound wisdom.

As Oshe traveled through the northern streets, busily reading over his notes until they were stuck in his head permanently, he bumped into a rather fat citizen. With a ‘oomph!’ Oshe feel backwards onto his rump and the list fluttered gracefully after him and settled delicately on his head. The citizen looked over his shoulder, noticed Oshe sitting on the ground, gave him a sort of annoyed look, and with a grunt, he looked back to the performance ahead of him.

Oshe hadn’t noticed the large crowd that took up an impressive portion of the street. He picked himself up and dusted off his large pink cloak. Then, out of curiosity, he lifted himself onto his tip-toes and tried to peer up ahead and get a glimpse of whatever everyone was crowded round to see. As his mind became more focused on the present, a voice suddenly rang through the gathering, loud and clear. Oshe stepped back for a moment and closed his eyes as he let the voice sweep him away in the story being told. Though he stemmed from a wealthy family, Oshe had a rather difficult kithood and his only sanctuary was through books and stories. When he picked up a book, he could be transported to far away lands and travel through time and space. He didn’t have to impress anyone or deal with his father’s brutality.

He stood there, listening to the story and allowing himself to be carried away by the voice that seemed so strong and clear… but there was something about it… something pleasant and familiar… Oshe couldn’t put his paw on it. He concentrated harder on the voice, listening to the speaker tell her tale and add and slack emphasis in all the proper places. The kit in the story suddenly changed form. It was no longer a sad little she-kit but a lonely little blue-point Siamese tom, traveling through the streets at his father’s side. He was scared by the strangers and wanted to cling to his parent’s leg or hold his paw but knew better than to ask for any sort of comfort- only she-kits squealed to be held. The flash back changed suddenly and there was a face of a young she-cat with brown tabby fur. Oshe suddenly felt his heart beat quicker and his face felt hot as he looked into her brilliant blue eyes. “Kyonna,” he breathed out loud. The vision left him and he suddenly placed the face and name to the storyteller before him.

He tried looking over the heads of the spectators, craning his neck this way and that. No matter how hard he tried, his lost friend couldn’t be seen from where he was standing.

“Kyonna,” he whispered again to himself, remembering how they met as kits and how happy he felt to finally have a friend… and then his family hid him from the public for being an embarrassment and forbade him from leaving the house alone (and unless there was a social occasion that required the entire family’s presence). Oshe spent months cooped up in his family’s estate in the human realm, reading and wondering about his friend. ‘I wonder if she’ll even remember me?’ he thought, a sickening feeling overtaking him as he considered the idea that his one friend in the whole world couldn’t recognize him when she saw him. ‘What if she is cross with me for leaving? What if she doesn’t want to speak to me?’ Oshe suddenly felt he might faint. The earth beneath him seemed to crumbled away under his paws and the houses and buildings that flanked the crowd seemed to spin around him. What was he going to do? He wanted to get her attention… but now, he also wanted to hide.

Either way, his paws were firmly planted in place (it was uncertain if is was due to his desire to listen to Kyonna’s story or out of fear of fainting). One thing was for certain- he wasn’t going anywhere.

[stormiday]

“The front door creaked open. She shot up her head and look around her mother’s room, a tall and tall figure stood in the doorway. Something told her to run, but another, told her to stay. He moved towards her. A large ginger tom removed his cloak, and green eyes filled with compassion and concern gazed at her as he sat down next to her on the bed.” Kyonna’s story quickly changed pace, turning from the story of herself, losing her family, to her own fantasy. “put a darker paw on her head. She looks at him, tears still running down her face. ‘Do you know where my mommy and daddy are.’ She sniffled to him. ‘You’re mommy and daddy are with Grimalkin now. I’ll be your family now.’ He brought her into his arms.” Suddenly Kyonna’s secret fantasy was just told to all these strangers, without a single one knowing it. Her desire to have a family.

Kyonna let her unusual blue gaze fall on the crowd in front of her. Many of these cats were strangers, cats’ she’d and never seen before. Some were regular listeners. In the crowd, towards the back, straining to look at her, was a strikingly familiar. Blue pointed ears and large dark blue eyes. Could it be? It’s been so long, how would be feel. “A-and she wiped her tears and held paw as he lead to her new home, and life. Kyonna stuttered at the first word of the end of her story, something she had never done before. She quickly recovered at ended her story with her dream of a family and someone who would love her.

The cats around her began to disperse, some tossing her a shilling or two and the regular “Great job” and comments she got. She stood, her legs ached slightly from sitting through her story. Her blue eyes made contact with who she thought could be him, adverted his, then made contact again. She shyly stepped over to him. “O-o-oshe Griswald?” She asked quietly, her paws shuffled around. Was it even Oshe? How would he feel know that is friend went from living in a wealthy family, to being homless?

[icyreflections]

Oshe’s breath caught in his throat as the she-cat he once felt so close to approached him. Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was Kyonna truly there- in front of him. Was she really coming towards him or did he just THINK she noticed him. He prayed silently that Kyonna would remember him after all these years. He hoped that she didn’t forget him or feel abandoned or rejected for his leaving all those years ago.

As she stood in front of him and uttered his name in the voice that Oshe held dearly in his mind like the voice of an angel, he could feel his heart begin to beat quicker and he suddenly burned as if he were standing in the direct gaze of the Sun for far too long. He tried to remain as calm as he could but there were too many unspoken emotions flooding him that he couldn’t hide the overwhelming anxiousness and joy he felt as he gazed upon his one true friend from his bleak childhood- his light, his salvation from the odious corruption of his controlling and demanding father.

“K-Kyonna,” he said in a very small, hushed tone. It was almost as if he was parched and unable to speak. He looked at her and studied her face. Though she matured beautifully, she still looked like the young she-cat he adored being around as a young kit. He lifted a paw to touch her cheek and make sure that she was real- that he hadn’t gone insane with his constant trials with his paranoia and depression. But as he raised a gray paw from his side, he hesitated and brought it into his chest and rubbed it cautiously, almost as if it was burned and he was nursing a wound. Did he really want to wake up from the dream? Was it really necessary? Was it appropriate if it really was her?

He blushed furiously. How could he be so stupid?

He fidgeted and twiddled his toes together. His blue eyes cast to the ground as he mumbled in a shy, but sort of polite voice, “you.. y-you look b-beautiful.” Instantly he looked up at her with a shocked look- did he really just say THAT out of all the other things in the world that he could have said? He covered his face with his paws. “I-I’m s-s-sorry… Y-y-your l-look well is what I m-m-meant.” He peeked through his paws as he mumbled quietly, “it’s b-been a l-long t-t-time, Kyonna….”

[stormiday]

She felt warm tears well up in her blue eyes. But they were not the tears of anguish sorrow and loss she felt her first days away from her home. They were joyous. Kyonna tried to hold them back, but why? Her heart was pounding in her chest, she thought her ears were glowing. For the first time since she left her adoptive parent’s home in
Rethingar, despite the tears that were starting to stream down her face.

She felt like this was too good to be true. Her only childhood friend, she thought to be missing from her life, was right in front of her. His comment made her shutter. “Beautiful?” she thought. She felt her cheeks flare up, getting warmer and warmer. Kyonna hadn’t been complimented herself. Her stories always got “Great job” and “That was marvelous.” But never was her being complimented. She quickly put a dark paw over her mouth. Kyonna’s whole body shuddered as she tried to steady her breathing. She took a moment, closed her bright blue eyes and collected herself. Letting her breathing return to normal and her tears cease for a while.

Kyonna so desperately wanted to pinch herself, to make sure that this was reality, and not the mind’s cruel way of letting you see your fantasies .Kyonna knew very well where she was though. She was in the northern streets. She was standing just inches from her childhood friend that was separated from her due to her strong will to find the truth to her real family.

She took one more step him, and wrapped her long, striped arms around him. She felt like they were the only two the street. That all the strangers walking around and staring had disappeared. It felt wonderful to have his creamy fur there with her brown tabby fur. “I-i-it’s been such a l-long time Oshe.” This was wonderful to her, more than wonderful perhaps. She laid her head down on his shoulder. “I m-missed y-y-you Oshe.” She whispered.

[icyreflections]

Though he was normally awkward and shy while in the presence of others, Oshe’s entire body felt at ease. The throng of strange cats with countless staring eyes that scorched his fur posed no threat to him as he stood comfortably beside Kyonna, his pleasant childhood memory, his friend, his green light on the horizon. It was jarring to be alone for so long and then suddenly with a sweep of Fate’s paw, the two cats that had done everything together as kits were finally reunited. Oshe finally had someone- other than Francis- who he could be himself with. Someone that he could laugh with and actually talk to without being afraid that his stutter would be mocked or scorned. There were no words that could describe how pleased he was to have his dear companion back.

As his blue eyes look upon her beautiful form, Kyonna opened her arms to him like an angel welcoming him into her heart and offering him refuge from his person hell with her purity and love. He felt her arms wrap around him- an act that he hadn’t known well in his kithood and the closeness and warmth of her kindness produced an overwhelming, joyous emotion within him that caused him to cry. He wanted to brush the tears that were rolling down his cheeks away but he couldn’t. He tried to blink them out of his sight so that he didn’t cause too much of a scene but instead, his body didn’t react to his attempts to cease his crying- he listened to his heart and smiled through the tears. The smile seemed misplaced upon his normally frightened face but Oshe had never felt happier in his life or as worthy of someone’s love and attention before. Without thinking he too wrapped his arms around the she-cat he knew so well and held her close to his heart.

Grinning softly and trying to steady his voice through his happy tears and stammer he managed to purr, “I m-miss you t-too, K-Kyonna…. You are m-my b-best f-f-friend.”

[stormiday]

“Y-you’re mine t-too Oshe.” She said softly, this moment was perfect to her. Kyonna felt as if she could die right now and be alright with it. She had her best friend back; nothing else mattered at this point. Then a sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She was homeless, telling stories to simple get her money for her next meal. Last time she saw Oshe, she was still living wither her “parents” in a wealthy Rithengar home as an only child. How was he going to feel about that? Would he shun her away for giving up everything she had, and even leaving him for the slim chance her biological family is still out there? Her heart sunk down into her stomach. “Should I tell him or let him figure it out on his own?” She thought to herself.

By now her joyful tears for finally reuniting with her best friend, the one cat who could understand her stutter and the one cat she could tell anything to, were mixed with the tears of having to choose whether or not to tell him what her life has become. But she could tell anything to him couldn’t she? Her mind spun, she’s lost so much in the past year, her parents, a warm house, a decent meal every night, the security that everything would be alright, that you had money to you by and that you didn’t have to sleep in a tree hungry. They were gone, all because she wanted to find out who her real parents are. The last thing she wanted was to lose Oshe again.

Kyonna gave out a sign and spoke. “I need to tell you something Oshe.” Trying to hold back the tears and fear of his reaction to her current lifestyle, she let it out, like ripping off a bandage. “I-I-I’m homeless. I left my p-p-parents in Rithengar, and I’m h-homeless Oshe” She faced him, her ice blue eyes pleading for an answer and forgiveness, tears streaming down her cheeks.