(Sorry I didn't post yesterday, hcclk.
This is just a twenty-minute brief write-up. Sorry in advance for any misplaced grammar and awkward sentences.)
The sun had returned.
The mountains gleamed in celebration while a handful of mourning doves hooted their sad tirades, a tribute to the first specks of morning light. It was as if all life had been quietly sleeping, and now decided to hold an entire festival in honor of the new day. Leaves rattled crisply, tree boughs sighed and creaked, squirrels chittered sleepily and hawks began to unleash their echoing calls into the barren skies. The navy blue of the heavens was replaced by a cheery counterpart, dotted with a few dark clouds. It was beautiful.
Yet Lostcry, traveling silently below the deep green fronds, took no notice. Her only acknowledgment that night had passed was a gloomy glance towards the sky. They had made good time. The quarter-day journey through the night had been remarkably uneventful, free of hostile cat or hungry beast. Brooks were crossed, ravines traversed, and a two-leg house on the edge of a quiet lake successfully avoided. The inactivity was an unexpected, but welcome, surprise. The only difficult portion had been crossing the thunderpath, and Lostcrys hair stood on end at the very memory of the hot, arid tarmac, and the bright-eyed monsters that took no heed of what was beneath its very paws. Even after years of navigating the thunderpaths of her old territory, Lostcry never grew used to the ruthlessness of those beasts.
But now the morning had come, and in this early light she stopped, smiling slightly as she stared up at a towering oak, centuries old, and broader than any other tree they had passed. Knots and scars of healed wounds twisted the trunk, blemishes from a time long past. Lostcry was reminded of the veteran elders of her old clan. But this was not the reason for her abrupt halt. This tree signaled the end of their journey; they were very close.
With a strangled purr, Lostcry gave Sungold a warning glance, reminding her of her promise of silence, then beckoned towards the gloomy forest beyond the old oak. She began to jog over the soft, mossy carpet, and into the clan boundary she knew all too well. And the life she had never forgotten.