I had slept through the entire afternoon with no memory of what happened other than someone hauling my unconscious ass out of an sinkhole. I woke from that ‘nap’ still groggy and just as tired.
An hour later, I formally went to bed, thinking I’ll be up all night.
Silly me.
It smelled like rain in the distance. Like rain had passed over the day before. The ground was cool but dry. The flowering plants were speaking praises and throwing their scents on the breeze. I was on my side, on the gentle slope of a hill. I could hear the wind laughing as it passed over the nearby crest. It is a glorious Spring day.
I felt nebulous. I felt indistinct. As if my body could dissolve and be scattered by the wind. I felt my form waver.
I felt a cool hand touch my face. “None of that. Not today, Weaver.” The touch forced my form to coalesce. My scars were showing, but otherwise I look like my Waking self. It didn’t register that I was not alone. I was too intrigued about the gentle manner I was forced back into flesh. I tried to sprout wings, they were folded back in. I tried to elongate my legs into a tail, they were pulled back up into human form. I tried to change my hands into talons, they were gently blunted.
After a dozen of these attempts, I realize my head is lying on someone’s lap. My eyes have been open, but I did not see. I hear a chuckle from the person I’m using as a pillow and realize it is the same person that touched my face.
“I’m not too heavy? I… I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know what to say.” My words slur and I suddenly feel so tired.”
The person chuckles. I changed into a tiger-woman. I didn’t mean to. I don’t know why I did. Or if the change was of my making. Sharp talons gently stroked the fur of my face, delicately tracing against the skin. “It’s okay. You needed rest. You are not heavy, and it is a good day for being at peace.” I heard three voices superimposed on each other. I’m in the company of a Mythic, but I don’t know who.
The touch was soothing, lulling me back to sleep. But I was more aware now, and shifted form to Raven-fledged. Ke chuckled and wiped kir hand over my face, restoring me back to human. “No danger here, Weaver. Your mind is active, your body needs rest.” The talons dug through my afro and scratched lightly. “Your mind needs rest as well.”
The lethargy prevented me from moving. Thunder rolled in the distance. Flowers opened before my face. I couldn’t move my head but I could move my Sight. I tried to get a good look at my benefactor.
Ke allowed it, still chuckling of course. I felt like a child being pampered by an indulgent adult. The feeling distressed me and I withdrew my sight. “You fear me?”
“I can’t move, I can barely speak, I have no control over my form, I don’t know where I am, and I am as a child to you. Yes, I am afraid.” The taloned hand stop scratching. Ke laid kir hand on my head softly.
“If I wished you ill, I would have destroyed you when you fell here.” I saw a flash of my benefactor, an image ke has sent to my mind.
Ke is kneeling on the hill with my head in kir lap. My raven-feather cloak covers me. Ke is mostly humanoid in shape. Kir legs are like the gazelle, with cloven feet. The cream fur covered legs stick out fron the dark brown linen skirt. A light tan linen shirt covered the lean torso, from which arms covered in tiger striped fur hinted at the fur underneath. Kir hands were a merging of human and tiger, with human bone structure and tiger claws and markings. The head and face was a merging of tiger and gazelle, with two great gazelle horns giving a crowned appearance.
Along with the presentation came an understanding. The figure was androgynous and a hermaphrodite. Ke could appear female and be female if necessary. Could appear male and be male. Could appear with both physical expressions. Could appear neither, as ke did now.
“You are both Predator and Prey.” The genderbending did not confuse me. The predator/prey mashup did.
“Yes.”
“You remind me of a god, but I can’t remember which one now.”
“That doesn’t matter right now.” Talons were playing in my afro again. I felt suddenly sleepy.
“I fell here. I just met you?”
“Yes.”
“You are… comfortable.” So sleepy. So tired.
“Good. Stop talking and get some rest.”
“Forgive my lack of manners.” It was so hard to speak. My words slurred. “I… “
Ke laid kir hand over my eyes, and I knew nothing more.
When I woke up, I felt like I had been at the bottom of an ocean for years, and I had drifted to shore clinging to driftwood. The driftwood became my pillow, and the waves became my blankets.
I need coffee.