Stirrings

I woke up to see sunlight filtering through the high crack in the rocky ceiling.

“Well, I see you are finally awake,” Lazuli meowed from the corner of the den. Her fur was neatly groomed and shining, her face ready.

“I am,” I mewed, scrambling up. I shook out my fur and gave a few quick licks to my chest. “What can we do today?”

“We need to try the other passages,” Lazuli explained. “One of them ought to lead us to something. If it does then we have nothing to lose.”

“All right, then.” I padded to one of the shining pools and took a long drink.

Suddenly an image flashed through the water. I abruptly stopped lapping and stared at the rippling surface. A cat stood in the midst of a battle, floating above the chaos, her head adorned with sparkling blue jewels. With a thrust of her paw light output from her body, until the glimmering yellow filled the entire pool. Then water turned black and dull once more.

“L-Lazuli…?” I stammered. “I saw something…in the water.”

Lazuli turned to me, her eyes glinting in the dim light from the ceiling. Somehow the description I’d stammered reminded me of Lazuli herself. “What? How?”

“I don’t know!” I meowed. “What was it?”

“It…it might be a Viewing,” Lazuli meowed doubtfully.

“You know what it is?” I mewed, surprised.

“Maybe you didn’t have it,” Lazuli hastily argued, ignoring me. “Maybe it was just a trick of the light, or something.”

“Oh no, I did see it, sure as sure,” I mewed. “Tell me more about them. Viewings.”

“Oh, I suppose…” Lazuli sat down wearily. “On the earth, one cat each eon is chosen. They are trusted.”

“Trusted?” I asked. “What for?”

“Trusted,” Lazuli agreed. “They are given all the power in the world. They can gift the world with light or hide it in shadows and dark. This cat may allow the rains to pour from the heavens or let sun toast the barren ground. Yes, this cat is trusted. They are trusted not to overuse this power or undermine it.”

“So, they have the whole…world in their paws?” I whispered. “Then what does this have to do with me? And how can a mere Viewing mean I have power?”

“You don’t,” Lazuli snapped. “Don’t skip to conclusions. A few cats in between get Stirrings, which show the beginnings of the Trust. Stirrings include small things like what you’ve experienced yourself, such as the Viewings. This is but a few cats between the Trust eons, and all of them do not receive anything more than a Stirring before they expire.”

“How do you know all of this?” I asked dubiously. Everything she had told me was only just seeping into my mind, and all of it was frightening.

For the first time since I had met her, Lazuli seemed nervous. “A-as I said, sources,” she stuttered. She turned her nose up. “I should never have shared this with you. Please get ready, we must depart soon.”

My head a turmoil of confusion, I turned back to the pool and stared. ''Give me more, please!'' But the pool remained empty and calm, yet dark and mysterious. ''It’s only a Stirring, Wintergreen. It’ll go away in a hustle.''

I followed Lazuli out of the little niche in the stone wall we had crafted into a den and into the main cave. “The far tunnel is where we’d come out of yesterday,” Lazuli explained. “I have lived there all my life, it is very small with few branches. We must try all of the other ones. Follow me.”

“Okay,” I meowed. Lazuli padded across the huge cave with the seemingly endless ceiling. I recognized the damp-looking spot in the corner as where I had left my rabbit. ''One of these tunnels is the exit for sure. I just hope we find it fast.''

The blue-gray she-cat had already entered the old tunnel where she had spent her life. I relied on the muffled sound of her paw steps to trail after her.

“So, Lazuli,” I began. “If you’ve lived under here all your life, why didn’t you care to explore? Why didn’t you begin looking through any of the other tunnels? Maybe you could have found the exit.”

“I can’t,” Lazuli replied. “Believe me, I’ve tried. None of the exits work.”

“What do you mean they don’t work?” I made sure I leaped the chasm before entering her den.

“I mean, they just don’t work. I’ve looked through them inside and out.” Lazuli swiftly ran to the far end of the huge space and dug through small niches in the wall, apparently looking for something. She came back with a satchel, the large oak leaf repeatedly tied over with strands of tough grass. Lazuli wrapped it around her flank, looping it until it was firmly attached. “I was hoping you would change something. Perhaps we shall find something different.”

“And how can I change anything?”

Lazuli stared at me. “You don’t understand. I can’t expect you ever will. But let me tell you something, Wintergreen—change is on its way. I can see it in the light, taste it in the water. And I am hoping you are that change.”