Mist blinked open her bright blue eyes. They screwed up against the harsh light of the morning sun.
She sighed and laid her head on her paws. She silently searched for the stranger-Truss-that had arrived as a traveler last night.
The barn was filled with cats. All kinds of them, some travelers, and some that lived here for good. It really was a good refuge for cats. Plenty of food, shelter, and companionship for all. The barn belonged to no one.
Mist had lived here for long as she could remember...for the most part, anyway. She had a few images of cats...in a forest...and they seemed to be fighting over something...she couldn't remember what.
Also, she remembered feelings of pain and suffering...and not only her own. She shivered at the thought of was it had really been...
Oh, but why was she thinking about that now? On a gorgeous sunny day...and she had a name!
A name...a name...Mist...Mist...mine...its all mine, and it doesn't belong to anyone else! She thought.
She shook her head. She mustn't be so selfish! Anyway...what about the cat who had given her a name? She had to thank her! She hadn't even thanked her!
Looking around wildly for Truss, she thrust herself out of her sleeping position and went to search for the cat who had been kind enough to give her a name.
She searched in every nook and cranny of the barn. And she knew the barn quite well. So she knew every bit of it, and looked in every bit of it. Even outside the barn, where some cats lay sunning themselves.
She flopped down hopelessly. There was no denying it. Truss had left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Mist lay sleeping, dreaming. She was dreaming of the forest. The forest...where she was born.
In her dream, she was sitting in a clearing, lit by the moon, waiting for someone to come. But she had no idea who. She just knew she wanted this someone-cat or an animal of a different species-to come. She had been waiting for a long time.
"Oh, come! Please come!" Mist wailed. "I don't know who you are, but...I need you!" Her last three words echoed through the trees and seemed to ruffle them, and when the echoing stopped her words seemed to cling to every leaf and twig of the forest, and the leaves and twigs whispered to each other, She needs you. She needs you.
Mist stared into the depths of the forest. Her bright blue eyes were shimmering with tears of grief. What she was grieving for, she did not know, but she did know it was big enough to shed tears for.
Suddenly a breeze whispered by, and whispered a message into Mist's ear, a message from far away.
The one who you need is coming, has come, has gone.
"But I am in need of this cat!" Mist sobbed. She didn't know where she got the idea it was a defiantly a cat.
If you need her, follow your needs...The voice drifted off.
Follow my needs. Mist thought. Yes...I will follow my needs.