Blanca

I was dreading telling him.

But... I had to, he was my friend!

I inhaled deeply and turned to face Rover.

This was it.

"Rover, what happened in the restroom is hard to explain. But I'll tell you how I remember it. I was thinking about Sashara. I'd never been there before, but I got this... This feeling in my gut, that I had been there. Before I knew what was happening, I was clutching my head as I remembered something. It was an odd memory, someone was drawing on my face, someone named Katie. I couldn't see but I could hear and feel. They were saying that friends help eachother out, how helping was what friends do. The memory stopped and I was on the floor, still clutching my head as I heard you pounding at the door. And... That's it. That's all I remember."

Of course, I left out the part about me thinking about him... My friendship with him.

Rover let it sink in for a moment, he closed his eyes and rubbed the sides of his head.

"So, the name Sashara triggered a memory, which caused you to collapse for a half hour?" He finally said, opening his eyes.

"A half hour? It felt like a few moments." I said, surprised.

"That's why I went to check on you. I had been pounding on the door for almost twenty minutes. You had been in there for ten and it freaked me out." Rover told me.

"Maybe it was something from when I was a kitten? Or maybe..."

"Maybe, what?"

"Maybe it wasn't a memory... Maybe it was something from the future."

I quickly snapped my vision outside, we still hadn't left the station.

I grabbed my duffle bag and ran off of the train and onto the platform.

"Blanca!" I heard Rover call out.

I wasn't going to stop. Someone here in Sashara was named Katie...

And I was going to find her.

Rover

"Blanca!" I yelled. I grabbed my own duffle bag and ran towards the town to find Blanca. I couldn't lose her. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Luckily, it was summer, so her white fur wasn't hard to spot - but she was hard to catch up to. Suddenly, she stopped.

I mirrored her, standing a few trees back. Blanca was talking with the girl from the train - Sharon. Sharon was holding several large packages, wearing an apron like Tom Nook's. She nodded a few times and pointed towards a thick patch of cedar trees.

Blanca nodded and ran towards the trees, I followed a small distance behind her.

She stopped again, this time in front of a river. Blanca looked down at her reflection, and seemed to note how much it had faded and smeared.

A small, tan cat with brown bangs and a blue dress walked into the clearing where Blanca was.

"Hi there!" the small cat waved to her, "My name's Katie, what's your's?"

The cat's voice made Blanca freeze, she turned to face her, "My name's Blanca. It's a pleasure to meet you, Katie! I have a favor to ask of you, if you don't mind."

"What is it?" Katie said with her sing song voice.

"I know how weird this may sound, but... Could you please draw me a face?"

Katie thought for a moment, "Sure!"

Blanca held out a black marker, but Katie shook her head and pulled out a set of rainbow markers. Blanca nodded excitedly and sat down on the ground so her head was level with Katie's.

Katie began drawing carefully on Blanca's face like I had so many years ago. When she was finished, a smiling face with bright blue eyes and a light pink mouth and nose had been drawn on her fur.

"There you go! Much better!" Katie sang, marveling her handiwork.

"Thank you so much, Katie!" Blanca said cheerfully, clapping her paws together.

"It's really no problem, you have to help your friends out, right?"

Suddenly, another tan cat appeared, with brown bangs similar to Katie.

"Katie! Where have you been, my precious kitten?" The cat asked her quickly.

"I've been helping out Blanca! She's my new friend!" Katie said to her.

"Well, that's very kind of you to do, but don't run off like that!"

"I'm fine, Mom! It's not like I could get on the train or anything like that!"

"You're right." the cat chuckled, smiling at Blanca, "I'm Kaitlin, Katie's mother."

"I'm Blanca." Blanca said.

I could tell that Kaitlin was surprised to hear Blanca but not see her mouth move.

"We should probably be going now! It was a pleasure to meet you, Blanca!" Kaitlin called out as she led Katie back into the trees.

I walked out of the trees and smiled at Blanca, "Nice job."

"Rover!" Blanca exclaimed, hugging me, but suddendly releasing him, "Sorry. That was uncalled for."

"It's fine." I blushed slightly, "Now c'mon, we have a train to catch!"

Sashara and Sharon are the character and town of tiernans!

Safe travels!