A breeze blew through short, golden grass, sending shining waves tempered by silver through the wide expanse. The grass parted easily before the slow, ponderous steps of the kit walking through it. She seemed to have hardly any idea of where she was going, but she kept on nevertheless, her pace neither slowing nor speeding up.
Her efforts weren't in vain, her steps taking her through the seas of grass and into a little hollow that opened up before her. The tall stalks ringed the hollow, an open area in the otherwise seemingly ceaseless sea of gold. In the center of it was a small pond.
The face of the kit registered surprise and recognition simultaneously upon seeing the pond. Her face, split evenly down the middle between orange and black, twisted into uncertainty as she stepped up to the water and sat down. She leaned forward, inclining her head to stare across the water.
The surface of the pond reflected the clear, starless night sky and the two-toned face of the little kit. Her tail wrapped around her front paws and she fell still. As she watched, the surface of the pond flickered and her own reflection vanished along with the moon. The scene changed.
She watched the flickers and listened as whispers seemed to drift by her ears, fading in and out with the images on the water. Above her, the sky slowly brightened, but she stayed still, hardly moving at all.
Behind her, near where she'd exited the expanse of grass, a dusky gray cat emerged. He paused upon seeing her, one paw still raised in a step he hadn't completed. A moment more, and he moved to her side. "What are you doing here?" he murmured. He looked down at the pond, yellow eyes mirroring the things flitting on the surface. "You shouldn't be here," he mewed immediately, an edge to his voice. His paw fell to the water, scattering the pictures in the waves that spread across the surface.
The kit looked up at him again, a glazed look in slowly blinking eyes that cleared gradually. The tom cat nudged her gently to her paws. "Let's get you back where you belong," he mewed softly, and together they disappeared back into the grass. Left behind, the pond slowly stilled. With no one to see them, the images sank deep down, and the water showed only the morning sky.
