Meteors: Chapter Five - The Smaller Cat

Woman and cat joining hands - Credit to Humberto Arellano on UnSplash

Read Chapter Four here.

Read Chapter Six here.

Owain stood in silence for a moment. He had looked at Ohlendian cultures in school, everyone had, but he had never seen one of their armbands, the modern equivalent to the armour they used to wear, some still did, refusing to show their faces. After looking from the treetop for some time, Ruth swung down, rolling on impact with the ground.

               “Ruth?” Owain exclaimed, kneeling to try and help her up, but she sprang to her feet with ease, “Are you okay?” Ruth gave him a searing look.

               “Of course I am,”

               “You just fell-,”

               “I swung down,”

               “But you didn’t land on your feet, are you sure you’re okay?”

               “Owain, I know what I’m doing,” with the look she was giving him, Owain decided to act like he believed her, “I think we need to turn in. It’s late, we can find her tomorrow,” Now it was Owain’s turn to be offended.

               “Absolutely not,”

               “Owain-,”

               “No, I’m not giving up on her!” He looked her in the eyes, “The longer we wait, the less likely we are to find her. She’s tiny, and freezing, and probably lost, and I am going to find her, she needs someone to help her,” with that he turned around, and started walking down the street, painstakingly looking in every nook and cranny for any sign of the little cat. Ruth stared at him for a moment, a strange look on her face, before she followed, taking the left side of the road. Owain took the right. They were coming up to Sarah’s and Owain was hoping that the kitten had gone back there. The silence was becoming unbearable for him. He had to say something. They got to the end of the street and took the only turning available, right.

               “I was thinking of calling her something,” He said, “It’d be easier if she had a name,” There was silence for a minute before Ruth closed the lid of the bin she’d been looking inside of.

               “What were you thinking of?” Owain started going around Sarah’s, looking where he’d originally found her.

               “Void,” He heard a snort, and looked around distracted. Ruth was stood wide-eyed, hand over her mouth like she hadn’t meant for the sound to escape, “No, no, tell me what you really think.”

               “I’m sorry,” There was that smile again, just a little bit and it was enough to right the wrong she had committed of laughing, “I am. Isn’t that a little… well, cringey?”

               “I didn’t realise it was Offend Owain day, did I miss it on Berdon calendar?”

               “You should keep it,” She interrupted him, “She sounds like,” she had started climbing another tree, to look on the roof, “some kind of shadow warrior. Keep it,” She scanned the roof of the two-storey building, and to Owain’s surprise as he looked among the bushes, called out in a soft voice, “Void, are you here?”

               “She’s not gonna answer to it,” Ruth laughed at that, climbing back down.

               “You never know.”

               “You can be pretty confident though,”

               “Maybe she is a shadow cat warrior known as Void, and just telepathically communicated it to you.”

               “What, like a Ki?” The idea of Void being a magic cat was mostly ridiculous, he didn’t think he could name a single magic cat, unless you counted Jideor, the Guardian of cats, and he didn’t think he’d accidentally adopted a Guardian disguised as a cat.

               “Maybe, there are Ki that can appear as animals, like the Ki’rifum, they’re birds,”

               “So, you think void is a Ki’enmowos,” He asked, glancing over at her. He saw her light up a bit at the mention of the constellation.

               “It would be Ki’mowos, not Enmowos, but maybe? Why not?”

               “Maybe because Ahlden isn’t known for its love of anything magic. Ga was only legalised like, fifty years ago or something, I’m pretty sure the Ki fled centuries ago,” Ruth tilted her head. It was a birdlike movement, she pursed her lips, clearly thinking hard. He was tempted to tell her not to hurt herself.

               “Honestly, I’d forgotten about that. Maybe Ki’mowos have been around for centuries and just stayed as domesticated cats,”

               “Yeah, and maybe Colin and Saiya Harran are still alive and will return when we need them most,” Owain quoted the local legend of the immortal Gaor and his wife.

               “C’mon, take me seriously. She uses the shadows to protect us. Shadow cat warrior! She’s gonna save us from this whole second world war business,” She laughed a little, Owain joined in. If only. Ruth’s laugh sounded a little odd though. He looked over again and she was shivering a bit, rubbing at her arms. It wasn’t that cold, but he supposed she had lived in warmer climates previously. Wordlessly he pulled off his turtleneck and passed it to her.

               “Have this,” he said, “I’m a bit warm and you look a bit cold,”

               “Owain, I can’t, it’s not that cold, really.”

               “Weren’t you in one of the hottest countries a few weeks ago?” Ruth took his point, but not his jacket.

               “I’ll acclimatize. I can’t take your jacket,”

               “Yes, you can, can’t have you shivering if you’re determined to help me out here,” He was still searching. He couldn’t do anything else to help Void right now, so the least he could do was help Ruth. What if Void was cold too? She probably was, curled up somewhere shivering, lonely. How did she even get out? Where on Racë could she have gone? How on Racë had she even gotten out? Maybe she didn’t want help, maybe she didn’t like him so had run away, maybe she actually was a Ki’mowos and had decided he wasn’t worthy as a friend or protector, maybe-

               “I’m going to call it Void,” Ruth snapped him out of his thoughts, he turned abruptly to look over at Ruth, she’d also gone further down the street, searching. She looked back when she didn’t get a response. “Enmowos. I think I should call it Void. It is the bigger cat, after all.”

               “Void’s tiny, you saw her,”

               “Yeah, but she’ll grow, if we -,” Owain gave her a look and she rephrased her sentence, “When we find her, she’ll grow into a fine cat, and maybe one day she’ll have little shadow warriors, and then we can name Ilmowos after one of them,”

               “You know, I didn’t think you could talk this much,” Owain thought he saw Ruth’s face darken at that in the shadows. Had he – oops, “Not like that! It’s nice, you get excited about things, such random, niche things,”

               “Mum says I can talk too much sometimes, so I try… not to,”

               “I like when you talk,” They carried on turning down a few other streets in a silence that Owain was starting to feel was companionable. Nice, even. He hadn’t been lying though, he liked when she talked, she had a deep, sonorous voice, plus she was interesting. He also needed something to keep him awake, he hadn’t a clue what the time was and didn’t want to know He knew one topic that was sure to get her talking.

               “Hey, Ruth,” he said, grabbing her attention, “You’ve told me a lot about Alcor, what about this Corn fellow?”

               “Coen,” she corrected him, “He was adopted into Colin’s family. Yes, that Colin. A bit of a troublemaker until he was apprenticed as a Greenleaf, and then an instigator in their re-building after the whole Mord’en incident,” Owain gave her a quizzical look, “You’ll have to read the book. He was a Sobetween lad through and through though,” She laughed.

               “What’s so amusing?”

               “You do remind me of him sometimes, must be your upbringing here. Y’know, he adopted a stray when he was a kid too?"

               “A Ki’mowos?”

               “No, dafto. A dog. I can’t remember what it was called…. Bother, my brain’s saying Sarah, but I think that’s cause of the café. I’ll find it for you tomorrow,” She pulled out her phone, the screen lighting up her face, “Or later today,”

               Owain turned around slowly.

               “Later today?” Ruth turned her phone around to face him, and once he’d recovered from being blinded, he made out the digits. It was two in the morning. It’d been roughly twelve hours since Void had disappeared. Maybe longer. He dropped down where he stood, sitting in the middle of the street, holding his head in his hands.

               Twelve hours. Void had been out for twelve hours, and he didn’t have a clue where she was. She was so little and so frail, and all beaten up, and she’d been missing for twelve hours. He didn’t know what to do. That was his cat, his sweet little Void and she was gone.

               “-wain? Owain?” He could just make out Ruth’s voice. She had squatted down next to him, balancing on the balls of her feet. “What are you doing?” He refused to uncover his face; it’s not like it made much difference with how dark it was. There were no lamps lighting the way, no warm lights filtering through the curtains, not since blackout curtains had become mandatory. Even Ruth looking at her phone earlier could have got her in trouble if someone had noticed. There was no light, no warmth left in the world. He felt an arm go around his back and heard shuffling as Ruth sat herself down next to him.

               “We’ll find her, Owain. She’ll come back to us,”

               “How do you know that?”

               “Because I’ve never known anyone as determined and as loving as you,” He uncovered his face, but still couldn’t look up. He could feel the tears trailing down his face, Ruth passed him a packet of tissues, “You sound like you’ve got a sniffle,” She said awkwardly, Owain could smile a little bit. She was trying to spare his feelings. Where she’d seemed a natural with Ivona, she seemed confused here. Even the arm around his back felt like she’d never hugged anyone before in her life. She was trying through, and that was enough to restore a bit of warmth to his heart. He wiped at his eyes, looking over to Ruth, who was looking at the sky. He didn’t know if it was to spare him an onlooker, or because she’d become entranced by the stars again.

               “Thank you,” he said. She looked over, with a bit of a smile tilting upwards, he hadn’t noticed before, but her mouth was a little crooked. It was charming. He looked away, hoping he hadn’t been staring. “I just, I don’t know where to go now. It’s been so long,” Ruth nodded, brows furrowing, then her grey eyes seemed to light up, Owain could’ve sworn they genuinely brought light to the darkness around them.

               “How about we pray before we start again. If anyone knows where Void it, it’s Run’anor, and what’s that verse ‘When two or three come together in my name, there am I with them’” she quoted from the Ehldono, with a strange rhythm behind it. She clearly noticed his questioning look, “I memorized it from a song. It’s really hard not to sing that verse,” He laughed, just a little.

               “Let’s pray then,” They bowed their heads, clasping their own hands together, and Ruth began to pray out loud. Owain didn’t have a clue what she was saying, the language coming from her lips entirely unfamiliar. At first, he thought it might be Nuldenic, a language commonly spoken in Ohlendia, but he had a basic understanding of that, and none of the words she said sounded familiar. The only one’s he recognised were ‘Run’anor’, ‘Void’, and ‘Owain’. Her eyes remained closed after she’d finished with a solid ‘Amen’. Then Owain began to speak, more than that he began to pray. He prayed that Void was sage, that they would find her, that even if they didn’t find her that she would be okay in the Runil’s hands and lastly thanking him for the friend he had found in Ruth.

               “Amen,” He finished, opening his eyes, and shuffling to stand himself up. Once stood, he offered Ruth a hand, which she took, and pulled her up, “Thank you, Ruth,”

               “It’s no problem,”

               “What language was that?” He asked, “Or didn’t you realise you were praying in a different language?”

               “No, I have no idea what language I’m speaking at any given time,” The dryness in her tone was enough of an answer, “Praying out loud is a little uncomfortable, so I tend to do so in a different language, with the Nitlome I prayed in Ahldenic,”

               “So, in Ahlden you pray in Nitlomic,”

               “That’s not a language. They officially speak Nuldenic, y’know, cause of the whole Endo-Nulden thing. Generally, though, they speak Kaatu,”

               “Kaatu. Can you teach me sometime?”

               “I can teach you the first word I learnt?”

               “What’s that?”

               “Medete,” Owain repeated it under his breathe, “It means white thing,” Owain opened his mouth to say something when the sky lit up in a blast of red and white, smoke and noise assaulting their senses.

               The bell started ringing. Owain found himself yanked back into that morning he met Ruth, his bandaged arm shooting with pain. He pulled himself out of it. They needed to get to the bunkers, and they needed to get there now. He looked around for Ruth, and couldn’t see her, blinded by the after flash.

               “Ruth!” He called, and he heard a strange sound from below him, and for a moment he thought that Void had somehow been exchanged for Ruth, but when he looked down, squinting through the dark, it was still Ruth, crouched down, hands over her ears, breathing erratically. “Ruth, we need to move,” She nodded, but didn’t move. He pulled her up, and wrapping his arm around her, hurrying her back to the blue house. He could hear her crying, and it pierced him to the heart. They needed to get to safety. She was staggering along, stumbling over the cobbled streets, hands still clamped to her head, covering her ears.

               The struggling was eased. Owain looked to Ruth to see why she’d suddenly become almost lighter, and he met the eyes of Larry, holding her up from the other side. He said something to Owain, but Owain couldn’t make it out over the bell and sirens and panic that was flooding his mind. They were running now, keeping Ruth up as she was doing her best to run with eyes blinded by tears. The ground trembled behind them, and they felt the wave of heat of a bomb landing far too close for anyone’s liking. The streets were full of people running to the blue house, pushing past each other, some helping each other, all of them moving faster than the three of them, and no one stopping to help.

               They got to the blue house, they were the last to get there, and they could hear a whistling descending, growing louder, falling towards them. The doors were closing, ready to lock everyone until the all clear. Owain was all but dragging Ruth towards them. They needed to get in; they needed to be safe. Larry looked up, and let go of Ruth, shoving both her and Owain in front of him, through the doors, and they shut with a clunk, but not fast enough to spare Owain and Ruth from a short blast of hot air, or seeing the flare up of flames, silhouetting Larry, and then all they could see was the grey metal.

               Owain, pushed himself up weakly onto his elbows, Ruth was curled up into a ball beside him. They still weren’t completely safe. They needed to get into the actual bunker, down the stairs.

               “Ruth,” He said, ears still ringing, “Ruth, you need to stand up, it’s not far now,” There was another explosion rocking the ground again, and she curled tighter into herself, “Ruth-”

               “I know,” Her voice was so small, “Has Larry gone ahead of us?” Owain stared at the door behind them. Larry wasn’t here. He’d shoved them in. He’d seen his silhouette in the flames. He must have made it in and gone ahead of them. Maybe he’d been knocked out a little and just hadn’t noticed. Yes, that was it. Larry was just further inside. He was fine. He had to be, “I felt him tugging on my backpack,”

               “Yeah, I think so,” Owain stood up, dusting himself off, as Ruth unfurled herself. He offered her his hand to help her get up. They walked unto the bunker, full as last time. They couldn’t see Larry, but Owain just kept telling himself that he was somewhere there, after all, there were a lot of people there. The whole town. The whole town including Larry. They found a space that was empty enough for them to sit down, leaning against each other, holding each other up.

               “I’m sorry,” Ruth said, weakly.

               “What?”

               “I’m so sorry, I just, I thought I was back there and I freaked out, I shouldn’t have, I should’ve at least waited until we were safe and -,”

               “Hey, hey, hey,” Owain said softly, trying to calm her. Her voice was wobbling dangerously close to tears again, “You have nothing to apologise for,” They both flinched at the sounds of crashing overhead, “When Larry gets here, he’ll say so too,”

               “Owain,” She looked at him, her grey eyes wet and full of something Owain didn’t want to name, “Owain, I don’t think-,”

               “He’ll say the same thing when he gets here,” He denied the existence of the voice crack in his sentence, or the tears that were starting to fall down his own face. “He’ll get here,”

               Ruth said nothing, just leaning closer and wrapping Owain in her arms. Still awkward and all angles, but heartfelt, and Owain let the tears fall. The world faded out around them, the world that was so loud zeroed in to his sobs, and Ruth’s breathing, and soft meows.

               Owain pulled back, giving Ruth an odd look, wiping his eyes as he sniffed.

               “Was that you?”

               “Was what me?”

               “That noise, it sounded like a cat?”

               “You think I sound like a-,”

               “There it is again!” He was certain he had heard it again, “Where’s it coming from?”

               “You thought I was a cat?”

               “Not the time, listen!” So, they listened, underneath the overlapping crashing sound of the people, the phones, the crying, and the sound was following them. Until Owain told Ruth to stand still for a few minutes. He heard the meow again. It was definitely coming from her direction.

               “Are you sure it’s not you?”

               “Owain, why would I be looking for a cat I’m impersonating? Why would I impersonate a cat?”

               “I don’t know, but it’s definitely coming from-,” Owain cut himself off, “is there – is it coming from your bag?”

               “My -,” Ruth blinked at him, then took of her backpack, opening on the floor, “Owain, there is no way there’s a cat in my bag…” She trailed off, and then pushed the bag towards Owain, “I take it back,”

               Owain opened the bag, picking up the cat, dark as a shadow, shivering and again its little mouth opened, and the same quivering ‘meow’ sounded. Owain cradled Void in his arms, careful not to crush her.

               “She wasn’t there before, I’m sure of it,” Ruth said, as confused as Owain was, “maybe it was Larry,” She said, catching Owain’s attention, his head snapping round to face her.

               “What do you mean?”

               “I mean, I felt him tugging on my backpack, right before he threw us in here, he must have found her,” Ruth was looking at him, head tilted like a bird. Her arm raised slightly, as if to reach out, but she stopped and just hugged herself instead. Owain realised she wasn’t looking at him, but at the cat, grey eyes meeting grey eyes.

               “You can stroke her if you want,” He offered, “I’ll hold onto her for you,” Ruth looked up at him, and nodded, more to herself than to him. She raised her arm again, reaching across to stroke Void’s head.

               “Hello there, little girl,” She said, voice soft and low, “Ilmowos, little Void,” a smile grew on her face. Her eyes flickered upwards, though Owain barely noticed, his own weighing down, he heard a little laugh. “You’re as tired as she is, pass her here,”

               “But cats -,”

               “I’m okay with Void,” she smiled, “as long as she doesn’t try running, and she doesn’t-,”

               Ruth stopped talking. She was going to say as long as she doesn’t run away, but both Owain and Void’s eyes had shut, Owain was breathing heavily, slowly leaning to the side. Quickly, she shuffled to sit beside him, lifting Void from his hands to her lap, and let Owain’s head fall onto her shoulder. She leant them back on the wall behind them and kept stroking Void. It was a good distraction from the bombs. It was a good distraction from the lack of Larry’s presence.