Prism

The figure clad in green robes stood alone on a balcony. She raised her hands skyward, and moved her awareness into a tree. Cenatua watched the flow of life in her garden.

Talitha sat under her branches first. The little mystic moved through the slow, even paces of her morning exercise. Where is her mother? the Guardian wondered. She shifted her awareness to a bird and searched. The River. The older white tigress enjoyed the swift currents and the fishing. Both females had exuded serenity. If they had their way, perhaps neither one would wish to go back to their homes after the peaceful month of suns that they had spent in her refuge.

Cenatua returned her awareness to the tree. Talitha sighed. Unexpected, thought the Guardian. The female reached into a pocket of the brown shift she wore, and brought forth a strand of red beads. She spoke softly to the stones. Cenatua fought the temptation to slip into Talitha's mind, but failed. The mystic rose swiftly, dropping the beads. She touched her temples and cried out, "Who!"

Cenatua dashed back into the tree. The branches quaked. Talitha sank to her knees and called out with her mind for her mother.

It did not take long for the middle-aged female to arrive. The pair talked quietly. Talitha rested her head against her mother's lap, and soon fell asleep. Sum'ri'san's blue eyes held warning. Red tension covered her like a shield. The mother would always protect the cub. Guilt washed over Cenatua. Her branches quaked again. She had managed to dissolve the females' calm.

The sun rose higher, and soon Talitha awakened. "Perhaps, it is time to leave," the mystic said. Her mother nodded in agreement.

The sharp-featured weaver added, "We should speak to an attendant." She ran her hand along her daughter's white-brown mane. "I am sure that Tygra misses you." The elder laughed. "Your face grows warm. Still in young love." She sighed. "Yet you both have suffered much." Sum'ri'san offered her hand, "Come, daughter."

They left the garden.

*****

The day deepened into the warmth of afternoon. Cenatua shifted her attention to the small cottage down by a brook, and put her mind into its walls. Tygra studied maps and manuscripts, and made copious notes. The click of hooves on stone interrupted the Thunderan in his work. Jafar brought a tray of tea and cakes. Tygra used hand signs to convey his thanks to the black centaur, who bowed from the waist, then limped from the room.

The creature looked harmless, but the centaurs that patrolled the Guardian's lands were fierce fighters that gave no quarter when provoked.

Tygra put down his stylus. The longing he felt for his mate filled the room. He walked over to a table that held a tray with smooth, round stones placed in wells. He advanced one stone to a different well, and sighed, "Soon, but not soon enough."

It was time for the Thunderans to go, as much as she enjoyed studying them. Cenatua touched his mind. Tygra jerked. The tray with the stones crashed from the table. "Who!" he shouted clutching his temples, much the same as Talitha had done. Jafar broke through the door with his sword in hand, and his nostrils flaring. The Thunderan's eyes widened in amazement at the change in the peaceful caretaker. Cenatua withdrew her consciousness back into the walls. "It is gone now," Tygra said absently.

Jafar gestured a warning, and indicated that he would patrol.

"If you feel it is necessary, then do so," the architect replied with a sweeping gesture. Black mane dancing, Jafar trotted from the room. Tygra gathered the stones.

*****

"Why don't you react to my mind touch as Tygra and Talitha?" Cenatua asked her father. The Guardian floated above the giant mystic, who stretched out in a tiled hot spring. While waiting for an answer, she lazily studied the differences in their fur and eyes.

"That you must discover for yourself," Tir'shan finally remarked. Thunder rumbled across the landscape. "A show of anger does not suit you, youngling," he said crossly.

One thought could destroy him. He fears me, yet treats me as a subordinate.

Perhaps he knows nothing of this matter, she decided, and instantly knew that she was wrong in this regard. He desires knowledge, but he does not ask. I should show him the place of constellations, but he has not helped me. Let him leave with his questions unanswered.

Her mind held the universe, but revelation was measured. Perhaps those from the Sky had made it so in the Guardians because mind and body could only tolerate so much power at once.

She shared blood with these people through her father, and it was only now that she realized that the connection would always hurt.

*Time for you to leave.* The thought was firm, but not without emotion. *Gather in the garden,* she telegraphed to all of her visitors.

*****

The Thunderans and the warrior woman stood before Cenatua. Her black and white fur tingled with the questions they wanted to ask, but she simply preferred to be rid of them. As soon as she had the thought, regret asked of her, Wouldn't you like to see them again?

No! Let my father explain what occurred to the other Guardian. They know nothing of me, but my touch.

Their lives flickered compared to her flame. Yet even her mother tired of the long days. Ayasha would grew old and suffer, but that is what she had desired in the end.

The party had only a little more than what they had brought with them. Cenatua gestured and a new path caressed by mists formed in the garden. "Be on your way."

Tir'shan eyed her with disappointment, and was the first to go. Talitha started to speak, but her mother led her away. Willa bowed curtly and followed the others. Tygra stood still, and held her gaze the longest, searching for something he could not name. Finally, he simply turned away.

The path slowly disappeared as they vanished in the distance and the encroaching forest.

A tear fell into her hand. It spun itself into a blue sphere. "For Tygra, who sought for answers in the past," she said, and sent the orb floating on its way. "A people should have their history, but they must provide the key."