Celestial's Prayer

Reveille

It wasn’t until 3 in the morning did Lithaniel get to his bedroom to rest. Instead of sleeping, his mind was racing with the events of the evening.

There was no doubt Kay’s story was real.

The order was strict.

The priesthood is even stricter.

If he had been disowned, that means Kay must have been caught doing something egregious.

He had observed how Kay had defended Maddy.

He saw how they remained close.

His mind cautioned, though, that this could be a ploy to get Lathaniel back into order. The community didn't exactly agree with Lathaniel leaving.

Drifting to sleep, his mind turned to the girl in the water and the two strange cats. Groggily, his mind's last thought was how much Maddy and her looked alike, but Maddy had brown hair and muddy hazel eyes.

Standing in front of the coffee pot, Lathaniel warmed himself up. He was still stuck in the clutches of an uneasy sleep. Maddy pulled him from his thoughts when she walked into the kitchen wearing only Kay’s long T-shirt. “What’s that you’re drinking?” She asked curiously as she poured herself a cup and sniffed it. Her nose curled back, and she placed the cup back on the counter.

Holding back a completely snide remark, Lathaniel rolled his eyes. “It’s called coffee, it’s a drink that’s supposed to wake you up. Or as I would like to call it. Life.” He responded grumpily. He had not slept well and would have preferred to have slept in on his only day off. Unfortunately, he was startled awake by a dream where he was attacked by the two jaguars.

“Yea! Add some cream and sugar and it’s even better,” exclaimed Kay as he walked into the kitchen a few moments later. Maddy’s eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth to ask something, but Kay interrupted, “I gotcha Maddy, I’m sure even Lathaniel has cream and sugar.” He paused and went to the refrigerator and pulled out Lathaniel’s small supply of cream. “Ahh-ha figures, Lathaniel prefers his coffee black, but he does like cooking with cream. Now let’s see if he has any sugar…” Maddy giggled as she accepted the cream from Kay. Lathaniel watched this interaction grumpily. Kay made a b-line to his cabinet above the coffee pot and pulled out the only sugar that Lathaniel kept in his house for those few guests that he never had. “Figured, Sugar in the Raw, I guess that’s better than nothing.” Kay shrugged his shoulders and handed it to Maddy.

Lathaniel turned away from the couple. Pouring himself another cup, letting the aroma wrap him with its warmth. Still grumbling to himself, he stalked out of the kitchen and into his den to start a project that he had formed in his mind. He was just getting comfortable when, “What is that you’re doing?” Maddy asked sweetly. She picked up pens, looking at his previous sketches, before finally settling on the floor next to him. Lathaniel rolled his eyes, ignored her, and started up his computer with a loud clang. Hearing a sigh, Lathaniel smiled and turned on his music and started drawing.

His mind kept floating towards that strange girl in the water. As time went by, the scene from that night began to take shape on his computer screen. It remained lifeless until he started adding color. Satisfied by that scene, he began drawing the face of the white jaguar. He captured the curiosity and the pain hidden behind its blue eyes. It wasn’t until he had the eyes of the pale jaguar shaded in did he finally hear a gasp come from the floor. “Those eyes, I’ve seen them before, where did you get the inspiration for them from?”

Resting his hand, Lathaniel leaned back and thought of how to respond to her question. “Well, I guess since you’re a celestial beast, you’d believe me when I say I was stalked by two jaguars, one gold with green eyes, one white with blue eyes, last night out by the lake in the north near the forest after following this mermaid out of the lake.” Maddy’s eyes grew wide. She rolled up onto the balls of her feet, mouth gapping.

“Di-di-did she have very pale hair, silver markings, like mine and really blue eyes?!” Stammered Maddy as her markings began to grow. He could visibly see her canines beginning to elongate behind her lips.

Lathaniel blinked and coyly answered, “Yours are black and not spot-like. But yes, I suppose I could see a resemblance.” A snarl came from her mouth. The next thing Lathaniel knew there was a fairly large leopard-looking thing in his den, tail twitching ferociously. Kay burst into the room with a syringe and rapidly approached Maddy from behind. Her full rage pointed at Lathaniel. Kay injected a cloudy liquid at the base of her tail, catching her off guard. A muddled growl escaped her lips. Her ears flattening.

“Maddy, sweetie, calm down! It’s OK, she’s alright. Don’t worry, I’m sure Lathaniel didn’t harm her!” Exclaimed Kay as she turned stalking towards him. His hands up, he spread his fingers apart in defense.

Lathaniel burst out laughing, Maddy’s anger amused him. He couldn’t believe how easily she transformed in front of him. Supposedly transforming in front of a human is forbidden for them. Guess not, Lathaniel thought. “Coarse I didn’t harm her! She disappeared as quickly as she appeared. I couldn’t catch up to her before I was attacked by those jaguars!”

“Dude! That white jaguar WAS the girl you saw, you i***t! That’s Maddy’s sister! Who also had lost her second cub last Friday. Quit being an ass about this.” After Kay finished, there was a slight whine from the cat and a flash of light. Maddy stood there groggily like a human again. She fell into Kay’s arms and passed out. “Sorry, kinda had to tranquilize her to get her out of that. She has a terrible anger problem. That’s actually how we first met, ironically.” Lathaniel laughed a nervous laugh and relaxed in his chair, unsure of how to respond.