Celestial's Prayer

Genesis

Kay had put Maddy back in their room in Lathaniel’s apartment. Both boys were sitting in the kitchen talking over coffee. There was stress written all over Kay’s face as he began to explain what had happened between Maddy and him. “It started nearly two years ago. I was out by myself, walking in the snow with my mind on my studies, when I noticed there was a large leopard-looking cat resting next to a cedar. When I approached it, it jumped up and flew away from me. She had only managed to get a few yards before she had collapsed on the ground. When I moved towards it, I noticed it had been nursing its front left paw. I paused. Looking at it in the eyes, there was an intelligence there. I swear you can’t get that kind of intelligence from any kind of animal!”

He stared idly into his coffee mug, his eyes glazing over from the memory. “I offered my hand to it, wanting to show it that I was not going to harm it. Slowly it had approached me. I was allowed to look at its paw. It had been dislocated in two areas. At the wrist and at the elbow. I soothed it while I explained what was wrong, similar to how I talk to my little sister, you know?” He looked up. He caught Lathaniel’s eyes and was laughing at his words. He blushed and rushed on. “I know, I know talking to a large cat doesn’t sound like me! But I tell you! I felt that this cat, this animal, understood what I was saying! So, I tried.”

Looking up at the ceiling, Kay sighed and took a swig of his cold coffee. “I explained to the cat what I was going to have to do. I had to put the bones back into place if she then wanted to use them anymore. What’s crazy is the cat nodded its head and lifted its paw into my hands! I counted to three and pulled the elbow into place. I took a minute before I tried to pull the wrist back in. I started to notice that the paw had changed.

“I blinked, and the next thing I knew, I was holding a woman’s long fingers. Not a fur-covered paw. When I looked up, I looked into the beautiful hazel eyes of a girl my age with strange markings. She peered out from her heavy cloak and long dense dress. It looked like she was part of a renaissance festival. I shoved myself away from her. She looked me in the eyes, then stood up. The craziest thing of all, she pulled her wrist back into place with no pain. No wincing. Nothing. Just with ease. My mouth nearly dropped.”

Kay met Lathaniel’s eyes. He smiled in disbelief, hearing his words. “She explained to me later that she had been running away from her home. Her father was trying to force her into an arranged marriage. She had hurt her arm when one of the people her father had sent after her caught her by surprise earlier that day. She had caught her paw between two rocks after slipping on the ice. The sentry had tried to help her, but she had swiped at him hard enough to knock a few teeth loose and to release her paw from the rocks. She had dislocated her wrist and elbow from this. I tell you man, she was lucky she didn’t break anything that would’ve been beyond my ability to repair.”

Lathaniel nodded, he knew very well Kay’s amazing ability in the medical field. A broken bone was something no human could fix readily. “What did you do after she transformed in front of you?”

“Well, nothing really. I stood there in shock until I started to shiver from the cold. She approached me, offering me her cloak. She thanked me I wrapped the cloak around me. I’ve never really been around pretty girls before, so I was stammering all over the place. Couldn’t get my words together, you know? So, I just sat there in silence as she explained her story to me. She wasn’t aware of who I was. I knew exactly what she was though. I just found out recently exactly who she was. Maddy is very cryptic, and she doesn’t say things straight forward.”

Kay lifted his head and they made eye contact. Lathaniel raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “How long did you sit together?”

“Based on the sun, you know, because I forgot my watch a lot, I would guess an hour or so. I made it home for dinner, so not too long I suppose.” Kay was looking absently above Lathaniel’s head, staring at the highway through the window. “We sat awhile in silence. I didn’t tell her who I was. I was about to when there was a snap of a twig behind us. I couldn’t see anything. But Maddy could, or maybe she recognized the scent. I’m not sure. She stood up then and told me she had to go. I was going to ask why until she was already gone.

“It was then did I notice the large looming shape in the trees above me. It jumped from branch to branch following Maddy’s trail. Slowly, I made my way home. Mom asked me where the cloak had come from. I had almost forgotten that I still had it. The smell of cedar had wrapped me in comfort and somehow very quickly it became a part of me.”

“Yea? And what did you say?”

Lathaniel’s eyes were humorous. Kay had never been good around girls, his entire focus on the priesthood. He also wasn’t very good at lying either, especially to his mom. Let alone to her face.

“I shrugged and said a friend gave it to me because I had lost my coat at school.”

“Huh? What a good response, never knew you had it in you. When did you see her again?”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, you know, so it wasn’t too horrible. I did in fact see her many times. There would be a month or two between each other. From talking with her she had a hard time finding me. The only way she could find me would be by the smell of her cloak. I found myself wearing them more than frequently. I was still dedicated to my studies. But I couldn’t help but notice these strange feelings flowering inside my chest.

“I often wondered if it’d be this week or next that she’d come and visit. I think it was the hardest when she wouldn’t come for like four or five months. I wouldn’t be lying if I were to tell you that I’d worry if she had forgotten about me. The last time I saw her, before this incident, she had told me she wouldn’t be back until her sister had given birth. She wouldn’t give birth until two or three months. Then, after that, she wouldn’t be able to come until the cub was at least six months old.

“I nearly panicked, that would be like nine months of not seeing her! No communication, nothing! I nearly begged her to stay but I held back. Maddy and her sister were really close, Maddy pretty much was her midwife. The stress of the fights between Maddy and their father was hurting her sister. She truly feared her sister losing a cub again. Maddy had made a promise to her sister to stay home for a time.”

Lathaniel sat back in his chair and sighed. “Well, that’s very admirable of you, at least your parents did raise a young man and not just a mindless servant.” Kay rolled his eyes and finished his coffee. “How did you two happen to come across my doorstep?”

While Kay and Lathaniel talked, they were unaware that Maddy had crept from her room. She listened in on their conversation. She reminisced about Kay’s tales. She remembered his calm hand on her arm as he prodded it to see what, if any, was broken. She remembered being barefoot and playing in the small river near his town during the summer. His eyes broke into a smile as he saw her pawing at his window. She wasn’t sure how this one random human, with a chance meeting one snowy afternoon, could suddenly change her life. She remembered a fierce drive to leave home, a craving for him. His calming nature brought her peace. A fondness for this gentle human slowly blossoming in her belly.