Tempting Fate

Nine: Back to the Eastern Falls

The dream again. Only this time she was in the Eastern Falls, the sun kissing the skin on her cheeks, the large waterfall crashing into the pool of water across from her.

Like before, the moment she came to, she knew it for what it was—a dream. Though she couldn't find it in herself to care much.

Not when it was this peaceful.

And this detailed. The air was crisp near the falls, the slight mist from the water as it cascaded into the pool coating their surroundings. In the distance, the trees whispered, leaves brushing against each other as the wind swept through. She could almost taste the damp forest floor around them, something that brought her dream to shocking life.

She reclined on something warm behind her. Something that rumbled contentedly.

Arietta reached back, her fingers threading through soft fur. Her knowledge of what and who was behind her was instantaneous. It was a thread, a gravitational pull towards him. As if her body knew he was her safe place. She settled down deeper.

"You're back," she murmured, lazily tracing her hands over the furred flank behind her head.

The leopard rumbled beneath her.

Something inside her settled. Truly settled for the first time in days.

"You're keeping them safe, right?" She asked him.

The leopard chuffed an affirmation.

Arietta sat up, turning to take in the leopard sunning himself on a large, flat stone next to the Eastern Falls.

"And him?" She asked the animal. "He's doing alright?"

The leopard whined, lifted his dark head, and gently butted it against her chin.

Arietta curled her arms around him. This man, this leopard, was warm. Protective. He would keep his people safe. Even if it hurt him to do so.

Arietta glanced again at their surroundings. "This would have been nice. With you." She leaned back on her hands, resting them behind her. "With Naya too."

The leopard licked the side of her arm. Offering comfort.

"I know this isn't real, but I hope somehow you hear me when I say please teach Naya everything she needs to know." Her heart ached at the thought of being absent from the little leopard cub. From, perhaps, never seeing her tiny black paws and hearing her half-formed mews. "I know Naya will be just fine—she has role models like you."

Beneath her, the leopard snarled, a softer version of the one that seemed to haunt her these past few days.

Arietta let her head fall back. She looked at the blue sky above her, taking in the vivid green of the trees and the glittering shine of the waterfall as the sunlight hit it just right.

"I won't let him break me," she promised the leopard.

Even if it kills me.

The leopard got up with a chuff and settled down on her lap. His heavy weight was comforting, his tail brushing gently against her arm. She ran fingers over his head, his ears, admiring the way the dark fur almost gave a blue shimmer in the light.

Something about the way the leopard automatically encompassed her made her throat ache. The easy acceptance. The silent offer of strength. It was something she'd hoped to have one day. Maybe not with the leopard, but with someone.

She'd have liked to have someone to come home to.

She curled her fingers in his fur, the world around her blurring at the edges. "I won't let him break me," she promised again. If she said it often enough, maybe she would believe herself. Her eyes burned. "I won't. I won't."