you're smiling, but i don't believe you

@Feather

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Lithe and fleet-footed, Olive made good time in her voyage north. Driven by the vision in her mind of this nameless, expansive, sun-toasted meadow, she found that she did not get hungry, nor did she get tired. All other urges fell silent except for the movemovemove of her paws, and the burnburnburn of the fire in her belly. In all her earnest, she didn’t even sleep. The woman moved straight through the night (rather, several nights), guided by the all-seeing compass in her third eye, allowing her energetic field to light her up rather than drawing nourishment from her environment. Her attentions, plainly, were elsewhere.
 
When the wayfaring sylph found what she had sought — a dry atmosphere and flat terrain, and grass as far as the eye could see — she paused, perceived the sensation of drymouth, then shuffled in the direction of waterwaterwater. Why she had been brought to the plains would become obvious in time, but for now, she must slake her thirst. If the sylph only looked upwards, she might find the answers she sought in the sky, as stars became visible amongst a darkening sky and took on the shape of a galloping shewolf.

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Kincaid was looking up, entranced, half-remembering Shiloh's bad run-in with hallucinations and wondering if he'd eaten something bad. Mainly, though, he was happy to admire the strange and awe-inspiring vision. So happy, in fact, that he missed entirely the pale wolf he was trotting toward.

That, and the gopher hole his paw got caught in a moment later. Kincaid went down with a yowl and a swear, ankle twisting, jaw knocking painfully on the spongey earth. The worst part? His teeth clicked together right on his tongue, prompting him to utter another low oath before he found the strength and dignity to pick himself back up.

And that, of course, was when he finally noticed that he was in company.

"Uh — evenin' ma'am," he said with exaggerated bluster, stepping away from the incriminating hole.
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As the skies darkened over head, the stars above began to gleam more brightly, and emanated light with more strength. Such intensity could not help but be noticed by Olive, and just as her attention was capturing the last fleeting footfalls of the emblazoned goddess, she heard a pained thud from some place just beyond.
 
In an instant, her attention was diverted to the form of a man, twisted over himself on the earth. Though he was feebly bringing himself back to stand, the shakti woman could not ignore a soul that might, if anything, need a shoulder to lean on. Her status and skill as a healer couldn’t hurt, either. “Sir, are you alright?” she sang out as she pranced closer, stopping with several yards yet between them. Olive stood with her head held as tall as her slight frame would allow, more of a display of piqued curiosity than anything else. “Are you hurt?”

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Ah — so his misstep hadn't been missed. Kincaid's ears flicked back briefly in chagrin, but his tail wagged as he assured the woman he was, "Just dandy," his sloe eyes wandering appreciatively over her sylph-like form. Normally he liked a woman who could throw him around a little, but he was a sucker too for dainty things like Olive. The kind of girl who was obviously too good for him. The kind he should probably leave well enough alone, just for their own good.

And then he remembered why he'd fallen, and he nearly gave himself whiplash looking back up at the sky, searching in vain for the strange apparition.

"Did you see that?" he asked the woman, vexed when he turned a full circle and could not find the star creature anywhere in sight. He felt somehow that he’d lost something, and yet inexplicably fuller, too. There was a warm place in his heart all of the sudden, and for the first time since Shiloh had disappeared beneath the churning grey of the flash flood waters, he gave a small but genuine laugh. "I could've sworn just now. . . " but finishing the sentence was still too strange. He looked back at the woman, his interest in her returning. The stars were small and far away things. He assigned the blossoming warmth in his chest to the pale stranger instead.
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The man easily forgot about his tumble, and so did Olive. She did not need much prompting to be dazzled by the stars, and the way he whipped his head to and fro looking amongst them, Olive was immediately drawn in. The dove fluttered forward, gaze thrust upward, as she stood abreast the roan stranger. “The stars?” she attempted to fill the gaps of his exasperated conversation. Her eyes searched for anything of importance, but to scry the heavens was ultimately based on one’s unique life context and point-of-view. What she saw, might be entirely different than what astonished him so, at this very moment. Still, Olive could not help but be curious in the visions of others and she asked him in earnest, with her tail lashing “—what did you see?” and he told her of the woman in the sky, and the trail of stars she left in her wake, leaving the entire world more enlightened for it having happened.

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