The Urbem (Completed)

Chapter Nineteen: Truce

 (Lyra)

I was awakened by Dolosus. Before he even spoke to me, I knew what he wanted; it was that time of year again. Once a year, every Animus in the camp left and returned to the forest, where they mate. During the actual mating period, we completely lost contact with them; the very Bonds that bridge our minds together are cut. For the women in the camp it was much easier; all our Animus were males and therefore played less of a role in raising the young, but the female Animus could take months to come back. Usually they just build nests, caves, dens, tunnels, or wherever they raised their young in the camp. Dolosus was perched on my stomach, looking at me.

"What?" I asked groggily.

'I'm going,' he replied, 'but you have a visitor waiting outside.'

I didn't like it when Dolosus left for this, but I knew it couldn't be helped... There was something odd between Dolosus and me, something that everyone else noticed and I wasn't really sure if it was an advantage or a handicap... Our Bond was far deeper than anyone else I knew. We knew this because, while there are limits to the distance any Animus can travel from it's human without feeling physical pain, most can go about ten miles or so. Dolosus, however, couldn't get much farther from me than a single mile, and even that was pushing it... Really, I got anxious if he so much as left my sight.

Curiously enough, during the mating season, I felt nothing when he left, which was good... I loved and valued Dolosus more than my own life, but even so, I didn't particularly want to be inside his head when he was renewing the forest's barn owl population. That was just unbelievably awkward to even think of. There were moments of privacy he needed, and this was one of them.

"Who is it?" I asked, forcing myself back to reality.

'Imara.' That honestly surprised me, but I walked out of the house nonetheless and slid down the side of the tree, standing a good four feet under the giant cat's head. He crouched down so that he was face-to-face with me. I was left breathless by his gigantic eyes; even though he was not my own Animus, I couldn't deny the natural beauty of this magnificent beast... He was frighteningly gorgeous.

'He's saying that he wants you to tell Nephele where he went, and he's wishing you good luck for dealing with her reaction,' Dolosus translated. I looked at the liger dryly.

"Thanks..." He seemed to smile and even let out a throaty laugh before trotting away to the end of camp and vanishing in the bushes, his tail waving back and forth. "Are you going too?" I asked Dolosus, feeling him get a little impatient. He nodded.

'Yes.' I smiled.

"Okay, then I'll see you in a few days."

'Stay out of trouble.' He rubbed his face feathers against my cheek before taking to the air and disappearing over the trees. I stood there until he was gone, deciding not to go back to bed since I could see the sun staring to rise. I wouldn't have much time at all to sleep... Right as I was musing what to do next with my day, as if right on schedule, I heard someone behind me.

"Lyra?" It was a man named Torus, who was more or less in charge of feeding everyone in this camp. Really, that wasn't an official position, but he had taken it upon himself a year or so ago to keep track of rations, make sure there was enough for everyone, and make sure there was enough in storage for emergency situations and winter.

"Yes?" I replied.

"It's your turn..." I had to suppress the urge to moan; in order to assure there was always a healthy amount of food being taken out and brought into the storage, everyone in the camp was on a rotation to take turns hunting... It's not that I minded hunting, but sometimes I got a little busy, and since Nephele had come to this camp I hadn't got a chance to get any smuggling done... It made me feel a bit sluggish, but I reasoned that hunting would at least be contributing something... I nodded to Torus.