The she-cat's tail tip twitched as the dusty breeze wove it's way through the vines and ruffled her fur. A long slit of sunlight sliced its way across the ochre-colored stone. She yawned and stretched her forelegs until they trembled, claws digging into the dry bedding.
With her paws once again tucked under her and her tail wrapped comfortably around her chest, she opened her eyes. Her gaze swept across the entrance. Her tail puffed as a shadow was cast over the line of sunlight in her nest.
"Signal?" The call was hesitant, and after a moment, a pair of brown eyes peered at her.
Signal closed her eyes and mewed, "Don't waste your time on waking me. I will be up at midburn."
"There's no one to play with!" The tom-kit hopped away from the crevice, the sunlight pouring in again. His eyes were winked with a golden tint.
The spotted she-cat gave a purr, "You would find more fun in a lizard than in an old cat like me." Signal sat up to give her tail a few licks to smooth the fur down. Seeing the kit's muzzle scrunched up, she got to her paws and squeezed out of the dark den, purring, "Let's go catch that lizard of yours." She shook her fur of any stray bedding and dust that knotted itself into her silver sheen.
Aspen bounced after the gray she-cat, his tail held high. His ears flapped as he ran along her, white paws kicking up red dust into the wind.
"Can I kill it? I can carry it back!"
Signal's chest rumbled gently, "Maybe, if you can smell one."
The brown tom-kit raised his muzzle with confidence and ran ahead without a word. Signal watched the furry dot in the distance become as small as one of the stars in the sky and smiled to herself. Her smile faded as she gazed up, searching the vast blue skies for signs of the rainy season, but the sheet of blue has not a single speck of white on it. Her jaws longed for a feeling of a droplet of rain spreading itself on her tongue. The blood of the prey would not quench us forever.
