It's frightening how fast things can change in a short amount of time and the quantity in which they can do so. I was only a few hours displaced from you, but already it felt as if you had been gone from my life for weeks. The only proof that I had of you ever having existed lay before me, wrapped up in a blanket of moss and soft grasses on the ground: two multicolored eggs that were laced with wavy, ever-shifting patterns.

Placing my paw lightly on one of them, I could feel the warmth the body inside emanated, as well as the flow of the bodily juices the egg encapsulated, much like the tides of the sea, which were the true protection our child had from the outside world. I did not know the gender of either one of our children for sure yet, but my motherly instincts whispered to me that I had laid a male and a female, a perfect duo for starting out a family with. If only I could be sure that you would return to me, to us.

Sighing, I removed my paw from the egg and strode over to the entrance of the cavern the three of us were currently occupying, standing just under the edge of its rocky overhang and staring out into the storm. Wind furiously rushed past my face, blowing my long, wispy mane straight out behind me, moaning into my ears as it went by and sending a shiver down my spine. The rain was beating down hard upon the earth, hardly impeded at all by the leaves and branches the trees outside possessed. I doubted that it would stop any time soon, which boded uneasily within my heart. It would be hard enough for you to find your way here within the darkness of night, let alone within a storm of such strength.

Turning my back to the outside world, worried thoughts continually running through my mind, I wandered back into the deeper recesses of the cave, back to our eggs. The cavern was a cold environment to leave them alone within, and even though I would have liked to go outside, to look for you regardless of the storm, I couldn't leave them alone for very long. Our kind was, undoubtedly, mammalian, but our young could not survive for extended periods of time without an adult around to keep their small bodies at a decent temperature, especially when they had yet to be born.

Lowering my chest to the ground, I tucked my feet up underneath it for warmth and curled my entire body as tightly around the makeshift nest I had created as I could. I then did my best to relax myself into what was to be a fitful sleep, plagued with dreams of ultimate despair, ones that embodied all of my fears and more. All that I could do was hope with all of my soul that you had made it out of there all right, that it was only a matter of time before I would see your smiling face once more. I couldn't bear to think of the alternative.