Thoughts, dreams, images swirl and loop about in improbably direction; like Creens that have been baking in the hot sun for far too long. Forcing her way through the dense subconscious foliage, little Kaela presses on until she reaches the simple hut where lives the Princess Emerald Eyes.

A little Creen chitters and trills, circling down to perch on Kaela's shoulder. It blinks and smiles at her as she approaches the entrance to the hut, which beckons warmly.

Inside, through the open flap, can be seen Emerald-Eyes – this time white-haired, and having seen many years and borne many children – kneeling within a chalked, arranged circle. Disturbances in the dust of the floor indicate that many feet have been moving about it, mostly along a ring that surrounds the one of chalk and encompasses it along with the flickering firepit.

Kaela casts a faint smile at Hope, but hurries on, driven to seek counsel from the elder princess. Carefully she steps into the through the hut's entrance and smiles at the princess faintly. "I'm back," she signs, smiling slightly.

The elder princess nods and smiles faintly, her gaze rising to meet that of the younger Emerald-Eyes. She signs, "Welcome, my daughter."

Kaela signs, "I need your help. My mother is ill."

The elder nods, frowning. She signs, "Her joints are swollen, and her skin grows gray under the fur, and patches of the fur fall away, yes?"

Kaela swallows, then nods a little bit. She signs, "The healers cannot help her."

Even as Kaela answers, she can see the same marks upon the elder before her. The elder Princess' joints are swollen. Patches of the fur have fallen away to reveal a grayish pallor to the skin underneath.

"This is our curse," the Princess signs. "Behold. I alone was not swallowed whole by the palace, yet my joints … they become hardened, like stone."

Kaela's eyes widen and dampen. "You must know something that would help, " she signs.

Kaela adds, "And the Priest-King is gone… the palace has been destroyed … The curse should be gone, too!"

The Princess does not offer Kaela an answer to that question. Instead, she signs, "This is an affliction that has only touched my daughters. If it has afflicted your mother, then that means that your heritage is through her line, and not that of your father."

"Maybe," the elder Princess signs, "the curse will end with you. Perhaps you will be spared this affliction."

Kaela's eyes have begun to water. "But my mother… isn't there magic that will heal her?"

"Magic to cure this disease is beyond me … but believe my hands, this is not an illness of natural cause. This is by the touch of magic, passed through blood," the elder Princess signs. "Only by both magic and by knowledge of healing as well can it be cured, if there is any cure at all." The Princess looks to Kaela. "I am sorry that I cannot give you comfort. But at least time may not be as short as you fear. Your mother may live for a long time yet. But she must be very strong … and … it took much magic for me to live as long as I did."

"You are the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter," the elder Princess signs, something in her eyes looking as if she has just received a revelation. "If there is a way, you will find it – if your love is strong, and if your will does not bend."

Kaela swallows hard, fighting back tears. "But she looks so weak," she signs. "Can you teach me the magic? Or do it yourself? I'll find a healer… somehow… "

The elder Princess signs, "What you see is but an echo, my daughter – what magic has to offer in the way that one may write a message in a book for future generations. I can cast no spells across the great divide that separates us by time and by spirit."

"If it is magic you wish to learn, first you must learn to dance," the Princess smiles. "But you see me as one who can no longer dance. The Emerald-Eyes you see has long since lost the use of her legs. Only by the assistance of others – her own children – can she cast spells."

"Do you wish to learn?" the Princess asks in sign. "The road is long and your patience will be tried. And to follow this path, you will have to forego so many other dreams. Do not choose commitments lightly."

Kaela fumbles for several moments. There has to be some way. There just has to be. "You were younger in other dreams," she signs. "If… I dreamt of you being younger… could you teach me then? I must learn… "

"Your gifts may lie in other areas. A mere echo of myself cannot be the judge. Only you can decide," she says. She smiles at Kaela's suggestion. "I have many memories of teaching my children."

Kaela suddenly smiles. "Maybe you could let me live the memories of you learning?"

The elder cheetah nods. "Perhaps that is best. Even when I had my first born, I was already weakened in my legs."

"But close your eyes," the elder cheetah signs. "We have not only memories to work with. This is, after all … a dream."

Kaela doesn't quite follow, but closes her eyes as she's bid.

The Creen flitters away from Kaela's shoulder, chittering and trilling as he goes, his voice fading away. For a moment, there is only silence … then a giggle … then a poke-poke on Kaela's shoulder.

Kaela slowly opens her eyes and glances around.

Kaela sees her own face looking back at her, smiling, stifling another giggle, ears wiggling. Or … no, not her face, but one so much like hers.

The two cheetah kits are standing in a large stone hall with a polished floor with a marbled texture. Windowsills set high on the walls let sunlight stream in, the dust dancing in the rays like countless tiny faeries.

Kaela's face breaks into a wide grin and her eyes begin to tear up again. Impulsively she throws her arms around the other girl in a quick hug.

The second girl squeals, caught by surprise!

A tall, wiry male cheetah strides into the room, dressed in the white robes of a priest. There are hints of age under his eyes, though his muscles are still finely sculpted. Somehow, Kaela knows that he is one of the Twelve.

Kaela grins and releases her, then turns and looks up towards the male cheetah, keeping one eye on the other girl, trying to gauge the proper way to act towards him.

A couple of cheetah boys – acolytes that can't be any older than the two green-eyed girls, rush into the room, bearing percussion instruments. They plop down in a very unceremonious way at one end of the hall and prepare their instruments, watching the priest for the sign to begin.

The priest raises an eyebrow in surprise. He signs, "How it is! Now I have two Emerald-Eyes to deal with today. Surely the Priest-King is testing me. " His face is deadly serious.

His ears wiggle twice. His face doesn't crack in the least.

Kaela grins widely.

Kaela's twin grins widely as well, and sneaks a peek toward her 'co-conspirator'.

Kaela moves near to her twin's side, then looks back towards the priest.

The priest claps his hands together for attention. "Let us begin with some simple moves. I know that you have been studying under Red-Ring, but if you are to be my student, you shall start over from the beginning, and do it the way that I instruct you… "

The priest does not bother signaling the two acolytes to do anything, leaving them frozen in place (and sweating, no doubt) for a very long time, while he goes through periods of directing the two kits to step this way, then that, and never satisfied with anything they do – punctuating this with rapid lectures in hand-sign.

Kaela's twin sighs many times and rolls her eyes many times more … but the latter never when the priest is looking, of course!

Kaela sneaks grins at her twin when she thinks the priest isn't looking, and tries to enjoy the lesson. It's only the first lesson, after all. :)

"Now, do like so. Step, step, step, turn, hop, slide your foot like so, turn, back, back, back… " He repeats the whole sequence, this time clapping his hands rather than signing words for each move. Next, he gestures for the two kits to repeat the whole sequence on their own, his expression betraying that he suspects they won't get far.

Kaela does her best to follow the moves, though it's undoubtedly obvious from her awkward motions that she never studied under Red-Ring, whoever that is.

Kaela's twin has a bit more control over her movements … but she winks at Kaela, and does her best not to outshow her … though she's not above offering a few corrections of her own at times.

The priest frowns, and slaps his hands together several times in frustration. "No, no, no," he then signs fiercely. "Come now. There is nothing so hard about this!" He stops a moment, glowering. "I have seen you dance with the kits, doing the Spring-Flower." He looks back over to the acolytes.

The Spring-Flower … just a child's dance. Does it really go back so far?

The priest claps his hands again, causing the acolytes to jump, and then he waves them over. They seem disgusted at the notion of doing a dance meant for mere kittens (never mind that they can't be more than a year or so away from being kittens themselves).

Kaela glances from her twin to the priest and the acolytes. She blinks a few times, thinking back to the last time she danced the Spring-Flower, so many years ago…

At the priest's bidding, all the members of the circle of five join hands. Of course, the priest is a bit taller than the rest (and would be even if they were adults), but he somehow manages with a bearing that suggests it's perfectly natural for him to be doing a kittens' dance. With hands held, he has no need for giving directions. He simply starts by moving sideways, and it seems only natural to fall into place.

Step left, step left, step right, step right … step left, step left, step right, step right … then let go and step to the middle, hands held high, swing right, then left, then right, then CLAP CLAP CLAP, back left, then right, then left, then CLAP CLAP CLAP.

Then, it's hands together, and step left, step left, step right, step right … and so on and so forth…

Kaela moves her way through the dance, the steps slowly coming back to her. It's certainly a simple dance… she had never even truly thought of it as dancing.

One of the acolytes undergoes a sudden attack of ear-wiggles as he grins, but he quickly glances to the priest, and adopts a stern and serious look, returning to the "This is beneath me" expression again.

Faster and faster the dance goes! It's a chore to keep up now! Stepleftstepleftsteprightstepright(ow!Oops!Watchthatfoot!)

The ring stretches and compacts here and there like an accordion. CLAPCLAPCLAP.

Kaela's twin gasps as she trips over Kaela's foot and topples into the acolyte who's holding her hand!

Kaela is tugged along as her twin stumbles, and does her best to remain standing.

Oh no! The acolyte stumbles, knocking over the OTHER acolyte, who bumbles into the priest…

… and soon there's a pile of ear-wiggling cheetah kits on the floor.

Kaela gives her twin a big hug, her ears twitching convulsively in mirth. She avoids looking towards the Priest, knowing what sort of a look he's undoubtedly giving them.

The priest sighs, claps his hands for attention, and signs, "That shall suffice for today. I will leave you here to practice your steps." He turns toward the acolytes. "You, too," he signs.

The acolytes wrench their faces as soon as the priest is not looking, at the notion of practicing with … GIRLS … but they obediently remain.

Kaela's twin signs, "You did well," while she smiles, "but we'd better practice!" She winks.

Kaela grins. She carefully gets back to her feet, and offers her hand to help her twin back up.

Kaela's twin happily accepts the hand, and right away starts into practicing some of the steps the priest tried to show them earlier… The acolytes do likewise, looking very serious … but they don't seem to be really much better, if at all.

Kaela smiles, slowly catching on to the steps and appearing a little less gauky as she performs them.

Step, step, step … the dust-faeries twirl and spin, flying up and down the rays of sunlight as they fall upon the dancing kits. And outside, the sun slowly treks across the sky, bathing the city and the jungle in warmth… a warmth like a touching hand. One gently shaking at a sleeping kit's shoulder.

Kaela stirs a bit, her ears twisting into a gesture of protest as she struggles to resist the pull back to wakefulness.

Muscles ache, as if the kit has indeed been spending an entire day dancing somewhere in the City of Hands. An older cheetah leans over. It's Lianna. "Wake up, Dreamy-Eyes! I know you've been working hard all day, but if the master had caught you falling asleep back here… " She shakes her head.

Lianna looks about. "At least you got the cleaning done," she signs, smiling. "Now then, there's an errand to be run. To the Bazaar. And my feet are not as swift as yours, kitten!"

Kaela rubs at her eyes tiredly and pushes herself up into a seated position, smothering a yawn.

Lianna sighs, realizing that most of that was probably missed. "To the Bazaar," she signs. She forces a few shekels into Kaela's hand. "We need some sugarfir leaves. Lord Titus is having some unexpected company, and for a favorite recipe, we need them right away. There's no time to get them properly."

Lianna signs, "Get as many as you can with that. At least a cupful, packed. And here's the cup. Don't trust those vendors."

The elderly nurse produces a solid, sturdy cup that has many chips on it, but is strong enough to be able to survive quite a few poundings and any other mishaps likely to happen on a trip to the Bazaar.

Kaela nods slowly and carefully stands despite protesting muscles. She takes the cup and moves towards the exit, stretching a bit as she goes.

Lianna snap-snaps her fingers in a city-sign slang for "quick quick!" and sees Kaela out the door, smiling as the kit departs.