Kaela stretches slightly, uncurling. With a yawn and a scritch of her nosepad she pries her eyelids open and looks about at the tent. Good. She's in the tent this time, and not one of those strange dreams again… Slowly she stands and straightens her clothes, which by now have become quite stained with dust and dirt.

Kaela pushes her head out the tent flap and looks around, squinting slightly at the bright morning light.

Outside, things look pretty normal. Except … it looks like she was allowed to sleep late! It's not nearly so early … and by now, someone should have come in and gruffly interrupted her slumber to drag her off somewhere.

Kaela steps out of the tent and looks around the camp. Then heads towards Haji's tent, for lack of knowing what else to do. Perhaps he's still there…

No. Unfortunately, he must be out with the others on a dig. Sad that he didn't come to say something first … but when someone orders a Savanite to pack up and move, they usually don't allow time to go and pay respects to friends first.

Kaela frowns a little bit, then shrugs. They didn't come to collect her, so they must not need her. They'll be back in the evening. In the meantime, she has some pressing issues to work out. Like food. And so she starts on her way to find some breakfast.

It's a bit cold by now, but it's food, and soon the kit has a full belly. Things seem pretty slow and non-urgent in the camp today. Not exactly CALM, though. That's simply not possible with the ever-constant reminder of strangeness that the sky provides.

Kaela smiles softly. It's not often that Lord Titus grants her much idle time, and it looks like she's lucked out today. Sitting beside a tree and leaning back against its trunk, she relaxes quietly, a soft smile on her face. The only thing that could make this nicer would be if the sun were to come out from behind those worrisome storm clouds.

Unfortunately, the sun doesn't seem about to oblige. On the other side of the canyon, Kaela has an excellent view of the main portion of the ruins. (The ruined palace is nowhere to be seen.) There's the tiered pyramid where they dropped the "boulder". No idea whether they found that fox…

But also … if Kaela lets her eyes droop just enough … it isn't so hard to imagine the city as she saw it in her dreams… The house of the raccoons wouldn't be in sight from here, but that building down there – didn't that appear in one of the dreams? And at the top of the canyon, on the opposite side, amongst those trees – isn't that where that monastery should have been?

Kaela remains sitting there by the tree for several minutes, surveying the landscape. After a while, though, youthful energy begins to prompt her into motion. Standing, she forces her gaze away from the ruins and up towards the tree she'd been sitting by. Wonder if she could climb that…

The tree has thick, cracked bark that makes for a rough surface. While patches of moss might make it slick in spots, there's more than enough to provide for climbing by a rambunctious young cheetah.

Kaela grins, climbing several times her height up into the tree. Reaching a particularly large branch, she settles onto it and looks back out towards the opposite side of the canyon again, her memories filling in the missing buildings of the ruins… She briefly wonders if she could go and explore those ruins…

Kaela shakes her head softly. They'd find her. And at best, they'd make her come with them and work… and at worst, she could be punished for leaving the camp… or trying to escape… Pushing the thought from her mind, she resumes her climb. But her gaze flicks occaisionally towards those ruins…

Kaela finds herself increasingly preoccupied with watching those ruins, and finally sighs a bit as the rational side of her mind gives in to her inquisitive nature. She quickly works her way back down the tree (perhaps a bit too quickly for safety), glances about once more, and then starts down the path towards the ruins.

Nobody seems to pay the kit much mind as she heads out from camp. After all, she's headed toward the ruins, and might have been sent on an errand. A rope bridge takes her across the river and to the general vicinity she was in just the day before.

Kaela pauses a moment as she reaches the ruins. Now that she's here, where to go to? Maybe the monastery… that might be the best. That'd show whether it was all a dream… surely there wouldn't be such extensive catacombs under a simple monastery…

No sign can be seen of the monastery from here. In the dream, there was a cleared area at the top of the canyon, but here, it is completely overgrown with jungle. Maybe there COULD be a building in the midst of all those trees. But, if so, there's no sign of it.

As for how to get to it, that might be a chore as well. There do seem to be signs of some paths that zig-zag up the canyon wall, but parts of them are crumbling or washed away.

Kaela frowns a little bit. Hm. That doesn't look quite so easy as she'd hoped. Still, she's curious. "Maybe I'll just go partway up. See how close I can get," she thinks to herself. "Maybe I'll get a better view."

It slowly occurs to Kaela that … she wouldn't even NOTICE those signs of paths … except that from her dreams, she remembers some walkways that should have been there. If she didn't know any better, it would just be some rocky outcroppings here and there, from this angle.

Kaela blinks slowly and gives a little shiver. Okay. She has to go see, now. With a quick glance about to make sure that there's still nobody watching her, she heads towards one of those paths.

To start her upward trek, Kaela has to climb a few broken rocks. The trail should resume at some point above, probably at that ledge…

Kaela works her way up those rocks. The climb doesn't seem particularly difficult, but she doesn't much care for the idea of scraped joints, so uses both hands and legs to work her way up.

There's no sign that the cheetah is noticed. The rocky face of the cliff has a somewhat tan, almost yellowish tint. The cheetah's fur – and her dusty clothes – blend in reasonably well. Reaching the ledge, she can see that, yes, there IS a steep path cut into the canyon wall, working one way, then turning and going back the other. It's a good distance to the next rockfall, so she should make much better time here.

Kaela moves up the path as quickly as is safe, staying close to the canyon wall. Her gaze regularly darts towards the canyon floor, so far beneath her.

It does not take long until the path breaks away again. This is going to require a bit of climbing – and it's not quite as straightforward as with the broken rocks at the bottom. But it doesn't look like THAT far above before she encounters the zig-zagging trail again.

Kaela frowns slightly as she carefully examines the rocks, planning her route in advance. Carefully, she begins picking her way up towards the trail.

Some more scrambling, some more climbing … only a few dislodged pebbles here and there … and she's back on the trail again. A bit further … and it seems she has reached the top of the canyon sooner than she realized. Though, in retrospect … it HAS been quite a climb. She can't plan on doing this on a regular basis.

Kaela pants quietly, looking down the canyon wall for a moment. Then turns towards the forested area around what ought to be a monastery, if the dreams were accurate.

Just trees. Gnarled trees and vines and …

… and the stone walls of the ancient monastery.

Kaela presses into the trees and begins to follow the wall. "Now, if I'm remembering right," she silently muses, "the entryway ought to be right around… here."

It takes quite a bit of scrambling around to get to the stone, but it's undeniably there. And the details – however weathered and crumbled – are too close to how her dreams portrayed them. And there can be seen the entryway – right where Kaela expects.

There are no bodies – or skeletons – to be seen, though. Thank goodness.

Kaela pauses in the doorway. It's dark in there. Why hadn't she thought ahead and brought a lantern or something? Mentally kicking herself, she moves a few steps into the darkness and waits for her eyes to adjust.

In the main corridor, the light that filters past her illuminates the walls faintly. Peeking from behind tangles of vines can be barely seen the severe expressions of Priest-Kings of ages past, still standing vigil. Do those stone eyes recognize Kaela after 'her' return?

The way slopes downward, coming to a T-section. To the left is the way that would lead to the labyrinth of chambers and corridors she had gone through, before. But if her memory serves her correctly, the right way would probably lead there (eventually) just as well.

Kaela confronted with that choice, she turns to follow the path she remembers as having taken before. Turning left she slowly works her way down that passageway.

Pitch black darkness. The memories come back so vividly … but they were memories of total darkness. Even if the dreams WERE true, they offer limited help. But, even so, as she begins to feel her way, they come back – so fresh – This turn over here lead to a dead-end in some hall. That way would lead her in a circuitous route. That way leads to the stairs she came up, but be careful of the – No … there are no 'obstacles' here to worry about. They are long gone, perhaps crumbled to dust. Or perhaps this building's history did not end with her dream.

Kaela smiles faintly, taking some comfort in the familiarity offered her by the dreams… She continues working her way down towards where she remembers being sheltered, in the dream…

And, finally, in the darkness … here it is. Tracing along the stone, she can find the statues of the Priest-Kings in this chamber … and some bits of broken stone. The broken furniture is not how she remembers it, though – but the statues are most certainly the same.

Kaela moves to the one statue she took refuge in. Feeling across the stone, she gropes for the spear she remembers it holding… The one the priest pulled on to open the hiding place…

The sceptre, spear, weapon, or whatever it is moves. And with a rumble of stone sliding against stone, the statue moves to one side. She can feel it move past, she can hear it … and her memories paint the scene even though her eyes cannot.

Kaela freezes as a scent wafts past her nose. She slowly moves her head to one side and sniffs the air again, checking to be certain that the scent came from the space behind the statue…

There's no trace of it. Perhaps it was a dim memory. Having one's dreams come to life can be so … disorienting.

Kaela slowly moves into the space behind the statue, still cautious.

At Kaela's touch, some ancient cloths crumble to dust.

Kaela swallows hard as her mind's eye fills in the details of those lovely clothes she wore in her dream, crumbling beneath her hands. Some silly, romantic part of her had really hoped for the chance to wear them just one more time…

Kaela wipes at an eye with the back of a paw, then continues feeling around the ground. She left a necklace, didn't she? And a cache with some stuff still in it…

As the cheetah shifts around, she finds the other items – just as she left them in the dark, in her dream. It's all too real – the jewelry she removed, a small stone box that held numerous baubles…

The little stone box is smooth to the touch – polished stone. She cannot remember how it looks, though, for she never 'saw' it in her dream. After all, she only started inspecting the contents after the statue had moved to close off the alcove … and afterward, the passages were completely dark.

Kaela lifts the necklace and box, and heads back out towards the labyrinthine passages leading towards the exit of the monastery.

But there's something else in here as well. Something silky. … silky?!? Her foot catches on some sort of fabric!

Kaela freezes. Fabric? Hardly daring to hope, she lowers a handpaw to gather up the fabric.

There is a quiet rustle from outside the alcove.

Impossible! The kit holds the very dress she wore …

Kaela swallows hard. But… but she felt it disintegrate just moments before… Shaking her head, she discards the thought. What matters is that she has it now. She then hurries back out of the hiding spot, eager to examine her treasures in the light of day.

Kaela sniffs some more. That scent again. Where's it coming from? She slowly moves back along the corridors, out towards the daylight, but keeps paying close attention to the scent, trying to determine its origin…

Footsteps echo strangely through the halls, doubled and re-doubled in the darkness.

Kaela freezes as the footsteps begin to sound. She listens quietly for several moments, trying to fix upon their location. Or at least, which direction they are relative to her.

Finding her way back to the surface is a lot easier than it was in the dream. She only accidentally makes one wrong turn, and that only led her a short way to a dead-end, making backtracking but a quick matter. Up ahead, a faint light indicates the steps that lead up to the exit, past the alcove statues.

The echoes of footsteps cease a fraction of a moment after Kaela stops.

Kaela sits down in the dim light of the main room of the monastery. Safer not to go out in plain view while she examines her finds. First, she looks at the silky gown, a smile breaking across her face.

It is, indeed, the same gown. A sash that went with it is gone, though.

In the faint light, she can also see that the small stone box that holds the baubles (the ones which she did not take with her in her dream) is fashioned of polished panels of malechite, in rich, marbled tones of green, with a thin line of gold trim around the edge where the lid nests onto the box.

Kaela blinks slowly. Then shrugs. Maybe the sash got separated from the gown, and she only happened to bump into the gown… Casting a quick glance around, she strips out of her clothes and slides on the silken gown, unable to suppress a bright smile.

If only there were someone to see, here would stand Emerald-Eyes, Princess of an ancient, long-forgotten empire.

A shadow detaches itself from the velvet darkness of the deeper halls and walks into the main room, where the dim light reveals it to be a black-furred feline dressed in the colors of the sky.

Kaela looks up quickly, startled. She backs several steps away, moving towards the monastery's exit. She quickly signs, "Who are you?"

Janus smiles a bit and signs, "My name is Janus. I'm sorry to have scared you."

Kaela signs quickly, "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I… didn't know anyone was here… " She quickly adds, "I wasn't going to take anything. I just wanted to look at it… "

Janus looks into the darkened halls and signs, "How did you find your way?"

Kaela remains a safe distance away, swallowing a bit. It's too dark for him to see her eyes, isn't it? "I… got lucky, I guess… "

Janus grins a bit, "Lucky… Well, you must be very lucky indeed, to have found that place so easily… and to have found a dress… in excellent condition, I must say, that fits you so well."

Kaela nods faintly. "Y-yes," she signs shakily as her story falls through. She lowers her gaze slightly, but doesn't offer any new information.

Janus rests his back against the wall and smiles again, "What are you afraid of? I'm afraid that the dress would hardly fit me."

Janus continues, "As much as it is mine to give, I have no objection to you keeping what you found."

Kaela swallows a bit. "How do you know Savanite?"

Janus smiles, "I found some good teachers who did not mind a good student."

Kaela lowers her eyes slightly. "I could not keep it. Any of this. It would be taken from me."

Janus ahhs softly, "It isn't yours then… How did you know where to find it?"

Kaela fidgets a bit and hesitantly offers, "I had a dream."

Janus looks around, "And it showed you this place?"

Kaela nods quietly, looking a bit reassured at his response. "Yes. All of it."

Janus gestures toward the box, and Kaela herself, "Those too? You did not seem surprised to have found them."

Kaela flinches softly. He'd been watching her the whole time? "Th-those too," she confirms. She watches him closely, again half expecting him to leap and attack her…

Janus nods, but otherwise doesn't move. "I know you don't really have any reason to trust me, but if you are going to stay that tense, you'll be too tired for the climb down to the camp."

Kaela signs, "Why are you here?"

Janus grins crookedly, "Because I like to scare people who wander around in the dark?"

Kaela looks at him dubiously. She's not much in the mood for jokes right now, seeing as she could really be in trouble if he's someone who doesn't like the Savanites. Or if she gets caught with any of this stuff by the members of the expedition. Or if she's not back at camp by the time the expedition gets back. Or any one of a number of other things that could go wrong.

Janus shakes his head and smiles, "I followed you from the base camp because I was curious."

Kaela's eyes widen in alarm. "You … aren't going to tell anyone, are you?"

Janus tilts his head, "Why would I want to do that?"

Kaela swallows hard. "I don't know… " If he doesn't know a reason, she certainly isn't going to provide one for him. "Just please don't tell … I wasn't trying to run away or steal things… I just wanted to find out … my dream … if it was true."

Janus holds out both hands and makes a calming gesture. "Calm down… calm down. I am not here to get you in trouble. I'm not. Okay?"

Kaela nods a little bit, biting her lower lip. She signs, "Okay." Standing unmoving, she just watches him quietly, waiting for his next move.

Janus watches Kaela for a couple of seconds to see if she really looks to be calming down, "Good. I don't know how long an expedition usually lasts, but I'd suggest you do whatever it is you came up here to do before too much longer."

Kaela signs, "I … had better put this stuff back… "

Janus grins a bit, "Aren't you even going to look inside the box?"

Kaela swallows. The box. Right. She was going to wait until she was alone, but Janus doesn't seem to be giving her that option. Kneeling, she opens the box a small amount, holding it carefully so that the raised lid obscures Janus's view of the contents.

Janus gives his natural feline curiously a most unusual kick in the rump and actually does something nice for a change … he stays right where he was.

Inside the box, the light catches a pendant. It looks just like the one worn by that acolyte cub … it has an emblem of a four-pointed star intersecting an upturned crescent … and, in turn, this symbol is surrounded by a four-pointed star. It hangs from a chain.

What it is made of is uncertain. Not metal. The chain is very fine, and a novelty in and of itself.

Janus watches Kaela's reactions as she looks into the box.

There are also a few semi-precious stones, unset. They are small, easily concealed, perhaps easily used to buy necessities … though not so valuable as to arouse great suspicions. At least, that would be the case for most persons. In the hands of a Savanite in this time …

Kaela reaches in and removes the pendant, setting the box back on the floor. The stones, of course, would be taken … but maybe if she could conceal the pendant under her clothes … She freezes again, looking up at Janus guiltily, the pendant dangling from her fingers.

Janus arches an eyebrow, then lowers his gaze to the floor so that he isn't watching.

Kaela slowly lowers the pendant back into the box, closing it again. "I'm going to take these things back … I'll be back in a few minutes… " Gathering her finds, as well as her old set of clothing, she heads back towards the downward sloping passageway.

Janus watches Kaela disappear into the passage and debates following her again.

Janus turns and leaves the dimly lit room, heading back out into the jungle.

Kaela quietly makes her way through the twisting passages until she reaches the room at the bottom. There, after waiting for several minutes listening for sounds of being followed, she changes back into her own clothes and sets everything back into the hiding spot behind the statue. After a short moment of thought, she removes the pendant from the little box and settles it around her neck, hiding the pendant under the cloth of her tunic. Stepping back out of the hiding spot, she pushes the statue back into its closed position, and moves back towards the exit.

The passageway leading out is empty. There is no sign of the mysterious black cat.

Kaela looks about, then steps outside into the jungle.

From here, the cheetah can see the ruins below, and the camp across the canyon. It will be a bit of a climb down … but at least she knows the way well.

Kaela slowly climbs down the paths, looking over towards the camp frequently and trying to tell whether people have yet returned…

There's no indication that the cheetah is likely to have been missed. It's hard to tell exactly, with the sun not visible in the sky, but it may well not even be noon yet.

At last, the cheetah makes her way down. Just a short walk across the bridge, and she should be able to slip back in, as if nothing particularly exciting had happened.

Kaela makes her way across the bridge, trying her best to look nonchalant.

A couple of cheetahs look up from their chores as Kaela passes, and they stare.

Kaela tries not to look like she notices… but once she's out of their sight, she looks over herself quickly, checking for dirt smudges or other things that might be attracting their attention.

One of the cheetahs watches as Kaela goes away, then exchanges glances with the other, across the way. The first cheetah signs, "I am not crazy, but at first I thought I saw a ghost."

The other cheetah's face cracks into a smile, and he signs back, "You have been here too long. But … she walks like a princess." With that, he shrugs and they both return to their work.