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"Focus on my voice, Saure. Stay in your body. Focus on staying in your body." Fred began to panic. He took her up into his mouth, her slender midsection fitting perfectly behind the deadly saber teeth. He crept into the tipped cart and laid her gently on her mattress. The great cat's brow creased as he stared helplessly into Saure’s sightless, constricted eyes.
"Saure, please… stay… I can't lose you yet. Not yet. Please, not yet… I'm sorry for shouting at you… for chastising… I'll be a better cat! I'll be better for you, if you'll just please stay, please, just… no… LOOK AT ME!" he tapped her cheek sharply with a paw. Her lifeless head lolled to the side. She exhaled slowly. Her body seemed to lose some of its form.
"SAURE! COME BACK!! COME BACK, YOU STUPID GIRL!! IT IS NOT YOUR TIME!!" His tensed muscles twitched as he clenched his jaw.
Cats do not cry. Cats generally don't deal with intense sadness or regret. Cats simply go on.
Fred wept.
He dropped onto his side and sobbed, tears darkening his fur. He let his head fall to the mattress, nudging the top of her skull with his nose. She smelled alive. How could she be dead when she still smelled so alive?
"You can't leave me because I am in love with you." He whispered into her damp hair. "And I refuse to let you go before I can tell you properly."
He wrapped a foreleg around her middle, pulling her searing-hot body to his, and lamented.
It was, theretofore, the longest night of his life.
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 Page 67
The air rushed in.
It was icy cold against her steaming hot lungs. It was a great shock, and it was excruciating. She clutched her stomach as her body tried to wretch the offensive cold outward. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. Everything was bitterly dark.
"S…Saure?"
"Fred, I can't see, everything hurts…"
She coughed as she was suddenly embraced with crushing force by large paws.
"Thank you…"
"Stop it, Fred… honestly…" she panted with a rasp, pushing him away.
She rubbed at her eyes, and bleary cold morning light began to seep in. Her head still throbbed, and she still felt more than feverish. The fire had taken over, she realized.
"We overcame, sweetling." Fred stated softly. Saure looked at him, noticing the dark streaks on his cheeks. "You used a very powerful spell… and were almost lost to the ether."
"Goodness." She drew a hand to her chest, breathing more easily. "It's a lucky thing I came back, then."
"Took you all night." Fred looked away, rubbing idly at his face with a wrist. "Thought you… you were…" his voice wavered for a moment, and he cleared his throat.”Well, you're fine now. Can you walk?"
"I think so."
"Good. We need to go find the horses." He rose, turned, and strode nonchalantly from the cart. Saure took another deep, cooling breath, and followed suite.
Nag and Juniper were hiding together in a thicket. They had hunkered down on their knees for the night, but rose jerkily when they saw the girl and cat. They assured they were unharmed, and Nag demanded details on the walk back to the cart. Saure admitted she remembered very little of it, and Fred explained in his usual matter-of-fact way the events as he witnessed them. Saure apologized for being so ornery at the tavern, and promised to take his advice thenceforth.
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