Dream Seeker
Legacy Name: Dream Seeker

Age: Kitten

Birthday: June 17th

Zodiac: Gemini

Height: 15 cm / 6"

Occupation: Celestial Navigator (WIP)

Hobbies: Prancing, dancing and having fun

Likes: Rainbows, cookies, stickers, stars

Dislikes: Tight spaces

Guilty pleasure: Jumbo strawberries

Personality: Simple but kindhearted and peppy

A lovely Feli kitten born in the cold vastness of space. She stands out among the stars with her soft orange fur and rainbow markings. Split between above and below, her wings take on an angelic form. A shimmering halo hovers over one of her horns as if it was carefully placed there.

A large dog—mostly German Shepherd but with a little of everything else mixed in—lay at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge with his long nose resting on his front paws. The fur on his muzzle was grizzled, white hairs among the black, and his eyes appeared cloudy with age as they stared intently away from the Bridge, back in the direction from which he had come.

He was staring so intently that he didn't notice the kitten's approach through the air until she landed on the ground right in front of him. Startled, the dog lifted his head and stared even harder, because this kitten didn't look like any cat he'd ever seen before, despite how old he was: her fur was orange, but the similarity to the cats he'd known ended there.

Her long tail was striped with a full spectrum of colors, as were the insides of her ears, her toes, and tufts of fur on her cheeks. Strangest of all, she had two white, feathery wings sprouting from her shoulder blades, and two little horns on top of her head. A glimmering halo hovered over the horn on her right.

“Hi!” she said, making the dog snort in further surprise. He'd never met a talking cat before. “My name's Dream Seeker! What's yours?”

“I'm—I'm Cooper,” said the dog slowly. He'd never been able to talk before himself, but now he found that speaking in words instead of barks was simple.

The kitten enthused, “It's nice to meet you!” Cooper cocked his head to one side, thought about it, then nodded. Cats had never been too fond of him, nor he of them, but since Dream Seeker wasn't hissing and spitting at him like the others always had, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

She went on chattering, “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting,” said Cooper, laying his head back down on his paws with a sigh.

Dream Seeker looked around then prompted, “Yeah? For what?”

“My person.”

“Yeah?” the kitten repeated as she sat down in front of him, the tip of her multicolored tail swishing back and forth in the air. “Who's your person?”

Cooper picked his head up again and replied, “Her name's Brittany. She's almost grown up now, but she's been my person since we were both little. I guess I grew up a lot faster than she did, and I got here ahead of her.”

His hazy brown eyes shifted away from Dream Seeker's curious face to the mists that lay behind her and concealed what lay beyond the riverbank.

“I tried to go back to her,” muttered the dog. “I ran and ran though that fog, but I never got anywhere. Every time I turned around, the Bridge was still right behind me.”

“That's right,” Dream Seeker murmured. “You can't go back, Cooper. The only way to go is forward, across the Bridge.”

Cooper shook his head and insisted, “No, I can't cross it and leave Brittany behind! She needs me! If I can't go back to her, I'm gonna wait right here until she comes this way. Otherwise. . . otherwise, I might never see her again. Who knows what's on the other side of that Bridge?” He cast it a dubious look over his shoulder. “She might get lost and end up in a different place from me, if we don't go together. So I just have to wait.”

He laid his head down for the third time, refusing to lift it again even when Dream Seeker said, “No, you don't! Your person doesn't want you to stay here all alone and unhappy.”

When Cooper didn't respond, the little kitten stepped forward and batted at his nose with a soft paw until he finally sat up with a huff. Then she went on, “And you're tired, right? Your joints hurt, and you can't see well. Your person doesn't want you to be tired and in pain, either.”

Cooper cocked his head again and asked in confusion, “I am tired, but. . . how do you know what it feels like to be old? You're so young. . . .”

“I know a lot of things!” declared Dream Seeker. “Including what's on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge!”

When she didn't go on, Cooper said impatiently, “Well? What is it?”

The kitten shook her head and purred, “Can't tell you! You have to see for yourself!” Cooper gave a little growl and started to lie down again, but before he could, Dream Seeker came closer and rubbed against his front legs as she added, “I'll tell you a couple things though. One thing is that once you're on the other side, you won't ever hurt or feel tired again. . . and the other thing is the Bridge always leads to the same place for pets and their people. So you don't need to wait here for your person! You can go on across, and she'll be right along when it's her time.”

Cooper bent his head to look down into the kitten's face. A pair of wide, mismatched eyes—one teal and the other fuchsia—gazed back.

“Do you promise?” murmured the dog. “Brittany really might get lost. She's kind of bad with directions.”

“Tell you what,” Dream Seeker said, “when it's her time, I'll meet her here and lead her across the Bridge, okay? I'll bring her straight to you! That way, you don't have to worry about her getting lost.”

Cooper thought about it then replied, “I guess that's okay. But does that mean that you'll just. . . always be here, all alone? You don't get to cross the Bridge and stay there?”

Dream Seeker shook her head, but at the same time, she smiled.

“Not yet. See, you're really lucky because you have a person. I've never had one. . . but I will, someday! Someone down there will need a kitty just like me, the way your Brittany needed a doggy just like you. But that's not going to happen for a while, so I'm keeping an eye on the Rainbow Bridge until it's time for me to cross it myself, with my person. I don't get lonely, because there are always pets and their people coming by, and I like helping them across.”

The kitten took a few steps away from Cooper, then nodded towards the Bridge behind him as she mewed, “Speaking of which, it's time for you to get going!”

Cooper got to his feet and turned to stand at Dream Seeker's side, at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge. He lifted one large paw and started to put it down on the shimmering rainbow, then drew it back.

“Do you really promise you'll take care of Brittany when she gets here?” he asked the kitten.

“I promise,” Dream Seeker swore. She walked out onto the Bridge and turned to look back at him. “C'mon, I'll walk across with you! There's nothing to be afraid of.”

Cooper lifted his paw once more and this time laid it down on the rainbow. Although the Bridge seemed to be made of nothing more substantial than a spectrum of light, it held his weight, and he moved forward first slowly, then with greater confidence as he reached Dream Seeker's side.

The kitten and the dog crossed the Bridge together, and with every step, Cooper felt better: less tired, less achy, and less worried about his beloved person. By the time he stepped off of the Bridge onto the bank at the other side, the old dog felt like a puppy again. When he turned to face Dream Seeker, who still stood on the Bridge behind him, his eyes were bright and clear, and the fur on his once-grizzled muzzle was glossy and black.

“You can't come any farther, can you?” Cooper murmured when he saw how the kitten hung back.

“Not yet,” repeated Dream Seeker, “but I'll be back with your person before you know it! And I'll see you again someday, when I have a person of my own.”

“Thank you,” Cooper told her. “Thank you for everything.”

Dream Seeker watched as the big dog moved away, leaving the Bridge behind in favor of what lay beyond it—first walking, then breaking into a run with ecstatic barks of joy. She couldn't see what he saw. . . perhaps a land of rolling hills full of squirrels to chase and bones to gnaw, where Cooper would play with other dogs he had known until his person came to join him.

The kitten smiled a bit wistfully, then retraced her steps back across the Bridge.

Someday, she thought, someday, I'll be able to cross to the other side and stay there.

Then Dream Seeker spread her wings and launched herself into the air to play among the stars until another pet who needed her help hesitated at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge.