This is just a short story that I wrote for a group contest on dA. Not sure how it'll come out as the contest just ended. Results haven't been posted yet, but I'll probably put the results here if it's anything interesting. Just a story about a little kitten who learns an important lesson from a very important bird. Enjoy!

Do you like my little spin on the Phoenix legend? I'm going to be drawing a picture to accompany this story. I'll probably put a link to it afterwards. I appreciate any and all comments you're willing to give. Self promotion time! If you like this, then maybe you'd like to see some of my other current writings on FA! Here's a link to the first chapter of the story of my fursona: CLICK ME :)

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Tomorrow the Phoenix Will Rise

The container slams into the ground, blasting fine grains that escaped the container's confines and the surface below it into the temperate air. "Heh-heh!" chuckles the kitten sitting with the blue bucket in front of her, "making sand castles is fun!" She lifts the bucket to reveal a grainy yet solid tower, complete with squared parapets. "It's perfect!"

She paws the tower, for what reason she could only tell, and part of it starts to crumble, "Whoops," she mutters. "Gotta control that urge." She extends a claw and starts to trace the alternating criss-cross of a brick pattern on to the tower. Her sand castle, including three other parapet towers connected by battlements, stands proudly in the enclosed sea of sand. She has been working on it for the past 20 minutes. Most of the time went into her detail work. She was very artsy for a 6-year old kitten.

Spring has finally arrived, and the sun celebrates its return by letting its rays warm the environment to a comforting 68ºF. The 6-year old Abyssinian relishes the heat as the light bounces off of her shorthaired coat. Colors of burnt red, orange, and brown are highlighted by the sun and almost make the kitten look like she's alit.

The kitten gives a gentle purr as it finishes the final brick marks on the recently constructed tower. "There. It's done." She gives her sand sculpture a quick inspection, "That hole I accidentally made almost looks like it belongs."

"That looks wonderful, Eliana."

The kitten turns behind her to find an older Abyssinian, similarly colored like herself with a bit more brown around the sides of her face. "Mommy!" Eliana cries. She bounds over and clutches her mother as much as her shorter arms and paws will allow.

The older Abyssinian laughs, levels herself to her daughter, and nuzzles their faces together. "Thank you, sweetie," she says.

A question bubbles to the mind of the 6-year old, as often as it does with kittens, and rings out of her mouth, "Mommy, why did the sun stay away for so long?"

A smile forms across the muzzle of the older cat as she says, "Because the sun was tired, dear. It didn't have the strength to stay up very long during the winter. It needed to get older and stronger in order to stay up longer, much like you need to." She taps her daughter's nose at the end of that statement, resulting in a reflexive sneeze. "Oops. Sorry, sweetie."

She holds her daughter's paw and walks toward a park bench with a bag that holds all the supplies a mother could possibly need for a spring outing, including tissues. Eliana followed happily.

The kitten sits on the bench while her mother rifles for a tissue from her bag. "I don't get it, Mommy," she says, returning to her earlier question, "why does the sun get tired?"

"Well…" she responds, thinking of an explanation for the kitten, "the sun doesn't actually get tired. The one that carries the sun gets tired, sweetie."

"The sun is carried?" says the kitten astounded, "By what?"

"By…a….by a large bird, sweetie."

"Really? Wow!"

"Yes." The mother finally finds a tissue and hands it to her daughter.

Eliana wipes her nose and starts to bounce the unfolded tissue in her paws. "What kind of bird would be large enough to carry the sun?" she wonders out loud.

Thinking it was another question, the mother answered, "It's a very special bird called The Phoenix." She eyes her daughter. "Don't play with that, silly," she says as she takes the used tissue away.

"A Phoenix?" she echos.

"Yes, it's a bird that has been around for a very, very long time. Only one exists, and it's very rare to see it because it's always carrying the sun. Some stories have described the Phoenix as a large eagle with a neck full of the colors of the rainbow. It's body is full of vibrant red, yellow, and orange feathers. The feathers almost look like they are on fire, and that's because it carries the sun."

"Wow! But it must be really old if it's the only one left."

"Actually Eliana, the Phoenix only lives for about a year."

Shock crosses the kitten's muzzle, "What?! What about the sun? Who's going to carry it when the Phoenix dies?"

The mother chuckles and says, "The Phoenix does, sweetie." Reading the confusion on her daughter's face, she continues. "Every year during the winter solstice, the Phoenix gets so old and weak that it's burnt up by the sun. That's why the sun is out for such a short time that day; however, the Phoenix gets reborn from the ashes and starts life anew. It's only strong enough to keep the sun up for short periods of time during the winter, but as it gets older, it gets stronger. As the Phoenix gets stronger, it can carry the sun a lot longer. During the summer, the Phoenix is its strongest, which is why the sun stays up for so long. Then, it starts to get older during the fall, and the days grow shorter. It gets so old that it's burnt up in the winter and is reborn again."

"So," says the kitten, trying to understand what her mother had told her, "the Phoenix gets reborn every year and carries the sun around until it dies again and becomes a new Phoenix."

"That's right, sweetie."

"Wow."

"Ehmm. Yes, sweetie. It is amazing," she says with a sigh.

"The Phoenix must get very lonely doing that all the time," says the kitten with her head downcast. An idea pops into her head. She stands on the bench, tilts her head to the sky, and shouts, "HEY, PHOENIX!! THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THE SUN OUT!!"

Her mother laughs and holds her daughter close to her, "Oh, sweetie. That's very nice of you, but the Phoenix is way up there. It can be a little hard to hear something from all the way down here."

"I know, Mommy," Eliana resigns. "I just thought I should let the Phoenix know that I'm thankful for him for bringing the sun out and melting the snow."

"Now I thought you liked the snow."

"I do, but it was cold for too long. I'm glad to see that the Phoenix is strong enough to carry the sun a lot longer now."

"Oh, Eliana," the older Abyssinian says cuddling her daughter, "How did you get so sweet?"

"You dumped me in a barrel of sugar," the kitten purrs.

"A-ha-ha. And what happened afterwards?"

"You and I licked all the sugar off," she responds and licks her mother's cheek.

"Yes. And you ate so much sugar, it became part you."

"And it rubs off me and sticks to you," she says nuzzling her mother.

"That's right, sweetie." The mother releases her child and says, "Now go have some fun dear." Eliana runs back toward the sandboxes. "And don't go too far!" the mother calls out.

"Okay, Mommy," she calls back.

Eliana returns to the sandbox to find a yellow and black spotted male Ocicat, around her age, kicking her sand castle. She runs toward the offending Ocicat. "Hey! What are you doing?" she cries.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the Ocicat hisses behind him.

She hisses back, "That's <b>MY</b> sandcastle! I've been working on it all day!"

"Well, too bad, kitty."

"Don't call me kitty!" she angrily huffs. "I'm 6. I'm not a kitty!"

The Ocicat leers at Eliana and stares down at her. He's an inch taller than her, but an inch is enough to make Eliana pin her ears back and curl her tail into her paws. "Really?" he firmly says.

Eliana is scared. She doesn't understand why this cat would destroy something she's worked so hard on. Eliana thinks of what her mother might do:



She didn't understand why, but she knew that Mommy was very upset with Daddy because he was spending time with another cat. Mommy and Daddy had argued for a long time after that. Eliana remembered a lot of yelling. It got so loud that Mommy took her out of the house and away from Daddy. After a few months, Eliana was able to see Daddy, but only during the weekends. She missed her Daddy, but she loved her Mommy more. She remembered Mommy standing tall and proud in front of a Beagle in dark clothes, holding a briefcase, saying that she was never gonna let him take her away.



The cowering Abyssinian looks at the Ocicat looming above her and thinks of what her Mommy did. She straightens her tail out, stands up on the front pads of her paws, and looks at the Ocicat straight in the eye. "Yeah," she spits back at her offender, "and you're going to put my sand castle back together!"

The Ocicat is momentarily surprised then responds while on his front pads, "Says who?"

"Me!" Eliana says forcefully.

The Ocicat grins down at the Abyssinian. He then pushes her forward, knocking the Abyssinian on her butt. "Forget that," he hisses.

A confused Eliana watches the nameless Ocicat walk away. <i>'Why didn't it work?'</i> she wonders.

She gets up and looks at the strewn remains of her once glorious tawny sand castle. She brushes her pads along the ground, away from the ruins as part of it is blown away by the wind.

She wanders into a small flowered area of the park. Hues of red, violet and yellow are dancing in the sun, soaking up the long awaited rays. The ground springs with new life in the soft green grass that is flattened by Eliana's footfall. Wild birds chirp a melody to spark joy and admiration in the minds of passersby.

The earth is waking from its prolonged slumber because the Phoenix has regained its strength; but the strength of Eliana's heart is waning. The flowers turn with the wind towards the sniffles and sobs of sorrow emanating from the pained kitten. Her salty tears run down her face to water the earth. "Why?" she sobs. "Why did he do that?"

"What's the matter, dear?" asks a voice from behind.

Eliana turns to the sound and sees a bird towering over her. The male bird is in fine physical condition. The crimson red and yellow feathers of his lithe body cling to him tightly, while the ones on the wings behind him are spread wide. The feathers forming his wings are long and shine with the brightness of the sun. His neck is colored in shades of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red as they ascended to his strong face, softened with a smile. His orange eyes simmer with concern for the sobbing kitten before him.

Eliana isn't scared of the bird before her, but she doesn't respond right away because her mother told her to not talk to strangers. Her ears pin back, and she grabs her tail while she steps away from the eagle-like creature.

The bird lowers himself to look at the kitten face to face. He gently says, "It's okay, dear. I won't hurt you. I heard you crying, and I came to see if I could help."

The kitten looks the bird over. Her grip loosens. Something in the bird's voice was calming her down. She wanted to believe him.

The bird extends one of his arms. "My name's Helio," he says. "What's yours?"

The clenched tail falls behind the kitten as she steps forward and extends her paw. She grips the feathered hand and feels a comforting warmth enter her. Her ears relax as she says shakily, "I'm Eliana."

"Eliana? That's a pretty name," Helio says shaking her paw. He lets go, and Eliana almost reaches for his hand again, wanting to feel the warmth once more. "So what were you crying about, Eliana?"

Her sobs return when she remembers, "Someone destroyed my sand castle."

"Oh, dear. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault," she says trying to push back the tears but failing.

Helio gently raises Eliana's face. She feels the soothing heat from his touch and starts to feel better. "Come now, crying will not do," he coos.

The eagle-like bird grabs Eliana's paw. "Come with me," he says. "I wanna show you something."

Helio walks Eliana into a wooded area of the park until they reach a fallen tree. It had fallen because of age, and the wood was rotting. "You see this tree?" he asks.

"Yes."

"This tree had been growing here for over a hundred years. Now it's dead and it can no longer stretch into the sky, provide shelter for wild animals, or shade weary anthros when the sun gets too hot. I partially apologize for that, but it's still a sad thing to see a fallen tree." Eliana listened, and started to feel sorry for the fallen tree.

"Look now," Helio said. He threw out his arm, and the sunlight streaming into the now open area grew brighter. The plant life responds by quickly growing and covering the rotting log. Fungi sprouts and caps over the bark and some blue and violet buds cover the surface of the log. Eliana's eyes grow wide taking in the magic of the moment. "Because the tree has fallen, more sunlight can reach the ground here, and new life can take over." Helio looks down at Eliana, "That is something to always be happy about."

Still aghast, Eliana manages to say, "I-I don't think I understand, Helio. What does it mean?"

Helio lowers himself to Eliana. "It means that every thing that happens, whether good or bad, gives a chance for something new to enter. It gives everyone a chance to be reborn, either as the same creature or something different. That's why I like spring. Spring is the time when everything starts to be reborn. New life pushes out of the ground and all kinds of wild animals and anthros come out to bask in the sunlight that brings new life. They see the opportunities ahead of them, and they take chances. Sometimes things work out, and sometimes they don't. The fact still remains that they become--are reborn--as something else." Helio looks into the brightened brown eyes of the Abyssinian. "Do you understand, dear?"

"I'm not sure I do."

Helio smiles, "In time you will. For now, just know that there is a purpose behind everything."

Helio brushes his hand along Eliana's face, and she closes her eyes at the sensation. It is as if sunlight itself was caressing her muzzle. She looks at Helios, who still has a smile across his beak, and returns his facial expression.

Helio chuckles to himself as he stands back up. "Come now. We need to get you back to your mother." Eliana nods in approval.

They start to walk back to the open area of the park. A question pops on to Eliana's lips. "Helio, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Eliana."

"Are you the Phoenix?"

A slight laugh escapes him, "You're a smart girl, Eliana. Yes, I am."

"If you're here, then who's moving the sun?"

"Don't worry. It's high noon. The sun stays still then. It allows me to come down here, if I want to, for a short period of time."

"Really? That's cool! And you came down here to see me?"

"I heard you call out to me before. Most people forget about me, but you took the time to thank me for something I've been doing a very long time. I wanted to repay you for your kindness. Besides, I knew you'd believe me if I told you who I was."

"Heh-he. And Mommy said that you wouldn't hear me. Well, I'll be certain to say, 'Hello,' at least once everyday now."

A smile broke across Helio's beak, "I'd like that very much, Eliana." The pair arrives outside of the wooded area. "Well, I have to be going now."

"Now?" Eliana asks lowering her ears. "But you just got here."

"I'm sorry, Eliana, but I have my job to do." Eliana's head lowers. "Uh-uh," he rebukes, tilting her head back up, "no more frowns."

She looks into the glowing orange eyes of the Phoenix known as Helio. "Will I ever see you again? Down here?"

"I don't know," he admits. "Maybe. I wish I knew." One some level, Helio didn't want to leave either. His immortal life was marked by his lonely life cycles. It had been centuries since he last showed himself to another living being. He probably wasn't going to be able to see his little friend again within his current life cycle, maybe even hers, but he could not forsake his duty.

Then, an idea pops into his head. He spreads one of his wings and says, "Eliana, pull one of my feathers out."

The young Abyssinian complies. Helio's warmth lingers in the freshly plucked feather. She sets the feather against the background of the sun. The golden yellow, red, and orange hold a visible aura of fire.

"Take that as a memento." Helio says to her. "Keep that so you'll remember me. If you look for me around noon, you may just find me."

Eliana smiles and hugs the Phoenix. Helio surrounds her with his arms and wings in response.

Eliana purrs as the heat of the sun surrounds her. All of her troubles didn't matter any more. Because of that Ocicat, she had made a friend, and Helio was no longer lonely. Their hold on each other broke.

Helio steps back from the kitten. He waves to her, and she waves back. This was not good-bye. The Phoenix spreads his majestic wings and soars into the air with a flash. Eliana shields her eyes from the bright light. Helio is gone, but the feather remains in her paws, which still holds the warmth of the sun.

Eliana laughs as she runs back to her mother. She began to understand what Helio meant in that wooded area. She no longer cared that her work of art was destroyed. What had happened to her brought her so much more joy than she could have hoped for. She might have lost a lot of time to be with her Daddy, but she had a Mommy who she knew would do anything for her. Eliana would do anything for her Mommy as well. They were happy together. She was reborn as something better. She sees her Mommy stand as she approaches. She tackles her and shouts, "Mommy! Mommy! You'll never guess what I just saw!"