Frinz was preoccupied with hunting down a rabbit near the Sky Pack borders. He was supposed to be stationed on guard duty, but he quickly decided guard duty was boring. And anyway, nobody came around anymore. Sky Pack was long gone and mostly overgrown with weeds.Flat-out deserted, really. Decay floated in the air. His black eyes watched the rabbit twitch its ears primly, and then bound slightly forward, then stop. He pounced, but didn't administer a killing bite. That would be too straight forward, and he wanted to stretch this out a little. Frinz held the thing in its claws, watching it struggle. Futile, desperate thing. He'd enjoy taking its ears off first, and maybe if it was still clinging on then he'd entertain himself with the rest. The other guards, they didn't understand the beauty of these things. There was a special process to it, and when you caught yourself a prize like this you deserved to savour it.
Hock watched the sun go up with dim eyes, understanding vaguely this experience was supposed to be special. His mother had told him that in her lucid moments. That the sunrise was important, and the day's significance depended on whether the surrounding clouds were orange or red when the sun came up. Red sky in the morning, brings warning, red sky at night, gives out delight.
The clouds were orange. Good. The thought slipped from his head the way most thoughts seemed to slip.
Cairo sat in her den, her eyes open but body unmoving. There was a meeting scheduled today, that she knew. The mornings never brought clarity to her, always making her function slow. If she had gotten better sleep the night prior, perhaps her situation would be different on this fine morning. Light streamed through the doorway to her den, and with that silent signal, she finally got to her feet.
