I slowly opened my eyes, wondering what it was that felt wrong. I had grown so accustomed to the rhythmic motion of his steps that it took me awhile to notice that it wasn’t there anymore.

I batted at his head a few times with my paw, wondering what was wrong.

“What do you see?”

I didn’t know what he meant so I climbed on top of his head and looked out at what he was looking at.

He stood on top of a small cliff looking over a large oasis. Many different kinds of animals were either swimming around in the water or basking in the sun under the trees. There were even a few I had never seen before on our journey.

“Stuff to chase?”

“What do you see?”

This furball. Sometimes I feel like a tree would be more pleasant company. I’m sure trees would care more when I beat them up at least. In order to prove my point I batted his head a few more times and chewed on his ear. No reaction.

The sun slowly sank beneath the horizon while we watched the oasis. The stars lit up the sky together with the full moon and they were beautifully reflected in the water of the oasis. The day was warm and pleasant, but nothing could compare with the raw beauty of the night. Almost as if to honour that beauty the oasis was also completely quiet now, even though it was still as active as in the day. I was completely absorbed in the scenery that I stayed completely mesmerized as the night gave away for the day and the sun slowly rose from the horizon.

“What do you see?”

And the furball ruined the moment. I didn’t even give him an answer, just a few solid bats with my paws. While I was busy glaring angrily at him, even though he couldn’t see me, the oasis came back to life in the same manner as yesterday, nothing like the serene quiet of the night.

Like that we passed the day and the day became night, and I was once more able to enjoy the beauty of night. When the sun rose the same happened as yesterday.

“What do you see?”

Maybe trying to beat him up was a bad answer. Or maybe my furball broke? I made the resolve to stay with him though, no matter how many days he would stay here and ask me what I saw.

It was a resolve that was to be tested, I found out. I lost count of the days, every morning he would ask me the same question and I had long given up on smart mouthing him and attempting to beat him up.

He was looking for a specific answer, but I wasn’t sure what. I did have a feeling that it was something important, but most mornings I didn’t even have a guess. I did briefly consider if there even was an answer, but I had a feeling that there was one specific answer he was waiting for.

“What do you see?”

“Life.”

Maybe things were simpler than I made them out to be. As he stayed put I grew more and more unsure of my answer, but suddenly without warning he started walking again.

Even though it does seem like I gave the answer he was looking for it still felt strangely incomplete to me, and I almost started hitting him so he would turn around again. If he was going to make us stay there for so long we should at least do it properly. I had long given up on trying to hit him though as he always ignored it and it never did accomplish anything. Maybe that was the point of it? To annoy me so much that I grew tired of hitting him.

It did help with one thing. I remember.

“I went on this journey to find my family, didn’t I?”

He didn’t answer, so I tapped his head lightly.

“Do you know where my family is?”

“They will always be with you.”

I feel like we would get along a lot better if he didn’t speak in riddles. I didn’t know if I should be angry at him, because it felt like he knew. He had taken care of me this far, so maybe I should just trust in him. Maybe if I trust in him he will take me to my family.